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12 September 2013
New York State Police - SP Hawthorne DWAI Drugs / UPM Arrest
On August 09, 2013, the New York State Police in Hawthorne arrested the following individual for Driving While Ability Impaired by Drugs and Unlawful Possession of Marihuana:
Alberto Gonzalez, Age 39 of Putnam Valley, New York.
He was due in the Town of New Castle Court on August 15, 2013 at 7:30 PM.
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- MYSTERIES OF THE JESUS PRAYER (my movie on ancient Christian prayers & practices)
- WATCH "DANCING DOCTOR NORRIS" on YouTube!
- A movie about ancient Christian meditation & prayer
- USDA Food Guide Pyramid
- This can save your marriage/relationship
- Columbia University: Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life
- The Checkup, a blog from the Washington Post
Here's a simple recipe that is easy, inexpensive if not cheap, delicious, and very healthy. We have it all the time at our house. It's one of those "one-pot" recipes. Dr. Norris J. Chumley's Roast Chicken and VegetablesServes 3-4 1 […]

subset: commoncrawl


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Helias falls to Webb City 28-14 in Class 4 title game
Friday, November 29, 2013
Editor's Note: This article expands upon previous coverage.
ST. LOUIS —The Helias Crusaders had it, they just couldn't keep it.
"It" was momentum in Friday afternoon's Class 4 state championship game against the Webb City Cardinals at the Edward Jones Dome. Each time it looked like the Crusaders had momentum, the Cardinals came back to quickly snatch it away as they went on to post a 28-14 victory to claim their fourth straight state title and 12th overall.
"This program, we're never happy with just second place," Helias coach Phil Pitts said. "We're not satisfied, we're going to keep pushing, keep climbing the mountain.
"It wasn't a lack of effort, we just didn't get the job done."
The Crusaders got the job done on the game's first drive, going 70 yards in seven plays to take a 7-0 lead. The score came on a 1-yard plunge by Garrett Buschjost, who carried the ball six times for 53 yards on the drive.
Three plays later, Webb City quarterback Devin Pickett fumbled after getting hit by Jon Wildhaber and it was recovered by Hale Hentges at the Helias 47-yard line.
Momentum was surely on the side of the Crusaders, who picked up 12 yards and a first down to move into Cardinal territory.
But things quickly went south.
• One, on the third play of the drive, Helias senior guard Will Fife went down with a knee injury and spent the rest of the game on the bench and left the field on crutches.
"Losing a first-team all-state lineman with that kind of experience, that kind of strength and that kind of ability obviously didn't help, but we believe in the guys we put out there," Pitts said. "It would have been nice to have him for four quarters, but we didn't."
• Two, the Cardinals switched from a 4-2 defensive front they employed on the first drive to a 3-3.
"You always have to be prepared and we tell our kids to be ready to run whatever we've got at our disposal," Webb City coach John Roderique said. "We couldn't stay in what we were doing, so we had to make a change."
The change in fronts slowed what had been a potent Helias run game.
"We had practiced against it, but it can cause problems for the inside run game," Pitts said. "We were ready for it, but we didn't react quickly enough to it."
• Three, Helias made some uncharacteristic mistakes. On the play where Fife was injured, Helias was flagged for intentional grounding, pushing the Crusaders back into their own territory. A loss of 6 yards on second down made it third-and-28, then the Crusaders were again penalized for intentional grounding.
It was fourth-and-49 and Helias had to punt.
"It wasn't a pretty series of downs," Pitts said. "As the head coach and the offensive coordinator, I should have done a better job."
The Cardinals took over at the Crusader 43. Seven plays later, Trey Parra scored on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line. The PAT kick failed and it was 7-6 in favor of Helias.
The next two Helias drives netted a total of four yards, but a 49-yard punt by J.C. Szumigala pinned Webb City back at its own 7 early in the second quarter.
Parra lost four yards on first down, but Webb City then went 97 yards on 10 straight running plays to take the lead. A 31-yard run by Parra on a fake punt keyed the drive, capped by a 16-yard reverse by Kiante Hardin for the score.
"You have to have everything ready," said Roderique, noting the Cardinals had not run a fake punt all season.
Pickett hit Parra with a 2-point conversion pass and it was 14-7.
"That's the triple-option offense," Helias senior linebacker Michael Tannehill said. "They're going to be content getting 3 or 4 yards until you make a mistake."
A punt and an interception ended Helias' final two drives of the half as Webb City took that seven-point lead into halftime.
"They took the line of scrimmage away from us," Pitts said.
Having the lead at intermission was big for the Cardinals.
"That was big for the momentum and being excited," Roderique said, "Just having a little bit of momentum was an edge."
While keeping the Cardinals out of the end zone, the Crusaders netted just 10 yards on their first two series of the second half. But they put things together on the third drive that started late in the third quarter.
A 17-yard pass from Wyatt Porter to Ryan Tannehill got the Crusaders to midfield and then Buschjost went to work. The senior carried the ball nine straight plays, the final from 1 yard out for his second touchdown.
"I knew I could handle it, the opportunity arose and I accepted it," Buschjost said. "We were able to get a better push up front and after that score, I thought we were set."
Szumigala's second PAT of the game knotted the game at 14 with nine minutes left.
"We knew we were facing a great opponent in Helias," Roderique said. "If you look at their body of work, they've beaten a lot of good teams and we knew we would have to battle every second of the game."
Momentum wasn't on Helias' side for long. Hardin caught the ensuing kickoff at the Cardinal 15 and returned it 66 yards to the Crusader 19.
"They had the momentum and then we get that, it helps us get the lead back," Roderique said.
Four plays later, Parry scored from 5 yards out and the PAT made it 21-14.
The Crusaders, aided by a facemask penalty, drove to the Cardinal 47 on the next series. But on fourth-and-1, Buschjost came up just short and the Cardinals got the ball back with 4:30 remaining in the game.
"It was a big change in in momentum," Cardinals linebacker Hunter Rhea said. "Fortunately we had some linemen and linebackers there giving their all to get that stop to hand it over to the offense."
The Cardinals iced the game three plays later when Parra went 45 yards for the score.
"If we were able to get one more stop, we would have had that momentum," Pitts said. "Our defense had been playing so well, but they put one in and we weren't able to answer."
Parra finished with 150 yards rushing to lead a 328-yard Webb City ground attack. The Cardinals did not complete a pass in the game.
Buschjost had 131 yards on 32 carries in his final game for the Crusaders.
"We got to where we wanted to be, we just came up a little short," he said.
Porter was 10-of-25 passing for 142 yards and two interceptions. He was sacked three times. Ryan Tannehill had a team-high six catches for 105 yards for the Crusaders, who end the season at 12-3.
It is the fourth straight year Webb City has ended Helias' season. The Cardinals are 6-0 all-time against the Crusaders, all in the postseason.
"They've got our number," Pitts said. "I'm tired of losing to them, that's for sure."
Notes: Webb City's 12 state titles are the most in Missouri history. Valle Catholic can tie that record today with a win against Marceline in the Class 1 title game. Webb City has won four straight state crowns. … The seriousness of Fife's injury is unknown, Pitts said. Fife will have an MRI to get an idea of the extent of the injury. … The 28 points were the most allowed by Helias this season. The previous high came in a 27-17 loss Sept. 20 to Hickman that was the Crusaders' last defeat until Friday. … Michael Tannehill had a game-high 11 tackles.
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- Inhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building - http://inhabitat.com -
Federal Government Claims BP Chose Money Over Safety in First Day of BP Oil Spill Trial
Posted By Lori Zimmer On February 25, 2013 @ 5:39 pm In Environment,environmental destruction,News,Policy,Water Issues | No Comments
This morning the Federal Government kicked off the first day of the BP oil spill [2] trial by stating that the disaster, which caused millions of gallons of oil to spill into the Gulf of Mexico [3] in 2010, was caused by the company putting profits before safety. Justice Department attorney Mike Underhill went on to accuse BP of cultivating a "culture of corporate recklessness." The trial will further investigate the rig that caused the catastrophic spill to decide how many billions of dollars BP will have to pony up for the incident.
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon [5] rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and causing a spill that amounted to millions of gallons of oil [6] over 87 days. So far the disaster has spurred 130 private lawsuits, and the federal trial will determine how much more BP will be required to pay. The trial will also investigate claims that the company "cut costs to rush the job," effectively sacrificing environmental and worker safety [7] to make a buck.
BP, rig owner Transocean [3] and contractor Halliburton are all on trial for cost and safety cutting. This morning's presentation by Underhill specifically called out BP rig supervisor Donald Vidrine and BP engineer Mark Hafle, who had anticipated trouble after a safety test failed an hour before the explosion, but chose to not to take steps to prevent the disaster.
BP has already doled out $24 billion for spill-related issues, and it is anticipated to owe much more after the trial is complete. A judge, not a jury, will make the final decision should a settlement not be reached.
