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Roadside bomb kills 7 in Baghdad suburb; bodies of 3 workers found elsewhere in Iraqi capital
BAGHDAD – Officials say a roadside bomb has killed at least seven people in a Baghdad suburb while the bodies of three construction workers were found elsewhere in the Iraqi capital.
A police officer says the Wednesday morning blast struck at a busy street in the southeastern suburb of Nahrawan. He says it killed seven people and wounded 15.
Another officer says the bodies of three workers were found inside a house under construction in southeastern Zafaraniyah neighborhood on Wednesday. The three were shot in the head at close range.
Two medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The violence comes a day after 49 people died in a wave of bombings and attacks across Iraq.


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The 2012-13 Atlantic Hockey Champions, the Canisius College hockey team will play top-seeded Quinnipiac in the NCAA Tournament East Regional Semifinal. The Griffs and Bobcats are set to meet on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in Providence, R.I.
Canisius is making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament after winning the program's first conference title on Saturday night. The Griffs, who own the nation's longest active winning streak at eight games, defeated Mercyhurst, 7-2, to win Atlantic Hockey's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Quinnipiac enters the tournament with a 27-7-5 overall record. The Bobcats earned an at-large selection after winning the ECAC regular-season title and finishing third in the league's postseason tournament.
The contest between Canisius and Quinnipiac will be shown live on ESPN3. The broadcast is then set to be re-aired the same night on ESPNU at 11:30 p.m.
The winner will advance to face either Boston College or Union on Sunday. The East Regional Final is set for 6:30 p.m., and will be shown live on ESPNU.

subset: commoncrawl


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Professional Community for Car Dealers, Marketing, Advertising and Sales Leaders
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Do you know the one thing you can do on your dealership's website to increase leads? In this week's Think Tank Tuesday, I'm going to show you the importance of strong web panels and how they increases customer conversions on your website.
The questions "How do I drive more leads to my website?" and "How do I increase conversions?" are always asked. We've done the research so you can implement the strategy in your dealership. You can do it completely free and in house; create custom…Continue
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Do you have a good answer to the question "Why should I buy from you"? Everyone can compete on price, but in order to gain more customers and increase your sales, you need to have a…Continue
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Think Tank Tuesday- Are You Missing Sales With The Wrong Messaging? from Potratz on Vimeo.
Are you missing out on sales because your marketing message is focused only on price points? If you're only focused on price, you are not connecting with customers…Continue
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Are you making the most of your customer reviews?
A good customer testimonial offers valuable return on investment and can help push potential buyers through the buying process and into your dealership.
Unfortunately, when we went to work to find out what makes a good customer testimonial, we found that most dealerships aren't using…Continue
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Do You Have An SEM Strategy For Service? from Potratz on Vimeo.
Search engine marketing is an excellent tool to increase awareness and profit for your service department. Why focus only on those looking to purchase a vehicle when you can also target…Continue
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Not every pay-per-click campaign is created equally. Let me show you in this video 8 tips to make your campaign the best in the market! Learn to use tools like contextual targeting, mobile targeting, click-to-call ads, remarketing, and more to take your campaigns to a new level.
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Do you know your customers? – Do you know what a multi-channel funnel is?
A muti-channel funnel allows you to stop spraying and praying. It allows you to track and see how customers are interacting with ads and where the conversions are taking place.
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In 2012 what is your Social Media Strategy – are you empowering others to reach their point? Be sure to get everyone involved and teach them social media etiquette. Remember to measure success by engagement.
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Daily Progress lays off 6 employees
A week after pulling in 21 awards at the Virginia Press Association annual meeting in Norfolk, Daily Progress publisher Lawrence McConnell announces that six employees will be without jobs, including two reporters and two editors in the paper's already shrunken newsroom. Full-time employees have been offered severance packages, says McConnell. The Progress is owned by hard-hit Media General, which closed its Washington bureau March 27 and in February ordered mandatory 10-day furloughs for all its 5,600 employees.
3/31/09: The type of jobs of those laid off in the newsroom has been corrected.
11 comments
It's a waste of paper. Save the trees...
I heard Linda Garrison and Mary Alice Blackwell got layoff. Lawrence you must be really stupid to let them go. These two women work very hard than anyone else I know. I'm cancel my paper because of you.
The DP stinks, although the employees do not, and one feels sorry for them.
Newspapers everywhere are facing hard times: The San Francisco Chronicle will most likely be online only in a matter of weeks, the Seattle PI just went under, and according to The Atlantic Monthly, the NYT will be bankrupt by May 1.
If you value paper copies of newspapers, now is the time to get a subscription. Or two.
Does anyone know who got laid off ?
How in the hell did the DP win any awards? Only entrant in that category?
I got this huge 2nd-place karate trophy when I was a kid. I was one of two kids in my age group!
The DP is a terrible paper, not worth 25 cents, much less 75, although I of course sympathize with the laid-off. The only daily in town and it can't keep in business. Pitiful. I grew up reading Fredericksburg's excellent Free-Lance Star and it's only now that I realize I was spoiled.
Actually I think the DP has been much improved in recent months. Appears that the Hooks in dept model of covering local stories spurred them on to do more investigative reporting and actually call and interview real people. Only by being a truly local paper and continuing this type of news stories will they survive in Charlottesville. Shuletta, Dixit, McNeill, and Maurer have all been doing an admirable job of reporting and I hope they were not the ones let go. Of course with fewer staff it is unlikely that the ones remaining will have the resources to do any more than issue press releases from the governing bodies and organizations they are covering. That will be yet another loss for the fourth estate as expressed in Governor Baliles's recent speech to the Virginia Press Association.
Yes James, the DP is not the only company in trouble
Chicago Sun Times Parent Company files for Bankruptcy
I am so glad I left the DP when I did. I worked there for 6 years and did the work of 3 people and was paid for 1. It's been 4 years since I left and I have a wonderful job. My heart goes out to all of the mailroom staff that worked so hard to put out the product and were the lease respected. They were treated like scum by management but always worked so hard. I worked in Circulation and that was the pits sometimes, you did all you could and you were never paid or respected for your hard work. Management always took the credit for what the lower paid,employee did. All the one's that got paid the big bucks didn't have a clue about what it took to turn out the finished product. I have come in many times and helped in the mail room to get the paper out on time. My boss took a lot of mess to make Lawrence McConnell look good, and he never was appreciated for it.
why all the focus on the Progress? LexisNexis is shedding employees at even a faster rate. About 10 more got the unwelcome news today.
And once again experienced employees seemed to be the focus of their cost-cutting efforts
Staunton Daily News Leader to lay off 8 full-time and 15 part-time employees. Wonder what's left of that paper ?
Wonder who besides Mary Alice Blackwell got the axe? Suggestion: Why don't some of the top executives at MG offer to take pay cuts in their fat salaries to save people's jobs who really do the work.
Old Karl Marx is being proven absolutely correct.


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Hi There AO's,
I have a Sony Vaio VPCEB14EN running Windows 7 Home Basic.
This laptop Hangs every 1 hour to 3 hours since yesterday. specailly when i run this programs Flash CS4, Flash Develop, Winamp, Internet Explorer, Utorrent together. and i have to hard restart it and it works fine again for 1 to 3 hours again it Hangs
Can you guyz suggest me some thing i am really in a deep problem with it.
its just a newly purchased laptop 1 month ago.


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There may be no greater fear for a pet owner than the thought of their little furry loved one lost in the big, scary world. This week is National Pet Identification Week. Pet identification has evolved over the years, from collar tags to tattoos and, more recently, implanted microchips.
Using name-tags and collars are a great way to help identify your pet, and they show anyone who may find them that your pet is domesticated and has a home. But, collars can tear or slip off and tags can fade, rust or get scratched beyond the point of legibility. Check your pets' collar and tags at least once a month to make sure this is not the case.
Tattooing is a permanent ID system that involves marking a code on the skin of the pet. Although it lasts forever, the tattoos can become illegible and most people who would find the pet wouldn't know where to look for them (in the pet's ear, abdomen, or on the inside of the pet's thigh). Also, there is no central registry where the tattoo identification can be matched to the pet owner's contact information.
The microchip is reliable, convenient and safe. A microchip is a tiny computer chip, about the size of a grain of rice, implanted just under your pet's skin, between the shoulder blades. The microchip has a unique electronic identification number that is registered in a database along with the pet owner's contact information. If your pet goes missing and is rescued, most animal hospitals, shelters or humane society can use a microchip reader to read the unique ID number contained on the chip and find your contact information.
The only way a microchip works is if the pet owner registers it in a database like the Central Animal Registry, American Kennel Club's Companion Animal Recovery, HomeAgain, or PETtrac. Registration of the microchip ID number is imperative. If the microchip is not registered there is no way for a rescuer to determine the pet's rightful home.
Microchipping is relatively inexpensive and covered by some pet health insurance plans, like PurinaCare® plus Preventive Care. The procedure doesn't require any anesthesia, is simple, routine and can be performed during a regular office visit. And when you have your pet microchipped insist that the provider register you and your pet's information immediately in one of the national databases (a local database doesn't help if you move out-of-town).
To give your pets the best chance at a safe return home, combine the collar tag with a microchip. Identification tags provide immediate contact information. Microchips last a lifetime – they can't be lost or damaged, and they don't have batteries or moving parts, so there's nothing to wear out or replace. In addition to the identification tags, pets should have their license, indicating they have been vaccinated against rabies.
Taking care of your pet is more than providing food, water and shelter. Being a responsible pet owner includes tagging and microchipping your pet. Proper identification can mean the difference between life and death for your four-legged best friend. Remember, with each of these methods, it is imperative to keep the registration contact information up to date – it is the only way to make sure your lost little one can find their way home.


