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Conservatism is Compassionate
By Mark Rodgers & Jedd MedefindAfter the shellshock of the 2012 Election wore off, the Republican National Committee released their "Growth and Opportunity Project" report, which rightly observed that, "the perception that the GOP does not care about people is doing great harm to the Party and its candidates on the federal level, especially in presidential years. It is a major deficiency that must be addressed." Wisdom offered by Aristotle over 2,000 years ago helps us grasp the severity of this problem.He observed that what draws people to trust and follow a leader hinges on three main elements: competence (Do they know what they're doing?), integrity (Are they trustworthy?) and goodwill (Do they really care about people like me?). According to Aristotle, the importance of one far outstrips the others: goodwill. If people suspect you don't care about them, they will rarely follow you, no matter how right your solutions may sound.That's bad news for today's Republicans — particularly following the 2012 Presidential Election when their standard bearer polled 20 points behind his opponent on perceptions of the candidates' "caring about average people." In another poll, only 33 percent believed Romney "cares about people like me." Aristotle would have needed no other data to predict the election's outcome.Here's another prediction Aristotle might make: the GOP will not win another national election until it proves that Republican goodwill is every bit as strong as Republican competence.Admittedly, if forced to choose, most people would opt for competence over compassion in their brain surgeon or electrician. And most thoughtful voters point to specific issues and policies—not to a vague sense of a candidate's goodwill —when asked by pollsters what drove their vote.But humans are mysterious creatures, and matters of the heart often influence each of us more than we could explain even to ourselves, let alone pollsters. Whether in a friend or spouse, teacher, coach, or President, we want most of all to know that those who will shape our future really do care.Demonstrating genuine goodwill demands more than a vision for a stronger economy. It is evidenced especially in sincere compassion for the struggling: the aged widow, the recovering addict, the single mom with two jobs, the kid with high potential and little opportunity. If a leader cares about people like those, Americans conclude, that leader would probably care about me, too.Build on the BedrockTo be clear, the point isn't that Republicans should start pretending like we care. Pretending is the worst thing we could do if we're serious about leading. The Republican brand must always be built on the bedrock of who we really are.But in that is truly good news. Because the Republican bedrock is compassionate. We see that clearly in history, personal action and in policy.History. In the mid-19th century, the GOP was first forged out of a commitment to defending the lives and liberty of the oppressed. This commitment has remained over the decades, from the fight against slavery to confronting Communist overlords during the Cold War. Even the 1964 Civil Rights Act received a much larger percentage of Republican than Democrat votes in Congress.True, on policies that attempt to help the poor via massive bureaucracy or by privileging specific groups over others, Republicans have typically demurred. But when it comes to securing justice and opportunity for all, Republicans most always have led.Personal Action. As the incisive research of Arthur Brooks from the American Enterprise Institute has revealed, conservatives give a much larger percentage of their income to charity, volunteer more, and are even more likely to help a neighbor. Brooks found conservatives give 30 percent more to charity than liberals of equal income levels. Meanwhile, the Catalogue for Philanthropy's "generosity index" consistently finds red states more generous than blue.Conservatives may resist the kind of compassion that includes taking other people's money and redistributing it. But when it comes to their own money, they are decidedly generous.Public Policy Goals. Conservatives seek limited government foremost because they know big government crushes the best in people. Among the wealthy and middle class, big government suppresses innovation, job creation and responsibility to one's neighbor. In poorer neighborhoods, it robs dignity, undercuts initiative and encourages dependency. There is nothing empathetic about gargantuan government.In sharp contrast to an overbearing State, conservatives desire to cultivate vibrant community. That requires a balanced eco-system of inter-dependent institutions: families, businesses, houses of worship, civic organizations…and yes, government. Each has a vital role to play. When any one dominates the others, it is not merely a philosophical problem: people suffer. Children grow up fatherless. Loneliness becomes rampant. The struggling may receive government aid, but lack the relationships and support necessary to transform their lives.In short, conservatives know that human flourishing comes from aspiration nurtured in community. This is true for the poor and rich alike. So any policy or program that works against this goal isn't compassionate; it's destructive. Meanwhile, conservatism—properly understood—nurtures conditions in which all of these institutions together can elevate the lives of all citizens, including the poor, far more than government alone ever could.That's why conservatism is compassionate.But that fact alone isn't enough. Because in politics, perception shapes reality. So if Republicans have an interest in winning a national election again, this simple truth must again be widely known to be our bedrock—both in what we say and what we do.What will that require? First, we must re-explore this truth together—hammering it out on the anvil of serious discussion, just as the first Republicans did with their conviction that "all men are created equal" in the mid-1800's. Second, we must embody sincere concern for the struggling in our personal actions. Finally, we must articulate this vision by applying it in innovative policies.Understanding all this helps us reject two equally harmful extremes. On one side is the Darwinian ethics of extreme libertarianism that deifies personal liberty but offers little vision for personal responsibility to one's neighbor; this approach fails to recognize that there is, in fact, a necessary positive role for government and community in human thriving. On the other side stands the statism that promotes government as the solution for every ill, ultimately suppressing all competing institutions. Both of these are dead end roads and utterly insufficient for the challenges we face as a nation.Instead, we must do what the best leaders always have: apply timeless truths in timely ways.The GOP hasn't been doing that particularly well recently. As a Commentary Magazine article by Mike Gerson and Pete Wehner pointed out:"It is no wonder that Republican policies can seem stale; they are very nearly identical to those offered up by the Party more than 30 years ago. For Republicans to design an agenda that applies to the conditions of 1980 is as if Ronald Reagan designed his agenda for conditions that existed in the Truman years."Here are a few inherently conservative (read: "compassionate") policy ideas to get the discussion started:Specific Achievable PoliciesFamily – The First Economy and the First CommunityThe first community and the first economy of any society is the family. When policies cast marriage and parenting as a personal hobby, not a public good, we all lose. Republicans first introduced the child tax credit, then expanded it. We can build on this further.As part of upcoming tax reforms, we suggest merging the existing child tax credit and the childcare credit into a unified child tax credit, retaining its existing refundability and indexing it to inflation. Parents should be free to choose the best care situation for their child without financial penalty.In addition, we should affirm a holistic vision that prioritizes family by promoting adoption. This includes making the adoption tax credit refundable and further supporting adoption from foster care, which saves taxpayers significantly over time.No factor more predicts a child's well-being than his or her parents' marital status, so we must eliminate any and all financial disincentives to marriage, particularly those in programs designed to help the vulnerable. This includes both income thresholds and asset tests for all means tested government programs.We must also affirm the value of flexibility for working families. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has recently proposed allowing hourly employees to use their overtime for flex-time. This would help parents who desire to pick up kids from school, go on field trips with them, etc. State and city employees have been allowed to convert overtime to flex-time for almost 30 years, but outdated Federal laws don't allow private hourly employees this freedom.Civil Society – Communities of Compassion and InnovationCommunities cannot flourish without a vibrant civil society, from reading programs to blood drives to summer camps. Individual Americans gave $229 billion to nonprofit organizations in 2012. That's about 1.7 percent of personal income. If we could grow that to just 2 percent of personal income, it would mean an addition of $40 billion for civil society.How? One way is to place individuals, rather than government, in the center of deciding which charities will receive the billions of dollars currently distributed to charities via government grants. Instead, the bulk of these dollars could be re-purposed to incentivize additional personal giving.Taxpayers who give to charity would receive a refundable credit—perhaps 33 to 50 percent of their giving, up to the amount of the credit. This would spur Americans to boost their giving, particularly those with lower incomes who don't itemize and currently receive no tax benefit from charitable deductions.The result would expand the net dollars funneled to charity while also democratizing the process. By shifting control of these funds from bureaucratic grant makers to individual citizens, organizations will be far freer to innovate yet simultaneously more accountable to local donors. Finally, we would predict a boost in volunteerism, since individuals are much more likely to volunteer with organizations they support financially.EducationThe brilliance of American innovation has hardly touched American public education in decades. Republicans must drive reforms that allow the creativity seen everywhere else in our economy to lift the educational experience of every American child.Most importantly, we must free local public schools from the one-size-fits-all dogma that often dominates public education. How? By elevating parents and children from passive recipients of pre-fab services to empowered citizens who can select the best fit for their child from among a variety of options. We know our system is broken when children follow the funding instead of funding following the child.Allowing parents to take their child's public funds to any school of their choosing would certainly accomplish this goal. But even lower levels of choice, such as the options provided by charter schools not bound by traditional school regulations, can help greatly.Ultimately, shifting control of kids' education from state bureaucracy and unions to parents will allow schools to innovate. Many will start to harness the powers of technology to boost education in ways that universities already are. Teachers will be freed to act as mentor-coaches, while much individual student instruction can be facilitated by highly-personalized online programs that adapt to each child's progress. At the same time, families that prefer low-tech settings will be free to choose that also—setting up myriad options that ultimately will prove those that work best for kids. The wealthy already have access to all of this. It's time to expand that opportunity to all American kids.Health CareNext to education, flexibility and innovation is most needed in healthcare. One of countless ways to do this is by enabling each state to use Federal funds as block grants to creatively address the unique needs its citizens face. This would allow states to control Medicaid's finances, deciding eligibility standards, benefit packages, provider reimbursement rates, and so forth. In this way the "laboratories of democracy" would be freed to solve problems and provide solutions that—as they prove effective—will be adopted by other states.Human RightsWe must also reject the isolationism and xenophobia that currently tinge the Republican Party. We are living in an increasingly connected world, and our vision must not just be for the struggling at home, but also affirm the role that the United States has played as a champion for freedom and an advocate for the downtrodden worldwide.This legacy—much of it initiated by conservatives—includes application of American might to confront human trafficking, protect human rights and promote religious liberty worldwide.Meanwhile, over the past twenty years, the number of people living in extreme poverty has been cut by more than half in the developing world, from 43% to 21%. About two-thirds of that improvement comes from economic growth, and conservatives must articulate how free markets are the greatest single anti-poverty engine. Meanwhile, we can also champion innovative public-private-nonprofit partnerships that lift those whom markets leave behind, including orphans.One such example is the remarkable success of PEPFAR, which is a conservative legacy as well. In designing PEPFAR as he did, President George W. Bush confronted a global health crises with a new paradigm that centered on locally-based solutions, personal responsibility, and measurable results. This approach has helped dramatically reduce the rate of AIDS in Africa and beyond.Juvenile Justice and Foster CareChange the trajectory of a child headed in the wrong direction and you change just about everything: lower prison expenditures, higher future employment rates and tax revenue, safer communities, healthier families, and much more.Marriage. Conservatives should never be shy in helping people see that fatherlessness is a sociological cancer. Children from single-parent families are four times more likely to live in poverty, are at much greater risk of teenage pregnancy, incarceration, obesity and drug and alcohol abuse. In virtually every measurable sociological category, children from fatherless homes face longer odds to live healthy and financially independent lives. Changing marriage trends in struggling communities is no small task. But conservatives should be at the forefront of championing a wide range of community and faith-based initiatives that encourage and support marriage.Juvenile incarceration. When unnecessary, incarceration of non-violent juvenile offenders costs the taxpayer in both monetary and social metrics. The annual costs to taxpayers can be as high as $50,000 per prisoner in many states, an amount higher than the yearly salaries for many public sector employees like teachers and police officers. And it's not just the financial impact; the 60 percent unemployment rate and very limited earnings opportunities that face ex-convicts help create a nearly inescapable spiral of poverty as well as a high degree of recidivism. Conservatives must take the lead in efforts that divert non-violent juvenile offenders from prison to mentoring programs, tutoring and other relationships proven to help break cycles of incarceration.Foster Care. Finally, conservatives should take the lead in addressing foster care in our communities. Across the U.S., roughly 100,000 children hope against hope for adoption into a forever family, and about 300,000 others need temporary care in loving homes. Foster youth who age out of the system without being adopted--having no stable family to guide and support--often find it difficult to navigate education, jobs and relationships. By their mid-20s, 80 percent of the young men have been arrested, and nearly 70 percent of women are on public assistance. As we've seen in Colorado, these numbers can be vastly improved through state reforms that make fostering and adopting easier for family, alongside private initiatives to recruit and support families through the joys and challenges of foster care and adoption.Conservative principles lend themselves well to policies that could transform the lives of countless children, boosting the percentage of children raised by married couples, reducing incarceration, and finding loving homes for children who lack them.ConclusionThe RNC report concludes that "Young voters are increasingly rolling their eyes at what the Party represents, and many minorities wrongly think that Republicans do not like them or want them in the country. When someone rolls their eyes at us, they are not likely to open their ears to us."Now is the time to reverse this watershed concern by digging deep into our historic bedrock. As a first step, we recommend that a representative of Republican leadership on and off the Hill follow up the Growth and Opportunity Project with a detailed policy agenda to provide focus for the party through the next several years until a nominee is able to better articulate our vision for all Americans.The future success of the Republican Party and conservative movement lies not primarily in better messaging, wider outreach and sophisticated technology, as important as these are. The future lies in our willingness to re-discover and articulate in policy a simple truth: conservatism is compassionate.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Substitute Juan Luis Anangono produced a match-winning display as the Chicago Fire advanced to the Quarterfinals of the US Open Cup with a 4-2 extra-time victory over the Columbus Crew at Toyota Park on Wednesday evening.
Anangono, who replaced Mike Magee in the 77th minute, scored two goals and played a part in another as the Fire secured a last eight meeting with the Atlanta Silverbacks in two weeks' time.
A close to full-strength Fire side dominated the first half against a decimated Crew squad, and there was no surprise when the home side's superiority paid off with the opening goal in the 34th minute.
Harry Shipp was the provider, swinging in a dangerous right-wing free kick for centerback Patrick Ianni to steer the ball home from close range.
Lively substitute Jairo Arrieta, who replaced Justin Meram at the break, equalized for the visitors in the 55th minute when he latched on to Ben Sweat's pull back and found the net with a textbook bicycle kick from six yards.
The Crew then took the lead in the 70th minute when Ben Speas' shot was deflected into the path of Bernardo Anor and the midfielder made no mistake with a calm finish low to Sean Johnson's left.
The Fire restored parity in the 83rd minute when Matt Watson's pull-back on the right was swept home by the influential Anangono.
Quincy Amarikwa then put the Fire 3-2 in front in the second minute of extra time when he headed home Shipp's pass after good work by Greg Cochrane and Anangono.
Crew substitute Michael Parkhurst was shown a straight red card for a wild kick at Amarikwa in the 97th minute, and Alex crossed for Anangono to volley home left-footed in the 108th minute to secure the victory for the hosts.


