text:
Getting the Weather Forecast Using SharePoint Workflows
I already wrote a post on how to use SharePoint 2013 workflows. This time, I'll get back to this topic, with a slightly more interesting (IMO) use case: a recurring workflow that runs once a day and emails users the weather forecast for the next day!
Let's get started! This will work on both SharePoint 2013 on premises or SharePoint Online.
Weather Forecast
I needed a web service for retrieving the weather forecast that was:
- Free (of course!)
- REST (not SOAP!)
- Using JSON (not XML!)
I ended up using Yahoo's excellent weather web service. It does all this and a lot more, and I suggest you have a look at it.
I had to find out the WOEID for the city I was interested in – Coimbra, Portugal, of course – which was as simple as running this YQL query:
select woeid from geo.places(1) where text="coimbra, pt"
Then, all I had to do was pass the returned value (739672) to the query passed in the query string of the REST web service:
The result is this:
Or, in a formatted way, much easier to read:
"query": {
"count": 1,
"created": "2016-05-14T10:13:08Z",
"lang": "en-US",
"results": {
"channel": {
"units": {
"distance": "mi",
"pressure": "in",
"speed": "mph",
"temperature": "F"
"title": "Yahoo! Weather - Coimbra, Coimbra, PT",
"link": "http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/Country__Country/*https://weather.yahoo.com/country/state/city-739672/",
"description": "Yahoo! Weather for Coimbra, Coimbra, PT",
"language": "en-us",
"lastBuildDate": "Sat, 14 May 2016 11:13 AM WEST",
"ttl": "60",
"location": {
"city": "Coimbra",
"country": "Portugal",
"region": " Coimbra"
"wind": {
"chill": "57",
"direction": "325",
"speed": "7"
"atmosphere": {
"humidity": "90",
"pressure": "1004.0",
"rising": "0",
"visibility": "16.0"
"astronomy": {
"sunrise": "6:17 am",
"sunset": "8:43 pm"
"image": {
"title": "Yahoo! Weather",
"width": "142",
"height": "18",
"link": "http://weather.yahoo.com",
"url": "http://l.yimg.com/a/i/brand/purplelogo//uh/us/news-wea.gif"
"item": {
"title": "Conditions for Coimbra, Coimbra, PT at 10:00 AM WEST",
"lat": "40.194672",
"long": "-8.40737",
"link": "http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/Country__Country/*https://weather.yahoo.com/country/state/city-739672/",
"pubDate": "Sat, 14 May 2016 10:00 AM WEST",
"condition": {
"code": "26",
"date": "Sat, 14 May 2016 10:00 AM WEST",
"temp": "57",
"text": "Cloudy"
"forecast": [
"code": "39",
"date": "14 May 2016",
"day": "Sat",
"high": "61",
"low": "54",
"text": "Scattered Showers"
"code": "28",
"date": "15 May 2016",
"day": "Sun",
"high": "71",
"low": "54",
"text": "Mostly Cloudy"
"code": "30",
"date": "16 May 2016",
"day": "Mon",
"high": "76",
"low": "52",
"text": "Partly Cloudy"
"code": "28",
"date": "17 May 2016",
"day": "Tue",
"high": "77",
"low": "53",
"text": "Mostly Cloudy"
"code": "30",
"date": "18 May 2016",
"day": "Wed",
"high": "78",
"low": "52",
"text": "Partly Cloudy"
"code": "30",
"date": "19 May 2016",
"day": "Thu",
"high": "77",
"low": "52",
"text": "Partly Cloudy"
"code": "30",
"date": "20 May 2016",
"day": "Fri",
"high": "71",
"low": "55",
"text": "Partly Cloudy"
"code": "28",
"date": "21 May 2016",
"day": "Sat",
"high": "72",
"low": "55",
"text": "Mostly Cloudy"
"code": "30",
"date": "22 May 2016",
"day": "Sun",
"high": "72",
"low": "53",
"text": "Partly Cloudy"
"code": "30",
"date": "23 May 2016",
"day": "Mon",
"high": "75",
"low": "52",
"text": "Partly Cloudy"
"description": "<![CDATA[\n
\nCurrent Conditions:<\/b>\n
Cloudy\n
\n
\nForecast:<\/b>\n
 Sat - Scattered Showers. High: 61Low: 54\n
 Sun - Mostly Cloudy. High: 71Low: 54\n
 Mon - Partly Cloudy. High: 76Low: 52\n
 Tue - Mostly Cloudy. High: 77Low: 53\n
 Wed - Partly Cloudy. High: 78Low: 52\n
\n
\nFull Forecast at Yahoo! Weather<\/a>\n
\n
\n(provided by The Weather Channel<\/a>)\n
\n]]>",
"guid": {
"isPermaLink": "false"
SharePoint Workflow
Next, I wanted to use this information in a SharePoint workflow. This workflow has to run every day automatically, and this was a challenge, because it is not supported out of the box. But, first things first, let's see how I designed it the Weather Forecast workflow.