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Two Anglican theologians will visit Jamaica to participate in an ecumenical symposium next Monday, to mark the 150th Anniversary of the Jamaica Church Missionary Society (JCMS).
They are the Reverend Drexel Gomez, retired Anglican Archbishop of the West Indies, and the Reverend Canon Paul Avis, general secretary of the Church of England's Council for Christian Unity. They will join members of the local Christian community in exploring new approaches to missionary activity, in keeping with the changing social environment.
The symposium at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston is part of the year-long anniversary activities, which will be launched on Sunday, March 20, with a service at the Spanish Town Cathedral.
The JCMS is the recognised missionary agency of the Anglican Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
The high-level panel of speakers for the symposium includes religious leaders, who will set the tone for the workshop discussion on the mission responsibility of the Church to "act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:1-6).
The respondents
The keynote presenter, Archbishop Drexel Gomez, will be supported by four respondents - the Reverend Donald Reece, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kingston; the Reverend Dr Marjorie Lewis, President, United Theological College of the West Indies; the Reverend Dr Garnett Roper, President, Jamaica Theological Seminary; and the Reverend Kenute Francis, Anglican Rector of St John's Church, Ocho Rios.
An advocate for ecumenism, the Rev Canon Paul Avis, will bring an international perspective to the deliberations. Canon Avis has written numerous theological books and articles. These include a 2005 publication titled, A Ministry Shaped by Mission, which presents a new model for the work of the Christian Church in the community; and his most recent publication, Reshaping Ecumenical Theology.
Participants in the workshop sessions will address issues of justice and governance; the church's role in correcting social inequalities which marginalise the majority of the population; evangelism and social transformation and the nurturing of a caring family of believers, who reflect God's compassion in their relationship with others.
Chairman of the JCMS and Suffragan Bishop of Mandeville, the Reverend Dr Harold Daniel, explained that the symposium was being organised in response to the changing social reality which demands a holistic approach to ministry and mission that will engage both ordained and lay members of the Christian Church in promoting spiritual, emotional and personal development in their respective communities.
"You are not Church just by keeping church," Bishop Daniel asserted. The symposium, he said, was designed to change the mindset of the whole Church and re-awaken commitment to Christian service.
The Jamaica Church Missionary Society was founded in 1861 and charged with fulfilling the mandate given by Jesus in the Great Commission (St Matthew 28: 18-20) to take the Gospel to the whole world.
Source: The Gleaner, Jamaica


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Engelina van Opstal remembers having a problem with the air conditioning in her apartment at Charlestown Retirement Community and calling for someone to come repair it.
"John came," van Opstal recalled Thursday, "and he got it working."
That would be John C. Erickson, who 30 years ago opened Charlestown on the grounds of a former seminary in Catonsville, the first of what would become a chain of 16 retirement communities in nine states. Erickson, who sold the company in 2010, returned Thursday for what he called "a big homecoming" to help residents and staff celebrate Charlestown's 30th anniversary.
"We were all family," said van Opstal, 91, one of the "pioneers" who moved in during the first months of what was then a fairly new concept: a senior complex that, with its own medical center, would allow residents to remain even as they required greater assistance and nursing care.
"Everyone who moved in was a new part of the family," said van Opstal, a retired supervisor of food services for Baltimore schools.
Over the years, Charlestown has become less of a family and more of a city, with some 2,300 residents, its own television station and polling precinct, and hundreds of clubs and activities. Thursday's birthday celebration included a ribbon cutting on a newly renovated building, Charlestown Square, a gathering space with a fitness center, salon and pool.
Erickson, who sold the company for $365 million several years ago after filing for bankruptcy, remains a beloved figure there. One speaker at the celebration joked about how he's been memorialized in Charleston — first in a portrait, then in a bronze statue that stands in a fountain, and now on one of its streets, which has been renamed "Erickson Way."
Residents hugged their community's founder, who lives in Annapolis and Florida, and asked for his autograph on their programs and on copies of a history of Charlestown written by John J. Strumsky Jr., who moved to the community two years ago.
"It's just amazing to see all the residents come out for this," Erickson said, marveling at how many of them settled on the steps of the building after all the seats were taken. "One of the things that gives me great joy is to let go of what I've built. If you do it right, it has its own life."
Van Opstal said she and her husband, Jacob, who was known as Jaap, had looked at several other retirement homes when they decided to give up their Mount Washington home. "It never attracted us," the Dutch native said of the other places, calling them "cold and restricted."
She remains in the same apartment, in Building One, that they moved into in 1983. Her husband, a noted music teacher for city schools and the former Baltimore Junior College, died 18 years ago, and van Opstal said she enjoys the companionship of her neighbors, especially those who share her hobbies of needlework and gardening — she is the caretaker of the colorful African violets that line the passageway between Buildings One and Two that residents have dubbed "the scenic route."
"You lose many, many friends — that's something you have to get used to. It's part of life," she said.
Her friend Betty Nicholson, also 91, is another "pioneer," having moved to Charlestown in May 1984. She grew up several blocks away on Westgate Road, but had been living in Annandale, Va., when her brother noticed a sign for the new community and encouraged her to check it out.
The widow of a World War II veteran and mother of five, Nicholson reminisces in Strumsky's history about how residents turned their new community into a true neighborhood — one of the men set up a woodworking shop in a craft room and made her a footstool. Jaap van Opstal took up stained glass as a hobby and made a rocking horse that she bought for one of her daughters.
"The month before I signed the papers to move in, I turned 62 years old," she said. "Now I have a new couple [in the building], and they must be 62."
"It's carefree living," said Ron Rogers, 76. "I don't have to shovel snow, I don't have to cut the lawn, I don't have to worry is the furnace going to break down."
Rogers, a retired systems analyst for Baltimore City, befriended William Donald Schaefer when the former governor and Baltimore mayor moved into Charlestown in 2008, three years before he died. Rogers still has it in the back of his head to create some sort of memorial for Schaefer, even though he had moved there somewhat against his will after friends decided he was too frail to live independently.
Other seniors have embraced the kind of lifestyle offered by the likes of Charlestown, said Marty Roach, chief of continuing care for the Maryland Department of Aging.
It was fairly unusual in the market when it opened, because it offered a refundable entrance fee to live in a campus-like setting with on-site medical facilities, Roach said. Plus, it offered several levels of care, from independent to assisted living, on through to nursing care.
"It would be a place where people live, and live out their lives," said Roach, whose department licenses and audits continuing-care facilities.
More common, she said, was the kind of housing where residents prepaid for long-term care — which in some cases they never needed.
The size of Charlestown also set it apart, with most other continuing-care communities having several hundred residents rather than more than 2,000. That allowed an economy of scale.
"John Erickson's vision was the middle-aged schoolteacher could afford to go there," Roach said. "The schoolteacher who had a good pension plan, that is, and a house that was paid for."
Currently, according to Charlestown, residents pay a deposit of about $90,000 to $600,000 to move into the campus, refundable after they move out or die, and monthly fees that range from $1,200 to $3,400.
Roach said her department's audits show Charlestown is in good financial shape, and even during its bankruptcy and reorganization, residents barely noticed a difference.
The financial woes were the result of "a perfect storm" of cascading market problems, said Kevin Heffner, who directs professional education at UMBC's Erickson School for Management of Aging Services — which was founded with a $5 million donation by Erickson that was matched by the state.
Heffner said Erickson was in the midst of an aggressive expansion when the housing market crashed. That prompted its largest potential market — retirees who normally might sell their houses to raise cash for the entrance fee to a retirement community — to instead stay put. As customer demand fell, banks grew wary and credit markets collapsed.
Now the company faces a changing marketplace, Heffner said, as the nation's baby boomers approach a time when they will need senior housing but likely will have different tastes than their parents — and perhaps less secure bank accounts.
"They will have high expectations, they'll want more diversified activities," Heffner said. "They'll have higher expectations but a lower ability to pay for them."
Heffner said the trend of longer life expectancies means seniors generally will stay in their own homes for longer, and only enter a retirement community — if they do so at all — when older and perhaps frailer.
He said Charlestown should be able to adapt to a changing population because it offers a range of options in housing and meal plans, activities and other amenities. But it may have to change its model, he said, of a big entrance fee that is 100 percent refundable when the resident leaves or dies to one that has a lower upfront cost that may be less than fully returned.
For Thursday's celebration, members of the community and corporate officials celebrated both Charlestown's past and looked forward to its future.
Del. Steven J. DeBoy read proclamations from the governor and General Assembly, and noted his own ties to Charlestown: His mother-in-law lives there and his now-grown children worked in the dining room as teenagers.
Growing up in nearby Arbutus, DeBoy remembered when the site was the St. Charles Seminary, and seeing priests playing baseball in the field. He reminisced about how, after the seminary closed, the Baltimore Colts practiced on the grounds.
Remaining from the site's seminary days is Our Lady of the Angels Chapel, with a soaring 80-foot dome and beautiful stained glass and statuary. Coincidentally, it too is celebrating a milestone this year, Erickson noted on Thursday: ground was broken for the chapel 100 years ago.
Which makes Charlestown at 30 seem downright youthful.
"I hope I can make the 50th [anniversary]," Erickson told the crowd. "What do you think?"