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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – From thousands of miles away, over the connection of a telephone line, Wes Welker made his sales pitch to Denver Broncos boss John Elway.
Yes, Welker was trying to convince the Broncos to sign him, not the other way around.
Of course, the Broncos – Elway and head coach John Fox in particular – were thrilled when Welker officially became a free agent on Tuesday after contract talks with the New England Patriots broke down.
Welker knew just the right words to win over Elway, who treats his job as an executive with the same competitive drive as he had as quarterback.
"I want to win. That above everything," Welker said Thursday as he was introduced in Denver. "We'd figure out the money part and all that stuff later, but that winning was a big thing for me."
THEY HAVE THE HORSES: But Broncos won't be a 'Dream Team'
RISE UP, ATLANTA: Steven Jackson is the newest Falcon
Welker signed a two-year contract worth $12 million on Thursday, seemingly a bargain for a five-time all-pro.
"We're thrilled that Wes wanted to come to Denver," Elway said. "There were just so many things that mixed just right for us."
The Broncos wanted Welker because they believed he would be an upgrade at the slot receiver, and a nice complement, Elway said, to outside receivers Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker. All three had more than 1,000 receiving yards in 2012, and Welker and Thomas made the Pro Bowl.
"They were another big part of me wanting to come here, just their styles and watching them on film and how good of young receivers they are," Welker said. "I think it's a good starting point for all of us."
Signing Welker could signal a shift from Denver's preferred two-tight-end, two-receiver base offense as the Broncos spend the off-season finding new ways to use Welker. After watching him catch 23 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns in three games against the Broncos in the past two seasons, Fox is happy to plan for Welker, instead of against him.
"This game is about matchups, and he's a tough cover for one person," Fox said. "He's a tough matchup, and that makes everyone else better."
Welker exchanged text messages with his new quarterback Peyton Manning before and after agreeing to the contract, and said Manning was part of the reason Denver was an attractive spot. He said he had no contact with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick since negotiations with the Patriots broke down earlier in the week.
In his eight-minute press conference, Welker tried to dodge questions about why he is no longer a Patriot, but did admit leaving will be hard, because he's leaving behind a close friend in Tom Brady.
"That was definitely the hardest part, leaving Tom," Welker said. "He's a great competitor, great player, great friend across the board. I wish the best for him."
Welker was the final of the Broncos' new free agents to be introduced in Denver this week, part of a group that includes four potential starters – guard Louis Vasquez, defensive tackle Terrance Knighton, cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Welker.
Denver also re-signed starting defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson and special teamer David Bruton and franchised Ryan Clady, leaving almost no room left under the salary cap for additional movement.
Denver signed no players on Thursday, and Elway, Fox and director of player personnel Matt Russell spent time with Welker, Rodgers-Cromartie and Vasquez, who were each at the team's head quarters to formally sign their deals.
Denver has until 4 p.m. Eastern on Friday to make a decision on whether to keep or release defensive end Elvis Dumervil, whom the team has asked to slash several million off his 2013 salary of $12 million. The market for the top free agent defensive ends has ended up being in the range of $6 million to $7.5 million per year, numbers that could help convince Dumervil to stay in Denver.
Regardless of the outcome of the Dumervil saga, the Broncos closed the first few days of free agency believing the team is better, and more prepared to win in the postseason. Welker played in two Super Bowls with the Patriots, though New England lost those games to the New York Giants.
"It's a completely different season," Welker said. "The hits are a little harder, the throws are a little tighter."
Follow Lindsay H. Jones on Twitter @bylindsayhjones
PHOTOS: Wes Welker through the years:


