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| The University of Washington Faculty
Auxiliary is an organization for the spouses and partners of/and
university faculty members and administrative
officers as well as Auxiliary friends. Providing for
its members a variety of opportunities for social and
cultural interchange is a major objective of the activities that the
Auxiliary sponsors. Service to the UW community and the provision of
annual undergraduate scholarships are ongoing efforts of the UWFA and
its members.
the first six decadesThe Auxiliary was organized in the spring of 1908 as the Faculty Women's Club. Participants were both women faculty and faculty wives. In 1916 the group became the Faculty Wives Club and remained so until 1976, when the name, the University of Washington Faculty Auxiliary, was adopted in order to include faculty spouses of both genders.
Photograph courtesy of University of Washington
Libraries, Special Collections, Nowell x1810
UW President's Campus Residence 1909-1927
The first meetings were held in the homes of members. In 1909 these were moved to the official and on-campus President's House, a structure which previously had been the "New York State Building" at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. (In 1926 this building became home to the School of Music; in 1932 the UW President took up residence in Washington Park.) It was the UW President's wife who, during the early years, served as president of the Faculty Wives Club.
In 1916 the ladies were granted the use of the Faculty Men's Club Hoo Hoo House as venue for their meetings and Study Group gatherings. When a new addition was added to this building in 1926, the Faculty Wives provided a financial contribution toward its "furnishings", as did also the Clubs of the Faculty Men and Faculty Women. The meetings were moved to the Student Union Building in 1952 until the completion in 1960 of a new Faculty Center which, since, has been home to many of the organization's general meetings and other events. A considerable donation was provided by the Faculty Wives also toward this very attractive accommodation which was renamed the University of Washington Club in 2005.
In the 1920s and 30s, as the organization grew, it began to diversify its programs and activities. When its membership was about to reach 250, an adjunct Newcomers Club was formed in 1929 in order to "shepherd the new, mostly young matrons" more effectively into the UW family during their first two years. The Newcomers Club functioned under its own officers and maintained its own Activity Groups. In addition to inviting faculty speakers to their meetings, these Clubs enjoyed such activities as book review, play production, bridge, debates on current topics and garden planning. These Study or Activity Groups were suspended during the war years (both WWI and II) when the members opted to contribute their efforts to the preparation of materials much needed by the Red Cross.
The Division of Health Sciences was established in 1946 and a separate organization of the wives of the Medical School Faculty was formed in 1949. Cooperation between the two women's groups included also the privilege of dual membership.
During these many decades of expansion and social change, the aim of the organization has remained the promotion of service to and sociability throughout the University community. In the early days, Christmas gifts were prepared and given to the Theodora Home (orphanage) and the University Infirmary. After World War II, the enrollment of foreign students increased and in 1952 in close association with the Foundation for International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS, estab. 1948), the Auxiliary began making annual contributions to various foreign student aid funds.
In 1957 the organization initiated a scholarship fund and in 1958-59 began the tradition of awarding annually at least one full-tuition scholarship to a student at the University. Funds for the service and scholarship activities were collected by numerous and various means, including Bridge Parties, International Nights featuring foreign foods and entertainment, Faculty Follies spotlighting faculty "talent", and the evening Dessert Auctions and Theater parties.
Active Faculty Wives membership peaked well above 600 in the 1960s; Spring Luncheon attendance was over 400. In the mid-60s, the Faculty Wives and Newcomers Club combined their separate Study and Activity Groups to form the Interest Group Program through which all could meet to share similar interests and talents.
the seventies and eighties
The organization continued its support of foreign students at the University through its benefit fund for FIUTS and with donations collected at the December "Silver" (since 1994 "Holiday") Tea. In 1971 and in a combined effort, FIUTS and the Faculty Wives Club compiled and published the first edition of the Newcomers Booklet that was created especially for new arrivals to the University. Even after the affiliated Newcomers Club merged in 1975 with the Faculty Wives, many of the activities continued to be planned around the welcoming and orientation of the spouses of and new and visiting faculty. The Club (renamed in 1976 as UW Faculty Auxiliary) prepared the second edition in 1980 and revised this newcomer's aid at regular intervals up through 1996.
Since its establishment in 1985, the Visiting Faculty Housing Service has been particularly valuable to new and visiting faculty, staff and visiting scholars requiring temporary housing. This bustling office in Cunningham Hall has expanded its services that are available five half-days a week and run entirely by volunteers. Donations to VFHS from those making rentals available have contributed substantially to the coffers of the Faculty Auxiliary Scholarship Fund.
The Dinner-Lecture Series, a monthly evening event at the Faculty Center (UW Club), has been a popular addition to Auxiliary endeavors. The series was born in 1988 with the underlying idea of combining occasions for socializing with matters of a more intellectual nature. Furthermore, an evening event was more readily accessible for working members and working spouses.
the ninetiesEnterprising members considered new ideas for fund-raising, and in 1990 the Auxiliary compiled, published and successfully marketed a cookbook called Cooking with all Your Faculties. A second project undertook the annual sale of the Entertainment Coupon Book. The cookbooks have been sold, while sales of the latter continue to provide for the scholarship fund.
The Interest Group Program, which supports 30 to 40 different groups is a focal point for a good number of active Faculty Auxiliary members. The seasonal UWFA social events, the general meetings with speakers or cultural programs and the popular evening Dinner/ Lectures continue to be integral Auxiliary activities. These occasions provide opportunities for members, their partners and friends to meet people from other areas of the University community. A special Holiday Dinner-Program in December is particularly enjoyed by families.
The University has been and continues to be a valuable source of many of the speakers who present programs covering a wide variety of current, historical, scientific and informative topics for thought and discussion. Speakers as well as forums from outside the University also have been invited to provide information relevant to larger community projects and issues. The closure of the Navy's Sand Point Facility and the eventual distribution of the subsequently available prime property, the Seattle Commons issue and Where Town Meets Gown: Visions for the Future of the University District were particularly relevant topics in the mid-nineties.
The service capabilities of the Visiting Faculty Housing Office in providing assistance to university newcomers were greatly enhanced in 1995 with the arrival of Internet technology. Soon thereafter the VFHS and the UWFA undertook their initial website appearance. The Auxiliary continues to serve the university through its effort to reach out to and to welcome newcomers to the UW community.
Very high priority continues to be given by the Faculty Auxiliary to the provision of annual undergraduate scholarship awards. These scholarships are funded through member donations and other "gifts" to the Auxiliary, through special FA projects and, especially, through the efforts of the volunteers at the Visiting Faculty Housing Service. In addition to a number of donations to various campus groups, the UWFA has awarded, since 1958, more than 95 full-tuition scholarships. Since the mid-eighties there has been provision for at least three scholarships annually. The Faculty Auxiliary was particularly proud to award, for 1995-1996, six full-tuition scholarships to very deserving students. Due to an initiative of the Scholarship Committee of 1997, the award events, themselves, have been particularly noteworthy. The recipients together with their respective department chairs as well as a guest speaker have been invited to join Auxiliary members at the Scholarship Awards evening. These occasions with the warm and enthusiastic presentations by appreciative faculty members, students and speakers have been exceptional.
Many university faculty and administrative staff, throughout the years, have been both supportive and contributing participants in many Auxiliary undertakings, including, e.g., bridge groups, dining out groups, and such fund raisers as Faculty Follies and Theater Parties. As of 1997, they have been welcomed to Auxiliary membership.
the twenty-first century
Rev. August 7, 2005
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CALLANDER – A new book gives an inside perspective into a controversial cull of hundreds of animals at a Sundridge game farm.
In February of 1990, the Moravia Game Farm, home to hundreds of animals, was quarantined by Agriculture Canada after two animals shipped from the farm tested positive for tuberculosis.
"It was ugly because there was really no choice but to destroy (the animals) and that caused some great controversy," explained former Department of Agriculture district veterinarian and newly published author Chuck Lockton, who spent 32 years in his role with the health of animals branch of Agriculture Canada.
"It's very similar to the Medical Officer of Health's job but for animals," explained Lockton, who spent his time investigating diseases that would be considered a serious threat to the livestock industry or could be spread from animal to human.
Tuberculosis is a contagious disease caused by an infection in the lymph nodes, which is then spread to other organs like the lungs. This disease affects practically all mammals, and before control measures were adopted, was one of the major diseases of man and domestic animals, Lockton said.
In Canada, tuberculosis is a reportable disease under the Health of Animals Act, and all cases must be reported to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), formerly the Canadian Department of Agriculture.
The owner of the Sudridge game farm objected to the testing the government was relying on to determine if animals were affected, because the procedure was to kill the animal and produce a bacterial culture from their tissues. Growing the culture can take three months or more. In the meantime, the animals on the four sites owned by the farm were on total lock-down.
"There were some 500 different animals of 50 some different species," said Lockton, of the animals involved in the slaughter, which was policy under Agriculture Canada guidelines.
The game farm was reported to contain a variety of species including llamas, bison, deer, elk, a cougar, and even a Siberian tiger.
