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WBUR News
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Reputed Mass. Crime Boss Sentenced To 12 Years
A reputed Massachusetts crime boss has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to loan sharking and extortion.
Mark Rossetti of Boston was sentenced Friday in Suffolk Superior Court. He pleaded guilty to loaning money at high rates to a gambler and making threats to collect gambling debts.
The sentence will be served concurrently with a 12-year Essex County drug trafficking sentence from Janurary and a seven-to-nine-year breaking and entering sentence from Boston last year.
In October 2010, prosecutors including Attorney General Martha Coakley announced the indictment of 31 people in a highly organized criminal enterprise allegedly operating under Rossetti's direction.
Coakley said Friday's sentence "is an important step in our efforts to combat organized crime."
Rossetti's lawyer said outside court Friday his client is glad to get the case behind him.
This program aired on March 15, 2013. The audio for this program is not available.
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Here's the latest article from the Card Games site at BellaOnline.com.
Quick Solitaire Games
Two quick solitaire games to play to while away the hours. They both present a challenge and the odds of winning may not be so great; but if that doesn't scare you, these games should be fun to try.
Please visit cardgames.bellaonline.com for even more great content about Card Games.
To participate in free, fun online discussions, this site has a community forum all about Card Games located here -
I hope to hear from you sometime soon, either in the forum or in response to this email message. I thrive on your feedback!
Have fun passing this message along to family and friends, because we all love free knowledge!
Robin Rounds Whittemore, Card Games Editor
One of hundreds of sites at BellaOnline.com

subset: commoncrawl


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3 rescued in bridge collapse amid China flooding
Three people were pulled from a raging river but six others remained missing following a bridge collapse Tuesday in mountainous western China amid heavy flooding that has forced thousands to evacuate their homes.
The official Xinhua News Agency said one sedan, three minivans and one SUV fell into the torrent when the more than 40-year-old Qinglian bridge broke apart just before noon in the city of Jiangyou in the western province of Sichuan.
The local government said in a statement posted to its official website that an earlier report that a pair of passenger buses had plunged into the river was incorrect.
The two-lane bridge was completed in 1969, according to Xinhua, and a replacement span is under construction. China has been pouring resources into building infrastructure, but many older bridges and dams are of poor quality and urgently need repairs or replacement.
China's Civil Affairs Ministry announced Tuesday that flooding in Sichuan since Sunday has affected an area that is home to 360,000 people, damaging or destroying 300 homes, and forcing 6,100 to evacuate.


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Standing on a street corner and trying to flag down hundreds of already occupied yellow cabs is a rite of passage in New York. ZabKab wants to increase the odds you'll actually nab one by turning your phone into a homing beacon for free taxis nearby. Think of it as Uber for metered cabs.
When you need a cab, fire up the app, hit the cartoony "hail" button and your phone will beam your location to drivers within five blocks. (Taxi drivers have their own version of the app which looks for pings.) The app just launched in New York with 1000 cabbies reportedly already looking for passengers. ZabKab's developer says it has plans to roll the service out to other US cities and internationally. Whoa there guys! It's an interesting concept, and one that's sure to come in handy once in a very great while. But don't expect it to do you any good during the 5 o'clock shift change. [iTunes and Google Play via NBC New York]