Via NY Daily News [8]
Article printed from Inhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building: http://inhabitat.com
URL to article: http://inhabitat.com/federal-government-claims-bp-chose-money-over-safety-in-first-day-of-bp-oil-spill-trial/
URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://inhabitat.com/federal-government-claims-bp-chose-money-over-safety-in-first-day-of-bp-oil-spill-trial/bp-spill-2/
[2] BP oil spill: http://inhabitat.com/bp-to-pay-4-billion-plead-guilty-to-manslaughter-as-deepwater-horizon-settlement-is-finalized/
[3] millions of gallons of oil to spill into the Gulf of Mexico: http://inhabitat.com/transocean-pleads-guilty-to-gulf-oil-spill-and-agrees-to-pay-1-4-billion-in-fines/
[4] Image: http://inhabitat.com/federal-government-claims-bp-chose-money-over-safety-in-first-day-of-bp-oil-spill-trial/bp-spill1/
[5] Deepwater Horizon: http://inhabitat.com/tag/deepwater-horizon/
[6] millions of gallons of oil: http://inhabitat.com/government-files-first-criminal-charges-linked-to-bp-oil-spill/
[7] sacrificing environmental and worker safety: http://inhabitat.com/bp-accused-of-another-blowout-coverup-2-years-before-deepwater-horizon-spill/
[8] NY Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/bp-oil-spill-trial-begins-article-1.1272679?localLinksEnabled=false
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April 29, 2016
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The FBI says a $100,000 reward helped lead to the capture of a fugitive on its Ten Most Wanted list.
Jose "Joe" Luis Saenz was arrested in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Thursday and is now jailed in California.
FBI officials in Los Angeles said Monday that Saenz was believed to be working as an enforcer for a drug cartel and was living in an apartment over a beauty shop.
The FBI says Saenz tried to hide by using two dozen aliases, gaining weight, removing tattoos and trying to alter his fingerprints.
He's charged with killing two men in Los Angeles 14 years ago; kidnapping, raping and killing the mother of his daughter for threatening to turn him in, and killing a Whittier man in 2008 over a drug debt.
Click Here to access the online Public Inspection File
Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Aiptek Pico Projector Manual
Preview of first few manual pages (at low quality). Check before download. Click to enlarge.
Aiptek Pico Projector, size: 2.3 MB
Brand: AIPTEK
Part Number: T20
Here you can find all about Aiptek Pico Projector, for example review and pocketcinema t25, pocketcinema t20. You can also write a review. [ Report abuse or wrong photo | Share your Aiptek Pico Projector photo ]
Video review
Aiptek V10 PocketCinema Ultra Mini Projector at IFA 2008
User reviews and opinions
No opinions have been provided. Be the first and add a new opinion/review.
T25s Users Manual
Welcome to Aiptek
Thank you for purchasing this PocketCinema T25 from Aiptek. PocketCinema T25 is the latest generation of Pico Projectors you can easily connect by USB to your computer. With its compact design and light weight it fits perfect in every bag. Thanks to the latest development T25 offers a bright, colorful and clear picture and is best for business presentations, slideshows or just watching movies. Before you start using the product, we recommend reading this manual step by step to obtain the best results with your new Pico Projector. We wish you a lot of fun. Best regards Your Aiptek Team
Page 1
Safety Notice:
1. Do not let the projector fall down, and do not damage or deattach the product; otherwise your warranty will be void. 2. Avoid any contact of the device with water and dry your hands before using the device. 3. Do not expose the projector to high temperatures and direct sunlight. 4. Handle the product with care. Avoid contact with sharp objects. Keep device off from metallic objects. 5. For your own safety, do not use the projector during thunderstorms or lightning. 6. Only use accessories recommended from the manufacturer. 7. Keep the projector out of reach from children. 8. Avoid facing directly into the projectors lens.
FCC Compliance Statement:
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subjected to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. This equipment has been tested and found to comply with limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in residential installations. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy, and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause interference to radio or television equipment reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures: - Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna. - Move the equipment away from the receiver. - Plug the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected. - Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/television technician for additional suggestions. You are cautioned that any change or modifications to the equipment not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void your authority to operate such equipment.
Page 2
If this product is going to be end of life, please recycle it properly. It cannot be treated as municipal waste. It must be disposed of separately via the appropriate return and collection systems available.
Please follow all warnings, precautions and maintenance as recommended in this users guide. Eye Safety Warnings! Avoid Hearing Damage: Listening at high volume for a long period of time could cause damage to your ears.
Avoid staring/facing directly into the projector beam at all time.
Usage Notice: Do: Turn off and unplug the power before cleaning the product. Use a soft dry cloth with mild detergent to clean the display housing. Unplug the power if the product is not used for a long period of time. Ensure that the ambient room temperature is within 0 - 35C. Relative Humidity is 20-80%, 80% (Max.), non-condensing. Its normal that the projector will feel warm with continuous use due to its high performance.
Do not:
Block the ventilation opening. Use abrasive cleaners, waxes or solvents to clean the unit. Use under the following conditions: In extremely hot, cold or humid environments. In areas susceptible to excessive dust and dirt. Near any appliance generating a strong magnetic field. In direct sunlight.
Page 3
Care and Safety Information for Projectors:
Table of Contents
Package Contents... Page 5
Product Overview... Page 5 Power the projector.... Page 6 System Requirements... Page 6 Install the Driver.... Page 6 Start the Projection... Page 7 Projection Size and Distance.. Page 8 Specifications... Page 9 Troubleshooting... Page 10 Warranty.... Page 10
Page 4
Package Contents
Please check that the package contains the following items:
USB projector
USB cable
Users guide
Product Overview
PocketCinema T25 provides several connections and for operation:
1 Lens 2 Blue Power LED, lid when T25 has
5 Focus Ring: To adjust projection
focus by rolling the ring.
6 Stand: To project picture to a higher
level without using tripod
3 DC-In: To connect with power
7 Tripod Socket: To use the tripod to
bring projection to a higher level
4 USB Jack: To connect with USB
cable to PC/Notebook
Page 5
AC Power Adapter
Power the projector
PocketCinema T25 can get the power in two different ways 1. Power adapter: If power adapter is connected the brightness can reach 25 peak lumens. In power mode its not necessary to connect the second (blue) USB cable with your PC/Notebook. 2. USB Mode: In USB mode, both USB cables (black for data and blue for power) need to be connected with T25. The brightness can reach 18 peak lumens in USB mode.
System Requirements
Your system should have at least the following specifications to make PocketCinema T25 working smoothly on your system: Operating System: Windows XP SP2 or higher, Windows Vista, Windows 7 CPU: Dual Core CPU or higher RAM: 2GB DDR RAM or higher Interface: 2x free USB 2.0 Ports (1x free USB port if AC adapter is used) Hard Disk: 50MB free space
Install the Driver
Before using the projector to projection, you need to install the Pico Projector driver on your Notebook/PC. 1. Use USB cable to connect the device to your Notebook/PC. The T25 is detected as mass storage device and a pop-up window appear. Click the icon to open the folder and than Pico Projector.exe to start the driver installation. 2. The Setup Wizard will appear to select the language you prefer. Simply follow the on-screen instructions to continue the installation. 3. During the driver installation, Hardware Installation dialog may pops up. Please click Continue Anyway on the Hardware Installation dialog window.
For Windows XP
For Windows Vista /7
Page 6
4. When the driver installation is completed, Computer Restart dialog will pops up. Please choose Yes to reboot your computer, and then click Finish to close the program.
5. After rebooting, Pico Projector is installed in your Notebook/PC successfully.
The Control Panels shows three functions: 1. Full Screen: The projected image has same resolution like your PC. The picture is displayed 1:1 and shrinked to the native resolution of the Pico Projector automatically. Use this mode on powerful PCs if you need the full resolution. 2. Compatible Mode:In compatible mode the resolution of your PC is reduced to 800x600 pixel and projects with T25. The advantage is a maybe better picture quality and better preformance of your system. 3. Exit: This mode will turn off the projector and close the driver. Please remember that every time you want to use the projector please follow the steps like below: 1. Use USB cable to connect the projector with your Notebook/PC. Use second USB or adapter for needed power. 2. Open the Pico Projector application by clicking the icon on desktop. 3. Choose the best mode for your projection. Using a Netbook with Atom CPU or other single core processor may influence the performance of your system. Some ideas might help to make the projection more smoothly. 1. To adjust the resolution of video under 640x480.
Page 7
After installation, you will find Pico Projector icon on your desktop. Click on the icon to start the projection. After a few seconds the Control Panel of the projector will appear on the screen and the projections starts automatically. Then the control icon of Pico Projector will appear in the function bar next to the clock.
Start the Projection
2. Select Compatible Mode to project. 3. Use the following license free media player for video playback from http://kmplayer.en.softonic.com In order to save power, unplug the USB cable from Notebook/PC when you finished your presentation.
