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NEW YORK—Community Voices Heard (CVH), an advocacy group that "fights for the rights of all low-income people," according to their website, held an arithmetic lesson in front of the offices of the New York City Housing Association (NYCHA) on lower Broadway on Wednesday.
NYCHA is not using stimulus funding to create sufficient jobs for unemployed residents, says CVH. The agency was awarded $423 million for public housing improvements, with a stipulation that renovations and repairs would create jobs for unemployed residents.
CVH says that although approximately 3,200 jobs have been created, only 214 positions have been filled by residents.
A chalkboard that was part of the math "lesson" at Wednesday's event proclaimed that "$423 million in federal stimulus money plus 30,000 unemployed public housing residents does not equal only 214 jobs made available."
As sometimes residents lack proper training and jobs are instead filled by union workers and skilled tradesmen, CVH has recommended enhancing efforts to accord with federal regulations that require "job training and apprenticeship opportunities provided to residents."
According to NYCHA website, however, "free job training and placement services, workshops to help sharpen interviewing skills, and help with preparing a resume" are currently being offered.
CVH has also called for a change in contractor work mandates to better benefit the residents. Contractors are currently required to allot 30 percent of open positions to residents. CVH says that 30 percent of total work hours should instead be allocated, as this would then force contractors with full staff to open up more positions for the residents.
Results from a CVH-conducted survey of eight housing developments in different boroughs indicate that most residents don't know about the job opportunities.
"The majority of people didn't even know what was being done in their development with the stimulus money," said Anne Washington, a CVH board member. "Sometimes the jobs are posted in the rental offices or by the elevators, but residents [still] don't know about them."
Washington said she would like to see more efforts made to inform the unemployed and connect them with much-needed work.
The expiration date on the federal grant has created a sense of urgency for CVH. All funds must be expended by March 17, 2011. Whatever is left thereafter will have to return to the federal bank account.


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Portofino Resort Hotel, San Pedro
Rooms: 11
Reviews - Portofino Resort Hotel
- Age Group: 31 - 40
- From: United States
- Traveller type: Young Couple
- Age Group: 26 - 30
- From: United States
- Traveller type: Honeymooners
Portofino is definitely one of the most beautiful resorts on the island - and I've walked the entire beach!! The staff is the friendliest I've ever seen and the restaurant is great!
Thank you friends at Portofino, and we will be back soon!
- Age Group: 51 - 60
- From: Belgium
- Traveller type: Mature Couple
We would like to congratulate owners and staff for the efforts they make every day to indulge their guests! We felt like being in paradise! We will certainly visit Portofino again!
Read 234 additional reviews of Portofino Resort Hotel at TripAdvisor.
Want to see more hotels? View all hotels in San Pedro
Historical Traveller Reviews of Portofino Resort Hotel
portofino so-sofrom A TripAdvisor Member
Home away from Homefrom momsinmexico
Loved Portofinofrom csbaug
FOOD: Food was fresh and tasty. We would rate it a 4 out of 5. We saw several parties from other resorts return for other meals over the course of our stay. We ate about 50% of our meals at the resort and the rest in San Pedro and other resorts such as Rojo.
ROOMS: Rooms were clean, comfortable, and pleasant. We were a little surprised to learn that 3 of the cabanas were duplexes rather than single cabanas. Privacy was still adequate. Showers were slightly salty but not a problem. Hammock and chair on porch were a great place to relax.
BEACH/OTHER: We did not find the lack of a pool a problem. Kayak and snorkeling gear were available for guests. We took the kayak out to the reef but did not snorkel this time. Portofino is located just off Mexico Rocks which is where tour companies take you to snorkel! Beach was private and manicured daily.
We booked a tour to ATM cave and it was a true adventure but also somewhat physically challenging.
The entire staff was very caring and responsive to our needs. Special thanks to Lorraine (Manager), Stacy (Reception), Rafael and Armando (Bar), Waitresses (Karen & Jessie), Mo (Boat Captain) and Tyrell (Security).
My husband and I were looking for a resort to get away from our stressful lives and we found it at Portofino. Thanks for a great stay!
Dream vacation in paradisefrom A TripAdvisor Member
The resort is 6 miles north, so we used the complementary speedboat service a lot, Mo, the captain is the best!! We rented a golf cart once, and went sightseeing, which is great fun; don't use it for transportation to town though because you can't drive very fast because of the condition of the road.
The rooms are right on the beach (we stayed in beach front cabana #6), approx 50 feet from the ocean, with an incredible view. I was curious whether the AC would work with the thatch roof (ac is a requirement for my husband), but it did; we even had to switch it off several times, because it was getting to cold.
The view from the restaurant is even better because that is on the second floor in the main building. Loved the food; they have a fixed menu, and a different special every day. Lunch is excellent, and they serve the best French fries in Belize, or anywhere else.
We went fishing, which was great fun, and Ramon, the fishing guide cooked us lunch on the beach! When we got back, we had the chef cook us dinner with our catch. We gave the rest to the staff.
Other trips we did were: Snorkeling at shark & ray alley, and we visited the ATM cave with Gonzo which is expensive but definitely worth it! When you want to go snorkeling at Mexico rocks, you can use the free sea kayaks at the resort.
Thank you so much, everybody at Portofino..
t wait to returnfrom A TripAdvisor Member
We can't wait to return!
Loved Belize... Portofino just OKfrom A TripAdvisor Member
We really loved Belize and plan to return, but we will not return to Portofino.
t (Mixed Review)from A TripAdvisor Member
One thing I was disappointed in at the Portofino was the A/C. There is a window A/C, but unless you are right in front of it, it was a bit of a waste. The GM provided us with an extra fan which made things a lot more bearable. Food was presented beautfully, but it was nothing to write home to mom about. My husband and I ate in town as much as possible mainly because we wanted to try new dishes, but also, Portofino prices were almost as much as Victoria House without the same quality. You can save on the cost of the Island Ferry by catching a ride into town on the Portofino boat. Mo (the Captain) was great, easy going and flexible (not to mention, free!). Lastly, I was very disappointed that I did not get a fresh shower in the 6 days that we stayed there. The water is salty so even after a shower, you are still sticky. I used the bottled water when possible to wash my face and brush my teeth. Other than that, my hair almost turned into dreadlocks. As mentioned, no pool. The beach is shallow so a pool would have been a nice alternative. There is a jaccuzzi, but it stays covered so it is not very inviting. One positive for families that I noticed was kids there had a great time during the day, so even though it is remote, I think adventerous kids will find plenty to entertain them.
The staff is what makes the resort feel comfortable. My husband booked this trip as a surprise so I'm not sure exactly how much we paid. If there is not much difference in the price, I would recommend The Victoria House hands down. Sorry Portofino, I think VH is just a tough act to follow.
So-Sofrom A TripAdvisor Member
Relaxing!from JK4
We found the food to be decent and very fresh. We took a lot of day tours so we would usually eat in town since the food in town was great and very affordable. The tour will pick you up right at the Portofino and take you to your destinations.
The beach at Portofino is very nice but it's not so great to swim. My only complaint was that I'd love a pool or a better area to swim in.
Feel free to email me if you have any other questions about the Portofino, or day trips.
Horriblefrom HaddonTraveler
We spoke to numerous guests complaining about the place and unfortunately complaining about Belize. Very unfortunate because Portofino is NOT Belize ... thankfully!
Top Local Tips for San Pedro
The ocean is King Take advantage of the many water activities such as swimming, snorkeling, kayaking,and diving right a t Mexico Rocks close to Portofino. The most beautiful water in the world is right there.
Bring USD USD is accepted everywhere at a 2 to 1 exchange rate. Bring cash with you because you won't do any better by using your credit card or ATM. Bring a lot of singles as well as they are great for tipping.
Be careful when you choose your location in San Pedro Portofino resort is miles away from anywhere however, you don't feel more private there than anywhere else, you'll end up paying a hefty fee for water taxis more than anything else. Get a hotel closer to the village and you will still feel secluded as the property are usually relatively far between and if you need to take a water taxi, and believe me, you will - then it is not going to cost you so much.