The controversy heated up with the owner of the farm suing Agriculture Canada for damages, because no animals were to be shipped to or from the farm while under quarantine. The owner of the farm also filed an injunction to stop the slaughter, but was denied. While Agriculture Canada waited for the animals on the farm to be evaluated in order to provide compensation to the owner after the mandatory cull, the property was kept under 24-hour surveillance. The animals were said to be worth around $1 million.
At the end of September 1990, while the animals were still in quarantine, the owner of the farm called a media conference and showed reporters the carcasses of multiple dead animals on the farm, blaming the agriculture officials for scaring a baby elk into a fence where it died from its injuries, and suggesting a camel died after being kicked by a horse because the animals were forced into close quarters while the investigation took place.
Lockton said he began receiving death threats and was forced into police protection at an undisclosed site for six weeks.
"I got one threat I think was from the owner, but couldn't prove it. But then I started getting threats from the animal rights people, and the police took that very seriously," he said.
According to Lockton, the media didn't know all of the details at the time.
"It got very complicated," he said. "The person that reported to be the owner really didn't own them."
According to Lockton, when news of the quarantine broke, the animals' owners starting coming forward and it became apparent that in multiple cases the farm's operator had sold the same animal to more than one person and was collecting board from each for the same animal.
"They had a bit of a scam going," said Lockton, noting there was no way to prove what was happening.
The owner claimed Lockton had a conflict of interest and objected to him being permitted on the land. But Lockton gained support from the East Nipissing and Parry Sound Federation of Agriculture, which held an emergency meeting in support of the slaughter of the animals, as members grew increasingly concerned their animals could contract the disease.
The controversy lasted nearly a full year and the Almaguin News covered the story every step of the way.
"The paper came down solidly on the side of the owner and it complicated my life at one time," laughed Lockton. "I vowed I would never talk to the paper again. But my bad feelings are long since dead."
As one of most notable culls in recent history, the Sundridge case has been cited in multiple books, including Lockton's soon-to-be-released self-published book Back to Willow Creek.
Written in the third person, Back to Willow Creek tells the story of Lockton, a prairie farm boy with limited resources, his journey to pursue veterinary medicine and his experiences once he got there.
"Willow Creek is a creek in Alberta and is also a municipal district. It's where I grew up," he said.
Lockton moved to Guelph to attend veterinary school after receiving a diploma in agriculture from the Olds College School of Agriculture in Alberta, which is about to celebrate its centennial year.
"It was the opening of the door to the world," he said of his decision to further his education in Ontario. "And it beat the hell out of cleaning up after a herd of cows."
Lockton was married and had a son before finishing the five-year program in 1965.
He began his career later that year in North Bay as a mixed veterinarian before taking on the federal gig, and adding a daughter to his family.
Along with the Sundridge controversy, Lockton's book describes his many adventures over the years, including traveling to the far north in his federal veterinarian role.
"I had a couple of trips to the high Arctic to work with the Inuit looking at disease in the muskox," said Lockton of his travels to Victoria Island, an island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago that straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. "I took 120 muskox and looked at them basically like a meat inspector would to check them for disease."
Lockton said there was a total of 1,500 people on the whole island, and 10,000 muskox.
In the late '80s, Lockton helped repopulate the moose in northern Michigan after clear-cut logging took away the moose browse and made better habitat for whitetail deer. According to Lockton, the deer carry brain worm, which doesn't affect deer, but is fatal to moose. The moose population dwindled significantly.
In 1985 and 1987, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) relocated 61 moose from Algonquin Provincial Park to northwest Marquette County with the help of Agriculture Canada.
"We took live moose in the middle of winter. We tranquilized them out of a helicopter and harnessed them up and carried them out. I worked at the assembly point and tested them for disease and gave them pregnancy tests and if they passed, they shipped them off," said Lockton. "They tried to get four a day and they crated each moose separately … then lifted crate and moose onto a truck."
According to the MDNR, the objective of the program was to produce a population of 1,000 moose by the year 2000, but the animals didn't end up reproducing at the rate that was expected.
Not being an avid typist, Lockton wrote the entire book longhand, and even proofread and edited the volume himself. His first book, Back to Willow Creek is being released in the next week.
Lockton is hosting a reading on Dec. 6 at Gulliver's Quality Books and Toys on the Main Street of North Bay from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., as well as a book signing at his home located at 310 Highway 654 in Callander on Dec. 8 beginning at 2:30 p.m. For more information or to purchase a copy of the book, call 705-752-3146 or email firstname.lastname@example.com.
Back to Willow Creek will be available for sale through Gulliver's, as well as online at www.volumesdirect.com.
Location, ST | website.com
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December 7, 2010
Celebrate the Holidays… Diva Style!
by Corie
It is never too early or late to start unique traditions that will carry through generations.
Whether your family is big or little, there is a tradition here for you!
By: Kari
My family plays BINGO every Christmas Eve after dinner. My mom goes to the dollar store and buys tons of fun little gifts! She then wraps them all up and puts them on our kitchen counter. As we play the bingo game everyone gets to bingo once per card (we each have 2 and the kids have 1) per round. We play until all the games are gone. It's a lot of fun for the adults and the kids alike! Opening some fun gifts the night before gets us warmed up for the big occasion of Christmas morning.
By: Bridget
Every year, the first week in December, my family makes gingerbread houses.
Sometimes they are simple, but sometimes they can be pretty elaborate!
It is a blast and is a fun tradition we look forward to every year!
By: Kristen
We live in Southern California where it is warm most of the year. Every Christmas, we make it a tradition to pack up the car and head to Utah where it is snowy and where we have lots of family.
It's not Christmas without the snow, or the family.
By: Erika
Growing up (and even after siblings started getting married) all my brothers and sisters and I would sleep in the same room Christmas Eve. My parents would give us a new puzzle each year and we HAD to have it completed before we could wake them up Christmas morning to open presents. When we were little, they didn't have very many pieces, but the older we got the more complicated the puzzles became. However, it was a great tradition because as an excited child that couldn't sleep there was something to do to pass the hours. The tradition has continued on and now been passed on to our children.
By: Kiirsten
Every year we write letters to Santa Claus at the North Pole. I love to enhance the letters, so I place a 8×10 white paper on a 12×12 Christmas scrapbook paper. Sometimes I'll actually send a real note (not the original ones the kids write… because I keep them for their scrapbooks) to the actual North Pole.
We also have Santa leave a letter for the kids next to the "empty" plate of cookies that we leave out for him. The letter usually says something along the lines of "Thanks for that delicious snack! I'm keeping the last cookie in my pocket for Rudolf outside – he'll love it! I've been watching and know you have been good… etc." Not too long, but always cheerful and filled with gratitude.
By: Lisa M.
By: Cami
A tradition that Joseph and I started with our family is going shopping for a LIVE Christmas tree and then decorating it together as a family. It sounds simple and something that a LOT of people do, but we truly look forward to it ever year. We just love driving to a lot and looking at all the trees and then picking our favorite. It's so much fun! Our oldest LOVES this and has totally picked up on the tradition. Even our youngest has started to remember and looks forward to it each year.
By: Wendy
A long time ago, my family changed the words to the song, "12 Days of Christmas" to fit and describe OUR family. Each year now we pull it out, including pictures to remind us of what each number was, and we sing it. Along with that, we do other fun songs and games after we eat a potluck dinner. Before we had children, my hubby and I used to sleep out by the lit up tree on Christmas Eve in sleeping bags all night, UNTIL we had our kids… now we don't. That was fun to snuggle and be together!
By: Lisa P.
My family always opened up two gifts on Christmas Eve…. that made our night of traditions extra special. We open up new pajamas and a Christmas ornament to place on the Christmas tree. It always reflects who you are and was always very exciting. One year I received a beautiful Ballerina that was amazing. I was really into dance so it meant a lot to me then and still does today. When I got married my mom gave me all of my ornaments I received growing up so that I had my own collection to start with. Needless to say, I have lots of fond memories for each of them that I have. I have continued this for our kids and will continue to carry the traditions of both pajamas and ornaments for our tree.
The Christmas StoryBy: Tara
"Naughty & Nice" List
By: Char
A few weeks before Christmas as a young child, my parent would remind me about Santa's naughty and nice list. They told me IF I cleaned my room every night before I went to bed and left a small dish out, then Santa's Elf's would come fill it with candy! I have the best memories cleaning my room with only the Christmas lights on that were strung across my ceiling while we listened to Elvis Presley, "Blue Christmas." My husband and I are so excited to start this tradition with my young family this year!
By: Corie
He sees you when you're sleeping…He knows when you're awake!
He knows if you've been bad or good…so be good for goodness sake!We started a fun tradition a few years ago with the "Elf on the Shelf."
(This book comes with not only a book…but also your very own elf!)