Projection Size and Distance
Projection Distance (A) cm 20.0 100.0 131.2 172.4 213.5 246.5 300.0 inch 7.9 39.4 51.7 67.9 84.1 97.0 118.1 Screen Size-Width (B) cm 9.5 46.5 61.0 80.0 99.1 114.3 139.1 inch 3.8 18.3 24.0 31.5 39.0 45.0 54.8 Screen SizeHeight (C) cm 7.6 37.2 48.8 64.0 79.2 91.4 111.3 inch 3.0 14.6 19.2 25.2 31.2 36.0 43.8 Screen Diagonal (D) cm 12.7 62.0 81.3 106.7 132.1 152.4 185.4 inch 5.0 24.4 32.0 42.0 52.0 60.0 73.0
Page 8
Optical Technology Light Source LED Lifetime Contrast Brightness Aspect Ratio Native Resolution Projection Image Size Projection Distance Zoom & Focus Display mode Projection Source Power Supply Driver installation Dimension Weight Model Code Humidity LCoS > 20,000h 400:1 AC Power: Up to 25 Lumens 4:~ 73 (12.7cm ~ 185.4cm) (Diagonal) 20cm ~ 300cm Mirror mode (Full Screen, Compatible Mode) Notebook or Netbook PC via USB 2.0 Manual Diameter: 100mm x Height: 33mm 170g RTS (T25) 20-80%, 80% (Max.), non-condensing From Notebook/PC USB port(s) or 5V/2A AC adapter Manual 800 x 600 (SVGA) USB Power: Up to 18 Lumens RGB LED
Operating Temperature 0-35C
Page 9
If your projector does not seem to be functioning properly, check the items below before you contact an authorized service center.
Symptom The projector cannot be turned on
Check Point Check to make sure that all connectors are plugged in correctly. Make sure the USB port is USB 2.0. Try a different USB 2.0 port or another computer. Check the power led indicator is ON. Try connecting to USB port of the Notebook directly instead of through the hub. Unplug all other USB devices from the system. Make sure to restart your computer after thedriver installation. Unplug the device and re-insert it. Use the projector in a darker environment. Increase the brightness by using the AC power adapter. Decrease the size of projected image. Adjust the focus. Please refer to Adjusting the Projected Image. Check if the lens is dirty. If you have problems during the boot up process, start your computer in Safe Mode and un-install the driver. Because of the high-luminance LED equipped, it is normal for this projector to generate heat in long-time use. This will not affect the performance of projector. The projector case will help to dissipate heat so that its surface temperature will ascend. Always keep the ventilation slots free of dirt or obstructions and operate the projector in a properly ventilated environment.
The projected image is too dark The projected image is dim Can not click Pico Projector application The surface temperature of projector ascended
Please note the supplied warranty card to learn more about warranty conditions, the Aiptek Service, and contact information for your country.
Page 10
Flashmate DG 2844 GZ-MG275E Ua55C6900 LW22A13W 32LG10R VC-D9420 FX-85GT Plus Clarity C420 Tascam 302 DSR-PD175P DM100 Desktop F20 32PFL3312 DRA-700AE Samsung E210 Portrait I5871 EX-Z850 CGA7740N Windows 4 1 LE26S8 DCR-DVD109E Aspire T180 Thinkcentre 9637 A3eavh Audio LSI9 DCR-PC350E YZF-R6-2002 DVP5286K 98 EZ-150 LG DH40 55HDS69 MU100R STR-K740P Avic-Z110BT E-500 Samsung SL35 Temporis 42 TX816 Software DM PRO GR-DX300E HT-C730 LP-S7000 Mypal A632 ROC 2404 FAX-phone B160 WF-T1052TP P168C VPL-CX11 Breil VD57 HF-6W C-500 32PFL7603D DES-1026G System Beko RA80 Flash RXV 450 Satellite A70 RAS24CH2 SRF-H11 GR-S352GCA DC E41 TRC-8800 Vivicam 3750 HT-SR600 YST-SW015 Passenger VC-405N Pocketcinema T25 SRF-M78 Cateye ATC Pyramid CR82 CA-R-pi 162 CU-E12jke3 DST-TX1 40056 AG-DVX100BP SP-550 UZ Monitor Pocketcinema T20 M-730V 11-125 CI FTQ386LWX M5000 XPS 700 Euro 8 DVP-NS76H M2510 DP271 CD630 ZWH6125 WV-CP470 BH-209 Node 1 Motion Stylus 1000 UX-45 AP-31
manuel d'instructions, Guide de l'utilisateur | Manual de instrucciones, Instrucciones de uso | Bedienungsanleitung, Bedienungsanleitung | Manual de Instruções, guia do usuário | инструкция | návod na použitie, Užívateľská príručka, návod k použití | bruksanvisningen | instrukcja, podręcznik użytkownika | kullanım kılavuzu, Kullanım | kézikönyv, használati útmutató | manuale di istruzioni, istruzioni d'uso | handleiding, gebruikershandleiding
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Pelosi expands Van Hollen's leadership role
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the Montgomery County Democrat who chaired the party's 2008 house election operation to a 20-seat gain, is being rewarded with an expanded role in the House leadership.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has championed Van Hollen's rise in the House, named him an assistant to the speaker focusing on policy issues and incumbent retention.
"Chris Van Hollen is a first-rate thinker and political strategist who knows the policy, politics, and people that are essential to House Leadership successfully developing and executing our agenda for change with the Caucus and the incoming Obama Administration," Pelosi said.
The announcement comes after Van Hollen, elected to a fourth term last month, accepted the thankless task of a second term chairing the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. After winning more than 50 seats in 2006 and 2008, House Democrats will have their hands full in 2010 simply holding onto the seats they've gained.
After the election, Van Hollen said he wasn't seeking another term with the DCCC, and floated the idea of succeeding departing Rep. Rahm Emanuel as chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. It was Pelosi, looking to avoid a battle for the position between Van Hollen and current caucus Vice Chairman John B. Larson of Connecticut, who persuaded Van Hollen to run the political operation for another cycle.
"Chris Van Hollen was the maestro of this year's historic election," Pelosi said. "He is uniquely positioned to lead House Democrats' official incumbent retention efforts and help our new Members succeed. As DCCC Chairman next cycle, Chris will provide the continuous leadership needed for the more than 30 new Members of the Democratic Caucus and the challenging mid-term election ahead of us."


text:
"Euro-zone finance ministers yesterday agreed to give Greece an extra two years to reach its deficit targets, but left open the question of how the resulting financing gap would be funded," Nick Bennenbroek, head of currency strategy at Wells Fargo Bank, says.
US stocks wavered while European markets are mixed too, with gains in the US housing sector helping to offset the negative mood.
Euro oscillates but remains weak
So this is how it goes, the focus has turned back to Greece and the euro dances at the rhythm of headlines. Having set a 2-month low of 1.2661 and with the subsequent bounce contained by the 1.2725 area, the EUR/USD has been confined to a sideways consolidation phase.
On a wider view, the pair holds a negative bias, with a break below recent lows targeting 1.2635 (100-day SMA) and then the 1.2605 level, which represents the 50% retracement of the broader 1.2040/1.3171 rally. On the upside, only regain of the 1.2800/15 area (psychological level/200-day SMA) could ease the bearish pressure.
According to the Wells Fargo team, further EUR/USD losses seem likely. "Between Eurozone debt jitters and the U.S. fiscal cliffs market worries are likely to persist, meaning we maintain a bias for strength in the greenback and the yen, and weakness in most other foreign currencies", they say.
Meanwhile, TD Securities argues that "political and data developments overnight continue to add to the evidence of fundamental weakness for the EUR, and technically the single currency is starting to look weaker as well—still more obviously in the short term at least", they explain. "EUR/USD poked below 1.2700, making new cycle low of 1.2661. We have seen a pop back above 1.27 in recent hours, but selling rallies still looks to be the better option in the near term".


text:
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- Article
WWII vet receives Bronze Star for service
March 1, 2010
By Alex McVeigh Pentagram Staff Writer
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- As a young man of 25, John Wilpers was a member of the 308th Counter Intelligence Corps when he helped capture Japanese Gen. Hideki Tojo, who served as prime minster from 1941 to 1945 and was wanted for war crimes.
As a slightly less younger man of 90, Wilpers was awarded the Bronze Star at the Human Resources Command building here, Feb. 23. Wilpers, who for many years never told the story of capturing the infamous general, received his long overdue award due to the help of researchers at HRC, as well as staff members from the office of Naryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen.
Within 24 hours of the assignment to capture Tojo, Wilpers and his team were able to find him Sept. 11, 1945, at his home in Segagaya, a ward of Tokyo.
"We just followed the newspaper people, and we were able to find him," Wilpers said. "When he made his appearance, we moved in."
They heard a shot as they were attempting to find him, and when they burst in, Tojo was attempting to commit suicide, having shot himself in the stomach four times already. Wilpers, who was a lieutenant at that point, was able to seize the weapon from Tojo, and clear the room of any additional weapons.
Wilpers' actions ensured that Tojo would not become a martyr for the Japanese cause, and instead was tried and found guilty on seven counts of war crimes and executed Dec. 23 ,1948.
Wilpers remained in the Army until 1979, retiring as a colonel in the Army Reserve.
He was presented his Bronze Star by Brig. Gen. Richard P. Mustion, HRC adjutant general, who called it a "significant day, because we're here to recognize this great American patriot."
"Colonel Wilpers displayed incredible leadership, drive and ingenuity in not only finding General Tojo, but bringing him back alive, so he could be tried as a war criminal," Mustion said.