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Other names for Portofino Resort Hotel
- portofino san pedro
- portofino hotel san pedro
- Address: 6 Miles North - San Pedro - Belize
"Wonderful staff and service" - Teri
"Loved Belize and Portofino" - Sandra
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Hotels Near Portofino Resort Hotel
- Cayo Espanto Hotel San Pedro, Belize
- Exotic Caye's Hotel Playador San Pedro, Belize
- Mata Chica Beach Resort Hotel San Pedro, Belize
- Mata Rocks Resort Hotel San Pedro, Belize
- Mayan Princess Resort Hotel San Pedro, Belize
- Ramon's Village Resort Hotel San Pedro, Belize
- San Pedro Holiday Hotel San Pedro, Belize
- Seven Seas Resort Hotel San Pedro, Belize
- SunBreeze Hotel San Pedro, Belize
- The Villas at Banyan Bay Hotel San Pedro, Belize
- Victoria House Hotel San Pedro, Belize
- Belizean Shores Resort Hotel San Pedro, Belize
- Coconuts Caribbean Hotel San Pedro, Belize
- Banana Beach Resort Hotel San Pedro, Belize
- Caribe Island Resort Hotel San Pedro, Belize


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T.A. O'Connell wrote: > Would you please let me know how often you update content at > http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG10/ ? > > Thank you, > > Teri O'Connell > > firstname.lastname@example.com <mailto:email@example.com> Teri, The current expectation is that UAAG 1.0 is stable enough to implement today, but may change in minor ways between now and Recommendation. [That's the definition of a Candidate Recommendation.] I am hoping to publish a revision in a couple of months that takes into account some editorial changes. May I ask whether you have a question behind your question, such as: * Should I implement UAAG 1.0 now? * This was published in Sep 2001; what have you guys been doing lately? * Is this document expected to change? For information on the progress of UAAG 1.0, please check out the UAWG home page at http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/. Thank you, - Ian -- Ian Jacobs (firstname.lastname@example.com) http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs Tel: +1 718 260-9447Received on Monday, 18 February 2002 17:10:11 GMT
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Club Fiji Resort Hotel, Nadi
Reviews - Club Fiji Resort Hotel
Read 183 additional reviews of Club Fiji Resort Hotel at TripAdvisor.
Want to see more hotels? View all hotels in Nadi
Top Local Tips for Nadi
Nadi Don't stay in Nadi longer than you have to. There is really very little to do or see there. There is so many other nicer places to get to. If you do have to stay, like we did, then as the Yassawa flyer goes early in the morning, don't worry about beach places, you'll have much better elsewhere. The port area is very nice, but you'll need plenty of cash to stay there. Save it for the islands, soooooo much nicer.
Eating in Fiji The best meal you will have in Fiji is a vegitarian Curry from one of the many Indian Cafes in Nadi and Latoka. They are cheap, just stick on the veggy only and you will not have worry about getting sick. They are cheap and if you dont know what to order and they have Tali ask for it. It is a good idea not to go to the loos/tiolets if you are not au fait with traveling in the less devloped world. You need to remember your pleases and thank yous when ordering ( Amercians dont do this normally in dinners back home but in Fiji it will help you to say please and thank you). The local fruit juice is great
Hire a rental car and drive round Fiji!! Heaps of the day tours offered in Fiji can be done without the help of a tour guide. Tour prices in Fiji are quite exorbitant, my advice is to do what we did and hire a car, we drove to the Caves and to the Gardens of the Sleeping Giant, and saved almost $200 Fijian by doing it ourselves!
- (hotels)
Other names for Club Fiji Resort Hotel
- hotel fiji
- fiji nadi
- Address: Nadi, - Nadi - Fiji
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Hotels Near Club Fiji Resort Hotel
- Sandalwood Lodge Hotel Nadi, Fiji
- Crusoe's Retreat Hotel Korolevu, Fiji
- Maravu Plantation Resort Hotel Taveuni Island, Fiji Distance: 4.8 km / 3 mi
- Warwick Fiji Resort & Spa Hotel Korolevu, Fiji Distance: 52.4 km / 32.6 mi
- Warwick Fiji Hotel Nadi, Fiji Distance: 52.4 km / 32.6 mi
- Novotel Nadi Hotel Nadi, Fiji Distance: 53.8 km / 33.4 mi
- Tanoa International Hotel Nadi, Fiji Distance: 53.8 km / 33.5 mi
- Holiday Inn Suva Hotel Suva, Fiji Distance: 55.2 km / 34.3 mi
- Wellesley Resort Hotel Korolevu, Fiji Distance: 55.9 km / 34.7 mi
- Raffles Gateway Airport Hotel Nadi, Fiji Distance: 56.2 km / 34.9 mi
- Raffles Tradewinds Hotel & ConvCenter Suva, Fiji Distance: 57 km / 35.4 mi
- Vatulele Island Resort Hotel Nadi, Fiji Distance: 60.4 km / 37.5 mi
- South Seas Private Hotel Suva, Fiji Distance: 61.4 km / 38.1 mi


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Archive for January, 2011
Dances with democracy: Tunisia at the crossroads
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was Bourguiba's Prime Minister and natural successor. Ben Ali had widespread experience in the military, politics and diplomatic service. With a sluggish economy and the support of the west he took control he used an 1987 medical report and Article 57 of the Tunisian constitution to show his boss should be removed on the grounds of "total incapacity".
Ben Ali would prove just as tenacious in power as the man he replaced, with the added knowledge of knowing just how vulnerable life at the top could be. He kept Bourguiba under house arrest for the rest of his life and set about cementing his own reputation. He kept the ruling class of the RCD onside by keeping most of them in the powerful positions they had during the Bourguiba era. He won five elections, all of them rigged. After the Soviet era, the West was happy with Ben Ali because he was a strong and stable and secular ruler. Over time, Ben Ali was an elder statesman of the region. The US rewarded the Ben Ali's regime with an estimated $350million in military aid between 1987 and 2009.
The Americans were not blind to Tunisia's problems. As a Wikileaked cable said, Tunisia was a police state, with little freedom of expression or association, and serious human rights problems. "They tolerate no advice or criticism, whether domestic or international," the cable said. "Increasingly, they rely on the police for control and focus on preserving power. And, corruption in the inner circle is growing. Even average Tunisians are now keenly aware of it, and the chorus of complaints is rising."
Despite knowing all this, the Obama administration continued to distribute largesse. As recently as last year the US sold Tunisia $282 million worth of 12 Sirkorsky military helicopters to Tunisia. Congress approved the deal on the grounds they would "enhance the modernisation of the Tunisian Air Force's overwater search and rescue capability and enable continued interoperability with US Armed Forces and other coalition partners in the region." The sale would also improve "the security of a friendly country that has been and continues to be an important force for economic and military progress in North Africa."
The sale of the helicopters showed the military progress. But it was harder to make the case for economic progress in Tunisia, particularly for the lower classes. There wasn't much progress in the life of 26-year-old Mohammed Bouazizi. Bouazizi had a computer science degree but sold fruit and vegetables without a licence in Sidi Bouzid because he could not find any other job. On 17 December, police confiscated his produce when he could not produce a permit. When he tried to snatch his apples back, the police officer slapped him in the face. Two other officers then beat him up. Bouazizi walked to the municipal building demanded his property, and was beaten again. Then he walked to the governor's office, where he was refused an audience. In front of the governor's gate he drenched himself in paint thinner and set himself alight. The burns covered 90 percent of his body. He died a painful death 18 days later in hospital.
Bouazizi had tapped into something in a repressed national psyche. People protested on the street in Sidi Bouzid where he was arrested. In a country where protesting is rare and the media is oppressed, the word was spread through amateur video which eventually made its way to Al Jazeera. A mass uprising was springing up from a groundswell of long-term grievances with the regime. Ben Ali knew the writing was on the wall and fled to Saudi Arabia on the 14th.
Within 24 hours his longtime ally and prime minister Mohamed Ghannouchi, assumed power. But the Constitutional Court ruled Fouad Mebazaa, the speaker, should be made president and given 60 days to organise new elections. Both men are heavily associated with the RCD and the protesters want the party removed from power, not just a new name at the top. Another Ghannouchi lies in the wings. Rachid Ghannouchi is the exiled head of Tunisia's Islamist party who plans to return to the country within weeks.
The likelihood of an Islamist Government if true democracy was restored is what scares the West the most. It also scares the other leaders in the Maghreb. The Algerian elite overturned the 1993 election when it seemed the Islamists were going to win at the ballot box and unleashed a civil war that killed 150,000 and goes on to this day. Other long-term leaders fear copycat immolation suicides such as the one in Mauretania. Egypt has also had copycat suicides and activists in Cairo using social networks are launching a "Day of Wrath" against Mubarak's 30-year rule later today.
Next door in Libya Gaddafy is also worried. When he told Libyans in a broadcast "Tunisia lives in fear" he was really referring to himself. "Families could be raided and slaughtered in their bedrooms and the citizens in the street killed as if it was the Bolshevik or the American Revolution," he railed. Gaddafy, in power for 40 years, has strong self interest at work but he does have a point. Nobody is sure what Tunisia's troubles will lead to: a transition to multiparty democracy, an Islamist Government, a military coup or a prolonged period of turmoil.
Rachid Sfar, a former prime minister, outlined the problem in an editorial he wrote in La Presse yesterday. "We have to make the democratic process real and irreversible and at the same time guard against the violence and anarchy that threaten our country," he said. Striking unionists have refused to recognise the new government because Mohamed Ghannouchi is there. A democratic vote will be held in six months but what if people suspicious of the West and the elites that serve it award it to the other Ghannouchi? The unions, and the left generally, should be careful about what they wish for.
