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Exceptional magazine: Americas edition, July 2013
The Herjavec Group
Robert Herjavec started life in North America as an immigrant child who struggled to fit in. Now he's speeding toward cybersecurity domination.
When Robert Herjavec was 12 years old, he came home to tell his mother about a particularly miserable day at school.
A Croatian immigrant who struggled with the transition to his new home in Canada, Herjavec had been picked on by the other kids and was feeling sorry for himself.
"It's one of my most vivid memories," says Herjavec. "I was sitting there and complaining to my mother in this tiny little kitchen. At the time, my dad used to walk to work because he wanted to save the money from the bus fare. He came home and stood there as I was talking, then he looked at me and said, 'Never complain.'"
That instruction would become a guiding principle in Herjavec's life.
"It really, really stuck with me. You've got to just keep going," he says, recalling a seminal moment that sparked his immense drive and extraordinary path to success.
The serial entrepreneur and cybersecurity mogul is the mind behind The Herjavec Group (THG), Canada's largest IT security company, with annual sales of US$155m. He's the best-selling author of Driven and the recently launched The Will to Win. And he finds time to act as one of the "sharks" on the popular US TV show Shark Tank, where entrepreneurial hopefuls attempt to persuade accomplished millionaires to invest in their companies.
Last year, he was named EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® in the Ontario, Canada regional technology category.
It's a long way from his humble beginnings, as an 8-year-old fleeing communist Yugoslavia with his parents, who only had a suitcase and US$20 between them.
"The biggest influence on me was probably my dad, who was a really, really tough guy," says Herjavec. "Starting your own business is really hard, … [but] whenever I feel down on myself I always think, 'This is nothing.' My dad was in jail [for speaking out against Marshal Josef Tito's regime], left the country at 37, came to a country where he knew no one and swept floors. I mean, that's hard."
Herjavec didn't head straight toward entrepreneurship. He graduated from university with a degree in English literature and political science and worked in an eclectic array of jobs (waiter, retail salesman, TV field producer, collection agent) to pay the bills.
When he found himself under-qualified for a job selling computer components, he offered to work for free to gain experience and, at night, waited tables at an upscale restaurant. Sensing the burgeoning tech industry could be his path to wealth, Herjavec soaked up all the knowledge he could. In 1990, he launched his first company, BRAK Systems, on a shoestring out of his basement.
Over the next 10 years, he grew the business into Canada's biggest internet security software provider. "I was always absolutely, blindly driven," he says.
Herjavec went on to sell that company for a reported US$100m to AT&T and a second company to Nokia for US$250m. He then briefly retired, spending three years with his wife, Diane, and three young children in their sprawling mansion in Toronto's exclusive Bridle Path neighborhood.
But two successful ventures did not quell Herjavec's famous drive, and he founded THG in 2003.
THG's office in North Toronto speaks of its founder's bold spirit. Two of the four walls are floor-to-ceiling glass, with a spectacular view of the city below, and Herjavec's large office is filled with the toys and trappings of a successful tech tycoon. A motorcycle is perched in one corner of the room near a custom-made Fender guitar emblazoned with the Shark Tank logo. On one wall is a bookcase full of trophies and awards, while another is dominated by a huge painting of a shark suspended in a glass tank.
There's also the smashed-up hood of a Ferrari that Herjavec crashed while motor racing. With his passion for racing taking him to tracks around the world, Herjavec was recently named the Ferrari Challenge Series' "Rookie of the Year." He says it's yet another way he pushes himself to succeed. "As life gets easier for me in many ways, I try to continue to make it hard.
Car racing is the ability to control your emotions in the middle of a hurricane.
"Every time we start a race, there's always a part of me that says, 'What am I doing?'" he continues. "People think courage is the absence of fear, but I think courage is the ability to work through the fear."
"Value comes in the nooks and crannies of your business that aren't sexy, that aren't exciting, that are really mundane. That's where the opportunity is."
One fear Herjavec faces with THG is being able to stay ahead of the curve in the ever-challenged field of security technology. THG provides secure content management solutions for large companies, from email security to intrusion prevention to database security. In an era where security breaches can affect millions of consumers, anticipating the next hack is essential.
"This is the only technology that, the minute it's invented, someone in the world wants to break it," he says. "When someone invents a new phone system, nobody goes out and tries to break it — they try to make it better.
"But as soon as someone invents a better way to do online banking, someone's trying to hack it. So that fundamental challenge never goes away. You've got to be on top of this stuff all the time."
Providing value for customers
Customer service is also a cornerstone of THG's success. Herjavec says building a thriving business isn't necessarily about coming up with bigger, better, newer products all the time; rather, it's knowing how to provide value for your customers.
"People misunderstand value," he explains. "People want big, bold ideas and it's very rare that you'll invent a better mousetrap and make a million dollars. When we started out, we were selling the same product you could buy from 20 different people, but we were still different. We would answer the phone on the second ring. Every one of our competitors had automated voicemail. We always answered it live.
"Value comes in the nooks and crannies of your business that aren't sexy, that aren't exciting, that are really mundane. That's where the opportunity is."
When it comes to how he motivates his staff, Herjavec says being a visible presence in his offices is of huge importance.
"A long time ago, I read a saying, 'You can never see the CEO too much,'" he says. But as an "action-driven guy," THG's leader says he can sometimes create crises where they don't exist.
"When our business is doing well, … I feel there should always be something I need to fix," he says. "So what I do now is try to step away from the business during these periods. Sometimes you need to know when to let go of the steering wheel."
THG continues to expand its reach through acquisition and by moving aggressively into infrastructure, servers and storage. Herjavec sees the company growing to US$250-US$500m in revenue in Canada, "but we have to go to the States; the market's just so big," he says.
No matter how far the business goes, Herjavec can never forget where he came from.
"I say to my wife, 'If I had told you 10 years ago that we would be here now, would you have believed it?' and she says, 'Not in a million years,'" Herjavec reflects. "And we always think about the future and wonder: 'What would be extraordinary 10 years from now?'"


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Autumn in Venice
Hotel Ca 'dei Conti is pleased to offer you an unforgettable two night staying in September and October. To all reservations received before 15/10/2014 with a minimun staying of two nights from 01/09/2014 to 01/11/2014 we will apply the best available rate discounted of 5%.
The offer includes:
- · Double or twin room with American breakfast included;
- · Visit to a Murano glass factory with private taxi and guide;
- · Bottle of sparkling wine in room upon arrival.
Insert ANT in promo code area in our reservation system (on the right corner) or contact us by mail at email@example.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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Ceremony Etiquette It is our desire that your graduation ceremony reflect the honor, respect, and dignity of this important day. In keeping with these goals, we ask that you observe the following guidelines and that you are aware of some special arena guidelines. Please share these guidelines with your guests. All participants are expected to [...]
Tag: graduation behavior
Graduation Ceremony Etiquette
Posted in Admissions and Recruitment, Student Services Also tagged behavior, caps, Ceremony, Ceremony etiquette, ettiquette, Graduation, tassels


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The IIAR Project is building econometric models for economic incentives for Internet mail providers to improve their dealings with spam and botnets. This work employs game theoretic models and other formal mathematical models, together with statistical analysis and extensive empirical analysis of the Internet primarily based on anti-spam blocklists. One of the results of the project is a prototype reputation system for mail providers and and for blocklists.
We've launched the public spamrankings.net, displaying rankings by number of spam messages of Autonomous Systems (groups of IP addresses) of medical and of all organizations in the United States and internationally. The website encourages these organizations to improve their security, thereby prohibiting the unethical use of their servers to generate spam.
The IIAR Project is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, NSF Award #0831338, CT-ISG: Collaborative Research: Incentives, Insurance and Audited Reputation: An Economic Approach to Controlling Spam.
John Quarterman, project manager
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Page last updated:


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It's a little out there, but I'm trying to be helpful. My first year, 2008, I ran a TBH I started from a package. It grew phenomonally. I harvested honey, it still swarmed. it filled the box again, overwintered, and I harvested honey again in the spring before I put the bees in a Lang. Heresy.
Last year managing the Lang and two more started from packages I harvested no honey.
This year I'm going to make a decent crop from the Langs.
What has been working for me has been using one of the swarm control plans outlined in "Teach yourself Beekeeping".
This method relies upon separating the three parts involved in a swarm into two parts: "(1) The queen, (2) the brood and its nurse bees and (3) the flying bees.
When swarm preparations have started, leave a frame of bees on the original site with a queen cell. A few days later check that frame again and to ensure only one queen cell. A swarm doesn't leave the hive as it thinks it has already swarmed. The box that is moved won't swarm because its lost its flying bees. Move it again to lose its bees to adjacent hive to be doubly sure.
Finally my idea. The problem with my TBH was that it was so heavy I couldn't move it. Suppose a new beek built two hives and set them on a 12 or 16 foot 4x4 post which was laid flat, level, and fixed to the ground. When the first hive was full the beek (using rollers, or wheels, or another means) slid the hive along the log so it .as at least 8 feet away and then placed the empty TBH in its place with a single frame with a queen cell on it. Artificial swarm completed. The caffeine is wearing off now. Adrian.


