text:
"So no matter how stressful your life can be with juggling family issues, relationships, career advancement, work, school, or any burden that life throws your way, cast it upon the Lord and He will sustain you," the colonel wrote.
It wasn't too longer after the newsletter was posted online before someone filed a complaint – lamenting that the colonel's words had caused great angst and offense.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation's Mikey Weinstein reached out to Air Force officials at the Pentagon, the Air National Guard is governed by Air Force rules, as well as the 180th Fighter Wing demanding they remove what he called "that odious and offending proselytizing commentary." more >>
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has recently published an essay on its website acknowledging that founder Joseph Smith had a teenage spouse. The founder of the Exmormon Foundation, however, says the essay is misleading, because Joseph Smith had more than one teenage bride.
In an essay about polygamy, the church noted the various wives that Smith married, acknowledging that at least one of them was not yet 15 when she married the religious leader.
Titled "Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo," the essay had a section specifically focused on Smith's marriages, listing those whom he wedded. more >>
An Augustinian monk named Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany, centuries ago on the last day of October.
As the 500th anniversary of the historic occasion is still a few years away, various groups are already overseeing ways and providing resources to celebrate the milestone.
Tom Macy, senior pastor at Faith Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, told The Christian Post in an earlier interview that he viewed Reformation Day as a better alternative to Halloween. more >>
Creation Museum CEO and President Ken Ham has responded to Pope Francis' much publicized comments earlier this week endorsing evolution and the big bang theory by arguing that the pontiff has "compromised biblical authority in favor of man's ideas in the area of origins."
"Pope Francis is not the first religious leader who has endorsed evolution and the big bang, but he is certainly one of the most influential," Ham wrote on his Answers in Genesis blog.
During an unveiling of a bust of Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on Monday, Francis said: "Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation." more >>
While most within the Southern Baptist Convention applauded the opportunity to openly discuss how Christians should respond to the growing cultural and political acceptance of gay marriage during a three-day conference hosted by the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, most in the LGBT community tracking the event were not so pleased.
Brandan Robertson, a spokesperson for Evangelicals for Marriage Equality and the director of The Revangelical Movement, attended the the conference in Nashville and told The Christian Post afterwards on Wednesday that although he felt welcome at the conference, a closing talk by Pastor J.D. Greear made him uncomfortable.
As a bit of background about his group, Robertson believes that EME is not compromising Christian beliefs and is instead focused specifically on gay unions receiving the same government recognition and rights as traditional married couples. more >>
A large Texas congregation that recently decided to disaffiliate from the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States over its increasing acceptance of homosexuality is suing to keep its property.
Windwood Presbyterian Church of Houston has been waging a legal battle to not have to pay to keep their church property after having left Presbyterian Church (USA) earlier this year.
The Rev. Kevin C. Rudolph, pastor at Windwood Presbyterian, told The Christian Post that the lawsuit dates back to 2008. more >>


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2012 Annual Meeting: Audio/Visual Support |
AFS will provide, in every meeting room, the following equipment ONLY: an LCD projector, a screen, a remote control, and a 15-pin VGA cable (the standard connection to the projector). AFS will also provide sound systems in all meeting rooms this year. Audio cabling will be provided to connect to the house speakers in the larger rooms, and to portable speakers in smaller rooms. One wireless internet connection will be provided for each meeting room. Log in information will be provided to the presenters only; it will be found with the projector and other equipment at the head of the room. Audience members will not have wireless internet access. It has always been AFS policy NOT to provide computers for presentations. Presenters using AV materials will need to provide a laptop, or bring their AV materials on another device, such as an iPod, that does not require a laptop and can connect directly to the projector. In many cases, these arrangements are best worked out at the session level. We strongly encourage you to: a. Contact your co-panelists about their audio-visual needs NOW. Chairs were asked in advance of the meeting to coordinate communication. b. Make plans to consolidate all audio-visual materials for the session that will require a laptop to one presenter's laptop (and possibly to a backup). c. If at all possible, have presenters using CDs or DVDs send those disks before the meeting to the presenter whose laptop will be used in the session, so that they can be tested on that laptop for compatibility issues. d. Make certain that you have a suitable adapter to hook the laptop to the projector, particularly if you will be using a Mac. |
3/13/2015 » 3/14/2015
"Peaks and Valleys": SEMSEC 2015 Annual Meeting
3/23/2015 » 3/28/2015
"Vernacular Religion, Folk Belief, and Traditions of the Supernatural" International Conference
3/25/2015 » 3/28/2015
2015 Society for Applied Anthropology: "Continuity and Change"
3/26/2015 » 3/28/2015
The Supernatural in Literature and Film

subset: commoncrawl


text:
�Knowing that I�ve just done something that will take decades off my parents� lives with worry, you�ll excuse me for not getting into the fa-la-la-la-la Yuletide spirit this year. . . . The only difference between Christmas 2001 and Christmas 2000 is that I don�t have a visit from Hope to look forward to. And Bethany has already packed on some major fetal flab. Oh, and now Gladdie doesn�t need to ask a bizillion questions about my boyfriend, because she�s already gotten the dirt from you know who.�
Jessica Darling is up in arms again in this much-anticipated, hilarious sequel to Sloppy Firsts. This time, the hyperobservant, angst-ridden teenager is going through the social and emotional ordeal of her senior year at Pineville High. Not only does the mysterious and oh-so-compelling Marcus Flutie continue to distract Jessica, but her best friend, Hope, still lives in another state, and she can�t seem to escape the clutches of the Clueless Crew, her annoying so-called friends. To top it off, Jessica�s parents won�t get off her butt about choosing a college, and her sister Bethany�s pregnancy is causing a big stir in the Darling household.
With keen intelligence, sardonic wit, and ingenious comedic timing, Megan McCafferty again re-creates the tumultuous world of today�s fast-moving and sophisticated teens. Fans of Sloppy Firsts will be reunited with their favorite characters and also introduced to the fresh new faces that have entered Jess�s life, including the hot creative writing teacher at her summer college prep program and her feisty, tell-it-like-it-is grandmother Gladdie. But most of all, readers will finally have the answers to all of their burgeoning questions, and then some: Will Jessica crack under the pressure of senioritis? Will her unresolved feelings for Marcus wreak havoc on her love life? Will Hope ever come back to Pineville? Fall in love with saucy, irreverent Jessica all over again in this wonderful sequel to a book that critics and readers alike hailed as the best high school novel in years.
MEGAN MCCAFFERTY has written for Cosmopolitan, CosmoGirl!, Glamour, Seventeen, ELLEgirl, Twist, Fitness, and Shape. She lives in New Jersey.
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Things to see and do - Mangalia
Leaving for Romania
Where to sleep?
Mangalia Hotel tips
Hotel Corsa from21 €
Book -
Sanatoriul Balnear si de Recuperare Mangalia from32 €
Book -
Hotel Atena from21 €
Mangalia Travel guide
Mangalia : Michelin's recommendations
The ancient city of Callatis was founded by the Greeks in the 6C BC and is today Romania's second port. Mangalia retains Byzantine and Greco-Roman remains (notably in the atrium of the Hotel President). The town's history is explained at the Callatis archaeological museum. Note the Sultan Esmahan mosque in the town centre, a monument from the Ottoman period.
Hotels Mangalia
Hotel Paradiso
Str. Matei Basarb, Nr. 3 RO - 905500 Mangalia
Prix Prices from : 43 €
Just 25 metres from the Black Sea in Mangalia, this hotel features an outdoor pool with sunbathing area and a playground. It offers free Wi-Fi and a beauty salon. All rooms at Hotel Paradiso have private bathroom with shower, air conditioning, mini..
Hotel Laguna
Faleza RO - 905500 Mangalia
Prix Prices from : 42 €
This seafront hotel offers a private beach with sunloungers and parasols and rooms with a balcony. Mangalia's harbour is 100 metres away. The yearly Callatis Festival takes place here. A flat-screen cable TV and work desk are standard room facilitie..
Hotel Atena
Statiunea Saturn RO - 905500 Mangalia


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The Vintage Pattern Selector
The Sewer's Guide to Choosing and Using Retro Styles
Style-conscious women who sew their own dresses, as well as design students, fashion designers, and enthusiasts for vintage clothing styles will welcome this practical new book. It presents advice and instruction on sewing techniques, plus information and ideas on mixing and matching clothing items from different decades of the twentieth century as a way to make a personal fashion statement. Here are-- Style options that draw on decades of experimentation with hemlines, color styles and silhouettes Information on suitable fabrics, colors, and prints for each style Topics categorized by clothing items, making it easy for readers to match styles from different eras to create a personalized wardrobe An enclosed CD-ROM with more than 15 patterns given in four sizes, and representing different vintage styles Patterns representing fashions from the 1930s, '40s, 50s, and 60s include blouses, skirts, tunic tops, coats, hats, and much more. The book features more than 300 illustrations in color and black and white that capture the looks and the atmosphere of those past decades.
Hauppage, N.Y. : Barrons Educational Series, 2013
1st ed. for North America and the Philippines
Branch Call Number:
646.404 B2619v 2013
192 p. :,ill. (chiefly col.) ;,25 cm. +,1 CD-ROM (4 3/4 in.)