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Welcome to The Arden Hotel, Stratford-Upon-Avon
Located in the heart of historic Stratford-upon-Avon, directly opposite the world-renowned Royal Shakespeare Company Theatres, The Arden Hotel is an elegant and sophisticated 45 bedroom boutique hotel in the birthplace of William Shakespeare.
The star of Stratford-upon-Avon's hotel scene, The Arden's sophisticated and contemporary take on a boutique hotel has won her admirers from across the globe. With the RSC for a neighbour what theatre goer could ask for more?
Why stay at The Arden Hotel?
Well, it's definitely because of our luxurious accommodation, the attention to detail and outstanding service. It may also be to make the most of our proximity to the Royal Shakespeare Theatres – so close that you can avoid the crowds and pop in for interval drinks. Perhaps it's the all-weather terrace, cosy afternoon tea lounge or award-winning No 44 Brasserie.
The unrivalled town centre location, making every attraction accessible on foot, our private carpark and views over the Royal Shakespeare Theatres and the River Avon play their part, but it's all of these elements combined that make The Arden Hotel such a unique destination.
Award-Winning Luxury
Well established as one of the finest luxury hotels and restaurants in Warwickshire, The Arden Hotel has won a host of awards including four AA silver stars for the levels of comfort and hospitality, alongside two AA Rosettes for our creative cuisine, served in our Waterside Brasserie or on the terrace.
AA Small Hotel Group of the Year
In 2014 -15 we were proud to have been awarded 'Small Hotel Group of the Year' category at the AA Hospitality Awards. View our press release and find out more about this prestigious award!
We are proud and pleased to have been awarded 'Best Hotel' at The Coventry and Warwickshire Tourism & Culture Awards 2016.


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DNA detectives seek origins of you
Vikings. Attila the Hun. Cavemen. Meet the in-laws, or rather, those genetic relatives you didn't expect to find on your family tree.
Amid the wonders of the age of genetics, people worldwide are spitting, swabbing or otherwise submitting samples to genetic registries, opening an era in understanding that most fundamental of questions: Who am I?
"Everyone wants to know how much of a Neanderthal they are," says genetics expert Spencer Wells, head of National Geographic's Genographic Project, a worldwide DNA ancestry-tracing effort that estimates how related you are to that vanished family of human caveman cousins. "Wives particularly seem interested in their husband's results, for some reason," Wells jokes.
Once the domain of great-aunts hunting down any family member with a royal pedigree, the world of genealogy is tapping into the genetics revolution while going mainstream. In less than a decade, more than a million people have taken such ancestry tests, offered by more than two dozen companies. The Genographic Project got things going in 2005. The "incredible response," Wells says, reflects a revolution in cheaper DNA testing, one that has at times raised hackles of privacy advocates.
At the National Genealogical Society's annual meeting last month in Las Vegas, more traditional talks on tracing immigrant paperwork competed for attention with a new slate of "DNA" sleuthing from geneticists.
STORY: A reporter's genetic reading: The truth hurts
Indeed, the ancient art of family-tree-tracing is rushing into the 21st century.
"We are seeing a coming of age in genealogy meeting genetics," says Ancestry.Com's Ken Chahine, a biochemist. "The expense of tests has dropped, and the number of records has reached a point where we are able to tell people a good deal about their ancestry."
Intended by National Geographic as a part of its mission to map and explore the world, the Genographic Project has analyzed the genetic markers of nearly 600,000 people since 2005, specializing in looking to the origins of modern humans in Africa more than 100,000 years ago.
Those include links to our ancient cousins, the Neanderthals, whose genome or gene map was first published by researchers in 2010. Svante Paabo of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology completed the task. Anyone who isn't African probably shares about 2% to 3% of his or her genes with Neanderthals, it turns out.
The project's success has spawned competitors.
The genealogy-focused Ancestry.Com's AncestryDNA has more than 120,000 test takers in its records, while the medically focused 23andMe, based in Mountain View, Calif., has tested more than 200,000 of its own. Not without critics, these gene-testing services and others offer genetic peeks into the past for people willing to buy kits that typically range in price from $99 to $199.
What do people learn from the tests? They can't tell a Spaniard from an Italian yet, Chahine says. Instead they tell people where — geographically — their distant ancestors originated, as judged from where their gene markers appear most abundantly in modern populations.
AncestryDNA focuses on the more recent past, "where your ancestors lived hundreds — perhaps even thousands — of years ago," its website says. Results are divided into geographic areas such as Scandinavia or Southern Europe, then distant genetic cousins can be located in the company's database. You might be told you have Vikings or Romans in your past, but don't get too excited. Pretty much everyone does.
The tests can't tell you whether Marie Antoinette or someone equally famous was a cousin because most genes are shared broadly across humanity. Go back more than a few generations, and humans share millions of common ancestors.
Despite that common thread, these tests can take you to many surprising places. For instance, 23andMe scours its results looking for about 100 markers for congenital diseases — as well as documenting Neanderthal genes. The Genographic Project, while also noting one's Neanderthal roots, delivers a lesson in the ancient In-and-Out-of-Africa genetic migration that started more than 65,000 years ago. It ends with a summary of where a person's genes most recently resided — a picture that grows hazy within the past 5,000 years.
"Most of the time, people see the results they might expect to see from their ancestry," Wells says. "But we are also telling people a lot about how genes work and what they can and cannot tell them about the past."
Critics say some tests are doing a disservice. In March, the United Kingdom's "Sense About Science" campaign published a booklet warning against expensive genetics tests that claimed to link people to history's famous folks, such as the Queen of Sheba or Napoleon. They call such claims "genetic astrology" because going back a few generations, everyone starts to look related.
A May 7 study in the journal PLOS Biology found that every European is likely to share "millions" of common ancestors within the past 1,000 years even with someone on the opposite side of the continent, making a connection with a Hun or Viking hard to miss in most European family trees.
But not all of this testing is frivolous. "The rapidly enlarging genetic genealogical databases have in recent years become increasingly useful to scientists," notes a research team led by Maarten Larmuseau of Belgium's Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in an American Journal of Physical Anthropology review published this year.
A 23andMe team reported 20 new genetic markers linked to nearsightedness among people with a European background in March. In an April study, data from the Genographic Project were compared with DNA taken from ancient skeletons. The researchers found that an unsuspected migration of farmers from Spain into Central Europe took place around 2,800 B.C.
As with much of the DNA and genetic testing world, these scientific efforts raise privacy worries.
Gene detectives from the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass., reported in January that they could guess the identity of 12% of men in an anonymous database by comparing their data with information in genealogical gene records. Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, has noted that scientists were blithely publishing the gene map of the subject of her book without any permission from her family. After she died in 1951, Lacks' cells were widely used in cancer studies.
"Definitely the field is aware of privacy concerns, more aware even than we started," Chahine says, noting the AncestryDNA effort lets people keep their results anonymous to the outside world.
A federal law, the 2008 Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), specifies that insurers and employers can't discriminate against people because of their genetic makeup. However, Yaniv Erlich of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, notes that keeping your individual gene map private doesn't mean it can't be pieced together from the publicly available maps of your relatives. If a distant relative of yours makes their genes available in a public database, analysts might be able to learn about your genes simply by knowing your last name.
Of course, the tests might still need a little work.
In April, Kate Wong, the anthropology editor of Scientific American, reported that one company's test found she was 2.1% Neanderthal, while another determined she was 2.9% related to the ancient human species — a considerable difference in the world of science. So even the tests for our genes aren't perfect, which is to be expected. Scientists, after all, are only human.
More than two dozen genetic ancestry tests are on the market, among the best known:
• 23andMe — The Mountain View, Calif., service, used by more than 200,000 people since 2006, aims to combine medical and ancestry information, checking for more than 240 health conditions or traits linked to genes through a $99 test. The company name is a nod to the 23 human chromosome pairs.
• AncestryDNA — Tied to the Ancestry.com genealogy company based in Provo, Utah, the $99 test focuses on what genes say about your family history in the past few thousand years and links its 120,000 users to about 40 million family trees in the company's records.
• National Geographic's Genographic Project — Since 2005, nearly 600,000 participants have used the $199.95 test, which focuses on both recent and ancient ancestry, constructing a timeline-driven map of where paternal and maternal lineage genes originated.
All of these ancestry services include online tools for finding cousins and near-relatives with similar genetic profiles who have also taken such DNA tests.