To start off this tradition:
1. You read the darling story about one of Santa's elves.
2. You then get to choose a name for the elf.
3. You then place the elf in a different location each day.
4. Your kids will love looking and searching the house for your elf's new location1
* This is the best reminder that boys and girls need to be on their best behavior….because each night your elf leaves home and reports back to Santa Claus!
Now it's your turn! Let's add to the list! Please share your FAVORITE holiday tradition!
You Might Also Like These Related Articles
Recent Comments
3 Responses to "Celebrate the Holidays… Diva Style!"
Such great traditions ladies! Thanks for sharing them all. We do a few similar but I think I just may have to try a few of those new this year. Merry Christmas!
These were so great. This is really the first year my husband and I have gotten to spend Christmas together, and we have two little girls now. We have been talking a lot about traditions we could start with our own little family. These were very inspiring, thank you so much. I check this site every morning and several times throughout the day. Thanks so much for updating so often, and updating such informative topics!!!!
I love the traditions. My husband and I have a tradition to open up a bottle of sparkling apple cider before bed on Christmas eve since we stay at his parents house. It's our moment just the two of us. I am hoping to keep it going.
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Words of Infinite Wisdom by Abraham-Hicks:
Abraham is a Nonphysical Energy present in all things that are physical. Source Energy.
Abraham is not a singular consciousness, Abraham is collective consciousness. As one of you asks a question, there are many, many points of consciousness that are funneling through what feels to be one perspective, (because there is, in this case, one human, Esther, who is interpreting or articulating it) so it appears singular to you. We are multidimensional and multi-faceted and, certainly, multi-consciousness.
True healers know that wellness is the order of the day, so they do not allow themselves, even for a moment, to see anything other than that. So, the power of the healer is in the power to influence the one who needs to be healed into a vibration that allows the healing that they are summoning. (That they could get—even without the healer—but they can get faster with a healer's influence.)
Desires and beliefs are just thoughts and thoughts. "Ask and it is given?" You ask through your wanting. You ask through your desire. That thing you call desire. That's the asking. You don't have to use your words. You just have to feel it in your being—that spark of desire. "I desire this. I want this. I adore this. I embrace this. I appreciate this. I..." That desire is the beginning of all attraction. The desire is what puts the eternalness in eternity.
The only way that you can ever know if something is of value to you is by the way it feels as you are receiving it.
If you're not selfish enough to want to feel good, then you can't connect with the energy that is your Source which does always feel good.
"I must be aware of bad things, and guarded about bad things, and I must watch out for bad things by trying to guide myself toward good things." You can't do both at the same time. You can't watch out for bad things, and allow good things at the same time. It is vibrationally not possible.
It is easy to understand how you would come to the conclusion that your path to feeling good is through influencing or controlling the behavior of others. But as you attempt to control them (through influence or coercion), you discover that not only can you not contain them—but your attention to them brings more like them into your experience. You simply cannot get to where you want to be by controlling or eliminating the unwanted.
The greatest gift you can give anyone is to be happy. And we will take that further. The greatest gift you can give to any partner, past, present or future is to be so connected with who you truly are that they are irrelevant to your connection. And when they are irrelevant to your connection, then you are going to have a really good time together.
If you decide to make someone the enemy and you're pushing very hard against them, you don't affect them at all, but you disconnect yourself from the Stream. If someone cheats you, they cannot diminish your experience. They only diminish their experience. You cannot be diminished by someone cheating you unless you get all upset about being cheated and push against them and use that as your excuse to disconnect from the Stream of well-being.
The subject of money is really two subjects: (1) money, plenty of money, and (2) absence of money, not nearly enough money. Often people assume that because they are speaking the words "I want more money," they are speaking positively about money. When you are feeling fear or discomfort as you speak, you are not speaking of the subject of money, you are speaking of the subject of not enough money. And the difference is very important, because the first brings money and the second holds it away.
What about creating a very obvious positive current of financial abundance? What about getting so good at visualizing that the money flows through you easily? What about expending money? Giving more people work? Giving more people opportunity? The more you spend, the more people benefit, and the more people get in on the game and dovetail with you. Your role is to utilize the Energy. That's why you exist. You are an Energy-flowing being, a focuser, a perceiver. You are a Creator. There is not anything worse in all of the Universe to do than to come forth into the environment of great contrast where desire is born easily and not allow Energy to flow to your desire. That is a true squandering of life.
Take 15 minutes daily, thinking of pleasant scenarios regarding your body, with the sole intent of enjoying your body and appreciating its strength and stamina and flexibility and beauty. When you visualize for the joy of visualizing rather than with the intention of correcting some deficiency, your thoughts are more pure and, therefore, more powerful. In time, your physical condition will acquiesce to your dominant thoughts.
The child is thinking, and receiving vibrational thought from you on the day that he enters your environment. That is the reason that beliefs are transmitted so easily from parent to child, from parent to child, from parent to child. The child is vibrationally receiving your fears, your beliefs, even without your spoken word... If you want to do that which is of greatest value for your child, give thought only to that which you want, and your child will receive only those wanted thoughts.
One who is mostly an observer thrives in good times but suffers in bad times because what he is observing is already vibrating, and as he observes it, he includes it in his vibrational countenance. As he includes it, the Universe accepts that as his point of attraction and gives him more of it. So the better it gets the better it gets. Or the worse it gets the worse it gets. While one who is a visionary thrives in all times.
Nothing is more debilitating than to care about something you can't do anything about. And you can't do anything about your adult children. You can want better for them, and maybe even begin to provide something for them, but in the long run, you cannot do anything about someone else's vibration other than hold them in the best light you can, mentally, and then project that to them. And sometimes, distance makes that much more possible than being up close to them.
We would like you to reach the place where you're not willing to listen to people criticize one another. Where you take no satisfaction from somebody being wrong. Where it matters to you so much that you feel good, that you are only willing to think positive things about people. You are only willing to look for positive aspects. You are only willing to look for solutions—and you are not willing to beat the drum of all of the problems of the world.
There is nothing that is happening because of something you vibrated a long time ago or in a past life. It is not about what you were born into. It is only about what you are, right now, in this red hot fresh moment emitting.
I want to be the best that I can be. I want to do and have and live in a way that is in harmony with my idea of the greatest goodness. I want to harmonize physically here in this body with that which I believe to be the best, or the good way, of life. If you will make those statements, and then do not take action unless you feel good, you will always be moving upon the path in harmony with your idea of that which is good.
Get so fixated on what you want, that you drown out any vibration or reverberation that has anything to do with what you do not want.
You're always on your way somewhere. The key is: find a way to be happy wherever you now are on your way to where you really want to be. (We're speaking of the state of being you want.) It does not matter where you are—where you are is shifting constantly—but you must turn your attention to where you want to go. And that's the difference between making the best of something and making the worst of something.
Some things you're not letting happen right now because the timing isn't perfect for you. Some, you're not letting happen because you are very aware of where you are. But all things, as they are happening, are happening in perfect order. And if you will relax and begin saying, "Everything in its perfect time. Everything is unfolding. And I'm enjoying where I am now, in relationship to where I'm going. Content where I am, and eager for more," that is the perfect vibrational stance.
Resistance is about believing that you are vulnerable or susceptible to something not wanted and holding a stance of protection—which only holds you in a place of not letting in the Well-being that would be there otherwise. There is nothing big enough to protect you from unwanted things, and there are no unwanted things big enough to get into your experience.
You can find yourself in an endless loop where you explain that you feel negative because of the negative behavior of someone else. But if, instead, you take control of your own emotions and you think an improved thought because it feels better to do so, you will discover that no matter how the negative trend got started, you can turn it around. You have no real control of what anyone else is doing with their Vibration, but you have complete control over your own point of attraction.
by Jerry and Esther Hicks
http://www.healyourlife.com/author-esther-and-jerry-hicks/2011/05/lifeshelp/success-and-abundance/got-68-secondshttp://www.moneyandthelawofattraction.com/http://www.economy-and-the-law-of-attraction.com/http://www.economy-and-the-law-of-attraction.com/wallstreet.phphttp://www.thinkandgetslim.com/http://www.lawofattractioninteraction.com/grief-to-joy.phphttp://www.lawofattractioninteraction.com/freedom_diversity.phphttp://www.lawofattractioninteraction.com/TheVortex.phphttp://www.lawofattractioninteraction.com/NoGainInPain.phphttp://www.lawofattractioninteraction.com/ImTheVortex.phphttp://www.lawofattractioninteraction.com/Satan-and-Santa.phphttp://lawofattractioninteraction.com/Thriving-in-a-new-world-economy.phpby Alex Collierhttp://www.lawofattractioninteraction.com/GetHappy.php
Irini Sendona is featured on NETtv


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Also from July 1
Lead stories
6:00 a.m.
- County OKs reduced speed limit
- June 24, 2010 in print edition on 5A
- Keith Browning understands that drivers on Douglas County Road 1061 may or may not slow down once new speed limit signs go up south of Eudora by the end of next week.