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text: Marshawn Lynch sports gold cleats for Super Bowl warmup... Marshawn Lynch sports gold cleats for Super Bowl warmup... Spurs' Tim Duncan sues financial advisor for more than... Spurs' Tim Duncan sues financial advisor for more than... Space Jam Inspired Art Exhibition Hits NYC Space Jam Inspired Art Exhibition Hits NYC SMU notified of allegations by NCAA SMU notified of allegations by NCAA Chargers WR Keenan Allen potentially out for rest of th... Chargers WR Keenan Allen potentially out for rest of th... Jon Lester featured on this week's Sports Illustrated c... Jon Lester featured on this week's Sports Illustrated c... Marcus Mariota shines on Letterman Marcus Mariota shines on Letterman Close Tweet0 Share0 Comment0 Share0 Share0 Stumble It0 Print0 More SI Wire Lakers GM: Mike D'Antoni 'more suited' to coach than Phil Jackson by Brian Kotloff Email Posted: Wed Nov. 14, 2012 Mike D'Antoni signed a three-year contract to become the Lakers' head coach on Monday. (Glenn James/Getty Images)Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said the organization hired Mike D'Antoni rather than Phil Jackson as head coach "almost completely" for basketball reasons, countering speculation that Jackson's lofty contract demands led the Lakers to choose D'Antoni as a secondary option."It revolved almost completely around the personnel that we had on the team and the style of play that we saw going forward for the team," Kupchak said, according to ESPN.com. The story also states that "Jackson was the first candidate the Lakers met with following the dismissal of Mike Brown on Friday," but the team never offered Jackson the job.The Lakers hired D'Antoni on Monday in a move that surprised many after reports surfaced that the team was attempting to woo Jackson out of retirement.Los Angeles point guard Steve Nash, currently out with a leg fracture, thrived in D'Antoni's fast-paced, pick-and-roll-heavy offense while the two were with the Phoenix Suns from 2004-08. Kupchak expressed skepticism that the team's "newer players" would similarly thrive in Jackson's renowned Triangle offense that won him 11 championship rings, including five with the Lakers. Although reports said that D'Antoni could hire former Blazers head coach Nate McMillan as an assistant, D'Antoni told the Los Angeles Times that he would only add his brother Dan, while the rest of the staff will remain intact. Promoted Stories Comments


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"Networx gets a tentative thumbs-up"
"VOIP's second act"
DISA January, 2004 VoIP Memo
Nortel JITC
N.E.T. Federal VoIP Iraq/Kuwait
Defense Information Systems Agency officials have completed a study that recommends shifting a large portion of Defense Department communications, including phone calls, to a converged network based on IP.
Depending on how DISA officials structure and contract for this converged network, it could siphon voice traffic off existing and planned federal governmentwide contracts as DOD military and civilian employees move from switched voice networks to voice-over-IP calling. Voice over IP would treat a phone call as a set of packets transmitted via the Internet or closed IP-based networks operated by DISA, analysts and vendors said.
The agency's top-down study is catching up with a technology already embraced by DOD commands, including Central Command (Centcom), which oversees
military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to vendors who have supplied equipment to Centcom and other commands.
Cisco Systems Inc. has supplied 8,000 voice-over-IP phones to Centcom for use by forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, said Ed Carney, vice president and general manager of Cisco's Government Systems Unit. The company has installed more than 130 voice-over-IP networks for DOD worldwide, Carney added.
John Winters, vice president of federal sales at Network Equipment Technologies Inc., said the company, under a Centcom contract, has installed 44 systems in Iraq and Kuwait and more than 22 in Afghanistan that convert calls from secure telephones with built-in encryption to voice-over-IP calls.
Joe Boyd, DISA's director of network services, discussed the IP convergence plans last week during the Army Directorate of Information Management conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He did not provide many details on the study and officials declined to provide a copy of it.
Boyd said some DISA officials did not want to completely convert all DOD networks to IP. He said they wanted to keep sensitive networks, such as nuclear command and control systems, out of an IP-converged environment, citing the prevalence of denial-of-service attacks on the Internet as a reason to be cautious about convergence.
To mitigate these security concerns, officials at DISA's Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., quietly started testing and certifying voice-over-IP hardware for use on department networks this winter.
In February, JITC certified voice-over-IP switches and routing gateways from Nortel Networks Ltd. In March, the command certified voice-over-IP PBX systems from Avaya Inc., including a version that provides some of the same military features as those used in DOD's switched voice networks. In July, command officials approved a voice-over-IP PBX from Sphere Communications Inc.
Carney said Cisco personnel finished testing the voice-over-IP equipment last week. Bob Cooil, director of integrated solutions at Lucent Technologies' Government Solutions division, said they also finished testing voice-over-IP products at JITC last week. DISA's goal is to "get to a single integrated network with voice just becoming another application on a large data network," he said.
Jim Payne, senior vice president and general manager for government services at Qwest Communications International Inc., called voice over IP a sound and stable technology that works, but he said he wonders about DISA's approach.
Qwest officials said DISA officials should consider developing — with industry's help — an end-to-end voice-over-IP network rather than buying its own voice-over-IP hardware, which would require extensive maintenance, software support and upgrades. The company is a network subcontractor on DISA's Global Information Grid-Bandwidth Expansion (GIG-BE) and is also a local service provider under the General Services Administration's FTS 2001 telecommunications contract.
Payne said he also wonders about the potential impact a DISA converged network would have on the FTS 2001 network, which carries the bulk of DOD's voice traffic.
John Johnson, assistant commissioner for service development at GSA's Federal Technology Service, said he had been unaware of the IP convergence study. However, he said, it "makes good technical sense to migrate DOD voice traffic to a data network."
Johnson added that DOD networks, including GIG-BE, do not have the nationwide reach that FTS 2001 networks have. The department's networks are not ubiquitous, he said, and GSA officials would like to help them gain that reach.
He said that Networx, GSA's FTS 2001 follow-on contract, could include voice-over-IP service.
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FCW investigated efforts by the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to improve a joint data repository on military and veteran suicides. Something as impersonal and mundane as incomplete datasets could be exacerbating a national tragedy.
Despite delays, the program is at a critical point for determining the ultimate impact of cloud technology in the government space.
In an interview with FCW, the Department of Veterans Affairs' chief technology officer talks about overhauling the digital experience for VA customers.
The National Information Exchange Model's usefulness extends far beyond its origins in justice and law enforcement.


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Easter devotions are here! Sign up for our Lent and Easter email devotions.
1:12 save your own life and the life of your son. Since contenders for the throne in the ancient Near East sometimes sought to consolidate their own positions by eliminating all potential rivals, Nathan's advice conveys a sense of urgency (cf. 15:29; 2 Kin. 10:11; 11:1).