Open SharePoint Designer and create a new Site workflow, make sure it is using the SharePoint 2013 settings. I first added a stage called Initialization, where I created a string workflow variable named url, to which I assigned the web service URL:
Next, I also created a dictionary variable named requestHeaders, to which I added a string entry called Accept, with value application/json (I don't think this is necessary, but it is always good to tell a REST web service what we're expecting):
Get Weather Forecast
On a new stage named Get Weather Forecast, I add the call to the web service itself, by adding a Call HTTP Web Service action, pointing to the contents of the url variable:
After I do that, I access the properties of Call HTTP Web Service action and I set the request headers as coming from the requestHeaders variable I just created:
Make sure you set the response to go to a new dictionary variable, responseContent. The rest is really irrelevant, but if you run into problems, it may be useful to look at the responseCode (string) and responseHeaders (dictionary) variables.
Process Response
I then added a new stage named Process Response, where I added an action of type Get an Item from a Dictionary, from which I extracted value query/results/channel/item/forecast(1)/text from the responseContent variable, which contains the result of the web service invocation, into a new string variable called result:
This needs some explanation. The value I'm extracting from dictionary is similar to a JSONPath – the JavaScript dotted-path to traverse an object - with two differences:
- Instead of dots (.), we use slashes (/)
- Instead of square brackets ([]) for indexed properties, we use parenthesis
The path we are extracting is so that we can jump directly to the textual description of the forecast for the next day, according to the schema that the Yahoo web service returns. If you use another one, you will need to change this path, of course.
Send Email
The next stage I added is called Send Email, and it's where I send the weather forecast to the interested users. In it, I add a single action of type Send an Email,
In the To field, we should use a group instead of explicitly named users, something like "Weather Forecast Users". In the body of the email, I have a mix of text and the result variable, which, if you remember, contains the portion of the web service response that has the textual description of the forecast.
Sleep for a Day
The last stage I'm adding is called Sleep for a Day, and, again, only has a single activity, Pause for Duration, configured to sleep for 1 day.
Wrap Up
This is what the resulting workflow looks like:
In each stage, we need to add a transition to the next one, except in Sleep for a Day, on which the transition is going to Initialization. So, I have the following stages and transitions:
Stage | Transition |
Initialization | Get Weather Forecast |
Get Weather Forecast | Process Response |
Process Response | Send Email |
Send Email | Sleep for a Day |
Sleep for a Day | Initialization |
As for variables, I have:
Starting the Workflow
Now, all we have to do is, after publishing the workflow, is starting it. We do that through Site contents – Site workflows, normally available at URL /_layouts/15/workflow.aspx, and clicking the Weather Forecast link.
This workflow, it should be noted, shouldn't stop, because after it reaches the final stage, it jumps to the first one, don't forget about it.
Debugging the Workflow
The debugging experience is not great. What you can do is log stuff to the workflow history, using a Log to History List action, but be warned that you cannot log large contents: for example, logging the result of the web service call won't work. What you can do is see where the workflow stopped and see if any exception was thrown, by clicking at the Status field of the running or completed workflow and inspecting the messages produced:
You also have the Workflow Health page (/_layouts/15/WorkflowServiceHealth.aspx), on which you can also see some information and stop running workflows that have gone rogue:
It is also worth pointing out that, unless you configured it otherwise, the output history for the workflows is stored in a hidden list called Workflow History (/Lists/Workflow%20History/AllItems.aspx):
SharePoint offers some mechanisms for integrating outside data, in the form of REST web services returning JSON, into workflows. While more complex scenarios require more advanced techniques and APIs (Business Connectivity Services, for example, or custom workflow actions), it is still possible to do some interesting stuff with what is available out of the box. Variations to this example might include conditional checks, like, only sending a warning email if the weather forecast is not good, or store the results for the next days, etc. I leave that as an exercise to you, dear reader! In the meantime, do let me know how it goes!