All stories
- Nominations being taken throughout July for Kansas Sampler Foundation's final 8 Wonders contest
- July 1, 2010
- Nominations now are being taken for the final 8 Wonders of Kansas contest, the Kansas Sampler Foundation announced today.
- High water closing beaches at some area lakes
- July 1, 2010
- High water is limiting use of some area lakes this July 4 weekend, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District.
- New traffic laws going into effect this week across state
- July 1, 2010
- Diane McGee is among the 77 percent of drivers in Kansas who wear their seat belts, either while driving or as a passenger in the front seat of a vehicle making its way down interstate highways, major thoroughfares or county roads.


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Welcome to Anderson Accounting & Tax Service
Specializing in accounting and bookkeeping for small businesses across greater Tuscaloosa, Ala., Anderson Accounting & Tax Service is poised and ready to provide you with professional, comprehensive accounting services for your small business.
When you need a dedicated CPA to assess your tax returns, payroll or monthly bookkeeping, make us your preferred choice. With over a decade of experience and a knowledgebase of policies and procedures, you can feel confident knowing your financial matters are in good hands.
To learn more about our services or to schedule service for your business, please contact us. We also offer individual and corporate tax return services. Schedule an appointment with us today!
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Laban Davis was an older brother of my great-grandfather Percy Davis. Laban was born October 12, 1873, in Council Hill, Jo Daviess Co, Illinois, to John B. and Margaret (Hicks) Davis. He was the third of six children. On November 23, 1915, he married Gladys Cecelia Ray in Dubuque, Iowa. She was a mail-order bride. Gladys died during childbirth on October 24, 1917, in Dubuque. The unnamed baby girl passed away a few days later. Gladys and baby are buried together in Citizen's Cemetery, also known as Scales Mound Township Cemetery. Laban discovered his … [Read more...]
Obituary: Laban Davis
December 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment


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- Filed Under
AUBURNDALE - For many around the area, the Auburndale boys basketball team has looked at as a one man wrecking crew.
Stop Austin Hawkins and there is a chance to get the win.
Well, the Wildcats held Hawkins to 11 points, but Auburndale got big performances from Blake Anderson and Ben Bolder and defeated Marawood Conference South Division foe Edgar, 50-41 on Friday. ...


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Tokyo Morning Tour
|Just the right half-day tour for the visitor who wants a look at the "Big Three" sightseeing spots of Tokyo—Tokyo Tower, the Imperial Palace and Asakusa—but who has something planned for the afternoon or evening. With pick-up service at your hotel (service not available at some hotels).
|Course No.
|Daily (except Feb.28)
|Estimated time
|No meals included
|Adult 5,500 yen/Child 2,900 yen
Hamamatsucho Bus Terminal (9:00)
Tokyo Tower333 metres self-supporting tower. If its clear day, you can enjoy the view of Ginza, Tokyo Bay and even Mt.Fuji from ovservation deck. Ceck out the night view, too!
Imperial PalaceThis used to be a castle that housed generations of Tokugawa shoguns, the administrators of the Tokugawa government in Edo, but with the Meiji Restoration it became the residence and palace of the Imperial Family. Surrounded by a moat and an abundant variety of trees, it is like a world apart situated right in the middle of Tokyo.


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Wednesday, September 7, 2011
© Copyright 2015 Albany Herald
ALBANY -- For the second year in a row, Louisburg (N.C.) College has spoiled Darton's undefeated start to a men's soccer season.
The sixth-ranked Cavs lost, 3-2, on Sunday to unranked Louisburg and fell to 3-1 overall this season. The loss, which comes on the heels of Saturday's huge 4-2 win against No. 14 Georgia Perimeter, never should have happened, coach Bart Sasnett said Tuesday.
"It was one of those weird games," he said. "We had possession 75 percent of the time and were up 2-0. We just couldn't finish. We had probably 22 shots on goal, and they had just four chances, but they scored on three of the four."
Darton will try to bounce back in today's game at home against Georgia Military College at 7 p.m., while the eighth-ranked Lady Cavs (1-1) will play at 5 p.m. against Georgia Military College. It's the home opener for both programs.
"They are a lot better than they were last year," Sasnett said about the Georgia Military College men's team. "They opened up the season by beating Andrew College, 6-1. I understand that they are legit and a lot better than they were last year."
Former Darton golfer Taylor Welborn began his University of South Carolina-Aiken career with a victory Tuesday in the 17-team Kiawah (S.C.) Island Invitational by winning low medalist, while Georgia Southwestern won the team title with a 9-over 585 in the two-day event.
Welborn shot a 5-under 139 to edge out Georgia Southwestern's J.P. Griffin by one stroke. The two entered the final round of play tied after carding 68s in the first round of action, but Welborn's 71 on Day 2 gave him medalist honors.
Other scores for GSW were Lee County grad and former Herald Player of the Year Nate Gahman (finished 6th at even par), Craig Gibson (T-7th at 1-over), Chris Hall (63rd at 18-over) and Travis Oestmann (72nd at 20-over).
The Hurricanes led by nine strokes after the opening round but stumbled in the second round with a team score of 301. They still beat USC-Aiken by three strokes.
More like this story
- Darton men's soccer ranked No. 2 in nation ( September 21, 2011 )
- Darton looks to bounce back ( September 20, 2010 )
- Darton men's soccer out to avenge last year's loss to Eastern Florida State ( September 24, 2014 )
- No. 3 Darton men stay unbeaten with 1-0 win ( September 3, 2012 )
- LOCAL COLLEGE GOLF ROUNDUP: Darton's Tuten wins medalist in Valdosta; Cavs finish T-3rd as team; GSW golf wins third tourney ( October 5, 2011 )


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North America's first men's shoe brand for handmade high end elevator shoes & accupressure foot massage comfort shoes.
From British inspired lace ups and monk straps to casual loafers for the everyday wear, Insolito Terra blends the world of fashion with comfort. Each shoe has been designed to deliver proven benefits to the wearer, while always remaining on trend. Our footwear will improve posture and well being, thanks to our specially designed acupressure insole. Each shoe will add comfort by stimulating circulation and relaxing muscle tension.


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Solar Squall Pates for Earth
Solar squall, pates for Earth.
United States politics had its "Super Tuesday" last night, and so did the sun, says John Kunches from NOAA's Place Climate Forecast Middle in Boulder, Colorado.
That's because the sun had two solar flares associated with two coronal mass ejections. Coronal mass ejections involve massive amounts of energy and charged particles shooting out of the sun, and can cause problems if directed at Earth, as was the case over the last couple of days.
This event may stir up a geomagnetic storm, and lead to disruptions to high-frequency radio communications, global positioning systems and power grids, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center said Wednesday. The peak of the storm is expected to hit Thursday morning; it may gradually diminish by Friday morning.
One of these coronal mass ejections is the strongest since December 2006, NOAA said. The equivalent of 10 billion tons of highly charged particles are hurtling at a rate of 3 million to 4 million miles an hour toward Earth. NASA says the leading edge of this coronal mass ejection will hit Earth at 1:25 a.m. E.T. (give or take seven hours).
The sun is currently in a cycle of increased sun spots. This is part of an 11-year cycle that is expected to peak over the next year. The magnetic field in a sunspot stores energy that is released in solar flares. These flares are intense bursts of radiation that get ejected into space.
NOAA measures various aspects of the ejections that occur. Four main components define solar activity: solar flares, coronal mass ejections, high-speed solar wind and solar energetic particles.
As an event occurs, some of the particles reach Earth almost immediately. These highly charged particles are more of a threat to spacecraft and astronauts than to us on the planet's surface. The bulk plasma from the coronal mass ejection can take between 30 and 72 hours to reach the earth. This can cause interruptions to power grids, GPS systems, and some flights that are near the poles.
The one positive outcome is the brilliant auroras (Northern and Southern Lights). These occur as the particles from the ejection interact with the Earth's magnetic field, creating colorful displays.
NOAA has a chart that classifies these solar storms. This latest coronal mass ejection is forecast to rate as a "strong G3" geomagnetic storm, a measure of the disturbances in the geomagnetic field that helps protect the Earth from dangerous particles, and a "severe S4" solar radiation storm which is a measure of radiation that occurs when the numbers of energetic particles increases.
The Space Prediction Center expects that we are in a favorable pattern for at least the next week to potentially bring more solar storms to the earth. What is not known is the magnitude of future events. What is expected is quite a show from the Northern Lights Wednesday night and Thursday night, which may be visible as far south as Michigan and Illinois.
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Adele Napier & Clive Kitson
This year-long enquiry explores what it really means to live Findhorn principles in everyday life. You spend five residential weeks over the year here, with peer group support and individual mentoring at home, in between times.
Residential weeks at the Findhorn Foundation:
In 2016: 10 September, 26 November
In 2017: 11 February, 22 April, 1 July
Click on the image above for a short introduction to the Findhorn Intensive with
focalisers Clive Kitson and Adele Napier.