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Thursday, 08 Oct 2009 02:56 PM
Faced with a need to scrounge for revenue to fund his plan for healthcare, President Barack Obama and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus have come up with a brilliant new idea: Tax the sick!
In a new amendment to the healthcare bill, they propose to limit the deductibility of medical expenses on income taxes.
Now, taxpayers may deduct any medical expenses that exceed 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income. Obama and Baucus want to raise that threshold to 10 percent as long as the taxpayer is under age 65.
Eight million Americans are sick enough and poor enough that they have to pay more than 7.5 percent of their income in medical expenses. And it is these folks that the liberals Obama and Baucus plan to tax. Six million of them earn less than $75,000 a year!
For a family earning $75,000 a year and facing out-of-pocket medical bills of $7,500, this proposal would cost them about $600 a year in extra taxes.
And let's remember who it is that they are taxing. This proposal affects people whose incomes are so limited and whose medical costs are so high that they exceed 7.5 percent of their pre-tax income.
Their proposal literally hopes to raise $20 billion over 10 years by taxing sick people.
The Democrats defend their proposal by saying that it would discourage health care spending. But nobody deliberately spends 7.5 percent of their income on medical costs unless they are pretty sick and needy.
Obama and Baucus have singled out the sickest among the middle class for this heinous tax. (The poor will not have to pay it because they are eligible for Medicaid). Originally, the Democrats continued their war on the elderly by proposing to tax everyone who spends more than the 7.5 percent threshold on medical costs. But they retreated when it became clear that 6 million elderly would be hit with the tax. Now they just sock it to 8 million sick, middle income Americans.
This tax, and their desire to cut Medicare and Medicaid by $500 billion, makes Obama and Baucus unlike any Democrats I have ever known. Democrats, at least when I worked for Clinton, defended the elderly and the sick rather than cut the former and tax the latter.
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Boston Firefighters
Boston Firefighters Reach Tentative Labor Deal With City
The city of Boston has reached a tentative labor contract with its firefighters union, marking the first time since 2001 that the two sides have struck a deal without arbitration.
Malden Welding Company Linked To Deadly Beacon Street Fire
Sparks from a welder's torch are believed to have ignited the blaze which claimed the lives of two Boston Firefighters.
NightSide – Rich Paris and Bob McCarthy
Boston Firefighters Say Thanks.
So often we are jarred into place and forced to reflect on life and just how rough it can be.
Funeral Arrangements Announced For Fallen Boston Firefighters
The funeral arrangements have been announced for the two Boston firefighters killed while battling a Beacon Street blaze, last week.
Tom Brady, Boston Athletes Mourn Fallen Firefighters
There has been an outpouring of support from the Boston sports community after two firefighters were killed in a 9-alarm fire in the Back Bay.
Boston Firefighters Battle 4-Alarm Blaze
Multiple buildings were on fire when officers responded.
Chinatown Building Evacuated Due To Structural Concerns
Firefighters discovered two support columns missing inside a building on Harrison Ave.
Boston Firefighters Battle Snow, Flames In Dorchester
Boston firefighters had to battle snowy conditions at a fire in Dorchester on Saturday.
Boston Firefighters Rescue Two From Marlborough Street Blaze
The fire is believed to have started in the basement of a four-story apartment building.


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Winston Peters to stand in Northland by-election
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text:
Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Increase in rental-unit construction takes pressure off
The light at the end of the tunnel is getting a little brighter for Manitoba apartment-seekers, although it's still far from blinding, according to the results of the latest market survey by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
In its Spring Rental Market Survey report released on Thursday, the agency said the overall apartment-vacancy rate in Manitoba and four of its six largest cities, including Winnipeg, inched a little higher over the winter.
It said Manitoba's rate climbed to 1.8 per cent in April from 1.6 per cent in October and 1.2 per cent in April of last year.
And the rate for the Winnipeg Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), which includes Winnipeg and 10 neighbouring municipalities, rose to 1.9 per cent from 1.7 per cent in October and 1.2 per cent in April 2012.
The increases over the winter in the other urban centres ranged from 0.9 per cent to 1.6 per cent. The only city to see its vacancy rate drop was Portage la Prairie, where it fell to 3.6 per cent from 7.3 per cent last October.
But 3.6 per cent is still a lot better than it was in April of last year, when it only 0.5 per cent.
Dianne Himbeault, CMHC's senior market analyst in Winnipeg, said the CMHC still expects Winnipeg's vacancy rate to climb above 2.0 per cent next year for the first time in more than a decade.
"The (pattern of) slow, incremental rises will hold," she said, adding the vacancy rate is expected to reach 2.1 per cent by October of next year.
Himbeault has said it's difficult to say what would be considered a healthy vacancy rate for Winnipeg. But it's more than two per cent, she added.
The CMHC said a combination of factors are nudging Winnipeg's vacancy rate higher.
They include more rental units being built -- 557 of them between April of last year and April of this year -- more renters becoming homeowners and slower population growth in the last half of 2012.
Manitoba's vacancy rate is changing due to the same factors, though an increased outflow of Manitobans to other provinces has also been cited as a cause of more rental units becoming available.
The upswing in apartment construction has been one of the few pieces of good news for local renters in recent years. At least 800 new units have been added in Winnipeg in each of the last four years, including 844 in 2012.
But when you have a rental universe of more than 50,000 units, 800-plus new units isn't enough to produce a big change in the vacancy rate from one year to the next, Himbeault said.
B.C.-based Broadstreet Properties Inc. has been one of the most active apartment builders in Winnipeg over the past decade and it has two more projects on the go this year.
They are a 112-unit complex in the Bridgwater Forrest housing subdivision, and a 160-unit complex at the corner of Peguis Street and East Concordia Avenue.
Broadstreet's development manager, Kris Mailman, said the company hopes to tackle another new project in 2014.
"But we have to find a site before we can do anything," he said. "We're actively looking right now."
Although the vacancy rate is rising, Mailman said the increases haven't been significant enough to deter Broadstreet from building more new rental units.
CMHC said vacancy rates aren't the only thing on the rise in Manitoba. The combination of low vacancy rates and strong demand have also been driving up rental rates.
For example, the average monthly rental rate for a two-bedroom apartment in Manitoba rose by 3.5 per cent to $912 in April from $876 in April 2012.
In Winnipeg, it increased by 3.6 per cent to $939 from $901.
Although the provincial rent-control guideline for 2013 allows only a one per cent rent increase, Himbeault said there are a number of exceptions that allow for larger increases. For example, units renting for more than $1,140 a month are exempt from the guideline, as are units that have been extensively renovated.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 21, 2013 B4
Updated on Friday, June 21, 2013 at 7:18 AM CDT: changes headline, adds photo
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Winning raffle numbers 6654144 and 6654148, please contact Portsmouth
TONIGHT: Cult Classic: The Goonies - Portsmouth
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Welcome to the Hotel Transylvania, Dracula's lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free to be the monsters they are without humans to bother them. On one special weekend, Dracula has invited some of the world's most famous monsters - Frankenstein and his wife, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, a family of werewolves, and more - to celebrate his daughter Mavis's 118th birthday. For Drac, catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem - but this could come crashing down when one ordinary guy stumbles on the hotel and takes a shine to Mavis. In 3D at select locations.
Rated: PG
Starring: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg
Directed by: Genndy Tartakovsky
Run Time: 1 hr. 31 mins.
Released by: Sony Pictures
Official Site


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We stayed in Riad La Terrasse des Olivers for 4 nights the end of January we were welcomed by Ruschida who served us mint tea whilst we waited to be introduced to the manager Jacques, he was so helpful and instructed us about getting about the Medina and the Souk. We had dinner twice on the terrace which had been cooked with fresh vegetabes fruit & meat, absolutely delicious and the breakfast was excellent. Jacques and his staff Ruschida, Malika, Youseff & Brahim could not do enough for us whilst we were there, we loved Marrakech but after a busy day sightseeing it was a pleasure to return to the Riad with its tranquil and peaceful atmosphere..... the room was beautifully decorated very clean and comfortable. Hopefully will get back to Marrakech and would most definitely stay at this Riad..... P.S. we arranged with Jacques to be dollected at the airport on our arrival and it was most convenient.
- Official Description (provided by the hotel):
- Guest house in the heart of the Medina of Marrakech, in the vibrant neighbourhood of Bab Doukkala and easily accessible by taxi, nearby the fabulous Majorelle Gardens and 15 minutes away from the main square Jamaa el Fna, Eric and Olivier invite you to enjoy the treasures of their riad. All the Moroccan craftworks are represented: from the sculpted plaster ceilings, over the various coloured tadelakts to the intricate zouak paintings and finely carved zelige... all this assuring you an authentic and unforgettable experience. ... more less
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- Also Known As:
- Riad La Terrasse Des Oliviers Hotel Marrakech


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Subhashree Ganguly (Bengali: শুভশ্রী গাঙ্গুলী, born 3 November 1989 )[1] is a leading Bengali actress in calcutta based Bengali Cinema at Tollywood. She has been getting accolades for her Oriya films also. She was a winner of Fairever Anandalok Nayikar Khonje.[2][3][4]She made her Debut in oriya films with Movie Mate Ta Love Helare opposite Anubhab Mohanty and Debut in Bengali Films with Movie Pitri Bhumi as sister of Jeet.[5]
Who is Hollywood's sexiest actress?


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Inexact title. See the list below. We don't have an article named Awesome/TheKurosagiCorpseDeliveryService, exactly. We do have:
If you meant one of those, just click and go. If you want to start a Awesome/TheKurosagiCorpseDeliveryService page, just click the edit button above. Be careful, though, the only things that go in the Main namespace are tropes. Don't put in redirects for shows, books, etc.. Use the right namespace for those.


