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A monitoring and entry system presence service provides notification about a trigger event to a user and performs actions based on user input. Interface devices equipped with client applications capable of performing actions such as VoIP calls, video calls, and the like, register with a control and session layer, which facilitates interaction with a specific presence application and an integrated presence service, such as a doorbell application and a generic presence service. Upon determining the location of a user, notification and a list of actions are provided through a watcher client application. In response to the user selection, actions are facilitated through the same network session(s).
1. A method for providing distributed access services between a watcher and at least one personal presentity, the method comprising:
receiving, at a computing device, an alert from a personal presentity;
determining a current location of the watcher;
providing a notification associated with the alert to the watcher; and
storing data related to a current location of the watcher.
2. The method of
providing the watcher a plurality of actions to select in response to the alert.
3. The method of
activating an application in response to a selection by the watcher, wherein the application includes at least one of: a voice communication through the personal presentity, a video communication through the personal presentity, an image acquisition application, and an electronic control application.
4. The method of
providing the notification and receiving the watcher selection through at least one Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) session using an IP Multi Media System (IMS) infrastructure.
5. The method of
6. The method of
7. The method of
if the watcher is not available, performing at least one of the following: providing a notification associated with the alert to another watcher and executing a predetermined response action.
8. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions for providing a monitoring and entry system presence service, the instructions configured to perform at least the following:
in response to a trigger event, receiving an indication signal from an interface device;
determining a current location of a user;
providing the user a notification associated with the trigger event; and
activating an application associated with the monitoring and entry system presence service.
9. The computer-readable storage medium of
selecting a client application and a client device to provide the notification and to present the plurality of actions to the user based on the current location of the user.
10. The computer-readable storage medium of
11. The computer-readable storage medium of
12. A system for providing distributed access services between a watcher and a personal presentity, comprising:
an interface device configured to:
detect a trigger event; and
provide a notification associated with the trigger event, wherein the interface device acts as the personal presentity; and
a presentity application configured cause the system to:
determine a current location of the watcher;
provide the current location of the watcher to an aggregate presence service; and
in response to receiving a watcher selection from the aggregate presence service, facilitate execution of the selected action by activating at least one of a plurality of client applications associated with the personal presentity.
13. The system of
14. The system of
manage at least one from a set of: a VoIP call between the watcher and a person using the doorbell presence hardware, a capture of a still image of the person, a capture of a video of the person, and a control mechanism activation by activating one of the plurality of client applications associated with the doorbell presence hardware.
15. The system of
16. The system of
17. The system of
The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/520,262, filed Sep. 13, 2006, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. The present application is also related to U.S. application Ser. No. 11/520,131, filed Sep. 13, 2006.
Embodiments are related to presence services. More particularly, the disclosed subject matter is related to computer-implemented methods, configurations, systems, and computer program products for facilitating integration of monitoring and entry systems with a presence service.
With the proliferation and improvement of network communications and the Internet, security monitoring applications have begun to take advantage of networking capabilities. Many applications are available today, which allow users to access their monitoring system remotely through the Internet and perform actions such as configuring the system, receiving status updates, and the like.
Intelligent devices are increasingly popular in modern society. In addition, these devices whether cell phones, computers, or motion detectors are usually connected to a network such as the Internet. In this interconnected environment, the trend is to provide presence awareness information about almost anyone to almost anyone. "Buddy List" applications, which enable people to communicate and/or forward their incoming communications to their designees, are becoming common in cellular phone and instant messaging systems. For example, some cellular phone companies provide a service, where a calling party can be forwarded to the called person at any number. All the called person has to do, is provide a list of numbers where they can be reached. The system automatically searches for the called person until he or she is found and facilitates the connection.
Consistent with embodiments described herein, systems and methods are disclosed for providing a notification and interaction system integrated with a unified presence application interface. Key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter are not necessarily identified in this summary portion.
Embodiments are directed to a service and system that provides notification to a user in response to a trigger event at an interface device, such as a doorbell, an alarm monitor, and the like. The service may include an integrated unified presence system, which allows the user to be notified through one of a plurality of means. The user may be provided a selection of actions in response to the notification including, but not limited to, two-way communication, enabling entry to a premise, obtaining a video or image of a location of interest, and the like.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only, and should not be considered restrictive of the scope of the invention, as described and claimed. Further, features and/or variations may be provided in addition to those set forth herein. For example, embodiments of the invention may be directed to various combinations and sub-combinations of the features described in the detailed description.
As briefly described above, a notification and interaction service may be provided with an integrated unified presence service. In the following detailed description, references are made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustrations specific embodiments or examples. These aspects may be combined, other aspects may be utilized, and structural changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. The following detailed description is therefore not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
Referring now to the drawings, aspects, exemplary operating environments, and configurations will be described. While the embodiments will be described in the general context of program modules that execute in conjunction with an application program that runs on an operating system on a personal computer, those skilled in the art will recognize that aspects may also be implemented in combination with other program modules.
Embodiments may be implemented as a computer process (method), a computing system, or as an article of manufacture, such as a computer program product or computer readable media. The computer program product may be a computer storage media readable by a computer system and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process. The computer program product may also be a propagated signal on a carrier readable by a computing system and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process.
Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, and other types of structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that embodiments may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. Embodiments may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.
With reference to
Connectivity and access layer 110 includes network infrastructure that is used to provide interconnection between devices 102, 104 and applications at higher levels. Connectivity layer may include any network or combination of networks. These network(s) may include a secure network such as a home network or an enterprise network, or an unsecure network such as a wireless open network. The networks provide communication between the nodes described above. By way of example, and not limitation, the networks may include wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media.
Control and session layer 120 is arranged to facilitate communication sessions between the physical devices and the applications, as well as between the applications and any network resources such as data stores. According to some embodiments, the control and session layer may be integrated with an IP Multimedia System (IMS) for providing a unified presence service.
Application layer 130 includes one or more applications associated with providing a notification and interaction service with an integrated unified presence service. Application layer 130 may include an application arranged to perform actions associated with the devices 102 and 104, an application for providing the presence service, and even an application for providing a location service to determine a location of a user to be notified.
Interface device 102 and device with watcher client application 104 may include or may be part of a computing device. Computing devices typically include a processing device and a system memory. Computing devices may also include additional processing devices, which may be dedicated processors or enable distributed processing by coordinating with a main processing device. The system memory may be volatile (such as RAM), non-volatile (such as ROM, flash memory, etc.) or some combination of the two. System memory typically provides an environment for an operating system to be executed for controlling the operation of computing device 100 and execution of other programs (applications). Watcher client application, two-way communication applications, imaging or video communication applications are examples of programs or program modules that may be executed in the system memory. These applications may be an integrated part of a single program or separate applications. They may communicate with other applications running on the computing device or on other devices.
The computing devices may have additional features or functionality. For example, the computing devices may also include data storage devices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, for example, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Computer storage media may include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information, such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. The system memory and storage devices are examples of computer storage media. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by the computing device. Any such computer storage media may be part of the computing device.
Computing devices may also include input devices such as a keyboard, a keypad, a voice input device, a touch input device, a camera etc. Furthermore, output devices such as a display, a speaker, a printer, etc. may also be included. These devices are well known in the art.
Communication connections may be included in the computing devices to allow the device to communicate with other computing devices executing above described applications, such as over a network in a distributed computing environment, for example, an intranet or the Internet. Communication connections may include media that may be embodied by computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and include any information delivery media.
By way of example, and not limitation, communication media may include wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. The term computer readable media as used herein refers to both storage media and communication media. Communication media is employed to provide interconnection between interface device 102, device with watcher client application 104 and networks of connectivity and access layer 110.
The implementation of embodiments for interface device 102 and device with watcher client application 104 is not limited to the computing devices described above. Other computing devices with different components, configurations, and the like, may be used to execute computer readable instructions implementing embodiments described herein without departing from a scope and spirit of the claimed subject matter.
Interface device 102 and device with watcher client application 104 of
Control and session layer 120 manages communication sessions between the physical devices, client applications executed on the physical devices and the applications of the application layer 130. Moreover, control and session layer 120 may include resources such as data stores that enable operation of the applications of the application layer. While embodiments may be implemented with any type of control and session layer, an IMS example is provided in the following two figures.