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ISU Philosophical Society Meeting
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The ISU Philosophical Society meets every Wednesday from 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.in STV 401A.
You do not have to be a major to attend!
Find us on Facebook –> ISU PhiSoc
If you will need special accommodations, please contact the event organizer.


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The public's right to know may again become the victim of California's budget troubles.
Last year, the state decided it would not reimburse local governments for the cost of notifying the public about government meetings, to save about $20 million a year. Because the California constitution prevents the state from imposing mandates without funding them, the cut in funding suspended parts of open-meetings law.
Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed budget to take effect this summer continues that situation — and would now invalidate certain public-records requirements as well.
A state commission has ruled that the state must reimburse local governments if it requires them to assist the public with records requests and respond within 10 days to them. Brown's budget says the state will cover no such costs, again lifting the legal requirements.
Terry Francke, the general counsel of the open government group Californians Aware, said the move strikes him as an abstract governmental reaction to a problem that doesn't exist.
"The danger seems to me that certain organizations that would just as soon have no records act can escape much of the nuisance factor that it causes by simply ignoring the requests," Francke said.
State finance officials emphasized that they are not telling local governments not to assist the public with records requests or post their agendas three days in advance of meetings.
"We are saying the state should not be on the hook for paying local governments for essentially what they should be doing as a matter of course as part of the best practices of government," said H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for Brown's Department of Finance.
The Legislature enacted the
The Commission on State Mandates — which hears and decides claims alleging that the state imposed a mandate on local agencies without paying for it — two years ago determined that the Public Records Act provisions would require reimbursement.
The direct cost of duplication, which local governments can bill to the requesters, are not in dispute. The issue is the government cost in responding to requests and assisting members of the public to formulate requests — which the law requires. The Legislative Analyst's Office estimates annual costs of those functions could reach tens of millions of dollars.
Darren Pudgil, who was the spokesman for former San Diego Mayor
"However, responding to these requests is critically important to maintaining transparency and public trust," Pudgil said. "I will say that public records requests from the media and from bloggers have gone up significantly over the past few years, and there is a cost associated with responding to those."
"You guys doing your jobs as reporters and finding out about waste, fraud and abuse via the Public Records Act and making sure entities adhere to the Brown Act helps ensure that people are spending tax dollars more wisely," said Yee aide Adam Keigwin.
The legislative analyst has recommended that state lawmakers in taking up the budget recast the mandated provisions as "optional best practices."
Under that approach, local government officials would be required to either comply with the best practices or declare publicly at their first regularly scheduled meeting of the year that they plan not to do so.
After the open meetings provisions were suspended by the budget situation, an overwhelming number of local governments voluntarily pledged to comply anyway.
Jim Ewert, general counsel at the California Newspaper Publishers Association in Sacramento, said the lone issue brought to his attention came from San Diego County.
The county government was challenged for replacing former top administrator Walt Ekard with no public notice. County lawyers responded, among other arguments, by pointing out that there is no legal basis for challenging the county's action because the relevant provisions of state law are "no longer operative."
Charlene Ayers, an activist from East San Diego County, said the costs associated with the open government provisions are a small price to pay to allow the public to monitor and critique its government.
"This is about being able to watch how the government does its job with your money," she said. "If the public loses this tool, we might as well just turn all of our money over to them."


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Let me just get this out in the open where everyone can see it: Sebastian sucks. And he can't sing. And yet, I kind of like that we have a gay villain tormenting our two gay angels and one hot lesbian angel/devil hybrid, because really, when did this show get so many queer people on it that we could afford to let one be pure evil?
Speaking of the Glee Queer Brigade, they opened up this tribute episode with Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Starting Somethin'," which caused a flashback to my youth dancing to a mash-up (only we didn't call it that then) of this and the original version of "Soul Makossa" at the 181 Club in San Francisco in the early 80s. And no, I wasn't sneaking in while still in grade school, but it's sweet of you to think so.
Blaine takes the lead (only fitting for a man who bares his ankles at the slightest provocation) backed up by Santana, Brittany, and Kurt for Team Gay, and Mercedes representing for straight allies. I honestly had this feeling watching them careen rhythmically through the halls of McKinley High that the generation of kids who will have grown up watching Glee are honestly not even going to understand what "homophobia" means. I know that's not true, but there are moments watching this show I feel like maybe that post-gay, post-racial world will be bearable after all.
They did a good job with the song, even if Brittany and Mike were inexplicably not featured dancing and the rendition lacked both soul and depth, but the cast was clearly in love with the song and having a blast. It was a happy moment that was, alas, not to last.
Because Finn wants to be starting something, too: his engagement to Rachel.
He comes up to her at her locker and says, "Okay, it's been exactly three days to the minute since I proposed to you which is the amount of time you said you needed before you'd give me an answer." Pressure much, Finn?
Rachel tells him, "Look, this isn't the kind of decision you can make on a deadline," which bums Finn out.
"No, look," Rachel tells him. "I love you, okay? I want marry you – someday. Really I'm open to anything. This is all just happening so fast, and I don't understand it. I mean, I need you to help me understand."
Stick with that, Rachel. Because it's absurd and wrong and makes no sense at all. Because Finn says that even if she doesn't get into NYADA she's still going to New York and he's going with her, so in what universe does it make sense that they have to get married? Finn's reason is something incomprehensible about taking "a piece of our little world into the big city," and I don't even know what that means.
Anyway, he gives Rachel two more days to make up her mind, mostly because he thinks she's going to turn him down. I can't cope with this storyline. I get we're supposed to be seeing Rachel have a crisis of confidence, but I liked it better when it was over that chick from "The Glee Project" being a better singer than she is (which she isn't, by the way).
The gang is hanging out at the Lima Bean, reminiscing about their first Michael Jackson moments.
"When I was one," Artie begins, "my mom showed me the VHS tape of his Motown special, and when he did the moonwalk across the stage for the first time in history, I uttered my first words: 'Hot damn.'"
Next up is our boy Kurt. "I owe the king of pop a deep debt of gratitude. He was the first one to pull off the sequined military jacket, long before one Kurt Hummel made it iconic."
Rachel confesses Barbra Streisand and the two Stephens (Sondheim and Schwartz) are more her speed, leaving Kurt stunned. "Rachel, he was best friends with Liza Minnelli and Liz Taylor."
Santana agrees in her own way, saying, "I'd throw this mocha in your face, but it's not nearly scalding enough."
Whether it was Kurt invoking Liz and Liza or Santana's threat, Rachel capitulates. "Okay, since you guys are so jazzed about him, I think it's a good idea for Regionals."


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It's a common misconception (not to mention a sweeping generalization) that all atheists hate everything about religion. I for one can say that that isn't so. So in hopes of building bridges--and being less of the "negative nancy" I seem to have been lately--I thought I'd write a list of things that I do like about various religions, and I encourage commenters to do the same. After all, we're all sharing this tiny pale blue dot together.
Views: 45
You really put forth some naive and tortured arguments. For example you like kosher "practices" because they are centered around the ethical treatment of animals. I shudder to think what you might consider unethical treatment of animals.
But you say it right people might sometimes behave like real human beings despite their religion, this however is not the case for ridiculously retarded kosher laws.
Thank you for your opinions, Isaiah, and I will reiterate what I already said in the post itself, since you appear to have missed it:
My point is not that religion is necessary for any one of these items. My point, rather, is that in the right hands/minds, religion doesn't have to be inherently bad and that people with religious beliefs are not themselves automatically bad guys by default.