Leao survives the Brazilian floods alone
– Aratos
This dog is Leao. His custodian Cristina Maria Cesario Santana died in the landslides in Brazil that killed hundreds a week ago. Santana and Leao lived in Teresopolis near Rio de Janeiro where the latest human death toll from the landslides is 785 with 40 percent of them being buried in Teresopolis.
The nearby city of Nova Friburgo founded by Swiss emigrants in 1819 fared even worse with 365 deaths. Both cities are in the Região Serrana of Rio de Janeiro state in south eastern Brazil some 60km north of Rio itself. Região Serrana means mountain district and many dwellings in the region are exposed to landslide hazards due to the steep terrain. On 11 January it started to rain in the region, heavily. In Teresopolis it rained 144mm in 24 hours, more than the average for the month of January.
The downpours caused rivers to break their banks and triggered landslides. It knocked over bridges, houses, churches and the entire downtown area of Novo Friburgo. 6,000 people were made homeless and another 8,000 had to leave their houses and go to shelters while authorities assessed the risk of more mudslides. The death toll rose to make it Brazil's worst ever natural disaster. Further rainfall over the weekend slowed rescue efforts. Army troops, police forces and thousands of volunteers searched for survivors and recovered bodies while air force helicopters transported food and water to families stranded in rural areas without communications.
The San Antonio river burst its banks, submerging buildings, while the rainfall set off several mudslides sending entire shantytowns washing through the city streets below. Brazil's saturated urban centres are littered with poor-quality homes built informally on precarious inclines. As the Christian Science Monitor said the correlation between Rio's favelas and its jagged hills is so strong that morro (hill) is a common synonym for "slum," and asfalto (asphalt) stands for the higher-quality neighbourhoods below. Teresopolis Mayor Jorge Mario Sedlacek called it a huge catastrophe. It was, but it was a human-made one.
According to watchdog group Contas Abertas, the federal government budgeted $263m for disaster prevention last year but only spent $82m. And only 1 percent of that went to Rio state while a whopping 54 percent went to Bahia, a state that had no major disasters because the minister in charge of disbursing funds was running for governor there. It is part of a long tradition of political corruption in Brazil.
While little is spoken about corruption, even less is known about Cristina Maria Cesario Santana, a citizen of Teresopolis. She was one of the town's 138,000 inhabitants and she was one of 316 people who died there. Television images from the town showed cars submerged by water, buses and trucks with water up to their windows, homes destroyed and tearful survivors surveying the carnage. One resident described the scene as being "like a horror film" and said she saw a baby "carried away by a torrent like a doll" as the child's mother tried in vain to save it. Christina presumably was also carried away in the torrent. Her tan crossbreed dog Leao somehow survived. And his picture mourning Cristina has reverberated across the media world.
The promises of new Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff have reverberated less but are more important in the long run. Rousseff pledged a swift relief effort but will have to confront major flaws in emergency planning and disaster prevention. She said the disaster was caused by decades of lax oversight by municipal authorities who allowed poor people to build houses on hillsides vulnerable to landslides. "Building houses on high risk areas is the rule in Brazil, not the exception," said added. "You have to get people away and into secure areas. The two fundamental issues are housing and land use and that involves putting proper drainage and sewage systems in place." But many people living in flood-prone areas say they have nowhere else to go. Like Leao, the problem of the favelas is not going to go away any time soon.
Sri Lanka starts to recover from its major flooding
As Australia commences the clean-up from its devastating floods, world attention is finally moving to other major floods zones across the world. One of the worst hit is in Sri Lanka where flood waters are finally starting to recede in the worst-hit areas in eastern and northern-central parts of the island. Water levels are falling but monsoon conditions will last until mid-February. Low lying areas in the Districts of Batticaloa, Ampara, Trincomalee, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa were flooded due to torrential monsoon rain from Saturday, 8 January with up to 300mm falling daily in some parts for five days of intense rain. More than a million people were temporarily displaced by the rains that killed at least 43 people.
(photo:Sri Lankan disaster management centre)
Yesterday the country's disaster management centre reported over a million people were affected. As the flood waters recede people have started to return home and 51,423 displaced people remained in 137 camps. This is adding to an already difficult situation in the north where 20,000 internally displaced persons remain in Government-run camps since the end of the Tamil Tiger conflict in 2009.
UN Assistant Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Catherine Bragg will arrive in Sri Lanka tomorrow on a three day mission to supervise relief operations and to launch an international appeal for funding on 20 January. Bragg said her mission would highlight Sri Lanka's humanitarian needs and she would advocate on behalf of the most vulnerable. The UN said it supported the Sri Lankan Government as it provided emergency supplies such as safe drinking water, food, sanitation and emergency shelter.
The floods have likely destroyed at least half of the season's harvest in the eastern province, will also have a severe impact on agricultural livelihoods in a region still suffering the effects of the 2004 tsunami and recovering from the decades-long conflict. Over 200,000 acres of paddy cultivation have been completely destroyed and Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said today food prices would rise after the floods destroyed rice and vegetable crops. "We have a buffer stock of rice that is good for three months," said Amaraweera. "That means there will be no immediate impact on the price of rice, but vegetables are already going up in price."
Meanwhile many roads were impassable for the five days of heavy rain. According to a UK Foreign Office travel advisory some access roads to the east of the country are impassable. Areas in the central province such as Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Badulla have experienced earth slips due to the rain. Drinking water is now scarce in the region and there is a large danger of water-borne diseases.
Sri Lankan aid workers say there could be outbreaks of dengue fever and cholera and buried landmines left over from the county's long civil war may have become dislodged by flood waters. UN humanitarian coordinator in Sri Lanka Neil Buhne told AlertNet basic aid was still required and health risks were high. "A lot of people affected were quite poor to start with and now they don't have much, so there is a serious need to support them when they move back," Buhne said. "We are particularly concerned about food as these communities are pretty vulnerable and their food stocks have been destroyed so their usual source of income won't be a source of income for a while."
In the eastern town of Kattankudy, hundreds of flood victims besieged a government office yesterday complaining about unfair distribution of emergency food aid. The angry crowd attacked three officials in protests. "Officers were called in and we managed to bring the situation under control," said a local police spokesman. "A decision was then taken to distribute aid through cooperative stores rather than government offices."
The capital Colombo has been unaffected but some media including the Christian Science Monitor are hopeful hoping the floods will be an opportunity to aid the reconciliation process with the Tamil north. In his initial tour of flood-hit areas President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited Singhalese farmers but ignored Tamil areas. However with army troops rescuing civilians, distributing food and building temporary shelters, Rajapaksa said the government was sparing no expense. "The relief operations are going ahead and I have told the officials to ensure that there are no delays in distributing aid."
Life During Wartime: Queensland floods 2010-2011
As of Saturday night 16 people were confirmed dead and 15 more are missing, likely to have been washed away by nature's heavy artillery. Among the dead were Donna Rice, 43 and her 13-year-old son Jordan who were swept off the roof of the car in Toowoomba. Jordan Rice has become an on-line hero for insisting his younger brother be rescued ahead of him. Meanwhile three members of one family died when Fire Truck 51 of the Rural Fire Brigade became inundated on the Gatton-Helidon Rd. Two others on the truck escaped.
The others who died were in Grantham, Murphy's Creek, Marburg, Dalby, Durack as the Lockyer Valley took the brunt of the savage attack. All that water ended up in the Bremer River causing further havoc in Ipswich before heading on to Brisbane where it caused mayhem in the riverside suburbs and associated creeks on Wednesday and Thursday. Normal routines were obliterated as the city shut down and emergency workers took over. No-one batted an eye-lid as Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale threatened vigilante justice of turning supposed looters into "flood markers". There may have been some small-scale looting but it was likely over-sold by media just as they exaggerated the natural response of people wanting to see what happened as "rubbernecking". A more profound reaction was shown today with reports of over 7,000 volunteers showing up to help with the clean-up.
One of the saddest sights for me in the Brisbane floods was the footage of the floating pontoon floating down the river. It felt and looked like a funeral. A barge was there to act as cortege as it moved slowly and sombrely down towards the sea. The pontoon is certainly a structure I will remember with fondness. As a Brisbane cyclist, I used to often ride along its path, when it linked New Farm with the Howard Smith Wharves under the northern side of the Story Bridge (a site where a planned hotel might no longer be so attractive an option).
There were shorter ways of cycling from my place Wooloowin to the city of Brisbane but none so attractive as the paths that hugged the river. The pontoon starting at the bottom of Merthyr Road was the best part. It was exhilerating to be on a bikepath in the Brisbane River's thalweg. You were part of the water traffic and if you were foolish enough, you could attempt to race against the Citycats as they glided past elegantly at over 20 knots an hour.
