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The government generally respected and protected the human rights of its citizens; however, the following human rights problems were reported:
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2005 International Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
The law provides for these rights, and the government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the government did not employ it.
Protection of Refugees
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol, and the government has established a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice the government provided protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. The government granted refugee status or asylum.
The government also provided temporary protection to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 convention and the 1967 protocol and provided it to approximately 78 persons during the year.
Current law establishes a list of "safe countries of origin" from which applicants are unlikely to be granted refugee status, but it does not automatically bar such applications. Applicants whose cases were denied could appeal to the appropriate regional court. In May parliament amended the law to require regional court decisions to be reviewed by a five-judge panel, which refers cases requiring further attention to the supreme administrative court. The amended law also stipulates that only exceptional cases may be appealed to the supreme administrative court following a rejection by the regional court. During the year over 4,000 persons applied for asylum, approximately 1,500 fewer than in 2004, continuing a downward trend that experts attributed to EU rules for applying for asylum. The government granted asylum to 251 persons, according to the interior ministry.
In August the Constitutional Court issued a decision that either asylum hearings be conducted in a language comprehensible to the applicant, or that the government provide an interpreter. This ruling was prompted by the appeal of Vasyl Petriv, who had been denied asylum in 2003 but asserted that he had not understood the proceedings, which were conducted in the Czech language. Petriv received asylum after the Constitutional Court ruling.
The government cooperated with the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their Government
The law provides citizens the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation
The most recent national elections were held in November 2004 for the senate, and were considered free and fair. Individuals and parties could freely declare their candidacy and stand for election.
In March the Romani Democratic Social Party was established to become involved in the coordination of government programs targeting Roma. In March the party announced its intention to field candidates in the 2006 general legislative elections.
Women and ethnic minorities were generally underrepresented in politics and government. There were 33 women in the 200‑seat chamber of deputies and 10 women in the 81-seat senate. There were 2 women in the 20-member cabinet.
There were no members of minorities in the 200-seat chamber of deputies, the 81-seat senate, or the 20-member cabinet. One justice on the Constitutional Court was an ethnic Slovak. Of the estimated 150 thousand to 175 thousand Roma in the country, few were integrated into political life (see section 5). Few Roma served in local government, although some were appointed to advisory positions in government ministries, and each region appoints a Romani coordinator to monitor and mediate problems affecting the Romani community.
Government Corruption and Transparency
Throughout the year corruption and abuse of office remained major problems.
Numerous polls highlighted public concern with corruption and low levels of public trust in the integrity and honesty of both government officials and political parties. The perception of widespread corruption and official abuse has fostered an environment of public mistrust of mainstream political parties. Transparency International reported that current procurement statutes were complicated and vulnerable to manipulation, that oversight mechanisms were weak, and that conflict of interest laws were generally ineffective. Biannual governance and anticorruption studies compiled by the World Bank have charted substantial and steady deterioration in the country since 1996 in indices of "government effectiveness," "regulatory quality," "rule of law," and "control of corruption."
On April 27, Prime Minister Stanislav Gross resigned in the midst of a corruption scandal over his ownership of a luxury apartment in Prague in spite of earning a modest government salary. During the subsequent controversy additional questions surfaced regarding other financial and business activities of both Gross and his family. Gross was replaced by Regional Development Minister Jiri Paroubek. The decision by police in December to close the case for lack of evidence was met with widespread public outcry.
In January the media reported that Gross, while serving as interior minister in 2002, had formed a special police unit that reported only to him and whose existence was concealed from parliament, the public, and other government entities. The unit operated in secrecy for two years, reportedly gathering information on political and business figures until its dissolution by the interior ministry.
In August Prime Minister Paroubek dismissed his chief aide, Jiri Dolezel, over allegations of corruption involving the privatization of the Unipetrol group. The aide reportedly solicited a $200 thousand (approximately 5 million CZK) bribe during the sale of Unipetrol to a Polish company. In October Paroubek reluctantly authorized a parliamentary inquiry into the Unipetrol privatization. The investigation was ongoing at year's end.
During the year the media exposed several appointees or associates of Gross and Paroubek as alleged or confirmed members of the former Communist secret police. These individuals held office despite a lustration (vetting) law prohibiting certain former Communist Party officials, People's Militia members, and suspected secret police officials from holding a wide range of elected and appointed positions.
In October Marian Kus, a member of the ruling Social Democratic party executive committee, was forced to temporarily step down from his position during an investigation into charges that he had forged his lustration certificate, a document certifying that a person has been vetted by the government and (usually) cleared of cooperation with the Communist secret police.
A 2004 allegation that an opposition member of parliament had attempted to bribe another parliamentarian prior to a confidence vote in the government was investigated by police and dismissed for lack of evidence, with no action taken against either party.
In April 2004 18 customs officials working at the Moravia border were accused of accepting bribes of between $6 and $12 (151 to 302 CZK) from truck drivers seeking expedited inspections at the border. Their trial began in June and was ongoing at year's end.
Seven government ministries (justice, interior, agriculture, finance, transport, and regional development) have hotlines for citizens to report instances of corruption and malfeasance by ministry employees. Three other agencies have set up email addresses specifically for the public to report corruption.
The Ministry of Interior received 6,019 emails and 450 calls to its hotline (compared to 6,334 emails and 480 calls in 2004); most were requests for information on corruption. Only 35 of these calls and emails reported corruption; 5 of these alleged police corruption, and 30 concerned officials in other ministries. The ministry forwarded these 35 to the corruption police for further investigation.
The law provides for public access to government information. The government provided such access in practice for citizens and noncitizens, including foreign media. No prohibitive fees were used, and applicants may appeal a decision about information release within 15 days of a decision or if the time limit for processing a request is exceeded.
Section 4 Government Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
In August the chamber of deputies expanded the powers of the government ombudsman, whose functions include the protection of human rights, including in cases involving people in jails, asylum institutions, and health and social institutions. The ombudsman can recommend, but not initiate, cases for prosecution or redress to other authorities.
Section 5 Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability, language, or social status; however, societal discrimination against women and Roma persisted, and trafficking in persons was a problem.
The extent of violence against women was difficult to assess, but recent studies indicated that the problem was more widespread than reflected in official statistics. A 2003 Czech Academy of Science poll indicated that 59 percent of female respondents had experienced violence at least once in their lives and that most of these assaults were unreported. Approximately 23 percent of these victims had told no one of the attack. The few women who did report the incidents credited police with recommending that they seek specialized treatment and legal advice in addition to filing a police report.
The law recognizes domestic violence as a distinct crime, and those who commit acts of violence against relatives or domestic partners may receive sentences of up to three years in prison and longer under aggravated circumstances. Government efforts to investigate and prosecute cases of domestic violence improved dramatically during the year. Police investigated 421 cases of domestic violence, resulting in 134 convictions. Unconditional sentences were handed down for 26 offenders; the rest received suspended sentences or other penalties, including fines. In 2004 108 cases were investigated, with only one conviction resulting. Police reported that investigations continued to be hampered by the reluctance of many victims to report domestic violence or to testify against their partners.
The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape, and the government effectively enforced these provisions in practice. The law provides penalties for rape of 2 to 15 years in prison.
Many experts consider rape dramatically underreported. In the first 6 months of the year, there were 257 reported rapes, all of which were investigated. Police investigated 422 alleged rapes, resulting in 157 convictions. Unconditional sentences were handed down to 94 offenders, 48 of whom received sentences of 5 to 15 years' imprisonment. Although the number of investigations and convictions declined slightly from 2004, experts noted an upward trend in the number of rape convictions since 2001, which they attributed to improved police training, public awareness campaigns, and greater interaction and cooperation of police with NGOs, all of which have gradually facilitated victims' willingness to report the crime and to testify in court.
Police continued to train a few specialized personnel in handling cases of domestic violence and working with social service agencies. The government provided police and other professionals with training materials to better identify cases of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Koordona, an association of 13 NGOs, issued materials for victims to inform them of their rights and options. NGOs continued to distribute a specialized training manual for health care workers.
Victims of rape and domestic abuse could seek psychological counseling through a number of hotlines and crisis centers. NGOs reported that 107 government-supported shelters for such victims were located in most major cities and towns. NGOs also provided medical and social assistance to women on a local level. NGOs reported that there were not enough spaces available in shelters to meet the demand.
There were allegations during the year that forced sterilization of Romani women had taken place in previous years (see section 1.f.).
The law does not specifically prohibit prostitution, but it may be banned, limited, or regulated by local governments. Pimping is specifically prohibited. Prostitution was widespread in border areas and major cities throughout the country. NGOs reported that sex tourism was a problem and involved both female and male prostitutes, some of them juveniles.
Trafficking in women was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, the government did not effectively enforce this provision in practice, and sexual harassment remained a problem. In August a survey commissioned by the labor and social affairs ministry found that 28 percent of women and 22 percent of men had experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. The report also indicated that sexually suggestive behavior was common in the workplace and often not considered harassment. A March 1 amendment to the law places the burden of proof on the person accused of sexual harassment. Those found guilty of sexual harassment can be fined up to approximately $2,750 (70,000 CZK), dismissed from work, or sentenced to prison.
Women and men are equal under the law, including under family law, property law, and in the judicial system. Although women constituted approximately half of the labor force, they were more likely than men to be employed in professions with a lower median salary. According to recent statistics, women's median wages lagged behind those of men by almost 25 percent. The unemployment rate for women exceeded that for men, and a disproportionately small number of women held senior positions. The council for equal opportunities for men and women monitored gender issues and advised the government on its efforts to enforce equal gender rights.
The government is committed to children's right and welfare. The government provides free and compulsory education through age 15. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported a primary school enrollment rate of 90 percent from 2000 to 2004. Most children continued through secondary school. There were no statistics available on Romani attendance rates.
Girls and boys enjoyed equal access to government‑provided health care and education at all levels.
Romani children were enrolled at disproportionately high rates in the remedial education system. However, the government continued taking steps to address the problem during the year. In May the ECHR heard a case brought by the ERRC on behalf of Romani students in Ostrava and other communities who were placed in remedial schools. The ECHR was unlikely to return a verdict following the government's announcement in January that it would abolish remedial schools. The government began closing certain remedial schools and integrating others by transferring slower students into new, "special" classes. NGOs reported mixed results with some regions effectively carrying out the new policy, while others suffered from an exodus of non‑Romani Czechs.
Child abuse was a common problem. The law prohibits family violence, physical restraint, sexual abuse, and other forms of abuse of minors. During the year police investigated 643 cases, resulting in 845 offenders being prosecuted and 442 convicted under child negligence laws. In 2004 676 cases were investigated, resulting in 555 convictions. In 2004 676 cases were investigated, resulting in 555 convictions under child abandonment and endangerment laws. NGOs estimated that approximately 50 children died annually from domestic violence.
Although there were some reports that members of the Romani community married before reaching the legal age of 18, underage marriage was not a significant problem in the country.
The commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Children were engaged in prostitution for survival without third party involvement. NGOs have reported that many teenage prostitutes were either runaways or products of orphanages and the foster care system. Some NGOs asserted that orphanages did not prepare young teens adequately to be self‑sufficient upon reaching legal adulthood. A special police team was formed in 2004 specifically to deal with the sexual exploitation of children in Cheb, a town on the German border where sex tourism was a problem.
Male adolescents, some as young as 13 years old, engaged in prostitution for survival. NGOs that worked with these children attributed the problem to a dysfunctional foster care system that failed to provide adequate job skills for a modern economy while preventing unwanted children from being adopted by capable parents.
Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits trafficking in persons; however, trafficking to, from, and, to a smaller extent, within the country for sexual exploitation and forced labor was a problem.
Amendments passed in 2004 criminalize all forms of trafficking, including both internal and cross-border trafficking. Penalties for trafficking, including for the purpose of forced labor, include prison terms of 2 to 15 years and are generally commensurate with those for rape and sexual assault. Traffickers may also be prosecuted for organized prostitution and pimping, which are punishable by a prison term of up to 12 years if the victim is under the age of 15; however, penalties were significantly lower in practice.
The security policy department of the Ministry of Interior and the organized crime division of the national police had primary responsibility for combating trafficking, and worked to enhance coordination and cooperation with local and city police as well. The former first deputy of minister of the interior was assigned to be the national coordinator for trafficking issues. The security policy department was charged with collecting, analyzing, and reporting on all information relating to trafficking; monitoring the implementation of the national antitrafficking strategy; and overseeing all aspects of the model of support and protection of victims of trafficking in persons.
Although the government investigated and prosecuted cases of trafficking in persons, conviction rates were low. During the year police investigated 18 trafficking cases. Twelve of these cases were prosecuted, resulting in 20 convictions under the trafficking statute. Eight offenders received unconditional sentences of 1 to 5 years in prison, and 12 received suspended sentences. The authorities successfully prosecuted 12 traffickers in 2004, although only 3 of the convictions resulted in prison sentences of more than 1 year. During 2004 over 200 persons were charged with pimping, with 69 convictions resulting. Pimping charges were often used to prosecute traffickers because of the complexity of the trafficking statute.
The organized crime unit within the national police had a special department dedicated and specifically trained to combat trafficking in persons. The unit worked closely with its counterparts in Interpol and Europol, and also cooperated extensively with the European Union and other foreign countries in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases.
