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mbh66 avait besoin d'un nouveau design de site codé et a lancé un concours sur 99designs.
2gagnants ont été selectionné parmi 16 designs proposés par 4 designers freelance.
We are looking for a totally unique site to promote a totally unique concept: a spiritual retreat in Fiji. The site should reflect a feeling of tranquility, paradise and enlightenment.
Escape the Madness
Desired Color Scheme:
Any color scheme - we like blues/greens/greys but open to other suggestions
Desired Style:
The site should reflect a combination of tranquility, paradise and enlightenment. Think Garden of Eden.
Accepted File Formats:
HTML & CSS (no flash)
We are looking for a totally unique site to promote a totally unique product: a spiritual retreat in Fiji. The site should reflect a feeling of tranquility, paradise and enlightenment. The site design could incoporate elements of a hotel site combined with elements from a religious/spiritual site (with more of an Eastern theme).
All that is required is a home page with one other page which will be used throughout the site. We will add all the necessary text to the template designed by you. No other elements, for example forms, are required. We do not have pictures of the retreat, as it does not yet exist, except on paper. Perhaps one approach is to create a 'mystical' feel.
The resort is deliberately small, exclusive and intimate. Many of the rooms are supported on poles that place the structure within the forest canopy - creating the effect of living in a treehouse. A look toward the sea from each private deck reveals an exquisite view of the pristine Tropical Ocean in an infinite array of pastel blues.
Site Navigation:
The Island
The Resort
We are really looking for your creative ideas, as we have nothing specific in mind. Feel free to provide a very rough draft of your ideas (uncoded at first). If we like your idea we will ask you to develop the draft further.
Some templates that we think came close but still missed the mark are listed below. They are all very different, we know. The reason we've not gone for a template is because we can't find one that combines spiritual and resort themes in one.
Too busy, but we like the idea of a happy couple with sea & mountain background:
Like the 'explorer' feel:
Like the simple design, with strong graphic, although we do not have any pictures of the resort now:
Slightly too busy, and graphics need to focus on surroundings, not the resort itself.
Nice, but would prefer bluish/greenish theme:
Nice, but central content block should be a single column:
We like this simple design - just wish it had a more spiritual feel:
Nice, but don't like cartoon images (do like 'cartoon' navigations):
We reserve the right to end the contest early.
We reserve the right not to declare a winner.
If you cannot code but would like to submit a design, we will consider your design but the prize will be reduced to $100.
Please do not PM us with offers outside the contest.
Winner will be requested to submit a signed copyright release.


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Are you in denial about your hearing loss?
(NewsUSA) - Boomers and their children have differences in opinions on almost everything. This is especially true with hearing loss.
An Applied Research study sponsored by Siemens called "The Cost of Hearing Loss" has found that 72 percent of boomers believe that their hearing is average or better. However, children of Boomers say that 70 percent of their family members have suggested their father have his hearing tested and 64 percent have suggested the same for their mother. Yet, only 32 percent of Boomers say a family member has suggested they have their hearing tested.
The survey studied 500 respondents, consisting of 250 Boomers and 250 children of Boomers. The majority of boomers believe their hearing is better than average, while their spouse and children wish they would have their hearing tested.
Even when hearing assistance is needed, many stigmas still discourage those with hearing loss from considering hearing devices:
* 75 percent of Boomers currently do not use nor are they considering hearing aids.
* 34 percent say they look awkward.
* 29 percent say they make you look old.
* 25 percent say they are uncomfortable.
* 23 percent say they are too hard to buy.
* 20 percent say it is because they don't work.
* 15 percent say they make you look weak.
There is a significant disconnect between Boomers and their children about the consequences of hearing loss. Hearing loss affects a great number of people around the world. And it affects them in a variety of ways. Over time, hearing loss can lead to anxiety, depression, isolation and loneliness. By leaving hearing loss untreated, a physical condition may also become a psychological one. It is important to seek a solution promptly.
There are several different styles of hearing instruments, not to mention multiple design and color options that make the devices inconspicuous. Each hearing instrument is designed and fitted to each person's hearing needs. Types include custom, behind-the-ear (BTE), behind-the-ear open-fitting and receiver-in-canal (RIC).