If you have been touched by Findhorn and want to bring this experience more fully into your everyday life, we invite you on this heart-opening journey. In it, you will:
- deepen and strengthen your connection with your inner self, while engaging with the challenges and rigours of daily life
- open to new possibilities for living relationships, and engaging creatively with all that surrounds you
- discover healthy ways to bring your unique contribution to the world, positively adding to the ecology of life
Our dream about four years ago was to pioneer a modular-type programme here at the Findhorn Foundation that allowed people to experience the power of this transformative centre in their lives, in an in-depth way, over time. After our first two 'experimental' programmes we now firmly know - it works!
Thanks to the support and engagement of the Findhorn Foundation, our key presenters, and those daring and committed souls who joined us for these journeys, we have witnessed and experienced profound changes, inner and outer. The mystery school and the group transformational field have worked with us and on us, both while we were all here at Findhorn and at home between modules.
We have experienced that the programme offers the possibility to develop an in-depth relationship with the power and intensity of the transformative spirit of the Findhorn Foundation, and a supportive group of enquiry to belong to, grow and learn to love more with - without having to engage full time over long periods.
We're shaping the course slightly differently from the original format. It will be a one year programme with five week-long modules every nine to ten weeks. Mentoring and peer group support will continue in between.
It is our experience that making a commitment to the creativity that lies at the core of this extraordinary centre, and at the core of ourselves, changes us in beautiful and sometimes unexpected ways. We as co-focalisers have been undone by it, time and again. And brought to greater wholeness in ourselves. So its with much gratitude, a sense of humility, expectation and joy that we invite you to consider joining us in this beautiful and challenging adventure in its next phase.
If you are interested in speaking about it more with us, or with previous programme participants, please be in touch as soon as possible, by emailing
Warmly to you,
Adele and Clive, programme focalisers.
Tiered price (click here for more information): £3450 / £2850 / £2350
Tiered Pricing
We want to ensure that our workshops and events are accessible to a diverse range of people and recognise that one person's financial situation will differ from another. So that money is not a barrier to participating in our workshops and events, we offer a tiered pricing structure and ask that you select the price appropriate for your personal circumstances. Please take a moment to read about our tiered pricing here.
We ask that fees be paid by the start of the programme, with £200 paid directly after your interview to secure your place.
Enquiries and Application
Please address any enquiries or your written application to
It should be no more than three typed pages in length, and include the following information:
- Name, date of birth, address and postcode, contact telephone number and email address
- Date of Experience Week
- Other programmes at / contact with Findhorn
- Present occupation and life circumstances, including your relationship to these
- Brief educational background
- Brief personal background
- Brief spiritual background
- Your reasons for wanting to do this programme, including your perceived strengths and challenges, hopes and fears, and ability to make the commitments required for active participation
- A brief description of your health
- The promise of a letter of support from... (The purpose of this letter is to develop a network of support around you as you take on this exploration. Choose someone in your life who knows you, who you have spoken to about this decision, and who supports this direction in your life. Ask them to write about why they recommend this as a good step for you. They can send it to us directly, or via you.)


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Discussion starts at 8:00
U.S.: CEO: Companies Need To Use More Commercial Tech in WeaponsActivism, Center for a New American Security (CNAS), Citizen abuse, Class action civil lawsuit, Corruption, DEA, Department of Revenue, Economy, Finmeccanica North America, Gov Jay Inslee, Government spending, Governor Jerry Brown, Invasion of privacy, IRS, Israel, Jobs, Leon Panetta, Medical, Medicine, New legislation, Obamacare, Politics, Poverty, President Obama, Recall, Robert Gates, Taxes, Treason, U.S. Treasury, Uncategorized, United States, Veteran abuse, Veterans, War
WASHINGTON — Global defense companies need to import and adapt more commercial technology into military weapons and systems of the future, a former US deputy defense secretary turned industry CEO said Wednesday.
The Pentagon is more often using these types of technologies, such as 3-D printing and IT systems, allowing troops to use smartphones to view real-time reconnaissance information.
"The model was to develop things internally and then put them out [commercially]," said Bill Lynn, CEO of Finmeccanica North America and a former deputy defense secretary under Robert Gates and Leon Panetta.
"We still need to do that in some cases, but in many more cases we're going to have to pull commercial technologies in and militarize them and operationalize them," he said Wednesday at a Center for a New American Security (CNAS) conference.
Lynn and retired Adm. James Stavridis, now dean of Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, presented a just-completed CNAS report on the future of the global defense industry.
There is more commercial technology in defense than there has been in past decades, Lynn said. In the past five years, the commercial content in defense acquisitions has risen from about 10 percent to about 30 percent, he said.
"To maintain our technological edge, what you're going to have to see is the defense sector is going to have to become more an importer [of commercial technology] than we have in the past," Lynn said. "The balance has been more toward export."
Those exports have included GPS and the Internet. Some capabilities that will shape the future include cyber, unmanned, biology and nano technologies, Lynn said.
But, the Defense Department needs to lower the barriers of entry to allow more commercial technology into defense acquisitions, Lynn said.
That said, the defense industry is moving too slowly to adjust to trends in technology and security, Lynn and Stavridis said in the CNAS report.
Many defense companies have been investing less in research-and-development programs, instead executing a short-term strategy of moving cash back to shareholders, Lynn said. That puts the industry at risk, he said.
Some companies are starting to raise research-and-development investment levels, Lynn noted.
Marillyn Hewson, Lockheed Martin's chairman, CEO and president, said Monday that her firm plans to boost its internal research-and-development spending by more than $30 million this year.
But despite the increase, the company's investment in these types of projects is still tens of millions of dollars less than it was 15 years ago. ■
Email: email@example.com.
***Note from Anna: Don't you wish that the large, corrupt, self-serving corporations of America (and the politicians in the U.S. government on their knees serving them) could find better things to do than spending billions of taxpayer dollars annually creating and maintaining endless wars? I know I do.
It would be fantastic if they could start learning to create viable, supportive, productive jobs and exportable products that don't result in thousands of soldiers, innocent American civilians, and overseas civilian citizens getting injured and murdered on a daily basis.
Military defense is critical and necessary when used in it's proper place. The constitution was not created to solely engage in endless wars and skirmishes that bankrupt, sicken, murder, and weaken millions of citizens while weakening the American economic and social infrastructures.
WARSAW, Poland — "President Barack Obama called on Congress Tuesday to back a $1 billion effort to boost the U.S. military presence across Europe, as he sought to ease anxiety among NATO allies who are wary of Russia's threatening moves in Ukraine."
From the American Military News May 19, 2014
"…The 2015 Budget request reflects a 35.2% increase in discretionary budget since 2009 with a 3.0% increase over 2014 request.For that money, the department is coming up with innovative methods to keep Congress unaware of how long veterans have to wait to be seen.In addition, the Washington Free Beacon reports that during the time from 2009 to the present, the VA has spent about $500 million on office furniture:
The VA has spent a total of $489 million to upgrade conference rooms, buy draperies, and purchase new office furniture during the past four-and-a-half years."
The VA has spent a total of $489 million to upgrade conference rooms, buy draperies, and purchase new office furniture during the past four-and-a-half years.
– See more at: http://americanmilitarynews.com/2014/05/va-budget-increases-wont-believe-theyre-money/#sthash.BzFlHSSZ.dpuf
The VA has spent a total of $489 million to upgrade conference rooms, buy draperies, and purchase new office furniture during the past four-and-a-half years.
– See more at: http://americanmilitarynews.com/2014/05/va-budget-increases-wont-believe-theyre-money/#sthash.BzFlHSSZ.dpuf
The VA has spent a total of $489 million to upgrade conference rooms, buy draperies, and purchase new office furniture during the past four-and-a-half years.
– See more at: http://americanmilitarynews.com/2014/05/va-budget-increases-wont-believe-theyre-money/#sthash.BzFlHSSZ.dpuf
U.S.: CIA Joins Social Media, is Immediately TrolledActivism, Corruption, Economy, Invasion of privacy, Marijuana, Marijuana industry, Politics, Recall, Total Legalization, Treason, Uncategorized, United States
Though the US Central Intelligence Agency may use Facebook, Twitter, and the like to keep tabs on targets of interest, the spy agency has only now officially joined social media–a move hastened by an imposter who was using the agency's name online.
The agency's first tweet, which earned the CIA nearly 200,000 Twitter followers in just a few hours, was the appropriately sarcastic, "We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet." There were already 40,000 followers after just a single hour online, with the agency's debut on Facebook sparking a similar conversation on that platform.
"By expanding to these platforms, CIA will be able to more directly engage with the public and provide information on the CIA's mission, history, and other developments," CIA Director John Brennan said in a press release Friday. "We have important insights to share, and we want to make sure that unclassified information about the agency is more accessible to the American public that we serve, consistent with our national security mission."
The CIA admitted as far back as 2011 that its agents and employees regularly scan social media to spy on intelligence targets. It already had multiple accounts on Flickr and YouTube, but only debuted on Twitter Friday because it had spent months lobbying Twitter to stop someone else who was already using the @CIA handle.