On Thursday morning it was the pontoon itself that was dashing past at 25 knots as it broke clear of its moorings in the height of the flood around 4am. The Brisbane River was peaking just then at 4.46 metres. The combination of all the water coming down from the ranges and into the river system, the necessary spill-offs to save Wivenhoe Dam and a king tide pushing water in from the coast put too much strain on the design and off it went towards Moreton Bay. The flood was high enough to do great damage but was a metre below the 1974 record peak the experts thought at one stage it was going to break.
As someone with a ground floor unit in a street that got some flooding in 1974, that news was a personal relief. But elsewhere, the destruction was still intense. Mayor Campbell Newman said the Brisbane River transport infrastructure had been "substantially destroyed" and 20,000 homes flooded in the city's sixth biggest flood in its 170 year history. Those who lived through the last big one in 1974 like John Birmingham have it branded in their memories as a "warning from the west".
Wivenhoe Dam was one answer to the 1974 western warning and it gave Brisbane massive support during the 2011 flood. Its engineers had to open sluice gates that contributed to the inundation but it does not bear thinking about what might have happened to Brisbane this week if it had not existed. Its role has re-opened the debate over dams with an alliance of far left and centre-right libertarians against environmentalists believing it may be time to consider more dams.
Another question to consider out of the floods is the symbiotic role of politicians and media. Premier Anna Bligh has been rightly praised for her disaster response but her role of Premier became that of communicator-in-chief and the bearer of bad news. Flanked by silent politicians and police chiefs and a communicator for the deaf, she did what she does best which is the ability to show how she is a master of the detail.
The commercial TV stations tried as usual to shamelessly turn themselves into the story but it was old-fashioned radio, ABC Local Radio that was consistently the best outlet for news. Unlike the 24-hour television stations it didn't need pictures to sell the stories and it was able to use its wide network of reporters to link in well with the goodwill it has from its listeners. Newer media showed their uses too. The Queensland Police Service Facebook page became a vital and well-updated cog in the delivery of important information and just as important, the quashing of rumours. Many of those rumours emerged on Twitter which was its usual chaotic self but the #qldfloods hashtag was also a goldmine of some astonishing images from the flood regions.
Also on Twitter was the self-serving and mostly useless "prayforaustralia" hashtag (Brisbane is a sprawling city but NOT the size of France and Germany) which trended across the world during the "war". Other than making those praying feel good about themselves, it didn't achieve much. Far better for those people would have been to contribute to a flood appeal. Not necessarily a Queensland one (or Australian – the warzone spread to NSW and Victoria) but also to the more needy who have suffered in less reported but even more devastating floods in Brazil or Sri Lanka. As in any war, the poorest always suffer the worst.
Brisbane's turn to face the Queensland flood crisis
Three-quarters of Queensland has now been declared a disaster zone – an area about 1.3 million sq m. This roughly the size of Peru, the world's 20th largest country. The widespread devastation is finally heading to Queensland's largest population centre, with a major flood predicted to peak on Thursday. And Brisbane has had it coming for some time.
It was all so different in January 2010 when a parched Brisbane had 40.2mm of rain for the entire month. It was the back end of a typical 10-year El Nino Southern Oscillation weather pattern that was about to break spectacularly. February (272mm) and March (162) had high falls. The back end was worse still – October had 306mm and December 479mm.
12 months on and La Nina now in her element, things have changed drastically for the city. In all 1658mm fell in 2010 (the highest since 1974) and all the signs are for a repeat performance this summer. After a few dry days to see in the new year, 41.8mm fell on Thursday. There was another 35.6mm on Friday and 23mm over the weekend. Then yesterday, the monsoon hit and dumped an incredible 110.8mm in 24 hours – three times what fell in the entire month of January 2010.
Brisbane's rainfall pattern was repeated through the southern and central parts of the state. After getting a drenching from October through to Christmas, the soaking catchments were unable to deal with the deluge dumped on Boxing Day in the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Tasha. On 27 December (the day I tried unsuccessfully to return to Roma after spending Christmas at Maryborough), flooding broke out in several parts of the state. Dalby and Chinchilla, towns I needed to get through, went under. So did Warwick. All three towns are in the Murray-Darling basin and they sent walls of floodwaters to downstream centres such as Condamine, Surat and St George. In relatively flat country it could take many more weeks for it to inundate parts of NSW further south.
North of the Great Dividing Range, there was havoc on two other river systems, the Burnett and the Fitzroy. On the Burnett, towns like Eidsvold, Mundubbera and Gayndah all suffered flooding and the waters finally made their way to Bundaberg where streets around the iconic distillery all went under. Further north still, tributaries of the Fitzroy started filling up. The Dawson River rose so high, the entire 450 people of Theodore had to be airlifted to safety. The Nogoa River reached record levels exceeding waters in Fairbairn Dam over 100 percent capacity. The dam could not save the nearby town of Emerald from intense flooding.
The swollen Nogoa, Dawson, Comet and McKenzie come together to form the Fitzroy in the largest river catchment to flow into eastern Australia. Sitting near its mouth, the large town of Rockhampton was the next Queensland settlement to bear the flood burden with the town closed off and the Fitzroy peaking around 9.4m last Wednesday.
Still the rain kept coming across Queensland. It was the Mary River's turn on the weekend, a fourth river basin flooding causing major flooding in Kilkevan, Gympie and upstream at Maryborough. Then the focus turned back south with the news of Toowoomba's horrific flash flooding yesterday so graphically captured in this incredible amateur video:
Back up on the ridge, towns like Warwick, Dalby and Chinchilla were getting ready to face the floodwaters again – this time possibly even higher than before. I saw myself the Balonne River at Surat 6kms wide on Saturday, after the first flooding. It is receding now but can expect to get even bigger with the next lot of floods predicted to arrive on January 18.
(Surat from the air last week PHOTO: Maranoa Regional Council)
Brisbane, with a quarter of Queensland's population, has been watching the growing the flood crisis with horror as it got steadily closer. The massive Wivenhoe Dam, built as a lesson from the devastating 1974 floods, was straining to keep its waters sitting at a seemingly impossible 175 percent full. It is pumping record amounts of water through its five gates but is still increasing. Meanwhile that released water is heading towards Ipswich and Brisbane. Allied to heavy local rain and king tides, it is preparing a muddy cocktail for the capital. Worse still if the waters ever overtop the dam, it would produce a deluge that would make the event in Grantham seem like a picnic.
That is the worst case scenario. But even more sober predictions make grim reading for Brisbanites. Premier Anna Bligh has conceded the effect will be the city's worst flood since 1893, with up to 40,000 properties at risk of being affected when the Brisbane River peaks on Thursday. Evacuation centres have been set up and the CBD shut down adding the already heavy economic impact of the crisis. It was no surprise to hear the Aussie dollar fell 2 cents today against the greenback.
Out here in Roma we are far from the world's stock markets and surprisingly free from flooding this time round. At the top of the Murray-Darling basis there is no upstream water to worry about and the rains have mostly missed us out. Nearby Surat is a different story but there is now a common thread here as both towns become isolated due to the flood crisis to the east. Supermarket shelves have emptied of basics and there is no chance of re-supplies for possibly weeks to come. This is the "invisible flood" where businesses suffer despite having no waters running through their premises. It makes for less emotive television but the impact is almost as severe. The Maranoa local government region is not yet a flood-declared council so it misses out on many types of flood relief. Many other western regions will face similar issues. Dealing with these issues will cause authorities many headaches in the months, and possibly years to come.
Hans Rosling's Gapminder shows world's health trends over 200 years
It's early days but it is encouraging to see ABC use the crowd sourcing platform Ushahidi to map the Queensland floods from the perspective of its audience. Ushahidi means testimony in Kiswahili and works best when there are lots of people witnessing the same large event. It was developed to allow people to map incidents when ethnic violence erupted in Kenya in late 2007 and proved influential in exposing fraud in the 2009 Namibian election.
It is great to see innovative tools used here and it reminds me of my favourite thing on the Internet right now. It is a four minute video by Swedish doctor and professor of statistics Hans Rosling produced by the BBC. Rosling has also developed remarkable statistics software called Gapminder which has a dazzlingly brilliant way of interpreting statistics in a way that is informative and compelling.
In this BBC video he shovels 120,000 sets of numbers through his program from world census surveys. He plots the data by countries of the world since 1810 on a graph where the x-axis is income per person and the y-axis is life expectancy in years. Near coordinates 0,0 are the sick and poor, and near n,n are the very healthy and wealthy. In fast forward, we can see 200 years of trends flashing in front of our eyes as two centuries of data is plotted on the graph.
In 1810 all the countries of the world are clustered in the lowest quadrant. The UK and the Netherlands were clearly better than every other country on both indicators, though they were still low with life expectancy around 40 years and average per capita income less than $3,000. By 1860 the Nordic countries Norway, Sweden and Denmark were leading the way with remarkable improvements in life expectancy by up to ten years. The UK was still the wealthiest in the world as it was about to enter Pax Britannica and its new colonies in Australia and New Zealand weren't far behind though life expectancy was low. The US was also catching up fast.