subset: commoncrawl


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Dr. Jacqueline Quinn is an environmental engineer with NASA's Surface Systems Office at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In 2005, a groundwater remediation technology she helped develop, called Emulsified Zero-Valent Iron (EZVI), won NASA's Government Invention of the Year and Commercial Invention of the Year awards. In April 2007, she was inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame for her part in helping to invent EZVI. Dr. Quinn currently heads up the Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE) project, which is a prospecting instrument designed to gather and analyze regolith for volatiles such as argon, helium, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, water, etc.
NASA Tech Briefs: Dr. Quinn, how long have you been with NASA, and what inspired you to pursue a career with them?
Dr. Jacqueline Quinn: I've worked for NASA for over 20 years. I graduated from Georgia Tech with my undergraduate degree and I explored NASA's opportunities for employment and was so intrigued by all the areas of science research that NASA initiates. You can do research in my field and areas where I have interest in the environmental field, and stretch out all the way to exploration in deep space. I don't know of too many other agencies or companies that afford such a broad spectrum of career interests for newly graduating engineers. That's one of the reasons I picked NASA as the first place to take my employment.
NTB: In April 2007 you were inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame for your part in helping to invent an interesting substance called Emulsified Zero-Valent Iron, or EZVI for short. What is EZVI, and how does it work?
Dr. Quinn: EZVI is an environmental clean-up technology. It was designed to treat very high concentrations of chlorinated solvent contamination that ended up in the groundwater. As you may or may not know, the EPA wasn't established until at least 1970, and NASA had already put a man on the moon in 1969, so there was quite a lag in the United States in regulations regarding the disposal of contamination. So NASA has some problems that it's addressing with regards to contamination, and one of the problem areas is dealing with real high concentrations of chlorinated solvents. We use the chlorinated solvents in the degreasing of rocket engine parts and followed the guidance for disposal that existed at the time, not knowing that it would perhaps leave a legacy of contamination behind.
So, one of the challenges that we have in environmental clean-up of these chlorinated solvents is how to address the really high-concentration stuff, the stuff that exists as a pure product. EZVI addresses that particular problem itself. EZVI is an emulsion system – Emulsified Zero-Valent Iron. It's a water-in-oil emulsion, and how it works is, it pulls contamination from the ground water and the surrounding soils in the aquafier inside of each emulsion droplet. These droplets are micron size in diameter. Each little bubble is sort of its own little reactor, or degradation bubble. The contamination is drawn inside the emulsion droplet and it is degraded by the presence of the iron and water inside the emulsion droplet. That, in a nutshell, is pretty much how it works.


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It is often easy given the gripping nature of emancipation in the American Civil War to forget that it was part of a larger story across the Americas. In addition to North America, African slavery had established deep roots in Brazil, the Caribbean, and other places in the continent. Even as the conflict in the United States was destroying the peculiar institution, various events were occurring to dismantle other pockets of remaining slavery in the Americas, and to suppress once-and-for-all the Atlantic slave trade.
In March 1862, the Dutch decided to emancipate the remaining slaves in their Caribbean colonies, joining the British, who had freed their slaves there in 1830s, and France which ended slavery there for good in the 1840s (except for Haiti where it ended earlier in violent revolution). On March 25, 1862, the New York Times noted:
While in Russia serfdom is becoming traditional, and in the United States the system of African Slavery has pulled down upon itself the pillars of its own temple, so that its death is simply a question of time, we see that a project of emancipation has been adopted for the Dutch Islands in the West Indies. The following extract from the Surinam Weehbland, of Feb. 15, indicates the chief features of the plan which has been adopted:
"The slave question in the Dutch West India colonies has been settled. All slaves in those colonies will be set free on the 1st July, 1863, under the following conditions: 1. Compensation of three hundred guilders for each slave — man, woman or child — to be paid to the owner. 2. Slaves to remain under apprenticeship on the estates for a term of three years, during which time they are to be paid wages for their work, half of such wages to accrue to Government."
Thus it is that the last strongholds of human bondage are falling before the irresistible influence of Christian civilization. And unless the Great Republic — greater to-day than ever before — shall make haste to purify her institutions from the anomaly which has been their danger and their reproach, she will see herself the last of all the nations in the race for universal freedom. The President in his recent message pointed the way; we have only to put his prescriptions in practice.
The Times was referring, of course, to Lincoln's message to Congress of March 6, 1862, where he recommended the federal government offer help to the states that wished to enact gradual, compensated emancipation. Of course, the paper was wrong that if the nation failed to enact Lincoln's plan the United States would "see herself the last of all the nations in the race for universal freedom." Slavery was still alive the Spanish Caribbean and Brazil, and it would survive in both places until the late 1880s. Indeed, about 10,000 former rebels and their families that did not wish to live in a South without slavery decamped for Brazil after the Civil War, where they and their descendants became known as "Confederados."
The Lincoln administration in early 1862 also moved against the remnants of the Atlantic slave trade. Abraham Lincoln's Justice Department had vigorously prosecuted Nathaniel Gordon, an American captain captured off the coast of Africa in August 1860 with a cargo of 897 Africans. He was convicted and sentenced to death in November 1861 and hanged on February 21, 1862, becoming the only person ever put to death under American law for engaging in the international slave trade. On April 7, 1862, the U.S. concluded an agreement with Great Britain to cooperate in suppressing the international slave trade, known as the Lyons-Seward Treaty, after the British ambassador and U.S. Secretary of State that negotiated it. Clearly, it was not just inside the United States in Spring 1862 where the Lincoln administration was acting against the peculiar institution.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/1862/03/25/news/abolition-of-slavery-in-the-dutch-islands.html