The country was increasingly a transit and destination country rather than a source country for trafficking victims. The majority of women trafficked into and through the country were from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, China, and Vietnam; many were destined for the sex trade. They were usually trafficked onward into Western Europe and elsewhere, including the United States, sometimes via third countries. Czech women were trafficked into Western Europe (primarily Germany, Austria and the Netherlands) to work as prostitutes, though there have been cases of Czech victims as far away as Japan and Mexico. A small number of Czech women were trafficked to the United States. Foreign and Czech women and children were also trafficked within the country, often from areas of low employment, to Prague and the border regions with Germany and Austria and were occasionally sold from one organized trafficking unit to another. Small numbers of Czech men were trafficked to the United States for coerced labor.
Local sex trafficking victims were generally young women between 18 and 29 years of age from areas of high unemployment. Romani women were at the highest risk of being trafficked internally, often by a friend or relative. Girls raised in state‑run homes, such as orphanages, were also at particular risk. According to government authorities, women already working as prostitutes were also particularly vulnerable to traffickers. Trafficked women were frequently offered jobs as models, maids, waitresses, and dancers through employment agencies and then forced into prostitution. Once in a destination country, traffickers ensured victims' compliance by confiscating their travel documents and using isolation, drug and alcohol dependence, violence, threats of violence toward the victim or her family, and the threat of arrest and deportation. Police reported that traffickers increasingly relied on violence to secure their victims' cooperation.
Labor trafficking remained a significant issue; the interior ministry reported that it was the most common form of trafficking in the country. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the NGO La Strada released a study during the year documenting victims from a wide variety of countries, including the former Soviet Union, South Asia, China, and Vietnam. Victims were both male and female and varied widely in age and in social and educational status. Local employers ranged from single families to local subsidiaries of major multinational European retail chains. The study carefully documented the highly sophisticated and organized nature of the organized crime syndicates that conducted trafficking operations. Although there were no available estimates of the numbers of victims trafficked into the country for labor, both government and NGO sources conceded that the problem was widespread.
Most traffickers were members of organized crime groups, often from Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, the former Yugoslavia, and East Asia, and worked in cooperation with local citizens. Domestic traffickers often served as a link between those in Russia and Ukraine and those in Western Europe.
There was no direct evidence of government complicity in, or tolerance of, trafficking in persons; however, NGOs suspected individual members of the border police of assisting illegal border crossings related to trafficking.
The government cooperated with IOM and NGOs to provide services to trafficking victims and to train police and investigators in how to handle trafficking cases.
The government provided psychological and social assistance to victims for 30 days; the victim had to decide within this period whether or not to cooperate with authorities. Victims who chose not to assist police with prosecution were offered voluntary return to their home countries; victims choosing to cooperate were eligible for residency visas for the duration of the criminal proceedings. Victims who cooperated with police were eligible at the end of criminal proceedings to apply for permanent residency on humanitarian grounds. By the end of the year 35 women had entered the model program and had contributed testimony or information against trafficking organizations.
Observers criticized the fact that trafficking victims who cooperated with investigations had limited opportunities to obtain permanent residency. NGOs pointed out that recent changes in the law made it much more difficult for trafficking victims to apply for asylum, which granted them legal status to remain until a ruling was made on their asylum case (which can take years), rather than to cooperate with authorities under the program and generally be returned to their home countries once proceedings were concluded. Though victims may apply for permanent residency at the conclusion of their cooperation with the police, it was not automatically granted; only a few victims had been awarded such residency. During the year the government improved police training on recognizing victims for referral to the program.
Because of the stigma attached to trafficking, victims were frequently hesitant to return to their families or seek social service providers.
The crime prevention division of the interior ministry continued to implement a national strategy against trafficking. The Ministry of Justice organized several training sessions in trafficking issues for judges and prosecutors, and the Ministry of Interior continued offering training to police.
The interior ministry worked with the IOM to produce a demand‑reduction campaign targeted at consumers of sexually exploited women and children in the areas along the country's border with Germany. The progress of the project was slowed by the difficulty of collecting such sensitive information from clients of sexual services. The NGO Caritas visited schools and asylum and reception centers to conduct awareness campaigns among potential victims about the risks of trafficking and the entrapment and coercion strategies used by traffickers. Other NGOs which also received government funding, such as La Strada and Rozkos Bez Rizika (Pleasure Without Risk), conducted seminars and published and distributed literature about the dangers of trafficking.
In September the government created the interdisciplinary committee on trafficking, which includes representatives from various ministries and NGOs. The committee met for the first time in November to begin coordinating the implementation of various requirements of the national antitrafficking strategy.
Persons with Disabilities
The law prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of other state services, and the government generally enforced these provisions effectively; however, persons with disabilities were unemployed at disproportionately higher rates.
The law mandates access to buildings for persons with disabilities, and the government generally enforced these provisions in practice. Although access improved during the year, many buildings and modes of public transportation remained inaccessible. In Prague 26 of the 50 subway stations were wheelchair accessible; however, the majority of stations in the city center remained inaccessible. A growing number of bus lines and municipal tram lines were accessible to persons with disabilities. Most public schools lacked barrier-free access for students, although there was at least one barrier-free school in each district.
Following heavy international criticism from governments and NGOs for the use of caged beds in psychiatric facilities, the government decided in July 2004 to remove caged and netted beds from its mental health institutions by the end of that year. However, the ban was not fully implemented in practice because the government did not fully fund the transition, and cage and netted beds were only replaced as more modern means of restraint were brought into service. By the end of the year all caged beds had been eliminated from health care facilities, but a small number of netted beds still remained. In May an amendment to the law was passed to severely limit the use of such beds, pending their replacement and removal from the system. The beds may only be used to protect the patient or others from injury, and institutions must carefully document their use and immediately notify the patient's legal representative. Although the new amendment established much stricter guidelines regarding the conditions and use of restraints, NGOs criticized the law for not specifying which forms of restraint were appropriate for psychiatric patients. Netted beds remained legal for use in long-term care facilities for adults and children. There were no official statistics as to the number of beds in use during the year. In 2004 the government reported that of 9,657 beds in the country's psychiatric facilities, approximately 20 were cage beds and 100 were netted beds.
In August the government approved a national plan to aid persons with disabilities. The plan was drafted with the participation of the government council for disabled citizens, a permanent advisory body responsible for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities. The government's initial efforts to implement the plan focused on improving the quality and responsiveness of social programs serving persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
After ethnic Slovaks, the largest minority was the Romani population, estimated at between 150 thousand and 175 thousand persons. Roma faced disproportionately high levels of poverty, unemployment, interethnic violence, and illiteracy. Despite constitutional prohibitions against discrimination, there was no framework to implement those provisions in the civil or criminal law. Roma continued to face discrimination from potential employers and local and school officials, with only incremental improvements in recent years.
During the year latent societal discrimination against Roma often manifested itself in incidents of violence. Members and sympathizers of skinhead organizations were the most frequent perpetrators of interethnic violence, particularly against Roma and other "dark-skinned" persons. An estimated seven thousand skinheads were active in the country, although some observers believed the actual figure was higher.
Unlike in previous years, there were no incidents of police violence against Roma.
In September three men attacked a Romani couple in Prague. The victims were treated at a local hospital; the perpetrators were arrested and charged with assault and with the suppression of human rights and freedoms. The case was still pending at year's end.
In May a Prague court awarded a Romani student approximately $4 thousand (100 thousand CZK) as compensation for the brutal 2002 attack against him at a tram stop by four non-Romani youths.
There were no developments in the cases of assaults on Roma in Ostrava, Broumov, and Krnov in 2004.
The law prohibits employment discrimination based on ethnicity; however, Roma continued to face discrimination in both employment and education. Precise figures for unemployment among Roma were unavailable, but the rate was disproportionately high. Some employers refused to hire Roma and asked local labor offices not to send Romani applicants for advertised positions.
Continuing a trend from previous years, Roma were increasingly able to find redress in court in cases of employment discrimination. For example, in March a Prague court found the Scorpion Club fashion boutique guilty of racial discrimination for not considering a Romani applicant for an advertised job opening. The boutique had been videotaped refusing to consider Vera Dunkova for the position and, minutes later, offering job information to a non-Romani applicant. The court awarded Dunkova approximately $1 thousand (25 thousand CZK) and ordered an apology from the boutique.
Roma also faced discrimination in housing and other areas of everyday life. Police responded to complaints that some restaurants, bars, and other public places refused service to Roma and posted signs prohibiting their entry. Human rights groups reported that some municipalities attempted to force Romani families to leave, employing such tactics as evicting them from municipally-owned homes for alleged lapses in rent payments or coercing them to sign agreements that they did not understand that were then used to curtail existing housing contracts. While the human rights commissioner publicly criticized these evictions, the law affords municipalities substantial autonomy in such actions.
In October the Bohomin mayor and local officials attempted to evict dozens of families (most of whom were Romani) from their apartments following the municipal purchase of their low‑income hostel from its private owner. According to numerous NGOs, there were no provisions for adequate housing for the displaced families. When the action was challenged in the courts, several families were ultimately allowed to stay for the duration of the court case, but the town employed several coercive measures, such as shutting off the tenants' utilities and using private security guards to restrict access to the remaining families. Police did not intervene in the case. The issue was ultimately resolved when a compromise was brokered through NGOs to allow the relocation of the remaining families. At year's end, the town was seeking to collect payment from the families for the security guards the town employed at the site.
In March a regional court in Ostrava ordered the owner of a club that refused service to three Romani patrons to pay a $1,200 (approximately 30,000 CZK) fine and apologize to the trio for lowering their human dignity. A waitress involved in the incident was also fined.
There were allegations during the year that forced sterilization of Romani women had taken place in previous years (see section 1.f.).
The interministerial commission for Roma community affairs, which included 12 government and 14 Romani representatives, as well as the commissioner for human rights and his deputy, continued to take an active role in resolving disputes between Romani communities and their non-Romani neighbors. The commission also promoted antidiscrimination initiatives in housing and education. The Roma affairs coordinator of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued to function as the ministry's liaison with Romani groups, NGOs, and the diplomatic community.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Homosexuals face occasional incidents of violence, usually in Prague where they are more visible. The government took a few steps to address prejudice against gays. In December the lower house of parliament passed a law that recognizes the legal validity of gay civil partnerships.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The law provides workers with the right to form and join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice. Approximately 20 percent of the workforce was unionized, and the trend of steady decline in union membership continued. Most union members belonged to unions affiliated with the Czech‑Moravian Chamber of Trade Unions, a national umbrella organization.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, the government did not effectively enforce this provision, and union discrimination occurred. Common discriminatory practices included firing union leaders, denying union members entry to meetings between employees and management, refusing to provide office space for unions, forcing members to cancel their memberships, offering financial incentives to dissolve union organization within a company, disparaging unions in statements to employees, monitoring union members, and refusing to withhold union dues. If found guilty of antiunion discrimination, employers are required to reinstate workers fired for union activity, although the court procedure was generally slow.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The law allows unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the government protected this right in practice. The law provides for collective bargaining, which generally was carried out by unions and employers on a company basis. The scope for collective bargaining was more limited for civil servants, whose wages were regulated by law. However, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions reported in 2004 that some employers attempted to prevent workers from organizing by means of direct and indirect pressure and attempted to render collective agreements null and void.
Workers have the legal right to strike if mediation efforts fail, with the exception of those in critical sectors such as health care, nuclear energy, oil and gas pipelines, air traffic control, firefighting, and telecommunications; workers in these industries have access to mediation. The law requires unions to provide employers with a list of strikers at least one day before a strike. There were no major strikes during the year.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were reports that such practices occurred (see section 5). According to the labor ministry, approximately 300 North Korean women worked in extremely harsh conditions in garment and leather factories in several locations throughout the country. The women were kept in tightly controlled environments, and their earnings were deposited into an account controlled by the North Korean embassy. The labor ministry investigated their situation and concluded that although the situation was "troubling" in several aspects, the women were working voluntarily.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment
The government effectively enforced laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in the workplace. The law stipulates a minimum working age of 15 years, although children with disabilities who completed special schools could work at the age of 14 years. Employment conditions for children aged 15 to 18 were subject to strict safety standards. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs effectively enforced these regulations in practice.
The commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of children was a problem (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The labor ministry sets and enforces minimum wage standards. The national minimum wage was approximately $287 (7,185 CZK) per month and provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
The law provides for a 40-hour workweek with at least 2 days of rest, and requires a paid break of at least 30 minutes during the standard 8-hour workday. Employers may establish up to eight hours per week of mandatory overtime, subject to the consent of the employee (in the form of the collective bargaining agreement or contract stipulating overtime), although the local employment office may permit additional mandatory overtime. Premium pay for overtime was dictated by the provisions of the employee's contract. The labor ministry effectively enforced standards for working hours and breaks.
The office of labor safety effectively enforced health and safety standards. Workers have the right to refuse work endangering their life or health without risking the loss of their employment, and they exercised this right in practice.