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Over the next nine days, we'll be featuring each of the ten titles from this year's Best Translated Book Award poetry shortlist. Click here for all past write-ups.
Poetry judge Matthew Zapruder — poet, translator, academic, and co-editor of Wave Books — wrote the review below. I'm running another of his write-ups tomorrow, as we work our way through the poetry finalists.
The poems in In Such Hard Times: The Poetry of Wei Ying-wu feel strangely connected to our current historical situation. The struggle of this individual poet to find himself, personally and spiritually, through his poems, feels like a contemporary search. Like other T'ang Dynasty poets (Li Po and Tu Fu and many others) Wei Ying-wu writes to his friends, and wonders what he is going to do with his life, why he is living and working the way he is. He is caught between the needs of the world and his spiritual impulses. He wonders and despairs. Yet somehow, even more than Tu Fu and Li Po, whose poems are deservedly beloved in their various translations, Wei Ying-wu in particular feels like our T'ang poet: the one who most directly connects to the spirit of our time, today.
English translations of Chinese poets of the T'ang dynasty period (618-907 A.D.), by Ezra Pound, Kenneth Rexroth, Gary Snyder, David Hinton, David Young and many others have played a major role in the development of contemporary American poetry. The T'ang was perhaps the greatest era of poetry writing in human history. And the addition of another significant translation would be, in purely historical terms, a major event. The fact that these poems are translated with such clarity, unassuming erudition, good humor, precision and just plain old skill by Red Pine (aka Bill Porter) is unsurprising, given the translator's previous output, including a translation of the canonical anthology of Chinese Poetry Poems of the Masters, as well as poems by Cold Mountain, several important Sutras, and an edition of the Tao Te Ching. And these new translations are nothing short of a poetic revelation.
The last five days of the eleventh-century Icelandic politician, writer of sagas, and famous murder victim Snorri Sturleleson (the Norwegian spelling, Snorre, is preserved in the book) make up Thorvald Steen's most recently translated historical fiction, The Little Horse. Murdered. . .
We all know Paris, or at least we think we know it. The Eiffel Tower. The Latin Quarter. The Champs-Élysées. The touristy stuff. In Dominique Fabre's novel, Guys Like Me, we're shown a different side of Paris: a gray, decaying. . .
One hundred pages into Birth of a Bridge, the prize-winning novel from French writer Maylis de Kerangal, the narrator describes how starting in November, birds come to nest in the wetlands of the fictional city of Coca, California, for three. . .
At 30, the Mexican writer Valeria Luiselli is already gathering her rosebuds. Faces in the Crowd, her poised debut novel, was published by Coffee House Press, along with her Brodsky-infused essay collection, Sidewalks. The essays stand as a theoretical map. . .
Fantomas Versus the Multinational Vampires: An Attainable Utopia (narrated by Julio Cortázar) is, not disappointingly, as wild a book as its title suggests. It is a half-novella half-graphic novel story about . . . what, exactly? A European tribunal, Latin. . .
Marie NDiaye has created a tiny, psychological masterpiece with her Self-Portrait in Green. In it she explores how our private fears and insecurities can distort what we believe to be real and can cause us to sabotage our intimate relationships.. . .
Reading a genre book—whether fantasy, science fiction, crime, thriller, etc.—which begins to seem excessively, stereotypically bad, I have to make sure to ask myself: is this parodying the flaws of the genre? Usually, this questioning takes its time coming. In. . .


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The hotel is in the middle of quiet village. Ideal for a romantic getaway. All rooms are beautifully decorated and no two are alike. The staff were attentive. The jacuzzi at extra charge but worth it. The walks around the area are very nice and you can also go mountain biking or visit the nearby monastery Paular or bathing in... More
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- Also Known As:
- La Posada Del Campanario Spain/Rascafria


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senior bowl photos
South squad wide receiver Jeremy Kerley (84) dives into the end zone to complete a 23-yard touchdown during the fourth quarter of the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. Kerley's score clinched a 24-10 victory for the South.
North squad players line up on the line of scrimmage during practice for the Senior Bowl at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama.
LaFell was rated the top receiver by some scouts going into the 2009 season, but his draft ratings have been impacted by a combination of injuries and the inability to impress pro scouts. He rejected an invitation to the Senior Bowl because he didn't want to aggravate a knee injury from the Capital One Bowl. Then he was unimpressive at the combine, where his best 40 time was 4.58 seconds. But before all that, he certainly had the appearance and some of the productivity of a big pro wide receiver prospect. There have always been concerns about his lack of quickness and difficulty separating from defenders consistently, but he often compensated with long arms and strong hands. His college productivity was decent with career totals of 175 catches, 2,517 yards and 25 touchdowns.
Injuries and academic problems limited his production in college. But Cook is expected by many scouts to showcase his considerable athletic ability in the NFL, where he might be moved to safety. He validated his speed and explosion at the combine with a 40-yard time of 4.44 and a vertical jump of 37 inches. But considering his size, he was less than stellar on the bench press, where he hoisted 225 pounds seven times. He has great size, excellent speed and looked good as a safety in Senior Bowl practices before being sidelined with a groin injury.
South defensive back Patrick Robinson can't get to the football during the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. The North squad defeated the South 31-13.
Central Michigan quarterback Dan LeFevour (13) and Wisconsin tight end Garrett Graham stretch before Senior Bowl practice in Mobile, Ala. LeFevour and Graham will play for the North squad.
South squad receiver Anthony Hill, left, of North Carolina State, catches the ball in front of defender Chip Vaughn of Wake Forest during practice for the Senior Bowl in Fairhope, Ala. The Senior Bowl, which showcases the top senior NFL draft prospects, will be played on January 24.
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Minority Report
News: The 2002 Tom Cruise sci-fi thriller, about law enforcers who can predict crime before it happens, is to be developed into TV series by 20th Century Fox
Open thread: In a move reminiscent of Minority Report, Tesco is to install facial recognition screens to target you with tailored adverts
John Patterson: From Enemy of the State to Eagle Eye to Minority Report, US films have accustomed us to the idea that we are constantly being watched
(Retail and DVD, Fox Cert 12)
After Minority Report and Total Recall, Woo set to direct latest tale based on late sci-fi author's writings
Best film award for Minority Report as stars turn out for LA ceremony
Futuristic technology rivals Tom Cruise as the real star of Minority Report. But will we ever see any of the gadgets featured in the movie? Neil McIntosh and Jack Schofield report.
Peter Bradshaw: It is a treat to be in the hands of Spielberg, a director who can deliver such a substantial, ambitious and high-IQ piece of entertainment
Plus: Kidman goes to the dogs for von Trier; Kathy Bates lives it up in About Schmidt; Jason Alexander gets shallow for the Farrelly brothers; Jude Law to take a bite of Hannibal?
Plus: Judi Dench back with Lasse Hallstrom for The Shipping News; Peter Falk to star in BBC version of The Lost world


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They were also complaining on how the keep leaking and peeing through diapers! I thinks a no brainier. What do you ladies think?
Do you change your babies diaper at night?
i absolutely do- not worth it not to....if i didn't change him he would get rashy and red (plus he still poops every time he eats) so i'd rather wake him up and get him back to sleep after.....however, my LO slept through the night l ast night- 8 hours, whohoo!!!
A and J Happily married since July '08
Beautiful Baby Boy, Tyler, born 12/9/11
One beautiful Furbaby, Ellie (01/09)
~ Dr. Puff ~
Hi i am Nadia (34) wife to Richard (37)
Madison 1-11-02 (9)
Mason 6-26-06 (5) Carrie 12-12-11
Unswaddling, diaper change, re- swaddling really stumulates her and she is usually up for another hour and a half when I do this. I only change her diaper if she has a poopy or she's soaked through. Otherwise I let her be. And that doesn't make me a bad mom.
~ Dr. Puff ~
i dont change the diaper unless LO wakes up. if he wakes up, we get clean pants before even eating
To the moms making a big deal out of not changing in the night, what's your plan when your child starts STTN? Obviously they'll be wetting their diapers then, but I assume you wouldn't want to risk waking them to change the diaper then.
loving wife (4/17/04) mommy to one adorable little girl (4/111/10) and another on the way (12/12/11)
I change him after every feeding, most times if he doesn't wake up in the middle of the night neither do I......
If it ain't unconditional, i'll pass
Tiffany & Matt happily married on 09/02/07
Alexis (Lexi) Noelle born on 12/06/11
Noahsmommy, seriously? Every baby is different and every mom is different on top of that. I am a single, working mom with a 6 1/2 year old & the new LO. By the end of the night, I am exhausted! Also, LO is the type who will feed in the middle of the night & go right back down but as soon as the diaper change process starts he is wide eyed & it can take an hour (sometimes longer) to get him back down. I do, of course check his diaper & if he isn't soaked & I can tell he's just pee'd a couple times I'll let it go. He's had no issues with diaper rash & he sleeps comfortably which is all that really matters. If he was having issues then of course I'd change the way I do things but for now this is what works for us.You need to not knock people because what works for you doesn't always work for others!