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We first posted this recipe nearly four years ago, and it is by far our most requested HoliBlog entry, so here it is again.
With a photo and video, this time.
When we opened Plymouth Rock Cafe in 2007, we chuckled all summer long as emails came in requesting the recipe for our green beans. And as the park closed for the season, folks weren't just bemoaning the long cold winter without Kringle's pizza … they were wailing about the lack of, um, green beans. That's right, the green beans were a big hit.
One newly engaged woman even asked for the recipe so she could serve our green beans at her wedding reception.
And so, here's our recipe. It calls for a lot of beans, but is easily reduced by half or even fourths for a smaller appetite.
Plymouth Rock Cafe's Green Beans
10 lbs of green beans
1 lb of butter
1 oz of seasoned salt
1 oz of garlic herb seasoning
1. Melt butter in skillet.
2. When butter is melted add green beans, then both seasonings.
3. Continue sautéing while flipping green beans until thoroughly heated but still crisp; they will continue cooking once you take them out of the skillet.
4. Tip: You want them to wiggle just a little when you take them out. If they are floppy they will be very soggy when you are ready to eat. They only take a few minutes to cook and the closer you make them to the time you are ready to eat the better they will be.
Would you like to watch a cooking demonstration? Michelle takes you into our kitchen (please note she is making five pounds in this demo – but uses the full amount of butter due to the pan being so large; at home, half a stick of butter plus a squirt or two of olive oil should do the trick):
And no matter what time of the year you fix this dish: Happy Thanksgiving!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Born in Borneo
Midwifery Today, Issue 95, Autumn 2010.
Join Midwifery Today Join Midwifery Today Online Membership
My husband and I met a couple a few years ago in New Zealand. Being sailors ourselves, we had agreed to help them and house them when they sailed into the San Francisco Bay Area. A couple years passed, and then one day we got an e-mail from them saying they had gotten as far as Borneo and it was so wonderful they didn't know if they'd ever make it to the US. They invited us to join them on their sailboat off the coast of Borneo. As part of my preparation for going, I did quite a bit of reading, as I usually do before visiting another country. One of the books spoke of the magic of Borneo being inseparable from the dizzying mix of cultures inhabiting the island. Another book acknowledged that children are among the Borneo people's most treasured possessions. Every blessing, prayer and invocation includes a petition for healthy progeny. It went on to discuss some of the country's pregnancy taboos. I was determined to interview as many people as possible about childbirth during my stay on the world's third largest island to see if these taboos really existed, as well as anything else I might discover about birthing in Borneo.
I spent time online with women involved in childbirth education for months before I left the US and wasted no time, starting my inquiries about "being born in Borneo" the night I arrived in Kota Kinabalu by talking with the woman in charge at our hotel. She, like all others I talked to in this town of half a million people, told me she had birthed her baby in a hospital. Childbirth classes were available but cost money, so she did not take any. She had a vaginal birth with a vacuum extractor "…as the baby was nearly 10 pounds." She chose a doctor. She said she could have had a midwife but, again, that would incur an additional fee. With no "extras" and only a one-night stay, the cost was about 3,000 ringgits (about $900) and included her prenatal care. She told me she had her sister with her, as her husband didn't want to come. This was a theme I heard repeated numerous times, with little variation. It seemed that if a woman lived within the larger city area, she chose to have a hospital birth without a husband or partner present. This fact was borne out by taxi drivers, shopkeepers, jungle lodge managers, women in roadside cafes and in various shops.