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Invent This Wheel!!!
Now can we try using courts-martial for enemy detainees?
By using an existing system, we would not just be reaffirming our core American values, we'd also get better prosecutions. Right now, England refuses to recognize the commission system, with its attorney general calling them completely "unacceptable" because they fail to offer "sufficient guarantees of a fair trial in accordance with international standards." Australia has cut a special side deal with the Bush administration so one of its citizens, David Hicks, is treated differently from other commission defendants. A United Nations Expert Committee says these commissions are fundamentally unfair—a report that will prompt other nations to refuse to let their citizens be tried in these bodies. And extradition, sharing of prosecution/intelligence information, and availability of witnesses will all become extremely serious problems when other countries refuse to cooperate. Without an extensive track record showing that courts-martial are failures, it is exceptionally dangerous to gamble our prosecution strategy on the administration's diplomatic ability to persuade other nations to cooperate with these commissions.
Second, whatever purported benefits might be gained by some new system have to be weighed against the inevitable litigation risk. The Hamdan decision makes clear that any changes that depart from our nation's military tradition and international law are going to be closely scrutinized by the courts. The result of changing the rules again now will be another four years with no prosecutions and perhaps yet another reversal in the Supreme Court. "Four more years" is not a convincing slogan, especially when not a single terrorist has been brought to justice in these military commissions. Only about 10 individuals were ever even indicted—and those indictments took nearly three years to prepare.
Some clever Republicans are trying to get around that problem by legislating an "abstention" rule—providing that challenges to the new system can take place only after someone had their trial, not before it. This was the president's main position in the Hamdan case, as well—that Hamdan could not challenge his commission until he was convicted. Anyone, in Congress or the courts, who advances that ludicrous notion should be particularly ignored today. Can you imagine if that advice were followed? We'd have had each terrorist trial take place under the president's system, and then, years later, the Supreme Court would have had to reverse all the convictions when they finally got to decide Hamdan. A terrible result, for the nation and for justice. All these convicted terrorists would face freedom if they could not be retried in some other system.
Instead of abstention, any legislation enacted today should make clear that it would immediately authorize a challenge to a three-judge district court and subsequent appeal to the Supreme Court. It's time to get this show on the road, folks. The administration's "wait and see" attitude toward criminal convictions of terrorists is not something that can wait any longer.
Third, the Supreme Court got it right. The president's military commissions departed in every way from the most basic tenets of American justice. For the first time, defendants were kicked out of their own criminal trials without their consent. Even a military commission prosecutor called the system "a half-hearted and disorganized effort by a skeleton group of relatively inexperienced attorneys to prosecute fairly low-level accused in a process that appears to be rigged." Another prosecutor lamented that "writing a motion saying that the process will be full and fair when you don't really believe it is kind of hard—particularly when you want to call yourself an officer and a lawyer."
Indeed, something that has gone without notice thus far is that every judicial opinion to side with Mr. Hamdan has been penned by a jurist who actually served in our military: Justice John Paul Stevens, Justice Anthony Kennedy, and lower court Judge James Robertson. A coincidence perhaps, but unlikely. For years, the military has stood at the forefront of protecting the rule of law, knowing that if our courts give the executive branch the power to break from the Geneva Conventions, then executives from other countries will do it back to our own troops some day when they are captured.
For that reason, and despite all the administration huffing and puffing about the court's Geneva Conventions holding, the Pentagon quietly last Friday issued a memo agreeing with the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Conventions and finding that Common Article 3, the provision at issue in Hamdan, now protects detainees across the globe.
Justice Stevens' opinion in Hamdan put it simply, "Nothing in the record before us demonstrates that it would be impracticable to apply court-martial rules in this case." I would have thought that, upon hearing those words—and from a five-justice majority composed of three Republican appointees—the president's reaction would have been to ponder the oath he took to uphold the Constitution and laws of the United States. Instead, the administration treated this most serious of matters as yet another political game, with Bush going so far last Friday as to absurdly declare that the Hamdan justices "accepted the use of Guantánamo, the decision I made" with respect to detaining individuals there. That statement was particularly odd, since the Solicitor General's Office and I had both represented to the court that detentions were not at issue in the case, and the court itself made that fact clear.
When the president spins a Supreme Court opinion in this way, i.e., badly, you have to wonder what else is being spun. Bush's latest statement confirms my hunch that, like a college boy around the tempting Jessica Alba, whenever this administration gets near Guantanamo, they cease to think rationally. These folks cannot be trusted to run a new prosecution system. It's time for tough and fair justice, military-style. And that means the system we already have.