Fast forward another 50 years and Scandinavia was still the healthiest part of the world with average life expectancy pushing 60 years. New Zealand and Australia were finally seeing the benefits of their remarkable riches (second and third wealthiest in the world behind the US) to push life expectancy above 50. With the exception of colonial countries Canada and Argentina, the European countries were next highest on both indicators, though Japan was rising quickly. At the bottom, average life expectancy was just 22 years in the area now called Bangladesh and 23 in India.
By 1960, the discrepancy between rich and poor were quite pronounced. Most of Europe, North America, the colonial countries and Japan were achieving life expectancy of up to 70 years. The US and Switzerland were pulling away with average incomes up to $20,000. Small oil-rich states such as Brunei and Qatar were averaging over $40,000 though life expectancy was lower. China had slumped to the bottom as it suffered through the famine trauma of the Great Leap Forward. Yet the Chinese were still living ten years longer than they did in 1910. African countries were the poorest but surprisingly healthy with Lesotho people living to 47 years on just $365 (literally a dollar a day).
In 1985 Brunei and Qatar were still the wealthiest countries in the world and their citizens were living longer too. The Japanese were living an average 78 years making them the healthiest in the world. All the First World countries were clustered close behind. The developing nations were catching up quickly. Countries (or soon to be countries) such as Mexico, Latvia, Ukraine, Albania and even North Korea were averaging over 70 year lifespans. The five biggest Asian nations (China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh) were still poor but beginning to make a charge. Post-colonial Africa was bringing up the rear. Yet even in the poorest country, Mozambique on just $366, the average lifespan was three years higher than Britain in 1810.
In 2009, Japan is still the long-living nation in the world, now averaging 83 years. Its ageing population is presenting new challenges for economists as well as demographers. But most of the West is now averaging 80 years of lifespan with an average wage clustered around $30,000. Qatar remains the richest country in the world (a clue to why a country of 1.1 million has won the right to stage the World Cup in 2022). Most of Middle East, North Africa, East Asia and the Pacific were also living longer than 70 years. There were improvements at the bottom end too. War-torn Afghanistan was the least healthiest country in the world, living just 44 years even there both indicators have remarkably been improving since 1994. The equally war-torn DRC (Congo) is now the poorest country with an average salary of just $359 (less than the poorest in 1960) but the Congolese still live to 48 years.
Rosling notes that within countries there are massive discrepancies. If Shanghai was removed from China it would be in the top 1 percentile. Similarly Australians live for 82 years and enjoy an average wage of $34,327 but if the Indigenous population was measured alone, it would be much worse. Yet despite the wider discrepancies across the world that now exist, Rosling's imaginative graph makes a powerful point: the trend is worldwide for higher earnings and longer lifespans. Projecting out to 2060, it is clear all countries are pushing towards the mythical "n,n". Feeding all these long-living people in a world of catastrophic climate change is beyond the powers of this data, but it is certainly engrossing food for thought.
Silicon Valley alarmed by Hyderabad's Telengana statehood push
Hyderabad is currently the capital of Andhra Pradesh, the country's fourth largest state by area and fifth by population with 76 million people on the eastern seaboard. Hyderabad is also capital of Telengana, one of Andhra Pradesh three provinces. For 50 years or more there has been a large secession movement for Telengana centred in Hyderabad. The movement has been resisted by the other two provinces because Telengana is the richest of the three provinces with the state's only international city and providing 70 percent of the state's wealth. Those in favour are using precisely the same reasons to promote the split.
For political expediency, the state-ruling Congress Party initially voted in favour of Telengana but has been speedily backtracking as extremists on both sides have become more violent. The status of Hyderabad is at the heart of the dispute. It has become a Jerusalem, claimed as the capital by both sides. To complicate matters, Andhra Pradesh is a swing state nationally and its 42 members have been instrumental in successive Congress victories in New Delhi in 2004 and 2009.
Telengana has ten of Andhra Pradesh's 23 districts. Britain never administered the region and it was governed instead by as the Nizam's princely state of Hyderabad from 1719 until the end of the Raj in 1948. The Nizams had their own army, railways, postage and other insignia of independence and were one of just three princely states out of 562 that resisted Indian overtures to join the new union. The Muslim rulers took weapons from Pakistan but India launched a brutal four-day Operation Polo (so called because Hyderabad had more polo grounds than anywhere else in India). Polo crushed the Nizam resistance with many casualties in what was euphemistically called a "police action".
In 1956, India attempted to re-organise its states on a linguistic basis. Legislators merged the Telagu-speaking parts of Hyderabad with the Telagu-speaking parts of Madras to form Andhra Pradesh with Hyderabad city as capital. From the 1960s onwards opposition movements grew to overturn the merger based on claims of neglect and economy superiority of Madras. Demands grew stronger after India created three new states (Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh) in 2000.
The Economic Times said the Justice Srikrishna Committee is now looking at six options to deal with the Hyderabad problem. Its most favoured option is Number 6: creating a regional council for Telengana within the existing boundary. This one, they say will satisfy the most people. It would also "take care of the uncertainty over the future of Hyderabad as a bustling educational, industrial and IT hub/destination" that so worries Bloomberg.
When released, the full report may trigger further violence from separationist hardheads but Hari Kumar at India First-Hand doubts if secession would make life better for any of Andhra Pradesh's people. Hari said the people of Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand were no better off today than they were 10 years ago. "Complaints of neglect and other similar issues are not reasons for creating a new state or country," Hari said. "The solution to issues like neglect is to make sure that the system is more transparent."


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While Billy's first professional foray was in advertising with a degree from the Art Institute of Boston, he was drawn to the world of auctions at the age of 25 when he bought a $200 painting and sold it for an astonishing $18,000! From that moment on, he knew that his livelihood should be buying and selling goods.Charismatic, well-known and well-respected in his field, Billy, and his store, are staples of the antique and auction world. In order to keep his extensive collection fresh, Billy attends auctions around the world. He is passionate about the theatrics involved in negotiation and always ready to make a deal. Billy knows how to decipher the best from the rest and the phony from the real in a blink of an eye. He demonstrates his skill, and years of auction experience, as he travels the world looking to snatch up the best unclaimed personal property on Travel Channel's Baggage Battles. In this half-hour weekly series, Billy, along with other auction specialists, travel the world looking to snatch up unclaimed personal property in an attempt to turn huge profits.
Number of years in the auction game: 27 years
Number of auction wins: over 100
Biggest auction spend in dollars: $33,000
"In London at Sotheby's I spent $33,000 on regimental silver. I was overanxious and broke my golden rule "not to buy emotionally" and was taken to the cleaners; I lost $10,000 on that deal."
Biggest sale in dollars: $225,000
"I sold a William-Adolphe Bouguereau, who was a French academic painter. All my biggest scores have been in paintings and sculptures ... not everyone can spot a great work of art."
Biggest profit turned in dollars: $25,000
"I bought a collection of First Napoleonic Empire swords and helmets.
On one helmet alone, a French Cuirassier officer's used at the Battle of Waterloo, I made $25,000."


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Aging in Place: Self-Efficacy is a Psychological Dividend
Categories: Aging In Place, baby boomers, seniors
Self-Efficacy: A Person's belief in his/her ability to succeed in a particular situation.
Conquering any difficulty always gives one a SECRET JOY, for it means pushing back a boundry line and adding to one's liberty.
-Henri Frederic Ameil
Aging in Place and Self-Efficacy
Psychologist Dr. Albert Bandura, developed a theory that's useful not only in the field of psychology, but gerontology as well. The concept is called "Self-efficacy."
A WEAK self-efficacy includes the following:
~Avoid challenges
~Believe difficult tasks and situations are beyond your capabilities
~Focus on personal failings and negative outcomes
~Quickly lose confidence in personal abilities
A STRONG self-efficacy on the other-hand includes:
~View challenges and problems as tasks to be mastered
~Develop deeper interests in activities in which you participate
~You form a stronger sense of commitment to your interests and activities
~You recover quicker from setbacks and disappointments
Can you see how having a STRONG self-efficacy could benefit older adults who desire to remain home by choice?
Self-efficacy has 4 main sources; and for this post I will cover the first which is "mastery experiences." That is, when performing a task successfully, the potential for a Mastery Experience to stregthen one's sense of self-efficacy is realized. And aging in place affords the opportunity for mastery experiences.
This is a very real psychological dividend for seniors (and boomers) living independently. Custodial environments such as nursing homes, and often many assisted living facilities, limit the chances for mastery experiences. For some this is the goal, but there are those who seek out challenge and new experiences well into old age. It's for those souls who do not take the path-of-least-resistance, but instead choose to live fully to the end, that we are modeling for a new old age.
What is Self-Efficacy?