Applications layer 130 includes doorbell application 232, presence server 234, and optional location service 236. As mentioned above, these applications may be executed on a single machine or on separate machines. Doorbell application 232 is configured to receive notification from doorbell 202, communicate with presence server 234 and optional location service 236 to determine a location and reach the user through computing device 204, and perform tasks for execution of action(s) selected by the user.
Presence server 234 is arranged to provide an indicator that the doorbell has been pressed and present various alternative actions to take to the user (e.g. resident). The actions may include initiating a VoIP conversation between the owner and the doorbell, requesting a digital image of the visitor, requesting a video image of the visitor, or ignoring the doorbell message. Optional location service 236 is arranged to determine a location of the user and provide it to doorbell application 232 such that communication with the user can be established. A number of other applications may also be configured, deployed, and shared in application layer 130.
According to some embodiments, one or more user interfaces ("UIs") may be provided in computing device 204 and doorbell 202 to enable the user and the person at the door to receive and provide information, such as action selections, alphanumeric entries, and the like. While a doorbell application has been described above as an example embodiment, other applications such as an alarm system with imaging functionality may also be implemented using the principles described herein. For example, a car alarm equipped with a camera may notify the owner if the car is being tempered with. Upon being notified by the monitoring system with integrated presence service, the owner may instruct the alarm to obtain one or more images, which are subsequently stored and/or forwarded to the owner.
Now referring to
IMS provides services and control such as adding call session control to the packet network, enabling peer-to-peer real-time services such as voice or video over a packet-switched domain, and scalable common service control (based on SIP) for giving the ability to manage parallel user services. In a mixed multimedia environment, IMS may provide the ability to pick and mix various multimedia flows in single or multiple sessions and can handle real-time voice, video, and data. IMS also provides access to IP based services independent of the underlying access technology (mobile or fixed). IMS applications and drivers may include voice telephony (VoIP), video telephony, web browsing, presence-based services, push-to media services (e.g. push-to-talk, push-to-view, push-to-video, etc.), group chat, instant messaging, multimedia conferencing, content sharing/data transfer, and the like.
Still referring to
Both I-CSCF 324 and S-CSCF 326 interact with HSS 328 (home subscriber service), which is essentially a data store service for storing presence information (e.g. where the user can be reached). HSS 328 may be embodied as one or more data stores that may be managed by a data server. In addition, I-CSCF 324 may interact with SLF 342 (subscriber location function). SLF 342 may be an interface function for the optional location service 236 of architecture 200.
S-CSCF 326 also interacts with application server 344, which represents any server that includes applications of the application layer such as doorbell application 232 or presence service 234 of
The user may make selections including, but not limited to, initiating a VoIP conversation with the person at the door, initiating a video conference with the person at the door, obtain a still image or video of the person at the door, provide one of a plurality of "canned" messages to the person at the door, alert a monitoring service and the like. While performing these actions, the user may be in a remote location and access the system through another network such as the Internet.
The architecture and scenarios described in
The action flow begins with doorbell presence hardware 502 initiating a registration process with the IMS control layer 620 in response to the doorbell being rung. The IMS control layer establishes a session for the doorbell using SIP messaging and retrieves filter criteria for the doorbell from HSS 528, where a profile for the doorbell is stored.
The IMS control layer 620 then sends notice to doorbell presence application 532 that the doorbell has been rung. Although not shown, doorbell presence application 532 may determine a location of the resident using a location service. Doorbell presence application 532 then updates aggregate presence service 534 with the current location of the resident and the received notice. Aggregate presence service 534, in response, updates a doorbell presence indicator on watcher client application such as an icon, an LED indicator, and the like. Aggregate presence service may also update a presentity store with the information about the resident's current location.
UI 700 may include additional functionality such as phone service, instant message service, email service, and the like, as shown with icons 752. Different tabs may be provided for various aspects of the UI such as tab 754 (Preferences) for configuration changes, tab 756 (Logs) for recorded information. For a doorbell presence service, the UI may provide different indicators for different entry points such as front door 766 and back door 768. The notification that someone is at the door may be provided by changing a color of the indicator icon to the left of the location designator or the designator itself. Other methods such as flashing the designator, highlighting the designator, and the like, may also be used. Another icon to the right of the location designator indicates the presence of a doorbell presence hardware at the designated location.
Next, a number of icons (758, 760, 762, and 764) next to each location designator show available actions for that location. For example, both the back door 768 an front door 766 are equipped with doorbell presence hardware capable of establishing VoIP call (icon 764), taking picture (icon 760), and obtaining a video of the visitor (icon 758). A watcher client application and its associated UI(s) may of course include fewer or additional functions and present them in other configurations including, but not limited to, drop down menus, panes, separate view screens, and the like.
According to first scenario 892, watcher client application 504 requests a VoIP session with the visitor at the door. The request is forwarded to VoIP service 872, which calls doorbell client VoIP application 874. Doorbell client VoIP application 874 may reside in doorbell presence hardware or may be executed in a computing device associated with the doorbell presence hardware. In response to the call, doorbell client VoIP application 874 may provide an auto-answer establishing VoIP call between the resident and the visitor at the door.
According to a second scenario 894, watcher client application 504 requests a video of the visitor at the door. The request is forwarded to doorbell multimedia application 876, which requests the video from doorbell video client application 878. Doorbell video client application 878 may also reside in doorbell presence hardware or may be executed in a computing device associated with the doorbell presence hardware. In response to the request, doorbell video client application 878 begins recording the video and providing it to doorbell multimedia application 876, which in turn forwards the video to watcher client application 504. In other embodiments, a video call may be established using the same or additional components.
According to a third scenario 896, watcher client application 504 requests a picture of the visitor at the door. The request is forwarded to doorbell multimedia application 876, which requests the picture from doorbell picture client application 880. Doorbell picture client application 880 may also reside in doorbell presence hardware or may be executed in a computing device associated with the doorbell presence hardware. In response to the request, doorbell picture client application 880 may take a still image of the visitor and provide it to doorbell multimedia application 876, which in turn forwards the picture to watcher client application 504. Two or more of the above described scenarios along with others may also be executed simultaneously.
The claimed subject matter also includes methods. These methods can be implemented in any number of ways, including the structures described in this document. One such way is by machine operations, of devices of the type described in this document.
Another optional way is for one or more of the individual operations of the methods to be performed in conjunction with one or more human operators performing some. These human operators need not be collocated with each other, but each can be only with a machine that performs a portion of the program.
Process 900 begins with operation 902, where doorbell application 232 receives an indication signal that someone is at the door through an established IMS session. The session may be established using SIP messaging over an IP network. Processing moves from operation 902 to operation 904.
At operation 904, the doorbell application 232 determines a current location of the resident using a location service. Processing moves from operation 904 to decision operation 906.
At decision operation 906, a determination is made whether the location is determined. If the location is not determined, the resident may not be reachable. In that case, processing moves to operation 908. Otherwise, processing advances from decision operation 906 to operation 910.
At operation 908, the doorbell application facilitates execution of a default action. A default action may include providing the person at the door a "canned" message, upon receiving a security code allowing entry, and the like. After operation 908, processing moves to a calling process for further actions.
At operation 910 following an affirmative determination at decision operation 906, the doorbell application 232 provides an aggregate presence service with the notification and the current location of the resident. The current location of the resident may also be used to determine a method and device to be used in contacting the resident. Processing advances from operation 910 to operation 912.
At operation 912, aggregate presence service 234 notifies the resident that there is someone at the door and provided a list of actions that may be taken in response to the notification. As mentioned before, the actions may include initiating a voice or video conversation, obtaining a still or video image, alerting a monitoring service, and the like. Processing moves from operation 912 to operation 914.
At operation 914, the aggregate presence service receives the user's selection among the presented actions through a client application. Processing advances from operation 914 to operation 916.
At operation 916, the aggregate presence service in coordination with doorbell application 232 facilitates the selected action. The action may require activation of another client application(s) that may reside in or interact with the doorbell presence hardware. After operation 916, processing moves to a calling process for further actions.