subset: commoncrawl


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So far, JELD-WEN is aware of 12 incidents of falling doors, including three incidents involving minor injuries.
The recalled doors, made in the U.S., were sold nationwide at Home Depot, Lowe's, and other building products retailers from February 2011 to March 2012 for $40 to $80.
If you own a recalled door, stop using it and contact JELD-WEN to obtain free replacement hardware and technical assistance.
You care about your home. The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® cares about homeownership. To help you become the best, most responsible homeowner you aspire to be, we want to provide you with free information and tools you can use to make smart and timely decisions about your home.
From time to time, we may reach out to you to help us support legislation and/or policies that may have an impact on you, the homeowner. You can choose to join our cause. Or you can choose not to. Regardless, your privacy is safe with us.
We'll never share or sell your email address or other personal information you may provide us in the course of using the site with anyone without your explicit consent.


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Advancing Diversity & Inclusive Excellence
Welcome to CME's digital home!
We invite you to use the resources on this site to learn more about our work, and how we can support your understanding and action for the University's commitment to Inclusive Excellence.
2016 diversity Summit
THANK YOU to everyone who started with and shared of themselves, to make the 2016 Diversity Summit on Inclusive Excellence such a success: participants, presenters, sponsor, service staff and volunteers!If you attended any part of the Summit, please take a moment a provide some feedback to help us continue to improve our growing size and positive impact, via https://udenver.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0GO0SAc4biObzr7
Chancellor announces administrative changes
Last academic year, Chancellor Chopp began making structural changes at DU that affect CME, and has followed through with a number of Inclusive Excellence-related changes connected to the ongoing Imagine DU initiatives. She summarized many of these changes in her 8 June 2015 "state of Inclusive Excellence" summary.
Current programs and services through CME, IRISE and Student Life will continue with minimal changes for the foreseeable future. Stay for tuned for updates!
Of note...
- The Faculty and Staff of the Sturm College of Law have penned an open letter standing in solidarity with students, staff, and faculties across the nation in opposition to racial, religious, and cultural discrimination on college campuses, including the University of Denver.
- February is Black History Month! Help us celebrate. The theme of events for this year is Hallowed Grounds: Sites of African American Memories.
- 21st annual DU Women's Conference is coming up. Workshop proposals are now being accepted! Deadline to submit is February 19th.
- Kudos to Dr Frank Tuitt, whose national summer presentations have included a panel (article one | article two | report) on Race, Class and College Access for the American Council on Education.
- Read the Denver Post article on the recent DPS English learners Summer Academy, hosted at DU by CME, GSSW and other partners!
- Check out the Human Resources' Fridays@Noon lunch and learn series , for the 6/26 session on IE, with our Thomas Walker.
- Check our Publications page for the latest Diversity Engagement Opportunities (DEO) compilation, Bulletin Boards in a Bag and annual reports.


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Annotations for
Wedding Planner's Daughter
Baker & Taylor
Desperately wanting to have a father in her life, twelve-year-old Willa finds the perfect match for her hardworking mother via her handsome English teacher, but when it appears to Willa that her mother is moving too slow for her own good, Willa decides to take action into her own hands in order to make the necessary magic happen.
Baker & Taylor
Willa, a romantic girl who wants a father, tries to find a husband for her mother, Cape Cod's most popular wedding planner.
Simon and Schuster
Twelve-year-old Willa Havisham is a classics reader, a cherry-cordial eater, and quite possibly the world's worst wisher. But when she and her glamorous single mother, Stella, move to Bramble, Cape Cod, Willa's wishes are beginning to come true: She makes her first-ever best friend, Tina. She bonds with her hip, candy-making nana. And best of all, steely Stella is falling for Willa's English teacher, Sam -- he's perfect dad material! But before Willa can marry off her mother, or dance with her adorable crush, Joseph, a pit gets stuck in the wishing well....
Can Willa undo the damage before Stella misses her chance to say "I do"? Find out as Coleen Murtagh Paratore unveils humor, hope, and lots of love in one hopelessly romantic modern fairy tale!


text: Login Copyright (c) 2016 by Conditions of Use • Privacy Policy Return to Blogmeister -- Blogmeister by Teacher Assignments Teacher Entries Fantastic 7th Grade 5/16 Work Future 5/11 Need to Know Vocab 5/11 Unknown Words 5/10 History Time 5/3 Activities 4/30 The Battle of Actium 4/17 Life 4/14 Chicken Insides 4/5 MY Own Piece 3/25 Show All Ernest Green 3/25 Albert Einstein 2/29 Cell Science 2/22 Zignut/My cat 2/20 The Hunger Games 2/7 Zignut 2/5 Quote 1/17 2012 1/17 Group Project 1/2 Greece 12/11 My Poet 12/1 Thankful 11/17 Mystery 11/11 11/1 Blogging 11/1 African Giant Snails Invading Miami!! 10/19 Book 10/14 Awesome Weekend 10/4 Fox Run Park Feild Trip 10/2 Banned Book Week 10/2 Math Video 9/26 fUnNiEsT tHiNg 9/12 Rachel's Challenge 9/12 7 Random Facts About Me 8/30 Student Entries Well my project is on the Battle of Actium. I haven't had a great time finding my research but I finally got into some sites where I was able to get some information. It is actually coming along pretty well because my research is fascinating and I think some people will actually want to listen to me. I have learned a lot of new things that I never knew before like it wasn't even about Cleopatra but she was involved and after the battle , Cleopatra died. I believe my project is going great so far. Article posted April 17, 2012 at 07:08 PM • comment • Reads 171 • Return to Blog List Add a Comment The computer you are commenting from has an id number. It is 22.214.171.124! Your Name: E-mail: URL of Your Blog Your Comment: Prove that you're a human! Enter the letters & numbers in the box: When your comment has been submitted, it will be delivered to the teacher, for approval. When it has been approved, the comment will be added to this author's blog.Thank you! Login Copyright (c) 2016 by Conditions of Use • Privacy Policy Return to Blogmeister


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For those interested. Terribly sad.
edit: link doesn't always work. Text of article follows:
A Peachtree City man whose bike crashed into a golf cart Friday afternoon has died, police said.
James V. Earle, 64, had suffered a critical head injury during the crash and was flown to Atlanta Medical Center. He was wearing a bike helmet at the time, but it cracked during the collision, police said.
Earle was leaving the golf cart bridge spanning Ga. Highway 74 in the Aberdeen Village area when his bike collided with a golf cart driven by Karen Yorkshaitis, 65, of Peachtree City, police said. Earle was riding downhill at the time, making it possible that neither Earle nor Yorkshaitis saw each other coming, police indicated.
The police department's Collision Reconstruction Team will conduct a comprehensive reconstruction of the crash, police said.
This is believed to be only the second-ever golf cart path related fatality in the city's history. Last September Debra Oberholt, 36, of Tyrone died after she fell off a golf cart while it was turning.