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TabsTabs v2
(words by Robert Smith, music by Laurence Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Porl Thompson, Boris Williams, and Robert Smith) This is the track that closes -Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me-, a total hopeful track for Cure fans alike (but I am not a critic so I will not go on). I have transcribed the basic guitar riff for the verses, the synth line for the verses as well as chorus, and the guitar chords for the chorus. The verse riff is: E -------------------------------------| B -------------------------------------| G -------------------------------------| D -------------------------------------| A ----1--1p0----0--3--3--1--6----------| E -3---------3-------------------------| (make sure you slide between the last two notes, meaning slide between fret 1 and 6). The synthesizer riff (fit for guitar) for the verse is: E -3----1-------------1--||-6------------------1--|| B -3---------4--3--4-----||-8----6----4--3--4-----|| G -----------------------||-----------------------|| D -----------------------||-----------------------|| A -----------------------||-----------------------|| E -----------------------||-----------------------|| (the double vertical lines in between means to repeat the riff) For the ~Fight! Fight! Fight!~ part, the guitar plays a D5 chord (with three staccato strums -hence the fight! fight! fight! part- it plays D5 for about a second after that, then plays the C5 for another second, then it plays C5 staccato three times. In between is the synth line. If you work on it, you will know what I mean. Synth lines inbetween -Fight! Fight! Fight!- D5 C5 C5 D5 E -------------- E ------------------| B -3h4-3---1---- B -1h3-4--4--3-3----| G -------------- .............. G ------------------| D -------------- D ------------------| A -------------- A ------------------| E -------------- E ------------------| That is basically it. The song ends on D5 and that is about it. Bye-bye for now.
Popular Cure tabs & chords
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↑ Back to top | Tablatures and chords are parodies/interpretations of the original songs. You may use it for private study, scholarship, research or language learning purposes only


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Charbon Rouge- Meat, grill & griddle
25, rue Marbeuf - Paris 8ème
Since the opening of Charbon Rouge, lovers of grilled meat finally have a place that is especially for them at the heart of the Champs-Elysées in the 8th district. Here, you can enjoy delicious wood-fired grilled meats in a refined, modern and welcoming setting. And not just any meat, the Charbon Rouge offers only the very best cuts! Hereford and Black Angus beef from Argentina and the USA, Charolaise beef from France and even the rarest Japanese Wagyu beef is available in this amazing steakhouse. It has a remarkable wine list from around the world.
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21, rue Bayard - Paris 8ème
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Executive chef of the restaurant Charbon Rouge
Denis Levy
Owners of the restaurant Charbon Rouge
Julien Cote-Colisson et Fernando Periche
Lunch : open 7/7
Dinner : open 7/7
Email :
Website :
See other restaurants


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Chris Brown kicked off the BET Awards '13 with an electrifying performance. Dressed in all black, the R&B superstar opened with "Fine China" and performed his new single "Don't Think They Know" as a photo of Aaliyah's face appeared on the screen behind him.
If that wasn't enough, Nicki Minaj came flying over the audience at Nokia Theatre to debut their new collaboration "Love More" off his upcoming album X, due July 16.


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Club Mabel members can save up to $30 per order. To receive an invitation to join, you must spend $150 over 2 or more orders. Follow the link above for more information.Click to Redeem
Get four huge 40% off deals on top-selling products during the Cyber Monday Sale at Mabel's Labels.No longer available
On 5/4, save 50% on Robot and Rocket Sticky Labels at Mabel's Labels.No longer available
Get 20% off book labels with this Mabel's Labels coupon code.No longer available


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David Gregory Tell Ted Cruz He Didn't "Move Anyone" Because There Are No "Protests In The Streets."
David Gregory is the perfect illustration of my maxim about liberals: liberals have no shame, no morals, no intellectual honesty, and all history to a liberal is revisionist in their favor. In a recent interview with Ted Cruz, Gregory illustrates every facet of this maxim by selectively quoting polls and conveniently forgetting the history of Obamacare to make his point that Cruz's filibuster had no effect, according to Gregory.
There are not protests in the streets arguing to do away with this law in the way that you'd like. Fifty-six percent in one poll this week, New York Times-CBS, said let's uphold the law. So I'm focusing on results. Your goal, and results. Where have you moved anything?
What Poll Results Actually Say About Obamacare And Why Gregory Ignores Those Results.
This is a whopper on two fronts. The first is on the poll Gregory cites. It's the first poll since…well, ever…that shows any sort of support for Obamacare, and Gregory is cherry picking biased results. The poll question that provided Gregory's "fact" was worded in a way designed to provide a certain result. Respondents were asked "what should Congress do about the health care law?" The two answers were:
- Uphold law and make it work (56% – the stat cited by Gregory)
- Stop law by cutting off funding (38%)
Where was the simpler and more direct option...simply to repeal? That option doesn't appear, because of two things. One, when polled that way, majorities favor repeal. Two, the media have frightened the public into associating "defunding Obamacare" with "government shutdown," which they have also frightened the public into thinking will be a huge disaster, even though it won't be one at all. Naturally when you give a poll response that involves Obamacare and "funding," the low information voter panics because they think Grandma won't get her Social Security check.
But Gregory also left out another result from this very same poll:
View of the Health Care Law:
Approve: 39%
Disapprove: 51%
Don't Know: 10%
Even in Gregory's cherry-picked, biased poll the results actually say that clear majorities want the law at least changed and real polls show that most people want it repealed entirely, as long as you don't associate that idea with a government shutdown. That's why Gregory and the Obama media continue to conflate "shutdown" and Obamacare.
Suddenly David Gregory Cares About Marching Crowds?
The other half of Gregory's argument, that there are no "protests in the streets," also shows his complete lack of integrity. Since when has David Gregory (or anyone in the media) ever decided that "protests in the streets" were the standard for whether or not Obamacare was a good thing?
They certainly didn't think so when this was happening:
Nancy Pelosi mocked those protests, and rubbed in her "victory" over them by doing this:
Did David Gregory demand that the Democrats stop Obamacare, since so many people were protesting in the streets? Did David Gregory tell Nancy Pelosi she was being unduly confrontational and provocative by throwing Obamacare in the protesters' faces? Not really.
Actually, he instead compared those protesters to terrorists and implied that protesting against the government was tantamount to violence against it.
I'm talking about the tone. I am talking about violence against the government. That's what this is synonymous with.
According to David Gregory, lack of "protests in the streets" means people want to keep Obamacare, but "protests in the streets" to stop or repeal Obamacare means the protesters are terrorists, racists and violent extremists. It's the old liberal "heads I win, tails you lose" logic.
While he trashes Ted Cruz for not inspiring protests in the streets, if Cruz had triggered those protests Gregory would instead trash him for causing protests in the streets, just as he trashed Republicans over protesters back in 2010.
Rigged polls with biased questions, cherry-picked results, intellectual dishonesty and selective historical memory…all the traits of the good liberal on display by David Gregory.


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(CNN) -- Rescuers were searching Friday for nearly 120 people unaccounted for after a passenger ferry sank off the east coast of Papua New Guinea, authorities said.
The 238 known survivors arrived by five vessels at the city of Lae. Many were undergoing medical tests, according to Capt. Nurur Rahman, rescue coordinator with the country's National Maritime Safety Authority.
About 350 people were aboard the MV Rabaul Queen when it sank Thursday, said Rahman.
The MV Rabaul Queen went down about 16 kilometers (10 miles) off Cape Fortification in the Vitiaz Strait after getting into trouble early Thursday, officials said.
The ferry is about 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) below the surface, Rahman said.
After an alert was sent out, boats and helicopters rushed to the scene to try to save scores of people left adrift at sea by the sinking. They had to deal with high winds and ocean swells.
Joanne Meehan of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority told CNN two of that country's aircraft were assisting in the search.
Australia is Papua New Guinea's closest neighbor minus Indonesia, with which it shares a border.
"I'm pleased that a large number of people have been rescued," said Kevin Rudd, the Australian foreign minister. "We're deeply concerned about those who are still missing."
Rudd said he didn't have any information on the nationalities of the passengers aboard the ship.
"This is a difficult operating environment," he said. "We are doing everything within our power."
The Rabaul Queen was ferrying passengers from the town of Kimbe on New Britain Island to Lae when it got into difficulty.
"Taking ferries is the most economic method of transport for people traveling between the islands and the mainland," Rahman told CNN. "What I understand from local media is that a lot of students and their parents were traveling to schools that recently reopened on the mainland."
Jurgen Ruh, the chief executive of Manolos Aviation Ltd. in Lae, was in one of the helicopters that helped with the rescue effort.
"I could see the survivors on the debris," he said, noting that the passenger ship had sunk completely by the time he reached the scene.
There were about 10 life rafts visible, each with roughly 10 people on them, the first time his helicopter flew overhead, he said. However, when the helicopter returned to the area after refueling, no more survivors were spotted.