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In Tuesday afternoon press conference, the Federal authorities and the Center for Disease Control confirmed the first diagnosed case of Ebola in the United States and the local station WFAA was the first to report the patent testing positive in Dallas, according to Ryan Gorman, First US case of deadly Ebola virus confirmed in Dallas. The male patient recently traveled to Liberia, leaving the country on September 19 and arriving in the U.S. the following day, according to the CDC's Dr. Thomas Frieden. The person exhibited no symptoms until about five days later. He sought care on the 26th, was admitted to a hospital on the 28th and tested positive on the 30th, Frieden explained, adding the man is "critically ill." The patient has been placed into isolation in Texas and will be treated in the state. A CDC team already on the ground in Texas will work to identify all individuals that have come into contact with the infected individual and monitor those people for the next 21 days, Frieden added. Frieden declined to say if the individual is an American citizen, but did disclose he is in the country to "visit family." Dallas County Health and Human Services director Zachary Thompson told WFAA that the city is more than able to contain and treat the isolated patient. Health official have reported that more than 3,000 people have died during the recent outbreak in West Africa and three Americans were transported to Atlanta for treatment after contracting Ebola, but this is the first case outside that region. Frieden said, "Ebola is a scary disease. We're really hoping for the recovery of this individual. We're [also] stopping it in it's tracks in the United States." The Associated Press reports, Ebola case stokes concerns for Liberians in Texas, Stanley Gaye, president of the Liberian Community Association of Dallas-Fort Worth, said the 10,000-strong Liberian population in North Texas is skeptical of the CDC's assurances because Ebola has ravaged their country. Gaye said at a community meeting Tuesday evening, "We've been telling people to try to stay away from social gatherings. We need to know who it is so that they (family members) can all go get tested. If they are aware, they should let us know." Vice president Roseline Sayon said, "We don't want to get a panic going.We embrace those people who are coming forward. Don't let the stigma keep you from getting tested." Blood tests by Texas health officials and the CDC separately confirmed his Ebola diagnosis Tuesday. State health officials described the patient as seriously ill. Goodman said he was able to communicate and was hungry. Passengers leaving Liberia pass through rigorous screening, but those checks are no guarantee that an infected person not showing symptoms will be stopped from boarding, according to Binyah Kesselly, chairman of the Liberia Airport Authority's board of directors. Ebola is believed to have sickened more than 6,500 people in West Africa, and more than 3,000 deaths have been linked to the disease, according to the World Health Organization. But even those tolls are probably underestimates, partially because there are not enough labs to test people for Ebola. Two mobile Ebola labs staffed by American naval researchers arrived this weekend and will be operational this week, according to the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia. The labs will reduce the amount of time it takes to learn if a patient has Ebola from several days to a few hours. The U.S. military also delivered equipment to build a 25-bed clinic that will be staffed by American health workers and will treat doctors and nurses who have become infected. The U.S. is planning to build 17 other clinics in Liberia and will help train more health workers to staff them.
While the man is now receiving treatment for Ebola, new details have emerged about the days before the he was admitted to the hospital. the Associated Press reports, Dallas ER sent Ebola-infected patient home, a Dallas emergency room sent home the man with Ebola last week knowing he had told a nurse he had been to West Africa specifically Liberia and officials at the hospital are considering if they would of acted differently if they entire staff knew. The decision by Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital to release the patient, who had recently arrived from Liberia, could have put others at risk of exposure to Ebola before the man went back to the ER a couple of days later when his condition worsened. A nine-member team of federal health officials was tracking anyone who had close contact with the man after he fell ill on Sept. 24. The group of 12 to 18 people included three members of the ambulance crew that took him to the hospital, as well as a handful of schoolchildren. They will be checked every day for 21 days, the disease's incubation period. "That's how we're going to break the chain of transmission, and that's where our focus has to be," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The Associated Press Wednesday. The patient explained to a nurse last Thursday that he was visiting the U.S. from Africa, but that information was not widely shared, said Dr. Mark Lester, who works for the hospital's parent company. "Regretfully, that information was not fully communicated" throughout the medical team, Lester said. Instead, the man was diagnosed with a low-risk infection and sent home. He was prescribed antibiotics, according to his sister, Mai Wureh, who identified her brother, Thomas Eric Duncan, as the infected man in an interview with The Associated Press. Duncan has been kept in isolation at the hospital since Sunday. He was listed in serious but stable condition. But the diagnosis, and the hospital's slip-up, highlighted the wider threat of Ebola, even far from Africa. Since the man had no symptoms on the plane, the CDC stressed there is no risk to his fellow passengers. Reuters reports, Dallas Ebola patient vomited outside apartment on way to hospital, two days after he was sent home from the hospital, the man was seen vomiting on the ground outside his apartment complex as he was taken into an ambulance. The New York Times said that Duncan, in his mid-40s, helped transport a pregnant woman suffering from Ebola to a hospital in Liberia, where she was turned away for lack of space. Duncan helped bring the woman back to her family's home and carried her into the house, where she later died, the newspaper reported. Four days later Duncan left for the United States, the Times said, citing the woman's parents and neighbors. Airline and hotel company shares dropped sharply on U.S. markets on Wednesday over concerns that Ebola's spread outside Africa might curtail travel. Drugmakers with experimental Ebola treatments in the pipeline saw their shares rise. A Liberian official said the man traveled through Brussels to the United States. United Airlines said in a statement that the man took one of its flights from Brussels to Washington Dulles Airport, where he changed planes to travel to Dallas-Fort Worth. As of Thursday morning, Ryan Gorman reports, Texas officials now looking at 100 people possibly infected with deadly Ebola virus, Texas State Health Department spokesperson Carrie Williams said in a statement: "We are working from a list of about 100 potential or possible contacts. The number will drop as we focus in on those whose contact may represent a potential risk of infection." Officials previously said they were looking at about 80 people while Duncan was being cared for in a Dallas hospital. Authorities explained they are casting a wide net in order to make sure no one goes untreated and any potential outbreak can be immediately contained. In the article, US Ebola patient's family under quarantine as he faces criminal charges in Liberia, Gorman reports that Duncan's family has been placed under quarantine and Thomas Duncan will face criminal charges in Liberia. Officials hand-delivered the order to Thomas Duncan's relatives Wednesday night after they reportedly violated an official request to not leave home, WFAA reported. The Liberian citizen reportedly lied on his health form to gain entry to the U.S. Duncan's family is now under a strict quarantine until October 19. They are legally prohibited from leaving their Dallas home for any reason. Duncan lying on his health form has prompted Liberian officials to announce they will file criminal charges against him for carrying the deadly virus through Europe and two U.S. cities, the Associated Press reported.
While the U.S. now may be dealing with the deadly virus, the outbreak in Western African countries continues to grow at an alarming rate and the local health facilities are ill-equipped to deal. Eline Gordts reports, 5 People Are Infected With Ebola Every Hour In Sierra Leone, according to new data released Wednesday by the International Charity Save the Children, five people in Sierra Leone are infected with Ebola every hour. According to Save the Children, an estimated 765 new cases of Ebola were reported in Sierra Leone just last week, while the country currently only has 327 beds for patients available. Without drastic efforts to curtail the spread of the disease, 10 people will be infected every hour in the country before the end of October, Save the Children said. In a press release about the numbers, Rob MacGillivray, the organization's director in Sierra Leone, said: "We are facing the frightening prospect of an epidemic which is spreading like wildfire across Sierra Leone, with the number of new cases doubling every three weeks." The spread of Ebola remains persistent in Sierra Leone, according to the WHO, and there's strong evidence that the disease is reaching new districts. According to estimates by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the number of Ebola cases in Liberia and Sierra Leone could rise to 1.4 million by January if the disease is not effectively fought. Only 30 percent of patients survive Ebola.
Meanwhile, as protest rage in Hong Kong, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has refused to step down Thursday and offered to talk to defuse a week of massive demonstrations that are the biggest challenge to Beijing's authority since China took over from Britain in 1997, according to the Associated Press, Hong Kong leader offers talks with protesters. Student leaders of the protest did not respond to Leung's announcement, however, Occupy Central said in a statement: "[Occupy Central] hopes the talks can provide a turning point in the current political stalemate. However, we reiterate our view that Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying is the one responsible for the stalemate, and that he must step down." The protesters want Beijing to reverse its decision that all candidates in an inaugural 2017 election for chief executive must be approved by a committee of mostly pro-Beijing elites. They say China is reneging on its promise that the city's top leader will be chosen through "universal suffrage." Earlier in the day, police brought in supplies of tear gas and other riot gear, and the protesters prepared face masks and goggles as tensions rose in the standoff outside the imposing government compound near the waterfront. Police warned of serious consequences if the protesters tried to surround or occupy government buildings, as they had threatened to do if Leung didn't resign by the end of Thursday. Leung said shortly before midnight that the authorities would continue to tolerate the protests as long as participants did not charge police lines, but urged them to stop their occupation of much of the downtown area. He said, "I urge students not to charge into or occupy government buildings. … It's not about my personal inconvenience. These few days the protesters' occupation of key areas of the city has already seriously affected Hong Kong's economy, people's daily lives and government functioning." Joanna Chiu reports, Hong Kong leader rejects protestors' demands, Hong Kong's free press and social media has allowed protestors a voice and exposure that may prevent China from cracking down in the same way it does on restive minorities and dissidents living in the mainland, where it is harshly punished. With dozens of bus routes canceled and subway entrances closed, Hong Kong's police and fire department renew calls for protestors to clear the streets. Many of the protesters were born after an agreement with Britain in 1984 that pledged to give China control of the city of 7 million, and have grown up in an era of affluence and stability, with no experience of past political turmoil in mainland China. Their calls for a great say in their futures have widespread support among many in Hong Kong disillusioned by a widening gap between the city's ultra-wealthy tycoons and the rest of the population. Didi Tang reports, No images of Hong Kong protests in China's media, China's government has cut off news about Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests to the rest of the country, a clampdown so thorough that no image of the rallies has appeared in state-controlled media, and at least one man has been detained for reposting accounts of the events. By contrast, media in semiautonomous Hong Kong have been broadcasting nonstop about the crowds, showing unarmed students fending off tear gas and pepper spray with umbrellas as they call for more representative democracy in the former British colony. Censorship of microblogs – including phrases such as "tear gas" – has kept online discussion muted. The image-sharing Instagram service was shut down in China over the weekend. Activist Wang Long in the southern city of Shenzhen, who reposted news about the protests on the instant messaging service WeChat, was detained Monday by police on suspicion of causing trouble, his lawyer friend Fan Biaowen said.
While the government of China unites against a Hong Kong democracy and face off against pro-democracy protestors, the U.S. led coalition to fight ISIS continues to struggle to gain ground against the militant group as Turkey decides whether to join the fight publicly or take a background role. CNN reports, Airstrikes pound ISIS targets; bomb blasts kill 30 schoolchildren in Syria, a day after Britain's military launched its first campaign, Turkish soldiers and tanks along the border with Syria on Tuesday gear up for a possible fight. Meanwhile, Turkey's government put a motion before parliament asking for the authorization to take military action against ISIS. Lawmakers are expected to debate the measure in a special session Thursday before voting, Anadolu, Turkey's semiofficial new agency, reports. Tony Abbot told Parliament in Canberra that Australian aircraft started flying over Iraq in support of allied operations Wednesday. However, the government is awaiting an invitation from Iraq before a final decision to commit Australian forces to airstrikes. Retired U.S. Marine general coordinating the U.S. led coalition against ISIS, John R. Allen told CNN, "It's actually an important moment where so many countries from so many different backgrounds share that view (that ISIS poses a threat to the region), that this is an opportunity to create partnership across those lines of effort that would achieve real effect." According to a military think tank, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, the airstrikes have cost $1 billion. The U.S. military said Tuesday that it was the busiest day for airstrikes against ISIS since the military campaign began, with 28 total, including the two UK strikes. More strikes were carried out Wednesday by the United States and a partner nation, the U.S. military said, including around the predominantly Kurdish town of Kobani in Syria, known in Arabic as Ayn al Arab. Other strikes hit ISIS targets in Iraq northwest of Mosul, near the Haditha Dam and northwest of Baghdad. Tuesday, British planes helped Kurdish troops who were fighting ISIS in northwestern Iraq, dropping a bomb on an ISIS heavy weapon position and shooting a missile at an armed pickup truck, the UK's Defense Ministry said. Britain joins the United States and France as countries that have hit ISIS in Iraq with airstrikes, while Belgium and Denmark have also said they also will provide planes. Of those nations, only the United States along with some Arab countries have struck ISIS positions in neighboring Syria. In Syria, where a 3½ year old civil war rages on between government forces and rebel groups including ISIS, twin blasts struck Wednesday near a school in the nation's third-largest city, Homs. The death toll has climbed to 39, with at least 30 children between the ages of 6 and 9 killed, according to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The toll was confirmed by the London-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which collects information about civilian casualties in the country. Turkey's debate over whether to step into the fray comes as the flood of refugees from Syria has escalated, with 150,000 people fleeing to Turkey in recent days. Meanwhile, ISIS fighters armed with tanks and heavy weapons advance on Kobani in northern Syria, destroying villages in their path. If ISIS takes Kobani, it will control a complete swath of land from its self-declared capital of Raqqa to the Turkish border, more than 60 miles away. On Wednesday, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, according to the Associate Press report, Turkey considers Iraq, Syria incursions: "In the struggle against terrorism, we are open and ready for every kind of cooperation. However, Turkey is not a country that will allow itself to be used for temporary solutions. An effective struggle against ISIL or other terror organizations will be our priority. The immediate removal of the administration in Damascus, Syria's territorial unity and the installation of an administration which embraces all will continue to be our priority." The motion cites the continued threat to Turkey from Kurdish rebels who are fighting for autonomy from bases in northern Iraq; the threat from the Syrian regime; as well as the newly emerged threat from the Islamic State militants and other groups in Syria and Iraq. It also cites a potential threat to a mausoleum in Syria that is considered Turkish territory. The tiny plot of land that is a memorial to Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, is guarded by Turkish troops. The government enjoys a majority in parliament and the motion was expected to pass despite opposition from two parties.
As the human tragedy of war unfolds in the Middle East, several credible and widely known organizations this week have released reports on the human impact on climate change that has caused wildlife populations to plummet and bodies of water to recede or disappear and the record increase of Antarctic sea ice. John Heilprin reports, Humans To Blame For Major Decline In Wildlife Populations, WWF Report Finds, that a study Tuesday from the Swiss based WWF reports that 3,000 species of wildlife around the world have see their numbers plummet due to human threats to nature with a 52 percent decline in wildlife populations between 1970 and 2010. It says improved methods of measuring populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles explain the huge difference from the 28-percent decline between 1970 and 2008 that the group reported in 2012. Most of the new losses were found in tropical regions, particularly Latin America. WWF describes the study it has carried out every two years since 1998 as a barometer of the state of the planet. The latest "Living Planet" study analyzed data from about 10,000 populations of 3,038 vertebrate species from a database maintained by the Zoological Society of London. It is meant to provide a representative sampling of the overall wildlife population in the world, said WWF's Richard McLellan, editor-in-chief of the study. It reflects populations since 1970, the first year the London-based society had comprehensive data. Each study is based on data from at least four years earlier. In the new WWF study, hunting and fishing along with continued losses and deterioration of natural habitats are identified as the chief threats to wildlife populations around the world. Other primary factors are global warming, invasive species, pollution and disease. Ken Norris, science director at the London society, said, "This damage is not inevitable but a consequence of the way we choose to live. There is still hope. Protecting nature needs focused conservation action, political will and support from industry." Ryan Gorman reports, The world's fourth-largest lake is almost completely dry, the vast Aral Sea has all but disappeared as seen in new satellite photos released by NASA. Officials in the Soviet Union began diverting water from the Aral Sea in the 1960s to irrigate desert land in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, according to the space agency. This effort has virtually drained it dry. The port cities Aralsk, Kazakhstan, and Moynaq, Uzbekistan, dependent on the lake's 22 varieties of fish, began to crumble, officials claim. Less water led to higher concentrations of salt and other pollutants, it eventually became a public health hazard. Contaminated soil then blew off the dry lake bed onto neighboring farms and contaminated them, officials said. Less water also led to colder winters since the water's moderating effect on the local climate was all but diminished. Kate Sheppard reports, Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions Could Save 3,500 Lives Per Year: Report, a study released Tuesday says that reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants in order to curb global warming will save up to 3,500 American lives or nine lives per day and prevent 1,000 hospitalizations. The study, by researchers at Harvard, Syracuse and Boston universities, finds that the "co-benefits" of cutting carbon include reductions in sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, particulate matter, and mercury, which have been linked to respiratory illness, heart attacks and early deaths. The study looked at three scenarios for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. One would only require changes at power plants. The second would set a state-based standard and allow reductions to come from throughout the electricity sector. The third would require power plants to make changes up to a certain cost. The researchers said the second scenario yielded the most co-benefits, reducing greenhouse gas emissions 35 percent from 2005 levels, while cutting sulfur dioxide and mercury emissions 27 percent, and nitrogen oxide emissions 22 percent. That scenario also was the most similar to the draft standard for reducing power plant emission that the Environmental Protection Agency released in June, which calls for a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The EPA's own estimates of the benefits of its draft rules projected that they would prevent 2,700 to 6,600 premature deaths. The study found health benefits across the lower 48 states. Benefits were highest in places where more people are currently exposed to pollutants, and in the places with the worst air quality. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Illinois, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Georgia, Missouri, Virginia, Tennessee and Indiana would see the most avoided deaths, the researchers concluded. Climate Central reports, Antarctic Sea Ice Just Hit A New Maximum, But That Doesn't Mean The Continent's Not Warming, a boom in Antarctic sea ice will surpassed 7.7 million square miles for the first time ever and will set a new record and nearly every day has set a record for the day in the satellite record for 2014, according to Ted Scambos, a senior scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. The boom in ice around the southernmost continent in the past few years is in contract to the decades long decline of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean where the Arctic sea ice hit its sixth lowest extent at the end of this summer with the ice's edge coming within 5 degrees latitude of the North Pole. That Arctic ice melt is robustly connected to the overall warming of the planet. The loss of reflective, white ice also amplifies the warming around the North Pole; as more dark, open ocean is exposed to incoming sunlight, the water absorbs those rays, heats even more and melts more ice. The growth of Antarctic sea ice may also, paradoxically, be connected to global warming, though the exact combination of causes is still a major area of study. And just what the causes turn out to be will affect how long the Antarctic growth will go on for. The Associated Press reports, 35,000 Walrus Come Ashore In Northwest Alaska, an estimated 35,000 walrus were photographed Saturday about 5 miles north of Point Lay, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Due to the fact these Pacific walrus cannot find sea ice to rest on in the Arctic waters, many have come ashore in record numbers to the beaches of northwest Alaska. The enormous gathering was spotted during NOAA's annual arctic marine mammal aerial survey, spokeswoman Julie Speegle said by email. The survey is conducted with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the agency that oversees offshore lease sales. Andrea Medeiros, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said walrus were first spotted Sept. 13 and have been moving on and off shore. Observers last week saw about 50 carcasses on the beach from animals that may have been killed in a stampede, and the agency was assembly a necropsy team to determine their cause of death. Pacific walrus spend their winters in the Bering Sea as females give birth on sea ice and use the ice to dive for food on the shallow shelf. When the temperatures warm in summer and the edge of the sea ice receded north, females and their young ride the edge of the ice into the Chukchi Sea, north of the Bering Sea. Unfortunately, in recent years, sea ice has receded beyond the shallow continental shelf and into the Arctic Ocean water with depths that exceed 2 miles preventing walrus from diving to the bottom. The World Wildlife Fund said walrus have also been gathering in large groups on the Russian side of the Chukchi Sea. Margaret Williams, managing director of the group's Arctic program, said via phone from Washington, D.C.. "It's another remarkable sign of the dramatic environmental conditions changing as the result of sea ice loss. The walruses are telling us what the polar bears have told us and what many indigenous people have told us in the high Arctic, and that is that the Arctic environment is changing extremely rapidly and it is time for the rest of the world to take notice and also to take action to address the root causes of climate change."