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Oreck HEPA air purifiers capture 99.97% of dust, allergens, smoke, pet dander and pollen particles as small as 0.3 microns from the air that passes through its filter.
Because HEPA filter life will vary by usage and environment (including factors such as whether you have pets or smokers in your home) the filters in Oreck HEPA air purifiers will need to be replaced over time.
Need to change the HEPA air filter on your air purifier? See easy, step-by-step instructions with photos here.


text: $25 Number Guessing Contest - Chevy Truck Forum Guess the number between 1 and 2,000 and win $25 sent via PayPal. Only one guess per person per day. I may give a hint after a few days but otherwise I will remain silent until someone guesses the right number. Edit: I reserve the right to mock people from time to time. Edit: All clues have been moved to their own thread on this site. OFFICIAL CLUES PAGE: http://www.gmtruckclub.com/forum/showthread.php?63143-25-Number-Contest-CLUES


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Danny Dill enjoyed one of the most remarkable second acts in country music history -- after splitting with wife and longtime Grand Ole Opry duet partner Annie Lou Stockard, he abandoned his career as a performer in favor of composing and crafted some of the most indelible songs in the American roots music canon, most notably "Long Black Veil" and "Detroit City." Born Horace Eldred Dill in Huntingdon, TN, on September 19, 1925, he launched his performing career as a teen, singing and playing guitar on a series of radio stations including WTJS in Jackson, MS; KLCN in Blytheville, AR; WNOX in Knoxville, TN; and WMC in Memphis, TN. In 1944 Dill signed on with famed country comedian Whitey Ford -- the so-called "Duke of Paducah" was also responsible for suggesting his new hire change his name to "Danny." In addition to talents including Salty Holmes, Barbara Jeffers, Jack Kenndal, and Ralph Caputo, the Ford road show included 18-year-old Annie Lou Stockard, whose sweet, innocent voice harmonized perfectly with Dill's own crystalline vocals -- off-stage, they began dating and soon married. When Ford headlined Nashville station WSM's celebrated Grand Ole Opry radio showcase in 1946, Annie Lou and Danny proved such a hit that the couple remained with the program for more than a decade. For a time, the duo also headlined their own WSM program, broadcast live each weekday morning at 5:30 a.m.
In addition to their work with Ford and on the Opry, Annie Lou and Danny were featured on Hank Thompson's 1948 program Smoky Mountain Hayride, and served as regulars on Eddy Arnold's CBS series Hometown Reunion. The couple also toured in support of Ernest Tubb, and while Annie Lou soon curtailed her travel commitments to raise their daughter, Danny continued with Tubb on his own, even joining the Nashville legend for a 1953 trek across Korea. That same year, Annie Lou and Danny reunited with Ford for a new road show, dubbed The Duke of Paducah and the Nashville Gang. Dill launched his songwriting career with the 1954 Carl Smith release "If You Saw Her Through My Eyes," but he continued focusing his attention on performing until 1957, when he and Annie Lou left the Opry. Although the couple later resurfaced in vehicles including television's The George Morgan Show, their exit from the Opry ranks negatively impacted their stature as performers -- their marriage was also on the rocks, and eventually they divorced. Dill briefly continued on as a solo act, in 1960 recording the LP Folk Songs from the Wild West for MGM. A follow-up, Folk Songs from the Country, appeared on Liberty in 1963, but neither record generated any interest at retail.
Dill began to channel his creative energies into composing, and in 1959 he teamed with Marijohn Wilkin to author "Long Black Veil." Intended to evoke "an instant folk song," the ballad drew inspiration from several contemporary news stories, including the unsolved murder of a Catholic priest in New Jersey, but its grim lyrics and funereal atmosphere indeed recalled the rustic ballads of a long-gone America. First recorded by honky tonk legend Lefty Frizzell, "Long Black Veil" is now recognized among the truly classic songs of the postwar era, recorded by artists spanning from the Band to Johnny Cash to the Dave Matthews Band. Also in 1959 Dill penned the Jim Reeves hit "Partners," solidifying his growing reputation as a master of the story-song formula, and in 1962 he collaborated with Mel Tillis on Bobby Bare's Grammy-winning smash "Detroit City," a plaintive portrait of the alienation suffered by rural Southerners relocating north in search of work. In all, Dill authored more than 100 songs during his decades-plus affiliation with Music City-based Cedarwood Publishing Company, and in 1975 he was elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Dill served as a writer/consultant for Buckhorn Music until retirement. After years out of the spotlight, he resurfaced in 2006 with a self-released solo album, Quality Is Always in Style. Dill died in a Nashville hospital on October 23, 2008 -- he was 84 years old.


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Thanks for the Tattersail update Chris.
Years ago, I lost all connection to Oophoi's music, and I rarely listen to it anymore, along with other dark ambient projects that I loved at one time. Not sure how this happens...
I think Weird Al did a cover of an Ooophi album that he called Behind the Wall of Sheep. You can have it both ways, Joe.
And now back to our regular programming Could be my favorite Sakamoto collaboration.....the Fennesz treatments work so well with the piano. More experimental than Sakamoto & Willets excellent Ancient Future but in a very good way and more accessible than their 12k release Ocean Fire. Also theres an element in Sakamoto's piano that is reminiscent for me of his film music adding a melodic smoothness to the Fennesz glitch.Got my cd from Amoeba in San Francisco, had a hard time finding it..... flac is available from Boomkat http://boomkat.com/cds/33897-fennesz-sakamoto-cendre


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Bright Bouquet
Last Updated: November 3, 2014 at 12:24 pm
The wedding color scheme featured citrus-inspired colors - yellow, green and orange. "We love colors and wanted to play off the bright natural palette of the venue," says Nancy.
Photo by Tia & Claire Studio
Bouquets by Maria Philbin Floral Design


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Gas prices on the rise
BRISTOL, Va. - Gas prices have taken a dramatic increase in the past month.
According to AAA, gas prices have gone up nearly 42 cents since January and 12 cents in the past week.
One oil analyst with gasbuddy.com says the reason for the increase is because of rising oil prices.
The current national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.71.
This time last year the average was $3.53 a gallon.
Many drivers say they're feeling pain at the pump.
"It's ridiculous, I can think a lot of ways we can get the prices down. We're always going to need gas and I think it's just ridiculous. They're just hurting the people who work hard and have to be out there driving," says local George Hutchinson.
According to gas buddy.com typically gas prices go up by about 50 cents between late March through early May.
If that happens again this year the national average for a gallon of gasoline could easily go up above $4.00 a gallon.


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Would you like to see more scholarly sources cited in your students' research papers? Are your students over relying on Google or Wikipedia for much of their research? We can work with your students to bring them back from the web to scholarly sources and introduce them to books, e-books, research databases, and more. Research has shown that the most "teachable moment" for undergraduates to learn about library resources is when they have a specific assignment.
If you are assigning a research paper or journal readings for the Winter semester, please consider requiring your students to schedule a library orientation visit with us. We are available to work one-on-one or with small groups of students. Although these methods have proven more effective than the traditional one-shot library orientation classes, we are also happy to meet with your class for a library orientation opportunity.
Please feel free to contact your Schoolcraft College librarians, at your convenience.
Thank you,