Wilpers was very humble when accepting his award, thanking the more than 80 Soldiers and civilians who came to watch the ceremony.
"It was all necessary, and that was the way it was supposed to be done. We had to save Tojo's life after he tried to take it, and we succeeded," Wilpers said.
He recalled that even after Tojo was executed, the U.S. didn't want any particular spot in Japan to become a shrine to him, so they scattered his ashes across the whole country.
After the orders for the Bronze Star were read, the audience lined up to congratulate Wilpers and his four children who were present. Many Soldiers took the time to have their picture taken with Wilpers.
"It's still hard to believe I had anything to do with it," Wilpers said. "I was very fortunate to avoid any permanent disaster over there, and hopefully I've got a few more good years left."


text:
Fred Edward Weary Jr.
Position: G
Height: 6-4 Weight: 308 lbs.
Born: September 30, 1977 in Montgomery, AL
High School: Robert E. Lee
College: Tennessee (school history)
Drafted by the Houston Texans in the 3rd round (66th overall) of the 2002 NFL Draft.
Weighted Career AV (100-95-...): 19 (5014th overall since 1950)
Output includes all games from 1920 to 2015.


text:
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RINK SHUTOUTS SCORED; New Hampshire and Hamilton Gain in Cornell Tourney
ITHACA, N. Y., Jan. 2 (AP) -- The second round of Cornell's invitation hockey tournament produced two shutouts tonight.
January 03, 1959
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- Exploring the San Telmo Sunday Market in Buenos Aires
I'll be completely honest -- I love clothes. I adore coordinating outfits, accessories, shoes, make-up -- if it's pretty, I'm in. It's taken …
- Christmas Market in Dortmund on Europe Cruise
If you enjoy stocking up on great gifts for mom and dad during the holiday season, then a Europe river cruise option is available that allows you to …


text:
3 Stocks Dragging The Consumer Goods Sector Downward
Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI) trading up 38 points (0.2%) at 16,236 as of Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014, 11:55 AM ET. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 1,761 issues advancing vs. 1,149 declining with 174 unchanged. The Consumer Goods sector currently sits up 0.3% versus the S&P 500, which is up 0.2%. A company within the sector that fell today was Green Mountain Coffee Roasters ( GMCR), up 1.6%. TheStreet would like to highlight 3 stocks pushing the sector lower today: 3. LKQ Corporation ( LKQ) is one of the companies pushing the Consumer Goods sector lower today. As of noon trading, LKQ Corporation is down $2.01 (-6.9%) to $27.06 on heavy volume. Thus far, 4.3 million shares of LKQ Corporation exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 2.8 million shares. The stock has ranged in price between $26.25-$28.61 after having opened the day at $27.30 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $29.07. LKQ Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides replacement parts, components, and systems needed to repair vehicles, primarily cars and trucks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, and Central America. LKQ Corporation has a market cap of $8.7 billion and is part of the automotive industry. Shares are down 11.6% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Wednesday. Currently there are 7 analysts that rate LKQ Corporation a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 2 rate it a hold. TheStreet Ratings rates LKQ Corporation as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, growth in earnings per share, compelling growth in net income, good cash flow from operations and solid stock price performance. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity. Get the full LKQ Corporation Ratings Report now. STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12 months. Learn more.Editor's Note: Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of TheStreet, Inc. or any of its contributors including Jim Cramer or Stephanie Link. All three major indices are trading up today with the
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RISMEDIA, July 10, 2012–Family-owned and operated brokerage Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty announced today that it has agreed to acquire three of Prudential Serl's Prime Properties Orange County, N.Y. real estate offices, building upon Rand's strong presence in the Orange County real estate market.
Two of the acquired offices will combine with Rand's existing Central Valley and Warwick offices, while the New Windsor office located at 819 Little Britain Road, Suite 3 will become Rand's newest location in Orange County.
"We are delighted to continue to provide Orange County with the rich service experience they have grown accustomed to from Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty," said Matt Rand, Managing Partner at Rand Realty. "This acquisition will help to further cement Rand Realty as the largest real estate company in Orange." With the acquisition, Rand now owns 29.6% of the real estate volume in Orange County with some areas like Warwick approaching 50% market share.
As part of the agreement, Serls Prime Properties will be acquiring three of Rand Realty's Dutchess County, N.Y. offices.
About Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty: Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate – Rand Realty, founded in 1984, is the No. 1 real estate brokerage in the Greater Hudson Valley with 24 offices serving Westchester, Rockland, Orange, and Putnam counties. Rand has more than 800 sales associates, as well as a commercial real estate company (Rand Commercial Services), mortgage company (Rand Mortgage), title company (Hudson Abstract Services) and insurance agency (The Hudson Group Insurance Agency). The company's websites are:
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text: back when i was a kid, riding bmx bikes, we called the do-hickey that you ran your cables through up front a rotor. but then again, i was a dumb little kid, so i may have been wrong. i'm looking to see if there's still something out there that i can run my brake cables through so when i bail out and my handle bars start spinning i don't stress everything out. when i search for 'rotors' on here i just get brakes junk. what in hells bells are they called, and can i get something like that for a specialized P.2? thanks.


text:
Enjoying a natural setting doesn't mean losing sleep in a tent. You can experience Uluru's raw beauty, in 5-star comfort at Sails in the Desert, a member of Pullman Hotels. After an envigorating hike, the Red Ochre Spa is just the place to relax or perhaps visit the Mulgara Gallery to view the stunning Indigenous artwork on display.
- Check-in:15:00
- Check-out:10:00
Services offered by the hotel
- . Connectivity Lounge
- . Access to the pool
- . Parking
- . Airport shuttle
- . Accommodation and breakfast are free for 2 children under 16 years sharing parents' room.


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Creamy Mini Tarts
mini tarts
Serving Size:
See Below
Prep Time:
60 Minutes
Cook Time:
0 Minutes
Print Recipe
Email Recipe
Add to Recipe Box
Add to Grocery List
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 (14 oz.) can
Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 (1.9 oz.) boxes mini fillo shells
2/3 cup
Smucker's® Orchard's Finest® Northwoods Blueberry Preserves
BEAT cream cheese in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Stir in lemon juice and vanilla until blended. Spoon about 2 teaspoons into each mini shell. Refrigerate 2 hours or until firm.
MAKE a slight indentation in the filling using the back of small round measuring spoon. Fill with 1/2 teaspoon preserves. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
FRESH FRUIT: Top mini tarts with fresh fruit such as strawberries, blueberries, bananas, raspberries, cherries, kiwi, grapes or pineapple. Garnish with mint leaves.
HOT FUDGE: Place 2 tablespoons Smucker's® Hot Fudge Topping into corner of resealable plastic bag. Cut small corner off bag. Squeeze to drizzle over top of mini tarts.
PRESERVES: Use different flavors of Smucker's® preserves or orange marmalade to create a colorful assortment. Garnish with mint leaves.
SPECIAL OCCASIONS: Top with various decorator sprinkles or chocolate curls.
CHOCOLATE: Melt 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. Stir into filling until blended. Fill mini shells. Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips.
PEANUT BUTTER: Stir 1 cup Jif® Creamy Peanut Butter into filling until smooth and blended. Fill mini shells. Top with foil-wrapped milk chocolate pieces, unwrapped.
MOCHA: Dissolve completely 2 tablespoons Folger's Instant Coffee Crystals® in lemon juice before adding to cream cheese mixture. Fill mini shells. Top with chocolate curls.


text:
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Leaving for France
Nearby hotels
Hôtel balladins Castres-Saïx from50 €Book
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Hotel Lous Grits :
Nearby tourist sites
Nearby Restaurants
Restaurant de Bastard
Cotation :
Type de cuisine : Modern cuisine
Côté Bistrot
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Cotation :
Type de cuisine : Traditional cuisine
Hotel Lous Grits
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Address : Le Village F - 32700 Marsolan
from : 248 EURBook
Located in the heart of south-western France, halfway between Bordeaux and Toulouse, the Hotel Lous Grits offers luxury and elegance in a charming village in French Toscane. The beautiful guestrooms are spacious, well-appointed and warmly decorated. These 4-star quality rooms offer modern comfort and refined character. 2 of the rooms have a private terrace and another has a salon and terrace. The Hotel Lous Grits also features a bar with a TV and restaurant. It serves breakfast in the dining room or on the terrace and delicious dinners made from the freshest local produce and ingredients. This property has a spa with a swimming pool and a sauna. Here you can relax and recharge with massages treatments. The ideal location of this hotel provides guests with a wonderful opportunity to discover the culture and heritage of Gascony.
Useful Information
- Address : Le Village F - 32700 Marsolan32700Marsolan
Main services
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text:
At this time of year there's no excuse for boring salads. This one isn't fussy or over stuffed with ingredients. Sometimes you just need a little inspiration in the salad department. Serve with homemade bread of course.