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Daisy M Keresey has not received any gifts yet
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And The GRAMMY Goes To…
(For a complete list of 52nd GRAMMY Award winners, please click here.)
Actress Kristen Bell, pop/R&B singer Justin Bieber, actor Jeff Bridges, pop singer and actress Miley Cyrus, actor Josh Duhamel, pop sensation the Jonas Brothers, nine-time GRAMMY winner Norah Jones, pop singer/songwriter Ke$ha, two-time GRAMMY winner LL Cool J, GRAMMY winner and three-time Latin GRAMMY winner Ricky Martin, 10-time GRAMMY and three-time Latin GRAMMY winner Carlos Santana, and nine-time GRAMMY winner Ringo Starr are the first announced presenters for the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards. They join previously announced performers/nominees Beyoncé, the Black Eyed Peas, Bon Jovi, the Dave Matthews Band, Green Day, Lady Antebellum, Lady Gaga, Maxwell, Pink, Taylor Swift, and the Zac Brown Band.
All five Album Of The Year nominees are set to perform on Music's Biggest Night: Beyoncé, the Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, the Dave Matthews Band, and Taylor Swift.
As part of Bon Jovi's performance on the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards, fans will have an opportunity to decide which Bon Jovi hit the band will perform. For this "You Pick It, They Play It!" special segment, viewers can log on to www.cbs.com/grammys and vote in two phases for one out of six of their favorite hit Bon Jovi songs: "Always," "Bed Of Roses," "Have A Nice Day," "It's My Life," "Livin' On A Prayer," and "Wanted Dead Or Alive." There is no registration to vote, and fans may vote as often as they wish. Additionally, a 30-second clip of each song may be viewed.
The deadline to vote on the first phase is Sunday, Jan. 24, 11:59 p.m. ET. The second phase starts on Jan. 25, when the list will be narrowed down to the top three songs and fans may again vote for which hit song the band should perform as part of their segment. Voting will continue until Bon Jovi's performance on the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards on Jan. 31.
As previously announced on "The GRAMMY Nominations Concert Live!!" on Dec. 2, music fans can upload a 20-second video of themselves singing along to a portion of the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" for a chance to have their video appear as part of the Peas' performance on Music's Biggest Night. Videos may be uploaded to CBS.com through Jan. 15.
The 52nd GRAMMY Awards will take place live on Sunday, Jan. 31 at Staples Center in Los Angeles and will be broadcast in HDTV and 5.1 Surround Sound on the CBS Television Network from 8–11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). The show also will be supported on radio via Westwood One worldwide, and covered online at GRAMMY.com and CBS.com, and on YouTube. Additional performers, presenters and special segments will be announced soon. For GRAMMY coverage, updates and breaking news, please visit The Recording Academy's social networks on Twitter and Facebook.
The 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards are produced by John Cossette Productions and AEG Ehrlich Ventures for The Recording Academy. Ken Ehrlich and John Cossette are executive producers, Louis J. Horvitz is director.


text: Okay, the question has been asked - if we were to ask Shawn to put the gears in motion to make PRS Forum-marked merch, what would you want to see? Multiple choice allowed, votes are private. Maybe the mods can sticky this. The real fun begins when we try to decide what the branding looks like!!!


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Illustrator Team Behind the Scenes — working on Live Corners
Tell us about yourself and your role on the Illustrator team.
My name is Yogesh Sharma, one of the product owners on the Illustrator team. I joined Adobe and the Illustrator team as a quality engineer in November, 2006. I have a degree in engineering but no background in art or design. During my stint with the Illustrator team, I have learned to draw — and am no longer scared of a blank artboard.
Away from work, I am an avid motorcyclist and have done some incredible tours, such as riding one of world's highest roads in the Himalayas.
Do you have a favorite illustration/graphic design style?
I like almost all types of design, but I am particularly intrigued by the more psychedelic artwork styles.


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UN agencies call for immediate action to achieve Millennium Goals
Agency heads welcome Millennium Project Report
18 January 2005, Rome - Three Rome-based UN agencies today called for immediate action by developed and developing countries to ensure that the goals of the 2000 Millennium Summit are achieved.
"Leaders and other stakeholders in the poorest countries must take the necessary steps to ensure good governance and sound economic planning. It falls on the international community to take swift, strategic action to support them," they declared.
The joint statement by Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), James Morris, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), and Lennart Bage, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), was issued at the Rome launch of the Millennium Project Report.
Eight goals
The Report covers all eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the first of which includes a pledge to reduce by half the proportion of people living in extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. This goal is in line with the target proclaimed at the 1996 World Food Summit in Rome.
"In a world that has abundant resources and can produce sufficient food to feed everybody, the extent of hunger is not only a moral outrage, but a manifestation of the world community's collective failure to put in place policies and programmes with long-term vision," the statement said.
"We believe that there is no choice but to meet the goals. The cost of not taking urgent action - in terms of lives ruined, economic growth foregone, and natural resources irretrievably depleted - is simply too high. More than 1.2 billion people still live in extreme poverty today: one in every five of the world's citizens. Over 850 million people in the world are chronically hungry - a number that is now on the rise after a decade of improvement. More than five million children die of causes directly related to malnutrition every year."
The agency heads noted that three quarters of those living in extreme poverty, about 900 million people, live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and related activities for their livelihoods.
ODA has fallen steadily since 1988
"Yet, despite this, the share of public expenditure for agriculture and rural development is far from being commensurate with its importance in the economies of many developing countries, and official development assistance (ODA) for agriculture and the rural sector has fallen steadily since 1988. Today, only about eight percent of bilateral ODA goes to rural development," they said
"The same can be said of the lack of adequate investments in health and nutrition, income growth among the very poor and appropriate safety nets to protect people (and productive economic investments) against the shocks of drought, flood and famine," the statement continued.
It said insufficient attention was paid to the needs of farmers with small landholdings, especially women farmers who make up the majority of these. "They support the poorest and hungriest, yet are often denied access to resources such as land, water, credit and markets."
Farmers in poor developing countries also had difficulty being competitive in selling their produce when markets were flooded by cheap produce from subsidized producers in wealthier countries.
A twin-track strategy
The three agencies advocated a twin-track strategy to combat hunger and poverty: "On the one hand, seeking to create a vibrant economy where people can provide for themselves, they must have the building blocks for long-term sustainable growth, including improved infrastructure, sound natural resource management and increased access to jobs, education, land, water, credit, social services and organizations for the poor. This means investments in increasing productivity, in rural financial and service institutions and in markets, backed by major policy reforms."
"On the other hand, direct, sustained, and well-targeted assistance is often necessary to put food into hungry mouths today, to prevent disease, send children to school, rebuild infrastructure shattered by armed conflicts, and reclaim natural resources eroded by generations of over-use."
The statement noted that only a small fraction of ODA goes to direct food and nutrition support, an amount insufficient for the necessary targeted interventions in rural areas, which can save lives and build livelihoods.
The three agency heads expressed their concern at the finding of the Report that many countries, the majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa, were falling behind in attempts to achieve the MDGs.
But they declared: "Nevertheless, the three Rome-based agencies reconfirm that the MDGs can be realised by 2015, if both the developing and developed world take immediate action."
John Riddle
Media Relations Officer, FAO
(+39) 06 570 53259
e-mail this article