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51 organizations certified as 'Democratic Workplaces'Posted: April 11, 2013 Filed under: Democratic Companies, workplace democracy | Tags: democratic workplaces, workplace democracy, WorldBlu Leave a comment
WorldBlu, a company that helps organizations embrace workplace democracy, has certified 51 organizations as 'democratic workplaces' for 2013.
The 51 organizations are based in a number of countries, including the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Malaysia, Haiti, New Zealand and Singapore.
Companies that have been certified by WorldBlu as democratic include Zappos.com, Menlo Innovations, New Belgium Brewery, DaVita, Groupon Malaysia and The WD-40 Company.
WorldBlu Founder and CEO Traci Fenton said, "People would rather work in freedom-centered rather than fear-based organizations."
View the complete WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces™ 2013 and their unique democratic practices here — http://www.worldblu.com/awardee-profiles/2013.php.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer bans telecommutingPosted: March 1, 2013 Filed under: Democratic Principles | Tags: flexible work arrangements, work-life balance, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer bans telecommuting Leave a comment
Despite the increasingly popular trend of working from home and flexible work schedules, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has taken her company a step back towards a rigid and inflexible work environment by banning telecommuting.
Yahoo human resources chief Jackie Reses wrote in a memo that "We need to be working side-by-side," explaining about the importance of "decisions and insights" that can arise from impromptu meetings.
While we certainly don't disagree with this, we think that employees should be treated like responsible adults and should be given the discretion to decide for themselves the optimal amount of time they should be physically spending at their office.
According to Mercury News, "Others said they saw hypocrisy by Mayer, who is both a new mother and a wealthy CEO — and who reportedly used her own funds to install a nursery next to her office, according to All Things D, which noted that other employees don't have that option."
2012 International Summit of Cooperatives in Quebec CityPosted: October 2, 2012 Filed under: cooperatives, events | Tags: 2012 International Summit of Cooperatives, International Co-operative Alliance Leave a comment
The 2012 International Summit of Cooperatives will take place on October 8 to 11 in Quebec City, Canada.
The summit will be focusing on cooperative-specific economic and financial issues such as the performance and evolution of the cooperative business model, the role of cooperatives in the global economy, and the global socio-political influence of cooperatives.
According to the International Co-operative Alliance, which is hosting the event, cooperatives employ over 100 million people and provide a source of income for half the world's population.
The 300 largest cooperatives generate revenues of $1.6 trillion, which is equivalent to the world's ninth largest economy.
The Equal Dignity OrganizationPosted: October 17, 2011 Filed under: Democratic Principles, workplace democracy | Tags: equal dignity organization, workplace democracy Leave a comment
Researcher Rune Kvist Olsen has submitted another research paper in which he introduces "The Equal Dignity Organizational Concept."
The research paper can be accessed here.
Tom Sutcliffe on pro-democracy uprisings in the workplacePosted: March 1, 2011 Filed under: Democratic Principles, workplace democracy | Tags: bosses and democracy, democracy at work, Democratic Principles, workplace democracy Leave a comment
Tom Sutcliffe, a columnist at The Independent, makes an interesting comparison between the dictatorial conditions that people in the Middle East are currently protesting and the similar atmosphere which we westerners willingly work under work each day.
Sutcliffe mentions that "it seems odd that people will endure, within the framework of a firm or an institution, a degree of subjection and speechlessness that would strike them as insufferable at the level of citizenship."
He concludes by hinting that "office tyrannies" might end up becoming the target of mass uprisings not unlike those that we have been witnessing in the Middle East.
Read the entire column at The Independent
Zynga CEO Mark Pincus on "making everyone the CEO of something"Posted: October 28, 2010 Filed under: Democratic Principles, workplace democracy | Tags: CEO of everything, Marc Pincus, workplace democracy, Zynga 4 Comments
In an interview with Fast Company, Mark Pincus discussed the meaning of his philosophy of "making everyone the CEO of something." Pincus is founder and CEO of Zynga, a popular online gaming company whose products include FarmVille and Mafia Wars.
Here is how the Zynga CEO explained his "making everyone the CEO of something" democratic management philosophy:
When I entered the workforce, I was frustrated. When you're starting your career, somebody else is "The Man" or "The Woman." They go into a room and make the decision, not you. You don't feel empowered. I wanted to break through that. I wanted to push the ownership and decision making to the people who were closest to the features, problems, and opportunities and empower them to go for it, to take risks and make mistakes.
Not everybody has a lot of real management training. One way to get around strong or weak managers is clear lines of ownership. If you have clear goals and people know they own them, it makes up for a lot. No one likes to be given a list of tasks. You want to know what hill you're supposed to take and the fun is figuring out how.
Apple falters because of Steve Jobs top-down management stylePosted: July 22, 2010 Filed under: Democratic Companies, workplace democracy | Tags: Steve Jobs Apple iPhone 4 antenna reception problems Leave a comment
Apple Inc. has been receiving a lot of negative publicity about the iPhone 4's antenna reception problems following the device's launch on June 24.
In a surprising development, the Wall Street Journal reported that "Apple engineers were aware of the risks associated with the new antenna design as early as a year ago, but Chief Executive Steve Jobs liked the design so much that Apple went ahead with its development, said another person familiar with the matter."
Steve Jobs has been described as a cruel and manipulative manager who, as Forbes reported, "periodically reduces subordinates to tears, and fires employees in angry tantrums," and Apple is known for its top-down, hierarchical structure.
It's hard to imagine problems like this, which were previously known within the organization but not solved because employees feared or were intimidated by the CEO, occurring at decentralized, democratically-run companies.