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To the editor:
On Dec. 24, 2009, Dailey's Body Shop/Towing Service gave away a brand new scooter in hopes of making someone's Christmas a little brighter. The winner of the scooter, Jennifer Edwards, who has two school-age children, was ecstatic when she found out her name had been drawn.
During most legislative sessions, several weeks usually pass before the first bill makes it through the House and Senate and is signed into law.
On Thursday, however, the General Assembly wrapped up a quick week of work on legislation that promises to be one of the session's biggest accomplishments. We needed to act fast to improve our chances of qualifying for a portion of the more than $4 billion in federal stimulus dollars being awarded on a competitive basis to the states. The state's application is due early this week.
Once again this community has come to the call of being good Samaritans. When I think they can not do more than they have in the past, they surprise me. This year, you have just blown me out of the water. I do not believe I can praise you enough.
A legislative session is a marathon, not a sprint. Very few bills make it through the lengthy process of becoming law in five days — the minimum necessary under our Constitution — especially so early in the year. But the chance to capture millions of dollars in federal funding for our schools was an opportunity we had to jump on immediately. House Bill 176 became the first piece of legislation to reach Governor Beshear's desk this year as both chambers worked quickly to allow state education officials time to complete their application for the funding.
During the year of 2009, I painted inside Grand Haven nursing home. I had to work all shifts because of the residents. All the workers - from the top staff of Roy, Judy and Sissie to the rest of the workers - gave the residents great care. Never once did I hear a harsh word. They were always answered with "Honey, may I help you." So if you have a loved one or friend there, they are getting good care. Now all they need is a visit from you.
Ervin "Slick" Garrison
The General Assembly returned to the Capitol early last week to kick off the 2010 regular session, with a top priority of putting together what promises to be a tough two-year budget.
The day after the session began, Governor Steve Beshear came before the legislature to offer the annual "State of the Commonwealth" speech, and he took the opportunity not only to note the challenges we face but some of the successes we have had as well.
I'm currently reading "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" by Don Miller.
He wrote "Blue Like Jazz," which continues to be the best Christian book I've ever read, although not for its literary merit. The book is random and messy, but Miller's thoughts are raw and profound.
His new book begins with a movie producer wanting to turn "Blue Like Jazz" into a movie, but he tells Miller that the book as is wouldn't make a compelling or interesting movie because his real life is boring.
God and Jesus will provide whatever is needed for the people who spend eternity in the new heaven and new earth. Rev. 22:1-5 "And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of the street and on either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, and yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing (or health) of the nations.
For as long as I can remember, I have been addicted to sweets.
I believe myself to be a gal of substantial willpower. I can go without fries, soft drinks and donuts.
But when it comes to desserts, I must admit, I get a bit weak in the knees.
Even as I sit here at my desk, visions of sweet things dance in my head.
One childhood Christmas memory is receiving a shiny red plastic doctor's kit. I went from family member to family member looking inside their mouths while they played along with my fantasy career.
I'm beginning to think that we are humoring a group of lawmakers who have no more qualifications to make a diagnosis than I did.
In their fantasy careers, lawmakers believe they should go over the heads of experts to tell the public what's best for their health care.
I'm more than a little concerned.
Maybe it's the recession. Or the perilous state of the war in Afghanistan. Or the growing sense that other nations — China, India, Brazil — are rising at a clip we can't match. Suddenly, though, doubts are surfacing about whether our political system can handle the challenges that confront the United States.
Like myself, I'm sure many people were the recipients of electronic gadgets and gizmos this Christmas.
In fact, no one will probably read this column because we're all still trying to figure out how to work the darn things.
My niece had to show me how to open the laptop I received for my birthday and Christmas.
She let me struggle for a couple minutes.
"Kate, you open it from the other side," Emma patiently said.
She's 10 years old.
"Great, I've become my mother," I thought in my head.
I remember my aunt having the most beautiful Christmas tree ever.
I was probably 10 or so when my family traveled to St. Petersburg, Fla., for a Christmas vacation.
We walked into my aunt's house, happy to be out of the car for awhile. And there, just inside the door, was the biggest and brightest tree I had ever seen. There were blue bulbs and baubles hanging from the boughs.
The boughs, yes the boughs.
One day last week, as I drove back to the newsroom after doing an interview, the message on the spare tire cover on the black Jeep in front of me caught my attention:
Life is good.
I had just come from one of my favorite places, the Key Training Center. A longtime resident had spent an entire year buying toys for the U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots program and she was bursting with joy.
At my house, the Christmas tree assembly and decoration marks the official kick-off to the holiday season.
If the Christmas tree is up, then it is deemed okay to buy presents, wrap presents and start making fruit cake.
The Christmas tree might be the center of all family holiday festivities, but it can also be the cause of some family disagreements... at least in the Darnell household.
There is the all important debate over white lights versus colored lights.
Strings of beads or ribbon?
A bow at the top or a tree-topper?
When I met my husband, he drove a totally hot car, a brand-new 1973 Mercury Comet GT, white with burnt orange pinstripes and burnt orange interior.
And it had a manual transmission.
Because we were young and newly in love and Barry had miles of patience, he attempted to teach me to drive it. It helped that we lived in Northern Maine where there wasn't much to crash into except snow banks and caribou.
I noted another accident on US 62 that sent two people to the hospital. I have no idea what gets into people's minds (probably nothing) that causes them to ignore the highway center lines.
I drive into Cynthiana at least four times a week and daily see people over the center lines, to the point of having a mirror-to-mirror impact.
Combining lack of attention with speeding, and it's a common occurrence.
Ronald Dumm
Harrison County
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." -Voltaire, 18th Century French philosopher
And, so it is with letters to the editor.
I don't always agree with opinions that readers want to express in our Mailbag section. In fact, sometimes I even huff and mumble when I read them.
Newspapers stand for freedoms of speech and expression. How can we defend those freedoms then turn around and censor letters just because we don't agree with them?
Christmas columns are not hard to write in Cynthiana. You never have to look far to find someone who is trying to make this holiday season brighter for someone else, many times without even knowing the recipient of that good cheer.
But despite the abundance of good this holiday season - whether its Christmas boxes filled with food or donated toys for children - it's always refreshing and inspiring to see people helping people.
The Dailey family is used to helping people. They pull vehicles out of all corners of the earth on a daily basis.
Cynthiana never looked so beautiful.
I've seen Cynthiana from the air before. I've been in the passenger seat of small planes that took off and landed at our own airstrip with the capable pilots of first, Reed Anderson many years ago, then Doug Coy, and Jim Wornall. I've also flown with Richard Colvin from the Pendleton County airport.
But nothing had prepared me for breathtaking sights to be seen from the backseat of an ultralight.
Copyright © 2017
The Cynthiana Democrat is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Cynthiana, KY and the surrounding area.


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Global SchoolNet has been honored to support the "Doors to Diplomacy" educational challenge from 2002-2012, sponsored by the U. S. Department of State -- to encourage middle school and high school students around the world to produce web-based projects that teach about the importance of international affairs and diplomacy. Winning teams have been awarded more than $200,000 in scholarships and cash awards.
This program is undergoing changes for 2013. In the meantime, please enjoy the library of more than 3,000 projects outstanding projects created by youth from around the world! Learn More
You can also join
International CyberFair 2013!
Projects due March 21, 2013
The Doors to Diplomacy Award competition is a variation of Global SchoolNet's internationally recognized CyberFair program, in which students produce web projects to showcase their local communities. Learn More about CyberFair


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The economy has fundamentally changed since 2008. Come learn how the North Bay can gracefully adapt to these changes and benefit from new economic opportunities.
Join us Wednesday evening, May 8th for Navigating the New Economic Reality with keynote speaker and local author, Richard Heinberg. A panel discussion will follow featuring:
- Marc Armstrong from the Public Banking Institute
- Ann Hancock from the Climate Protection Campaign
- Stacey Lawson from the Ygrene Energy Fund
We will end the evening with 1-minute rapid-fire presentations by a number of inspiring local initiatives to brighten the path forward.
Cost: General $10 in advance or $15 at door;
Students $5 in advance or $10 at door.


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When one must put off long-range assignments in order to do the homework that is due the next day in order to get any sleep at all.
The reason my research paper is a load of crap is because of forced procrastination: I had so much busywork I couldn't even breathe.
by W.T.Q. January 31, 2010


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About APC
APC's strength lies in the fact that we don't get excited about the internet for the internet's sake. We are committed activists who want to use it to make the world a better place.
We help people get access to the internet where there is none or it is unaffordable, we help grassroots groups use the technology to develop their communities and further their rights, and we work to make sure that government policies related to information and communication serve the best interests of the general population, especially people living in developing countries.
The APC vision
All people have easy and affordable access to a free and open internet to improve their lives and create a more just world.
The APC mission
APC's mission is to empower and support organisations, social movements and individuals in and through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to build strategic communities and initiatives for the purpose of making meaningful contributions to equitable human development, social justice, participatory political processes and environmental sustainability.
A network and an organisation
APC is both a network and an organisation. APC members are groups working in their own countries to advance the same mission as APC. In December 2010, APC had 50 members in 35 countries, the majority from developing countries.
The membership define APC's strategic priorities every five years. APC has a small staff, each living in different countries and communicating day-to-day over the internet (we have no central headquarters). APC's value and uniqueness come from the local perspectives and contact with grassroots organisations that we gain from our members and the fact that we operate as a truly virtual, international organisation.
How we work
We organise our work in three programme areas:
- communications and information policy
- women's rights
- strategic use of technology and capacity building
Our strongest activities are often those taking place at the local or national level where the real impact can be felt, and from which the network can learn and replicate regionally or internationally. We work best when we can really work as a network – i.e., programmes and members work together to conceptualise projects and campaigns and then implement them together.
APC values working with other people beyond our own network. We are aware of our own limitations as well as the power of networking. Where we lack knowledge or expertise and need to learn in order to better engage challenges, we form partnerships. In all of APC's work we encourage people to network as a means of making other activities more sustainable. If people share their experiences and skills they have greater value over a longer period and often create a ripple effect.
Strategic priorities for 2013-16
Established by our international membership, APC the worldwide network has committed to:
- Securing and defending internet access and rights
- Fostering good internet governance
- Strengthening use and development of transformative technology
- Ending technology-based violence against women and girls
- Strengthening APC community networks
Find out more about the strategic priorities.
Consultative status to the United Nations
We are an active participant in high level international ICT policy discussions, and were granted category one consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1995.
Legal status
We were founded in 1990, and operated legally as a partner of the Tides Foundation until 1998, when we were incorporated as a nonprofit under section 501( c ) (3), public charity status 170 (b) (1) (A) (vi) state of California, USA. APC is governed according to the nonprofit regulations of the State of California, even though we are an international network.
APC's chief operating office is located in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The big picture, year after year
If you want to gain a quick overview of APC for a given year visit the Publication section of our website where you will find our annual reports .