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By Nicole Dow; Milton Neighbor
Milton residents wanting to learn more about the workings of their local government can tune into a new monthly video series on YouTube, created by the city's communication department.
Jason Wright, Milton's communications manager, launched the Citizens Government Academy series last month, providing YouTube viewers with two-minute glimpses into different aspects of government operations.
In the process of developing Milton's strategic plan, public input suggested the city needed to do a better job building relationship with citizens, Wright said. The idea for the series was developed in response. With the new series, he hopes to reach a different crowd than the usual residents who come to city hall for meetings.
"We know our residents are on YouTube," he said. "All the research that we have points to [the fact] that they're extremely educated. They have computers. They have cell phones. And people with computers and cell phones, one of the biggest places they go to is YouTube."
The series is meant to reach people on their terms, Wright explained.
"We've got so many busy residents," he said. "They've got a lot of things going on in their lives, so why not give it to them where ever they are, whenever they want."
Though only two videos have been posted, Wright believes the series appears to be well-received. About 60 viewers watched the initial video in the first month, which is likely more than the turnout would be if the Citizens Government Academy was a class where residents met weekly at city hall, he said.
Wright has drafted a long list of topics he would like to cover with the series and also wants to touch on hot topics that might come up over time.
"I hope that it can be a really nice wealth of information to take away a lot of the mystique of government," he said. "There's a perception that government is this kind of monolithic, difficult entity … and at the city of Milton, we are really trying to separate ourselves from that perception." The video series is just one avenue to reach residents, Wright said.
"We do very well on Facebook," he said. "We do very well through our email newsletter sign-ups. We're reaching more than one in 10 residents in our email newsletter."
He said the city is lucky to have progressive leaders who encourage trying new ways to interact with residents.
Friday, June 21, 2013
Milton Turns To Youtube For Citizens Government Academy
Posted by Accessmilton Admin at Friday, June 21, 2013
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Following What's Most Interesting
The gang of four — Andy Thomas, Luis Duran, Ken Kunze and Willem van der Hoeven — sat around a table and listened to the pitch by Euro RSCG.
The marketing firm had this idea for Heineken-owned Dos Equis, previously marketed as a Mexican beer for young people. But their idea didn't rely on Mexican culture. Or young people. Rather, it was an old man who admits that he doesn't always drink beer.
Thomas, then the president and CEO of Heineken USA (he's now the xpresident of commercial operations for the Craft Brew Alliance), and Duran, then the VP of business development in the United States for FEMSA, were skeptical about the idea. How would this old man deliver a message to young consumers? Does he really need to say that he doesn't always drink beer? But Kunze, then the CMO of Heineken, and van der Hoeven, then the Dos Equis brand director, were immediately enthralled. Test results for the campaign came back. The results shattered anything marketers had ever seen, Thomas said, and The Most Interesting Man in the World campaign was born. So was a yardstick against which all future import marketing campaigns would be measured.
"Most Interesting Man influenced the way Heineken thought about even Heineken," Thomas said.
The campaign helped Dos Equis sales, and, according to Thomas, led Heineken's brass to realize that they could relate to consumers without depending on a current trend or an instantly recognizable celebrity face, among other classic marketing practices. If the ad works, the recognizability of the face will develop, as was the case with the Most Interesting Man; a now legendary figure not just in the ads, but in pop culture too. Just one commercial from the campaign (there were dozens) has garnered nearly 3 million views on Youtube. It's also probably been cited a jillion more times at your office lunch table.
Thomas said that the Most Interesting Man's admission that he doesn't always drink beer helped connect the brand with consumers not just because of his amusing heroics, but also by adding a layer of humanity to a seemingly impossible character.
"I think there was an acknowledgement and an honesty about it that made the brand feel a little bit more real and a little bit more mature," Thomas said.
The campaign immediately helped Dos Equis take off, with several years of sales growth of more than 20 percent. Now, Heineken is trying to leverage its marketing to similarly effective ends — at a time when the brand's style hasn't shown the same growth as those in the booming craft beer industry and imports like the venerable Dutch brand are showing little growth. According to IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm, Heineken's dollar sales have increased by just 0.82 percent compared to last year.
That's where the marketing comes in. Heineken will continue to sharpen its message to bring consumers back to its beer. Thomas said that the Most Interesting Man campaign may have changed Heineken's growth trajectory. It seems to have also strongly influenced the company's current marketing strategy.
Nevertheless, it's obviously a lot to live up to: current Heineken officials declined to answer questions about the influence of the Most Interesting Man campaign.
Still, the legacy of the Most Interesting Man campaign is rather palpable in Heineken's advertising efforts for its most important brand.
Take the company's latest Heineken campaign — Dropped — which recruits men from all corners of the world to participate in its social experiment. After receiving video submissions from interested adventurers, Heineken drops someone in a distant place, testing their patience, mental strength, resourcefulness, and individualism — while also adding ironic twists. The adventures are recorded, edited to brief clips and displayed on YouTube and the Heineken website.
The first participant, Rikar Gil from Barcelona, Spain, said in his video submission that he wants to go to an island or a jungle with warm weather. Naturally, he was dropped in a remote region of Alaska and, with help from clues, must find his way to Anchorage so he can make his flight home. Along the journey, he deals with the fatigue of walking through hills of snow, falling into an icy river, and getting chased by an obviously fake bear. Heineken bottles are casually placed into certain scenes.
The Dropped campaign feels very much like a mini-TV series. There's a deep voice at the beginning of the second and third episodes that says: "previously on Dropped." Whether or not it succeeds, there's a clear attempt at humor. The campaign, with all its obscurities and funny English accents, serves as an example of Heineken attempting to evolve with the Internet.
Colin Wescott-Pitt, Heineken's VP of marketing, has piloted Heineken's recent evolutions. He said analysts predict that by 2020, nearly 80 percent of TV viewership will occur through digital channels. This explains the idea of Dropped, a forward-thinking plan regardless of the execution.
"It's designed to engage consumers across a variety of platforms including broadcast, digital, and mobile by offering a truly immersive experience," Wescott-Pitt said.
The Dropped campaign exemplifies Heineken's goal to project worldliness without actually saying so. "The Date," which has more than 10 million views on YouTube and was made by Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam, shows a young couple speeding through a bustling club in London as the Bollywood tune "Jaan Pehechaan Ho" blares in the background. In June, the ad won the Cannes Lions Grand Prix award in the creative effectiveness category.
Another ad, "The Entrance," which features the song "The Golden Age" by The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, has approximately 7.4 million views on YouTube. The clip functions as part music video, part Heineken ad, as a slick-suited, foreign-looking man slides through a busy party and interacts with a cast of obscure characters, all as the music plays along.
Yet despite the massive viewership of these two ads, Heineken's most recent foray, titled "The Voyage," has only about 45,000 views. It's a new video, released in May, but it seemingly won't go viral. Regardless, the ad follows the pattern of worldliness. The lead actor in the commercial slips his way through a busy part of India, performing amazing feats, similar to "The Date," until he finally snags a Heineken. This ad doesn't feature a buzzworthy song, which could be a reason for the tepid response.
The Dropped campaign and "The Voyage," Heineken's two most recent marketing efforts, show that it's a company still aspiring to the marketing effectiveness set by The Most Interesting Man. The marketing efforts show that Heineken is further developing its international identity. The foreigners they drop in remote parts of the world serve as extensions of the brand's vision, and also represent its desired clientele.
Thomas said that it was Heineken's goal to be a universal brand. That's a lengthy process, but after learning the ropes from the Most Interesting Man in the World, it has, at least, refined the definition.
According to Westcott-Pitt, Dropped "speaks directly to our target consumers – confident, adventurous, multicultural men of the world who seek new challenges and experiences."
Sound like anyone we've heard of before?