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May 16, 2006
LOS ANGELES – John E. Bryson, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Edison International, will address the UCLA Anderson School of Management class of 2006 as this year's distinguished commencement speaker for the MBA, Fully-Employed MBA and Ph.D. programs on June 16, 2006.
"UCLA Anderson is highly regarded worldwide and this year's talented and skilled graduates will be in demand by today's business leaders," said Bryson.
Edison International is one of the nation's largest electricity companies. It includes both the large regulated utility Southern California Edison, and a major competitive power generation business called Edison Mission Group. The company has combined assets totaling nearly $35 billion.
John Bryson's professional career began in 1970 when he and a small group of fellow Yale Law School graduates founded the Natural Resources Defense Council. After helping to launch the Washington DC and California offices of that organization, Bryson devoted several years to public service, where he helped shape California's response to two severe resource shortages. From 1976 to 1979 he served as chairman of the California State Water Resources Control Board, during a period of draught and water shortages. From 1979 to 1982 he served as president of the California Public Utilities Commission, during a period marked by oil shortages and price shocks.
In 1982, Bryson entered the private practice of law. He joined Edison International in 1984 and became the company's chairman in 1990. On his watch, Edison International successfully weathered the California power crisis and has earned a reputation as one of the nation's leaders in the development and use of renewable energy resources.
Bryson is a director of The Boeing Company, The Walt Disney Company and the California Institute of Technology. He has served as chairman of the California Business Roundtable and the Edison Electric Institute, and as a director on the Stanford University Board of Trustees. Bryson graduated from Stanford University and earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Yale Law School.
Commencement Web site
About UCLA Anderson School of Management
UCLA Anderson School of Management is ranked among the top-tier business schools in the world. Award-winning faculty renowned for their research and teaching, highly selective admissions, successful alumni and world-class facilities combine to provide an extraordinary learning environment.
The mission of UCLA Anderson School of Management is to be a global leader in management education, research and service. Established in 1935, UCLA Anderson provides management education to more than 1,400 students enrolled in MBA and doctoral programs, and some 2,000 executives and managers enrolled annually in executive education programs. UCLA Anderson alumni number more than 34,000 graduates around the world dedicated to continued networking, professional development and educational activities.


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Emily Anne Barnicle of Cove City and David Charles Unwin of Dallas, Texas were united in marriage on Aug. 10, 2013, at the First Baptist Church of Durham with the Rev. Andrew Winn officiating.
Emily Anne Barnicle of Cove City and David Charles Unwin of Dallas, Texas were united in marriage on Aug. 10, 2013, at the First Baptist Church of Durham with the Rev. Andrew Winn officiating.
The bride is the daughter of Paul and Tracey Barnicle of Cove City. She is the granddaughter of Gene and Nancy McIlwean of New Bern, and the late John Barnicle and the late Carolyn Barnicle.
The bridegroom is the son of Richard and Michelle Unwin of Dallas, Texas and the grandson of Charles and Kathryn Turner of Dallas, Texas and the late David and Susan Unwin.
The bride was given in marriage by her father.
Nuptial music was provided by the First Baptist Church of Durham Choir, pianist Laura Laird, organist Susan Browning, and violinist Nathan Liggitt.
The matron of honor was Kathleen Mitchell of Durham.
Bridesmaids were Mary Barnicle and Sara Barnicle, both of Cove City and sisters of the bride, and Rosemary Bowen of Chapel Hill.
Best man was Alexander Polly of Dallas, Texas.
Groomsmen were Clinton Summers of Oklahoma City, Okla., Ryan Lynch of Houston, Texas, and Walter Foxworth of Los Angeles, Calif.
Knox Schaeffer was the ringbearer.
Assisting with the wedding were wedding director Margaret �Margo� Bowen of Chapel Hill, music director Chase Jenkins of Raleigh, flowers by Erica McIlwean of New Bern and Kimberly Long of Williamsburg, Va., photographers Tracy McIlwean and Kriston O�Donald, both of New Bern, and guest book attendant Margaret �Mimi� Bowen of Chapel Hill.
A reception, hosted by the bride�s parents, was held at Morgan Hall.
Assisting with the reception were Allison Castellucci and Susan Condon, both of Durham, Cathy Hamilton of Chapel Hill, Ila Grey Lewis of New Bern, Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Long of Williamsburg, Va., and Cyndie Zeleski of Warrenton, Va.
The couple took a honeymoon trip to Seaside, Fla. and New Orleans, La.
The bride graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill.
The bridegroom graduated from Georgetown University and Duke University School of Law. He is employed by the Texas First Court of Appeals as a law clerk.
The couple will live in Houston, Texas.


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Latest News
China's Xi arrives in South Korea as tensions grow with North Korea, Japan
Chinese President Xi Jinping made his first state visit to South Korea on Thursday, part of a courtship aimed at strengthening his hand in dealing with North Korea and Japan.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye greeted Xi upon his arrival in Seoul, the fifth time the two have met since they both assumed power last year. During the two-day visit, Xi, Park and other South Korean officials are expected to discuss a possible trade agreement and mutual concerns over North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
Chinese news outlets and officials have been hyping the meeting for days, partly because it marks the first time in two decades of normalized relations between Beijing and Seoul that a Chinese leader has visited South Korea before he's visited the north.
The visit "will certainly become the most important milestone in the history of exchanges between the two countries," China's ambassador to South Korea, Qiu Guohong, told the Korea Joongang Daily in an interview last week. He added that "the relationship between South Korea and China couldn't be any better."
China is regularly accused of clumsy foreign-policy forays, but Xi's South Korea's visit serves China's interests by sending a terse message to North Korea's Kim Jong Un. While China remains North Korea's closest ally and biggest trading partner, Beijing opposes its nuclear weapons program and was stunned by Kim's bloody power play last year, when he had executed his uncle and top adviser, Jang Song Thaek, who was well regarded by Chinese leaders.
In courting South Korea, China also hopes to build a regional counterweight to a historic enemy, Japan. Both countries were victims of Japanese atrocities during and before World War II, and both have denounced Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for what they see as his attempts to remilitarize Japan.
On Tuesday, Abe announced that Japan would reinterpret its postwar pacifist constitution to allow it to play a larger military role in the region, including defending allies that are attacked. Beijing and Seoul criticized the move, with the South Korean Foreign Ministry issuing a statement that urged Japan to adhere to the spirit of its 67-year-old constitution.
Japan added to the intrigue Thursday by announcing a small diplomatic breakthrough with North Korea. Abe announced that Japan would lift some sanctions on North Korea in exchange for Pyongyang's pledge to investigate what had happened to several Japanese citizens whom North Korea abducted in the 1970s and '80s.
During that period, North Korea kidnapped dozens of Japanese citizens for use in a state-sponsored program to train North Koreans for overseas espionage, and Japan has long called for a full accounting. The lifted sanctions would allow North Korean ships to dock at Japanese ports and would end some travel restrictions between the countries, although Japan would continue to observe United Nations sanctions against North Korea.
While North Korea has confirmed the arrangement, it hasn't refrained from actions that Japan, South Korea and other countries view as belligerent. Since last week, North Korea has been firing short-range missiles and rockets from its east coast, despite a United Nation ban on such tests.
North Korea's nuclear ambitions will likely be at the top of the agenda of the talks between Xi and Park. South Korea wants China to put more pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program and resume so-called "six party talks" aimed at preventing a resumption of war on the Korean peninsula. Already big trading partners, China and South Korea are mulling a free trade agreement that would deepen economic ties between them.
According to South Korean media, Xi arrived Thursday with 200 Chinese business leaders and a delegation of 80 government officials, including his chief adviser, Wang Huning; Li Zhanshu, the head of the General Office of the Communist Party of China; Yang Jiechi, state councilor and former foreign minister; and Wang Yi, the foreign minister.
While Xi has pursued a more muscular foreign policy in Asia than his predecessors, with a goal of limiting U.S. influence, he offered an olive branch to Washington at an event Wednesday in Beijing. Speaking to a group of U.S. business leaders who included former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Xi said the two countries should "plant more flowers, no thorns, clear the interference and avoid suspicion and confrontation."