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Community Profile
Functions performing the Berkeley Wavelet Transform and its inverse
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I want to use the DAQ toolbox and sound cards for multichannel data I/O. I need 6 analog outputs (which are actually for sound)...
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Tom, Many thanks for your detailed reply, which I'm now exploring. Ben
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Can anyone explain why Matlab's gamfit blows up when trying to fit a data set containing zero values? For example, the followin...


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- The Church and justice in voting
- STV would help solve the devolution problem
- Voting dissatisfaction
- Reports of the death of electoral reform have been greatly exaggerated
- A lesson from Rotherham
- MPs report tomorrow
- Government Review nails accusation against STV
- "How do we get rid of you?"
- STV v other PR systems
- STV Constituencies (Save money, avoid controversy, more stability, longer MP/constituents relationships)
What are elections for?
Submitted by editor on Sat, 09/11/2013 - 13:51Contributed by Peter Morley:
There have been several reports following Paxman's interview with Brand, and now Clegg has added his accusation that as Paxman earns his living from politics he shouldn't sneer at it.
Clegg says correctly that politics is about the way we decide how we pay taxes, support our hospitals and schools, whether to go to war and how to deal with climate change. That is surely too important for Brand and Paxman to discourage people from voting.
But Brand and Paxman do not seem to understand how British elections work.
We do NOT elect our Prime Minister or our Head of State, the Queen. We do not even elect which party forms the Government. We elect individuals to represent our constituencies in the House of Commons. But our voting system puts the country in the hands of the 40 or so "marginals" where the MPs elected by of a very small minority – the "swing" voters – decide which party forms the Government and thereby who becomes Prime Minister.
That is not the effect of representative democracy. It is the effect of first past the post – an out date and pernicious voting system.
Instead of abstaining and regarding elections as immaterial, Brand and Paxman would do well to learn more about the benefits of STV and then campaign for it openly on their respective programmes. Now that really WOULD switch the public on to vote.
STV in USA
Submitted by editor on Fri, 08/11/2013 - 22:44Although the USA uses First Past The Post ("FPTP" aka Winner Takes All) for most of its elections including its national ones, there is a lot of local autonomy. Party list and hybrid systems are rarely discussed in the USA and, when FPTP is not used, the system of choice (excuse the pun!) is usually Single Transferable Vote ("STV") known as Ranked Choice Voting in the USA.
FairVote Minnesota's report of Ranked Choice Voting in Minneapolis, St. Paul recent municipal elections - http://fairvotemn.org/node/2309 - shows how successful the system was in those elections.
"Ranked Choice Voting is the simplest, fairest way to ensure that every voter has his or her voice heard in our elections," said Jeanne Massey, FairVote Minnesota Executive Director. "Tuesday [5 November] was one of Ranked Choice Voting's biggest tests yet, and it passed with flying colors."
"RCV gave both cities positive, substantive campaigns that encouraged candidates to find common ground, build coalitions and focus on issues that matter to voters."
If you visit http://fairvotemn.org/node/2309 to read the full report, you will also have an opportunity to vote online by choice voting for your favourite feature of RCV. You may want to recommend friends to try it so they can see how easy choice voting (STV or AV) is.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune's editorial of 6 November - http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/230919001.html - comments favourably on Ranked Choice Voting in the same elections. "Also put to a rigorous test Tuesday was ranked-choice voting, which was introduced in Minneapolis in 2009 and received mostly favorable marks this year".
What Russell Brand could have said about voting
Submitted by editor on Fri, 25/10/2013 - 13:02David Smith has contributed the following:
On Newsnight on Wednesday 23rd October, following the announcement that Russell Brand would guest edit an issue of the New Statesman, Jeremy Paxman challenged him on why anyone should respect his opinions if he couldn't be bothered to vote. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YR4CseY9pk#t=15). Russell claimed that voting was useless but did not explain why. At one level the answer is obvious, governments and opposition front beaches simply do not listen to the people. The question is why not. They have many other pressures:
? Attracting party funding
? Coping with corporate led media
? Lack of access to reliable advice independent of corporate lobbyists – if you have ever worked in the Westminster bubble as I have you will understand what a strange isolated world it is. Ministers and many other MPs come to see the world as the money men see it.
? The current operation of the money markets
Set against these pressures, votes cast under first past the post system simply don't count. Would proportional representation (PR) counter this? PR simply means fair shares for parties, and since all three major parties in parliament have been pressured and brainwashed into thinking in much the same way it is almost irrelevant.
So what about Alternative Vote where you vote for people not parties? This was of course defeated by a brilliant and misleading negative campaign on behalf of the powers that be. But it is used in Australia under the name PV (preference voting). Regrettably it does not make that much difference because parties have virtually no incentive to field more than one candidate in each constituency. The answer is preference voting in multi-member constituencies, i.e. STV. In that system parties would at least have an incentive to field more candidates than they expected to get elected. Voters could choose; MPs would have to start listening.
So what Russell Brand could have said is, "Maybe if we had STV there would be some point in voting, but sure as heck THEY would rather risk a revolution rather than allow that."
STV to stay in Ireland
Submitted by keithunder on Tue, 22/10/2013 - 13:53There was a lot of talk about Ireland changing its voting system, a constitutional convention was set up and in August it come to the following conclusion:
"The Convention decided decisively in favour of keeping the current PRSTV electoral system
but in a modified form, in particular by increasing the size of constituencies and changing
from the alphabetical order of candidates on the ballot paper. Members also recommended
a series of measures to improve voter turnout at elections, from the establishment of an
Electoral Commission to the an enhanced education programme in schools. I believe these
results give a very clear message of the regard in which the current PR-STV electoral system
is held but equally of a strong demand for changes to it, as part of a more substantial
agenda of political reform."
This is excellent news and I think that getting rid of the 3 member seats will greatly improve the system, as many of them were foregone conclusions, often with only one of the parties giving any choice of candidate.
The commission overwhelmingly rejected moving to the greatly flawed MMP system(mixed member proportional), which failed to work in Albania and Italy, by 79% to 20%.
The government is expected to respond before the end of the year.
The full text of the convention report is in the link below
Keith Underhill
Two practical steps to advance STV
Submitted by editor on Sun, 20/10/2013 - 20:50The Reform Groups Network site is well worth a visit. We found two blogs of particular interest.
First, John Greenwood has suggested, under "A Cunning Plan to demonstrate a better voting system" of 8 October, running demonstration PR elections alongside next May's first-past-the-post (FPTP) local elections. Afterwards, the voters – and, indeed, the public generally – could be asked various questions about the outcomes of the PR and FPTP elections, such as which they thought was fairer.
Of course, this has been done many times before. The late Enid Lakeman was very enthusiastic about this kind of activity and local groups have often done it. Readers can see Miss Lakeman's own account of one of her demonstration elections at http://fairlocalvotes.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/lakeman.pdf.
Nevertheless, reformers could repeat the exercise, especially now that there are so many local groups and, even more, if the ERS and UD will take the lead and assume a co-ordinating role. The ERS ought to be able to train local groups to design ballot papers and count by the chosen method. UD seems good at motivating local activists and managing publicity. They should be able to do a good job if they collaborate with each other on the exercise.
The Society passed eight resolutions at its 2011 and 2012 AGMs calling for STV for local elections in England and Wales to be a priority. One of the 2012 resolutions was a special resolution which was legally binding on the Society's Council and, indeed the Council has decided that this should be the Society's priority. So John Greenwood's project would be ideal and timely for the ERS.
John Greenwood has suggested that the votes would be counted by "the system favoured by UD". A very early decision would be needed on this, as it would affect the design of the ballot papers and how the system would be explained to voters and the news media.
However, that would not be difficult. It is inconceivable that the ERS would campaign for any system other than STV, which is its core object as confirmed at its last four General Meetings.
In any case, any system other than STV would create insuperable problems for the ERS and UD. For example, if a party list system was used, they would have to decide on the order of each party's list. If a mixed system was used, they would also have to decide which candidates should be list candidates and which should be ward candidates. This would be arbitrary and artificial. Normally, of course, each party would make its own decisions.
That would not be a problem with STV. A number (say, five) of neighbouring wards would be grouped together to create one multi-member ward and all the candidates for the individual wards would simply be on the ballot paper for the multi-member ward.
If this is to be done, it must be done properly, thoroughly and efficiently. It will take organization; there are fewer than seven months now to the local elections in May and the Christmas and New Year breaks will intervene, so there is no time to lose if the project is to proceed. We urge the ERS, UD and local groups to clear the decks and concentrate on this.
The other blog, which we found of particular interest, was David Smith's "Preparing for 2015" of 29 September. We should mention that he is an Officer of STV Action, but he wrote his blog in his personal capacity.
David refers to the eight ERS AGM resolutions for STV in local government, mentioned above. Although quite critical of the ERS, he also makes two practical suggestions on how the ERS could further the campaign now.
His first suggestion, like John Greenwood's is to hold demonstration STV elections. They would educate the public, show how STV works, how fair and accurate it is and how easy it is for voters. David seems to envisage holding "street" elections at any time with, perhaps, fictitious candidates, whereas John has specifically suggested holding our demonstrations elections outside polling stations at the time of the official local elections next May; i.e. exit polls.
These two suggestions are not mutually exclusive. There is no reason why we could not take up both of them. Local groups could hold David's "street" elections week after week, each branch starting as and when it feels able, leading up to the local elections in May and then, in May, hold John's exit polls in many parts of the country by STV and compare their results with the official first-past-the-post elections. The publicity material for the "street" elections could also announce our intention to hold the exit poll, thus building up to it.
David's second suggestion is entirely different but equally valid and is something that STV Action has advocated for several years.
Many people are members of voluntary organizations, such as sports clubs, professional institutes, social clubs, trades unions, special interest clubs (stamp collecting, embroidery, model making etc), learned societies, charities and many more. They all elect governing committees or councils.
Some of them already use STV for their internal elections. A determined and well-run campaign to persuade the others to use STV would, at the very least and even if some chose not to change, bring STV to the attention of many people who know nothing about it. Those organizations that changed would benefit from a more representative governing body and their members would become used to using STV. Using STV for Parliamentary and other official elections would then seem less strange to them.
As mentioned above, STV Action has supported this for some time as can be seen at http://stvaction.org.uk/STVorgs which gives practical advice for introducing STV to voluntary organizations and lists some that already use it although the list is not up-to-date, so readers should not rely on it.
If electoral reformers concentrated on STV instead of spreading their resources thinly over a variety of "reforms", it would not be difficult to conduct both these campaigns – demonstration STV elections and working to reform voluntary organizations – at the same time, but it would seem sensible to give priority to demonstration STV elections until the local elections next May.