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Confession time: I am a sheet snob. I only like certain sheets, and if they are too itchy, bumpy, lumpy, scratchy, etc., I just refuse to use them. I was recently given the opportunity to review a set of Hotel Life 800 sheets, and in all honesty, I was nervous. The description of the sheets given on the website made me feel confident that I would like them, but the price was so low, I was genuinely worried. Being a sheet snob, I am very used to paying top dollar for sheets that meet my expectations.
Let me just say, not only do I like these sheets, I LOVE them! They are so soft and comfortable, and get even softer with each wash! I am thrilled with these sheets, and at the extremely low price of only $24.95 per set (no matter what size) I plan to purchase many more! There are 14 different colors to choose from, so I think I may have a rainbow of these sheets in my linen closet in no time at all!
I would completely recommend SimplyGoodStuff.com to anyone and everyone. From bedding, to pet supplies, to kitchen gadgets, they have it all. Everything is very affordable, too!
BUY IT! You can purchase your own sheets (or just about anything else!) at http://www.simplygoodstuff.com/ .
Visit http://www.simplygoodstuff.com/ , then come back here and tell me about your favorite item there!
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Contest ends September 28, 2010 at 8:00 PM (EST)
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I did not receive compensation for this post. I did receive product(s) mentioned above to facilitate the review. All opinions are 100% mine.


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Topic: BFFC Xbox LIVE Nights--Republic Commando
I was playing Republic Commando online with Si and Rev, and it was a lot of fun. I know a number of people have the game, and thought it would be fun to organize a time, and get a bunch of us together for some online RC vs Trandoshan deathmatches.
Anyone interested?
Oh, if this is a hit, we could easily do this with other games.
--Captain Dynamic--


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I know our readers were a little sick of seeing my face doing Aussie Open updates, so the TSF boys put our heads together and decided to do a roundtable discussion wrapping up the year's first Slam. Sadly, Erwin had some technical difficulties, so Troy and I ended up chatting about everything from Venus' undies to Jelena's issues at 35,000 feet. Check out our TSF podcast by clicking the link below. It takes just a couple minutes to download to your iTunes and we promise your listening pleasure. -N
Aussie Open Round-Up featuring Nick McCarvel and Troy Venechanos: TSF Feb 10 Podcast


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http://www.dailybulletin.com/general-ne ... aldy-hiker
I've just been made aware that Sam Kim the 78 year old hiker that has 700 summits of Mount Baldy has been missing since Sat morning on the mountain. If anyone has news of seeing him on Sat please reach out to SAR, there's at least 18 - 20 folks out looking now. Word has it that he has a few shortcuts but I'm not aware of them, if you are friends with Sam an have hiked with him please let us know if you know any of those shortcuts? Thanks, hope they find him soon.