The weather was likely to be a contributing factor in the ferry's sinking, Ruh said, as there were high winds at the time in what is a notorious area.
Papua New Guinea had a population of 6.7 million in 2010, the U.S. State Department says, with about 190,000 people living in Lae. Most of the population is scattered in small settlements across the state's many islands.
The largely Christian country is part of the Commonwealth and has Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. The bulk of the estimated 2,000 American residents in Papua New Guinea, are missionaries and their families, the State Department says.
CNN's Elizabeth Joseph, Karen Smith, Jethro Mullen, Phil Gast, Laura Smith-Spark and Judy Kwon contributed to this report.


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Chancellor's Christmas Card
Wise men passing No. 11. What does it mean?
Wise men passing No. 11. What does it mean?
'Leave the Gold but take that other shit with you!'
Two illegal immigrants make off with their ill-begotten hand-outs from the British taxpayer, whilst a third makes sure his freezing hands sob story is a good one, even though they don't look as if they need any help, and shouldn't be here anyway.
Meanwhile the lack of police officers in Downing Street shows that we really are all in this together, with Downing Street receiving the same non-existent service as ordinary Londoners!
We three khans of orient are
Fingerprint checks for us? Har! Har!
A few little bribes
And then our whole tribes
Are as British as you lot are
We three kings in Downing Street are,
Weirdo gits encountered so far:
Cam and Osborne, Clegg (the forlorn),
Straight off the Euro star.
Sark and Merkle want a fight!
Cam pissed them off – for once did right,
UK leaving? EU disbelieving,
Our future might be looking bright.
We three illegals from Afghanistan are
So much better off than you are
Free houses and money
So we can breed like a bunny
And a mobility car
Yes the whole smashing up of Social structures and cultures, so that the Political Elite can control the masses. What a Great piece of Propaganda that whole racism thing or feminism thing so the state can control the people.
Well done the Political elite for a great sham that has been sucked up by the Brain washed masses. Shame you ran out of money to support it, and now the real shit is going to hit the fan
Everything is the fault of the Euro.
Everything will be solved by bombing Iran.
Then Syria. Then Pakistan. Then China. Then Moscow.
And my favourite of all, Berlin, just because we can.
Shalom, and Happy Holidays!
Bravo Mad Frankie!
wee freak things of orient
We are grateful for anything Europe gives us.
From the 13/12/2011 edition of NN, Gillian Tett, Ann Pettifor and Louise Cooper discuss a number of economic charts and their function in relation to understanding the underlying causes of the current economic crisis. Osborne pay attention.
Why did this posting end up tagged to no 23 instead of tagged onto no 1 above? Dodgy blog software?
A group of over-excited women getting hysterical and pretending to know what they were talking about: rightly sent down the pecking order.
So are the BBC now gonna apologise for blindly supporting everything European? Are they fuck.
So are the BBC now gonna apologise for blindly supporting everything Eurobollocks? Are they fuck.
Gillian Tett saying (from memory) "how could anyone look at the Euro and ever think that it could work" had me snorting my horlicks down my shirt.
This was the very same lithpy drip who cheered the Euro to the rafters for a decade until it popped, who did the same for equities until they popped, who had to have the credit markets explained to her in mid 2007 just so she'd stop writing utter drivel, and who now is cheering on the printing press.
Of course the BBC just love her. She is being elevated to the status of that other plebian's guru, St Vince. The idea that this dozy bint understands global fixed income and should therefore be listened to is alarming.
They are being celebrated for their gender, not their wit. Their very presence as four woman experts challenges the patriarchal consensus of yore. I am womben, hear me roar!
Somehow, the doubling of public sector debt on an unlabelled graph is 'insignificant' and the attention drawn to it 'unfair'; nonsense.
Who the fuck is the deluded cow in the orange shirt, someone take her out and shoot her for the benefit of mankind.
So why has n't former Mrs Huhne told her husband what a crock of shite his views are on economics and his fanatical dream of a European dream. Huhne wanted us in the single Euro currency!! DId his wife tell him what a twat he was?
In brief , too much debt ran up through out the world on the belief that boom & BUST was a thing of the past
Now let's all think where that delusion was vomited into the conciseness
From the 12/12/2011 edition of NN, Gillian Tett, Richard Koo and Francis Fukuyama discuss Balance Sheet Recession and its implications for western economies in the current economic crisis. Osborne pay attention.
This wanker suggests that companies should be borrowing money when interest rates are low and not using the opportunity to pay off debt. Sounds like Gordon Brown economics to me.
The bit I liked was , well that's what we were taught in universtity ,no fkin wonder we are in deep crap, they can't think it out for themselves, experts pah!.
An economist with a catchphrase. Awight?!?
If you'er going to borrow you wanna know when & how much the return is gonna be and at what risk .
So that said , show me .
No its the taking of our daily sacrifice of £60m to Brussels, they are leaving nort coming!!
It's as meaningless as Osborne is.
Looks as if the "kings " are heading towards no 12 the last king has put his load down to make a snowball, presumably to to wang through the window on no 11, before heading towards towards no 12. I wonder who has his official residence at the 12, is it the foreign secretary oer Willy
That looks like a Matt (Pritchett) – similar style, anyway. No caption?
Magi Magi Magi Out Out Out
Very Good Jimmie
Now THAT'S funny, Jimmy!
Aye lad. You knocked that one in, for sure!
Nice one.
Maybe the third king is a LibDem and just wants to play!
Look at what one of 'em is making– is this some sort of veiled message about something that's about to happen?
It's salt I tell you, just salt.
The wise men are carrying gold, frankincense and myrrh, in that order. The bearers of precious gold and fragrant incense have gone past the door, leaving the one with the myrrh, which is used for embalming corpses. He has put down his myrrh for a moment while he conceals a half brick in a snowball, to make sure he can produce a corpse to embalm.
They could be carrying EU Bail out bonds
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!
They're probably Gordon Brown's "wise men", two years late and using Gordon's moral compass.
Fancy having to pay all that myrrh on Cameron's bung for saying no.
The last one has myrrhkel's xmas prezzie.
acoording to my nick robinsons global psositioning , drinky drinky shot moment, if sketching from press position , then they have alreay perambulated past no10 as well .
Brown one's dropped the gold..
Looks like he's cutting the snow with a credit card.
Did the BBC film that, is it frozen planet?
The first wise man is carrying all that's left of our gold reserves.
He's come to get money back off the empties.
It is the middle of the night and I need to poo
I wish the turtle would leave my botty
Funny, the turtle says the same about you.
civil servants sneaking off to fund the IMF bailout of europe, at least one is a loyalist
I dropped by guts
"No.11 said they'll pass on the gold and frankincense, but they'll take the myrrh!"
Its those eu wallahs disguised as the three wise men sneaking away with all our taxes.
Despite yesterdays mass abstention of LibDems from DUP Motion commending Cameron's Actions on Europe…Clegg has told those LibDems trying to break up Coalition that they would be finished as a party if there was an election tomorrow…"I don't intend to be the last leader of the Liberal Democrat Party he tells his MPs"
It means the King lives next door!!
Of course it does ! i think its funny and earns him brownie points at the same time .
Higgs boson discovery prompts drastic rethink over present approach.
Shh , I wish Cern would keep quiet, it'll give Euro politician's ideas on how to steal more money by taking away the money it pays in.
Now really is the time to understand, believe and confirm that we really never had any influence in Europe any way. They wanted our money of course, when the city was awash with funds, but now there are difficulties there, they lay their faults at the door of the City of London.
How all the politicians and prime ministers of this nation over these last 60 years,have squandered our finances, world influences and productivity to the Euro dream and well and truly fucked the man in the street; but you know, they really couldn't careless, you only have to look at the LibDems now, to confirm this, they do after all know best!
The cat is finally out of the bag, the Germans and the French only want a United Sates of Europe, they don't even want to pay off their debts either!
They are thick as shit, copying America will do no good, the dumb Americans think the Fed will save them and they are too big to fail but it can only stop a USA default at best, it doesn't stop them from being murdered on the markets and creditors. It's like dying with your best suit on, you may look good but your still dead no matter what way you want to cut it.
I have to agree.
The three wise men discovered that even a Myrrh cozy could not stop the thing freezing up and ending up ruined
well I found it funny
They are trying to buy some gold at rock bottom prices like they did a few years ago from McPrick
Thinks…"I'll just roll some snow around this house brick…"
1 They are in drag so must be Lib Dems
The one at the back is Simon Hughes about to attack Clegg and Cable (again)
Whatever's going on it makes more sense than Rich and Mark anyway.
I see that Thomas Cooke are seriously in debt and closing stores. How many more jobs will be lost before the government realises that the air passenger duty hikes are costing jobs in this country?
I know of many friends and family now who are flying long haul from Amsterdam now because it's cheaper. This tax is costing people their jobs, as does any tax, only low taxation can create jobs.