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Nationally trending, it shows support for the 16-year-old hockey player in Minnesota (Jack Jablonski) who was checked from behind and is currently paralyzed. Show your support on twitter and everywhere
Jack, we love you, we're praying for you, if anyone can make it through this it's you. You said so yourself that you don't believe in miracles, you rely on them #jabs
by xlawyerx January 04, 2012


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Thieving fox Sly Cooper and his friends are back for more adventure in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Times, available now for PlayStation 3 and PS Vita. It's the fourth game in the Sly Cooper series, which debuted 10 years ago with Sly Cooper and The Thievius Raccoonus for PlayStation 2. It stars Sly, a sneaky fox from a long line of thieves, who enjoys the challenge of only stealing from criminals. This time, Sly discovers that someone is erasing the Cooper family history, as documented in the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus book. With the help of his friends Bentley and Murray, Sly must travel back in time to put a stop to it and fix the damage.
The game begins with a prologue to catch newcomers up on the history of Sly and his friends. Sly must steal a museum item from ancient Japan so that he can use Bentley's time machine to travel back to Feudal Japan. From there, he also visits other places in time, including Medieval England and the Wild West. Players get to control several fun characters along the way, solve puzzles, find hidden objects and defeat bosses. For those who own both a PS3 and a Vita, you can save your place in the game on one device and resume it on the other. A download code for PS Vita is available with the purchase of the game for PS3.