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This week at Mizzou Law there is programming for everyone! On Monday, April 21st from noon to 2:00 pm in room 6 the MO Bar Course on Professionalism will be offered. This annual program is designed for 3Ls planning to become members of the Missouri Bar to assist them in obtaining two free Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Continue Reading »
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NorCalSeahawk wrote:It happens at every stadium. I was at the San fran game last Thursday and the people were up ALL THE TIME. It's a football game not a Symphony or a Ballet, no big deal. I will be standing and yelling when I come up for the Vikes game in two weeks (or I hope I have something to stand and yell at).
Return to [ THE OFFICIAL NET NATION FAN FORUM ]


text: Master Chief 8 Posted November 23, 2009 New OS X Restart Solution – OSXRestart Version 1.5c now available!!! Update: The latest Chameleon nightly – not the official RC4 release – now also includes a restart fix. A big thank you to Duvel300 who wrote this patch! I have been working on a replacement for OpenHaltRestart.kext and I am proud to present it today, here on insanelymac.com My kext is written from the ground up, and not based off of either OpenHaltRestart.kext nor EvoReboot.kext You won't find a single line of code from either kext in my work – using a completely new and different approach to solve restart issues. It is also the cleanest restart solution ever. No nagging whatsoever. Not even a single line in your log files - the only reference to me, being "OSX Restart Solution v1.3 By Master Chief 2009" can be found in both Info.plist and InfoPlist.strings (Update: I did add a notation for kernel.log in later versions). ioreg -l output Some of you here might want to know this so here goes: OSX_Restart_Handler <class OSX_Restart_Handler, id 0x10000010c, !registered, !matched, active, busy 0, retain 4> { "IOClass" = "OSX_Restart_Handler" "IOMatchCategory" = "OSX_Restart_Handler" "IOProbeScore" = 18446744073709550616 "IOProviderClass" = "IOPlatformExpertDevice" "CFBundleIdentifier" = "com.apple.osx.restart" "IOResourceMatch" = "ACPI" } And for the rest of us… it's not that a big deal. Just forget about it. Target audience OSXRestart.kext is developed for OS X 10.6 and 10.6 only. For both 32 and 64 bit (single combo kext). And also (not specifically) for people where restart-after-sleep is broken; no more keyboard controller hacks – I am using the FACP table data instead. Does it work? The first version of OSXRestart.kext has been downloaded 121 times so far, and the latest release 25 times. Which looks like nothing right now, but I haven't officially introduced it yet. Not until today – 23 November 2009 – that is. And the first confirmations from: Asus, Gigabyte and MSI users are starting to flow in. But more importantly, there hasn't been a single complaint about OSXRestart.kext not working. Which to me is far more important, especially since my code is still brand new and like I said earlier; I am doing things completely different (using FACP table data). Limitations OSXRestart.kext is developed for one reason only... to fix restart issues. Not to fix shutdown! And it might not work with motherboards with a NVDIA chipset (see post #85). Check your FACP table, which should not be much shorter than the attached example! Shutdown can be fixed with DSDT patching, and Asus user can look here for help, and Gigabyte users here. Also, OSXRestart.kext is developed specifically for OS X 10.6 and thus there won't be one for Leopard. Sorry. Troubleshooting In case of trouble, when OSXRestart.kext doesn't seem to restart your hack, you have to figure out what the problem is. I can't do magic 6000 miles away from you. Start by looking at the installed kexts in /Extra/Extensions/ (where they should be for Chameloen users) or in /System/Library/Extensions/ (where they are when they don't work in /Extra/Extensions) because one of them is most likely the culprit. Another indicator is shutdown. When that doesn't work without something like OpenHaltRestart.kext or EvOReboot.kext then you are in trouble since, again, OSXRestart.kext isn't going to solve shutdown problems. And please add a signature before you ask questions, so that people here know what you are using and can try to help you. Update: Device (SBUS) in your DSDT might cause a slow reboot – up to three times – which basically means that the SBUS isn't working for you. See also: post #102 and post #104 Failures There are a number of reports where OSXRestart.kext didn't work. A few people had to remove VoodooPowerMini.kext first, while others had to fix their installation. If you can restart once with OSXRestart.kext then you know (or should know) that the restart method I use is supported on your motherboard. Problems where it only works 1 out of N times are all related to your OS X installation – I presume another failing 3th party kext. You have to find this out yourself, and report it to the developer so that he/she can take care of it. I cannot help you with this. Sorry. What about OpenHaltRestart and EvOReboot? I don't have anything to comment on it other than; when you are happy with either one of it, that is fine by me. But please give my work a try. Which is only fair, isn't it? I mean you can always go back to whatever you are using right now, and what is working for you. Thank you for your time and cooperation. References OSXRestart.kext was first introduced here and the first update here (22 November 2009). Go download OSXRestart.kext now, and spread the word of love. And as always; Happy Hacking! -Chief OSXRestart.kext.zip FACP_Example_.dsl.zip OSXRestart_V1.4.kext.zip OSXRestart_V1.5.kext.zip OSXRestart_v1.5c.zip OSXRestart_15c_binary.kext.zip Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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Dell unveiled a new laptop, tablet and desktop PC running Windows 8 for business users as the company prepares for the Oct. 26 launch of Microsoft's newest computer operating system.
Pricing for the new machines, announced Sept. 19, has not yet been announced, but will likely be unveiled at the time of the Windows 8 debut, when the new machines will become available for purchase.
"With these new offerings, we aimed to design innovative products that inject consumer appeal to systems for business users," Brent McAnally, director of product marketing, planning and strategy for Dell's Business Client Product Group, wrote in a post on the Direct2Dell Blog. "All these products are rooted in things that matter to companies: security, manageability and durability."
The new Windows 8 machines include:
Further reading
- An enterprise-class Dell Ultrabook, the Latitude 6430u, with a 14-inch screen and a 33 percent slimmer profile than previous versions. The 6430u is also 16 percent lighter than the current model and is designed to meet MIL-STD-810G durability testing, which is a U.S. military test standard where systems are subjected to the harshest conditions, according to Dell.
- The new Latitude 10 tablet computer, which is a 10-inch model that allows the use of the latest touch-enabled applications for mobile enterprise workers. The Latitude 10 supports existing Microsoft productivity applications and is compatible with existing IT management consoles, according to Dell. The Latitude 10 includes swappable battery capabilities and robust security options for encrypting all data from the hard drive to the USB port.
- The new OptiPlex 9010, a 23-inch all-in-one computer that preserves desk space while offering touch interfaces for business users. Available options include a multipoint touchscreen, a fixed or rotating camera and an articulating stand to better position the screen for users.
The announcement of the upcoming new Windows 8 Dell machines comes some five weeks before Microsoft's Windows 8 launch gala, but about six weeks after competitor Lenovo announced its first Windows 8 tablet PC.
Lenovo introduced its ThinkPad Tablet 2 Aug. 8 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its ThinkPad line of business machines. The Tablet 2 is a 10.1-inch tablet that is Lenovo's answer to the upcoming Microsoft Surface tablet, as well as to the Apple iPad. The Tablet 2 will ship in October after Windows 8 becomes available.
Rob Enderle, principal analyst of The Enderle Group, said early announcements for new products based on new computer operating systems is unusual before the debut of the actual operating systems.
For hardware manufacturers, though, these announcements are just the start. "We're looking at a major hardware refresh of all their products," said Enderle. "These announcements are coming now so they don't get lost in the rush."
And what a rush it is expected to be as Microsoft plans to spend an estimated $1.6 billion worldwide on the launch and ongoing advertising for the reworked Windows 8 operating system, he said.
"I think a lot of these [hardware vendors] are a little worried that their individual launch budgets for their own Windows 8-enabled products will be overwhelmed," said Enderle. "We have not seen a marketing event like this ever."
To cope with that approaching avalanche, "hardware vendors are trying to get their announcements out so they don't get lost," he said. "This is going to be one for the record books in terms of overall spending."


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Where do we even begin about last night's Matthew Williamson exclusive launch party for his diffusion line, MW Matthew Williamson? Let's just say it's been a while since we had a night of surprises like this. While we already mentioned the debut of Lorenzo Martone's questionable eyebrows at the bash, we now have to gush about Dree Hemingway. First of all, the blonde bombshell couldn't have looked more stunning in that purple floral minidress—until she decided to put on some pieces from Williamson's collection for an amazing impromptu fashion show. Favorite moment of the night? Hemingway leaving on Williamson's arm in a brown, silk jumpsuit and sky-high heels, a moment which was caught by a single paparazzo who later revealed that he freaked out more about seeing her than any Hollywood-type. Is there a truer mark of stardom? The rest of the night was spent sipping cocktails by Belvedere and eating delish cupcakes by Baked by Melissa, while DJ Rajni Jaques kept the tunes going for all the excited attendees as they perused the beautiful collection. Gorgeous gals, stunning designs, and surprise moments—we know you want to see the pics, so click through and check out one of the best parties we've been to in a long, long time.
Food & Drinks
Is A Bagel Really A Bagel If It Isn't In NYC?
Listen, a bagel a day does keep the doctor away — and don't let anyone tell you differently. Everything about the chewy, round halos of glutenous heaven