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Psychodermatology is a relatively new discipline in psychosomatic medicine. It is the interaction between mind and skin. The two disciplines are interconnected at the embryonal level through ectoderm. There is a complex interplay between skin and the neuroendocrine and immune systems. Skin responds to both endogenous and exogenous stimuli; it senses and integrates environmental cues and transmits intrinsic conditions to the outside world.
The exact prevalence of psychological factors that affect skin disease is not known; however, it has been estimated to be 25% to 33% in various studies.1 Research has shown that stimuli received in the skin can influence the immune, endocrine, and nervous systems at both the local and central levels. In several skin diseases, such as atopic dermatitis, the tissue levels of nerve growth factors and neuropeptides, such as substance P, have been associated with the pathogenesis of disease and markers of disease activity.2
The role of psychoneuroimmunology
As our knowledge in psychoneuroimmunology is expanding, the role of neuropeptides, hormones, and neurotransmitters in psychodermatological disorders is becoming more evident. To better understand the pathogenesis, course, and treatment planning of psychocutaneous disorders, knowledge of psychoneuroimmunology is needed. Stress represents an internal or external force that threatens to disrupt the homeostatic balance of the organism. The organism has the ability to adapt to acute homeostatic challenges; however, chronicity leads to exhaustion, distress, and disease or flare-up of preexisting dermatoses.
Stress activates 2 major neuronal pathways: the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the sympathetic nervous system. The identification of external stress by the brain results in activation of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and locus ceruleus. Corticotropin-releasing factor is secreted from the hypothalamus and transported through portal circulation to the pituitary, where it induces the release of adrenocorticotropic hormone from the anterior pituitary to the general circulation. This results in the secretion of glucocorticoids and catecholamines from the adrenal gland.
Cortisol acts as negative feedback on the hypothalamus and inhibits the further release of corticotropin-releasing factor. The cells of the locus ceruleus activate the sympathetic system, which results in the secretion of epinephrine and norepinephrine.
Both catecholamines and cortisol have potent effects on the immune system. They modulate antigen-presenting cells and macrophages and inhibit their activity and the production of interleukin (IL)-12 and IL-18. They also mediate the differentiation of naive T-helper (TH) cells toward TH2, to the detriment of the development of TH1. This tilts the balance toward humoral immunity and activates B cells, mast cells, and eosinophils, with a consequent increase in allergic inflammatory response (Figure). Nerve terminals in cutaneous sensory nerves release neuropeptides, such as calcitonin gene-related peptide and substance P, which have a variety of effects on local inflammatory response; these affect several psychocutaneous disorders.3
Diagnosing an underlying psychiatric component in a patient who has skin disease involves several dimensions. The evaluation of these dimensions plays a major role in creating an effective treatment plan and includes:
• Establishing a good physician-patient relationship
• Evaluating the patient's level of functioning as well as different physical and psychosocial stressors that may influence the level of functioning
• Evaluating concurrent affective components that influence the level of functioning
• Weighing the presence of secondary gain
• Considering the real and authentic quality of consultation
Several psychological test instruments have been used to evaluate a patient with psychocutaneous disease: Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, Beck Depression Inventory, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Dysmorphic Concern Questionnaire, Dermatology Life Quality Index, Skindex Questionnaire, and Marburg Skin Questionnaire.
There is no universally accepted classification of psychodermatological diseases. However, Koo and Lee4 describe the most commonly used classification, which includes the following:
• Psychophysiological disorders: Skin diseases are precipitated or exacerbated by psychological stress. Patients experience a clear and chronological association between stress and exacerbation. Examples in this category include atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, and acne.
• Psychiatric disorders with dermatological symptoms: There is no skin condition and everything seen on the skin is self-inflicted. These disorders are always associated with underlying psychopathology and are known as stereotypes of psychodermatological diseases. Examples include dermatitis artefacta, trichotillomania, body dysmorphic disorder, and neurotic excoriations.
• Dermatological disorders with psychiatric symptoms: Emotional problems are more prominent as a result of having skin disease, and the psychological consequences are more severe than the physical symptoms. Examples include vitiligo, alopecia areata, acne excorie, and ichthyosis.
• Miscellaneous: Several other disorders have been described and grouped under miscellaneous conditions. The medication-related adverse effects of both psychiatric and dermatological medications have also been included in the broad classification of psychodermatological disorders (Table 1).
Some common psychocutaneous diseases
Psoriasis. Stress has been reported in 44% of patients before the initial flare of psoriasis, and recurrent flares have been attributed to stress in up to 80% of the patients. Most common symptoms attributed to psoriasis are disturbances of body image and impairment in social or occupational functioning, which results in severe interpersonal relationship problems and job-related losses.
A 52-year-old man with psoriasis that had been well controlled with topical and oral medications was recently laid off from his job. His financial difficulties and resultant stress started affecting his marriage; this made him irritable, angry, and frustrated and left him feeling stressed.
His psoriasis flared up significantly, and medications were no longer effective. He became too embarrassed to shake hands with people or to go out in public. His wife refused to have any physical contact with him and eventually filed for divorce.
The patient was seen by several dermatologists and went through several medication trials. Eventually, he was referred to a tertiary care hospital and was admitted on an inpatient dermatology unit. A psychodermatology consultation was requested, and the temporal relationship with his current stressful situation was established. The patient was discharged on a weekly regimen that focused on supportive therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). After 6 weeks, his psoriatic lesions started to heal. He continued his dermatological treatment.
Atopic dermatitis. Stressful life events preceding disease onset occur in more than 70% of patients with atopic dermatitis. Low self-esteem, interpersonal and family stress, and problems in psychosocial adjustment have been reported often. Dysfunctional family dynamics secondary to flare-ups of skin lesions are also known to affect treatment response.
between cutaneous and psychiatric disorders?
- Psychodermatology—the interaction of psychiatric and dermatologic disorders—is relatively new. For the last decade or so, much work has been done in this discipline of psychosomatic medicine. The discovery of psychoneuroimmunology and its role in the etiology, course, and prognosis of psychocutaneous disorders has revolutionized the understanding of these disorders. The enthusiasm and interest in psychodermatology is rapidly gaining momentum. There are several psychodermatology clinics in the United States. The practice of psychodermatology in Europe is well established, and there are several centers of excellence in psychodermatology in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
- This article summarizes the latest advances in psychodermatology and focuses on psychodermatological disorders. The interaction between psyche and skin is highlighted, and the role of psychoneuroimmunology in the causation, course, and prognosis of psychocutaneous disorders is discussed.
- This article heightens psychiatrists' awareness of the intricate relationship between cutaneous and psychiatric disorders and will enhance understanding of the pathophysiology and management of psychocutaneous disorders.
A 10-year-old boy with a history of atopic eczema, mostly on extensor surfaces of upper and lower extremities, and with generalized dry skin had been doing well; his skin lesions had been well controlled with medications. His mother's sudden death in a car accident adversely affected his functioning: his grades declined, he lost his appetite, and he began to have trouble falling asleep. His eczema flared up, and his whole body was covered with oozing and itchy lesions. Medications that had controlled the lesions were no longer effective.
He had low self-esteem and felt embarrassed in social situations. Consequently, he confined himself to his home and refused to go to school. He also started cutting his wrists and voiced thoughts of self-harm. He was referred by his treating dermatologist to a psychodermatologist, who established the relationship between his psychosocial stress and the current exacerbation of lesions.
Supportive psychotherapy that focused on grief and CBT used to address his cognitive distortions proved helpful. His lesions started healing in about 3 weeks.
1. Picardi A, Abeni D, Melchi CF, et al. Psychiatric morbidity in dermatological outpatients: an issue to be recognized. Br J Dermatol. 2000;143:983-991.
2. Toyoda M, Nakamura M, Makino T, et al. Nerve growth factor and substance P are useful plasma markers of disease activity in atopic dermatitis. Br J Dermatol. 2002;147:71-79.
3. Tausk F, Elenkov I, Moynihan J. Psychoneuroimmunology. Dermatol Ther. 2008;21:22-31.
4. Koo JYM, Lee CS. General approach to evaluating psychodermatological disorders. In: Koo JYM, Lee CS, eds. Psychocutaneous Medicine. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc; 2003:1-29.
5. Jafferany M. Lithium and skin: dermatologic manifestations of lithium therapy. Int J Dermatol. 2008;47:1101-1111.
6. White MP, Koran LM. Open-label trial of aripiprazole in the treatment of trichotillomania. J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2011;31:503-506.
7. Grant JE, Odlaug BL, Kim SW. N-acetylcysteine, a glutamate modulator, in the treatment of trichotillomania: a double-blind placebo-controlled study. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009;66:756-763.
8. Shenefelt PD. Therapeutic management of psychodermatological disorders. Expert Opin Pharmacother. 2008;9:973-985.


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12.05 CRW World Record
Lakeland, Florida: Wow! What a week. I am very grateful to have been there for all of it. Here are my pics of the week of jumping. If you were on the B team or if you saw me under canopy, I have you here. Just up to the right you can view these pics in different ways. On the bottom left you can actual pull up the original. If you buy anything, check out the options of what to print on and size. You can even crop at checkout. Enjoy the wrap photos as well. Anyone interested in a video, just get in touch. firstname.lastname@example.com More


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Two local players, Chris Colabello (Milford) and Nate Freiman (Wellesley) got promoted this week from Triple A to the Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics, respectively.
From the Rolodex of the mind …
Two local players, Chris Colabello (Milford) and Nate Freiman (Wellesley) got promoted this week from Triple A to the Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics, respectively. Also, Casey Coleman, whose dad Joe Coleman Jr. went right from John Carroll's Natick High team to the big leagues in 1965, was recalled by the Kansas City Royals to bolster their bullpen.
The Framingham-born Colabello, a DH, first baseman and outfielder, was with the Twins at the start of the season and got off to a terrific start. But the strikeouts piled up, his average sunk to .232 and he was sent to Rochester of the International League where he was hitting .275 with six homers. A spot on the Twins roster opened for Colabello when Joe Mauer went on the DL.
Freiman played four years at Duke and had some success with the A's last season, most memorably a walk-off single against Mariano Rivera in the 18th inning. He started this season at Triple A Sacramento, but made an immediate impact after he was called up by belting a three-homer in his first game to beat the Miami Marlins 4-3.
Guess who helped Freiman get back to The Show? Rickey Henderson. The Hall-of-Famer works with Oakland's minor league hitters. Freiman was hitting just .204 at Sacramento. Henderson suggested that Freiman stand taller at the plate, which at first glance seemed weird since, at 6-foot-8, Freiman is the tallest position player ever in the big league.
But Henderson's tip worked. Freiman hit over .300 after making the adjustment and now he's back in the bigs.
Coleman, 27, pitched for the Cubs prior to being signed by the Royals. He's had success in the minors (42-25, 3.64) but is just 7-13, with a 5.57 ERA in the majors.
Coleman's dad was 142-135 in 15 big-league seasons. After a brilliant career at Natick High he was signed by the Washington Senators — the No. 3 pick in the amateur draft — and was the youngest player in the majors that season. Coleman famously didn't get along with the manager, a fella named Ted Williams.
Pitching for the Detroit Tigers later in his career, Coleman struck out 14 hitters in an ALCS game, which was a series record at the time. Coleman's dad — Joe Sr. — had a big-league record of 52-76, mostly with the Philadelphia A's.
- Who's flying all over the place without really landing anywhere? LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Love. Please guys, make up your minds. I still think that Framingham's David Blatt, the new Cleveland Cavaliers' coach, will be calling plays for LeBron some day soon. Yes, LeBron will be returning his talents to Cleveland.
- Strange to see a Houston Astro leading the American League in hitting. But second baseman Jose Altuve is no fluke. He also leads in hits and stolen bases, outdistancing Jacoby Ellsbury by a wide margin (37-23 going into Friday's games). Altuve is only second to Miguel Cabrera in doubles.
And his name never comes up. Maybe in Houston.
- Alfredo Aceves probably wrote his ticket out of baseball this time. The ex-Red Sox temper tantrum waiting to happen, as a second-time drug offender, got slapped with a 50-game suspension while pitching for the New York Yankees' Triple-A farm club Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Aceves can ride that train to the end of the line. He was 1-2 with a 6.52 with the Yankees.
- The Celtics need some pop to make us care again. It's tough being off the radar screen two straight years. You can only sell the future for so long. Interesting backcourt trio: Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart. Don't know about you, but Bradley's new deal — $32 million, four years — knocked my eye out. I'm thinking Danny Ainge eventually winds up trading Rondo.
- Buyers or sellers, that's the question as the trading deadline nears. Do the Red Sox dare trade Jon Lester and/or Koji Uehara? Not out of the question. Do they do something small, like changing the address of Jonny Gomes, Jake Peavy, A.J. Pierzynski, Will Middlebrooks, Daniel Nava? It's all on the table.
This seems likely. If the Red Sox just ride the season out, and they're 11 or so games out in a couple of weeks, expect to get a dose of Deven Marrero, Allen Webster, Anthony Ranaudo, Christian Vazquez and Garin Cecchini.
Or you can just wait until the Patriots start camp.
Lenny Megliola can be reached at email@example.com.