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Offender Re-Entry and Victim Safety
Over the years, the domestic violence fatalities in Connecticut have revealed that while many victims had contact with the courts or called the police before the fatal incident, most victims who died in situations of intimate partner violence had not reached out to community services for support, counseling or safety planning assistance. To help those victims who may be facing serious risk, CCADV has established a program to reach into communities in Hartford and New Haven to connect with survivors whose offenders are being released from prison or jail. These new efforts include developing partnerships across the criminal justice, corrections, and victim advocacy systems in order to assist survivors and prevent domestic violence.
To help survivors while their abusive partners are incarcerated and when they are being released from jail/prison, CCADV is collaborating with the Department of Correction, CT Board of Pardons and Parole, and the Office of Probation and Parole. The goal of this multi-agency partnership is to:
- Design and implement strategies to assess risk
- Pro-actively address safety needs
- Foster successful community reintegration and family stability
The Re-Entry Project's initial pilot sites are the cities of Hartford and New Haven. Victim advocates from Interval House in Hartford and The Umbrella Center for Domestic Violence Services in New Haven will coordinate efforts across systems in order to protect victims, their families, and the community and prevent domestic violence particularly during the re-entry period. Participation is victim-centered and available to survivors who want contact with offenders after their release as well as those who do not want contact. In some cases contact may be necessary or required because of child visitation or custody.
Specific efforts to be undertaken include:
- Undertake innovative outreach to connect with underserved victims
- Offer resources and referrals to address safety, trauma, and legal needs
- Provide assistance with planning for personal safety and the safety of children
- Focus agencies on the rights, wishes, and safety needs of survivors
- Advocate for the needs and rights of survivors whose abusers are involved in the criminal justice system
- Train all partners on victim confidentiality
- Improve the oversight and monitoring of offenders post-release
- Track the use of a domestic violence risk assessment tool with offenders
- Train prison, parole and probation officials to communicate and address risks facing victims using a trauma-informed approach
For additional information, please contact Nancy Turner, Director of Offender Risk Reduction, at (860) 282-7899 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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show me your wifes tight fanny
show me your wifes tight fanny
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of about
show me your wifes tight fanny
Get Wife Back - How To Win Back Your Wife
By: tayyab |
If your wife has left or dumped you then don't despair, unless you haven't aggravated the situation then there are things you can do to put you on the path back to her door and into her arms.
read more
How to get Your Ex-Wife Back To Your Side
By: kdine |
A home without the presence of a wife is considered incomplete. You may have a child with you now, but without your wife presence, you cannot consider yourself to have your own family. Just like any husbands all over the world, you do not want to have a messy life, especially when you have a kid with you. So, if you and your wife are separated right now, and you still have a feeling towards her, then it is the time for you to fix everything. Also, a kid's growth can be hampered without...
read more
How to Show Your Wife You Appreciate What She Does For You - Tips for Husbands
By: Gillian Reynolds |
Learning how to show your wife you appreciate what she does for you is important to both her happiness and the health of your marriage. Discover things you, as a husband, can do to make the woman you married feel valued and cherished each and every day.
read more
How to Show Your Wife How Much You Love Her! Marriage Advice for Men
By: Gillian Reynolds |
Every husband has the ability to make his wife feel as though she's adored and cherished. Once you understand how to accomplish that, you can have the relationship of your dreams with the woman you married.
read more
Can I Make My Wife Stay with Me? Advice for Husbands Facing Divorce
By: Gillian Reynolds |
"Can I make my wife stay with me?" Make is a very strong word, isn't it? Obviously, you're not actually asking if you can force your wife to stay with you when she's considering a separation or divorce. You're more focused on whether you can persuade her to feel close enough to you again to want to make the marriage work, yes?
read more
Special Mother's Day Gifts For Your Wife
By: Amy Lee |
Celebrating mothers day is more than just giving the kids money to buy a gift for mom and its certainly not about you getting up extra early to pick flowers from the neighbors yard and putting them in...
read more
My Wife Doesn't Appreciate Me! How to Change Your Marriage Starting Now
By: Gillian Reynolds |
When a man has reached a point in his relationship where he finds himself frequently thinking or saying, "my wife doesn't appreciate me," he needs to address it as soon as possible. Ignoring this type of issue will only lead to bitter resentment and sadly the end of the marriage may soon be in sight.
read more
My Wife Says She Doesn't Love Me Anymore! How to Get Her to Adore You Again
By: Gillian Reynolds |
If you're a man who is often saying to himself, "my wife says she doesn't love me anymore," there's hope for you. Even though, right now it feels as though, you are going to lose your wife for good, that's not necessarily true. If you're determined to make your marriage work you have to make saving the relationship your number one priority for the foreseeable future.
read more
Reasons Your Wife Left You! Understand What She Was Thinking and Feeling
By: Gillian Reynolds |
One of the main feelings a man will experience as he faces the reality of his marriage crumbling is confusion. Understanding the possible reasons your wife left will help you comprehend why things have changed and will give you stronger footing if you choose to work towards rebuilding your marriage.
read more
Marriage Problems - What to Do When Your Wife Hates You
By: Gillian Reynolds |
You feel like your wife hates you and it wears on you constantly. If this sounds like the marriage you're currently living in and you want things to improve, you're just the man to make it happen. You can take certain steps in order to make a positive change in your relationship with the woman you adore.
read more
Four Major Factors Why Your Wife Or Sweetheart Cheats On You
By: Belle Smith |
Infidelity is regarded as the common factors why couples is likely to separate. Let us determine the key reasons exactly why your wife or sweetheart could cheat against you.
read more
Pros and Cons of Keeping Your Zombie Wife
By: Anthony Irizarry |
When you finally arrive home after escaping mobs of hungry zombies in your city, you fortify your home and set up camp until the situation calms down. The one thing you didn't expect was to find your wife there, still alive... but a zombie. When she lunges toward you, somehow you manage to pin her down, but you can't bring yourself to taking her life. She's still your wife, after all. It is in thi
read more
Troubled Marriage - How to Fix Things With Your Wife
By: Gillian Reynolds |
If your marriage has seen better days you need to learn how to fix things with your wife. You have to find ways to deal with the conflicts you two are facing, pull her closer emotionally again and build a stronger foundation for the two of you to build your future on together.
read more
Wear A Chic Fanny Pack And Go Out In Comfort
By: James Watt |
There are many accessories used by people and popular among them is the fanny pack. Fanny packs are easy to carry along and they serve to hold many different items needed for daily use or when on the move.
read more
How to Tell If My Ex Wife Wants Me Back - Enlighten Me Please!
By: Emma Audley |
You no longer have to remain in the dark regarding what is going on inside the mind of your estranged wife. Here are 5 tell-tale signs which a woman in love would always show:
read more
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Kelly Clarkson Shares Her Thoughts of Being Called Fat All the Time
Cristiano Ronaldo's hairstyle 2013: A look at CR7's different haircuts
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McCain Slams Steele's Remarks on Afghanistan
Ron Paul, however, says Steele was "absolutely right."
Last week, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said, "[The war in Afghanistan] is a war of Obama's choosing. This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in," even though the war began with widespread approval under President Bush. Now his own party isn't having it.
On The Week this morning, Arizona senator John McCain called Steele's statements "wildly inaccurate," saying "there is no excuse for them," and "Mr. Steele is going to have to assess as to whether he can still lead the Republican Party." Over on Face the Nation, Republican senator Lindsey Graham (who, by the way, ain't gay) called the war in Afghanistan "America's war," and called Steele's comments "uninformed, unnecessary, unwise." Finally, on Fox News Sunday, Republican senator Jim DeMint said Steele "needs to apologize to our military."
Texan Senator Ron Paul, on the other hand, is one Republican who not only didn't distance himself from Steele's remarks, but vehemently stuck up for Steele: "I would like to congratulate Michael Steele for his leadership on one of the most important issues of today," he said in a statement. "He is absolutely right: Afghanistan is now Obama's war."
'Sen. John McCain slams RNC chairman Michael Steele; calls Afghan war remarks 'wildly inaccurate'' [NYDN]
Previously: Michael Steele Taking Foreign-Policy Cues From The Princess Bride