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Our six man strong team has now been cut back to 4 as my team mates Leon and Khalid travelling from Europe did not make it. Never mind.
I had a solid 24 hours of travel with 3 flights and train ride and a bus ride but I am here and most definitely ready to race. Here is also known as Jeju, an island south of Busan in Korea. It's fantastic, the island is basically a volcano so everywhere you ride you just circumnavigate this ominous looking peak in the centre of the island. Fortunately this one is no longer active...Everywhere is lush, green and the whole area is planned out with resorts all carefully placed around cliff tops and in among rolling hills, a very well laid out holiday destination.It's a bit like an Asian take on Hamilton Island but not so plastic and thankfully there is no XXXX beer..
To all seafood fans out there you are definitely missing out not being here. I have had some really fresh and tasty salmon, tuna, kingfish, calamari, oysters ,octopus and sea snails. Brilliant. Only let down is the coffee but there are no shocks there... the green tea comes up trumps.
The other big find in Korea has been the awesome chain "Paris Baguette". Now I 've been to Paris, and I've eaten spent vast quantities of time sampling everything I could afford at various boulangeries, now the ones here are certainly not that good. They are, however, well above the average Asian baked goodies, so I'm happy with that.
First stage tomorrw, 177 kilometres around the coastline non stop on a windy Island. I reckon it's gonna be H-A-R-D. Oooooh yeh. Bring it on. As long as its not 40 degrees (which it won't be..) I am ready to suffer.
Time for some sushi for afternoon tea. Again, I'm happy.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Dam you Volcano!!
Posted by JONATHAN LOVELOCK at 4:28 PM
4 comments:
you should also try "Kalbi" - marinated beef, or "bulgogi" - shredded beef. For a mixed veggie bowl I recommend "bibimbop"ReplyDelete
Have a great time in my motherland and good luck on your race.
Btw I have no idea how I came across your site but have been following your updates for a few months
Andy from NYC
- AnonymousApril 22, 2010 at 12:03 AM
Toughen up Luvvy,ReplyDelete
;) jock
Good luck on Thursday!ReplyDelete
Hey Andy,ReplyDelete
Today we raced along the most amazing looking lake and it was pretty dam windy. No time to enjoy the view!
Food is great too.
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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The Disintegration of The Jewish State Has Begun
By Gilad Atzmon
Israeli Generals expressed dismay yesterday over a violent assault on a senior Air Force officer perpetrated by a gang of soldiers.
Ynet reported yesterday that Maj. A., deputy commander of a squadron at the northern Ramat David Airbase was attacked near his home within the airbase.
An Israeli military source confirmed yesterday that three soldiers, who serve in a technical support unit, assaulted the officer over the weekend after he issued a complaint over their reckless driving on base premises, in violation of strict military regulations.
The three soldiers, apparently outraged by the pilot's decision to lodge a complaint with their commanding officer, initially threatened to kill him at the presence of his children. They later attacked him outside his home, located on base, with wooden clubs until he nearly lost consciousness.
Ynet reported that Israeli army elite are in shock. "No one can believe that soldiers dared to strike a senior officer"
According to Global Times Senior IAF officers have previously complained about having to deal with soldiers from harsh socioeconomic backgrounds. "With all due respect to the notion of the people's army, my feeling is that the balance has been violated."
Earlier this week we learned about an Israeli who set himself on fire during Tel Aviv social protest. Israel, so it seems, is on the verge of disintegration. The images of social protests and violence towards top commanders within the military are clear signs of collapse of the Israeli national, cultural and ideological bond. It is not the Palestinians or the BDS who are going to bring down the Jewish State, it is actually the Israelis themselves. It is the supremacist and chauvinist ideology embedded within the Israeli philosophy and culture that make the Jewish State into an unbearable concept for its citizens let alone the indigenous people of the land i.e. the Palestinians.


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CHARLOTTE � He didn�t have the best numbers of his career, but Marquise Williams got the homecoming victory he wanted Saturday in North Carolina�s 39-17 Belk Bowl win over Cincinnati.
�It was a great homecoming,� said Williams, a longtime Shelby resident who graduated from Charlotte�s Mallard Creek High School in 2011. �It was great to get a win for our seniors and we�ve got something to build on for next year.�
Williams rushed nine times for 46 yards and completed 19 of 33 passes for 171 yards and one touchdown as continued his second-half success at quarterback for the Tar Heels� this season.
�Marquise, he didn�t play his best game,� North Carolina coach Larry Fedora said. �He would tell you that. But he did enough to win the football game.�
Record-setting Switzer: When North Carolina freshman Ryan Switzer returned a punt 86 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter, he tied five other collegians for punt return TDs in a season with five � and the third to do so from the state of North Carolina.
Other record-holders are Guilford�s Chris McKinney (2001), North Carolina A&T�s Curtis DeLoatch (2001) in addition to Shepherd�s James Rooth (1998), Hawaii�s Chad Owens (2004) and Florida A&M�s LeRoy Vann (2009).
Switzer�s five TD punt returns came in the second half of the UNC season � one against Virginia, two against Pittsburgh, one against Old Dominion and the one against Cincinnati.
Coupled with his three receptions for 22 yards, Switzer was named Jerry Richardson MVP for the contest.
Given that Switzer was only the Tar Heels� third-team return man in fall camp, it�s been quite a season for the freshman from Charleston, W.Va.
�I took that as a challenge to show them what I could do,� Switzer said of his starting the season as a backup. �Nothing really changed other than my attitude. This coaching staff brought me in here to be a playmaker and I didn�t hold up my end of the bargain� until the second half of the season.
UNC streak-snapper: Not only did the Tar Heels record their first Belk Bowl triumph after an 0-3 record in their previous postseason visits to Charlotte, but it was UNC�s second bowl victory in 12 years.
UNC defeated Tennessee 30-24 in double overtime in the 2010 Music City Bowl. Before that, the Tar Heels last win came in the 2001 Peach Bowl in Atlanta by a 16-10 score over an Auburn team ironically then-coached by current Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville.
Overcoming a loss: After setting a North Carolina school record with his 49th start, Tar Heels� senior offensive tackle James Hurst was knocked out of the game in the first half with what was later diagnosed as a broken left fibula.
But the Tar Heels moved backup right tackle Nick Appel into Hurst�s spot on the line and a solid if not spectacular offensive effort.
�We all feel bad for James, but I thought our guys stepped up really well,� Fedora said.
Pass-rushing Heels: Knowing Cincinnati had three starting offensive linemen out of action, North Carolina pressured the Bearcats� passing attack from the outset of Saturday�s game.
In the end, UNC recorded five sacks � including one by Gastonia�s Norkeithus Otis and one of them going for what proved to be a game-changing safety.
�They knew we were missing three starters,� Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville said. �And they came after us. Our quarterback didn�t set his feet because he didn�t have a chance to.�
Belk Bowl records: The Big East/American Athletic Conference finished its 12-year run with the Belk Bowl with a 5-6 overall record; Navy was sent to fulfill the Big East Conference�s spot in one of the seasons.
The ACC improved to 7-5 and will begin a six-year contract against teams from the Southeastern Conference next season in the Charlotte-based postseason game.
Saturday�s 45,211 attendance was the second-lowest in the bowl�s history; Only the 41,122 who attended South Florida�s victory over Clemson was lower.
You can reach Richard Walker at 704-869-1841 or by twitter.com/JRWalk22


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Learn how MacUpdate Desktop can install apps on MacUpdate with the simple click of the icon. Plus, keep all your apps updated.
SketchFighter 4000 Alpha... Remember those super-cool space ships you doodled on graph paper in Middle School? Pen strokes furiously waging massive intergalactic battles in History class with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance? Well they have sprung to life in SketchFighter 4000 Alpha!
SketchFighter 4000 Alpha redefines "retro" by bringing together the imaginative pen and paper sketches from your youth with a killer resolution independent OpenGL graphics engine. SketchFighter also boasts a unique synthesis of exploration and action game play, which has you alternately blasting cute little lady bugs into oblivion
What's New in SketchFighter 4000 Alpha
- Updated Ambrosia registration system
- Mouse scrollwheel support
- Improved fullscreen support, scans for locally available resolutions and supports widescreen
- Various bug fixes and enhancements


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Marie Jo L'Aventure - Tom
The Tom heart-shaped bra has a beautiful heart shaped neckline with a light foam seamless cup. It also has multiway straps which can be worn as a halter neck or a regular strap.
Caffé Latte is a great colour to wear under white tops.
Why we Love Tom
Tom is a great bra as it's so versatile - smooth seamless cup, light padding, plunge front, multiway straps, all from A to F Cup - what more could you want?
Styling Tips
Tom is just great for Summer as you can wear it under t-shirts or halter neck tops without it showing. And if you do see a hint of strap, its' so pretty you won't mind. The Caffe Latte colour means it won't show through under lighter clothes.
Did You Know?
Wearing the Tom bra straps as halter neck will also give you extra cleavage as it helps to push the cups together.
Tom comes in 4 classic colours available all year round. Café latte or natural are the best colours to wear under white blouses, choose pure white for a crisp clean look or charcoal as a softer alternative to black.
Tom in Red Copper
The Italian taupe tints, like Red Copper, are popular this season. The straps with glitter effect add extra brightness.