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By Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas
One in a series
Monday, Oct. 15, 2012
VATICAN CITY — The synod fathers returned after a welcome free day. Interventions continue. Bishops speak from their experience and the realities in their dioceses. The most moving comments for me come from bishops serving in the persecuted church, where suffering for the faith exists. The interventions spoke both of the blood of martyrs as the seed for the growth of the faith and the need to guarantee the right of religious liberty and freedom of conscience, the ability to express one's faith publicly without fear of retribution.
Today, again, a number of bishops spoke of suffering that strengthened faith in their countries.
Cardinal Joseph Bozanic, the archbishop of Zagreb, Croatia, spoke of the priests, religious, and above all the laity in his country who gave their lives for Christ. Martyrs give the most striking witness to the faith and move others to embrace Christ. While we read of the early martyrs and their heroism, we become inspired most by those who witness Christ by the shedding of their blood in our times. This happens in too many places today.
Bishop Virgil Bercea of Romania spoke of the 12 bishops and many Catholics who died for their faith in his country, but the church has been transformed by their suffering. These martyrs and evangelizers became "icons" calling the country to a renewed faith.
Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, recalled the destruction of innocent human life under the cruel and violent Khmer Rouge regime. Out of this suffering the church is taking root in Cambodia.
In July, I visited Phnom Penh for Catholic Relief Services. We visited the killing fields and stood stunned by the atrocities that happened in this country. We stood in silence before the tower of skulls of men, women, and children slaughtered by those with little regard for the dignity of human life.
Yet in the wake of such senseless, brutal violence, our visit with Bishop Olivier introduced us to a church in Cambodia coming to life after the massacre of people. Bishop Olivier has established a college in the rural area to educate a new generation of young people, both Christian and those of other faiths. They can study English, agriculture, tourism and IT that will help them in the future. He is providing a path to self-sufficiency for the young and opening them to the interest and concern of the church.
We saw the church in Phnom Penh caring for the elderly, children with disabilities, those living on the margins, a caring church.
In his intervention, Bishop Olivier spoke of the laity as the new evangelizers. He called for a simple church attentive to the poor and the uneducated, a welcoming church that accepts the different, those others reject. He reminded us that we need to be a church that prays. "I look at Him and He looks at me." Finally we need to be a joyful church. Our visit to Phnom Penh introduced me to a simple, welcoming, praying and joyful church that has come alive out of a suffering people.
Several interventions today spoke of the restrictions to religious liberty that exist in too many places. Some Christians today live in fear for their lives in practicing their faith. Inviting others to encounter Jesus Christ is forbidden.
A bishop from Africa spoke of the dangers of fundamentalist religious groups who make the practice of the Christian faith difficult, if not impossible. This was affirmed by interventions from Pakistan and Syria. The church lives confined and imprisoned, restricted and endangered.
Recently Bishop George Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, and I visited Baghdad, Iraq, hosted by Bishop Shlemon Warduni, a Chaldean bishop also present at this synod. We stood in the center of the bombed Church of Our Lady of Deliverance, the Syriac Catholic Church in the heart of Baghdad We saw on the walls bloody hand marks, on the ceiling the impression of an automatic weapon indented there by a bomb the terrorist used to blow himself up while holding his weapon. We saw the baptistery where many innocent Christians lost their lives when a terrorist broke in and blew himself up, killing all who were hiding there.
Such acts of terrorism terrify. They lead to Christian families fleeing to safeguard their lives and that of their families.
Recently the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops held a symposium in September at Catholic University in Washington on the topic of religious liberty. It raised the importance of this issue in our world today. It emphasized the need for increased dialogue between religions so that we might all live in harmony with respect for one another and the right to practice one's religious freedom. The symposium called upon governments to protect and defend the right of religious liberty.
The topic is sensitive and complex, yet important to address in discussing the new evangelization. We need to value and respect all religions. We need to expect that other religions show reciprocal respect for the Christian faith. We need to acknowledge the right of people to change their faith without fear of retribution.
Bishop Joseph Absi of Syria spoke of some young Muslims who became Christian because they found in the Christian faith a joy and freedom they treasured. They met a God known as Father who loved them unconditionally. Such conversions should not be seen as a rejection of one's previous faith for which the person should be punished or rejected.
Religious liberty was one of the compelling messages of Vatican II expressed in Dignitatis Humanae. Fifty years hence in places all around the world people of faith experience suffering, even death, for practicing their faith. Fifty years hence people's right of religious freedom is still threatened by governments and even people of faith. Clearly the church must continue its forthright advocacy as well as respectful and determined dialogue on behalf of religious liberty, a fundamental human right. There is an urgent need to intensify interreligous dialogue leading to reciprocal respect for all religions and an end to violence between faiths.
The challenges and opportunities to realize the new evangelization are varied and profound as has been described vividly these days by the synod fathers in their interventions. Now it is incumbent on the synod fathers to begin exploring ways to address the challenges with concrete strategies. As courage and creativity are demanded to address the challenges to religious liberty, as was discussed today, so courage and creativity will be necessary if we will realize a new evangelization. Business as usual will result in a new evangelization in name only but not in a renewal of faith that inspires others to encounter Jesus Christ.
– – –
Bishop Kicanas, of Tucson, Ariz., is chairman of the board of Catholic Relief Services and is a former vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Also a former chairman of the U.S. bishops' Communications Committee, he is blogging from the world Synod of Bishops this month by special arrangement with Catholic News Service. He was elected an alternate delegate to the synod by the U.S. bishops and became a full delegate when Cardinal Francis E. George was unable to attend.


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Propositions is a public forum that explores ideas in development. Each two-day seminar introduces a topic of current investigation in an invited speaker's own artistic or intellectual practice. Over the course of a seminar session, these developing ideas are responded to, researched, and discussed to propel them forward in unique ways. This month's Proposition is by Byron Kim.
The structure of Propositions is as follows:
Friday, 7:00 PM - Initial proposition and lecture
Saturday, 2:00 PM - Guest speaker responds, followed by discussion with audience


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sign language (rather universal) Beth
And like Beth says, don't judge all of the USA by what you see/hear in movies and on TV. It seems like the media respresents the minority of folks, but gets the most coverage.
Despite a deluge of news about the prospect of a war against Saddam Hussein, only 13% of Americans tested could point Iraq out on a map of the world. Perhaps even more worrying - when confronted with the same map, only 89% of Americans could find their own country!
34% of Americans know the tiny Marquesas Islands, where the last season of reality TV show "Survivor" was filmed, is located in the South Pacific. But only 30% could point to the location of New Jersey. 56% of Americans were unable to locate India, home to 17% of the world's population.
First... We need some African and Russian Beekeepers - and I counted about 6 states without members - whatsup wid dat - lol.