The operations included in process 900 are for illustration purposes. Providing doorbell presence service may be implemented by similar processes with fewer or additional steps, as well as in different order of operations using the principles described herein.
The above specification, examples and data provide a complete description of the manufacture and use of the composition of the embodiments. Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims and embodiments.
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Last updated: 4/8/2014 //
-The more we invest in women and girls the more we will get in return, Fred Sai argued when Norway teamed up with Women Deliver to raise awareness on women's sexual and reproductive health rights.
Dr. Sai, known for his Chairmanship of the last two UN conferences on population and development vividly described the return of investment when focusing on women and girls. – Until the day I`m too old to speak or answer for my sins I will keep pushing this matter, he said while receiving standing ovations by the audience.
Amongst the speakers at the event was Women Deliver Young Leader Nargis Shirazi. Having met girls not even turned 10 years working as prostitutes, she shared her views on young girls as an untapped resource. -When girls are educated, they are more likely to get married later, use contraception, and have healthier children, said Shirazi.
Political Advisor Ingrid Skjøtskift also focused on the interconnection between education and sexual and reproductive health rights - Education is the fundament for women and girls participation in decision making in the society, said Skjøtskift.
Research shows clearly that investment in girls and women pays off. Over the last 20 years, there has been tremendous improvement in these areas, but there is still a long way to go.
Women Deliver is a global advocacy organization that works on improving the health and well-being of girls and women. Their overarching message is that it pays off to invest in girls and women.
See more at: www.womendeliver.org
825 Third Avenue, 39th Floor New York, N.Y. 10022-7584(On the corner of 50th Street and Third Avenue)
Norway - Mission to the UN
Phone: +1-646-430-7510Fax: +1-646-430-7591E-mail: email@example.com

subset: commoncrawl


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Fixed Income Investments - Intermarket vs. Intramarket Sector Spreads
The bond market is carved into different sectors based on the issuer. Typically, these sectors are:
3. Municipal Securities
4. Corporate Bonds
5. Mortgage Backed Bond
6. Asset Backed Bonds
7. Foreign Bonds
These sectors also can be broken down even further. For example, in the Corporate Sector, issuers can fall into one and sometimes more categories such as industrial, utilities, financials and bank.
Spreads tend to be wider the farther one goes out the curve. Spreads can be based on individual sectors or crossed between them.
Intermarket Sector Spreads
Intermarket sector spreads deal with the yield spreads between two bonds in different sectors of the market. The most popular of these is a non-treasury security as opposed to a comparable treasury security. A comparable treasury security would be one with the same maturity.
Intramarket Sector Spreads
Intramarket sector spreads deal with the yield spread between two bonds in the same market sector. This can be done by developing a yield curve that is similar to the treasury yield curve but instead using the issuers' securities to develop the curve.
Some other factors that affect spreads between bonds besides maturity are credit risk, any options that the bonds may have, the liquidity of the issuers and the tax bracket of investors who receive interest payments.
Credit Spreads and Their Relationship to Economic Activity
A Credit Spread is the yield spread between non-treasury and treasury securities. These are equal in all respects except their individual credit ratings. This means that their maturities are the same and that there are no options thrown into the equation.
It is important to note that spreads increase with maturity and lower credit ratings.
Spreads interact with economic growth or decline in two key ways:
1. Spreads narrow or tighten - When the economy is growing, cash flows are increasing. Therefore, a corporation should have an easier time paying off its debt. Individuals will purchase more non-treasury securities than treasury securities because the increased economic activity reduces the default risk, causing spreads to tighten.
2. Spreads widen - When economy is faltering or slowing down, spreads widen. When this happens, the possibility of defaults increases because cash flows are declining. Individuals will sell or dump non-treasury securities for government securities because there is less of a chance that the government will default on their debt when compared to a corporation. This is also known as a flight to safety.


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If 3D printing companies and government agencies hope to police the spread of dangerous or pirated digital shapes, their task is about to get much more complicated.
Late last month Matthew Plummer-Fernandez, the 31-year-old creative technologist for Goldsmith College's Interaction Research Studio at the University of London, released what he's calling 'Disarming Corruptor,' a piece of free software designed to distort 3D-printable blueprints such that only another user with the app and the knowledge of a certain key combination can reverse the distortion and print the object. That means any controversial file–say, a figurine based on Mickey Mouse or another copyrighted or patented shape, or the 3D-printable gun created earlier this year known as the Liberator–could be 'encrypted' and made available on a public repository for 3D-printing blueprints like the popular site Thingiverse without tipping off those who would try to remove the file.
Plummer-Fernandez says the idea for obscuring 3D-printable objects came to him when the 3D-printing firm iMaterialize refused to print an object he'd designed as an artistic variation on Mickey Mouse, and again when he observed Thingiverse's decision to ban weapons files from the site in late 2012. "I was confronting all these taboos showing up in 3D-printing around copyrighted material and 3D-printed weapons, and I think these services are leaving their users out to dry," says Plummer-Fernandez. "I wanted to think of a way to circumvent these problems."
His answer was Disarming Corruptor, which distorts shapes based on seven input values from zero to 100, such that the changes can be reversed by anyone who knows those values. "When patent trolls and law enforcement agencies find these files on sharing sites they will only see abstract contortions, but within the trusting community these files will still represent the objects they are looking for, purposely in need of repair," he writes on his website.
Plummer-Fernandez encourages users to upload disguised files to Thingiverse, tagging them with the letters "DC" to show that they've been altered with his tool. (He's uploaded at least two such objects himself, though he wouldn't tell me what they are.) "You're still sharing them on sites like Thingiverse but you can subvert that web service's control," he says. "It's like physical encryption."
Any file has around 100 triillion possible different keys that would need to be guessed to reverse its distortion, and Plummer-Fernandez points out that the technique can be repeated on the same shape to make it even more difficult to crack the code. (See my correction below regarding the number of possible keys.)
But he admits that his tool isn't meant to securely encrypt shapes as much as to obscure and disguise them. Even so, it would pose a significant problem for a service like Thingiverse–now owned by the 3D-printing company Stratays following its acquisition of Makerbot–if it hopes to filter files for weapons components or intellectual property infringement.
"It's still quite entry level encryption. But if there is going to be an arms race between hacktivists sharing files and people trying to control them, it's important to make that first move," he says. "I wanted to show that if these things are going to be monitored, we as a community have the technology to circumvent that."
Cody Wilson, the founder of the group Defense Distributed whose 3D-printable gun files were targeted with a takedown order from the State Department in May for possible weapons export control violations, says Disarming Corruptor proves that attempting to censor 3D-printable objects will be a losing battle.
"It explodes the idea that there will be certain shapes we can guard against. Information itself is plastic, and it can be molded and changed," says Wilson, who also runs the 3D-printing file repository site Defcad.com. "There will be liquid markets of contraband files, and you won't even know what they are."
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that a single value between zero and 100 was used to encrypt Disarming Corruptor's files, when in fact seven such values are used for any file. Apologies for the error.
Follow me on Twitter, email me, anonymously send me sensitive documents or tips, and check out the new paperback edition of my book, This Machine Kills Secrets: Julian Assange, the Cypherpunks, and Their Fight to Empower Whistleblowers, a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice.


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more than half way finished.
I have to go home to see the folks next weekend. so its 8 hours on a train to knit with. im hoping i dont drop any stitches.
and I want to knit her a veil. She just got engaged about 36 hours ago and i came up with a great idea to knit her a fine lace shetland veil but I have no idea where to begin?
Every instruction I've read on blocking tells you to use a mild detergent in tepid to warm water which is how I do it but why the detergent, what purpose does it serve?
Okay: So my boys think that Beyonce is the number 1 diva and Cher is not. I won't tell you what they said about Judy Garland.
Okay....I'm a fool. I opened my mouth and said that I would make my sister a sweater. However, all the stuff that I want to knit, she doesn't like.
Hey everyone!
It is time to go home and in my way home I have a new gift to myself, I call it the Tattoo of Life, it has a Battlestar Gallactica Theme to it and the Lords Of Kobols are smilling.
I had the opportunity a couple of weekends ago to learn the very basics of sprang (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprang) a technicque of twisting warp threads to produce a fabric.