Salad Ingredients:
Fresh Greens
Peas & corn (use frozen if required, just cook then rinse with cold water)
Strawberries (or blueberries or mango)
Roasted pine nuts (or almonds)
Goat cheese
Dressing Ingredients:
olive oil
white wine vinegar (or apple cider)
Dijon mustard
maple syrup


text:
The University of Maryland CTP Success Story
The University of Maryland has worked closely with the Maryland Department of the Environment, a Cooperating Technical Partner, to create hydrologic flood models by using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data collected by the university. The university was asked to assess and evaluate how useful the data could be in the creation of the DFIRMs, and assigned students to improve data layers in the field by verifying the presence of structures that were obstructing or limiting the data, and to obtain other data layers such as State Highway GIS. Benefits of this project included the students' exposure to both the theory and application of these tools and the opportunity to explore career possibilities.
|Publication Date
|The University of Maryland CTP Success Story
|The University of Maryland CTP Success Story


text:
You may also find this contribution usefull and overlook the delay I have read with interest the contributions made to the consultation and would like to highlight the fact that a key factor why there was no food crises post-Soviet Union collapse in South Caucuses and Central Asian countries after 1992, as seen in Sub Saharan Africa, was the Dekhon / Homestead farming practiced by each family. These farms provided most of the immediate nutritious food needs of vegetables, meat, milk, eggs, fruits, etc., even when inflation was rife. The NARES, Regional and International research orgs/ stakeholders have not and are continuing to follow a top down approach, thus ignoring to meet the AR4D needs of the rural poor smallholder producer community ( 85% of farmers) to reduce costs, hunger, malnutrition, poverty, suicides and the effect of climate change whilst improving farm production of homesteads, quality of on farm produced low cost inputs in terms of improved livelihoods, seeds, compost, bio mass, water and irrigation, cultivation techniques, housing of livestock and their upkeep, net income and purchasing power etc. Many out of the box interventions like the funding for the setting up of producer orgs/ company (PC) GOI doc attached, staffed by professionals (rural youth trained as general practitioners [GPs]/ MBAs in agriculture to take over all responsibilities, manage risks, leaving their members to on farm activities producing nutritious food for their communities and accessible at farm gate price), creating local human and institutional capacity (knowledge/ know how/ technologies/ ICTs and material sciences to manage water, etc., can contribute significantly to increased productivity of nutritious food by homesteads. Link to an article about smallholder agriculture contributing to better nutrition, by Steve Wiggins and Sharada Keats, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), UK - commissioned by The Hunger Alliance (March 2013): http://www.ajfand.net/Volume13/No3/Reprint-DI%20Smallholder%20agricultur... A couple of excerpts: Public agricultural research needs to focus on smallholder needs, with technical innovations that are sparing in their use of capital, but which emphasise labour and the skilful application to local circumstances: reflecting the relative endowments of smallholders. For very small, part-time farms there is often a call for intermediate technologies that raise yields of food crops without heavy demands for labour or external inputs. Farmer-to-farmer learning, especially of agro-ecological approaches with considerable local specificity, can be facilitated and promoted by innovative extension services; research on conservation of soil and water need to recognise how and where local innovations function. Recommendation: Develop and promote innovations for marginal farms, focusing on higher yields for staples but using few external inputs and where possible saving labour. These will allow these farms to achieve the self-provisioning in staples that is often a primary objective of the farm, as well as potentially allowing some of the land to be switched to more diverse, nutrient-rich fruit, vegetables and small-scale livestock rearing. Responsibility for this lies with agricultural research systems, although for some researchers taking up this challenge may require setting aside the search for optimal yields. There is scope here for NGOs to foster exchange of experiences from local innovations and NGO research.
Many interesting insights have already been provided in this discussion. I would like to pick up on the last discussion point on demographic changes and its impact on building resilience. It is rightly noted that demographic change is probably one of the most predictable factors that has to be taken into consideration when building resilience. In humanitarian and development programming and especially in protracted crisis contexts a lot of emphasis is put on youth bulges and vulnerable groups like women at reproductive age and children. While this is valid, we should not lose sight of world-wide population ageing and its implication for resilience building. The demographic changes that are taking place will create a significant vulnerability nexus for the ageing population in a context of climate change, increasing land pressure, migration and many other challenging factors.
Ageing is not only happening in high-income countries. Quite on the contrary, aging is happening fastest in developing countries. Already today, there are more people over 60 than children under 5. By 2030 people aged over 60 will outnumber children under the age of 10. Therefore, population ageing is a trend we cannot ignore.
An ageing population has far reaching implications for building resilience. Older people are already facing challenges to maintain their livelihoods in 'normal' circumstances because of health issues, reduced mobility and strength, impaired sight or hearing but also because of exclusion from innovative livelihood support and financial services. When on top of this they are facing stresses and repeated shocks, older people are at high risk to be plunged into poverty with no prospects to recover let alone to 'bounce back better'. Given the large number of elderly headed households with large numbers of dependants in contexts where there is a high level of HIV & Aids and/or rural-urban migration of adolescents and young adults, building the resilience of older people will have strong intergenerational effects as well.
Therefore, it is encouraging to see that the introductory note by Malcolm Ridout mentions social protection as a crucial element for building resilience. Social protection floors would ensure that people with limited labour capacity and/or access to income opportunities would always be able to meet their basic food and other essential needs and this would also provide the minimum basis for being able to recover from and adapt to change brought about by shocks and stresses.
At the same time, it should be recognised that older people can and do engage in livelihood activities and should therefore not be left out of livelihood programming – which is unfortunately the rule rather than the exception. We need to increase our understanding and evidence on the actual and potential role of older people in sustainable livelihoods to build resilience. Meanwhile livelihood programmes should increasingly include older people with labour saving considerations in mind while designing the activities. With this we have a pretty straightforward but important element in building the resilience of a group that tends to be overlooked.
I want to mention 3 elements of building resilience to disasters which DFID is interested in:
Multi-annual humanitarian funding: Until recently humanitarian aid instruments have been designed assuming need is transitory and short-term. Humanitarian project cycles have been 6-12 months with budgetary processes to match. Yet the majority of humanitarian aid (estimates are 70-80%) is spent in long term protracted crises where need extends beyond 5 years. Long-term financing has been difficult to get because of political and security issues have limited the use of development instruments. This has led to the much talked about 'gap' between relief and development. Secondly, timeliness of response to spikes is constrained due to the inability to get funding quickly from capitals to people in need.
To address these 2 challenges, DFID has been developing multi-year business cases in 5 countries (e.g. Somalia, DRC and Ethiopia), designed to support both timely humanitarian responses and interventions that can help to build resilience. This approach combines 2 key elements. The first, predictable 4-year funding, enables partners to meet acute needs as well as finding new and longer-term strategies to help communities build resilience. The second, is innovative pre-approved internal risk financing arrangements, or contingency budget, which allow UK to early warning/ action, preparedness activities and rapid response should there be a disaster. In effect we are giving our funding partners the space to innovate and address the underlying causes of risk and chronic poverty whilst also having the resources to respond to the inevitable spikes.
Building resilience in fragile and conflict affected contexts: Efforts to address the risks resulting from natural hazards, fragility and conflict have tended to be operationalized separately within distinct Communities of Practice (CoP). On the one hand, DRR practices have tended to work 'around' conflict and fragility, seeking to 'do no harm' but not actively addressing conflict dynamics. Humanitarian actors (particularly those working on protection) and conflict prevention and peace-building actors, on the other hand, have worked more directly 'on' conflict albeit without applying a natural disaster lens. Donors, UN agencies and NGOs typically have separate departments and processes to deal with disaster and conflict risk; this has often translated into siloed policy and practice at the global level in conflict-affected and fragile states.
The concept of resilience offers an opportunity to connect the different policy CoPs working on these different types of risks, including humanitarian, stabilization and development actors; actors working on disaster risk reduction, conflict prevention and climate change; and those working on social, economic and institutional resilience. In doing so, it provides an opportunity for these actors to join forces to understand how risks can be identified and addressed; and to strengthen the resilience of those people and systems (i.e. at different scales) who need it most – households, communities, the private sector and governments.
In recognition of this, the UK Government's new humanitarian policy (DFID, 2012) puts humanitarian action, conflict prevention and DRR at the heart of its work on resilience. In order to take this forward and conceptually explore further the links between disaster resilience and conflict prevention, DFID commissioned a study titled – When Disasters and Conflicts Collide in 2012. The study found that conflicts can increase a population's exposure to additional hazards and erode coping mechanisms whilst, at the same time, the occurrence of natural disasters during or in the immediate aftermath of conflict can exacerbate conflict's humanitarian consequences. The relationship between conflict and disasters can, therefore, be mutually and negatively reinforcing. The study concluded that, where feasible, integrated programmes should be designed to reduce the impact of both natural disasters and conflict – or where there are separate interventions, they should be more coherent. The common denominator for both CoP's / disciplines is the need to focus on the multiple risks faced by vulnerable people.