The responses were a bit different in the small villages, especially in the jungle area away from the "big city," but the absence of husbands at the birth seemed the norm there as well. In the small villages of Borneo I found that pregnant women are subject to various taboos. Even women who deliver in a hospital often listen to and abide by these taboos and visit a bidan. This is their word for what appears to be similar to what we sometimes refer to as a "lay midwife." In Spanish, we would call her la partera. After a few more conversations, I realized that bidan meant "woman helping women" and they were identified by the villages where they assisted births. For instance, in the village of Kampung, the midwife would be known as bidan kampung.
Diana, a delightful, bright, 34-year-old mother of three, talked to me about the country's pregnancy taboos and introduced me to her friend, Salina, who had two babies who had been born with the help of the local bidan. Salina spoke no English, but Diana translated as we discussed the various customs and taboos for the pregnant women in their region. Salina contributed to the conversation as we sat along the bank of the Kinabatangan River, for she had delivered at home with the help of a bidan. Although Diana's births took place in a hospital, she also went regularly to the local bidan.
I found the local customs so very fascinating that I put aside my list of questions and just listened (while furiously taking notes). Some of the more common customs both women agreed absolutely must be followed involved food. Pregnant women were told not to eat turmeric or their baby would turn yellow. If eggplant were eaten, according to another custom, the baby would be born blue. Eat chilies and the baby would have a rash. The consumption of sting rays produced a white color, while eating cold rice would make her baby cry. Tying a towel or scarf around a pregnant woman's neck was taboo, as people believe this will ensure a cord wrapped around the baby's neck. I had read that if a pregnant woman looked at a monkey or something else considered ugly she might very likely end up with an ugly baby. Salina broke in to say that it wasn't so bad to look at them, they just shouldn't say anything bad about them or the baby would end up looking like a monkey.
The mother's activities also were restricted, for local customs said that if she sat in front of a door the baby would have difficulty exiting into the world. If a woman had been in labor an unusually long time, her family members would start to uncover jars and baskets, untying any knot in the house to allow the baby to "get out" or "come unstuck." In really serious cases, another source reported, all the boats in the jetty would be set adrift, usually in the care of a few young boys who would later paddle them back to a safe harbor. Special prayers often were said over a cup of water, which the mother was to drink in order to speed things up. Another reason for a slow labor, it was believed by many in Borneo, might be because the laboring woman had spoken too harshly to her mother-in-law. This could be corrected if the father-to-be apologized to his mother.
Women weren't the only locals I talked with. Handsome Ibrahim also patiently answered my many questions. When I asked if his babies were born in a hospital or with a bidan, he said both his girls had been born in the hospital. When I asked if he had been present at their birth his answer was, "I love my wife and I love my children, but no." He added that he also had never killed any animals while his wife was pregnant, which is another no-no in Borneo culture. Diana explained that not only were fathers not allowed to kill animals during their wife's pregnancy, they were not to dig holes in the land for fear the baby would be born without an anus. I was never able to find anyone who reported the father of the baby present at the birth of their child—either in the hospital or at home with a bidan. Even the bidan who graciously gave me time to talk about local birth customs agreed, saying, "Only women at births."
Some of the taboos involved the treatment of the couple's other children.
"A father-to-be had hit the hands of his other children. The baby was born with a withered hand. All the village people said it was because he had used a ruler on his other children's hands while his wife was pregnant," Diana told me. Salina nodded in agreement.
Diana had been so helpful and seemingly interested in talking about this topic, I asked if she knew any bidans that I might visit. I said I would gladly give up my nightly jungle walk to meet with one. She excitedly said her neighbor was a bidan and she would arrange the meeting. Since Diana had had all three of her births in the hospital, but had also seen a bidan, she gave me some insights into the costs of a birth in Borneo village. What a difference between the cost in the capital for a hospital birth and here on the other side of the island! In the small, outlying village hospital on the east coast of Borneo, the cost of the birth would be about 50 ringgits or roughly $15 plus 5 ringgits ($1.50) for each prenatal visit. Bidans, on the other hand, didn't charge for their services, but they were usually given 20 ringgits (a little more than $6) plus a chicken, some fabric or whatever else the woman had to give.