As some of you may know I had allready tried the QAL which, trust me, did not work out well for me, I still occasionally look at the pattern in sheer horror, I guess my knitting skills aren't up to kn
ok so today I finally took the time to take the picture of the spinning wheel. I just didnt' realize how close it's getting to time for me to go! omg 25 days and counting!


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Kent Taylor won't have to get used to a new mascot next year. The Sporting News Top 125 (No. 66) member will be transitioning from the Land O'Lakes (Fla.) Gators to the Florida Gators in 2012.
According to the St. Petersburg Times, Taylor—a 6-foot-5, 220-pound tight end from just north of Tampa—made the decision public at his school Thursday afternoon. Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Penn State were his other finalists.
Taylor has caught 18 passes for 322 yards and three touchdowns this year, even with two missed games at the beginning of the season because of a broken hand. Last year, he caught 35 passes for 571 yards and three touchdowns. His father, Rob Taylor, played offensive line at Northwestern and then for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1986-1993.
Florida has 17 commitments for the class of 2012—players that can sign their letters of intent in February. Another SN125 tight end, Colin Thompson (No. 91) of Pennsylvania, is already on board with the Gators.


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The New Statesman Essay - The English must reclaim England [1]
The nation has been disposed of and we don't even object
The nation has been disposed of and we don't even object
by Roger Scruton [2] Published
The English were, for centuries, self-confident enough to need no definition; they knew who they were, but not what they were. Losing their confidence, they now look around in vain for their identity: are we a nation, a territory, a language, a culture, an empire or just an idea? All answers seem inadequate or wrong. The national idea, which conscripted the French to their revolution, and then fatefully mobilised the rest of Europe, has not in the past had much appeal for the English: it is too atavistic, too divorced from institutions, customs and laws, to lend itself to their domestic form of politics. The challenge of nationalism, as in Northern Ireland, has been met by an appeal to the "Union" - in other words, to a purely legal entity, representing neither race nor religion nor language, but a history of sovereign jurisdiction.
Vague notions of "kith and kin" animated the builders of the British empire; but who was included, and why, remained uncertain. When politicians appealed for support, they addressed not the nation or the kingdom, but "the country" - meaning all those people who were represented at Westminster. But what these people had in common, and what had brought them together under a single crown, remained wholly obscure. The Scots were still governed by their own laws, and possessed institutions, offices and ceremonies that made little sense to those brought up south of the border.
When politicians appealed to the country, it was as though they were waving vaguely from the Palace of Westminster towards territory that stretched without definition, until falling, in some distant and unvisited region, into the sea. That territory was England, which called to its children in every far-flung corner of the globe, furnishing them with the idea and the love of home.
It was, therefore, as the home country that England was most easily defined. But the definition made less and less sense as the empire dwindled, and slowly and uncertainly the English revised their self-description, pretending like the rest of Europe that they were a nation. But what nation? Why, the British: for they were British nationals. No such thing, however, was written in their passports, which referred instead to "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", and which "requested and required", in the name of Her Britannic Majesty, that the bearer should be allowed to pass freely. Legally speaking, they were subjects of the Queen - or rather, of the Crown, which is a "corporation sole", a collective with at most one member: an entity recognised only by the common law of England, an ancient product of the English imagination interred like some adamantine relic in the subsoil of our culture.
The idea of Britain was invented to give credibility to the Union, to sustain the Protestant religion of England and Scotland, and to fortify Great Britain against Continental power. So argues Linda Colley in her seminal work Britons: forging the nation 1707-1837 (1992), and her story of the British nation is fast becoming orthodoxy. Philosophically speaking, however, it is flawed. It is true that there was a British empire, that the English learnt to describe themselves as Britons, and that Britain and Britishness became the common currency of sovereign claims. But still, there never was a British nation. The Scots continued to describe themselves as Scots; the Irish as Irish - or, if they rejected the Republic, as "Unionists", meaning adherents to the strange legal entity described in their passports. The Welsh, who provided us with our most determinedly English kings, the Tudors, were still, in their own eyes, Welsh. The English remained English and, in their hearts, it was England that secured their loyalty, not Scotland, Ireland or Wales. Only one group of Her Majesty's subjects saw itself as British - namely, those immigrants from the former empire who seized on the idea of British nationality as a means of having no real nationality at all, certainly no nationality that would conflict with ethnic or religious loyalties forged far away and years before. There are black or Bangladeshi Britons, but not black or Bangladeshi English; and there are few black British who see themselves primarily as subjects of the English Crown.
Nations are, in Benedict Anderson's illuminating phrase , "imagined communities" - communities formed through their own storytelling, shaped by language, culture and consciousness into a form that will prepare their members for a common fate. Nations are not the "natural" communities implied by their name: seldom, if ever, do they arise from a common stock or a web of kinship. They are as much the products as the producers of the states that govern them, and even if they are sanctified by a common language and a common religion, these things may exist because administrative convenience requires them. Hence the theory - exaggerated in detail, but persuasive in outline - that the nation is a creation, or at any rate a consequence, of the modern state, and nationalism the ideology upon which at least some modern forms of political order draw for their legitimacy.
The theory was first advanced by Lord Acton; since then, it has become a commonplace among historians, and one that is seized upon with glee by those who find the simple loyalties of simple people both dangerous and unattractive. The recent experience of nationalism - in Germany, the Balkans and the Soviet empire - inspires little affection for the national idea. And the anti-British history of recent decades - whether half amused in the manner of David Cannadine, or sneering and bitter like Tom Nairn and Perry Anderson - can be seen as a sustained rejection of British nationalism, and of the pride and loyalty that made Britishness into a coherent project and a serious ideal.
Plausible though Lord Acton's theory may seem, however, when considering the emerging states of the postcolonial world, it does not apply to the United Kingdom - a state improvised over centuries to accommodate the evolving claims of the English Crown. The ideal of "Britishness" that emerged in the 19th century was an ideal made in England, and the United Kingdom itself was founded on a loyalty that preceded and transcended the modern state. This was the loyalty to England: not a nation or a doctrine or a state, but a country, the place where "we" belong. Yes, but who are we? That is the question that the English never needed to ask themselves - not because they had a ready answer, but because England has exerted so strong a hold over their imaginations that, until recently, they instinctively knew who they were, without recourse to those concepts of nationhood, Volk and culture that have played such a large and questionable part in Continental politics. England defined their membership. As to England itself, it was home - distinguished from all those other places, known collectively as "abroad", to which the English ventured and from which they returned in mild surprise at their good fortune.
The English thought of their country - the place itself, and not just the people - in personal terms. They loved, hated, resented and praised it in equal measure. "England, my England" (the refrain of a famous piece of patriotic kitsch by W E Henley) was a persistent theme of their literature; and already, in the history plays of Shakespeare, the corporate character of England took the central role in the drama. And it is precisely because they had this attitude to their country that the English found it so difficult to describe what they were. Their identity was formed through a personal relationship with a place - a place enchanted precisely by that personal relationship. Famously - notoriously - in an essay entitled "England, Your England", George Orwell defined his country as a bundle of sensations: "The clatter of clogs in the Lancashire mill towns, the to-and-fro of the lorries on the Great North Road, the queues outside the Labour Exchanges, the rattle of pintables in the Soho pubs, the old maids biking to Holy Communion through the mists of the autumn morning - all these are not only fragments, but characteristic fragments, of the English scene."
Forget that the particular impressions upon which Orwell seizes have disappeared, and were, in any case, no more than one man's special flavour. Is it not obvious that Orwell is describing not a people but a place, and at the same time identifying that place as a person? For Orwell, too, England was not a nation or a creed or a language or a state, but a home.
Things at home don't need an explanation. They are there, because they are there. It was one of the most remarkable features of the English that they required so little explanation of their customs and institutions. They bumbled on, without anyone asking the reason why, or anyone being able, if asked, to provide it. Continental observers often accused the English of a disrespect for reason, and an unwillingness to think things through. But if the result of thinking things through is paradox, why should reason require it? The French thought things through at the revolution, and the result was accurately summarised by Robespierre: "the despotism of liberty". Impenetrable contradiction is what you must expect, when you try to start from scratch, and refuse to recognise that custom, tradition, law and what Burke called "prejudice" are the best that human beings can obtain in the way of government. So, for many centuries, the English were content with an unwritten constitution, a parliament whose powers remained undefined, a form of sovereignty that could be traced to no specific institution and no single person, a system of justice in which the most important laws were not written down, and patterns of local administration that could not be explained, even by those who operated them.