However, it is extremely difficult to identify what this may 'look like' in fragile and conflict states because each context is different and even in a particular country there may be varying levels of conflict and fragility in different areas of the country. So far, conceptual studies suggest that a mix of humanitarian, risk sensitive development, and state-building initiatives will be required. The key requirement is to ensure there is robust contextual analysis with a strong focus on fragility and conflict. Other key operational requirements might include:
Programmes that flex: Emerging lessons from Ethiopia and Kenya suggest that social protection may offer a more cost-effective approach to protecting lives and livelihoods than humanitarian aid. However, the evidence base is relatively weak on the effectiveness of social protection in responding to additional needs as a result of stresses and shocks, particularly in LICs and fragile and conflict affected contexts. There is limited guidance for practitioners and policy makers on how to design and implement social protection programmes/ systems that can respond to shocks, particularly how to assess where and when they offer best value for money.
Beyond the Horn of Africa, there are relatively few examples of social protection programmes in LICs and fragile and conflict affected contexts that can rapidly scale up to meet the additional needs of either existing beneficiaries or newly affected populations following a crisis or shock.
This is because a social protection system that can rapidly scale up in response to a shock has a number of requirements that are unlikely to all be in place in these contexts, including:
Beyond social protection systems, what are the options for long-term health, WASH and food security and nutrition programmes to scale up in response to stresses and shocks?
Finally, measuring resilience and developing models to improve our understanding on predicting degrees/ levels of resilience. This will determine the flexibility needed in our multi-year programmes to address the degree of certainty of having the right outcomes.
With thanks to members of my team in Conflict Humanitarian and Security Department, the Growth and Resilience Department and Research and Evidence Department.
My contribution wants to be a reflection of the consequences of the global food crisis in countries in protracted crises. The continuous spikes and volatility in the prices of agricultural commodities are having significant negative impacts, both geopolitical and socio-economic. According to Lester Brown, the ability to produce food is increasingly becoming a strategic variable and a new "geopolitics of food" is emerging, which is affecting the balance of power among countries. Food prices increases affect, above all, that part of world population still living in poverty and under-nutrition, and therefore also the countries in protracted crises in which the incidence of hunger is particularly high. But today the food security issue does not regard only poor countries. In a context of strong instability of agricultural prices, the loss of trust in international markets increases the perception of vulnerability of food-importing countries. Since the strategy of achieving the objective of food self-sufficiency does not appear as a rational choice in areas where fertile land and water resources are scarce, many countries have started to consider land acquisition abroad as the most effective option to satisfy the domestic food demand. The land grabbing phenomenon is leading to a paradoxical process in terms of food security, where poor countries with high percentages of undernourished people are leaving away their fertile land to developed countries so that the latter can produce food to export back home. Many large-scale land acquisition are taking place in countries in protracted crises, such as Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, etc. For this reason it is not possible to speak of resilience and food security in those countries without considering this phenomenon. Land grab amplifies the crisis factors in areas having low economic, social and environmental resilience. If we consider the instability factors that characterize most protracted crises, it is easy to hypothesize that land transfers could exacerbate weaknesses of these countries, particularly institutional corruption, poverty, forced displacements, disruption of traditional lifestyles, conflicts over lands and natural resources. These variables are likely to worsen further the level of domestic food insecurity. Other risks relate to the degradation of land, water and the environment and all have a direct effect on local communities. Small farmers and pastoralists understand how to manage agricultural and grazing lands, especially marginal ones, in ways that foreign companies often do not. Substantial environmental impacts are expected, since the agricultural projects in question are based on large-scale monocultural farming, which requires irrigation water and large amounts of fertilizers and pesticides. Large-scale land acquisitions and the transition from a subsistence agriculture to a modern one are presented by local governments and international organizations as a fundamental measure for improving productive efficiency, increasing food production and stimulating economic growth. But, as Piero Bevilacqua argues, what is too often overlooked is the deep environmental, economic and cultural strangeness of the concept of development compared to the realities of the South. The North has been able to rely for its modernization process on a series of economic and environmental factors that constitute serious obstacles to the economic growth typical of capitalism in many poor countries. As in all temperate areas, the North has benefited from a suitable climate for agricultural development and human settlements: regular rainfall distributed throughout the year, the fundamental role played by the alternation of the seasons, soil not highly erosive as a result of deforestation. None of this is found in the Southern countries of the world. In the poor countries the ecological resilience is low, the environment is fragile and more vulnerable than the western one. At those latitudes the land can not be transformed into monocultures and large-scale, capital-intensive production systems: investments which proved to be profitable in Europe and in the USA may have a devastating impact in those regions. Then as ecological, cultural and socio-economic contexts are diverse, the levels of resilience change too, and consequently the strategies and the tools chosen to achieve certain goals. According to the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge (IAASTD), we need a new approach that rethinks the role of agricultural knowledge, science and technology and diversifies it according to differences in agro-ecological, social and cultural conditions around the world. This heterogeneity can be achieved by promoting farm systems practicing ecological agriculture, preserving the livelihood of peasants, and producing healthy, safe and culturally diverse foods. This does not mean downplaying the role of science and technology in the improvement of agriculture, but only that the only way to feed the world population (especially in countries at risk) in the future will be to emphasize diversity in all its forms: diversity in crops, genetic resources, landscapes, cultural features, and agricultural and knowledge systems; in one word, agro-biodiversity. It requires the adoption of knowledge-intensive approaches in which science, technology and traditional knowledge complement each other in order to preserve the natural and cultural heritage. When the problem to be solved is hunger it is not possible to rely solely on market rules, because the "Invisible Hand", by its nature, is insensitive to the common good.
Kind Regards from Naples
Please find the following comments from Greg Collins on behalf of USAID Washington.
1. All development and much of what is done under recovery by humanitarian actors enhances resilience if done well. What seems to be new under the (re)emergent resilience agenda is a focus on areas with the greatest resilience deficits (measured by a combination of risk exposure and vulnerability and proxied by humanitarian spending over the last decade). Along with this, there has been a more explicit analytic and programmatic recognition that shocks (and stresses) are not anomalies, but recurrent features of these landscapes suggesting that reducing risk and enhancing adaptive capacity to both acute shocks and longer-term stresses must feature centrally in any effort to build resilience at household, community or systems (ecological, social, economic) levels. Resilience is best understood in relation to specific shocks and the focus should be on those that are recurrent (i.e. drought, rather than unpredictable political crises). However, resilience itself is likely to be a more generalizable capacity.
2. Difficult to answer and dependent on the causes of protracted crises. To the extent dynamic stability in the face of shocks and stresses is a necessary (even if, alone, insufficient) condition for resilience, conflict management will be central to improving the capacity of households and communities to manage through shocks and stresses. This points to the important links between conflict and food insecurity - each as a cause and result of the other.
3. Measuring resilience is a challenge. Topline measures such as reductions in humanitarian assistance needs (normalized by severity of shock/drought), depth of poverty, household hunger (HHS) and Global Acute Malnutrition provide important insights into whether outcomes of being resilient have been achieved. However, resilience itself is better understood as a capacity...in USAID's definition, 'the ability to mitigate, adapt to and recover from shocks and stresses in a manner that reduces vulnerability and facilitates inclusive growth'. Measuring capacities, such as the ability to lean on others in times of stress, is more challenging than measuring outcomes for which the state of the science is fairly well advanced, particularly as such measures rely heavily on self-perception (as informed by measurement of resilience in social psychology). Nevertheless, measuring these capacities is the only true means of gauging gains in resilience, particularly in the event that resilience is not being tested (i.e. no shock).
4. Much of the effort layer action across a number of sectors is informed by an understanding of the multi-dimensional nature and complexity of resilience. There are modelling approaches that will allow us to predict the additive and multiplicative impacts of such efforts, however - given the paucity of data - investing in robust systems to evaluate the impact of investments being made now may be more critical to the learning agenda than modelling with incomplete data and overly assumptive assumptions.
5. The energy behind the current resilience movement is in many ways inspired by the intersection of 3 imperatives; a. humanitarian (lives, livelihoods, dignity), b. developmental (lack of resilience as a drag on economic growth as shown in the $12b in losses associated with drought in Kenya between
2008-2011 and c. an economic imperative as demonstrated by DFID's value for money research. The last is particularly compelling in an era of austerity. For example, the USG alone spent $1b in humanitarian assistance in the Horn in 2011. It simply is not sustainble.
6. Scale is part of the equation. However, it is the effective sequencing, layering and integration of both existing and new humanitarian and development investments that likely matters more. If we can prove the value added of such a strategic approach at a local scale and humanitarian and development partners working on national strategies guided by effective government counterparts, we can build out a mosaic of effective resilience enhancing actions as a means of bringing it to scale. 7. We needn't look far and forward to see what happens when climate change and variability and population growth rates causally collide. Niger provides a case in point. While both suggest that any effort to build resilience is akin to swimming up stream, this only underscores the need to make these investments now. It also underscores the need to factor in these longer-term stresses into analysis, decision making and - ultimately - responses. The effective use of climate information is also an essential aspect of adaptive capacity (itself a pillar capacity at the heart of resilence), be it at the household, community or national/regional level.
Moderator and FSN members
From my understanding it requires building resilience at multiple levels for addressing food insecurity in protracted crises. The levels can be ranged from household, community, regional, national and international. If the resilience measure fails at one level the measure of other level can protect at least from critical misery. The degrees of effectiveness of the measures vary with root causes of protracted crises.