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I can connect to the server if all user accounts are disconnected but as soon as a user logs in I get disconnected. If I try to reconnect I get disconnected immediately after the authentication.
Server and client have both the same ultravnc version: 22.214.171.124. I use ultravnc every day with a lot of different pc and it always worked. Can someone help me?
Thank you


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Davis making most of few pitches to hit
BOSTON -- Chris Davis hasn't been hitting a lot of home runs early on for the Orioles. But the first baseman isn't getting many chances.
After Monday's 7-6 win over the Red Sox, in which Davis went 1-for-2 with an RBI and two walks, the slugger pushed his team-leading total to 12 free passes. He's also been hit by pitches three times, tied for second most in baseball, to go along with just one homer and nine RBIs. In his first 17 games last year, Davis had seven long balls and 21 RBIs en route to an historic 53-homer season.
"I turned over a new leaf this year. I'm trying not to hit any more home runs this year and just walk," Davis joked. "Try to swing as few times as possible, take it easy on my body, try to get as many years out of it as possible. Yeah, guys have been pitching me differently. Who should be thanking me are the guys around me, because they're raking -- in front of me, behind me, it doesn't matter -- which is good, because they've been picking me up.
"[I've] just kind of been trying to take what they give me early on. It's kind of good and bad at the same time. Last year, I got off to the best start of my career, was locked in from Day 1 and just kind of rode it out for the whole season. This year, obviously not quite as hot as I was last year. But getting a chance to see a lot of pitches, being patient, which is not something that I'm used to."
Davis, like several of his teammates, has watched a few deep fly balls fade on the warning track as the Orioles have played in unusually cold temperatures and climates -- in Detroit, New York and Boston -- that have been steadily in the 40s during the game's start.
"It's crazy, because last year I felt so comfortable in the box that I wasn't trying to do too much, I was just letting the ball travel. And everything was leaving," Davis said. "Probably a little of that was due to the fact that we started in a dome [at Tropicana Field] where it was warm, but I'm not real upset with the way I've been swinging the bat this year. I've been taking what they give me, I'm trying to not do too much. There's been games where I've been a little impatient and try to be a little too aggressive, but for the most part, I feel like I'm doing my job right now."
Davis is riding a 17-game streak of reaching base safely -- tying his career high set last August -- and did acknowledge that opposing pitchers have done a better job of pitching inside to him and locating this year, as opposed to 2013, when Davis felt they were more going in for show.
"They have the advantage, man. When it's cold, you are trying to get the head [of the bat] out," Davis said. "I've rolled over a few pitches that were inside that I couldn't quite stay through. It's coming along. I said last year I wish I could bottle up the feeling I had; I'd be a really rich man if I could sell that. But it's part of it."


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220Software necesitaba un nuevo diseño de botón o icono y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 165 diseños de 37 diseñadores freelance.
Glow Magic: Doodle Animator
We're a small independent iPhone app company, with a couple of moderately successfuly sports apps to our credit.
Screens of our existing apps can be found at http://www.220software.com
Our audience is all iPhone and iPod Touch users - this app is a fun toy app that is a great time waster, and allows users to create neat looking glowing artwork, animate certain parts of it, and save images and send them to their friends.
For example, they can create a glowing christmas tree, and have the lights twinkle, and then tap a button to have glowing snowflakes fall in the scene. At any time they can save a screenshot, and send it to a friend.
We need both:
1. An iPhone app launch icon, in two sizes: 57 x 57 px, and 512 x 512 px. The images must be the same, although the smaller version can have some minor cleanup that would enable it to look it's best at the smaller resolution. This image should look great on the black iPhone background, and should be visually impressive, and evoke the feeling of a slick, well designed application.
2. A graphic suitable for the loading screen of the app, which may be displayed for several seconds as the app loads. (Maximum resolution 320x400) We would typically take the main screen of the application, and overlay the loading image on top of it. This would have a transparent background.
Some Notes:
- Please Stay away from obvious magic metaphors like wands, hats, crystal balls - the app name may change slightly so we can't be locked in to this concept.
- The icon and splash screen need to be slick and distinctive, and MUST incorporate a glow effect similar to (or superior to) the screenshots attached to this design brief.
- Since the launch icon needs to be small, keep in mind that any text needs to be readable at both the small and larger sizes. (But text does not need to be part of the icon design - just the splash screen)
Please look at the file called "Icons.png" attached to this brief - these are a couple of icons of competing apps. We want something that is more visually appealing than these!
- We're also open to ideas about the 'look' of the application. While this app must follow Apple's standards, we'd be very interested in ideas for how we could 'spruce' things up as a whole.