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Infant Immunization Week
April 20-27 is National Infant Immunization Week. Although there are infants and children in this country being immunized every day, this is the week to remind parents, caregivers and health care professionals of the importance of vaccines.
Infants are immunized against 14 vaccine preventable diseases. Vaccines are now given to prevent not only older diseases like diphtheria, tetanus and polio but for diseases like bacterial meningitis, chicken pox and a viral diarrheal disease. Vaccines are one of the greatest public health achievements of the past century, and more vaccines are in the pipelines to continue to save lives.
Although some parents have been concerned and even misinformed that vaccines cause autism, study after study, including one published last month, have shown that there is NOT a link between vaccines and autism. What we do know is that vaccines save lives, lots of lives.
Before the meningitis vaccines for both pneumococcal and H. flu bacterial infections were available there were hundreds of children who died each year. I can remember taking care of some very sick children, and even doing spinal taps in my office to rule out meningitis. Some of the spinal taps were positive and a few of my young patients were fortunate to survive bacterial meningitis, but they are now adults with deafness. We had a few children in our practice during the 1980s who died from meningitis.
During my early years of practice bacterial infections of the blood were also more common and we hospitalized a lot more infants and children than we do now. I will also never forget a previously healthy 2 year old little boy who died from chickenpox and a bacterial infection of his blood stream. This occurred almost 20 years ago, before the chickenpox (varicella) vaccine was available. He would have been protected just a year later when the vaccine was introduced. My youngest son received one of the first doses of varivax vaccine after it was approved as I knew that children did die from chickenpox and I could not give him that vaccine fast enough!
We all owe a great deal of gratitude to the brilliant scientists who study diseases and develop vaccines to prevent those diseases. There are years and years of work that go into not only developing a vaccine, but study after study to prove their efficacy and safety. We are all healthier for this dedication.
So, if your child is not up to date on their immunizations, this is the week to start to play catch up. If you have a new baby, plan on starting immunizations at their 2 month check up. Big shout out for vaccines!
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Volume VI, No. 10
Uncommon Schools: Boosting Student Achievement and Preparing Students for College and Beyond
What's New
- From the U.S. Department of Education
- From the Office of Innovation and Improvement
- American History
- Arts Education
- Charter Schools
- Education Reform
- Mathematics and Science
- Raising Student Achievement
- Reading
- Teacher Quality and Development
- Technology
- Charter Schools/School Choice
- Raising Student Achievement
- School Improvement
- Teacher Quality and Development
- Technology
Uncommon Schools: Boosting Student Achievement and Preparing Students for College and Beyond
"Build Great Schools. Get Results. Change History." Uncommon Schools' performance is living up to its motto. The non-profit charter school management organization starts and manages some of the most outstanding urban college preparatory charter schools in the Northeast, working to close the achievement gap and prepare low-income students to graduate from college. "Uncommon," as it is known, builds these uncommonly great schools where leaders and teachers, and students and parents, are committed to excellence. Everyone at Uncommon is determined to make every minute count, so that 100 percent of its graduates attend and succeed in college.
Acknowledging Horace Mann's common school movement of the 1800s, Uncommon founder Norman Atkins realized children from low income, urban families did not need common schools, but rather ones that are called by the organization's Web site, "uncommonly good, extraordinary, autonomous, and distinctive." In 1997, Atkins co-founded with James Verrilli the North Star Academy Charter School of Newark, N.J., and soon after formed Uncommon Schools as a public charity with the purpose of bolstering the North Star team's ability to gather the resources needed to complete the facility that houses the Academy's high school. Eight years later, based on its success in Newark, Uncommon Schools formalized its mission as a charter management organization to replicate North Star and other high-performing charters. Currently, Uncommon has 11 top performing schools in Newark, Brooklyn, and Rochester, N.Y., and has plans to grow to a network of 30 schools. On the 2008 New York Math and English/Language Arts Exams, all Uncommon schools posted exceptional results. Students also posted outstanding results on the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge. An investment of up to $1.7 million from New Schools Venture Fund will help Uncommon grow the network and provide greater opportunities and options for low-income students.
Although they differ in some ways, all Uncommon schools base their efforts to close the achievement gap on a set of proven structures and systems. They share key design features, including a college preparatory mission, high standards for academics and character, standards-based instructional models, effective curricula driven and informed by assessment, and highly structured environments. Because school leaders realize that there are distinct social challenges to educating low-income children, they have built a new kind of school to meet those challenges—in fact, more than a school—a community, one that both prioritizes measurable student academic achievement and seeks to teach values that build integrity and character.
Verrilli, co-founder and now serving as the North Star Academy Middle School principal, reflects on the school community that permeates all Uncommon schools. "It is a safe, structured, and well-disciplined environment that is focused on academic achievement. Students are part of something larger than themselves—a movement dedicated to changing history and closing the achievement gap." Verrilli elaborates, "To do this we have the following structures: to build community we have a structured discipline system with high expectations for behavior; we wear uniforms to be on the same team and reduce materialistic distractions; we have a daily community circle that celebrates our core values of caring, respect, responsibility, justice and courage. For the academic achievement we have: a longer day and school year; an intense focus on teaching and professional development; and we use data from interim assessments to improve our instruction. Lastly, we have a staff of people who care deeply about children and about changing history. To meet the challenges, there is no single 100 percent solution. It is the combination of one hundred 1 percent solutions."
North Star Academy Demonstrates a Structured Program and Core Values
The North Star Academy takes its name from the star that has historically been known as a beacon, unwavering from its position in the night sky. The Academy helps students to follow the "star" to success in college and in life.
North Star Academy originally started as a middle school, though the high school has received the bulk of attention for its accomplishments – including that 100 percent of its high school graduates are college-bound. Compared with other high schools in Newark, where the student population is 80 percent low-income, 85 percent African-American, and only 2 percent of the students make it through college, North Star's record is astonishing. North Star's students are 90 percent low-income and 85 percent African-American and 15 percent Latino. The same "no excuses" school approach that has made the high school a success story has recently been applied to include an additional middle school campus and a new elementary school, resulting in consistent achievement gains for younger students, too.
|Eighty-seven percent of North Star Academy 7th graders scored advanced or proficient on the 2008 New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK) in Language Arts Literacy, compared to the state average of 70.4 percent and 81.5 percent of white students across the state. Ninety-five percent of 7th graders scored advanced or proficient on the 2007 NJASK in Math, compared to the state average of 62.3 percent and 74.8 percent of white students in the state. One hundred percent of 8th graders scored advanced or proficient on the 2008 NJASK in both Language Arts Literacy and Math.
Building the school is "intentional," Verrilli notes. "Our brand new elementary school is designed to build a strong foundation in literacy, math, history and science. Students learn to work hard and focus on academics. We add a grade each year so we can build on the culture of success. The school began last year with a kindergarten and will grow until it is K-4. In the middle school, we currently take students from the Newark Public Schools into fifth grade (until our elementary school reaches fourth grade). Initially they have to be brought up to grade level in all of their subjects. Most are two to three years behind academically and so the achievement gap must be closed during middle school so that they will be college-ready by the time they finish high school."
A Successful Elementary School: Responsibility, Community, and Ownership
Former North Star High School Principal and founding Elementary School Principal Julie Jackson says the day begins with a morning meeting at 7:40 a.m., though Susan Burnett St. Louis, parent of first-grader Illana St. Louis, views it as something more. She describes the morning meeting as "something that would make you cry." She continues, "It's beautiful. The scholars, as my daughter insists they are called, sit in a circle. Each class is named after a college, and each group does their college chant. They sing songs about caring and responsibility. The children love it. It sets the tone for the whole day." And when classes end at 4 p.m., 90 of the 156 students stay for aftercare and after-school activities until 5:30 p.m. Ms. Burnett St. Louis notes that after-care has offered Illana everything from African dance, ballet and tap, to Girl Scouts.
Principal Jackson, a former Teach for America corps member and 1998 New Jersey State Teacher of the Year, moved quickly to assume a leadership position at North Star, also serving as the Dean of Students for two years. She describes the rigorous academic curriculum as one in which every day each child has at least three hours of literacy, which includes read aloud practice, guided reading, a reading mastery phonics program, and computer literacy, mainly in groups of eight or nine students. Mathematics is taught for 70 minutes each day and writing for 50 minutes. Social studies or science, and art, music or physical education are taught for 45 minutes a day, respectively.
"I wanted my child to have a thorough and challenging education," Ms. Burnett St. Louis remembers, as she describes how she got into the entrance lottery on the advice of a friend who had raved about the school. "My expectations have not only been met, they have been exceeded. In kindergarten, my child learned to read over one hundred sight words; she learned to count numbers up to 500 and add three digit numbers; she could write—on a topic. This year, she has been talking about the differences between fiction and realistic fiction—and this is first grade! I love the teachers. I have a voice in the school, and I know that if I have a voice, my daughter will have one, too."
Circle time in the morning continues through middle and high school. It is a time when students declare that they will attend college and promise that they will not be late or make excuses. It is also the time when both teachers and students relate positive achievements they have experienced, such as the mastery of new material, books they have finished, or plans they have for special programs. All North Star students must sign a pledge that they will follow the core values of the school. While it may seem more intense than some schools and requires more diligence and hard work, Principal Verrilli is not fazed. Last year, on the U.S. Department of Education's television show Education News Parents Can Use, he talked about the importance of the work the school has done. "When people fought for civil rights in the 1960s and were getting beaten and going to jail, they didn't say, this is hard work, we're not going to do it. They did it because it mattered. They said this matters. And this is why we are doing it."
But student dedication and classroom teaching are not the only reason for the achievement gains. There is extensive family involvement and teacher professional development, too. In the elementary school, for example, Principal Jackson explains that parents are involved right from the beginning. "We meet with the parents in groups of 10 after the students have been accepted to the school. The meeting is a discussion about the school—the student-parent handbook, the academic and behavioral expectations we have for students, the expectations we have for parents, and what they can expect from us, as a school and as a family. Once a month we invite parents to our community circle. This is a ceremony where we celebrate student success, such things as homework superstars, perfect attendance, and student of the month. There are a series of rituals including songs, chants, and academic reviews that parents get to witness. Parents leave very inspired. There is also a reading log chart; parents are required to read to their child then record and sign the reading log. In addition to the homework there is a behavior log that teachers fill out daily, and parents read the log and sign it. There is space for them to also write a note back to the teacher. We call parents all the time, even if the issue is small."
Parents have responded enthusiastically. According to Verrilli, parents want to have this kind of opportunity and want to have choices. "We have 2,000 people on the waiting list to get into our school. They want to have a choice. We make no excuses with our parents either. We tell them, this is how it is going to be at North Star, and you have the power to choose it or not choose it, and once you have chosen it, this is how we are going to do it. We see a school that has our children's best interest at heart."
Teachers benefit from the communication and interaction they have with each other and with their principals. They are frequently observed and receive feedback on their teaching, so they can improve. They meet with their principal to discuss instruction, data, curriculum planning, and lesson planning. The instruction is data driven and they have formal assessments that they use to drive the instruction, and these are put into a spreadsheet and analyzed during professional development sessions. In the summer, they have four weeks of intense, all-day professional development sessions, too.
Across the Uncommon Schools network, student academic achievement is soaring. Everyone involved with the schools is passionate and driven to help children succeed—to help close the achievement gap between economic groups. Like North Star Academy, they have made major progress. "This is the new civil rights movement of our era. It is not something that should happen, it is a moral obligation that we do this," said Verrilli. "Kids are being failed all over the country, and instead of fighting for a seat on the bus or at the lunch counter, we are fighting for a seat in the college classroom or a seat in the courtroom as a lawyer, or a seat in the boardroom. North Star has created the Uncommon schools network for Newark and New York. This has to happen, it is a moral obligation."
Key Resources:
Fertile Soil For Charters
A story about how Newark, N.J. is emerging as a model for other cities seeking to expand their charter school network. (Education Week, October 2008) (paid subscription required)
- Quantity Counts: The Growth of Charter School Management Organizations
This 2007 report is based on interviews with 10 CEOs of for profit Educational Management Organizations (EMO) and nonprofit Charter Management Organizations (CMO) managing 10 or more schools. It explores lessons from the experience of EMOs and CMOs and examines the common challenges and coping strategies of these organizations.
National Charter School Research Project (NCSRP)
Located at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, the NCSRP's Web site offer research and information aimed at improving the charter school and broader education communities.
What's New
From the U.S. Department of Education
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings delivered a speech entitled Educating America: The Will and the Way Forward at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at Harvard University in Cambridge, where she announced a plan to streamline FAFSA to make it easier and simpler for students seeking financial assistance for postsecondary studies. (Oct. 1) Under the plan, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) would be reduced from over 100 questions to 27, and students would learn how much aid they might qualify for before their senior year of high school.
On the heels of her speech at the Kennedy School, Secretary Spellings visited Charlestown High School in Boston to demonstrate College.gov, which is a new Web site designed by the U.S. Department of Education to be a go-to online resource for credible information about college that also provides real life experiences of peers who are already attending college. (Oct. 2)
Secretary Spellings delivered remarks at the Jobs for America's Graduates (JAG) symposium "Closing the Achievement Gap in Education and Employment Outcomes for At-Risk Minority Youth" in Washington, D.C. The symposium provided a forum for policymakers and education experts to discuss proven solutions and advance efforts to close achievement gaps. Secretary Spellings discussed student achievement under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and continuing efforts to close the achievement gap and improve graduation rates. (Sept. 23)
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced the award of over $106 million in Early Reading First grants to 31 recipients in 19 states and Washington, D.C., to improve the language and early literacy skills of young children. Reading First funds professional development; scientifically based instructional programs, materials and strategies; valid and reliable screening; diagnostic and ongoing classroom assessments; and statewide accountability and leadership structures. (Sept. 18)
U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Raymond Simon and First Book Senior Vice President Lynda Lancaster announced the availability of free books through the 2008 Back to School Book Donation at the Jennie Moore Elementary School in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. South Carolina Deputy State Superintendent Mark Bounds, and Charleston County Superintendent Nancy J. McGinley, joined them for the announcement. The initiative will make available more than 300,000 new Random House books, which will be distributed nationally to schools, libraries and literacy organizations serving low-income youth. For more information, go to http://www.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/bookcampaign/. (Note: To be eligible to register with First Book, an entity must: (1) serve children, at least 50% of whom are from low-income households, (2) be a Title I or Title I-eligible school, or (3) be a military family support program.). (Sept. 30)
The White House recently released an important report on a mounting educational challenge affecting underserved students in America's cities: the rapid closure of faith-based urban schools. The report, Preserving a Critical National Asset: America's Disadvantaged Students and the Crisis in Faith-Based Urban Schools serves as a follow up to the White House Summit on Inner-City Children and Faith-Based Schools, which occurred in April 2008. At the Summit, President Bush brought together educators, policymakers, community leaders, and others to develop strategies helping to preserve these valuable educational institutions.
In a statement made on October 3, the White House highlighted the significance of the problem. "Inner-city faith-based schools have helped educate generations of low-income American students. Yet, between the 1999-2000 and 2005-06 school years, the Nation lost nearly 1,200 of these faith-based schools, and those remaining had nearly 425,000 fewer students." In announcing the report, the White House stated, "The report chronicles the historical role of faith-based schools in America-particularly their service of low-income, urban populations-explains the caused of their rapid disappearance, and, most importantly, offers recommendations for reversing this dangerous trend. The White House believes that State and local governments, philanthropists, higher education institutions, educational entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders that take up these recommendations can help keep the doors of inner-city faith based schools open to America's disadvantaged students."
The next "Education News Parents Can Use" broadcast (October 21, 8:00-9:00 ET) will focus on preventing and mitigating safety breaches on college campuses and more effectively responding to emergencies if they occur. The U.S. Department of Education and other federal agencies have developed safety guidance for the K-12 and higher education community based on a common framework. However, the nature of college life -- where students enjoy open campuses and considerably more freedom and privacy rights than younger students -- presents unique challenges. In turn, colleges and universities are encouraged to be thoughtful and comprehensive as they go about creating their own plans to provide a safe learning environment. The broadcast will: highlight several Department programs available through the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools that seek to enhance safety on campus; discuss the rights students and parents have under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA); feature institutions that are leading the effort to enhance campus safety; and supply user-friendly tips for parents on the safety, health, and security of all students. To learn more, please visit www.ed.gov/edtv. To watch archived Web casts, please click here.
From the Office of Innovation and Improvement
The High-Quality Supplemental Educational Services and After-School Partnerships Demonstration program recently awarded five grants to support partnerships between supplemental educational services (SES) programs and 21st Century Community Learning Centers projects to increase the academic achievement of low-income students in Title I schools identified for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring. The projects will serve as models of how these two federally authorized after-school initiatives can be coordinated, so that a greater number of students enroll in, participate in, and complete the academic after-school services that improve their achievement in reading and math. The three-year grants were awarded to: (1) Northwest Buffalo Community Center (NY), in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Northtowns of WNY and Huntington Learning Center; (2) Southwest Florida Workforce Development Board, in partnership with McCREL, AIR, and Si2; (3) the Latin American Youth Center (DC); (4) Santa Ana Unified School District (CA), in partnership with THINK Together; and (5) Albuquerque Public Schools (NM), in partnership with Advantage Tutoring, Rio Grande Educational Collaborative, and Youth Development Incorporated. (October 2008)
On Wednesday November 19th, 2008 3pm – 4:30pm EST the Office of Innovation and Improvement's (OII) Voluntary Public School Choice Program (VPSC) in collaboration with Nova Southeastern University (NSU) will sponsor Public School Choice: From Research to Practice. Dr. Mark Berends, Director of the USDOE/IES funded National Center on School Choice, will discuss the conditions that research has shown are needed to make school choice successful. Dr. Judith Stein, Executive Director of the National Institute of Educational Options at NSU, along with a panel of VPSC district administrators will discuss potentially replicable school choice practices with a focus on the four tenets of the VPSC program. Many practices are highlighted on www.buildingchoice.org. This event is a live webcast from the Florida Public School Choice Consortium's 4th Annual Conference. School, district, and state level administrators, and policymakers across the country who have an interest in approaches to implementing public school choice can click here to register for this event.
American History
The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History has partnered with Verizon's Thinkfinity.org to create a new Web site called "Smithsonian's History Explorer." The new online tool offers free, standards-based, innovative resources for teaching and learning American history. Students can explore objects such as a $100,000 U.S. Gold Certificate and go behind the scenes with museum curators to learn how exhibitions are put together. Teachers can search classroom activities and primary source documents. (October 2008)
Arts Education
October is National Arts and Humanities Month, coordinated by Americans for the Arts. It is the largest annual celebration of the arts and humanities in the country. From open houses at arts centers to mayoral proclamations, communities across the United States join to recognize the importance of arts and culture in their daily lives. Learn more about how you and your community can get involved here. (October 2008)
The Alliance for Young Artists and Writers is now inviting students in grades seven through 12 to participate in the 2009 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, the nation's largest and longest-running recognition program for youth interested in the visual and literary arts. More than 300,000 youth will be recognized regionally with additional opportunities for exhibition, publication, and scholarships. National award-winning art works from the 2008 competition currently are on year-long display at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. (October 2008)
Charter Schools
Looking for a few good men and women to teach in public charter schools in your area? The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools recently launched a new Web-based tool called the "Public Charter Schools Job Board." Intended to match highly qualified professionals with positions supporting and working in public charter schools, this easy-to-use application connects users with charter schools, support organizations, authorizers and other employers. (September 2008)
Education Week's fifth annual Leading for Learning PDF-[2.32MB] report, funded by The Wallace Foundation, examines leadership challenges unique to the charter school community. Specifically, the report includes new research from the National Charter Schools Research Project at the University of Washington regarding the characteristics of charter school principals and the issues these school leaders face. (September 2008)
According to a survey from the Center for Education Reform, Americans favor public charter schooling and other examples of public school choice. While more than three-quarters of those surveyed did not correctly identify public charter schools as public schools, when given a clear definition, 78 percent of respondents supported "allowing communities to create new public schools called charter schools that would be held accountable for student results and would be required to meet the same academic standards and testing requirements as other public schools." (Aug. 25)
Education Reform
A new center for education research, supported by philanthropist Eli Broad and led by economics professor Roland G. Fryer Jr., will soon open soon at Harvard University. The Education Innovation Laboratory (or "EdLabs") will enable economists and educators to study strategies for improving K-12 public education. Research will focus on three cities: New York, Washington, and Chicago. (Sept. 25)
Many college freshmen learn a difficult lesson in their first few weeks on campus: despite earning a high school diploma, they are unprepared for college-level academics. According to a new report, Diploma to Nowhere, from Strong American Schools, which sponsors the "ED in '08" initiative, colleges and taxpayers spend over $2 billion annually on remedial classes aimed at teaching students material they did not learn in high school. (Sept. 15)
Mathematics and Science
The National Science Foundation Web site offers a multi-media gallery that includes nearly 100 videos and web casts on a wide range of science-related topics. Some of these include an analysis of "stormy weather" on the sun; a video examining how the popular Star Wars movies relate to various science concepts; and a lecture by climate expert, Richard Alley. The video clips are searchable by keyword or phrase. (October 2008)
Every year, Intel Corp. selects U.S. schools that have demonstrated excellence in mathematics and science and designates them as "Intel Schools of Distinction." One elementary, one middle and one high school in each of the two categories – mathematics and science – receive $10,000 in grants, among other prizes. This year, the winning schools represented states from California to Kansas. (September 2008)
Raising Student Achievement
A new research brief from the California Dropout Research Project examines what happened to students who were scheduled to graduate in 2004, but dropped out of high school during their sophomore year. According to the brief, in 2006 – two years after their scheduled graduation – over one-third of these students were neither going to school (high school or college) nor working. Nationwide, four years after dropping out, 30 percent of students were not in school and not working. (Sept. 11)
A new report PDF-[709KB] from the National Center for Children in Poverty reveals that children who are chronically absent in kindergarten perform at the lowest levels in reading, mathematics, and general knowledge in first grade. According to the analysis, the effects of missing at least 10 percent of the school year in kindergarten extend to the end of elementary school for children in poverty, with these students continuing to score the lowest in reading and mathematics even into fifth grade. (September 2008)
Recent research shows that there may be consistent academic factors that can be used to predict whether a student is likely to drop out of school. The Alliance for Excellent Education has released an issue brief PDF-[491KB] that explores the "predictive power of early-warning data" and discusses policies that can support efforts to use this data to keep children in school. (August 2008)
The News Literacy Project is an innovative national program designed to mobilize journalists in an effort to help secondary-school students sort fact from fiction in the digital age. The initiative's mission is to give students the tools to be savvy consumers of credible information they find in the media. The project will create partnerships between active and retired journalists and English, social studies and history teachers as well as after-school media clubs. (October 2008)
Teacher Quality and Development
Demand for new teachers is expected to exceed 1.5 million over the next decade, according to some estimates. A new national survey PDF-[256KB] from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and funded by MetLife Foundation reveals that 42 percent of college-educated Americans aged 24 to 60 would consider entering the teaching profession. The survey also indicates that the United States could improve teacher quality and better retain teachers by increasing teachers' starting salaries and providing better preparation for the classroom. (Sept. 10)
Research shows that there is a shortage of science teachers nationwide, and that without adequate support, 66 percent of new teachers will quit the profession within three years. A report from the New Science Teachers' Support Network at George Mason University offers school leaders advice on the most important forms of support specific to science teachers. Among the recommendations are access to high-quality courses about science instruction and in-class teaching mentors who are retired science educators. (Sept. 9)
PBS has launched a new resource for teachers, media specialists, early childhood instructors, and other education professionals called "PBS Teachers Connect." The online tool is designed so that users may share ideas, collaborate, and support the effective implementation of technology in schools. Through an already established Web site, "PBS Teachers," users can search more than 3,000 standards-based classroom activities, lesson plans, and interactive resources; then, they can easily bookmark, organize, and share their "tagged" content within the PBS Teachers Connect portal. (October 2008)
Education Development Center, Inc. has been awarded $9.2 million by the U.S. Department of Education to serve as a national research and development center focusing on instructional technology. The center will investigate how video games can be used as educational tools in middle school classrooms. (Sept. 10)
Innovations in the News
Charter Schools/School Choice
A "seminal experiment in whether a charter operator can transform a large, troubled urban school" is underway in Los Angeles, where Green Dot Public Schools, a charter schools operator, has taken over Locke High School. From the outset, Green Dot is making changes, among them splitting the formerly comprehensive high school into seven separate academies. L.A. Schools Superintendent David L. Brewer said that Green Dot will continue to accept all children from the school's established attendance area. The costs of the changes are expected to have the school operating at a deficit for the first four years, but this initial gap is being met through gifts from local benefactors. [More—The Los Angeles Times] (Sept. 18)
The city of Yonkers, although located in Westchester County, New York, is far from the wealthy stereotype of the city of that same name. In 2006-07, fewer than half of Yonkers high school graduates went on to four-year colleges, and Yonkers students have the lowest pass rate on the state Regents exams in Westchester County. But with the help of the College Board, the Bill and Melinda Gates and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundations, a new high school, Palisade Preparatory, is offering an alternative for students. Based on a philosophy that all children can achieve, Palisade enrolls students based on their selection of it as one of their top three high school choices. Enrollment in each grade is capped at 80 students and extra instructional time of three hours a week is built into the school's schedule. [More—The New York Times] (Sept. 14)
Raising Student Achievement
In Minnesota, with financial support from the legislature, state educators are taking a more in-depth look at Response to Intervention (RTI), a data-driven approach to reading and math, and are providing training and other support to schools that want to adopt the approach. Nearly 40 schools and districts are receiving coaching in RTI under a $1 million, two-year initiative. Interest in the RTI approach is twofold: its reported effectiveness at increasing reading proficiencies at the elementary level and reductions in the number of students needing special education services. [More—The Minneapolis Star Tribune] (Sept. 8)
In Central Texas, high school students who take engineering courses can earn college credit from Austin Community College and two state university campuses, thanks to the E3 Alliance, a regional education collaborative. The courses are part of national program, Project Lead the Way, which designs and accredits them, and develops both curriculum and professional development for engineering education at the middle and high school levels. [More—Austin Business Journal] (Aug. 29)
School Improvement
It seems like a classic case of delayed response that recommendations put forward a quarter century ago about the need for more school time from A Nation at Risk are now gaining increasing attention nationwide. Calls for an added hour to the school day and 20 to 40 days to the school year in that 1983 report are now gaining traction in places such as Massachusetts, where a three-year old initiative to expand learning time is being implemented in 26 schools statewide. In another current development, eight communities are awaiting word from the Mott Foundation about grants to implement an expanded learning format that entails a "seamless learning experience" that occurs both inside and outside the school building. [More—Education Week] (Sept. 22)
Teacher Quality and Development
A new elementary school in Riverside, Calif., doubles as a living laboratory where pre-service teachers observe teachers and students in real time and also take their undergraduate classes in early-childhood education and child development. The arrangement is a collaboration between Riverside Community College and the Alvord Unified Schools, and the combined-purpose facility is the Innovative Learning Center at Phillip M. Stokoe Elementary School. The adult classes at the Center are integrated into several clusters of elementary classrooms that are connected by observation corridors with two-way mirrors. "The whole intent of the massing and the design of the school," according to principal John Nichols, "was to allow the facility itself to be a teaching tool." [More—California's Press-Enterprise] (Sept. 15)
Across the country, electronic games are winning over educators as their effectiveness in the classroom becomes more apparent. According to Brock Dubbels, a teacher at Seward Montessori School in Minneapolis, "the big idea is to identify what students are already invested in, and that's video games." Taking the concept a step further, Katie Salen, an associate professor of design and technology at the Parsons School of Design in New York, hopes to open a new public school "with a game-centered curriculum." Lessons would be approached as quests, utilizing Salen's view that "games create a need in kids to figure something out." [More—Christian Science Monitor] (Sept. 19)
Elementary students in a Florida school got a lesson in technological efficiency when they used a hand-held keypad to take a math test. The device, called a student responder, electronically submits multiple-choice and true/false answers to a computer. Teachers can instantly see individual responses and overall results from a test, which allows them to make timely judgments of how well their students are doing. In addition to eliminating the time teachers spend grading, the responders also reduce the use of paper and pencils in the classroom. [More—The Tampa Tribune (Fla.)] (Sept. 12)
Schools across the country are shifting from paperbacks and copied handouts to online textbooks and articles. The movement is saving trees and saving teachers valuable time in and out of the classroom. Kerri Serrano, a government teacher in Virginia, values the flexibility it has given her in the classroom. "If something's not working," she said, " I don't have to stick with that for the rest of the day because that's all I have copies of." Classrooms are not the only place where paper is being exchanged for laptops. School boards are following the trend as well and finding beneficial results. [More—Education Week (premium article access compliments of Edweek.org)] (Sept. 4)
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Welcome to the online version of NFA's rulebook, the NFA Manual. We update this
version on an ongoing basis. If you want to check out what changes have most recently
been made to the NFA Manual, go to Recent Manual Updates.
SECTION 17. AGREEMENTS CONFLICTING WITH THE CODE.[Adopted effective May 17, 1993.]
This Code shall supersede any provision in an agreement entered into between the parties, either before or after a dispute arises, if the provision in the agreement contradicts or limits the Code or imposes additional obligations on NFA or the arbitrators. However, in the Secretary's discretion, the provision may be applied to NFA arbitration if the agreement names NFA as the arbitration forum or the parties consent in writing to apply the provision to NFA arbitration.