The funding from external source can be a solution but I am concern with community institutions that have been destroyed by state and international agencies. For example, indigenous people have community institutions to protect from extreme misery. The institutions were established and function based on local practices of management of natural resources. The interventions of the external agencies have destroyed the opportunity to be hedged by the community institutions. For example, the livelihood supporting resources of communal uses of forest and pasture are destroyed by greedy agencies to increase high area of forest cover such as in India. It has seriously hampered various opportunities (from indigenous knowledge transfer, community interaction, and food security) based community resources and institutions. Some international forest policy analysts recklessly argued that the attachment of forest based people should be delinked to conserve forest and environment. Please read the following articles.
1 Ferreira, J., et al. 2012. Forest biodiversity, carbon and other ecosystem services: relationships and impacts of deforestation and forest degradation. Edited by John A. Parrotta, Christoph Wildburger & Stephanie Mansourian. In Understanding Relationships between Biodiversity, Carbon, Forests and People: The Key to Achieving REDD+ Objectives. A Global Assessment Report. IUFRO World Series Vol. 31. Vienna.
2. Kapos, V. et al. 2012. Impacts of forest and land management on biodiversity and carbon. Edited by John A. Parrotta, Christoph Wildburger & Stephanie Mansourian. In Understanding Relationships between Biodiversity, Carbon, Forests and People: The Key to Achieving REDD+ Objectives. A Global Assessment Report. IUFRO World Series Vol 31. Vienna.
Champak Ishram
community based organization
Lors des précédentes crises politico-militaires qui ont frappé la Centrafrique, les stocks de semences ont été pillés ou consommés face à la pénurie. Les centres de production de semences sélectionnées ont été également pillés. Le projet de réhabilitation du système de production et de distribution de semences a été mise en place. Cela a permis de distribuer des semences et outillage aux paysans des zones sinistrées. Les réseaux de groupements des producteurs de semences ont été reconstitués pour constituer la banque de semences, afin d'assurer la diffusion et la pérennisation du système.
Toujours dans le même sens, un projet de développement des jardins potagers a été mise en place dans les écoles des zones sinistrées. Pour permettre aux enfants d'avoir des légumes dans leur alimentation.
En conclusion, pour améliorer la sécurité alimentaire dans les crises prolongées, je proposerai :
-la mise en place d'une banque de semences
-le développement des cultures maraîchères
Adèle Irénée GREMBOMBO
Ingénieur Agronome Nutritionniste
This is a very interesting and stimulating discussion, with the diverse range of experiences and opinions being shared indicative of the wide ranging nature of addressing resilience building in areas of protracted crisis. As we all testify, this is not a simple feat. The growing understanding of the interrelatedness of systems, structures, processes, shocks and stresses is drawing together different schools of thought and practice in the public and private domains, in an attempt to address this challenge in a more joined up and systemic way.
I would like to echo the inputs already made by my colleagues in Afghanistan and Ethiopia, and build on them, predominantly drawing upon Concern's experiences in the Sahel and Horn of Africa.
1. What are the strategies that have been successful in building resilience? Can we build resilience in general or does it always have to be in relation to a (known) type of shock?
There is a consensus emerging on what needs to change in the delivery of aid including integrated multi-sector programming that brings together the different tracts of humanitarian, development and environment sectors, but this is a new progression requiring further research going forward.
Concern's learning from projects in Niger includes; the importance of combining cash transfers and malnutrition interventions with interventions in other sectors that address the causes of malnutrition and food insecurity; and, the need to consider making cash transfer programmes conditional on certain health behaviours, or combining it with food aid or vouchers. To account for the diverse uses of cash transfers, it is also important to develop and monitor nutrition and food security indicators as a measure of the success of the programme.
In 2010, USAID's Famine Early Warning System Network indicated that Moyale District in the Horn of Africa was at risk of becoming 'highly food insecure'. This warning led Concern, in collaboration with the government and local partners, to begin an early scale up of High Impact Nutritional Interventions across Moyale District. This included recruiting and training health workers, supporting the Ministry of Health to open six new health facilities, the distribution of water purification tablets and a food voucher scheme for 3,000 poor households.
The result was that between December 2010 and July 2011, the rate of severe malnutrition fell in Moyale (from 3% to 1.5%) whereas in the two neighbouring districts it increased dramatically. In Moyale, the general acute malnutrition rate increased only slightly whereas in the other two districts it increased substantially; the rate in Moyale was half that in the other districts. Several factors combined to enable Moyale to fare better than neighbouring districts:
In Concern's opinion it is important to build resilience to specific types of shocks. The shocks to which people are highly vulnerable vary across contexts: for instance, in the Sahel and Horn of Africa regions it is drought, in the DRC it is conflict. However, people's vulnerability to shock is not only determined by the types of shocks they face, but also by the rate of change and the interconnectedness of factors affecting change. It is the interaction of shocks and stresses that erode people's options and ability to cope – and contribute to creating full-blown crises.
In the Sahel region for example, it took only a 3% dip of food production in 2012 to trigger a massive food and nutrition crisis. This is due to recurring drought cycles, price rises and disease. Therefore, efforts to build resilience must not only take into account the defining 'shock' but also the wider shocks, stresses, their pace and interaction.
2. What programming has improved food security in protracted crises?
In the first place, it is important to stress that food and nutrition security must be addressed together. In turn, the causal framework that links food and nutrition security to a crisis must be understood from the outset. Although lessons learned from programming are context specific, there is evidence to support the following programmatic interventions to improve food and nutrition security in times of crisis:
The question of how to measure resilience is a work in progress. Concern Worldwide is committed to contributing towards the growing global evidence base on resilience. Concern is working in collaboration with Tufts University to assess the impact of programmatic work on community resilience in Chad. Our measures of impact and success are based on evidence of reduced inequality, risk and vulnerability.
Better nourishment can be evidence of improved returns on assets, reduced inequality, and reduced vulnerability since a well-nourished individual will be more resilient. We are also using livelihood, diversification and coping strategies indices to measure success. The real test will be to assess how indicators fare during crisis years.
4. Can we predict and quantify the effects of action across a number of sectors in advance? Do we need to?
In the context of climate change, population growth, and natural resource scarcity, programming for resilience will not take place in a static environment where impacts can be accurately predicted in advance. Thus, taking stock of external factors that shape resilience will have to occur on a regular basis.
5. Why have we not done better to date?
Despite sophisticated systems to detect the onset of hazards, governments (both national and international) can lack political will to take preventative action. The costs of this failure, both in human life and financially, can be colossal. Mitigating other factors that cause delayed reactions (agency decision making, accountability etc) can only be effective if political constraints can be resolved. Foreign governments will weigh up a response with their own political agendas and their decision may not be determined by the humanitarian imperative. National governments may not want to tarnish their international image, or perhaps show less interest if marginalised communities are most affected. This means agencies must be more effective in their advocacy efforts.
Early response also falls through the cracks between the remit of the humanitarian and development sectors. This occurs in donor governments and other funding institutions, as well as within agency's own approaches to programming and how aid workers even understand their job specs. There is bifurcation throughout the system! When early warnings are sounded the system is ill equipped to respond appropriately. There is a call for a new paradigm, a fundamental shift in the aid architecture, that moves out of silos towards more integrated programming in order to build resilience and manage risk. At a minimum DRR approaches need to be taken up by the development sector whereby long-term programming can respond to early warning triggers and adapt according to needs. As mentioned previously, social protection will be vital to this.
The key question is "how" to create more holistic programming that integrates disciplines and communities of practice necessary to affect synergies for impact. So far, DRR, CCA, Social Protection have worked in isolation, and are all fairly new disciplines. Continued separation leads to policy incoherence, ineffective use of resources, inefficiencies, duplication, and competition.
Communication, coordination and collaboration between institutions and government departments that deal with climate change, DRR, development etc pose serious challenges to tackling issues through a resilience lens. Often governments own disaster management bodies and their climate change departments do not talk to one another, let alone do joined up planning. At institutional level, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change only very scantily incorporates DRR strategies (due to political push back), and the Hyogo Framework for Action, as non-legally binding, struggles to be taken on board by non DRR bodies. More functional ways of operating and connecting need to be established, something that needs to be taken up and addressed by the planners and budget holders.
The close association between DRR and humanitarian actors (responsible for relief response) is preventing this work being taken up by development and climate actors. The perception of DRR as primarily a humanitarian concern is an anachronism that must be overcome.
Linked to this is the funding issue, whereby DRR interventions are largely funded by humanitarian aid. This reinforces DRR as a humanitarian responsibility, rather than supporting it being taken up the development agenda. Conversely taking on DRR with its more development style norms, can be seen to impact upon the humanitarian imperative and the ability of actors to carry out interventions based on humanitarian principles. The funding of CCA initiatives from environmental budgets can also be seen to keep CCA from being taken up by development actors and keeps this climate work separate and isolated. Funding through multilaterals only acts to enforce these divides and does not support integration.
The international aid architecture is not set up to promote resilience approaches. Humanitarian actors specialise in response not prevention, and do not have long term sources of funding, yet they are now moving into longer term programming covering an ever increasing array of duties that stretch their mandate, principles and skills base. Development actors on the other hand are still reluctant to see preparing for and mitigating shocks as part of their remit and generally wish to continue with business as usual, whilst also lacking the flexible funding needed to scale up activities to avert disaster.