Home is a place where you can be yourself and do your own thing. Respect the rituals and the household gods, and for the rest you can please yourself. When people feel at home, therefore, they allow themselves freedoms, hobbies and eccentricities. They become amateurs, experts and cranks. They collect stamps, butterflies or biscuit tins; they grow vegetables so large that nobody could eat them, and breed dogs so ugly that only an Englishman could look them in what might charitably be called the face. The eccentricity of the English follows as a matter of course, once it is recognised that they were at home in their world and safe there.
So, too, does their amateurism. The empire was acquired by roving adventurers and merchants who, trading with natives whom they could not or would not trust, summoned the law of Old England to conclude the deal, and, in the wake of the law, the sovereign power that would enforce it. But it was not only the empire that was acquired in this way. Almost the entire social order of the country arose from private initiatives. Schools, colleges and universities; municipalities, hospitals, theatres; festivals and even the army regiments, all tell the same story: some public-spirited amateur, raising funds, setting out principles, acquiring premises and then bequeathing his achievement to trustees or to the Crown, with the state appearing, if at all, only after the event, in order to guarantee the survival and propagation of good works that it would never have initiated by itself. That is the English way. It is the way of people who are at home, and who refuse to be bossed about by those whom they regard as outsiders. Their attitude to officialdom reflected their conviction that, if something needs doing, then the person to do it is you.
The English did receive institutions from outside, and in particular from the Church of Rome, which Christianised them in the early years of their home-building. It is a striking fact, however, that, long before the Reformation, the Church in England had become the Church of England, and was chafing against papal authority in the name of ancient customs and home-made forms of mystery. The Church acquired the same dispersed and homely quality as the system of law courts, sheriffs and shires. It had two archbishops, both situated outside the capital. Its priests were appointed by private patrons, colleges or the sovereign, and when Henry VIII declared that it was he, and not the pope, who was head of the Church, this was accepted by many people as entirely natural and in no way incompatible with the fundamental tenets of the Catholic faith. Even today, the Church of England calls itself Catholic, and its Protestant credentials are like the Protestantism of England generally - not so much a protest at the apostolic succession as a refusal to be governed from elsewhere.
Certainly, what I have just written is one-sided; but it offers an explanation of our current crisis. The muddle of our parliamentary institutions, the hereditary components in our constitution, the common law system, our attachment to the countryside as the icon of our historical loyalty, and our cult of the amateur all stem from a single cause: which is that we have been for centuries at home in our territory, governed not by individuals, cabals or conspiracies, but by "the law of the land", a law discovered in judgement, rather than imposed from on high. From William the Conqueror onwards, it was assumed that the monarch owes his legitimacy to his promise to uphold the law, which precedes his office and also defines it. Hostility to the European Union is merely the latest manifestation of this conception of law, as a form of judgement that stands above politics and is distinct from the edicts, ukases, decrees and "directives" of Continental powers.
Devolution has, likewise, presented the English with a situation that they are not equipped by their institutions or their culture to understand. Our present government is composed largely of Scots, such as Gordon Brown, or people educated in Scotland, as was Tony Blair, and while the Scots can go on legislating for the English, the English have been deprived of their jurisdiction north of the border. This radical disenfranchising of the English is also a political interdiction. In the revised United Kingdom, there simply is no English part, and the official map of the European Union, issued by the European Commission in Brussels, divides the Continent into "regions" that make no mention of England. England has been finally disposed of. When Poland was partitioned, and the name of a country that had existed for eight centuries as a sovereign state was removed from the official maps of Europe, the English were appalled. Two centuries later, what was done to Poland by force is being done to England by subterfuge, and the response of the English is a guilt-ridden silence.
Roger Scruton's latest book, England: an elegy, is published on 12 October by Chatto & Windus (£16.99)


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$18,820 – $18,820 Invoice
20 / 28 MPG City/Hwy
Enter your information and a representative will contact you for this 2006 Pontiac Solstice !
What's New
The Pontiac Solstice is a new offering for the 2006 model year, so everything about it is brand new, and that especially applies to its racy two-seater roadster styling. Solstice gives Pontiac a car to compete with the likes of the Mazda MX-5 Miata, and actually has a lower manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) than its sibling, the Saturn Sky.
Solstice was first shown as a concept at the 2002 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Because the car was so well received, GM gave it the green light for production with the first cars rolling off the assembly line in two years. In keeping with the spirit of a pure sports car, Solstice is designed to feel like an extension of the driver's body. It is built on GM's new rear-wheel drive Kappa architecture and includes Bilstein brand coil-over monotube shocks at all corners, 18-inch all-season tires, four-wheel disc brakes, an available limited-slip differential, and short-throw shifter. Inspired by the pure driving experience offered by classic roadsters, the 2006 Pontiac Solstice was designed to provide invigorating driving thrills with performance from General Motors' four-cylinder Ecotec powertrain, and to deliver them in a curvaceous form that GM calls "seductive." Sports car features include rear-wheel drive, a four-wheel independent short-/long-arm suspension, 18-inch aluminum alloy wheels, and a 177-hp, 2.4L engine that sends power to the rear wheels through a close-ratio, 5-speed manual transmission. A 5-speed automatic will become available later in the 2006 model year.
Although Solstice conveys a minimalist image, it is well equipped with the type of comfort and convenience items appreciated by enthusiastic drivers. The interior is roomy, allowing for a comfortable driving position for tall drivers. Standard equipment includes racing-inspired sport bucket seats with convenient seat cushion and seatback storage, a leather-wrapped manual shift knob, an AM/FM/CD stereo with six speakers, a rear window defogger, a rake-adjustable steering wheel, three cup holders, an easy-to-operate cloth convertible top with glass backlight, and dual frontal air bags. Additionally, several option packages are available. They include a Power Package with power locks/mirrors/windows, along with remote keyless entry; a Convenience Package with cruise control, a driver information center, and fog lamps; and a Premium Package with leather seating surfaces (Ebony or Steel/Sand two-tone), a leather-wrapped steering wheel, and steering wheel radio controls. Other available equipment includes air conditioning, carpeted floor mats, an MP3-capable CD player radio, an MP3-capable radio with 6-disc in-dash CD player, Monsoon Premium seven-speaker system, OnStar and XM Satellite Radio.
The Competition
The Pontiac Solstice competes against five other models in the Compact Sporty segment, where high-performance in a tight package is the challenge.
According to the J.D. Power and Associates Sales Report,SM the Scion tC led this segment in sales in 2005 with 74,415 units sold. Other models in this segment include the Subaru Impreza (33,637 sales in 2005), Mitsubishi Lancer (27,849), Hyundai Tiburon (20,600), and Mazda MX-5 Miata (9,602). The Pontiac Solstice sold 5,445 units in calendar year 2005. Volkswagen's new Eos convertible and Saturn's new Sky roadster join the field in calendar year 2006.
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> Dr. Kristina Brown and Renae Courtney to present at the AAMFT Conference
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Dr. Kristina Brown and Renae Courtney to present at the AAMFT Conference
A Forest faculty member and student have been chosen to present at the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Annual Conference in Memphis, Tennessee on October 30 - November 2. Dr. Kristina Brown, PhD, LMFT, Assistant Professor in the Department of Marriage and Family Therapy, will be presenting a three hour seminar on "Chronic Illness and the Effect on a Couple's Intimate Relationship". Renae Courtney will be presenting her poster, "Recruit, Engage, and Retain Participants".
The below information is taken directly from the abstracts by Dr. Kristina Brown and Renae Courtney.
"Chronic Illness and the Effect on a Couple's Intimate Relationship"
by Kristina S. Brown, PhD, LMFT
Abstract Summary:
This workshop will provide knowledge about the impact of a chronic illness, endometriosis, on a couple's intimate relationship and the ways in which the well partner is impacted. Therapeutic strategies and coping skills to be used with couples with a chronic illness and who are struggling with their intimate relationship will be provided.