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|GTA V Latest News | #GTAV | #GTAOnline
2009 Nerdook's Side Quest Mod for GTA IV
Grand Theft Auto IV - Modifications | @ 10:58 PM MDT | By rappo
available for download.
One of the main criticisms GTA fans had of GTA IV was that after the storyline mission, there isn't much to do in Liberty City. GTA IV scripting modder Nerdook decided to do something about it!
Nerdook's Side Quest Mod v1.2 aims to add more side missions and activities to Liberty City (that don't include darts with your cousin). The main featues of the mod are:
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Play-By-Playmate: The Playoff Picture
After the excitement of the football season starting, Jaime gets back to the real race that's afoot, the MLB's hunt for October
With just over two weeks left in the hunt for October, baseball fans are on their feet in anticipation.
Last year, the regular season went right down to the wire with Game 162 deciding the fate of not one, not two, not three (thanks LeBron) but four teams, and this year, with the addition of a second wild card spot, doesn't look like it will be much different.
That said, this week should show some true colors; some of the schedules around the league open up a lot of room for division titles to be claimed, some wild card teams to fall off and some others to pick up. I'm not calling any shots (who would after last year's kerfuffle?) but I'm willing to make some educated guesses. Yeah. Let's call them that.
The American League
Who would have thought that midway through September the Orioles would be just one game back of the Yankees for the division lead? The AL East Division lead! Through the first half I thought they looked a lot like last year's Pirates: surprisingly strong but likely to burn out. But nope. No, sirree. Now they remind me of the '08 Rays team that ran the board in September and went all the way to the World Series. Now don't get me wrong: I don't know that the O's will be in the World Series, but with the sub-.500 Mariners and Red Sox on their schedule this week, they could be in first place for the division come next Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Yankees have to play the A's and Jays. The Athletics are a tough beat this year with a great pitching staff and the Jays recently swept the Yanks, so this could spell more trouble for the Bombers, who've dropped a 10-game lead since July. In fact, with the Rays playing Toronto and the Red Sox this week, the Yankees could find themselves fighting off a third-place team while trying to fight their way back into first. Either way, it's gonna be close.
One division over, we've got the Tigers two games back of the White Sox, but with each of them playing one team over .500 and one below over the next week, I'm saying this division race stays right where it's at; this just isn't the Tigers team we saw a year ago.
Out west, the Rangers are staving off the A's, but that's a team playing for keeps. Like the O's, we figured they'd just disappear down the stretch, but here we are, two weeks away from the playoffs and the A's are going strong. But they've got a tough draw this week with the Tigers and the Yankees, so they'll have to prove they've got what it takes.
The National League
I'm not even sure why I'm writing about this league. While the AL has three division races going on (no current leader has more than a 3.0 game advantage) the National League divisions are just about locked up: Washington's got a 5.5-game hold on the East, the Reds have a shocking 11.0-game lead in the Central and the Giants locked down the West by 7.5. Even Atlanta has a 7.0-game hold on the first wild card spot.
It only gets interesting once we start talking about the second wild card spot, otherwise we wouldn't be talking about the National League at all.
Of the six teams fighting over the one remaining spot, four of them made the playoffs last year (St. Louis, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Arizona), two of them were pronounced dead midseason (Philadelphia and Milwaukee) only to come back down the stretch and one of them is the Pirates, who have been the laughingstock of major league baseball for almost two decades. I'd honestly like to see them make it, but I think this is a fight between St. Louis (who might find it embarrassing to be the reigning World Series champions and not even make it back to the postseason) and Los Angeles (who acquired over $250 million in players and salary midseason and would most definitely find it embarrassing not to be playing baseball in October).
So that's where we're at. We'll see how this week goes, and come clinch time, I'll make some playoff predications.
Jaime's Fantasy League Update
So after losing a heartbreaker last week (no thanks to DeAngelo Williams and his zero points), I'm happy to announce I have a wildly comfortable 90-point lead this week that I don't think my opponent, Favre Dollar Footlongs, will be able to overcome. Also, a big thanks to everyone who entered this year's contest. Take this time to bone up on your fantasy football knowledge; you'll need it for next year's contest if you wanna beat me.