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Memo to Tidal, Beats: Pandora, Spotify Are Here to Stay
So, Jay-Z, how's that relaunch of your streaming music service going now? Apple, how much are you revising your plans for Beats?
So, Jay-Z, how's that relaunch of your streaming music service going now? Apple, how much are you revising your plans for Beats?
Tidal may have celebrities, buzz and even exclusive content, but it's not going to be easy to topple Pandora and Spotify. Plus, music fans are cheap.
Tidal proclaims one key feature is lossless music. Less heralded is that the streaming music service may mean more money for musicians.
YouTube may soon let you buy your way out of ads with a premium subscription called Music Key that'll battle against Spotify and Pandora.
Subscriber growth has been slowing. the competition is getting smarter, and the stock is way down. So where is the leading music streaming service headed?
Pandora's showing signs of slowing at the worst possible time, with a new Uber-Spotify deal and Apple's bundling Beats into its iOS.
Streaming music is a growing market, but there may be an artistic challenge to the model. Witness the case of Taylor Swift vs. Spotify.
Revenue and usage at Pandora soar, but three key metrics fall, and the streaming radio leader will no longer release those figures monthly.
With Songza, Google gets proven technology for streaming music and four years of data on listener behavior that it can mine.
Mobile carrier T-Mobile announces it will be launching a streaming music service free of ads that will be free to its top tier customers.
Amazon launched a new streaming music service Thursday as part of its $99 Prime subscription service that includes free video streaming and free delivery.
Amazon is reportedly ready to introduce an ad-free music service that will be free for Prime members. So is Beats still worth $3 billion?
The discovery model for iTunes Radio isn't working well, so Apple is betting big -- $3 billion big -- on Beats and premium streaming music.
Apple's reported $3.2 billion deal for Beats Electronics makes a lot of sense. Beats is worth a lot more to Apple than to nearly anybody else.
Label executives claim that iTunes download sales have fallen 15 percent over the past year, and the launch of iTunes Radio hasn't helped much.
Wednesday's debut of Fire TV from Amazon came with plenty of positive surprises, but there was a big negative development when it came to the high price.
Pandora One will go up to $4.99 a month, but some music fans enjoy cheaper alternatives via Spotify and Apple.
Cutting down the catalog and upping the human element will satisfy the vast majority of fans with a pretty small, but very excellent, body of musical work.
The smart car of the future will have apps galore, constant connectivity, and may even drive itself. No wonder all the tech giants want their software behind the dashboard.
The business of free music streaming apps got a bit more crowded last week when Spotify beefed up its ad-supported offerings.
From a gaming device that got delayed to a software update that adds credibility to a high-tech field, here's a rundown of the week's smartest moves and biggest blunders.
From the surprising ouster of the iconic founder of Men's Wearhouse to Sirius XM teaming up with Ford, here are the week's smartest and worst moves from the business world.
There's an odd inequality in online music royalties: Radio station operators that run streaming websites pay less per online song than Pandora. Enter, station KXMZ-FM.
Nearly half of U.S. states charge sales tax on digital goods: If you live in one of them, you may be paying more for everything from downloaded music to streaming video.
Among the things sure to move the market this week, a fast-growing mattress retailer will uncovering its financials and we'll get a raft of fiscal details from retailers.
T-Mobile is offering a trade-in deal for people who are looking to upgrade from their iPhone 4 or 4S, and Apple is said to be preparing a Pandora-style streaming service.
Pandora Media said on Thursday it plans to replace CEO Joseph Kennedy, and that it has started a search to fill the position. The announcement came as the online streaming music service also forecast better-than-expected revenue for the first quarter of its new fiscal year.
Pandora's popularity is unquestionable. The leading online music service provider served up 67 percent more hours of music to listeners in 2012's third quarter than it did the year before. But its profit outlook is ugly, and the level of competition it will soon face for our ears is even worse.
Internet radio pioneer Pandora Media continues to make big strides in popularizing streaming audio. Revenue in its latest quarter skyrocketed 51%, in large part due to its success at making money in mobile.
Shares of music streaming leader Pandora Media soared 12% on Thursday after it released its quarterly results. Yes, it posted a loss. And, yes it also posted a slight dip from last quarter. However, it's all about expectations, and Pandora beat those handily.


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Race the Sun Review: A New World Each Day
Seemingly much to developer Flippfly's chagrin, you might best categorize its third-person "racing" title, Race the Sun, as an "endless runner."
That title hasn't done much to help the game, though, despite being technically true. According to a blog post from Flippfly last month, the endless runner designation — a genre seen most often on mobile devices — was part of what kept Race the Sun out of this year's IndieCade. And it might also result in players missing out on the title altogether, since the endless runner genre is so crowded in the mobile space.
That'd be a shame, though, because if you're prone to writing off games of the endless runner type, you'll miss out on something simple, elegant and addictive in Race the Sun. Its speedy gameplay, minimalist design and community engagement make Race the Sun a title that's great for killing two minutes or two hours, but expansive enough to encourage players not only to attempt to unlock its secrets and climb its leaderboards, but contribute to a growing catalog of player-made content as well.
Race the Sun
Platform: PC
Developer: Flippfly
Publisher: Flippfly
Release Date: Aug. 19, 2013
Available: Official Website
Flippfly calls Race the Sun an infinite "procedural racer," which refers to the way the game's stages are built. Firing up Race the Sun gives you control of a hovering vehicle from a third-person perspective, which is powered by sunlight. The whole affair gives off a strong Star Fox vibe, if you take out the shooting and the giant flying ape-head. Forward motion is your only goal, and the setting sun marks your death: should you run out of juice, it's game over.
Of course, it's unlikely the sun will set before you careen into a structure set on the landscape of the various "regions" you'll cross in Race the Sun. Each area is littered with different geometrical shapes, like pyramids, spheres and obelisk-like rectangles, and they are presented in such a way as to represent a rough delineation of areas, like "kinda forest" and "kinda city." Where you are isn't important, though, as your speed means you need to act quickly to direct your craft clear of objects as you go, and the further you get, the more moving objects you'll start to see in your path. It doesn't take much to destroy you.
Race the Sun's best feature is the sense of speed it creates, especially as you're whipping past collapsing structures or floating debris. It's fast and it'll test your reflexes, but it's a quick enough play that it easily engenders that "just one more game" feeling that can turn a quick 10-minute play session into a lengthy one. The "procedural" part also helps keep things fresh: Race the Sun's game world is randomly generated each day, but subsists for 24 hours. You can play tons of races in a day and really get the lay of the land to increase your score, but you'll be faced with a new challenge once the 24 hours have elapsed.
A big part of the game's staying power is that the game is full of tiny objectives, requiring players to do things like survive for a certain distance, collect a certain number of points-increasing "tris" or turbo-powered "boosters." The objectives themselves are generally just obscure enough that you won't complete them accidentally, and that usually means having something specific you're attempting during each race, even as you try to beat your own personal records (or climb the game's leaderboards).
Completing those various objectives levels up your craft, and before long, the leveling system adds new facets to the game. You'll start by getting improvements like a magnet that draws collectibles or the ability to store collectible "jump" power-ups that let you leap over obstacles, but even early unlocks include things like a portal that can take you to another gameplay world. The result is a fair amount of challenge to diverse the relatively simple gameplay of avoiding stuff at high speeds
And that's about it. Race the Sun doesn't carry a narrative or purport to be a game that's about anything more than dodging stuff at high speeds for as long as you can manage. But it's fun in its easygoing nature, with the ability to quickly load a new game even as the last is ending, after checking out how you fared and what score you pulled down. The game keeps daily records of rankings, so there's competition to be had, whether against your own capabilities or those of other players.
There do seem to be a lot of other players, though, and these add a great deal to the value of Race the Sun. Players are free to create their own game worlds, and there are quite a few available. Just glancing through the top-rated worlds reveals a wide variety in locales — one, called "Apocalypse," sees missiles falling and huge explosions as objects topple into your path. Another, "Void Original," removes the ground below you and feels a lot like an actual Star Fox mission as players whip through an asteroid field, dodging spinning orbs and what could be construed as space station debris.
It's a good thing Race the Sun only costs $10, though, because for as fun and addictive as it can be, it's also somewhat limited. Yes, the worlds are procedurally generated each day, but that doesn't make them too significantly different from one another. Yes, there are a lot of player worlds, but players can't add challenges to those worlds. Flying fast is fun, but it doesn't engage forever.
Still, Race the Sun does have its hypnotic qualities. Its minimalist presentation help make it kind of gorgeous, and Flippfly has nailed a set of solid, responsive controls that always make you feel as though you're improving as you play. The challenges can definitely be challenging, and the engagement of the player community means that Race the Sun is greater than the sum of its parts. It has been made with love, and is cheap, engaging, and fun — a perfect combination for an indie game.
- Good sense of speed, solid controls and addictive "how far can I get" gameplay
- Procedurally generated worlds mean each day is a fresh race
- Challenges offer a solid curve of difficulty and rewards, adding much to the game as reward for playing it
- Engaged player community is creating lots of additional content, plus leaderboard competition makes for a solid driver to keep playing
- Great price
- Ultimately a bit thin — despite procedural generation, the game is a fairly simple concept at heart
- Different content isn't really that different; players are likely to lose interest before too long, so it's best played in short bursts
Final Score: 80/100
Game Front employs a 100-point scale when reviewing games to be as accurate about the experience as possible. Read the full rundown of what our review scores mean.
Read more of Phil Hornshaw's work here, and follow him and Game Front on Twitter: @philhornshaw and @gamefrontcom.