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Military, Services
By Staff Writer | August 30, 2011
Send Feedback
Eurocopter has designated Saab as a maintenance and support provider for the NH90. The agreement, worth around SEK 5 million ($793 million), covers maintenance work that Saab began in May 2011. The company will also conduct on-the-job training for the Swedish Armed Force's helicopter technicians in partnership with Eurocopter. The contract carries a one-year option to renew.More: Sweden Contracts Saab for Helicopter 15
Related: Maintenance News


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Dedicated landing page design for top online marketers for affiliate and internet marketing from https://www.buylandingpagedesign.com/
If you are searching for dedicated landing page design to lift your conversion rate, you are in right place. We provide effective, dedicated and conversion oriented high quality landing page design on affordable price.
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Below is an example of responsive credit repair landing page design that will boost your website conversion and leads.


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The Kendall County Sheriff's Department has launched an internal investigation into an alleged incident involving an off-duty deputy pulling a gun on a pregnant woman in a Walmart express lane.
Just one week from her due date, Nicole Thurmond said she feared for her life while checking out at a Walmart store in Oswego on a recent Sunday.
"I felt someone close behind me. He started being really rude and said, 'Don't you know how to count? You are holding up the whole store," Thurmond recalled.
Thurmond said she didn't know it at the time, but the man in plain clothes was off-duty deputy Craig French.
Thurmond's husband had been getting eggs at the time and said he could see his wife was upset when he returned to the checkout area.
"There was a guy in her face, yelling at her," said Jason Thurmond. "In an aggressive manner he steps toward me, and I just push him back to keep him away from my wife and myself, and before I knew it I just froze because he pulled out a gun."
Jason Thurmond said the man didn't show his badge, was "waving a gun in a store," and at one point asked them if they were on welfare.
"At one point I turned by back to him, because I was afraid if it did go off, at least it hits my backside and not in the front where my baby is," said Nicole Thurmond.
The couple said that only after he waved the gun did the man identify himself as a sheriff's deputy.
Jason Thurmond was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery for the shove he admits he gave the deputy. The Thurmonds have since filed a formal complaint with the department.
"I'm a big believer in karma. Someday he'll be the one who can't move very fast. He'll see," said the expectant mother.
The Kendall County Sheriff's Department said in a statement the incident is under an internal investigation to determine if the deputy's actions "are consistent with the rules and regulations of the Sheriff's Office."
The investigation is separate from any criminal investigation by Oswego Police, the department said in a statement.


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Drexel Park
Phone(229) 259-3507
- No Fee: $0.00
Beautiful Drexel Park is home to the annual Azalea Festival, an event that draws hundreds of vendors & thousands of visitors every March. A Century Bike Ride, a 5K & a 1-mile fun run accompany the festival each year.
The festival is a free event that features arts & crafts vendors, a food court, & a huge kids zone full of activities. Bands perform throughout the weekend event, providing a backdrop of music as you meander through the activities among the blooming azaleas.
Drexel Park is one of VLPRA's most used parks. It is about 11 acres & offers ample shaded green space. It is conveniently located by VSU & features a creek with a picturesque bridge & a large variety of indigenous plant life with tree species labled throughout the park. It is bordered by the Azalea City Multipurpose Trail. Children love to play on the large play structure with bridges, monkey bars, & slides as well as the swing sets. The park is outfitted with electricity & is available for rent.
|Facility Amenities
|Near Interstate Highway
|Suitable for Ages
|General Information


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Dem group urges candidates to campaign against money in politics
A political group trying to drive big money out of politics is endorsing three House Democratic candidates — and declaring it an electoral necessity that the party adopt an aggressive message of campaign finance reform.
In a first for the group this year, End Citizens United on Wednesday threw support to House Democratic challengers, breaking from past practice of backing incumbents and Senate candidates.
Each of them — Chrissy Houlahan in a moderate suburban Philadelphia seat, Paul Davis in a traditionally conservative area of Kansas, and Randy Bryce in a Republican-heavy district represented by GOP Leader Paul Ryan of Wisconsin — is attracting national attention from Democrats or liberal activists eager to win House seats next year. The endorsements mean ECU, which earlier this year collected $1.3 million for special election House candidate Jon Ossoff in Georgia, will now raise money for each candidate and could run ads on their behalf.
The ideological diversity of those districts is no accident, say the group's leaders. The endorsements make a broader point that Democratic candidates running in all types of districts should run embrace a platform of reducing the importance of money in politics.
That's not a new stance for End Citizens United, whose name is a nod to the Supreme Court's 2010 Supreme Court decision that helped pave the way for super PACs and other free-spending groups. But the group argues the message has special resonance now for an electorate convinced Washington is in the grip of moneyed interests — and at a time when Democratic candidates are in a desperate search for a fresh approach.
"It has taken on a new meaning and a new importance in voters' everyday lives," said Tiffany Muller, president and executive director of ECU, in an interview. "They think Washington is more broken than ever."
In the past, Democratic strategists have dismissed the idea of candidates' campaigning heavily on the idea of reducing the influence of money in politics. Such an argument might be appealing, the thinking goes, but it means candidates have less time to discuss something voters care more about, like jobs or national security.
But Muller, whose group has spent a half-million dollars researching the issue, says candidates should talk about money in politics to prove they're serious about improving the economy.
"It's almost like there's a cost of entry to talking to these voters," Muller said. "Right now they feel like both Democrats and Republicans are too in the pocket of special interests, and they think that's part of the reason there are stagnant wages, and a lagging economy.
"We need to be talking about economic issues, absolutely," she continued. "We just need to make sure they believe us that we're actually going to be able to get it done. And unless we change the system, they don't believe us."
There are signs Democrats agree with ECU's point of view. On Tuesday, Davis highlighted the importance of driving money out of politics in a speech declaring his candidacy in Kansas' 2nd Congressional District.
"When lawmakers are bought and paid for by special interests, they forget where they come from," Davis said. "They stop listening to their constituents and start taking marching orders from the lobbyists who paid for their political campaigns. Changing the system is how we give you back your voice in your government. It's how we restore accountability to Congress."
National Democratic operatives also signaled their support, suggesting it's the kind of issue that can unite the party's candidates whether they're running in red or blue districts.
"You're seeing candidates running on a bold reform message, and it's important to recognize that's a message that works in any district we're targeting," said Tyler Law, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "It resonates on either end of the ideological spectrum and for everybody in between."
ECU's budget for this election is $35 million, up from $25 million last cycle. Already, it's raised about $1 million for its endorsed candidates (in addition to the money raised for Ossoff).
Democrats have struggled to adopt a campaign finance message in recent years because the party has its own network of super PACs, exposing its candidates to charges of hypocrisy if they urge campaign finance reform while benefitting from those groups.
Muller said Democrats can avoid that pitfall by simply saying they want to change the system while Republicans want to protect it.
But she did warn candidates to steer clear of mentioning the Citizens United case itself, or for that matter, any wonky details about campaign finance reform. Better to stick with a broad message that voters understand.
"If we talk about it as Citizens United, we're going to lose," Muller said. "We shouldn't talk about it as Citizens United. Only 15 percent of people know what that is."
Alex Roarty: 202-383-6173, @Alex_Roarty


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Pokemon Ruby Cheats :
Secret - 3Pokémon Ruby Tips
Hello there, below are a list of things that you probably did not know about Pokemon Ruby! There are not many but you can get a few free items by doing these. Read through them all and try them out! Enjoy,
Free Prizes - Buy 10 items at once at the Pokemon Mart and receive a prize!
Items At Inner Mountain - After exploring, to receive the last remaining items, drop down a hole on the very top floor of Inner Mountain. You can retrive them up here. To get the final item, take the bottom right drop.
Keys At The Abandoned Ship - You may notice that the cabins, that are only accessible by Dive, are all locked. But you can open them with keys. To find the keys, you must look for them on the floor. When you spot a sparkle on the ground go to it and receive the key. However, key for room 2 will not sparkle but it can be found in the center of room 5.
Pokemon Ruby Cheats:


text: Create lovely aprons for every occasion you can think of. Aprons symbolize so many things: love, dedication, and caring for others. The recipients of your projects will feel thoroughly appreciated.Photopolymer stamps* Are totally transparent for perfect image placement.* Have just enough give to create a perfectly stamped image every time. * Cling like crazy to our clear blocks so you don't have to worry about slipping.* Save space—you need only one set of blocks for all your photopolymer stamps (blocks sold separately). * Come packaged in cases with images on the spine for easy storage and quick reference.Quantity: 24 photopolymer stampsSuggested clear blocks (sold separately): a, b, e, g