According to family systems theory, when one member of the system changes this change will impact the system as a whole. This is true for chronic illness. The onset, diagnosis, and ongoing symptoms of a chronic illness change the couple relationship. The illness can infiltrate every aspect of the couple's life including their intimate relationship. Much attention is usually given by the medical and mental health professionals to the ill partner. Research has found that the coping skills of the well partner impact not only the well partner and the couple relationship, but it also impacts the course of the illness. This workshop will provide knowledge about the impact of chronic illness using endometriosis as the example. Participants will learn how endometriosis changes the way a couple intimately connects both emotionally and physically. Women with endometriosis experience painful intercourse as a symptom of the disease. Participants will understand and learn about the experiences of couples who struggled with anticipatory fear in response to painful intercourse. The anticipatory fear cycle describes the holding patterns that these couples can get stuck in their sexual relationship as a result of anxiety, guilt, and fear of painful intercourse. This information can be applied to a wide range of experiences of painful intercourse due to both biological and psychological origin. The ways in which the well partner is uniquely impacted by endometriosis will also be detailed. Though the research done by the presenter is on endometriosis, the knowledge and skills provided by this workshop will be transferable to couples experiencing a range of other chronic illnesses. The presenter will share therapeutic strategies including collaboration with the medical profession, positive techniques for including the well partner in the illness, and coping skills for couples.
Learning Objectives:
1. Participants will describe the lived experience of chronic illness on the couple relationship.
2. Participants will identify the ways in which a chronic illness can change the couple's intimate relationship.
3. Participants will understand the unique experience of well partners.
4. Participants will hear recorded interviews with couples as they discuss the impact that chronic illness has had on their intimate relationship and the impact it has had on the well partner.
5. Participants will identify strategies to use when working with couples with chronic illness.
6. Participants will learn and practice different strategies to use with couples struggling with the impact of chronic illness on their relationship.
"Recruit, Engage, and Retain Participants"
by Renae M. Courtney, MA
The School of Professional Psychology at Forest Institute received funding from the Department of Health and Human Services to promote healthy relationships and marriage. Attracting and retaining couples is of primary importance to the success of the grant. The goal of this project is a retrospective look at what motivates couples to attend and remain in a relationship enhancement course.
In 2006, The School of Professional Psychology at Forest Institute received a five-year, $5-million dollar grant from the Department of Health and Human Services to provide healthy marriage/healthy relationship education to 29 counties in Springfield, Missouri. The grant targets 1) high school students, 2) engaged couples, couples in a serious dating relationship, or persons interested in marriage, 3) unwed expectant mothers and fathers, 4) married couples, and 5) couples at risk for divorce. The evaluation was conducted with culturally relevant participants using a pilot study designed with a focus on military spouses. The curriculum is based on the Prepare Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP). Data were collected at the end of first class to identify and promote successful marketing strategies. Participants included 42 couples who were married, engaged, or in serious dating relationships. Participants were mostly Caucasian and ranged in age from 18 to 65. A free meal was provided and there was no cost for attending the four week, two hour sessions. Surveys were anonymous and requested only gender as a demographic variable. Participants were asked to indicate why they came to the course. Categories included 1) need relationship help, 2) to help the troops, 3) free food, 4) for fun, 5) spouse made me, and 6) it's a guy thing. Following this section, participants were asked to offer other reasons that motivated them to attend the sessions. Finally, participants were asked to indicate why they planned to continue. Categories included 1) I had a good time, 2) learned something new, 3) committed to all four weeks, and 4) there are people like me here. Participation was voluntary. Overall, 94% of the couples reported attending to seek help in their relationship, 74% planned to commit to all four weeks because they had a good time.
Learning Objectives:
1. Participants will learn strategies likely to engage, recruit, and retain participants in preventative relationship education classes.
2. Participants will learn possible gender distinctions motivating participants to attend and remain in relationship education classes.
3. Participants will learn a unique cultural approach to psychoeducational/relationship education classes in southwest Missouri.
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Former treasurer touts 3rd option for articling crisis
|Former Law Society of Upper Canada treasurer Gavin MacKenzie is calling on benchers to consider financial incentives to increase the number of articling positions.
His option would continue to require applicants to article while increasing the number of articling positions through financial incentives to students or employers, or both, if necessary.
As MacKenzie sees it, this option isn't before Convocation because of a concern that it would be unfair to students unable to find an articling position even if the number of positions increased.
"This concern is legitimate but overstated," he writes. "The dramatic increase in the number of applicants who wish to practise law in Ontario is a problem that we neither created nor encouraged. We should do all we can to accommodate the increasing numbers of applicants by making as many articling positions available as possible, but it would be a serious mistake for us to compromise our high standards of competence to do so."
The options now before Convocation find their origins in the recommendation of a task force commissioned by LSUC.
A majority on the task force suggests that licensing could be accomplished in two ways: by articling, a course expected to be pursued by a majority of students, or through an eight-month law practice program.
The minority on the task force suggests that articling has run its course and should be abolished and replaced by a two- or three-month transitional training program.
MacKenzie finds the suggestion that articling be abolished particularly disturbing.
"I think we would be making a serious mistake if we were to do away with articling as a requirement of admission to the Ontario bar," he said in an e-mail.
In his lengthy missive to the benchers, MacKenzie provides detailed reasons for consideration of an increase in the number of articling positions to be supported by financial incentives.
Confidence that "articling is an effective transitional training program," MacKenzie observes, was expressed by lawyers in large and small firms, in large urban areas and rural communities, and in most if not all practice areas.
As for the law practice program, MacKenzie isn't confident that it will ensure competency among new lawyers.
Indeed, he notes that even the majority recommending the program recognized that, given the lack of experience with the option anywhere in Canada or the United States, "there is a large degree of supposition" in the analysis of its adequacy.
For more, see "Dissent on articling task force" and "Articling D-Day set for November."
+11 # 2012-11-19 19:22
Silence is foolish if we are wise but wise if we are foolish.
Justice for articling students
Not unless the entire chain works.
City Law Centre
In pursuit of justice for street people
Justice for articling students
Not unless the entire chain works.
City Law Centre
In pursuit of justice for street people
-3 # 2012-11-19 20:46
I like Mr Mackenzie's suggestion. The face to face in articling is a useful transition. Whether good or bad the on site articling experience exposes students to a range of practitioners that the student might, or might not, want to emulate but it is all grist in the student's learning to deal with practical every day intereaction with other lawyers, clients and members of the public. There is no subsitute for experience.
-5 # 2012-11-20 08:13
As the head of our student committee I can attest to the value of articling, having spoken to the students in the program at the end of each year. Since when did we guarantee articling spots. Firstly, lets reduce the number of spots in law schools before we abolish articilng. Secondly, lets recognize that some people should perhaps not practice law but put their degree to other uses. If they are unable to get an articling job what makes anyone think that they will get a job after completing the program. Either there won't be a job available or they won't be hired for the same reasons that they did not get an articling job. They will then be left to start their own practice or buy one from a retiring lawyer with little to no idea what they are doing. That frightens me.
+15 # 2012-11-20 10:42
Does any LSUC employee, Bencher, treasurer cares what
articling students, lawyers are going through every day. Too many lawyers and law graduates than hand-over law society to paralegals. Glad to be called the member of Ontario Bar.
articling students, lawyers are going through every day. Too many lawyers and law graduates than hand-over law society to paralegals. Glad to be called the member of Ontario Bar.
+6 # 2012-11-23 11:02
For years watched the clowns wrestling with articling issue at Law Society. Pathetic...Lega l fraud...Scam to drain members funds folks rise.
-7 # 2012-11-26 08:12
The system was working just fine. The lsuc and schools just want to make more money so they can keep their cushy jobs. They could have just created financial incentives for those that take on students. Much better option,. And the articling period should be 2 years in my opinion. 2 years of law school + 2 years of articling. Then you will get competent lawyers. More school makes them incompetent. You need a longer articling period. The LPP Program will be crap. Nothing compares to real world training... Nothing.