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Google launches physical card for its virtual wallet
Google's new debit card works in ATMs and can be used at any US store that accepts MasterCard.
Called the Google Wallet Card, it is intended to give Google Wallet users instant physical access to their virtual balances.
People with Google Wallet accounts can already transfer money paid into that account to their bank account, but the transaction can take days, which is far too long for the internet generation who need their money now.
Therefore, with the card, as long as there's money in the Google Wallet account, it can be accessed via the Google Wallet Card. And of course, it works with the Google Wallet app, meaning that all activity can be instantly monitored and checked via a smartphone.
When Google Wallet first launched back in May 2011, the concept was simple - throw away your real wallet and physical cards and trust your NFC-enabled Android smartphone instead. Just tap your handset on the pad to pay for groceries at a store. What could be easier? Using real cash and real cards, it would appear.
Two and a half years later, it is estimated that just 300,000 stores have the NFC-enabled point-of-sales equipment necessary to accept payments by phones, and Apple, the most popular smartphone brand in the US, still doesn't support NFC technology.
As a result, Google Wallet has been slowly morphing into a peer-to-peer payment system allowing users to email money to each other or to make online micropayments.
The Google Wallet Card is currently only available to Google Wallet users in the US. An updated version of the Google Wallet app, supporting the card, will be landing in the Google Play Store "later this week."