"There was someone out there impersonating CIA via Twitter," spokesperson K. Jordan Caldwell told NBC. "Earlier this year, CIA filed an impersonation complaint with Twitter and they secured the @CIA account for us, which is routine for government agencies. This has been a lengthy process. It's been in the works for a long time."
The poser wasn't a member of the Syrian Electronic Army, or even a veteran of the agency's "enhanced interrogation" techniques, but the Cleveland Institute of Art, which was cursed with the same abbreviation as one of the most powerful cloak and dagger agencies in the world.
"We just deleted that one because it was kind of confusing," Jessica Moore, the institute's web manager, told the Wall Street Journal. "Some people would mention us in their tweets and they were clearly thinking they were talking with the 'real CIA,' the Central Intelligence Agency."
If the CIA is used to infiltrating foreign governments and aiding assassinations, though, it was still unprepared for Twitter trolling. Tweets immediately began pouring into the agency's timeline from all over the world. Whether it be journalists, comedians, companies, or conspiracy theorists, seemingly all of Twitter felt compelled to make a joke that had been made dozens of times before.
Certainly the most effective trolling so far has come from the New York Review of Books, which launched an assault on the CIA's Twitter feed complete with the torture methods used by the CIA and the date each incident occurred.
Each of the flurry of tweets included a link to the 2009 NY Review of Boks article titled "US Torture. Voices from the Black Sites," which "reveals for the first time the contents of a confidential Red Cross report about the CIA's secret offshore prisons." The link was unavailable for much of the afternoon Friday, most likely because the site in question was overwhelmed with the sudden amount of traffic that came from the hundreds of retweets and favorites.
Along with compelling the Cleveland Institute of Art to give up its Twitter moniker, the CIA's debut on Twitter is also timely because it comes as a number of US government agencies have increasingly relied on social media to communicate with the public. The trend began a year ago after the Edward Snowden leak, when the National Security Agency sought to shift the conversation with its own Twitter account.
"Other US government departments have attempted to use social media not only to get out their message, but at times to actively combat America's enemies in sometimes bizarre online spats," explained Lee Ferran of ABC News. "The State Department's Think Again Turn Away Twitter account, for instance, directly engages in arguments with pro-jihadi computer users. Terrorist groups, like the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda-allied group Al-Shabab in Somalia, already have a robust social media presence, which they use to spread their own propaganda."
U.S. Vodafone Exposes Secret Worldwide Network of Government WiretapsActivism, Citizen abuse, Class action civil lawsuit, Corruption, DEA, Department of Revenue, Gov Jay Inslee, Government spending, Governor Jan Brewer, Governor Jerry Brown, IRS, Jobs, Kingpin Statute, Law, Leon Panetta, Marijuana, Marijuana industry, Marijuana news, Medicine, New legislation, NSA, Patient abuse, Politics, Poverty, President Obama, Recall, RICO, Tax havens, Taxes, Total Legalization, Tours/vacations Marijuana, Treason, U.S. Treasury, Uncategorized, United States, Washington State, WSLCB
By Juliette Garside, The Guardian
Wires allow agencies to listen to or record live conversations, in what privacy campaigners are calling a 'nightmare scenario'
Vodafone, one of the world's largest mobile phone groups, has revealed the existence of secret wires that allow government agencies to listen to all conversations on its networks, saying they are widely used in some of the 29 countries in which it operates in Europe and beyond.
The company has broken its silence on government surveillance in order to push back against the increasingly widespread use of phone and broadband networks to spy on citizens, and will publish its first Law Enforcement Disclosure Report on Friday. At 40,000 words, it is the most comprehensive survey yet of how governments monitor the conversations and whereabouts of their people.
The company said wires had been connected directly to its network and those of other telecoms groups, allowing agencies to listen to or record live conversations and, in certain cases, track the whereabouts of a customer. Privacy campaigners said the revelations were a "nightmare scenario" that confirmed their worst fears on the extent of snooping.
In Albania, Egypt, Hungary, India, Malta, Qatar, Romania, South Africa and Turkey, it is unlawful to disclose any information related to wiretapping or interception of the content of phone calls and messages including whether such capabilities exist.
"For governments to access phone calls at the flick of a switch is unprecedented and terrifying," said the Liberty director, Shami Chakrabarti. "[Edward] Snowden revealed the internet was already treated as fair game. Bluster that all is well is wearing pretty thin – our analogue laws need a digital overhaul."
In about six of the countries in which Vodafone operates, the law either obliges telecoms operators to install direct access pipes, or allows governments to do so. The company, which owns mobile and fixed broadband networks, including the former Cable & Wireless business, has not named the countries involved because certain regimes could retaliate by imprisoning its staff.
Direct-access systems do not require warrants, and companies have no information about the identity or the number of customers targeted. Mass surveillance can happen on any telecoms network without agencies having to justify their intrusion to the companies involved.
Industry sources say that in some cases, the direct-access wire, or pipe, is essentially equipment in a locked room in a network's central data centre or in one of its local exchanges or "switches".
The staff working in that room can be employed by the telecoms firm, but have state security clearance and are usually unable to discuss any aspect of their work with the rest of the company. Vodafone says it requires all employees to follow its code of conduct, but secrecy means that it cannot always verify that they do so.
Government agencies can also intercept traffic on its way into a data centre, combing through conversations before routing them on to the operator.
"These are the nightmare scenarios that we were imagining," said Gus Hosein, executive director of Privacy International, which has brought legal action against the British government over mass surveillance.
"I never thought the telcos [telecommunications companies] would be so complicit. It's a brave step by Vodafone and hopefully the other telcos will become more brave with disclosure, but what we need is for them to be braver about fighting back against the illegal requests and the laws themselves."
Vodafone's group privacy officer, Stephen Deadman, said: "These pipes exist, the direct access model exists.
"We are making a call to end direct access as a means of government agencies obtaining people's communication data. Without an official warrant, there is no external visibility. If we receive a demand we can push back against the agency. The fact that a government has to issue a piece of paper is an important constraint on how powers are used."
Vodafone is calling for all direct-access pipes to be disconnected, and for the laws that make them legal to be amended. It says governments should "discourage agencies and authorities from seeking direct access to an operator's communications infrastructure without a lawful mandate".
All states should publish annual data on the number of warrants issued, the company argues. There are two types – those for the content of calls and messages, and those for the metadata, which can cover the location of a target's device, the times and dates of communications, and the people with whom they communicated.
For brevity, the Guardian has also used the term metadata to cover warrants for customer information such as name and address. The information published in our table covers 2013 or the most recent year available. A single warrant can target hundreds of individuals and devices, and several warrants can target just one individual. Governments count warrants in different ways and New Zealand, for example, excludes those concerning national security. While software companies like Apple and Microsoft have jumped to publish the number of warrants they receive since the activities of America's NSA and Britain's GCHQ came to light, telecoms companies, which need government licences to operate, have been slower to respond.
In America, Verizon and AT&T have published data, but only on their domestic operations. Deutsche Telekom in Germany and Telstra in Australia have also broken ground at home. Vodafone is the first to produce a global survey.
It shows that Malta is one of the most spied on nations in Europe. The former British protectorate has a tiny population of 420,000, but last year Vodafone alone processed 3,773 requests for metadata.
In Italy, where the mafia's presence requires a high level of police intrusion, Vodafone received 606,000 metadata requests, more than any other country in which it runs networks. The number of warrants across all operators is potentially many times that number, but the government does not publish a national figure for metadata.
Italy's parliament does disclose content warrants, however, and it issued 141,000 in 2012, compared with just 2,760 in the United Kingdom. In contrast to the UK, terrorism concerns mean Ireland does not allow any information on the number of content warrants to be made public.
Spain, which has suffered terrorist strikes from Islamists and Basque separatists, allowed Vodafone to disclose that it had received over 24,000 content warrants. Agencies in the Czech Republic made nearly 8,000 content requests from the network. After Italy, the Czech Republic is the biggest user of metadata, issuing 196,000 warrants nationally in the most recent year for which information has been published. Tanzania, one of several African countries in which Vodafone operates, made 99,000 metadata requests from the company.
Peter Micek, policy counsel at the campaign group Access, said: "In a sector that has historically been quiet about how it facilitates government access to user data, Vodafone has for the first time shone a bright light on the challenges of a global telecom giant, giving users a greater understanding of the demands governments make of telcos. Vodafone's report also highlights how few governments issue any transparency reports, with little to no information about the number of wiretaps, cell site tower dumps, and other invasive surveillance practices."
On the question of whether the UK uses direct-access pipes, Vodafone's Deadman said such a system would be illegal because Britain did not permit agencies to obtain information without a warrant. The law does, however, allow indiscriminate collection of information on an unidentified number of targets. "We need to debate how we are balancing the needs of law enforcement with the fundamental rights and freedoms of the citizens. The ideal is we get a much more informed debate going, and we do all of that without putting our colleagues in danger."