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A nefarious girlfriend prank that involves icing one's erection to the point of near frostbite and then sliding in bed and punching your frozen member into her gasm chasm while simultaneously gripping her tightly and whooping like a cowboy. The goal is to stay on for 8 seconds while she bucks and kicks like an angry bull.
"Cody rode Sheena at the Eskimo Rodeo the other night. He got a black eye, a couple broken ribs and a busted lip but made it the whole 8 seconds. That dude is a legend. "
by TheLargeBreast February 21, 2014


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I have a little experience with shotguns. I think you are on the right path as far as the 870 goes. It is a great gun that you will enjoy shooting. Get the model that you like the best.
Don't worry too much about the stock style-fixed/folding/pistol. However, you don't want the stock to be too long.
As far as rounds go-slugs are for distances up to 150 yards and are a solid projectile. Buckshot is primarly used up to 25 yards for self-defense. Birdshot is used for hunting guns. The bigger the number the smaller the shot.
As far as capacity goes, five is plenty. An extended tube would be ok with six total rounds. That is a lot of firepower. Go out to the range and shoot a popper with a handgun and then with buckshot. You will be suprised how the buckshot knocks the popper down.
My personal defense shotgun is a 1970's 870 Police model with a 20" rifle-sighted barrel and four shot mag. I love it and wouldn't change it.