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Relax and unwind at Microtel by Wyndham – Cabanatuan, a hotel in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines, without ever having to worry about your budget. Because we know that traveling can be taxing on your body and your wallet, we have brought together comfortable, reasonably priced rooms and efficient services to ease your burdens.
As part of Microtel Group's chain of budget hotels, our Nueva Ecija accommodation is composed of well-designed spaces with an array of essential amenities. Each of our 50 air-conditioned rooms features chiropractor-approved mattresses, Internet access, an IDD/NDD phone, and more. With these on offer, it is truly a guilt-free haven for relaxation for every guest.
Located in the quaint community of Sta. Arcadia, Microtel by Wyndham – Cabanatuan mirrors the same brand of excellence our inns have firmly established. Whatever your reason for staying with us, our hotel in Cabanatuan City provides a functional retreat you can rely on, every time you visit.


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Sunday, December 7, 2008
December 7th, We Remember
We remember those who sacrificed, and are proud.
My own father grew up during the depression and worked in the CCC camps that created the infrastructure for this nation's parks. He was on a Navy destroyer in the Atlantic on the day that Pearl Harbor was bombed. They immediately received orders to sail through the Panama Canal to join in the defense of the Pacific. He spent almost all of WWII at sea and exited the Navy one year after the war. He went on the University of Washington and became a successful land developer. Today he resides in Anacortes, Washington.
I think it's important to remind people of the timeline. One decade prior to this day in 1941 this country was going through a time of major economic upheaval. Germany and Europe likewise went through economic upheaval one decade prior to WWI. If you go back even further in time, you will see the same sequence repeated over and over.
These are the "events" that tend to follow times of economic stress. It is important that those who have died are honored by future generations NOT making the same mistakes.
Misallocations in society are a very serious matter with ramifications much larger than most people give credit. Those who encourage bubble building are not aware of the ramifications.
Our own economy is completely misallocated. We now spend more on our military than the rest of the entire world combined. More than half the jobs in the United States are either directly or indirectly related to our government. Bright and shiny new sports stadiums arose in every major city while schools struggle to afford supplies for teachers and children?
We, the people, need to refocus our priorities and economic systems in such a way that we can move civilization forward in a constructive manner whose over riding goal should be survival of the species, certainly not war.
We, the people, can ensure it doesn't happen again, but to get there we all must understand that it is the economy and the allocation of Earth's resources that are at the root cause of conflict. I encourage everyone to think about this connection, and to think about how we can create an economic system that is fair and lasting. It is our system, but it is controlled by others whose agenda does not align with common sense morals and ethics. We need to return the control of our economy to the people and to truly free markets that are guided by moral and ethical goals and constraints. There is a better way.
Posted byAmy Jamison at9:21 AM


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Scheduled Tribes (STs), have their own cultural norms, social systems and institutions. In terms of economic pursuits, they are very much dependent on nature,
especially forests and forest produce, to eke out their livelihoods. An important source of livelihoods for people living in forested areas, are non-wood forest products,
generally termed 'Non Timer Forest Produce (NTFP)'. These include bamboo, canes, fodder, leaves, gums, waxes, dyes, resins and many forms of food including nuts,
wild fruits, honey, etc. The NTFP provide both subsistence and cash income for people who live in or near forests. They form a major portion of their food, fruits,
medicines and other consumption items and also provide cash income through sale. Some MFPs, especially bamboo and tendu leaf, have significant commercial importance.
MFPs comprise a huge variety of products in terms of usage, availability, value and quality. NTFPs vary from being an intoxicant variety like mahuwa to being of medicinal importance like nuxvomica and pungam seed;
from being food items like tamarind and chironji to being used as industrial raw material like gum, myrobolans, etc; from having general household usage like brooms to being used in jewelry making like lac.
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|Part of a series on
Mesopotamian religion
Demigods and heroes
|Related topics
The Abzu or Apsu (Cuneiform: 𒍪 𒀊, ZU.AB; Sumerian: abzu; Akkadian: apsû, ), also called engur (Cuneiform:𒇉, LAGAB×HAL; Sumerian: engur; Akkadian: engurru - lit., ab='water' zu='deep'), was the name for the primeval sea below the void space of the underworld (Kur) and the earth (Ma) above. It may also refer to fresh water from underground aquifers that was given a religious fertilizing quality. Lakes, springs, rivers, wells, and other sources of fresh water were thought to draw their water from the abzu.
In Sumerian culture
In the city of Eridu, Enki's temple was known as E2-abzu (house of the cosmic waters) and was located at the edge of a swamp, an abzu.[1] Certain tanks of holy water in Babylonian and Assyrian temple courtyards were also called abzu (apsû).[2] Typical in religious washing, these tanks were similar to Judaism's mikvot, the washing pools of Islamic mosques, or the baptismal font in Christian churches.
In Sumerian cosmology
The Sumerian god Enki (Ea in the Akkadian language) was believed to have lived in the abzu since before human beings were created. His wife Damgalnuna, his mother Nammu, his advisor Isimud and a variety of subservient creatures, such as the gatekeeper Lahmu, also lived in the abzu.
As a deity
Abzu (apsû) is depicted as a deity only in the Babylonian creation epic, the Enûma Elish, taken from the library of Assurbanipal (c 630 BCE) but which is about 500 years older. In this story, he was a primal being made of fresh water and a lover to another primal deity, Tiamat, who was a creature of salt water. The Enuma Elish begins: "When above the heavens did not yet exist nor the earth below, Apsu the freshwater ocean was there, the first, the begetter, and Tiamat, the saltwater sea, she who bore them all; they were still mixing their waters, and no pasture land had yet been formed, nor even a reed marsh." This resulted in the birth of the younger gods, who later murder Apsu in order to usurp his lordship of the universe. Enraged, Tiamat gives birth to the first dragons, filling their bodies with "venom instead of blood", and made war upon her treacherous children, only to be slain by Marduk, the god of Storms, who then forms the heavens and earth from her corpse.
See also
- ↑ Eridu in Sumerian Literature, Margaret Whitney Green, pages 180-182, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago, 1975.
- ↑ Black and Green 1992
- Jeremy Black and Anthony Green, 1992. Gods, Demons, and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: an illustrated dictionary, s.v. "abzu, apsû". ISBN 0-292-70794-0