Long term flexible funding is needed in order to strengthen resilience of communities. Programming needs to be integrated, and a body of evidence built up that examines the ins and outs, pros and cons of this approach. Established best practice will support donors to put their money in the right places.
There is little interaction between the fields of expertise, practice and policy, of all these areas identified as necessary for resilience to develop. There exist inherent scepticisms of one another's fields as well as differing perspectives, tools and methods that all contribute to difficulties in building synergies between the approaches. Demands from field applications for more joined up approaches will be necessary to bring together the thinking and planning for resilience, with back up given by bilateral and multilateral donors.
However, contrasts and conflicts do exist between the domains, and these cannot be ignored or left unaddressed. To move forward in a constructive and effective manner a deep examination of the tensions and stressors in trying to align the approaches in a more coherent fashion needs to occur. Resilience cannot afford to be pure rhetoric but must be underpinned by thorough analysis and research. The pitfalls and trade-offs for moving these domains closer together in a more systematic manner must be determined and taken on board e.g. operating at different levels, short or long term perspectives, programmatic overload. Unfavourable conditions for such a merger need to be identified immediately.
As well as identifying the political implications, costs, benefits and pay-offs of promoting a resilience agenda, strong leadership will also be required if it is to advance in a systematic way. This is somewhat of a catch 22 as resilience cannot be led separately under a separate department or body as its very aim and strength lies in bridging and uniting all the different sectors that need to work collaboratively to ensure that development is sustainable and manages risk.
In many countries experiencing protracted crises the national and local government capacity is often too challenged to integrate different approaches to effectively build resilience. This can also be said to be true of development agencies and NGOs. Not only can institutional capacity be weak, but the capacity of individual staff also needs reassessing and people need to be able to wear several hats to be able to manage integrated programming. If donors continue to promote resilience as the way forward, they will also need to put their money into building capacity to do so.
Designing resilient programming will require cross-disciplinary learning, planning and implementation, requiring new innovative ways of working. Evidence for this way of working being more cost efficient, as well as effective, needs to be generated. Scaling up such innovative programmes also poses challenges which must be tackled if significant impact is to be achieved.
Countries faced with food and nutrition challenges in a context of protracted crisis are also amongst the fastest growing in the world. However, often economic growth at the national level has not served the poorest groups in societies and has instead resulted in increased equality gaps between the poorest and the richest. Addressing inequalities at the national level is crucial, but global inequalities will also need to be addressed.
6. Is it just about scale? Do we just need bigger programmes? Is this affordable?
It is about scale as well as coherent and integrated policy planning, not just about bigger programmes. Political will is necessary to achieve impact and scale, beyond resilience programming. In order to improve resilience, country governments cannot stop at producing a resilience strategy for example, they must commit to work on policies and investments that aim at reducing inequality and vulnerability. In the same way, donors cannot just fund resilience programmes without ensuring that their domestic and international policies are conducive to enhancing resilience in developing countries, and at the global level. In terms of funding, long-term commitments are required so that the life span of resilience programmes is longer than the typical 3-5 year projects currently being supported.
7. Demographic and ecological changes are probably the most predictable causal factors that will have a major impact on resilience in the future --‐ how should we plan for this? Can we predict the consequences of inadequate action? Should we try to?
There is a wealth of evidence regarding the expected costs of inaction, trade-offs and lowest hanging fruits that take climate change and resource scarcity into account. However, there is a lack of decision-making or prioritization of tools that can enable countries to go from policy planning to action. In this sense, incentives and barriers to implementation of specific policies must be identified, and decision-making tools that can help policy-makers prioritize actions are needed.
European Commission participation to the E-conference "Addressing food insecurity in protracted crises: Resilience-building programming"
Firstly, it is our opinion that building resilience is not an option but an imperative to increase the effectiveness of both development and humanitarian aid. The recent disasters in the Horn of Africa and Sahel illustrate clearly that development has failed to prevent the impact of recurrent climatic variation on vulnerable communities, and that humanitarian resources are not adequate to prevent widespread asset loss, erosion of livelihoods, acute under-nutrition and in some cases excess mortality during crises. In a context of increasing population and proliferating shocks, it is a requirement that different stakeholders join together to work in different ways - this is the underpinning raison d'être for resilience building.
Consensus has been reached on a series of conditions concerning resilience building in particular in protracted crises. For example,
However, although the overall theoretical framework of resilience building is quite developed and well defined, it is much less clear how to put those (and other) elements together in a real scenario making the complex mechanism workable.
The European Commission has been in the forefront of two initiatives that, from their conception, were meant to put together all elements that would contribute to the resilience building.
As a next step, regional strategy is now being translated and adopted at national level by national players to mirror the regional one. The stakeholders of the resilience against food crises are discussing together with the objective to identify the strategies and the mechanisms to enhance the capability of vulnerable population to absorb shocks and to adapt to then in a sustainable manner. As far as we are aware, this is the first time that a so inclusive mechanism has been put in place. The added value of the mechanism is a political pressure and a cross check scheme where each party stimulates and control the work of the others in the framework a common vision, with a shared objective and adopting common indicators.
Concerning the dynamism of the resilience building, we believe that it cannot be achieved only looking back to the past, although it has to be built on good practices and lessons learnt. A clear understanding of the present and future risks, including the aspirations of vulnerable people undergoing livelihood transitions, should be in the centre of the radar of policy-makers.
Demographic and ecological changes are the main elements to be clearly taken into consideration while designing strategies of resilience building with a long term prospective. Demographic issues and their consequences are part of the precise responsibility of local, national and regional authorities. The underestimation of the demographic phenomena could clearly lead to the failure of resilience building policies designed on the basis of a status quo situation without taking into strong consideration the future possible/probable scenarios. On the other hand, ecological and climate changes are barely under control of policy-makers in protracted areas countries, therefore adaptation measures only can be in their agenda, while mitigation policies are under the responsibility of international communities. Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Agendas should be well coordinated to ensure adaptation and disaster reduction.
Concerning the issue of specificity of resilience building, we believe that a lot of interactions are possible among risks and, therefore, a population that reduce its vulnerability against a risk would most probably reduce its exposure to a combination of risks at the same time. However, while designing resilience building policies, the identification of the risks to be addressed should be clearly defined and policies should be as specific as possible. Yet, interactions between risks should also be considered and synergies among resiliencies to different kind of risks should be promoted. Multi-risk response mechanisms could also be explored, but improved policy design tools are needed to ensure effectiveness and efficiency of those response. Finally, concerning priorities for policy-makers, risks should be addressed depending on the probability of their occurrence and their potential impacts, both elements to be identified through risk analyses, built on an in-depth understand of vulnerability and livelihoods dynamics. Such analysis should jointly involve different partners coming from both development and humanitarian environment to ensure taking into consideration the different perspectives and needs.


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"Peer Review is a Lottery", not an unbiased value, says Former BMJ Editor Richard Smith
"Despite a lack of evidence that peer review works, most scientists (by nature a skeptical lot) appear to believe in peer review. It's something that's held "absolutely sacred" in a field where people rarely accept anything with "blind faith," says Richard Smith, former editor of the BMJ and now CEO of UnitedHealth Europe and board member of PLoS. "It's very unscientific, really."
What's wrong with the current system? What could make it better? Does it even work at all?
Indeed, an abundance of data from a range of journals suggests peer review does little to improve papers. In one 1998 experiment designed to test what peer review uncovers, researchers intentionally introduced eight errors into a research paper. More than 200 reviewers identified an average of only two errors. That same year, a paper in the Annals of Emergency Medicine showed that reviewers couldn't spot two-thirds of the major errors in a fake manuscript. In July 2005, an article in JAMA showed that among recent clinical research articles published in major journals, 16% of the reports showing an intervention was effective were contradicted by later findings, suggesting reviewers may have missed major flaws.
Some critics argue that peer review is inherently biased, because reviewers favor studies with statistically significant results. Research also suggests that statistical results published in many top journals aren't even correct, again highlighting what reviewers often miss. "There's a lot of evidence to (peer review's) downside," says Smith. "Even the very best journals have published rubbish they wish they'd never published at all. Peer review doesn't stop that." Moreover, peer review can also err in the other direction, passing on promising work: Some of the most highly cited papers were rejected by the first journals to see them.
The literature is also full of reports highlighting reviewers' potential limitations and biases. An abstract presented at the 2005 Peer Review Congress, held in Chicago in September, suggested that reviewers were less likely to reject a paper if it cited their work, although the trend was not statistically significant. Another paper at the same meeting showed that many journals lack policies on reviewer conflicts of interest; less than half of 91 biomedical journals say they have a policy at all, and only three percent say they publish conflict disclosures from peer reviewers. Still another study demonstrated that only 37% of reviewers agreed on the manuscripts that should be published. Peer review is a "lottery to some extent," says Smith."
Source: Alison McCook. Is peer review broken? The Scientist (February 2006) 20 (2), p.26 [FullText]