Please click on http://reformgroups.net/ers/ to read John Greenwood's and David Smith's blogs.
Australian and German elections
Submitted by editor on Sun, 20/10/2013 - 18:50The Proportional Representation Society of Australia (PRSA) has issued very interesting reports – the best we have seen – on the recent general elections in Australia and Germany.
Like Fair Vote in the USA, PRSA campaigns only for preferential voting – specifically Single Transferable Vote (STV) in multi-member constituencies – and sets an example to those electoral reform organizations that dilute the message and spread their resources thinly over peripheral reforms even though STV remains legally their core object.
As Australia uses a version of STV, one might think that there was little for PRSA to do, but Australia uses a perverted and artificial version of STV, distorted by politicians to suit politicians, especially the major parties, instead of voters.
First, voters have to express a full range of preferences. If they stop after the first three or four because they do not like any of the other candidates and do not want to express a preference for any of them, their vote is invalid; i.e. even their first three or four preferences are not allowed to count. This encourages the so-called "donkey" vote when, because they have to express preferences, voters just endorse the order on the ballot paper.
Next, ostensibly to make it easier for voters to cast valid votes, Australians can vote "above the line"; i.e. vote for the order determined by a political party. Because of the difficulty in choosing each preference individually, many do that which, of course, gives tremendous power to the parties, thus substantially reducing one of the most important advantages of STV over all other voting systems.
Whereas reformers in the UK and USA campaign for STV (ranked choice voting) to be used, Australian reformers campaign for a simpler and purer version of STV, which would benefit voters and produce results closer to voters' wishes.
Some critics of the Australian system would like to tinker with the existing system by, for example, introducing artificial thresholds but, as PRSA points out, "Proposals to impose an exclusionary threshold usually betray either misunderstanding of how the single transferable vote works, or seem aimed at propping up the failed system of party boxes, without recognizing the potential for unstable or distorted results to arise whenever arbitrary interventions are made."
Germany uses a mixed voting system. Voters elect single-member constituency representatives by first past the post like the UK and they have a second vote to top up the parties proportionately. In other words, it is reasonably fair to, and representative of the parties, but less fair to, and representative of, voters than STV is. However, parties that fail to secure the threshold of 5% of the national vote are denied top-up seats, so there is a bias towards the larger parties.
PRSA reports that nearly 16% of the votes were wasted in the German general election this year. This is partly because of the 5% national threshold. "While two parties obtained more than 5% of the party list vote in respectively six and seven of the sixteen states in the German elections held on 22 September 2013, they just failed to do so nationally, and therefore did not qualify for the apportionment of seats to the Bundestag…. Had the threshold been set instead at 4%, both the Free Democrats and Alternative for Germany would have emerged with more than thirty party list seats".
This shows the distortion that artificial devices, such as thresholds, can produce. It also shows what a large difference a small change in the arbitrary choice of threshold can make to an election result and it shows that the German system is less fair to parties, especially small ones, than it could be.
Although opponents of STV may say that STV has a threshold, it is natural and not artificial. Moreover, it applies at constituency level – not national – so a strong local or regional party can win representation despite being weak nationally. Most important with STV, a vote that does not help to elect a candidate from the party of the voter's first choice may nevertheless help to elect another candidate whom the voter likes. For example, if the Green Party is not strong enough in a particular constituency to win a seat, Green voters may help, with their later preferences, to elect other ecologically minded candidates.
You can read the PRSA reports at http://www.prsa.org.au/qn/2013c_.html#section1 and http://www.prsa.org.au/qn/2013c_.html#section2.
First past the post helped cause USA shut-down
Submitted by editor on Sat, 19/10/2013 - 10:05Rob Richie, Executive Director of Fair Vote (in the USA), and his colleague, Devin McCarthy, have written excellent articles in Washington Post and Huffington Post and we recommend you to read them. Fair Vote is an excellent electoral reform organization that concentrates on its core objective of promoting ranked choice voting (Single Transferable Vote or STV to UK readers).
Rob and Devin explain how first past the post (winner takes all) elections encourage confrontational politics in which politicians are motivated to serve their core voters more than the national interest and this exacerbated the recent political deadlock in the USA, which closed many functions of the US Government, made the USA something of a joke abroad and threatened the world economy. They then explain how ranked choice voting can reduce the problem.
Although there is not a precise parallel in the UK to the US Government's shut-down, the lesson is universal. Voting systems matter. Voting systems affect political attitudes, election results and political decisions.
One of Rob and Devin's points is that the Democrats won more votes but the Republicans won more seats in the House of Representatives. This gave the Republicans more power than the voters wanted to give them and more power than a fair and democratic voting system should have given them. It created the incorrect impression that the Republicans had a mandate from voters to oppose Obamacare at all costs. Of course, we have seen examples similar to this in the UK and in other countries that still use first-past-the-post voting.
Fair Vote sets an example to other electoral reform organizations. It does not campaign for proportional representation generically but specifically for ranked choice voting (STV):
"We are not proposing the party-list forms of proportional representation used in many parliamentary democracies. Although highly successful in Germany and Holland, party lists would clash with U.S. political culture. Americans want Congress to reflect our differences, avoid groupthink and have more members with an electoral incentive to reach across party lines to find policy solutions."
Party lists would also clash with UK political culture. UK reformers also want Parliament to "have more members with an electoral incentive to reach across party lines to find policy solutions."
To read the articles and comments on them, please see:
Do Lib Dems have the nerve to win STV for local government?
Submitted by editor on Mon, 16/09/2013 - 23:10What do you think will be the most important political document in the UK for the next couple of years? The Liberal Democrats' manifesto for the 2015General Election?
Well, that was the view of the BBC's Political Editor, Nick Robinson, in the "Today" programme on Radio 4 today (16 September 2013). The present signs are that neither the Conservative nor the Labour Party is likely to secure an overall majority in 2015 and one of them will need Liberal Democrat support to form a Government.
The Liberal Democrats could negotiate, or even hold out for all sorts of policies. A problem with most is that a policy that might attract Labour support would probably alienate the Conservatives and vice versa.
Neither of them might like the idea of changing the way we elect local Councillors but we see no strong reason for either of them to refuse it if they really want power, which they will.
We believe the most important and obtainable policy concession from either of the other two parties is electoral reform for local government in England and Wales and the reform has to be in the form of the Single Transferable Vote (STV).
It is important for local government, democracy and the public. Liberal Democrats should not be embarrassed by the fact that it could also be good for their party. Unfortunately, some of them feel too embarrassed to campaign for electoral reform. Others would simply settle with any electoral reform that would give their party more Councillors. Both are wrong.
The point about STV is that, unlike all other voting systems, it offers voters a genuine choice of candidates not only from different parties but even within parties. It can provide proportionality, not only of political parties but of any other political views that matter to voters. For example, if a local party is split between supporting and opposing a town bypass, STV allows voters to elect Councillors in proportion to their own views on the subject. If voters want, say, more women Councillors, STV uniquely allows them to elect more women.
In some ways, electoral reform for local government is even more important than it is for the Commons. Unlike the Commons, some local authorities have been controlled by the same party for years, decades and even generations; one-party local states! If local voters had really been supporting the dominant local party for all that time, it might be acceptable but the party has often retained power even though most local voters have voted against it.
But why should either the Labour or Conservative Party accept STV for local government? Don't they both oppose electoral reform? Well, yes, but they oppose many Liberal Democrat policies and yet one of the two biggest parties will probably have to accept some Liberal Democrat policies in order to form a Government in 2015, so why not this one as part of a larger package?
Some Conservative and Labour MPs may oppose electoral reform for the Commons mainly because they worry about losing their own seats under a different voting system. That would not apply to changing the system for local government. Also, there must be many Labour politicians who would like to see more Labour Councillors in the South of England and many Conservatives who would welcome more Conservative Councillors in the North of England.
We have little doubt that, if the Liberal Democrats hold out hard enough, they will be able to improve the way we elect Councillors in England and Wales.
But it is not enough merely to hold out for Proportional Representation (PR) and then accept whatever kind of PR one of the other parties concedes. Liberal Democrats must demand STV or nothing. This opportunity may will not occur again for at least another five years and may not come again for several generations.
PR for parties (Party Representation) is not good enough. We need PR for people (People Representation) and only STV can provide it.
Do Lib Dems have the nerve to win STV for local government?
Triumph for democracy
Submitted by editor on Sun, 01/09/2013 - 18:36No doubt, some of us will agree and some will disagree with the House of Commons' decision on 29 August not to authorize force against Syria but surely we can all agree that it was a wonderful day for parliamentary democracy. The legislature controlled the executive instead of vice versa.
Not only that, but we also seem to have set an example to our transatlantic cousins. Although they have long prided themselves on the constitutional separation of powers, in practice the President has executive power to authorize the use of military force. This time however, the President decided, after the House of Commons' decision, to seek Congress's agreement.
The Commons would almost certainly not have defeated the Government if the General Election of 2010 had not resulted in a balanced House. Balanced Houses happen only by chance with our 19th century First Past The Post (FPTP) voting system.
One of the arguments often put against STV us that it would often create a balanced House of Commons, which our opponents see as undesirable, but there are two points:
With STV, people get a balanced Commons if they collectively vote for it rather than by chance as with FPTP.
Last Thursday's vote shows how a balanced House of Commons can control the Government more effectively than one in which a single party has a working majority over all the other parties.
Reducing the Commons' subordination to government
Submitted by editor on Sat, 27/07/2013 - 22:04According to a BBC report of 18 July, The chair of the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee has said the House of Commons remains "acquiescent in its subordination to government", despite recent reforms.
The Committee has proposed various reforms in its report, but we recommend electing MPs by STV in multi-member constituencies. Although this may not be the complete solution, it should help considerably to reduce the Commons' subordination to government.
STV, more than any other voting system, increases voters' powers and makes representatives more dependent on their voters and less dependent on the leadership of their parties. This would reduce party patronage and make it easier for back-benchers to call the Government to account. Being more accountable to their voters could also encourage them to call the Government more to account.
Also, because STV makes it easier for a popular but deselected MP to be re-elected, it reduces the power of the leadership to end an independently minded MP's career.
STV is a proportional system of election that has many unique advantages in addition to being proportionate and this is one of them.