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Russia on Saturday said it was concerned by a US ruling that the death of an adopted Russian boy in Texas was an accident, fuelling a diplomatic row as several thousand people marched in Moscow demanding an end to all foreign adoptions.
Russia's foreign ministry said it had learned of the US coroner's findings, which clear the boy's parents of wrongdoing, "with concern" and called on US officials to provide Moscow with the necessary documents, including the death certificate of three-year-old Max Shatto (born Maxim Kuzmin), to help shed light on the case.
"Only an examination of these documents will enable meaningful conclusions to be reached about the circumstances surrounding the Russian child's death and determine our possible future steps," the ministry's rights representative Konstantin Dolgov said in a statement.
President Vladimir Putin's spokesman added that efforts were under way to try to bring home Max's two-year-old brother, whose Russian name is Kirill and who is also being raised by the Shatto couple.
"Certain steps are being taken to bring back (Kirill)," Dmitry Peskov told Dozhd, a private television channel. "There are very complicated legal circumstances related to the possibility of such a return."
According to the autopsy results, the boy died from a lacerated artery in his bowel due to blunt force trauma in his abdomen. The coroner's report also noted that the child had a mental disorder that caused him to hurt himself.
Officials in the US cleared the boy's adoptive parents Laura and Alan Shatto of homicide but the couple could still face negligence charges for leaving the boy alone in their backyard, where he was found unconscious in January.
The Kremlin children's rights envoy Pavel Astakhov reacted to the US findings with scepticism.
"The triumph of justice?" he wrote on Twitter, adding that the boy had become a "victim of big politics."
The two Russian boys were born to an alcoholic mother and were placed in an orphanage when their mother was stripped of parental rights.
Meanwhile, thousands of people, including activists from pro-Kremlin children's advocacy groups, braved a temperature of minus eight degrees Celsius to march through Moscow urging authorities to ban all foreign adoptions and demanding the return of Max's brother.
"Our children are not a commodity," one demonstrator chanted through a loudspeaker as crowds carried national flags, icons and pictures of children who died after being adopted in the West.
"Our main demand is to bring Kirill home and ban Western adoptions," said Irina Bergset from the Russian Mothers movement, who helped organise the march.
Bergset said she considered the results of the US autopsy to be "American propaganda."
Speaking to AFP after the march she said the march participants had written a letter to Putin asking him to facilitate the return of the adopted boy.
Bergset said the protesters also wanted a ban on all foreign adoptions by French nationals. "They legalised same-sex marriages in France," she said. "What's normal for France is abnormal for Russia."
"Until we ban them (foreign adoptions), our people will be putting their hopes in foreign adopters and good Samaritans," added Oxana Garnayeva, head of the charity group Russian Birch.
Moscow police said around 12,000 people had participated in the march, while an AFP photographer estimated the turnout at around 10,000.
The co-organiser of the march Bergset said 20,000 people showed up for the march and a subsequent rally, adding that lawmakers from the ruling United Russia party and other parties also participated.
Late last year, Russia introduced a ban on all American adoptions in retaliation for a US bill targeting Russian officials with sanctions over the prison death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
In January, at least 20,000 Russians led by the anti-Kremlin opposition marched through Moscow to protest the Kremlin ban they dubbed the "law of scoundrels".
According to official estimates, US families have adopted more than 60,000 Russian children over the past two decades, 21 of whom have died.