When will they ever learn?
How come other travel agents are doing just fine. Thomas Cooke have a bad business model. They should move more of their business online. The Customer is king, forget that and you go out of business.
Feckin Germans again init !
Why do people think that a shop front is a suitable way to sell holidays in the age of the internet? Getting rid of the stores will reduce costs and make the firm more competative.
Stupidity. Bill Gates saw it in a second.
Nostalgia. It was ever thus, thus shall it always be.
Timidity. Curse of everyone frightened of losing their job.
What a c'unt, last year they got seats in the house of lords.
The last one's sweeping up the mess left by Labour.
The saddest thing is, they will get in again due to this latest massive cock up.
Fifty quid for this lot !
That Brown must be fuckin mad !
It's Sarkozy, Merkel and Barossa having to go around the back to the tradesmans entrance. They are bringing grovelling gifts to Osbourne having already been to No.10.
Curiously, a tradition has developed amongst those seeking the favour of the EU of giving them presents during the period of the Trois Mages/Three Kings; it's a Goldilocks kind of affair; anything deemed too luxurious is refused, anything deemed too modest is raffled for charity to staff.
And then there's the gifts that are deemed 'just right'.
I see the new Egyptian government are planning on banning booze and bikinis at holiday resorts like Sharm El Sheik.
Don't forget to take your Burkah with you girls :-)
Coming to a town near you soon.
Beards are so 2009. Don't they know that Gordon and Sarah have moved out?
The last one is Billy Bowden following up behind.
Emma West today, tomorrow you.
I have already posted this further up but i like it so i'll post it again
We three illegal from Afghanistan are
So much better off than you are
Free houses and money
So we can breed like a bunny
And a mobility car
The Fiscal Union of Common Currency Users.
Gloves off, knuckle dusters on.
At least no ambiguity any more. Good.
Men in orange, with beards and sandals? Didn't know the three wise men were Lib Dems.
There aren't Three Wise Men in the FibDem cabal.
…or in the tory party..or labour or anywhere it seems.
Giles Brandreth (of all people) came up with a good truism recently.
As much as you despise your MP, remember your hatred and loathing is as nothing compared with their hatred and loathing of you.
Good to remember between elections.
This is my christmas card. I find it reflects my personality.
Off topic but am I alone in finding Stop the Cavalry the most fucking depressing christmas song ever? It's not even the lyrics but Jona Lewie's morose voice and the gloomy chords.
It's a reminder of Brown's time as chancellor when the country's gold, common sense and self-respect were given away.
Today ith the latht Prime Minithter'th Quethtionth of the year. I will be thtupendouth! I will dethtroy Cameron!
Unfuckingbelievable. Some politically correct moron in human resources at Cambridge University has written to all the dons to advise them not to shake hands with students in case they offend muslims. When will this insanity stop?
Dirty things students. This will be a health & safety issue given some religious spin.
I assume it is still alright to exchange bodily fluids with your students though ?
'The world renowned institution has sent out a directive to its admission tutors explaining that some people are culturally sensitive to the traditional style of greeting. They advise that "suitable body language conveys welcome just as well".
The missal sent out by the university's Cambridge University Admissions Office has caused anger and consternation among the dons who say it is treating them like "social misfits"."It seems to be totally bonkers," said a don who wished to remain anonymous."
To dons, lecturers, et al. Welcome to the loony world of professional grievance-mongering and offence-taking (backed up by euro-loon HR lawfare) which, after all, you yourselves had a role in creating through your irresponsible lefty inculcation. Did you think it'd end up any other way?
King Myrrh(vyn) is taking potshots at No 11.
He's already got all the gifts he needs. Lets head for the 99%.
"See, I don't know why it didn't work when Gordon Broon lived here, but you CAN roll a turd in snow AND it will glister"
Not much of a design, in my view. It should have Sarkozy and Merkel hanging one apiece from the lamp posts.
Star ..Planet .. Moon" DRONE ..Roll another
Camel Nav on the blink again………
Greens are UKIP for Young People | Telegraph
Short-Termism of CCHQ | ConHome
May Aide: CCHQ Are Being Misleading | Telegraph
Tories Planning For Second Election | Guardian
We Are Losing Cyber War | Fraser Nelson
Osborne Aide Lands Pay Rise | Mirror
The Sick Of It | Sun
UKIP MEP's Welfare Hypocrisy | Channel 4
Rise of Angela Merkel | New Yorker
May SpAd Removed From Candidates List | ConHome
Clodagh's Law | Press Gazette
The Economist asks Tony Blair about Wendi Deng:
"Mr Blair roundly denies any impropriety. Asked whether he was (at least) careless about his reputation, he says calmly that it is "not something I will ever talk about—I haven't and I won't", and then bangs his coffee cup so loudly into its saucer that it spills and everyone in the room jumps. But did he find himself in a tangle over his friendship with Ms Deng? A large, dark pool of sweat has suddenly appeared under his armpit, spreading across an expensive blue shirt. Even Mr Blair's close friends acknowledge that the saga damaged him—not least financially, since Mr Murdoch stopped contributing to Mr Blair's faith foundation and cut him off from other friendly donors in America."


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|Reference : DO PLACEBO BASED VALIDATION STANDARDS MIMIC REAL BATCH PRODUCTS BEHAVIOUR? CASE STUDIES
|Scientific journals : Article
|Human health sciences : Pharmacy, pharmacology & toxicology
|Bouabidi, A. [ > > ]
|Talbi, M. [ > > ]
|Bouklouze, A. [ > > ]
|El Karbane, M. [ > > ]
|Bourichi, H. [ > > ]
|El Guezzar, M. [ > > ]
|Ziemons, Eric [Université de Liège - ULg > Département de pharmacie > Département de pharmacie >]
|Hubert, Philippe [Université de Liège - ULg > Département de pharmacie > Chimie analytique >]
|Rozet, Eric [Université de Liège - ULg > Département de pharmacie > Chimie analytique >]
|Journal of Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Analysis
|Elsevier Science
|Yes (verified by ORBi)
|United Kingdom
|[en] Authentic batch sample ; Placebo validation standards ; validation methodology ; accuracy profile ; reconstituted validation standard
|[en] Analytical methods validation is a mandatory step to evaluate the ability of developed methods to provide accurate results for their routine application. Validation usually involves validation standards or quality control samples that are prepared in placebo or reconstituted matrix made of a mixture of all the ingredients composing the drug product except the active substance or the analyte under investigation. However, one of the main concerns that can be made with this approach is that it may lack an important source of variability that come from the manufacturing process. The question that remains at the end of the validation step is about the transferability of the quantitative performance from validation standards to real authentic drug product samples.
In this work, this topic is investigated through three case studies. Three analytical methods were validated using the commonly spiked placebo validation standards at several concentration levels as well as using samples coming from authentic batch samples (tablets and syrups). The results showed that, depending on the type of response function used as calibration curve, there were various degrees of differences in the results accuracy obtained with the two types of samples. Nonetheless the use of spiked placebo validation standards was showed to mimic relatively well the quantitative behaviour of the analytical methods with authentic batch samples. Adding these authentic batch samples into the validation design may help the analyst to select and confirm the most fit for purpose calibration curve and thus increase the accuracy and reliability of the results generated by the method in routine application.
|Researchers ; Professionals ; Students
|File(s) associated to this reference
Fulltext file(s):
All documents in ORBi are protected by a user license.


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Hotel Central
20,Place ahmad el bidaoui, ancienne medina, Casablanca, Morocco, Distance from city centre: 1.1km
Real Reviews
Real reviews from fellow travellers
These are trusted reviews from guests who have actually stayed here. We hope you find them helpful.
Note: we only give a property a rating once it has received a minimum of 3 reviews.
- Page:1/1
- " The shower in my room didn't work properly, and the floors were dusty, but the location is fantastic and the staff all very nice and helpful. "
- 29 Jul 2014 Anonymous Scotland
- " Great for a night or two. Trust what other people are writing about the hostel. If you are looking for a palace to stay while traveling this is not the place. Otherwise staff was very friendly and the hostel is centrally located. "
- 16 Jul 2014 Crystal USA
- " Bathroom was not clean. "
- 26 Apr 2014 Vilija Lithuania
- " good location and friendly staff. Other wise ok place "
- 17 Apr 2014 Iiro Finland
- " Hotel Central a pleasant surprise compared to my other Moroccan stays. Close to casa port train and an easy walk to Hassan II mosque and medina. Old fashioned charm; room was cute and had balcony overlooking the square, which has a post/ATM/restaurants and a place to buy snacks and pastries. Wifi worked in room; towels were provided; shower was hot and bathroom clean. Rooms a bit chilly, but clearlythat's the norm in January in Morocco. desk clerk was friendly but they lock the door early :P "
- 15 Jan 2014 Anonymous USA