Snowden, the National Security Agency whistleblower, joined Google, Reddit, Mozilla and other tech firms and privacy groups on Thursday to call for a strengthening of privacy rights online in a "Reset the net" campaign.
Twelve months after revelations about the scale of the US government's surveillance programs were first published in the Guardian and the Washington Post, Snowden said: "One year ago, we learned that the internet is under surveillance, and our activities are being monitored to create permanent records of our private lives – no matter how innocent or ordinary those lives might be. Today, we can begin the work of effectively shutting down the collection of our online communications, even if the U.S. Congress fails to do the same."
****Note from Anna: Pay attention people. A lot of people in the marijuana industry, and those who help them, will probably get raided and go to jail, very soon, because of this exact situation.


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Margaret Graybill, seated left, celebrates her birthday with the Thursday Pinochle Card Club with a lunch at Ruth's Restaurant. Behind her are director Pam Estes and other club members.
- Filed Under
The 88th annual Chincoteague Pony Swim is July 24-25, and I hope many of you are able to witness this beautiful and exciting wild pony swim across the Assateague Channel to Chincoteague Island. The ponies are then auctioned and sold, and some are returned to Assateague Island for another year.
Everybody loves these wild ponies, and many visitors are attracted to our beautiful beaches to see them and be a witness to this small part of their history, which dates back to the 1600s.
The ponies are believed to be refugees from a sunken Spanish Galleon cargo ship, and boaters often see these beautiful ...


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Chevron Under EPA Probe for Avoiding Refinery Monitors in 2009
Chevron Corp., which paid $170,000 to settle California pollution allegations at a refinery, may face more penalties including prison sentences for employees stemming from a federal investigation of the case.
The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating actions at the company's Richmond, California, refinery after local officials in 2009 determined that pollution controls were bypassed, according to company and local officials.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which enforces air-pollution rules in nine counties near San Francisco, discovered Chevron employees routed gas emissions around monitoring equipment then burned off the excess, violating local rules. The agency forced the company to end the practice it said was used at least 27 times in four years, said Wayne Kino, the district's enforcement manager. Chevron paid a $170,000 penalty to settle the agency's civil case.
"It now appears that EPA has chosen to take that case" as a criminal prosecution, Kino said yesterday in an interview. "There are indications that they are investigating, but they don't talk about it."
A flaring system is used in emergencies to eliminate gases that could be increasing to dangerous levels, Kino said. Refineries had been flaring gas for routine maintenance before the local air quality board imposed standards in 2004, he said.
A criminal prosecution might mean further fines or even jail time for employees involved at the Richmond refinery. A total of 249 individuals or companies were charged last year after an EPA criminal investigation. Agency prosecutions last year resulted in sending violators to prison for 89.5 years and fines of $35 million.
'Currently Cooperating'
The EPA doesn't comment on pending investigations, Alisha Johnson, a spokeswoman for the agency, said in an e-mail.
"We are currently cooperating with the government's investigation," Sean Comey, a Chevron spokesman, said in an e-mail. The company estimates total emissions identified by the state agency at about 200 pounds of sulfur dioxide, compared with total sulfur-dioxide emissions in the Bay Area of 25 million pounds annually.
"This was certainly not done intentionally," Comey said yesterday during a news conference at the refinery called to discuss an unrelated Aug. 6 fire there. "Safety and protecting people and the environment is one of our core values as a company and we take that responsibility very seriously."
The refinery resolved the issue three years ago by rerouting a pipe through a metered system, Nigel Hearne, manager of the Richmond plant, said during the news conference. He described the pipe as an "equalization line" that helps control pressure buildup at the refinery.
The August fire injured five workers and forced the company to shut a unit at the Richmond plant.
Chevron said yesterday that it suspects that a phenomenon known as sulfidation corrosion caused a pipe to rupture and led to the fire. The refinery is inspecting all similar pipes and has found at least one that must be replaced, Hearne said.


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Although the market is slowly rebounding, 29 percent of homes in Coshocton County are underwater.
- Filed Under
COSHOCTON -- It's part of the American Dream: a little house with a white picket fence.
For more than a quarter of local homeowners, that dream isn't worth much anymore.
In Coshocton County, 29 percent of homes are "underwater" or "upside-down," meaning the owner owes more on the mortgage than the home now is worth, according to CoreLogic, a data and analytics company that focuses on the housing and financial markets. Coshocton's rate is just slightly higher than the statewide 25 percent. ...


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Not sure what you're looking for? Try some of these experiences.
White Lake offers a wide range of camping experiences to appeal to all visitors. Car camping is offered in three campgrounds. Campsites are available for all types of camping equipment. Both electrical and non-electrical sites are available.
White Lake also has a group camping area and a seasonal campsite leasing program.
One group site is available and can accommodate 50-60 people. Though isolated, the site has vault toilets and water taps on site and is a five minute drive to the comfort station. The site has its own beach is adjacent to the amphitheatre, Deer Lake nature trail and Deer Lake. The site is open to both adult and youth groups; though youth groups have priority over adult groups. Reservations are taken during the regular season by calling (807) 822-2447
White Lake is one of the largest lakes in the area and is known for its excellent Walleye fishing.
White Lake has many opportunities for other recreational activities such as water skiing, boating, canoeing and kayaking, or hiking one of our three trails.
If you prefer a more relaxed environment just head to the main beach to swim or wade in our warm, shallow waters, build a sand castle or just sit back and watch the day unfold.
The park's Natural Heritage Education programs include children's interactive programs, evening programs and special events, and provide park visitors with opportunities to discover the park's rich history such as Voyageurs, log drives on the White River and boreal forest wildlife.
Deer Lake Trail: 2.5 km (1-1.5 hours) with a shorter 1.5km loop, easy.
Take this self-guided trail to birdwatch, enjoy the sunset and see nature's greatest engineer, the beaver, at work. The Deer Lake Trail provides ample opportunities for viewing birds and wetland wildlife as it winds through the boreal forest skirting the shores of Deer Lake and a beaver marsh. Located near the Deer Lake trailhead is a viewing platform which is great place to view a sunset, cast a line or just watch nature at its best.
Tiny Bog: 4.5 km (2-2.5 hours), moderate
The trail loops around two large beaver ponds and then climbs a sandy ridge of Jack Pines before arriving at the bog. A boardwalk crosses the bog where insect-eating plants such as Sundew and Pitcher Plant grow in a carpet of floating Sphagnum Moss. You'll find a viewing platform at the bog and benches along the trail.
Clearwater Lake Trail: 2 km return, linear trail, easy
This trail leads through a pine forest to the spring-fed Clearwater Lake. Go for a swim, sit back and relax or explore this quiet lake by canoe.
Fitness Trail: 500 m
Eight exercise stations make this campground trail ideal for a quick workout. It is also a great place to go for an evening stroll after dinner.
Park visitors can paddle and explore the bays and marshes of White Lake or enjoy a leisurely paddle on Deer Lake or Clearwater Lakes located within the park boundary. There are some short overnight canoe trips in the local area. Canoes are available for rent at the park.
Attention : The White River canoe route will be closed for paddling from the current White River dam located approximately 8 kms. downstream of White Lake Provincial Park to the junction of the Oskabukuta River. The temporary closure of this section of the river is due to the construction of two hydro – electric projects beginning early March 2014 and with the completion date set forJuly / Aug 2016.
For more information please contact: White Lake Provincial Park – 807 822 2447
Pukaskwa National Park – www.pc.gc.ca/pukaskwa, 807 229 0801, or e-mail at: email@example.com
There are two beaches for swimming. The main beach is located in the day-use area and the second beach is located in Sundew Campground. Both beaches are marked with swimming area buoys and have gradual drop-offs. The day-use beach is approximately 200 m of fine sand. With warm, shallow waters it is ideal for family swimming and water sports. Please note there are no lifeguards posted at the beaches and pets are not permitted in the swimming area. Alcohol is prohibited in the day-use area.
White Lake is a very large lake and motorboats are an ideal way to explore it. The lake is nearly 20 km (7- 10 miles) long. The many bays at the north end of the lake are an ideal location to fish, especially if you have a large boat. The south end is narrower and suitable for smaller boats, water skiing and canoeing. Power boats are not allowed on Deer Lake or Clearwater Lake.
White Lake offers good fishing opportunities. The main species that attract anglers are Walleye, Northern Pike, Lake Whitefish and Yellow Perch. Deer Lake also has small populations of Northern Pike and Walleye. Clearwater Lake is occasionally stocked with Brook Trout.
Special fishing regulations apply to White Lake: A catch limit of four Walleye with a split size of three fish under 46 cm (18.1") and one fish over 46cm (18.1) has been implemented. Fish sanctuaries operate from March 15 to June 15. For additional information please refer to the Provincial Recreational Fishing Regulations Summary.
A fish cleaning station with power and lights, a cold beverage machine, paved boat launch (lit at night) and a dock for boat launching provides anglers with services to enhance their fishing opportunities.