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Love It Or Leave It Wines is a Florida licensed wine distributor of New York wines. We work directly, and exclusively, with the
vineyards and distribute their wines straight to our vendors. We are independent. We are innovative. We have a diverse
portfolio of vineyards, featuring a wide selection of wines. Wines with character. Wines with class. And all with quality.
They are well-crafted, award-winning wines that speak to the rich history of the region and the legacy of the vineyards
behind them. We respect the vineyards and vendors who rely on us. We provide them with diligence, dependability, and
direct communication. We celebrate the fun, flavor and personality of every wine we sell. They are formidable wines, and
each delivers a message of its own. There is something exciting for everyone. Try us, and discover it for yourself.


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Zomborg Apocalypse
Zomborgs are on the loose and killing people!
The wonderful misadventures of MUNCH.
Goth Lyfe
A show about goths and kids trying to be goth.
Created with Little Fighter game sprites, this series is like a hardcore in-game cinema!
Jan, Woody, and Davis are captured and held imprisoned. Louis and his knights are guarding the prison cells. Will Bat be able to...
The Little Fighters are on their way to face one of the most feared sorcerers, John. They must enter an unfamiliar forest to fin...
The Little Fighters make their way closer to John, who arrives and teleports the little fighters away to unknown locations, exce...
Bat looks for John. Jan and Davis are attacked by a gang of bandits. Woody and Henry train with monks!
Bat catches up with John and must fight his allies first. Can Bat defeat John?
Davis and Jan get lost looking for Freeze and meet Rudolf, Dennis and Jack. Soon they meet Deep, who is an old foe of Rudolf.
Bat encounters Louis EX, as he thought he could defeat him once more, Louis EX suprisingly unleashes an army, will Bat survive?
The Little Fighters are on their way to face one of their greatest adversaries, Freeze.
The Little Fighters are on their way to face one of their greatest adversaries, Firen.
The Little Fighters are finally reunited together in a fight against Firen and Freeze.


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Anthropology Club
A message from your club leadership…
Anthro Club is a forum for anthropologists of all levels to come together and explore new ideas, develop meaningful experiences and participate in the surrounding community. Our goals are to develop a resource for students to facilitate greater awareness about humanity and culture among themselves and throughout their community. We want to initiate a community presence for the UNC Anthropology Department and create important connections between students and faculty. We encourage everyone to help us direct the path of the club throughout the year and to share your ideas and feedback. As always, students, faculty, staff and friends are always welcome to attend and contribute to all Anthro Club events and meetings.
We look forward to seeing you!
Take a look at the Anthropology Club's past events!
Remember to like UNC Anthro Club on Facebook for regular updates and announcements. http://www.facebook.com/pages/UNC-Anthro-Club/159447380801019
To join the Department of Anthropology's listserv and receive club e-newsletters, e-mail the Anthropology Administrative Assistant, Brooks Pardew.


text: Home Culture Infected American Linked to 4 Cases of Ebola in Nigeria It turns out that Patrick Sawyer, the American citizen who died after contracting Ebola, may have infected four people while he was in Nigeria. Plus, it's becoming increasingly difficult to get in and out of West Africa because of the Ebola infections. By: The Root Staff Posted: Aug. 26 2014 7:30 AM 0 Health workers walk in an isolation center for people infected with Ebola at Donka Hospital in Conakry, Guinea, on April 14, 2014. Cellou Binani/Getty Images As the Ebola virus continues to wreak havoc in West Africa, and concern for foreigners who have visited the region spreads, it turns out that Patrick Sawyer, one of the three American citizens who contracted Ebola, may have infected four people while he was in Nigeria. The Washington Post, culling notes from a World Health Organization report, says that Sawyer, a Liberian-born consultant, came into contact with four health care workers while he was being treated for Ebola-like symptoms in a Lagos hospital. "They're all contacts of Patrick Sawyer," Gregory Hartl, a WHO spokesman, maintained. Hartl explains that this news is of particular concern because it "raises the specter of transmitting the disease beyond Lagos." It's a concern that many nations share. Countries across the continent are being extra cautious about incoming and departing flights headed to the countries with the highest rates of Ebola infections: Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leona. According to another Washington Post report, Senegal recently canceled a flight headed toward Monrovia, the Liberian capital, which caused U.S. officials to scramble at the last minute to catch another flight headed to the city. The high-risk countries are finding themselves in a bubble because their natives are finding it hard to leave their countries, and the outside world is finding it increasingly difficult to get in, which is also posing a problem for humanitarian efforts to get health care personnel and medical supplies to the region. Sawyer is the only American known to have died as a result of contracting Ebola. The other two Americans—Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol—were treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Both have since recovered and were released from the hospital last week. Read more here and here at the Washington Post. Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. Get what we're watching delivered to your inbox everyday! Sign up for our daily video newsletter below. Powered by Livefyre 0


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America reminds me of a broken marriage. The spouses fight over everything on principle. There's no such thing as a trivial disagreement. But we need focus.
The Opinion section is produced by the Editorial Department to foster discussion about key issues. The Editorial Board represents the institutional voice of the Star Tribune and operates independently of the newsroom.


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I just wanted to wish you a Happy Valentines Day from Sunday and I. This is our 22nd Valentines Day together and I can say that I have never been so happy. God has really blessed us and I really hope that you are are just as blessed as much as we have been. Unfortunately my wife had to work tonight so I am stuck at home by myself on this evening. She is the greatest wife ever and always doing things for others. I cannot imagine anyone that could match my wife Sunday.
It has been a very long time since I have posted on this blog. Since we moved, we hardly ever get on the desktop computer where I usually do my blogging. We'll have to remedy this neglect in the future.


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Learning Management Systems Evaluation and Transition
Presentation on LMS Recommendation | Announcement | Faculty FAQ | About the Selection
Presentation on LMS Recommendation
For a summary of Chico State's process, surveys, evaluation and reasons for our recommendation, as well as a timeline and list of new features, please see our slide show.
Chico is looking forward to leveraging Learn's improved focus on these four main themes:
- Fostering Student Engagement
- Supporting Educator Efficiency
- Delivering Open and extensible learning
- Connecting student instruction with overall institutional improvement
Announcing the selection of Blackboard Learn 9.1
Chico State's Learning Management System (LMS), Blackboard (formerly WebCT) Vista, will reach the end of its lifecycle in January 2013. A committee comprised of faculty and Academic Technologies staff reviewed potential LMSs during Spring and Fall 2010, narrowing down the choices to Moodle 1.9 and Blackboard Learn 9.1. The committee conducted interviews with other campuses using these LMSs and surveyed faculty and students on our campus. Faculty were also given demonstrations and provided with LMS "sandboxes" so that they could rate the functionality and usability of the systems as well as compare how well course content migrated. A recommendation was presented to the Provost and Council of Academic Deans that Chico State move forward with Blackboard Learn 9.1 which includes Community and Content Systems for increased functionality and ease of use
Key answers for faculty about the new LMS
Why are we changing LMS?
Vista has reached the end of its vendor support cycle and hasn't had new features or functionality developed in recent years. Blackboard Learn 9.1 offers a host of exciting new teaching and learning functions while respecting the work faculty have already done building courses in previous systems.
How is the new LMS different from Blackboard Vista?
In addition to being fully supported and in active development by Blackboard, the new LMS Learn 9.1 has many improvements and new features to improve teaching and learning. View the feature gallery for an overview of some new features and attend one of the upcoming informational meetings for more detail (see above).
When will Chico adopt Blackboard Learn 9.1?
A tentative timeline would have Learn 9.1 available to faculty in Spring 2012. Blackboard Vista will available to all faculty as the main campus LMS at least through the Spring, Summer and Fall 2011 terms, and possibly longer. More details will be announced when the plan is finalized and presented.
Will faculty have to rebuild online course materials from scratch?
No. Similar to the way WebCT 4.0 courses were able to be imported largely intact into Vista, courses from Vista can be imported into Learn 9.1. Specific features, course layout and new capabilities may require some training and redesign, so the Technology and Learning Program will provide migration strategies, workshops, and many other resources to assist faculty with this transition.
About the selection process
If you are interested in the evaluation process, we have an LMS mindmap (PDF) available and a Fall 2010 Evaluation Rubric (PDF) that we were used in our analysis to evaluate the many aspects of an enterprise LMS. You can also read the LMS Crossroads blog which documents this process.
Previous LMS Selection
Chico was an early leader in changing LMS back in Fall 2005 to WebCT's Vista product from the earlier Campus Edition version. We were making the change while Blackboard purchased WebCT. This LMS migration project was an enterprise project recognized on this campus as the fourth module to the ERP change to Peoplesoft which included the SIS, Human Resources, and Finance. The LMS project plan and coordination engaged more people on campus than the previous LMS projects and planning had ever done before on a technical, administrative and academic level. You can see more about the 2005 committee's work in the TLP website.