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EDITOR'S NOTE — The following remarks were presented at the recent USDA Outlook Conference by Nariman Behravesh, chief economist, HIS Global Insight.
Thank you for inviting me, it's a great pleasure to be here. I'm going to focus on the big picture today.
The good news right now in terms of the global economy is that things are in pretty good shape. President Clinton referred to the global financial crisis, but for most economies, at least at the macro level, this crisis is over, and especially in the U.S. we're doing fairly well.
We think, for example, this quarter the U.S. economy will probably grow around 4 percent, which is pretty decent.
Let me just give you the highlights, and then in the 15 or so minutes I've got I'll dig a little bit deeper into some of these issues. First, we are in a multi-speed world. Europe and Japan are in the slow lane. The U.S. is in the middle lane. And the emerging markets are in the fast lane. Just to put things in perspective, we're probably going to grow about twice as fast as Europe or Japan in the next few years. And the emerging markets will grow twice as fast as we are, so about four times as fast as Europe and Japan.
U.S. growing 3 or 3.5 percent, Europe 1.5 or 2 percent, emerging markets on average about 6 percent a year. This pattern is likely to persist for some time to come. In this environment, commodity prices are going to go up. The only debate is how much. Some of this is very commodity-specific in terms of specific supply and demand conditions, specific policies, and so on.
But that said, the good news for the industrialized economies, including the U.S., is that inflation is not a problem. Now how can you reconcile those two — rising commodity prices and no inflation? First of all, commodities play a fairly small role in the U.S. They play a huge role (that includes food and fuel) in countries like India and China, (maybe half of consumption) and in some countries even more.
In the U.S. we're only talking about 15 percent of consumption. So rising commodity prices, yes, a problem — I don't mean to minimize it — but not a huge problem. In fact inflation in the U.S. is going to remain below 2 percent over the next couple of years. So inflation is not a problem in the U.S. This is also true in Europe, and Japan has deflation. In the emerging markets, because food and fuel are a bigger part of the consumer basket, inflation is already a problem and could become worse.
So you have this two-speed/three-speed world in terms of growth. You've got the same pattern in terms of inflation.
Inflation a problem in emerging world
So inflation is problem in the emerging world, but not so much of a problem in the developed world.
This pattern will also dictate what happens to interest rates and to exchange rates. U.S. interest rates are on hold, probably through the end of this year and the same thing in Europe and Japan; whereas, countries like China, Brazil, and India are already raising interest rates and will continue to raise interest rates.
The interest rate patterns will also, in turn dictate, what happens to the exchange rates. The good news for U.S. farmers is that the dollar will continue to depreciate against most currencies over the next few years. A possible exception is the euro, where we could actually see a weakening depending on how this whole sovereign debt problem with Greece and Ireland and Portugal plays out. So the dollar will depreciate with a possible exception of the euro.
A few words about what's going on in the Middle East. A lot of what's happened to the oil prices in the last couple days is mostly because of fears — the old story of buy on rumor and sell on the news. There's a lot of that going on right now. We think a lot of what's going right now in the oil markets is temporary. We believe oil prices will come back down again, so we don't have oil prices staying at these levels for much longer.
Let me delve in a little bit deeper into each of these issues. First, a few words on the U.S. The great news is, the U.S. economy is firing on more cylinders, though unfortunately not on all cylinders yet. Housing is still a big problem, but housing is only 6 percent of the economy. The rest of the economy is doing fairly well. Exports are strong, business spending is strong.
Businesses are very optimistic right now. They've got a lot of cash; they'll spend it. Consumers are also much more optimistic now. They are worrying less about a double dip. The employment situation — while it's still not great — is improving, so that consumer spending which is70 percent of the economy is doing fairly well. When you put all this together, and you've got a U.S. economy that's growing fairly rapidly.
Europe, as I said, is a different problem. They've got major headwinds. The sovereign debt problem I mentioned. A lot of countries are tightening fiscal policy in a way that we're not, at least not yet. But even Europe is a two-speed region. Northern Europe with the exception of Ireland is growing at 2.5 percent, and southern Europe (Italy, Greece, certainly Spain, and Portugal) is struggling, growing less than 1 percent.
Japan also has major structural problems. I mentioned deflation a couple minutes ago, but they've also got the highest debt levels in the developed world. We've been focusing on the fact that the U.S. debt to GDP ratio is approaching 100, but in Japan it is already at 200. So Japan's got major debt issues going forward.
As I've already said, emerging markets, on average, are growing at least twice as fast as the U.S. A lot of these countries have very large populations, but they are also catching up with the developed countries. In this context, Asia is still very much the growth leader. It's not just China; it's India and Indonesia. Indonesia is growing at about 7 percent. Not a lot of people focus on Indonesia, a big country that is growing rapidly. Asia's growth is broad-based. Everybody is mesmerized by China, but it's not just a China story.
In the case of China, the official statistics say 9.6 percent; but China is growing at a 13 percent rate. That explains part of the reason why commodities are doing what they're doing.
It is important to point out that the issues are different commodity by commodity. There are specific factors with each commodity that relate to inventories, to production, to supply response and, very importantly, to policies. This is particularly true in the case of agriculture.
Weather a big problem
There are two special factors here — the first is of course weather which has been a big problem for a lot of agricultural commodities in Russia, Latin America and now in China. Second, bad policies have a also been a problem. I can't emphasize this enough: there are a lot of bad food policies in the U.S. and other parts of the world that are compounding the food problem. I'll highlight one example, export restraints on food from Russia and India. The combination of bad weather and bad policies has been the major driving force behind the recent rapid rise in food prices.
On oil prices, I mentioned that we expect the recent spike to be a temporary spike, unless there are major disruptions in Libyan oil production which we doubt. President Clinton talked about oil independence in terms of ethanol policies — but the big game-changer here is not ethanol but unconventional sources of natural gas — shale gas, tight sands and so on. I think this is what is going to change things for the U.S., not ethanol policies frankly.