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Final Fantasy XIV Shows You its PS4-Specific Features
It's okay if you forgot this was still coming to PS4. I kinda did too.
Finally, Lightning Returns to Final Fantasy XIV, and... Wait, What?
Square Enix is really going all-in on Lightning, isn't it?
Quick Look: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
You're saying you can change classes whenever you WANT? Whatever floats your airship, Rorie.
Unprofessional Fridays: 09/06/2013
We run silent and deep with Dave Snider, butt stomps, and cat ladies.
Final Fantasy XIV Online Gets Reborn
"Have you ever had the sensation of being pulled away from reality?" Yes. Just now, while watching this trailer, in fact.
E3 2013: A Realm Will Soon Be Reborn in Final Fantasy XIV
Square Enix's request to use a mulligan on Hole #14 has been granted.
Here's a Look at Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn In Action
Will the second verse be any different from the first? I guess we'll find out soon enough.
Final Fantasy XIV Is Now a 'Realm Reborn,' Whatever That Means
Apparently re-birthing a realm involves a lot of CG cutscenes.
Final Fantasy XIV Looks Better In Beta Than In Alpha
Get that alpha mess out of here! It looks like it was lit by a baby!
Final Fantasy XIV Online E3 Trailer
Your PS2 Hard Drive can't handle the next MMO from Square Enix.
A Look At The World Of Final Fantasy XIV
How weird is it to be thinking about XIV before XIII is even out?