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Madras HS students' 'Challenge Day' poster contest
MADRAS, Ore. - The Serendipity West Foundation (SWF) would like to inform our community members about the "Challenge Day Student Poster Contest." These posters were made by students in support of the Challenge Day event held at Madras High School in September 2012.
The students of Madras High School have designed posters that support the Challenge Day efforts in their school. The student that gets the most votes for his/her poster will receive a $100 scholarship award presented by the Serendipity West Foundation. Please follow the link below to vote in our Madras High School Challenge Day Student Poster Contest. Click the link on the last slide to cast your vote by the 28th of March 2013.
Vote for your favorite poster by following the link below.
SWF is a non-profit organization based out of Bend, OR. They work to bring Challenge Day to Central Oregon middle and high schools. The Challenge Day organization believes separation, isolation, and lowliness are the root cause of a wide range of teen issues such as teasing, bullying, stereotyping, racism, violence, suicide, and the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.
These Challenge Days are one day events where 100 students and 30 to 35 adult volunteers spend an entire day working on "ice-breakers," team exercises, presentations, and small group discussions that help students understand and appreciate both their differences and similarities.
For further information about this poster contest and information about the Serendipity West Foundation you can visit www.serendipitywest.org or contact Carol Oxenrider at 541.382.1093 and by email at email@example.com.


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This past spring, Microsoft released Internet Explorer (IE) version 9 and shortly afterward, Mozilla released Firefox version 4. ANGEL was not immediately compatible with these two browsers. An ANGEL software patch was applied to our installation last month that now makes it compatible with both of these browsers.
ANGEL to Blackboard Migration
In 2009, Blackboard acquired ANGEL and since then have been working on merging the two products. They have started this merger by slowly blending the strengths of each product and introducing them into Blackboard version 9.
Over the last two years since Blackboard's acquisition of ANGEL, the SUNY Learning Network (SLN) has been investigating migration paths away from ANGEL to another Learning Management System (LMS) product. SLN is a SUNY unit that provides distance learning services to member campuses. They currently host the SUNY Oswego installation of ANGEL along with 26 other SUNY campuses.
Recently, SLN announced that they will officially be supporting Blackboard as the next LMS for SLN campuses. A new three-year contract between SUNY and Blackboard is nearly complete. SUNY Oswego has chosen to participate in this contract when it becomes available and will be looking at migrating from ANGEL to Blackboard sometime over the next 12-18 months. We will keep users informed of the details on the actual migration as we have them. Look for announcements on the SUNY Oswego ANGEL website.


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OK, I do not want pests or pesticides. Picked up a conventional langstrom hive with bees and queen (who I have not seen) top super has almost no comb, no honey, bottom super has good comb development, plenty of bees, calm, so I think they are queenright.
Bottom board, telescoping lid, no inner covers. I have placed it where it has shade from maybe one or 2 pm on. The lid is red, this baby is going to soak up heat. So last night I stuck a couple of twigs under the north edge so it could vent heat.
My thinking: I need to add:
1. Screen - aka window screen - inner cover on top, and maybe build one of these (buying would mean shipping and take too much time, 108 here today) http://www.honeyrunapiaries.com/stor...ver-p-232.html
That would take the hive to upper entrance exit.
I can build a screened bottom board out of 1/8 inch hardware cloth and plywood with a 1x2 frame, that will vent the bottom, and allow shb's to fall out onto my beautiful cinder block over pallet over rubber pondliner, where they aren't going to get to ground quick or easy. Because I have my hive up on anttrap legs of 1 1/2" pvc couplings topped with a cd, I've got to have something strong enough to support the weight over the legs. Which is where the plywood edges come in. Will this build enough ventilation?
Should I skip the window screening on top and just take the hive to top entrance/exit?
Since I have propped the front of the hive's telescoping cover open, will bees adapt to the top entrance idea ok?
Should I leave enough access to the SBB to be able to put in a sheet of paper and get a mite or shb count regularly?
Got to go to work, for now they are vented, I am feeding them, and they are happy, but I don't want all the bad critters moving in. And I need an organic beetle trap. have plenty of CD cases btw....
I owe, I owe, it's off to work I go.


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PICC Lines Still Overused in CKD, Largely for Convenience »
"Patients who require hemodialysis (HD) are commonly exposed to peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) both before and after initiation of dialysis, and are subsequently much less likely to transition to any working fistula or graft, as i"...
Read the PICC Lines Still Overused in CKD, Largely for Convenience article »
(tacrolimus) Capsules and Injection
- Increased risk of development of lymphoma and other malignancies, particularly of the skin, due to immunosuppression [see WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS].
- Increased susceptibility to bacterial, viral, fungal, and protozoal infections, including opportunistic infections [see WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS].
- Only physicians experienced in immunosuppressive therapy and management of organ Transplant patients should prescribe Prograf. Patients receiving the drug should be managed in facilities equipped and staffed with adequate laboratory and supportive medical resources. The physician responsible for maintenance therapy should have complete information requisite for the follow-up of the patient [see WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS].
Prograf is available for oral administration as capsules (tacrolimus capsules USP) containing the equivalent of 0.5 mg, 1 mg or 5 mg of anhydrous tacrolimus USP. Inactive ingredients include lactose monohydrate NF, hypromellose USP, croscarmellose sodium NF, and magnesium stearate NF. The 0.5 mg capsule shell contains gelatin NF, titanium dioxide USP and ferric oxide NF, the 1 mg capsule shell contains gelatin NF and titanium dioxide USP, and the 5 mg capsule shell contains gelatin NF, titanium dioxide USP and ferric oxide NF.
Prograf is also available as a sterile solution (tacrolimus injection) containing the equivalent of 5 mg anhydrous tacrolimus USP in 1 mL for administration by intravenous infusion only. Each mL contains polyoxyl 60 hydrogenated castor oil (HCO-60), 200 mg, and dehydrated alcohol, USP, 80.0% v/v. Prograf injection must be diluted with 0.9% Sodium Chloride Injection or 5% Dextrose Injection before use.
Tacrolimus, previously known as FK506, is the active ingredient in Prograf. Tacrolimus is a macrolide immunosuppressant produced by Streptomyces tsukubaensis. Chemically, tacrolimus is designated as [3S- [3R*[E(1S*,3S*,4S*)], 4S*,5R*,8S*,9E,12R*,14R*,15S*,16R*,18S*,19S*,26aR*]] - 5,6,8,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,24,25,26,26a-hexadecahydro-5,19-dihydroxy-3-[2-(4-hydroxy-3- methoxycyclohexyl)-1-methylethenyl]-14,16-dimethoxy-4,10,12,18-tetramethyl-8-(2-propenyl)-15,19- epoxy-3H-pyrido[2,1-c][1,4] oxaazacyclotricosine-1,7,20,21(4H,23H)-tetrone, monohydrate. The chemical structure of tacrolimus is:
Tacrolimus has an empirical formula of C44H69NO12•H2O and a formula weight of 822.03. Tacrolimus appears as white crystals or crystalline powder. It is practically insoluble in water, freely soluble in ethanol, and very soluble in methanol and chloroform.
What are the possible side effects of tacrolimus (Prograf)?
Get emergency medical help if you have any of these signs of an allergic reaction: hives; difficult breathing; swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat.
Call your doctor at once if you have a serious side effect such as:
- fever, chills, body aches, flu symptoms, sores in your mouth and throat;
- change in your mental state, problems with speech or walking, decreased vision (may start gradually and get worse quickly);
- pale or yellowed skin, dark colored urine, confusion or weakness;
- feeling light-headed or short of breath, rapid heart rate,...
Read All Potential Side Effects and See Pictures of Prograf »
What are the precautions when taking tacrolimus (Prograf)?
Before taking tacrolimus, tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are allergic to it; or to other macrolide medications (such as sirolimus, erythromycin); or if you have any other allergies. This product may contain inactive ingredients, which can cause allergic reactions or other problems. Talk to your pharmacist for more details.
Before using this medication, tell your doctor or pharmacist your medical history, especially of: mineral imbalances (such as high potassium), kidney disease, any recent/current infections, cancer, liver disease, high blood pressure, diabetes.
Tacrolimus may cause a condition that affects the heart rhythm (QT prolongation). QT prolongation can infrequently result in serious (rarely fatal) fast/irregular heartbeat and other symptoms (such as severe...
Last reviewed on RxList: 12/8/2016
This monograph has been modified to include the generic and brand name in many instances.
Prograf FDA Prescribing Information
Additional Prograf Information
Prograf - User Reviews
Prograf User Reviews
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Here is a collection of user reviews for the medication Prograf sorted by most helpful.
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