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A Democratic senator who helped craft President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law gave the administration "a failing grade" on Wednesday for its efforts to educate the public and small employers about sweeping changes due to take effect in eight months.
"I just see a huge train wreck," Senator Max Baucus of Montana told U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, an oversight panel that he chairs.
"I'm very concerned that not enough is being done so far. Very concerned," said Baucus, citing examples of perplexed small business owners and polling data showing that most Americans either do not know much about the coming changes or have false information about what to expect.
"The administration's public information campaign on the benefits of the Affordable Care Act, I think, deserve a failing grade. You need to fix it," he said.
Baucus' comments came a week after the release of Obama's $3.77 trillion budget for fiscal 2014, which included a request for extra funding to implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often nicknamed Obamacare, one of the biggest pieces of U.S. social legislation since the 1960s.
Sebelius told the committee that the administration takes outreach and education "very, very seriously." She said efforts are under way to address the concerns of small business owners and to organize a public outreach campaign for the summer.
"We also understand that people have a lot of questions and are deploying as many resources as we can to answer those questions and get folks ready," she said.
A main concern is the creation of state online marketplaces where consumers will be able to buy private health insurance at subsidized rates intended to make the coverage affordable for those with family incomes of up to $90,000 a year.
Those exchanges, are due to start enrolling beneficiaries on Oct. 1 and are open to individuals and businesses with fewer than 100 employees. Full operations are scheduled for Jan. 1.
The federal government is required by law to operate exchanges in 33 of 50 states – those that have not set up their own marketplaces.
The exchanges are expected to provide health coverage for an estimated 26 million Americans by the end of the decade, with 7 million expected to sign up for 2014, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Another 12 million people are expected to gain coverage through a huge expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor.
But Republican opposition this year scuttled a nearly $1 billion funding request to help pay for an outreach campaign that had been due to start over the summer.
"We were incredibly disappointed that our request for additional outreach and education resources were not made available," Sebelius said.
A fresh $1.5 billion request contained in Obama's latest budget is also not expected to succeed.
Analysts warn that a weak outreach campaign could compromise the success of the exchanges, particularly in Republican-led states where political opposition is greatest. That could leading to higher healthcare costs for consumers and threaten the 2014 congressional midterm re-election prospects of Democrats who voted for the law, which remains unpopular with large numbers of voters.
The Department of Health and Human Services has responded by shifting funds from other areas. But Republicans, who have voted dozens of times to repeal or defund the law, are pressuring the administration over its so-called reprogramming of resources.
Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, the finance committee's top Republican, suggested that as much as $500 million may have been moved to pay for exchange implementation and called on Sebelius to outline her legal authority to shift funds within the $970 billion HHS budget.
"(We) were not given additional resources by the United States Congress, although we have the duty to implement the law," Sebelius said.
The administration has shifted at least $450 million to health exchange implementation from a $5 billion prevention fund created to support public health and other initiatives.
A Republican-led panel in the House of Representatives on Wednesday approved legislation that would use the fund's remaining resources to provide private health insurance to people with preexisting medical conditions under a program due to expire at year-end.
Meanwhile, Baucus recommended that the public outreach campaign have the ability to measure its own success at improving public understanding of the law.
"You need data," he told Sebelius. "You've never given me any data. You just give me concepts, frankly."
(Editing by Ros Krasny, Mohammad Zargham and Cynthia Osterman)
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text: Although most frequently, letters are requested for new Eagle Scouts, the list below can and should be used when requesting letters of commendation for Venturers who have earned the Summit Award, and for Sea Scouts who have earned the Quartermaster Rank, and for Girl Scouts who have earned the GSUSA Gold Award. When sending letters for those awards, please in your explanation, don't include phrases like "The Summit Award is the Venturing version of Eagle" or "Quartermaster is the Sea Scout equivalent of Eagle" or "the Gold award is the Girl Scout version of Eagle Scout". Summit and Quartermaster, and the Gold Award are their own awards and what should be stressed are the skills and leadership experiences gained by earning them!


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This study is informative for stakeholders when they are analyzing financial statements. It provides support that a going concern opinion for a prospector firm may not be as alarming as it appears. It also reveals that many influences are at play when auditors are determining which audit opinion is most appropriate for the situation.
Chen, Yu, J. D. Eshleman, and J. S. Soileau. 2017. Business Strategy and Auditor Reporting. Auditing, A Journal of Practice and Theory 36 (21): 63-86.
This study should be of particular interest because the findings represent evidence concerning the relationship between auditor tenure and audit failures. The tenure effect, which is pronounced in the early years, is particularly important to the non-Big 4 sample because approximately 75 percent of non-Big 4 clients in the author's sample have auditor tenures of four years or less. This short tenure, coupled with association between tenure and Type II errors suggest the adverse impact of short tenure is concentrated in the non-Big 4 sample. With this in mind, the findings of this paper may help to inform the continuing debate regarding the possible adverse effects of long auditor tenure.
Read, W.J., and A. Yezegel. 2016. Auditor Tenure and Going Concern Opinions for Bankrupt Clients: Additional Evidence. Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory 35 (1): 163-179.
These results imply that auditors are more likely to render modified GC opinions for clients subject to regimes that hold auditors liable to a larger class of third parties and impose joint-and-several liability for third-party damages, both of which reflect greater liability exposure. The higher incidence of GC opinions accompanying stronger state-level litigation threats could reflect higher audit quality, but it could also stem from excessively conservative auditors protecting their interests by avoiding costly civil lawsuits, which could undermine audit quality in some circumstances.
Anantharaman, D., J. A. Pittman, and N. Wans. 2016. State Liability Regimes within the United States and Auditor Reporting. The Accounting Review 91 (6): 1545 – 1575.
The results on the relations between management turnaround initiatives and going-concern decisions suggest that auditors consider strategic information when making going-concern decisions, and that there is a relationship between auditors' strategic risk assessment (typically done in a business risk auditing context) and the outcome of the audit (i.e., the opinion). The results further indicate that auditors do not limit their evaluation of mitigating strategic actions to the management plans explicitly suggested in the audit standards. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that auditors are already adopting a long-term view when assessing client viability, which again suggests that the current discussion on expanding the time horizon for going-concern assessment would not affect current practice substantially.
Bruynseels, L., and M. Willekens. 2012. The effect of strategic and operating turnaround initiatives on audit reporting for distressed companies. Accounting, Organizations & Society 37 (4): 223-241.
The results raise an interesting policy issue related to the ability of financially stressed clients to hire an audit firm. While the results of the study indicate that financially stressed clients are still able to hire an audit firm, their options appear to be decreasing over time. To the extent that their audit firm options continue to shrink over time, some financially stressed public companies may be unable to hire an audit firm in the future. Evaluating the implications and potential consequences to these firms represents an important area for further research.
Kaplan, S. E., and D. D. Williams. 2012. The changing relationship between audit firm size and going concern reporting. Accounting, Organizations & Society 37 (5): 322-341.
The decision process concerning a firm's going-concern status is a crucial component of the overall audit. The authors provide new empirical evidence showing how auditors use potentially biased management forecasts in their going-concern decision process. Auditor professional skepticism is an important concept in audit practice as evidenced by its prominence throughout auditing standards. The authors show that auditors do not significantly overweight management forecasts on average, and even underweight management forecasts they perceive as being suspicious, indicating that auditors exercise professional skepticism when using management earnings forecasts. Thus, this paper is informative to regulators who are mainly concerned about auditors relying too heavily on what their clients tell them and failing to sufficiently test or challenge the forecasts, views, or representations of management.
Feng, M., & Li, C. 2014. Are Auditors Professionally Skeptical? Evidence from Auditors' Going-Concern Opinions and Management Earnings Forecasts. Journal Of Accounting Research 52 (5): 1061-1085.
This study provides a summary of the literature examining the auditor's GCO decisions. Determinants of GCOs include client factors (e.g. size, level of financial stress, financial reporting quality, corporate governance), auditor factors (e.g. audit firm size), auditor-client relationships (e.g. auditor switching and the issue of opinion shopping) and environmental factors (e.g. changes in regulations, auditing standards and audit market structure). Important findings are that auditors will change the likelihood of issuing GCOs in response to changes in the environment (whether due to changes in regulation or changes in the economy) and that the majority of companies that receive GCOs do not subsequently file for bankruptcy.
For more information on this study, please contact Elizabeth Carson.
Carson, E., N. L. Fargher, M. A. Geiger, C. S. Lennox, K. Raghunandan, and M. Willekens. 2013. Audit reporting for going-concern uncertainty: A research synthesis. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory 32 (Supp): 353-384.
The evidence suggests that institutional investors drive the reaction to the GCAR, since there is no detectable reaction at low levels of institutional ownership. The market reaction gets more negative as the level of institutional ownership increases, and there is a decline in institutional ownership after the GCAR is issued. These results are due to sophisticated investors' awareness of the firm's financing needs and the covenants carried by the firm's debt.
The literature contributes primarily to the line of auditing research on GCARs. First, this study provides relatively unambiguous evidence that going concern audit reports provide useful information. Second, it provides insight into the reasons that investors find the GCAR to be useful by showing that GCARs that cite financing problems result in a more negative reaction than do other GCARs. Third, while there is evidence of the importance of restrictive debt covenants in other areas of accounting research, there is little or no evidence in auditing. Finally, this study adds to the literature by showing that institutional investors use the information in audit reports.
For more information on this study, please contact Krishnagopal Menon.
Menon, K. and D. D. Williams. 2010. Investor Reaction to Going Concern Audit Reports. The Accounting Review 85 (6): 2075-2105.
This research note presents evidence that the question of whether new standards or regulations have achieved the objective of altering the behavior of their intended target cannot be adequately assessed shortly after they have come into effect, as the implementation often requires a steep learning curve and is frequently accompanied by intense public debates and media scrutiny. From the policy standpoint, it suggests that the concern expressed by the U.S, Treasury Department officials about auditors' applying an overly strict approach in their audits to counter elevated liability after SOX may not be warranted.
For more information on this study, please contact Wenjun Zhang.
Kao, J. L., Y. Li., and W. Zhang. 2014. Did SOX influence the association between fee dependence and auditors' propensity to issue going-concern opinions? Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory 33 (2): 165-185
The results of the study suggest that establishing close auditor-client relationships can reward audit firms with higher NAS revenues from clients. In particular, longer audit firm tenure and audit firm alumni directors benefit the audit firms with higher NAS provision. This indicates that a successful strategy for audit firms may be to develop long-term associations with clients at the firm level (rather than at the partner level) and to establish active alumni networks. At the same time audit firms should ensure that adequate procedures are in place to ensure that appropriate audit reports are issued, most particularly when strong auditor-client relationships are present.
For more information on this study, please contact Elizabeth Carson.
Ye, P., E. Carson, and R. Simnett. 2011. Threats to auditor independence: The impact of relationship and economic bonds. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory 30 (1): 121-148.