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4/10/2011 - 7am
When we left Katmandu, there was already a lot of traffic here. Our minivan had to move cautiously through the narrow streets. On the outskirts of the city, we passed numerous brick furnaces. No wonder the air quality in Katmandu was so miserable. The black smoke from the countless stoves rises along with the smoke and smog from the traffic in the streets, made it very dusty.
The days spent in the hotel did me good, but I was happy to be moving on. The ride was very entertaining. Don Bowie and I discussed our plans for the next few months. The minivan was great because we could make ourselves comfortable, which made the five-hour drive to Zangmu go by quickly.
Zangmu is the border town between Nepal and China. But before we could cross the border, we would need to wait for our liaison officer to arrive. Once he came, we ate lunch, then walked to the border. There were two jeeps there, waiting to pick us up. Everything was controlled: we had to stand in the order of our permits, and our luggage was opened, then examined as if it was under a microscope. Books seemed to be especially interesting to the Chinese officials. They looked through every one of them very carefully. In the end, everything went quicker than expected, and we entered the Tibetan border region.
Suddenly, our surroundings changed entirely. The buildings were nothing but cold cement. It reminded me of Moscow's prefabricated buildings. Welcome to communism.
We spent the night in Zangmu, then woke up and drove to Nyalam, one hour from Zangmu. Our liaison officer needed an extra day to organize the yaks. 29 yaks were required for our expedition to the base camp of Shishapangma. Our group comprised of Don Bowie, Freddie Widmer (a journalist from Switzerland), Rob Frost (who works for the movie channel), Niklas Hallstrom (who managed a team of Sherpas), and our cook. I could not wait to begin our trip.
Don Bowie, my partner on this expedition, is 41 years old and had already climbed K2 without supplementary oxygen. He also made a successful attempt of climbing Gasherbrum Don. His quiet nature was appealing to me, and I was convinced that we would get along well on the mountain. Together we jogged on a nearby hill. It was good to be on our legs again, after spending so much time at the hotel.
When I arrived at the summit, I met two Tibetans who had kindled a fire in a small altar, and were sitting comfortably among the prayer flags. They were drinking Tibetan tea, and eating meat, which they offered to me, though I declined. As tempting as it was at that moment, I knew that my stomach wouldn't't be able to handle it.
When Don arrived, one of the Tibetans showed us the way to base camp. From the top of the valley you could see it well. We went over the ridge to the next summit, before descending. At 13.30 we ate lunch. The Chinese food was very good. I enjoyed their system of rice with various meat dishes and vegetables like tofu and mushrooms. We also drank Sprite; perhaps so we would't forget our Western roots. The only thing that I could complain about was that everything there was quite dirty. I hoped that we would survive the delicious meals without acquiring major stomach problems!
On the morning of the 13th we left Nyalam. We began our trek by riding 2 miles on a truck, until the road ended abruptly. At the stop we waited for the yaks and their drivers. Unfortunately, the weather did not seem to be on our side. The sky was overcast with cirrus clouds, and it looked like nasty weather wasn't very far behind.
The yak drivers loaded all of our equipment. Then they began a very lively discussion. We stood by and waited until the conversation ended. We discovered that we needed two more yaks! To avoid further delays, and paying extra money for more yaks, we decided to begin the expedition without them. As the drivers loaded the yaks, it began to snow.
The weather was horrible, but we continued our expedition, walking for the next seven hours through the thick snow. The temperature was nearly zero during the entire trek. At half past seven, we decided to rest and eat. Even with the harsh weather conditions, everything was running smoothly.
It snowed quite heavily all night. In the morning it looked like it would rip right open, and get much worse. Thankfully the Tibetans didn't want to run the risk of walking in such dangerous conditions, so we waited until noon, when the weather finally subsided. With the yaks leading the way, the snow became more manageable to walk across, especially when the sun began melting in our path.
I was finally able to enjoy this caravan of 31 yaks, 11 yak drivers, two Tibetan dogs and our team.
The base camp was located at 5306 meters on the edge of a lake. It was truly a wonderful place. The landscape was very open. There wasn't a narrow valley in sight. On the contrary, there were large, wide areas throughout the Tibetan plateau which were all bounded by the highest mountains on earth.
When we finally reached the base camp, we decided that we would now determine our own rhythm.
Kind regards,
Ueli Steck


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formichetti + branislav jankic for DSECTION MAG debut issue
Dubbed as "the first and only Portuguese fashion magazine dedicated entirely and exclusively to men", DSECTION Magazine has featured fashion's current golden boy Nicola Formichetti, shot by Branislav Jankic (his Mugler XTube film collaborator) on the cover. Along with an in depth look at "when a man becomes a god" on Formichetti, the magazine features another incredible self portrait of Jankic. His previous ones (featured on my column on Popbytes) are under the cut.
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Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the Agribusiness ETF (AMEX: MOO) where we have detected an approximate $56.4 million dollar outflow — that's a 1.1% decrease week over week (from 99,850,000 to 98,800,000). Among the largest underlying components of MOO, in trading today Syngenta Syngenta AG (NYSE: SYT) is up about 1%, Deere & Co Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) is up about 1.9%, and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. (NYSE: POT) is up by about 1.5%. For a complete list of holdings, visit the MOO Holdings page »
Click here to find out which 9 other ETFs experienced notable outflows, at ETFChannel.com »
The chart below shows the one year price performance of MOO, versus its 200 day moving average:
Looking at the chart above, MOO's low point in its 52 week range is $43.43 per share, with $56.55 as the 52 week high point — that compares with a last trade of $54.30. Comparing the most recent share price to the 200 day moving average can also be a useful technical analysis technique — learn more about the 200 day moving average ».
Special Offer: Find out what Dave Moenning is holding in the ETF Channel Flexible Growth Investment Portfolio with a special 20% off coupon from Forbes and 30 Days Free.
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) trade just like stocks, but instead of "shares" investors are actually buying and selling "units". These "units" can be traded back and forth just like stocks, but can also be created or destroyed to accommodate investor demand. Each week we monitor the week-over-week change in shares outstanding data, to keep a lookout for those ETFs experiencing notable inflows (many new units created) or outflows (many old units destroyed). Creation of new units will mean the underlying holdings of the ETF need to be purchased, while destruction of units involves selling underlying holdings, so large flows can also impact the individual components held within ETFs.


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Axia Reports Results for the Year Ended December 31, 2013
CALGARY, March 11, 2014 /CNW/ -
2013 Highlights
Business unit revenue of $110.0 million grew 17% year over year.
Business unit EBITDA of $29.5 million was up 34% from $22.0 million in
2012. EBITDA margin expanded to 27% in 2013 from 23% in 2012.
IFRS net income of $1.9 million or $0.03 per share compared to $6.2
million or $0.11 per share for the prior year. Net income, excluding
the adjustments related to the sale of investments, the non-cash
expenses in Corporate and the change in tax estimate was $7.8 million
or $0.12 per share.
Axia completed the sale of its interest in OpenNet and in Xarxa Oberta
for total proceeds of $39.4 million.
In Alberta, Axia extended a key contractual relationship with the
Government of Alberta through to June 30, 2018 and simplified its
historically complex relationship with Bell into a standard commercial
- Cash and investments were $38.8 million at December 31, 2013 compared to $2.3 million a year ago.
Business unit revenue of $31.5 million grew 28% from $24.6 million in Q4
Business unit EBITDA of $8.1 million was up 12% year-over-year.
IFRS net loss of $2.0 million or $(0.03) per share compared to a loss of
$2.9 million or $(0.03) per share for the prior year. Excluding the
adjustment related to the change in tax estimate, net loss was $0.2
million or $0.00 per share.
Customer connections of 9,328 grew 10% from 8,512 in Q4 2012.
- Covage continues to generate positive results. As a result, during the quarter Covage made its first annual cash interest payment of $2.8 million to Axia.
On January 6, 2014, Axia declared an initial quarterly dividend of
$0.0125 per share.
- On March 7, 2014, Axia entered into a senior secured Credit Facility with a Canadian chartered bank for $20.0 million. The facility will be used to finance the construction of fibre connecting to the Alberta SuperNet with principle repayments amortized until June 30, 2018. Advances under the Credit Facility are subject to fees and interest at an indicative fixed term rate of less than 4.0%.