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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - View original article
Société Anonyme | |
Traded as | NYSE: I |
Industry | Satellite communication |
Founded | 1964 |
Headquarters | Luxembourg, Luxembourg |
Key people | David McGlade, Michael McDonell |
Website | intelsat.com |
Société Anonyme | |
Traded as | NYSE: I |
Industry | Satellite communication |
Founded | 1964 |
Headquarters | Luxembourg, Luxembourg |
Key people | David McGlade, Michael McDonell |
Website | intelsat.com |
Intelsat, S.A. is a communications satellite services provider.
Originally formed as International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT), it was—from 1964 to 2001—an intergovernmental consortium owning and managing a constellation of communications satellites providing international broadcast services.
As of March 2011[update], Intelsat operates a fleet of 52 communications satellites, which is one of the world's largest fleet of commercial satellites.[1]
The Inter-Governmental Organization (IGO) began on 20 August, 1964, with 11 participating countries. On 6 April, 1965, Intelsat's first satellite, the Intelsat I (nicknamed Early Bird), was placed in geostationary orbit above the Atlantic Ocean by a Delta D rocket.
In 1973, the name was changed and there were 80 signatories. Intelsat provides service to over 600 Earth stations in more than 149 countries, territories and dependencies. By 2001, INTELSAT had over 100 members. It was also this year that INTELSAT privatized and changed its name to Intelsat.
Since its inception, Intelsat has used several versions (blocks) of its dedicated Intelsat satellites. INTELSAT completes each block of spacecraft independently, leading to a variety of contractors over the years. Intelsat's largest spacecraft supplier is Space Systems/Loral, having built 31 spacecraft (as of 2003), or nearly half of the fleet.
The network in its early years was not as robust as it is now. A failure of the Atlantic satellite in the spring of 1969[when?] threatened to stop the Apollo 11 mission; a replacement satellite went into a bad orbit and could not be recovered in time; NASA had to resort to using undersea cable telephone circuits to bring Apollo's communications to NASA during the mission.[2] Fortunately, during the Apollo 11 moonwalk, the moon was over the Pacific Ocean, and so other antennas were used, as well as INTELSAT III, which was in geostationary orbit over the Pacific.[3]
By the 1990s, building and launching satellites was no longer exclusively a government domain and as country-specific telecommunications systems were privatized, several private satellite operators arose to meet the growing demand. In the U.S., satellite operators such as Panamsat, Orion Communications, Columbia Communications, Iridium, Globalstar, TRW and others formed under the umbrella of the Alliance for Competitive International Satellite Services (ACISS) to press for an end to the IGOs and the monopoly position of COMSAT the US signatory to Intelsat and Inmarsat. In March 2001, the US Congress passed the Open Market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications (ORBIT) Act[4] to privatize COMSAT and reform the role of the international organizations. In April 1998, to address US government concerns about market power, Intelsat's senior management spun off five of its older satellites to a private Dutch entity, New Skies Satellites, which became a direct competitor to INTELSAT. To avert the US government's interference with Intelsat, Intelsat's senior management unsuccessfully considered relocating the IGO to another country.[citation needed]
On 18 July, 2001, Intelsat became a private company, 37 years after formation. Prior to Intelsat's privatization in 2001, ownership and investment in INTELSAT (measured in shares) was distributed among INTELSAT members according to their use of services. Investment shares determined each member's percentage of the total contribution needed to finance capital expenditures. The organization's primary source of revenue was satellite usage fees which, after deduction of operating costs, was redistributed to INTELSAT members in proportion to their shares as repayment of capital and compensation for use of capital. Satellite services were available to any organization (both INTELSAT members and non-members), and all users paid the same rates.[citation needed]
Today, the number of Intelsat satellites, as well as ocean-spanning fibre-optic lines, allows rapid rerouting of traffic when one satellite fails. Modern satellites are more robust, lasting longer with much larger capacity.[citation needed]
Intelsat Americas-7 (known formerly as Telstar 7 and now known as Galaxy 27) experienced a several-day power failure on 29 November, 2004.[5] The satellite returned to service with reduced capacity.[6]
Intelsat was sold for U.S. $3.1bn in January 2005 to four private equity firms: Madison Dearborn Partners, Apax Partners, Permira and Apollo Global Management. The company acquired PanAmSat on 3 July, 2006, and is now the world's largest provider of fixed satellite services, operating a fleet of 52 satellites in prime orbital locations. In June 2007 BC Partners announced they had acquired 76 percent of Intelsat for about 3.75 billion euros.[7]
In April 2013 the renamed Intelsat S.A. undertook an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, raising a net $550 million USD, of which $492 million was paid immediately to reduce outstanding company debts of $15.9 billion USD. In May the company announced it would be purchasing four new high-performance Boeing EpicNG 702 MP satellites.[8][9]
Intelsat maintains its corporate headquarters in Luxembourg, with a majority of staff and satellite functions — administrative headquarters — located at the Intelsat Corporation offices in Washington, DC. In 2012, Intelsat announced that they would relocate their US headquarters from Washington to nearby Tysons Corner, Virginia by mid-2014.[10] A highly international business, Intelsat sources the majority of its revenue from non-U.S. located customers. Intelsat's biggest teleport is the Teleport Fuchsstadt in Germany.
Spacecraft operations are controlled through ground stations in Hagerstown, Maryland (USA), Riverside, California (USA), and Fuchsstadt, Germany.[11]
As of March 2011[update], Intelsat has agreed to purchase one-half of the 2,000 kilograms (4,400 lb) propellant payload that an MDA Corporation spacecraft satellite-servicing demonstration project would take to geostationary orbit. Catching up in orbit with four or five Intelsat communication satellites, a fuel load of 200 kilograms (440 lb) of fuel delivered to each satellite would add somewhere between two and four years of additional service life.[12] A near-end-of-life Intelsat satellite will be moved to a graveyard orbit 200 to 300 kilometres (120–190 mi) above the geostationary belt where the refueling will be done, "without consequence" to the Intelsat business.[1]
As of March 2010[update], the business model was still evolving. MDA "could ask customers to pay per kilogram of fuel successfully added to [each] satellite, with the per-kilogram price being a function of the additional revenue the operator can expect to generate from the spacecraft's extended operational life."[13]
The plan is that the fuel-depot vehicle would maneuver to several satellites, dock at the target satellite's apogee-kick motor, remove a small part of the target spacecraft's thermal protection blanket, connect to a fuel-pressure line and deliver the propellant. "MDA officials estimate the docking maneuver would take the communications satellite out of service for about 20 minutes."[13]
On February 1, 2007, Intelsat changed the names of 16 of its satellites formerly known under the Intelsat Americas and PanAmSat brands to Galaxy and Intelsat, respectively.[14][15]
On May 30, 2012 Intelsat signed a contract with Space Exploration technologies Corporation for the first Falcon Heavy launch vehicle.[16]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Intelsat. |
Coordinates: 38°56′30″N 77°03′49″W / 38.94167°N 77.06361°W
the operator of the world's largest fleet of commercial satellites — Intelsat has 52 in orbit. ... For this first demonstration mission, ... one of our satellites that is at the end of its life and about to be decommissioned ... will be taken out of geostationary orbit without consequence to our business, with the refueling done 200 to 300 kilometers above the geostationary belt.
if the MDA spacecraft performs as planned, Intelsat will be paying a total of some $200 million to MDA. This assumes that four or five satellites are given around 200 kilograms each of fuel. ... The maiden flight of the vehicle would be on an International Launch Services Proton rocket, industry officials said. One official said the MDA spacecraft, including its 2,000 kilograms of refueling propellant, is likely to weigh around 6,000 kilograms at launch.
the refueling vehicle would dock at the target satellite's apogee-kick motor, peel off a section of the craft's thermal protection blanket, connect to a fuel-pressure line and deliver the propellant. MDA officials estimate the docking maneuver would take the communications satellite out of service for about 20 minutes. ... The servicing robot would have an in-orbit life of about five years, and would carry enough fuel to perform 10 or 11 satellite-refueling or orbital-cleanup missions.


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Regulators' powers in Coalition's sights
PUBLISHED: 16 Aug 2010 00:05:23 | UPDATED: 16 Aug 2010 00:05:23PUBLISHED: 16 Aug 2010 PRINT EDITION: 16 Aug 2010Amid growing fears that regulators' armoury of coercive, information-gathering powers are being used indiscriminately and without adequate reporting and oversight, the Coalition, if elected, would ask the government's peak law reform body to examine them and make their application more consistent.
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People | George Brandis, Bill Shorten, Kelly O'Dwyer |
Topics | Courts & Legal, Politics /Federal Politics , Financial Markets |


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CPAC Cosponsor: Nelson Mandela a "Bloodthirsty Terrorist"
Last February, activists pitched a fit when it was announced that, for the second consecutive year, the gay Republican group GOProud would be a cosponsor of Washington's biggest right-wing confab, the Conservative Political Action Conference....
CPAC isn't so discerning about the rest of its cosponsors, though. As Right Wing Watch notes, one of the sponsors at February's conference will be Youth For Western Civilization, a group dedicated to, as the name suggests, preventing the "extinction" of Western Civilization at the hands of multiculturalism. Per its mission statement, the group boasts that, "in spite of the continual assault and hatred it endures from the radical left, we wish to revive the West, rather than see our civilization be sent to the graveyard of history."
How does that manifest itself? Among other things, the group is a passionate defender of South Africa's white heritage. A recent blog post featured at the site accuses the African National Congress, the nation's ruling party, of waging a "genocide" against Afrikaners, and pins much of the blame on revered former president Nelson Mandela....
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- Ellen Schrecker backs "National Adjunct Walkout Day" as a brilliant tactic


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XMM-Newton detects water on Tempel 1
These images, taken by the Optical Monitor on board ESA's XMM-Newton observatory on 3 and 4 July 2005, show a comparison between the states of the comet before and just after impact.
The images were taken in the blue (top) and ultraviolet channels (bottom) of the instrument. The ultraviolet images show the emissions of hydroxyl ions, the direct decay product of water.
About 1.5 hours after the impact, the brightness of hydroxyl groups is increased by a factor of about five. Later, about 4.5 hours after the impact the ultraviolet emission is decreased again which indicates that the peak has passed.
The presence of water in Tempel 1 is consistent with preliminary measurements of the composition of the comet made last week by the ALICE instrument on ESA's Rosetta spacecraft.
For more information:
Rita Schulz, Principal Investigator for XMM-Newton Tempel 1 observations, ESA-ESTEC (The Netherlands)
E-mail: rita.schulz @ esa.int
Norbert Schartel, ESA XMM-Newton Project Scientist, ESAC (Spain)
E-mail: norbert.schartel @ sciops.esa.int
- ESA's comet chaser
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta - Rosetta factsheet
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_factsheet - XMM-Newton factsheet
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/XMM-Newton_factsheet - Hubble factsheet
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Hubble_factsheet - NASA Deep Impact
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/main/index.html - ESO Deep Impact news
http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2005/pr-15-05.html - Life of a comet
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Life_of_a_comet - Tempel 1: Biography of a comet
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Tempel_1_Biography_of_a_comet - Rosetta monitors Deep Impact
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Rosetta_monitors_Deep_Impact - XMM-Newton to observe Deep Impact
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/XMM-Newton_to_observe_Deep_Impact - Hubble sees outburst from Deep Impact comet
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Hubble_sees_outburst_from_Deep_Impact_comet - ESA observes Deep Impact from Earth
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/ESA_observes_Deep_Impact_from_Earth - Dust and gas from Comet 9P/Tempel 1 seen by ESA OGS
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Dust_and_gas_from_Comet_9P_Tempel_1_seen_by_ESA_OGS - Tempel 1 is weak X-ray source, XMM-Newton confirms