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Longstanding antagonism between England and Scotland over generous government provisions has been inflamed by new university tuition policies laid down by nationalists in the Scottish parliament.
While free health prescriptions and generous at-home care provisions for the elderly in Scotland previously highlighted the differences between Scotland and England, prompting accusations that London subsidizes Edinburgh's vote-catching policies, it is university tuition discrepancies that have brought the issue to the fore.
Beginning next year, UK universities, including those in Scotland, will be able to charge as much as £9,000 (roughly $14,000) for tuition. However, under its devolution powers, Scotland has opted to continue offering a free education to Scotland residents who have lived there at least three years and students from the European Union, while charging English, Welsh, and Northern Irish students the full cost.
The Scottish government said the fees decision is largely a defensive strategy to prevent large numbers of English students from crossing the border and enjoying cheaper courses subsidized by the Scottish government, now that education elsewhere in the UK is about to become so costly. Nearly 23,000 English students study in Scottish universities every year.
While education departments in Wales and Northern Ireland have offered financial assistance for their students in light of the tuition increases, English scholars will bear the brunt of fee increases on their own.
"Scotland has and always will welcome students from all over the world to our universities," Education Secretary Michael Russell said in a statement. "However, the decisions being taken in England could threaten the quality and competitiveness of our universities. We cannot allow Scotland to no longer be the best option and instead be known as the cheap option. We also must protect places for Scottish students."
Scotland receives a block of money every year from Westminster, the seat of the UK government, which it can spend as it wishes. Scotland has opted to use a chunk of this money to subsidize university education.
Students take action
Some English university students say Scotland's decision is unfair and have asked lawyers whether there are grounds for legal action.
Jennifer Watts, a student at Manchester University, launched a campaign called Make Uni Fees Equal. Although she is studying in England, she has called on English students in Scotland to contact law firm Public Interest Lawyers and join a class action law suit against Scottish government ministers and possibly the universities themselves.
"English students are forced into massive levels of debt before they have finished university, before they even have a job, for the privilege of having a university education," she says. "Scottish students get their education for free. Students from the rest of the EU can go to university in Scotland for free, but students from the rest of the UK have to pay.
"This is clear discrimination against English, Welsh, and Northern Irish students and should not be allowed to continue," she adds.
Public Interest Lawyers attorney Jim Duffy said their argument is based on the Equality Act and Scotland Act, which he said prevents discrimination and incompatibilities within the UK, such as holding Scotland-based students and English students to different tuition standards.
Duffy also believes that English students can use EU legislation that prevents discrimination against EU citizens in their argument.
"This is not about the relationship between states, it's about citizens of those states, and we think the Scottish government's stance is discriminatory," he says.
Only two English students studying in Scotland have so far come forward, but Mr. Duffy said he hopes more will join once the issue gains publicity.
"I'm surprised more people haven't come to us but we'll see," he adds. "Scottish universities have been charging other UK students for a while now but I think the tipping point has been the decision to allow universities to charge £9,000 fees from next year. It just doesn't seem right that one student from across the border has to pay and the other gets it for free."
Outside scope of EU law
Scottish government spokesman Barry McPherson said Scotland is confident the policy is legal because Scotland is technically a region within the EU, not a state, and EU legislation covering nations did not apply.
European laws say the Scottish Government cannot offer EU students a worse deal than it gives its own undergraduates. However, England is not an EU member on its own, but merely a region within the EU member of the UK. As such, EU laws may not apply.
Mr. McPherson cited a statement by Dennis Abbott, the spokesman for EU education commissioner Androulla Vassiliou, expressing support for the Scottish government. "There is no violation of EU law," Mr. Vassiliou said. "The Scottish practice in relation to students from other parts of the UK is a matter of policy internal to the UK and outside the scope of EU law."
However, Iain McLean, a professor of politics at England's Nuffield College, Oxford, said students have a strong case against the policy. "The Scotland Act requires the Scottish government to be human rights compliant, and if it went to court I think they'd lose in this case, because they are treating one group of students differently to another."
"Most fair-minded Scots will know that it is unfair for a Lithuanian or Italian not to pay and a student from England, Wales, or Northern Ireland having to pay," he added.
This article, "Scotland university fee plan riles the English," first appeared in the Christian Science Monitor.


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Anti-drone protests hit CEO's home
San Diego's "drone zone" manufacturing hub is under fire from groups opposed to unmanned aerial vehicles carrying out deadly overseas strikes and their use as a furtive eye in the sky.
A series of small protests that began Thursday continued Friday and culminate Saturday afternoon at the USS Midway Museum on Harbor Drive.
The demonstrations are part of a nationwide effort by activist groups seeking to focus attention on a growing debate over the technology and come as a business and military group seeks to have the region declared one of five national test zones for drones, which generate more than $1 billion a year in the local economy.
Early Friday, about 40 protesters organized by the group CodePink descended on an upscale La Jolla neighborhood to stage a street demonstration in front of the home of Neal Blue, chief executive officer of General Atomics, which manufactures the Predator drone.
Some held signs decrying drones, a man portraying Blue sang "I'm a Drone Man" in a twist on the song "Soul Man." Others mocked the business executive's wealth.
The group conducted a similar demonstration later Friday at General Atomics La Jolla offices before moving to Northrop Grumman in Kearny Mesa, whose products include the Global Hawk.
At all the events, protesters also chided President Barack Obama for his administration's use of drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.
At Blue's gated home, protesters had to abort plan to fly a small, drone-like vehicle equipped with a camera of the house. San Diego police stopped the craft's operator, saying no permit for such a flight had been secured.
No one emerged from the residence in response to protesters' chants, and a company spokesman later said he was out of town. The company issued a statement saying it was proud of its remotely piloted aircraft which "protect our troops and support national security."
"GA is honored that it can contribute in this way while at the same time recognizing the right to demonstrate," the statement said.
CodePink and groups such as San Diego Veterans for Peace contend foreign drones strikes are responsible for thousands of innocent civilian deaths.
Demonstrators such as 79-year-old are Barbara Briggs-Letson say they hope public displays serve as a catalyst.
"What I want to see is a transparent, national discussion about our use of drones," she said. CodePink co-founder Medea Benjaminsaid the group had a simple message for drone manufacturers.
"This is not the kind of world we want to live in," she said. "We think we are beginning to turn the tide on public opinion."
The failure of the planned drone flyover of Blue's home bordered on absurd, said Benjamin, whose group took its name from the color-code system used by the George W. Bush administration to indicate the nation's security status.
"It's ironic that we almost lost our drone because the police said it might hurt somebody," she said.
The San Diego region employs more than 7,100 people in its unmanned aerial vehicle sector generating $1.3 billion in economic activity in 2011, according to a study by the National University System.
The San Diego Military Advisory Council and the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation are leading an effort to have the area certified as one of six congressional mandate drone test sites. Similar applications have come from dozens of other groups in 37 other states eying the potential for thousands of additional jobs and millions more being pumped into the local economy.
Mark Cafferty heads the EDC's role in the application and says winning the designation would be a boon.
"Unmanned systems are critical to advancing everything from firefighting to protecting agriculture to search and rescue efforts, predicting weather and inspecting utility lines," he said. "This is a significant local economic opportunity for an industry rooted in the region that is developing cutting edge technology with humanitarian, practical and safety purposes. We see this as a smart economic strategy at a time when our economy continues to face numerous challenges."
Cafferty stressed that the Federal Aviation Administration, which will select the six test sites as part of its work to develop regulations for drones over U.S. airspace, has indicated no flights would take place over the San Diego metro area.
At the Veterans Legal Clinic at the University of San Diego, supervising attorney and former Marine Robert Muth said drones provide war zone commanders an invaluable resource.
"They give a great battlefield picture and can provide intelligence and a strike capability," he said. "The question is what is the framework for review of how they're being used and who gets to make those decisions."
He also predicted more will be flying in American airspace as police and other agencies increasingly seek to employ them, a prospect that chills civil libertarians.
"The key will be finding a way to balance their very valuable benefits to law enforcement while keeping in mind privacy rights and making sure we don't become a police state," Muth said.
One of the demonstrators, 83-three-year-old Miriam Clark of Encinitas, said she worries about the same.
"We somehow manage to turn everything that can be beneficial into something lethal," Clark said.
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text: I had this idea of taking fish oil pills to give myself some omega-3 Three per day, so the label says. Not sure what exactly it supposed to do, but cleaning out a system has to rank up there at the top of the list. I think I'll cut the number back to one. Afterall, I may want to leave the house sometimes soon.... :thumbsup:


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Among the multitude of activities at the 5th World Water Forum, the Learning Centre provided small scale but large impact alternatives for participants to gain practical expertise and new capabilities to deal with water challenges.
35 course conveners shared their expertise during the Forum week through various methods of "how to" instruction, to enable over 560 participants from 420 organizations representing 30 different countries to gain new skills. Courses on topics such as Household Water Treatment, Dam Safety, Gender and Empowerment, Water Infrastructure Finance, Water Resource Education, the use of Qanants for Sustainable Irrigation, and Water's Intrinsic Nature, among many others, provided the means to solve a range of water issues at a practical level, resulting in actionable capacity development at the ground level. The Center for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST) one of the Learning Centre conveners, said it best - "Lead with the training – knowledge motivates action". You may view the course descriptions, convening organization contacts and other details for Learning Centre classes.
The Learning Centre, to be located in classrooms at the Feshane site of the Forum venue, was part of the official program of the 5th World Water Forum and runs in parallel to the other Forum activities. Its purpose was to provide action- and policy-oriented training at a practical level on topics relevant to the Six Major Themes of the 5th World Water Forum. For more information, please read the Information Note.For further information and queries, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com Important note: Learning Centre activities must follow the general principles outlined in the Forum's Environmental Policy.
Details for Learning Centre Folder
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Arass Hotel*** & Business Flats is situated within walking distance of all public transport. There are tram/metro/bus stops close to the hotel (50m), and Antwerp central station is just a 10-minute walk. The city center with shopping streets and Antwerp's famous sights are easy to reach as well. We're located in the neighborhood 'Zurenborg', a small district with nice restaurants and bars, known for his beautfil Belle-Epoque architecture. The big supermarket Delhaize is just across the road.
The spacious Standard Rooms (35 m²) with kitchenette have 2 single beds, a working desk, dining table and bathroom. The rooms offer individually controlled air-conditioning and a flat screen TV with more than 100 international channels. The fully equipped kitchenette is depending on availability, please contact the hotel.
We offer different types of business flats: Duplex Superior (55 m²), Penthouse (60-80 m²), Grand Apartment (80 - 100 m²) and Family Apartment (120 m²). All business flats have a living area, desk, fully equipped kitchen, separate bedroom, bathroom with large walk-in shower and separated toilet. All the apartments were renovated between July 2014 and February 2016, have individually controlled air-conditioning and two flat screen TVs with more than 100 international channels (BE, NL, DE, FR, UK, ES, IT, PT, TR, IN, CN, RUS, BR, …).
Arass Hotel*** & Business Flats also offers 24h/24 facilities: secured and indoor private parking, free Wi-Fi in the whole building, and a laundry room. Guests can enjoy a breakfast buffet in the restaurant of the hotel.
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Our reception is open 7d/7 from 08:00h - 17:30h. After 17:30h guests can check in with the self check-in kiosk. In case of late arrival, please contact the hotel to get the code for the night lock and the instructions for the check.
Hereby you will fid the cancellation policy and warranty conditions. The applied amounts and percentages are to be paid by the guest.
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|Look up woolen in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Woolen (American English) or woollen (Commonwealth English) is a type of yarn made from carded wool. Woolen yarn is soft, light, stretchy, and full of air. It is thus a good insulator, and makes a good knitting yarn. Woolen yarn is in contrast to worsted yarn, in which the fibers are combed to lie parallel rather than carded, producing a hard, strong yarn.[1][2]
Commercial manufactureEdit
The woolen and worsted process both require that the wool (and other similar animal fibers, cashmere, camel, etc.) be cleaned before mechanical processing. Woolen and worsted nomenclatures apply only to the textile processing of animal fibers, but it has become common to include fiber blends under these terms.
The resultant fabrics will be classified as being either woolen or worsted, but this designation is assigned during fiber processing and yarn formation, not in the cloth or finished garment.
A woven woolen fabric is one which is subjected to fabric finishing techniques designed to add a directional pile — in that the end consumer can 'stroke' the garment in a single direction (shoulder to cuff etc.), such as a casual jacket. This feels like the fibers are directionally arranged.
Woolen yarn formation is also very common for knitwear, where the resultant garment has some bulk and the requirement for visual aesthetics (of fiber alignment) is minimal.
The worsted processing route is more complex and requires the removal of short fibers and the use of a focused mechanical process to make the individual fibers parallel to each other. The yarn formation process is significantly more comprehensive and results in a very sleek yarn which will offer a clean looking woven fabric, such as for suitings. The worsted process is significantly more expensive and is seldom used for knitwear.
Handspinning woolen yarnEdit
Woolen yarn is handspun using the long draw technique, and the yarn is spun from a rolag. Most handspinners make a blend of a woolen and worsted yarn, using techniques from both categories, and thus ending up with a mix. The first step to spin a true woolen yarn, however, is to card the fiber into a rolag using handcarders.
The rolag is spun without much stretching of the fibers from the cylindrical configuration. This is done by allowing twist into a short section of the rolag, and then pulling back, without letting the rolag change position in your hands, until the yarn is the desired thickness. The twist will concentrate in the thinnest part of the roving, thus when the yarn is pulled, the thicker sections with less twist will tend to thin out. Once the yarn is the desired thickness, enough twist is added to make the yarn strong. Then the yarn is wound onto the bobbin, and the process starts again.
- Barber, E. J. W. (1991). Prehistoric Textiles. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00224-X.
- Burnham, Dorothy K. (1980). Warp and Weft: A Textile Terminology. Royal Ontario Museum. ISBN 0-88854-256-9.
External linksEdit
- Woolen, Semi-Woolen, Semi-Worsted, and Worsted Spinning - Gives a detailed explanation on the different ways fiber preparation and technique can create different yarns.