* Axia's business unit summary includes 100% of the financial and operational results of Axia North America and Covage. Please see the audited consolidated financial statements and related Management's Discussion & Analysis (MD&A) for more details.
The audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2013 and related MD&A have been reviewed and approved by Axia's Audit Committee and Board of Directors. Axia recognizes that the majority of its investors are now accessing Axia's corporate and financial information either through pushed news services, directly from Axia's corporate website or SEDAR. Thus, Axia has prepared this truncated news release to alert investors to its results and that a more detailed explanation and analysis is readily available in the MD&A. These reports have been filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and also posted at www.axia.com.
Notice of Conference Call
Axia will hold a conference call with the investment community on Tuesday, March 11, 2014 at 9 a.m. (Eastern), 7 a.m. (Mountain). To participate in the conference call, please dial +1 (647) 427-7450 in Toronto and internationally. If you are connecting from other parts of Canada, dial 1-888-231-8191. Please call ten minutes prior to the start of the call. In addition, a live webcast (listen only mode) of the conference call will be available at:
A replay of the conference call will be available at (416) 849-0833 or 1-855-859-2056, passcode 35371749 from 6 p.m. (Eastern) Tuesday, March 11, 2014 to midnight (Eastern) Tuesday, March 18, 2014 or through the webcast archives at www.newswire.ca.
About Axia
Axia owns, operates and sells services over fibre optic communications infrastructure. Axia trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "AXX".
This News Release contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "should", "believe", "anticipate", "may", "plan", "will", "continue", "intend", "expect", "estimate" and other similar expressions which constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. These statements are based on our current expectations, estimates, forecasts and assumptions about the operating environment, economies and markets in which we operate and are subject to important assumptions, risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Examples of these statements would include those where Axia forecasts its success and timing in winning new NGN business, the timing and amount of future dividend payments, the timing of completion and estimated total costs of our networks, the revenues and operating costs associated with these networks over time, and Axia's ability to generate future cash flows and avail itself of other financing alternatives given current market conditions. The assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information, include, but are not limited to, changes in customer markets, changes in demand for our services, our inability to deliver services in a timely and cost efficient manner, technological change, general economic conditions and other risks detailed from time to time in our ongoing filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities, including those in our Annual Information Form, which filings can be found at www.sedar.com. Given these assumptions, risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements either as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
SOURCE Axia NetMedia CorporationFor further information:
For further information, please visit Axia's website at www.axia.com, or contact:
Glenn Jamieson
Investor Relations
Axia NetMedia Corporation
(905) 582-6169


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Holistic Health
Create greater health, happiness and peace of mind in your life.
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Thriving on Skype
Just when you think there's nothing new under the sun, turns out that there is! Last week I did my very first Skype interview and it was pretty cool. Friend, fellow Kripalu Yogi, Wellness Coach and all around great guy, Thomas Warner interviewed me for his website "Time to Thrive". The subject? A question: "What […] [Read More]
Good vibrations
Life is anything but static. Everything, including us, is in constant motion. Sound is perceived because vibrations trigger movement in the inner and middle ear. Vision occurs because our eyes and brains have learned to interpret the refractions of light from a certain alignment of atoms as a particular object: a chair, a tree, our […] [Read More]


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You will receive an E-Ticket for your tour/activity within 72 hours (if your tour/activity is in less than 10 days). If your tour/activity is within the next 72 hours, your E-Ticket will be processed as quickly as possible. Learn more
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The comprehensive Nashville City Tour & Homes of the Stars Tour is the best combination tour value in Nashville. Discover Nashville in the morning, and take the Stars Homes Tour in the afternoon.
Your day begins with a tour of the city, admission to the Country Music Hall of Fame, and admission to the Ryman Auditorium. You'll have time for lunch on your own in historic downtown Nashville.
The second portion of your sightseeing tour will take you past the homes of Nashville's elite including Alan Jackson, Dolly Parton, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride and many more!
This tour includes round-trip transportation to and from your hotel, as well as admission to the Ryman auditorium and more.
Length: approx. 8 hours
9:00 am daily
Please Note: Hotel pick-ups begin operating 30 minutes before tour departure time, depending on location.
Tour includes pick-up from MOST Nashville hotels. Guests should be waiting in the lobby of their hotel at least 30 minutes prior to tour departure time. Child rate applies to children ages 6 to 11. Children 5 and under are free (when they ride in an adult's lap). Please order online or call to order or for more information.
There is a $6.95 USD processing fee per order. This is a flat fee regardless of the number of tickets or tours purchased on an order. There is a service charge per ticket. This charge will be reflected on your summary before you checkout. The total shown includes any and all taxes, fuel surcharges, and service fees. There are no additional charges, unless otherwise specified.
There are no refunds. All sales are final.
If you have ordered this tour as a part of a vacation package, a different cancellation policy applies and is detailed in the Important Information section on your E-ticket.
Nashville City Tour Highlights
Discover Nashville on this all inclusive tour of the best that Nashville has to offer. The Nashville City Tour is a sightseeing tour of historic Nashville, the State Capitol, the Parthenon, Music Row, and much more. Also included is a tour through Nashville's finest attractions including the Ryman auditorium and the Country Music Hall of Fame. This tour is a must for first-timers to Nashville, or for those who have been away, and want to get reacquainted with this fantastic city.
Drive by Tour
Stop and Tour
Homes of the Stars Tour Description
See the homes of Alan Jackson, Brooks and Dunn, and many other stars as you enjoy a driving tour through the neighborhoods of the elite country music artists. On the Homes of the Stars Tour, you will see the homes of Country music greats such as Alan Jackson, former home of Vince Gill and Amy Grant, Ronnie Milsap, Dolly Parton, Bryan White, Martina McBride, Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks, the late Web Pierce, the late Hank Williams, Trisha Yearwood, the late Tammy Wynette, Lori Ann Crook, and Little Jimmy Dickens.
Tour includes pick-up from MOST Nashville hotels. Guests should be waiting in the lobby of their hotel at least 30 minutes prior to tour departure time. Child rate applies to children ages 6 to 11. Children 5 and under are free (when they ride in an adult's lap). Please order online or call to order or for more information.


text: GM Girls Basketball Wins Region Title (2-18-14) 02/19/2014 12:04 AM 02/19/2014 12:06 AM Lady Lancers Top Fairview General McLane girls basketball team wins the Region 4 title outright by beating Fairview 43-37. Copyright 2014 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Page: [[$index + 1]] basketball sports sports connection


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Hornets go into half either leading or trailing by several points. Hornets fall behind by double digits before 8:00 mark of third. Wash. Spit. Rinse. Repeat...
Needed to be said.
He didn't forget. He said "PT."
If this kid delivers on his athletic potential, this secondary will be as good overall as any in the league. ANY. And I still think he's a dead ringer for Lil' Wayne.
Lighten up, Gambit. Its peseason. They''re not gonna reveal their actual scheme, and to a lesser extent, allow other teams to review their aignments and pick up physical tip-offs or tendencies.
Guido Merkins! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
I think I just heard a collective "uh-oh" from the rest of the league.
The rich just got richer. Vince Young Pt. II. GEAUX TIGERS!


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Nordic walking comes to North Devon
Posted: January 06, 2014|
NORDIC Walking is a fast-growing fitness activity with more than 10 million enthusiasts across the world. It was originally used by cross country skier athletes to stay fit during the summer.
It is performed with walking poles and is said to burn nearly twice as many calories as you would doing regular walking while reducing strain on knees and joints. It also uses more than 90% of the bodies muscles (95% if you talk as well) and is suitable for all ages and levels of fitness. Add to that the positive effect that outdoor exercise has on the mind and it sounds like a great activity for those who want to get fit in the fresh air.
However, apparently, it is not a simple case of grabbing a pair of poles and walking with them. North Devon qualified instructors Steve and Yvonne Watson are offering sessions in the popular walking technique. Details: www.nordicwalk
ingnorthdevon.co.uk or phone 01237 425878. They offer a trial session for free.