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Compare quotes from 3 local locksmiths
Extreme Locks > Locksmith > Felling
When you need a Locksmith in the Felling area you need look no further than Extreme Locks for all your commercial and residential security requirements 24 hours a day with an emergency response.
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Felling is a town in England and is close to Newcastle upon Tyne. Find a Locksmith in other towns near Felling; Saint Peters, Low Walker, Walker, Sheriff Hill, Hebburn, Walker Gate, Old Walker, Heaton, Ravensworth, Gateshead, Wallsend, Jesmond


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My partner and I recently returned from a 12-day Mediterranean cruise onboard Cunard's QUEEN ELIZABETH. This ranks as one of those trips that was just about as near perfect as one could wish for. For those only interested in the ... Read More
My partner and I recently returned from a 12-day Mediterranean cruise onboard Cunard's QUEEN ELIZABETH. This ranks as one of those trips that was just about as near perfect as one could wish for. For those only interested in the pictures, and there are over 600, here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eroller/sets/72157637358470363/ We flew to Rome nonstop from Miami on Alitalia. The agent took a liking to us and blocked four seats just for us in the center section. Off to a great start! The flight was very comfortable with good service, and it's the first time I've experienced live cameras providing a forward and ground view on the in-seat monitors. I thought that was pretty cool. Upon arrival in Rome we were met by Cunard's airport staff who really went out of their way to make us feel welcome and comfortable. They took our luggage and the next time we saw it was in our cabin. We only had to wait about 15 minutes before we were on the bus headed to the ship ... or were we? Actually since we were so early Cunard provided a motor coach mini-tour of Rome before heading to Civitavecchia where the ship was docked. This was certainly an unexpected surprise, and what a difference from our Costa experience in April where we basically had to loiter around the airport for almost four hours before they took us to the ship. Embarking QUEEN ELIZABETH was a breeze, with no lines, no waits, and a very simple check-in process. Disembarkation in Venice 12 days later was just as painless. I was anxious to see QUEEN ELIZABETH having already sailed on her sister QUEEN VICTORIA and the Cunard flagship QM2. The QE is the same basic design as QV but with some minor changes to the layout and a more art deco interior design. I quite liked it and immediately felt very comfortable in my new surroundings. The ship was spotless and essentially looked brand new. QE is a Vista Class, but with a custom layout for Cunard that includes far more multi-level spaces and public areas that are more airy and bright compared to her counterparts sailing for Holland America. In fact you would be hard pressed to realize QE was even related to her HAL cousins unless you knew in advance. The overall ambiance of QE is Cunard through and through. For those not familiar with Cunard, it's truly the last seagoing experience that beckons to a bygone era of tradition, formality, and civility. The atmosphere onboard is sophisticated, spacious, elegant, and yes very British! Our passenger compliment was probably around 60% British, 30% American, and 10% a mixture of Japanese and Europeans. Daytime activities include enrichment lectures, an afternoon message, lounging by the pool, and of course afternoon tea. Since this cruise was so port intensive, most days were spent ashore. In the evening a jacket is required after 6pm as the minimum dress code. Everyone honored the dress code which was a breath of fresh air. Not a single T-shirt or flip flops spotted in the dining room! Cunard cherishes its history, and is probably the only cruise line with an authentic bookshop onboard selling Cunard memorabilia as well as ocean liner books, cards, and puzzles. My partner who has little interest in ocean liner history really loved the Cunard experience, and surprisingly wanted to stop by the bookshop almost every night. It was something unique that he had not experienced on any other ship. To accompany the book shop is a fully stocked two level library complete with librarian. Proudly displayed all over the ship is artwork and artifacts from Cunard's illustrious past. If you require even more reminding that you are sailing with a company steeped in tradition and history, then a channel on your TV is dedicated to programs about Cunard history and its past vessels. Needless to say this was my favorite channel! Evenings on Cunard are quite elegant and formal, with music throughout the ship, costume balls in the Queens Room, ballroom dancing complete with gentleman hosts, big band, production shows of a fairly decent quality, and yes even disco dancing! The fine art of paying attention to the details is not lost on Cunard. There are nice touches like sparkling wine upon arrival, turndown service with chocolates on your pillow, Gilchrist & Soames bath products, robes & slippers, and even a daily newspaper delivered nightly with news from your home country. Many cruise lines have done away with these amenities, but Cunard continues to uphold the tradition. What you won't find on Cunard are endless revenue producing announcements, obnoxious art auctions, constant nickel & diming, bellyflop contests by the pool, rock climbing walls, shorts in the dining room, or buckets of beer. If these are things you will miss then Cunard is clearly not for you. We opted for a standard outside cabin thinking it would be too cold to make use of a balcony. Were we ever wrong on that one. The weather was amazing the entire two weeks with warm air and cloudless sunny skies. It might be the best weather I've ever experienced on a cruise. The seas were as equally calm as the skies, and never once did we feel the ship move. I was actually a little disappointed in that fact, but it was perfect for my partner who is prone to motion sickness. I really enjoyed our cabin and its location on Deck 1. Our midship Deck 1 location was perfect for a port intensive itinerary. The gangway was never too far away and the main lounges were a short jaunt down the hall or up a deck. The window and its opening was large enough to sit in and read a book. Bedding was very comfortable and decor was soothing. Our cabin stewardess Rosalina was one of the best we ever encountered. Three things lacking were drawer space, a proper shelf in the small shower, and an interactive TV. We did order room service on occasion and it was always delivered right on schedule and delicious. The dining experience on QE was quite good. We opted for late sitting and a table for two. We were in a nice section near the windows very close to three other tables for two. Two of the tables were next to us and another behind us. If you were looking for a private dining experience this arrangement would not have been ideal, as the tables were quite close to each other. As it turns out we got along great with our fellow two-tops and enjoyed some great conversations (thanks Dee & Michael!). Our serving team did a great job as did the wine steward who appeared every night almost as we sat down. I'm glad Cunard has kept the wine stewards and not placed the task on the already overworked wait staff as many cruise lines have done. One option missing from the experience was an "always available" selection on the menu. This is offered on most other lines and usually includes a steak, fish, salad, and chicken option. It's always nice to have such options in case nothing appeals to you on the main menu. Luckily we never had that problem but I'm surprised it wasn't offered in the Britannia Restaurant. We dined in the Britannia Restaurant every night except two. For my birthday we dined in the Verandah Restaurant, which is an a la carte speciality dining experience drawing its roots from the original QUEEN ELIZABETH and QUEEN MARY. I opted for the tasting menu which was very French and very unusual for my taste buds. I quite enjoyed it but it was a lot of food. The overall experience was quite nice but I still feel Celebrity Cruises has the best speciality restaurants at sea. Another night we dined up in the Lido Restaurant with the Spa Manager and the theme was a steakhouse. The upcharge was $10 per person. It was satisfactory but the steak was certainly no better than what was offered in the main dining room. Lunch was taken either ashore or in the Lido Restaurant & Grill. The quality was good as was the variety. This cruise was very port intensive, with only two days at sea out of twelve. For those ports where we docked in a remote location, Cunard provided a complimentary shuttle service into the center of town. This was certainly not expected as most cruise lines charge for such a service, but it was certainly welcomed! In almost all the ports we enjoyed lunch or at minimum some coffee/tea/soda at a cafe in order to take advantage of free internet. It's so much faster than what is offered on the ship. I'm not going to detail much on the ports, but I will let you know how we enjoyed each one ... Salerno. We booked a Cunard shore excursion to Pompeii. I was really fascinated with Pompeii and it was a great way to spend the day. Cunard did and excellent job with the organization of the entire tour. Highly recommended. Messina. We booked a Cunard transfer shore excursion to Taormina. Basically it was a motor coach ride to and from the small cliffside town of Taormina with free time once you are dropped off. Again highly recommended. Taormina is charming and picturesque. We enjoyed shopping, people watching, and lunch at an outdoor cafe. Santorini. One of my favorite Greek islands. We went into town on our own, taking the funicular up to the main town of Fira. We enjoyed some shopping, ship spotting, and an amazing lunch with a view to die for. Pretty much a prefect day in my book. Rhodes. Since we have been to Rhodes several times, we opted to walk the walled city on our own, again enjoying the sights and a lunch at one of the main squares of the old city. Kusadasi. We were here fairly recently and toured Ephesus. This is a must and we strongly considered going back for a 2nd look, but instead took it easy and strolled around the waterfront near where the ships dock. Athens. In that past we have toured Athens quite extensively, so again it was a light day of strolling around the port area of Piraeus. This is a great area for ship spotting if you're into that sort of thing. There is a hop-on-hop-off bus that circles Piraeus and another that goes into Athens itself. These are great options if you prefer to save a little money and have a bit more freedom to plan out your day. Both leave from the port area just outside where the ship docks. Corfu. We really loved Corfu. It's quite different from other Greek islands due to its location and the fact it's so green. It feels more like Italy to be honest. A free shuttle was offered into town but we felt like walking. We strolled around the waterfront and then into the city. Chris went to a "fish spa" where these little fish suck all the dead skin and calluses off your feet! It was an interesting experience for him and fun to watch. Dubrovnik. This was probably my favorite port of the entire cruise next to Venice. We took the free shuttle from the ship into the walled city and just spent the day exploring all the amazing sights this beautiful city has to offer. This is someplace I would truly like to return to for a week or more. Some of the cliffside hotels outside the walled city looked quite inviting. Ravenna. Probably the most disappointing of all the ports. The ship was supposed to overnight in Venice but due to port congestion the overnight was canceled and Ravenna was added in its place. The closest major city is Bologna and tours were offered there, but we were not interested enough to book one. The ship docks in a fairly industrial area and it's about a 30-40 minute ride into Ravenna itself. We were there on a Sunday and things were pretty quiet, but if you're into Mosaics then this is the place for you! Ravenna is quite famous for them and they are beautiful, but I would have preferred the overnight in Venice. Venice. We took a water taxi from the port area directly to our hotel which was really cool. I quite enjoyed the experience but be forewarned that water taxis are very expensive. Roughly 80 Euros for a 15 minute ride. Our hotel was the Westin Europa & Regina located right on the Grand Canal. We had a superior room facing the Grand Canal and I can tell you it's not a view I would ever tire of. I highly recommend the hotel and a visit to Venice in general. It's one of those places that really lives up to every expectation and perception and even exceeds them! From Venice we took a train to Milan and spent a night there before our flight home. I was disappointed in Milan as it lacks all the Italian character we came to enjoy in Venice, Salerno, Messina, and even Ravenna. We stayed at the Sheraton Malpensa which is actually connected to the airport. This is without question the most modern and luxurious Sheraton I have ever stayed in. Since the hotel is connected to the airport, it made catching our 9am flight to New York JFK quite simple. We flew home in Business Elite on Delta and it was a fantastic way to end a truly wonderful vacation. As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, this trip was nearly perfect in every regard. We loved the ship (including the food, service, and entertainment), the new friends we made, all the ports, and were treated to picture perfect weather. The logistics of getting to and from the ship went without a hitch, and spending some time in Venice at a truly gorgeous hotel helped ease the disappointment of having to part ways with the lovely QUEEN ELIZABETH. What I've found is the best way to get over a great vacation is to have another planned, and next up is ROYAL PRINCESS this coming Sunday! Please enjoy the pictures and let me know if you have any questions. Ernie Read Less
Sail Date October 2013