With respect to the Middle East and North Africa, we are at one of the crossroads in history. The great news is, the transition in Egypt was a peaceful one. Looks like the one in Bahrain may also be peaceful. Unfortunately, the Libyan situation is not playing out peacefully — it is splitting the country. Our best guess is that Gaddafi will step down, but there may be more bloodshed before that happens.
The big countries to worry about are Iran and Saudi Arabia. We're more worried about instability in Iran because of what happened a year and a half ago, and its very poor economic situation. We're less worried about Saudi Arabia. Some of you may have seen today's headline. The king has given a gift to the Saudis of $36 billion. Basically, he's trying to buy them off. He may succeed.
The Saudis have a lot of money to throw at this problem, so I'm less worried about Saudi Arabia although I think the markets are a little jittery about it. The Saudis will also have to make some meaningful changes in terms of their constitution.
Bottom line: there's lots of instability in the region, but it's very unlikely that oil prices will go to $120 or $130 or where they were in 2008.
Meanwhile, inflation is not a problem in the U.S. Let me explain why. With an unemployment rate of around 9 percent, how can we possibly get wage inflation? There are huge amounts of excess capacity in the U.S, so how can we possibly get price inflation? The same is true in Europe and Japan. But we are running out of capacity in countries like China, Brazil, and India, so inflation is a bigger problem there. From that perspective, we are seeing two worlds — a low growth/no inflation world — what I call the "crawling economies" — and a high-growth/high-inflation world — what I call the "galloping economies".
Even though food and fuel inflation is pushing up headline inflation, core inflation in the U.S. and Europe is still below 1 percent.
Why should we care about core inflation? Core inflation is inflation without food and fuel. People say, what relevance does core inflation have? There is one use for it. It measures the spillovers from food and fuel inflation to the rest of the economy. The good news now (as in 2008) is that there are no spillovers. That's really good news. And that's what the fed cares about.
A bigger headache
In places like China, India, and Brazil inflation is a bigger headache. As a result, central banks in the U.S., Europe and Japan are in no hurry to raise historically low interest rates. Whereas in many emerging markets we are already starting to see interest rates rising — in some cases quite substantially.
The outlook for the U.S. dollar is being determined by the global trends I have already mentioned. The U.S. is a relatively slow-growing economy compared to the emerging markets. Interest rates are on hold; whereas they are rising in the emerging world. Predictably this will exert downward pressure on the dollar.
I mentioned earlier that the only exception to this trend is the euro, because of the sovereign debt problems in Europe. The dollar will fall against most emerging market currencies, including the Chinese currency, which has risen 25 percent against the dollar in the last five years, about 5 percent a year. We expect it to continue that path for some time.
People extrapolate from the current weakness of the dollar and assert that the dollar is no longer going to be the reserve principal currency of the world. This is nonsense. There is no alternative to the dollar, at least for the next 5 to 10 years.
I often joke and say, the dollar is still the best looking horse in the glue factory. Yes, we've got our problems, but a lot of other countries have even bigger problems than we do. People talk about the Chinese currency or the IMF's special drawing rights (SDRs) as alternatives to the dollar, but there are major problems with each of these. At least for the foreseeable future, the dollar will remain the premier reserve currency in the world.
I will spend the last few minutes on risks. Obviously there are a lot of risks facing the global economy. The good news is that we're in a decent growth situation. If an oil crisis is going to hit, this is not a bad time for it to hit given that the growth momentum is strong. We can absorb this.
Here is a rule of thumb: every sustained $10 increase in the price of oil cuts our growth by about .2 of 1 percent. That's not very much. If we're growing 4 percent, that means we only grow 3.8 percent.
Still, the commodity price situation is one thing to worry about.
The turmoil in Europe in terms of sovereign debt is another thing to worry about. Something very few people are focused on is a property bubble in China. China could have a bust on its hands next year or the year after. Too much liquidity, too much credit and too rapid a rise in real estate prices are unsustainable. Estimates are about a third of Chinese apartment buildings are empty. That is not a good situation.
On the other hand, it's important to say that not all of the surprises are necessarily on the downside. There are some significant upside risks as well — stronger growth in U.S. consumer spending, stronger growth in U.S. productivity, more business optimism, more spending. The good news is that the probability distribution around our forecast is a little more symmetrical. So the upside and downside risks are balanced.
Bottom line I think we're doing okay, more than okay. In fact in the U.S. this quarter we'll probably see 4 percent growth. Unless oil prices go a lot higher than they are right now the current Middle East turmoil is not going to be a problem for the United States.


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Just a quick post from me as the morning sickness is back a bit today and I'm feeling a little bit rough. Here is a quick card I made using this weeks sketch over at Less is More:
Not my best card ever (by a long way) but I made it so I thought I would share it.
Thanks for stopping by.


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Silica Train-the-Trainer Course Coming to Chesapeake
Train key employees to be a competent person
The Mason Contractors Association of America's (MCAA) Silica Train-the-Trainer Course will be held in Chesapeake on Tuesday, September 25, 2018.
OSHA's silica rule will require all jobsites to have:
- A written exposure control plan.
- A competent person who has been trained on the exposure control plan and silica on a jobsite.
- MCAA Members
- $350.00
- Non-Members
- $700.00
- Non-Members (MCAA Membership Included)
- $850.00
SPACE IS LIMITED. Contact the MCAA at 800-536-2225 or visit www.masoncontractors.org/train-the-trainer for more information.
About the Author
Jeff Buczkiewicz is the President and CEO of the Mason Contractors Association of America. Jeff has worked in the masonry industry for several years as the Executive Vice President of the Building Stone Institute and the Director of Marketing and Membership for the Mason Contractors Association of America. Jeff has also served as Secretary on the Board of the Natural Stone Council and is a former Board Member of the StonExpo Federation.