Visitors can cycle on all the park roads. There are no designated bicycle trails but there are opportunities adjacent to the park. White Lake rents adult mountain bikes, (helmets are not provided). Note. Cycling is not allowed on any of the trails within the park.
Park naturalists offer guided hikes, guest speakers, audio-visual presentations and campfire programs throughout the summer. Learn all about the boreal forest, local logging history, the fur trade, First Nations and the rich cultural history of the area.
Spring migrants pass through the park, including warblers, thrushes, shorebirds, loons and kestrels. During the summer season many varieties of songbirds, ducks, Great Blue Herons, eagles, kingfishers and warblers can be found nesting in the park's expanse of boreal forest.
The park gate is closed, but visitors can ski or snowshoe at their leisure if they want to enjoy a winter wonderland.
Enjoy camping on the shores of beautiful White Lake. The park offers a comfort station with showers, laundry facilities and flush toilets, located in Moccasin Flower Campground.
Hike on Tiny Bog Trail to view insect-eating plants like Sundew and Pitcher Plant. View sunsets over Deer Lake from the viewing platform or just explore the inlets, bays and wetlands of White Lake by canoe or kayak. The lake can provide days of shoreline exploration.
The park also offers a wide range of equipment for rent.
White Lake currently has one comfort station located in Moccasin Flower Campground. It has flush toilets, sinks, showers, laundry facilities (two washers, four dryers and laundry soap dispenser that are all coin operated). A cold beverage vending machine is also located here.
Flush toilets are available at the Moccasin Flower Campground comfort station.
Barrier-free toilets and sinks are located in the Moccasin Flower Campground comfort station.
White Lake's large day-use area includes a modern playground, sandy beach, picnic tables, a volleyball area, small play field, canoes for rent and horseshoe pits.
Laundry facilities are available at the Moccasin Flower Campground comfort station.
There is a paved boat launch and a small dock for boat launching in the day-use area.
The park rents canoes, adult mountain bikes, tents, fishing equipment, and trailer storage can be arranged.
At the Gatehouse, you may rent canoes and bicycles or purchase Ontario Parks merchandise, firewood, ice, and cold beverages. A pay phone is conveniently located there as well.
Basic groceries, camping supplies, licences, bait and gas can be obtained within eight kilometres of the park.
Bilingual staff (French/English) are available to respond to questions.
Close to the campground, pets are allowed to swim at the boat launch in the day-use area. Another pet swimming area is located down the park road to Clearwater Lake, just past the Tiny Bog trailhead. This section of road is also the place to walk your pet off leash. Other than these areas, pets must be on a leash at all times. Please remember to always clean up after your pet.
Park features on this map are representative only and may not accurately depict regulated park boundaries. For official map representation of provincial parks, visit Ontario's Crown Land Use Policy Atlas.
There is no fire ban at this time.
White Lake has a boil water advisory for all water systems in the park. All sources of water available to the public have been posted. Avis de faire bouillir l'eau en vigueur aux terrains de camping suivants Woodlily, Moccasin Flower, et Sundew.
There is no beach posting at this time.
White Lake Provincial Park


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By On the occasion of our 20th anniversary
Why Do Mexis Like Wrought-Iron Fences?
By Gustavo Arellano
By R. Scott Moxley
By Alfonso Delgado
Women For: OC are Stitching and Bitching
By Courtney Hamilton
Santa Ana River Ready for Its Renaissance
By Joel Beers
By Peter Maguire
Can Tech Ruin the Kim Pham Murder Trial?
By Charles Lam
"Don't be hating on Latinas because you can't get like them, all pretty and beautiful"
In a letter to Mother Superior Katherine Gray, chairwoman of the SJHS Board of Trustees, 61 Orange County St. Joseph network employees said, "Many of us have tried to work with the established structures at our hospitals and clinics and have found that they just don't provide real solutions. The so-called 'direct relationship' between employees and management is not real. The SJHS mission statement is not applied to us in our day-to-day work lives. Our experience with the Employee Councils is that concerns we raise are rarely, if ever, acted upon. In fact, St. Joseph's employees raised a workplace-safety issue in a pathology-department committee and for 13 months have been waiting for a remedy. Meanwhile, employees continue to work in a situation described by state regulators as unsafe."
Also from that letter: "When health insurance co-pays increased and the cost for ER visits doubled for all of us, none of us had any say in the matter at all."
Management, for its part, disagrees: "When you have an employee workforce of close to 20,000, you have a situation where employees have different opinions and different views, and we address that," says Bill Murin, senior vice president and chief human resources officer for St. Joseph Health Network. "When you have 20,000 employees, you have issues that you have to deal with every day. We balance that with the fact that we've been recognized as a great place to work. I can't imagine a sister interacting with an employee inconsistent with our code of conduct, or with our mission, because this embraces what they're all about."
An update to the story: St. Joseph employee David Cox said a subsequent meeting between a dozen or so network employees and Murin was congenial. However, he and the group of employees will continue the attempt for a meeting with Sister Gray, whom they feel is the only person who can change the network's policy regarding their election process.
This letter is in response to . . . uh, we're not sure, actually.
There will be two Friday the 13th's this year.
Any time you want to share money with me, I will cooperate with you on writing stuff.
Obviously, it comes out better with cooperation. And if you are really nice, you might get laid. And I might get out of jail, and we can get another TV-show contract.
The way everyone has done things so far is criminal and stupid. If we cooperate, we get ahead; if we don't, we never will. Try it.
T.P. Barney
Massachusetts Correctional Institution
A Sept. 7 article by Derek Olson titled "Get in the Cage" incorrectly stated that Ultimate Fighting Championship purchased fighter Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's contract from Pride Fighting Championships. His contract was actually purchased from World Fighting Alliance. The Weekly regrets the error.
Sponsor Content


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Aurora Multimedia DXE-CAT-S2 (with extended firmware as a standard feature)The Aurora Multimedia extender was the top performer in terms of distance achieved with both Cat-5 and Cat-6 cables. 1/04/2013 5:34 AM Eastern
Aurora Multimedia DXE-CAT-S2 (with extended firmware as a standard feature)
Jan 4, 2013 10:34 AM, By Patrick Barron
Style of RS-232 Connector: 1/8in.
HDBaseT: Yes
Maximum Distance:
· Cat-5: Works up to 425ft. at all resolutions tested
· Cat-6: Works up to 625ft. at all resolutions tested
· Blu-ray player: Cat-5 works at 1080p and 1080p 3D up to 425ft. Cat-6 works at 1080p and 1080p 3D up to 625ft.
The Aurora Multimedia extender was the top performer in terms of distance achieved with both Cat-5 and Cat-6 cables. Aurora was able to make modifications that allowed the distance to dramatically increase while still maintaining the HDBaseT designation. It was neatly packaged and the parts were easy to identify. When a link was established between TX and RX units a status light turned on and another light indicated power status. The receiver is remotely powered through a Cat-X connection with transmitter. One of the features unique to Aurora was that both units could be powered by a power supply at one side only. This meant you could place a power supply at the TX or RX based on the installation configuration of which side was more convenient. This extender can also be powered with LAN PoE, which eliminates the need for a traditional power supply.
Bi-directional IR passthrough was another feature that was not tested, but it could be useful in many instances. The size of the box itself was the smallest one tested, which makes it very easy to locate in small spaces such as behind a wall-mounted flatpanel display. Because of the small form factor, the RS-232 connection is a 1/8in. mini connector. When ordering, there are options available to specify a dongle that breaks out this mini connector to a variety of other styles including DB9.
Another version of this extender is available at a higher price that adds a complete control system into the extender. The DXE-CAT-S2L (not tested) has 8MB of storage capability for hosting a Web Control page enabling control of any IR or RS-232 controllable device. Configurable as RPC and Telnet Client/Server, the S2L can also be integrated with existing supporting control systems effectively making them port expanders via IP. Additionally, it provides a two-port Ethernet switch at both ends, allowing connectivity of IP-capable displays and components.
Atlona AT-HD4-V110SR
Aurora Multimedia DXE-CAT-S2
CE Labs HM1CK-3
Crestron HD-RX1-C/HD-TX1-C
Digital Extender UBHD-100 (RT COM)
DVIGear DVI-TPS-RX90/TX90
Factor HD-BaseT-Balun
Gefen Pro Gef-HDCATS-ELRPOLS
Intelix Liberty AV Digi-HDE-R/S
Key Digital KD-CATHD500
Kramer Electronics TP-573/574
Kramer Electronics TP-581T/TP-582R
Octava HDCATS100-TX/RX
Pure Link HTE
Shinybow SB-6335/SB-6335R
Star Tech Com ST12UTPHDMI
Wyrestorm EX-1UTP-IR-100
Zektor Solo-CAT-HDE
Zigen ZIG-HAVEX
Zigen ZIG-HVX-70-RX/TX
Zuum Media HE1LBIR232
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