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"I love the tiles, thank you David for all your help on the phone!"
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After two years of competing against each other in high school basketball, a pair of Penn Valley brothers get to be on the same side as they play for Team USA at the World Maccabiah Games in Israel this July.
The only thing more intriguing than two brothers competing over a woman is two brothers competing in a sport. Just ask the hundreds of reporters who tried their hardest to turn this year's Super Bowl into a reality show about the Harbaugh brothers, the coaches of the opposing teams.
The Main Line has enjoyed its own brotherly sports rivalry — this one in hoops — over the last two years between Matt Sherman, a senior captain and point guard at Harriton High School, and his younger brother, Corey, a sophomore sixth man on the varsity team at Lower Merion High School.
This summer, at the World Maccabiah Games in Israel, the brothers will be on the same side — playing for Team USA — but they'll still be on different teams. Matt will be on the 18-and-under team; Corey on the 16 and under. It will be a welcome change for Adam and Michele Sherman, the parents who had to remain neutral through three games between their sons' rival high schools over the last two years.
Before their first encounter, Michele made the boys shake hands and pose for a picture in their kitchen. Their sister, Mackenzie, painted each half of her face in the respective school's colors.
"I was always nervous how they would act when they would come home," said Michele Sherman. "But they were both very composed. They would play the game and then move onto the next one."
With this basketball season over and Matt's high school career nearly behind him, both parents and sons are looking ahead to this summer's games in Israel, when teams from around the world will compete in the quadrennial Jewish Olympics taking place in July.
"I think it's going to be really cool to wear that U.S. jersey," said Corey Sherman, 16."I've never had the opportunity to represent my country in this kind of fashion, and hopefully we can win the gold."
Of the 16 players on his Team USA, three are his Lower Merion schoolmates — freshmen Michael Berg, Jeremy Horn and Eli Needle.
The Sherman boys grew up playing in recreation leagues together and in two JCC Maccabi Games, which take place each summer in different parts of the United States. At the 2011 games in Philadelphia, they were on the same team, winning a bronze medal, and last summer, in Rockland County, N.Y., they won a silver.
"We have a good relationship and we push each other when we're working out and on the court," said Matt Sherman, 17.
How is it that two boys who grew up in the same house, less than two years apart, ended up at different public high schools? The short answer is basketball.
Though their Penn Valley home is closer to Harriton, the Shermans sat down with their sons two years ago and suggested that it might be best for both if Corey attended Lower Merion rather than Harriton, where Matt had already established himself as a star.
"Corey would have had to deal with the legacy that his brother created already," Adam Sherman said.
The family's proposal to send Corey to Lower Merion needed approval at the highest levels of the district because normally a student's public high school is determined by his home address.
Both boys have since enjoyed great success — Corey's Lower Merion team won a state championship this year; Matt scored more than 1,000 points in his career and his team's standings improved from winning nine games in his freshman year to 14 this year, coming within one game of the state tournament.
Matt also earned a chance to play at the collegiate level; he won't be far from home at Haverford College.
"This year was pretty special," said Matt, who served as captain of his team."I think we really benefited from letting each other blossom at different places."
His brother agrees. "Maybe it was for the best," said Corey. "I'm very happy with how things have worked out. I'm glad he had a chance to flourish in his own way over there."
The brothers both became B'nai Mitzvah at Har Zion Temple in Penn Valley and were active at the Kaiserman JCC in Wynnewood. Matt Sherman first visited Israel in 2009, when he played off the bench for the gold medal-winning 16-and-under Maccabiah team. He was one of the younger guys on the team and though he played sparingly, he said he benefited from playing with older teammates.
"It was my first experience in Israel," he said. "I immediately knew going there that it wouldn't be my last. I was at an age where I didn't understand and appreciate it as much as I will this summer."
Watching from the stands then were Corey, Mackenzie and their parents. Corey said he enjoyed seeing the different style of play from European teams, which featured big men who could shoot jump shots.
"I'm looking forward to the opening and closing ceremonies and getting a chance to trade gear with other countries, but we're there to win," Corey said. "That's the No. 1 priority. The stuff off the court just gets better when you win."


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Clubs are member organizations of USMS Sanctioned by HMSA. A club sanction provides liability insurance protection for any workout or other sanctioned USMS event where only USMS swimmers participate.
The club you select when you register is the club you represent when you participate in USMS Sanctioned events. You can be "members" supporting many clubs outside your USMS selection. In Hawaii there are basically 3 types of clubs you can select when you register:
1. Your local club that you regularly swim with. This is the normal selection. A few clubs have a fee to become members - some collect this registration fee when you register with USMS. HMSA & USMS supports this as creating the organization that secures facilities for workouts and sees that you have a certified coach on deck takes time and has costs.
2. Hawaii Masters (HiMa) is a virtual club that swimmers who want to swim in events (e.g.; nationals, worlds, and even local swim meets) have teammates, and can swim on relays ... even if only a few members from each island attend the event. We encourage you to still support financially the club you swim with as a member for the reasons stated in 1.
3. Unattached. You do not have to select a club when you register.
Your club must register with USMS for the year BEFORE you can register as a swimmer representing that club.
How to register your club with USMS
A) Existing Clubs should re-register each year before October 31st either:
A1. By using the online link, or
A2. By completing a Club Membership Application and returning it to the LMSC Registrar with the appropriate fee. Please note that the location of the team's pool is requested, to facilitate inquiries regarding locations.
A club must be registered before individual swimmers can be registered with that club.
B) New Clubs may register at any time by completing the Club Membership Application and submitting it to the LMSC Registrar with the appropriate fee, or By using the online link.
A club must be registered before individual swimmers can be registered with the new club.
One reason to register your club is to have the insurance needed to run workouts. To get the insurance certificate click on this link. You need your club's login information to access this page. The use of a pool (for meet or workouts), as well as various hotels, support groups (eg; jetski operations, lifeguards, etc.) and more require proof of insurance forms from USMS.