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Weekly Astrology for March 13, 2017 by Chris Flisher We begin the week with full Moon at 22 degrees Virgo. �As with all full moons a part of our lives will be illuminated. �Consider a full Moon to be a beacon or a flashlight aimed at a distinct part of your life. �In that respect […]
Weekly Astrology for March 13, 2017 by Chris Flisher
We begin the week with full Moon at 22 degrees Virgo. �As with all full moons a part of our lives will be illuminated. �Consider a full Moon to be a beacon or a flashlight aimed at a distinct part of your life. �In that respect they are similar to eclipses as, discussed in the past, but to �lesser extent. �To the other extreme all full Moons also have an historically animated quality to them so that emotions run high. �We hear stories of police dispatchers and emergency rooms receiving more than the usual amount of activity in and around the full Moons. �Since this comes at a time when we have some fairly powerful aspects in other parts of the cosmos we might prepare ourselves for a bumpy ride. �The most notable alignment is the opposition of Uranus and Jupiter, both at 22 degrees Aries and Libra, respectively. �When planets share similar proximity by degree, it is known as partile. �A partile alignment combines the influence of the two planets and heightens the impact or outcome. �In this case Jupiter and Uranus are in 180 degrees apart from each other and that bears noting. �Oppositions are just what they imply and deliver opposing influences, which depending on the topic or event at hand, can resist or place at odds those with different points of view. �With such a divisive strain coursing through the politics of many countries, it should come as no surprise that as above, so below.
Listen each week to 'Turning of the Wheel' podcast on iTunes. �Great guests, great topics; information you can use. �Write to me for a reading or call at 1-978-393-1036 to connect with me. �Visit my websites at www.turningofthewheel.com, www.turningofthewheel.tv
ARIES (March 21- April 19)
Expect to be quite vocal this week. �That may mean speaking out for or against something or you might possibly be working on writing something. �The important denominator is communication so bear that in mind and use that power to get your agenda on the table. �Your thoughts may be very well received.
TAURUS (April 20 -May 20)
You might find the coming week to be useful for tying up loose ends for upcoming events. �Plans that are either in motion or waiting to be put into effect may be the perfect theme of the week for you. �With that in mind you may be signing contracts or negotiating rates and the like.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21)
Your ruling planet Mercury will be in close alignment with Venus and together they will most likely influence your contacts with business associates. �Opportunities to discuss new work projects or collaborative ventures are highly likely, so capture the momentum of the time and use it to serve your best interests. �Speak up and be heard.
CANCER (June 22-July 22)
If you are out looking for new work arrangements or opportunities this may be a very productive week for you. �Timing may be ideal for interviewing and having discussions about potential career shifts. �Networking may be a key determining factor so use every opportunity to get in front of people and express your interest.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)
The coming holds great promise for you especially if you are teaching or presenting to others. �Knowledge transfer may be another way to look at this period, but you may have a unique chance to get your thoughts across to others in an educational manner such as training or presenting a proposal.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
Good news may arrive this week regarding support from an outside source. �A typical area to look for such news may be financial institutions, insurance claims, or even elderly relatives. �The same type of response might come from scholarships and grants. �If you are in the midst of seeking these forms of support you may hear word this week.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
A lively and convivial conversation may occur between you and your primary partner this week as Venus and Mercury join to bring lightness and action to your time together. �You might find this an opportune time to discuss vacation plans or another joint undertaking that brings the focus back to you as a team.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov 21)
Expect to be interested in a holistic health overhaul. �As spring begins to reveal itself you may become quite mindful of the nicer weather and the chance to be outside and active. �Your central drive may be health-based so any chance that you have to explore that idea deeper may be worthwhile and fruitful.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
You may find that your curiosity is piqued by conversations that involve new and innovative ideas. �Your ability to coalesce novel information and stimulating concepts is firing up your imagination in the most fascinating manner. �While you may be quite willing to step into this inventive arena, you might also be conflicted about sharing your ideas.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
You may enter into discussions with family members regarding domestic topics and how they might shift or impact your career decisions. �Suggestions from those closest to you may be insightful and allow you to think outside of your current limited range of possibilities. �You may find that you are in conversations that involve both work and your home.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
Research and investigations may be on the top of your to-do list this week. �Whether you are investigating a new role for yourself or a close family member, the topic of mindful expansion may be upfront and tangible. �Education, travel and spirituality are all key topics for your consideration. �You may enjoy your findings.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)
A financial decision may require all of your attention this week as Mercury and Venus align in that area of your life. �If you can use this influence to gather more information about funds or other investment opportunities you might discover alternative options. �This may be a favorable period for you to take some risks.
�2017 Chris Flisher


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It's enough of a mind-bender to make Kenny McCormick's head explode: "South Park" is up for an Emmy for a pair of smart, funny and bold shows that probably will never be seen again on TV.
Entertainment awards, at least in theory, shouldn't be about sending messages or playing politics. The prizes should reward creativity and the finest work in the medium.
With "South Park," Emmy voters have a rare chance to both laud two of the best episodes in the program's 13-year history while striking a blow against the faceless bullies whose threats led to censorship.
The controversy began April 15 with the show's landmark 200th episode, in which Tom Cruise – a frequent target of the program – wants to capture Muhammad and steal whatever quality makes the Muslim prophet immune to ridicule. The prophet, whose depiction is considered blasphemous by many Muslims, is never seen during the episode.
Still, Comedy Central heavily censored the second of the two-part arc following a thinly veiled death threat leveled at show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone by a New York-based Islamic extremist website.
A character initially said to be Muhammad in a bear mascot costume was redacted with a floating black box (Santa Claus turned out to be in the outfit). All mentions of the name "Muhammad" were bleeped, as was much of the ending – a speech by Kyle about intimidation and fear.
Comedy Central hasn't repeated the shows and the episodes haven't been officially posted online. Incensed fans started a Facebook campaign called "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day." But Facebook executives, remembering well the violence wrought five years ago after a Danish newspaper published an image of Muhammad, took the unusual step of pulling down the page.
Threats aren't to be taken likely. Neither, however, is censorship.
The primary competition facing "South Park" in the Outstanding Animation Program category comes from HBO's hilarious "The Ricky Gervais Show," and "The Simpsons," which enjoyed a pretty good landmark 20th season. "South Park" was better this year than both.
Meanwhile, most the early Emmy buzz is focusing on how Conan O'Brien's short-lived, ill-fated version of "The Tonight Show" is up for an award, following another Facebook campaign. Giving O'Brien an Emmy would send one kind of message. Handing Parker and Stone a trophy would send another – a far more important signal that the entertainment community won't be bowed.
Don't let the bastards kill Kenny – or win the censorship game. Give "South Park" the Emmy.
Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multi-media NY City News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is the former City Editor of the New York Daily News, where he started as a reporter in 1992. Follow him on Twitter.


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Secured repositories provide the following control features:
Control access to repository item descriptors
Control who can create, add, remove, and query items defined by an item descriptor; similar to controlling access to a whole database table.
Control access to individual repository items
Control who can read, write, destroy, and query a repository item.; similar to controlling access to a single database row.
Control access to properties of all repository items in a repository item descriptor
Control who can read or write a property in any repository item defined by an item descriptor; similar to controlling access to a database table column.
A default ACL can be assigned to all items in the item descriptor that lack an explicit ACL.
Control access to properties of an individual repository item
Control who can read or write a particular property in a repository item; similar to controlling the field of a database table row.
An ACL that is assigned to a property overrides the ACL that is specified for that property in the item descriptor definition.
Limit query results
Control who can receive repository items that are returned by a repository query.
Set ownership of a repository item
At creation time, the current user is assigned as the owner of the new repository item. The owner can query a repository item and modify its ACL; otherwise this is simply an association of an identity to an Item.
Automatically generate ACLs for new repository items
When a repository item is created, it is assigned an ACL that is constructed out of an ACL fragment and a template for the creator/owner (creator) and each group the owner belongs to.
These features are configured according to the needs of your application. Some features require additional storage in the underlying repository, or can have a significant impact on performance (see Performance Considerations later in this chapter). Consequently, you should only enable those features that the application requires.
Access rights
Access to secured repositories is managed by building ACLs that associate certain access rights with certain identities—individual users, as well as groups, organizations, and roles that are associated with multiple users. The following table lists access rights that apply to the secured repository system.
Note: Not all access rights are available in all implementations or instances of a secured repository.
Access right
Create a repository item with an item descriptor.
Note: Adding a new item to the repository also requires WRITE access to the same RepositoryItemDescriptor.
Remove items of this RepositoryItemDescriptor type.
Note: Deleting an item also requires DESTROY access to that Item.
Remove the repository item from the repository and destroy its contents.
Note: Most secured repositories also require DELETE access to the item's RepositoryItemDescriptor.
Query a repository item. LIST access is required in order for queries to return this repository item. An item's owner implicitly has LIST access.
Enable read access to items of this RepositoryItemDescriptor type; or to the specified repository item; or to the specified item property.
Inspect the ACL of a repository item. This access right is implicitly granted to the repository item's owner.
Inspect the owner of a repository item.
Enable addition of items of this RepositoryItemDescriptor type; or updates to the contents of the specified repository item or the specified item property.
Note: WRITE access to an item descriptor only enables addition of repository items; it does not allow updates to repository items.
Change the ACL of a repository item. This access right is implicitly granted to the repository item's owner.
Change the owner of a repository item.
Note: Securing a repository does not provide complete security within an application: the unprotected repository that it overlays is still available within the Nucleus name space, so it remains available to developers. The Oracle ATG Web Commerce Control Center can be configured to hide unprotected repositories, and an application can choose not to use an unprotected repository, so as not to expose unprotected data to end users.