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Burt Lancaster
Vintage Trailer of the Day: The Professionals (1966)
- By Scott Beggs
- @scottmbeggs
- June 24, 2011
Burt Lancaster. Lee Marvin. Robert Ryan. Woody Strode. Jack Palance. Ralph Bellamy. Claudia Cardinale. An incredible line-up was utilized to the fullest degree possible (117 degrees in the desert heat) in Richard Brooks's The Professionals. It's a stellar men-on-a-mission story where a group with 100 proof women, 90 proof whiskey...
Vintage Trailer of the Day: Elmer Gantry (1960)
- By Scott Beggs
- @scottmbeggs
- April 28, 2011
Elmer Gantry is an all-American boy. He's interested in money, sex, and religion. This barn-burner of a drama was directed by Richard Brooks and stars Burt Lancaster in a role that won him his only Oscar. It's the story of a con man who realizes that shouting loudly about the...
36 Films: The Professionals (1966)
- By Scott Beggs
- @scottmbeggs
- August 13, 2010
For 36 days straight, we'll be exploring the famous 36 Dramatic Situations by examining a film that exemplifies each one. From family killing family to prisoners in need of asylum, we brush off the 19th century list in order to remember that it's still incredibly relevant today. Whether you're seeking...
Old Ass Movies: Kiss the Blood Off My Hands
- By Scott Beggs
- @scottmbeggs
- May 16, 2010
Burt Lancaster plays Bill Saunders - a man who accidentally kills a man in a bar brawl. On the loose, he takes up with Nurse Jane Wharton (Joan Fontaine). When someone recognizes him, the black mail is on, and Saunders has to choose between the woman he's come to love...
Old Ass Oscar: Elmer Gantry
- By Scott Beggs
- @scottmbeggs
- March 7, 2010
Blood, sweat, and snake oil. Burt Lancaster delivers the role of a lifetime while selling us all on Old Time Religion. ...
Try As You May, You Can't Avoid 'The Killers'
- By Loukas Tsouknidas
- April 26, 2009
Ernest Hemingway's famous short story The Killers is a cynical prelude to an unavoidable murder and has inspired two feature films since its first publication. The 1946 old ass version was directed by Robert Siodmak in typical film-noir style and was Burt Lancaster's film debut....


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The Parker Child Chair from Jennifer Delonge boasts a traditional wing-back silhouette with polished black decorative legs. Your little boy or girl will love getting cozy with a good book in this perfectly sized kid's chair. Available in many fun fabrics, this child's chair is a versatile seating option for your kid's playroom or bedroom.
Select any of the gorgeous Jennifer Delonge fabrics as the upholstery for this item


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FIU opens wallet for AD
Anyone complaining about FAU AD Craig Angelos should take heed.
FIU just extended AD Pete Garcia's contract for five years, giving him a base of $345,000 and he could soon be hauling in nearly $500,000 in a couple years.
I am not sure where FIU is getting its money, because their teams don't draw many fans, as FAU fans have seen by making the trip down for hoops and football games.
And, until this year in football, their teams have not been tearing things up. At least the ones that matter -- football and men's hoops.
Yet they pay crazy money to football coach Mario Cristobal ($460,000) and now Garcia.
Garcia (right) hired Isiah Thomas. Jury still out on that one…
I'll have to check on Angelos's current pay, but back in 2009 it was $157,000, and I doubt it has climbed much since then. Let's say it is $200,000. That means FIU is paying Garcia $145,000 more than that.
I say FAU would win the "Who Is Grounded In Reality" contest in regards to AD pay.
The other thing about Garcia is that he is not squeaky clean. As the article notes, in 2009 he got reprimanded for "unprofessional management and poor leadership style, misuse of state resources [and] hostile work environment."
Read that list again. Slowly. That's quite a pile. I guess he has been a very good boy since then.
Of course, that was a different prez. The new prez is the one who got so caught up when FIU went 6-6 to finish at .500 for the first time in the program's history that he said FIU had become a "football powerhouse."
And he's the one who gave Garcia the big raise.
FAU dropped its fifth straight, getting beaten 5-3 at SoBama Friday.
Longest losing streak since April 5-12, 2009, when they lost six straight.
Must-win today at 3 p.m., or the Owls (17-13, 5-5 Belt), who were once 5-1 in the Belt, will lose their second straight conference series.


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Moniteau County Fair Baby Show draws 54 competitors
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
The annual Moniteau County Fair Baby Show drew approximately 54 participants Saturday, Aug. 10, at the main arena of the fairgrounds, California, where milder temperatures made for a pleasant evening for the little competitors.
Judges chose three winners in each age category, with the exception of the Twins Under 2 Years category, in which first and second place winners were selected.
First place winners received a trophy, a blue ribbon and $5; second place, a red ribbon and $3; and third place, a white ribbon and $2.
Mike Staton, California, served as Master of Ceremonies.
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Obama Cabinet member touts health overhaul (VIDEO)
Friday, September 20, 2013
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Obama administration's top health official came to Missouri on Thursday to tout new insurance benefits available under the president's signature Affordable Care Act — and to renew the call for Medicaid expansion in one of the nearly two dozen states to reject the federal government's plan to broaden the insurance program for the poor.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius met with St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley and more than a dozen community leaders at City Hall. The former Kansas governor, who resigned in 2009 to join the president's Cabinet, is scheduled to make a similar appearance in Kansas City on Friday. In recent days, she's visited Florida, New Jersey and other states as the Oct. 1 start of enrollment in private, online health insurance exchanges approaches.
"There's a great opportunity as marketplaces open in Missouri and across the county for affordable health coverage," she said. "We also want to continue the conversation with the governor's help and with the Missouri Legislature about Medicaid expansion. ... There are billions of dollars of federal assistance to expand Medicaid here in Missouri that would be unspent. But county tax dollars would continue to be spent on issues like uncompensated care at hospitals, and unproductive workers in the workforce."
State lawmakers repeatedly rejected such a move in the 2013 legislative session, fearful that the promised federal subsidies for Medicaid would eventually evaporate. The criticism continued on Thursday, with Missouri Republican Party Chairman Ed Martin calling Sebelius' "secret meeting ... the epitome of the problem a majority of Americans have with Obamacare."
"We were told Congress had to pass it to see what was in it; we were told we were going to be able to keep our doctors and we were told the cost of health care would decrease," he added. "We have learned the truth, and those promises have been broken. As it turns out, this is just an added burden to taxpayers."
In Missouri, the insurance exchange will be operated by the federal government. State lawmakers and then voters rejected a state-run system. While general information about coverage plans and tax credits has been released, the specifics on premium costs, deductibles and other details remain unknown.
St. Louis Health Director Pam Walker, a meeting participant, said Sebelius told the group to expect insurance exchange premium costs to be released on Sept. 30 — one day before the marketplace opens. The enrollment period extends through March 31, 2014, with coverage starting as soon as Jan. 1 provided registration takes place by mid-December.
Walker joined the chorus advocating Medicaid expansion in Missouri. A federal program that provides St. Louis with $25 million annually to help cover urgent and primary care — but not hospitalizations or mental health treatment — for 25,000 uninsured city residents is due to expire in December, though she expects the city to receive a one-year extension of the Medicaid waiver.
"It's a Band-Aid to keep the safety net in place until our Legislature does the right thing and the smart thing," she said.
Related article:
Missouri health exchange opens Oct. 1
Related video series:
KTVI-TV, St. Louis, recently aired this Health Care Primer on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), linked below.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
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Welcome to Denali Draft Horses
Home of the American Cream Draft Horse
Marydel, MD
American Cream Draft Horses for sale!
Denali's Shasta
Light Cream Tracking Mare (JEB N/j)
Please contact us by email for more information.
Updated: 17 Nov 2012
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|JEB in the American Cream Draft Horse
Rose Hill's Cream of Wheat Belle at play in the pasture
Feel free to contact us with any questions or comments about the American Cream Draft Horses.
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Stories of climate change & climate action
People observing climate change and supporting climate solutions
We are doing this to highlight the impacts of climate change and the work that people are doing to take action.
Take a look at the map to see the stories of witnesses from around the world.
Or browse through these web pages and read what our Climate Witnesses have to say about our changing planet...
Climate Witness: José Luis Oliveros Zafra, Spain
José Luis Oliveros Zafra, a 46-year old Spanish farmer, lost 100 per cent of his leguminous and ...
Climate Witness: Tulsi Khara, India
Tulsi Khara has lived all her 70 years in the world's largest delta, the Sundarbans, where the ...
Climate Witness: Cassian Garbett, UK
Cassian Garbett, 45, the last permanent resident in one of the five coastguard cottages near ...
Climate Witness: Ngawang Tenzing Jangpo, Nepal
The Abbot of Tengboche Monastery, Ngawang Tenzing Jangpo, is the most revered monk in Khumbu, ...


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The Fitting Room
Welcome to the fitting room. Here we show you how to measure for your new custom fit pants. You will need measuring tape to do this. Follow the on-screen instructions carefully so we can have an accurate account of your sizes.
For more information, email us directly at:


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Planing boards end to end keeps the feed rollers at a consistent height, taking away the chance for snipe. Use scrap pieces to lead the first board and follow the last.Read reviews of steel rules