Taking a boat across the river in the dark to sit with a bidan was another exciting part of this birthing in Borneo study. Waiting inside a modest spartanly furnished home was a bitty, charming bidan who seemed as happy to see me as I was to see her. She sat against the wall on the linoleum floor and gestured for Diana and me to join her. Shortly, someone brought out a pounded silver pot of tea and some teacakes and sat them on the floor next to us. A young man lounged in the only chair I saw in this large, open space. He seemed most interested in the conversation, though he had no children himself and he quickly agreed to take pictures for me. I had asked Diana what I should call the bidan. She answered that she could not say her name out of respect because she was older but I could call her Madam Jamurd. This delightful woman told me, with Diana acting as a translator, that she had given birth to 10 babies with the help of a bidan, then giggled and said she had delivered her 11th baby by herself. I struggle to put into words the way she gleefully gestured a swooping motion with her hands from her perineum to her breasts.
"Bu Dayang" (Auntie), as this midwife was called by some, confirmed what I had heard over and over again in Borneo: only women were present at births. She also told how to tell if the baby was ready to be born. As she chewed on some leaves she had cut while she was talking, she explained that the pregnant woman would chew these leaves, spit them out and rub them on her stomach. If they turned a brighter red she would go into labor within a few days, but if they were not red she wasn't ready.
When I asked if I might see what she took to a delivery and perhaps take a picture she simply responded, "I take my hands." When I asked what she used to cut the cord she explained that she milked the cord in both directions about a foot from the body of the baby, laid the milked portion on a coconut shell the father had prepared, and cut the cord with a knife the father had made out of a piece of bamboo while saying a Muslim prayer as she made the cut. After the birth of a baby, the mother is considered cold and various means are used to warm her. The custom of having the new mother sit on a rack over a fire seems to be dying out, but bidans still try to warm the women in other ways. In a climate that easily gets close to 100 degrees during the daytime, one wouldn't think this would be much of a problem.
When I asked where the women labored, Diana, without translating, said they were in bed. But the bidan answered, "I have them walk." When I inquired about positions for pushing, it wasn't until I said, "In this position, or this, or this for pushing?" and demonstrated the various positions I help women into during delivery that I got my answers.
With giggles all around they agreed to have me be the pregnant woman and they would show me. The young man in the room quickly offered to take a picture of this. With this, the bidan was all business, she made sure a pillow was fetched from the other room and put it under my head. She then slipped her hands under my buttocks and raised me up slightly.
After this picture was taken, the bidan said she would like to show me how she massages her pregnant clients. She was massaging my abdomen quite gingerly until she saw the large surgical scar that went across my waist and up toward the area between my breasts. With that she stopped saying she was afraid she would hurt me. I assured her it was 10 years old and demonstrated how vigorously it could be touched but it did nothing to reassure her. She shuddered and tucked her hands away.
Later, at a roadside "restaurant" on the small island of Labuan, about 14 miles off the larger island of Borneo but still considered part of Borneo, we stopped for lunch. The women running the establishment (which was actually just a few chairs and tables set up on the side of the road) asked if they could take our picture, as they had never had anyone from the US eat in their restaurant. They took pictures of us with their cell phones and we took pictures of them with our cameras. It was an easy opening for me to get confirmations about the birthing customs I had learned. The several women there readily recognized all of these customs as being the truth. Much of the conversation took place with the translating help of the 18-year-old daughter of one of the women at the restaurant.
The scenic beauty and wildlife I came to Borneo to enjoy surpassed my expectations, but the openness and willingness of the island's women to share their stories of birth—plus the friendliness of these delightful people of Borneo—went way beyond anything I could have hoped for. I will be eternally grateful to them all, but especially to Diana who asked me to e-mail this story to her and checked my writing for accuracy.


text:
But experts warn that without structural change, emissions declines caused by coronavirus could be short-lived as economies get back to normal
* Emissions have to peak in 2020 to hit climate goals
* Experts differ on likely impact of the coronavirus
* Only lasting downward trend will curb climate change
By Shadia Nasralla, Valerie Volcovici and Matthew Green
LONDON/WASHINGTON, April 3 (Reuters) - Carbon dioxide emissions could fall by the largest amount since World War Two this year as the coronavirus outbreak brings economies to a virtual standstill, according to the chair of a network of scientists providing benchmark emissions data.
Rob Jackson, who chairs the Global Carbon Project, which produces widely-watched annual emissions estimates, said carbon output could fall by more than 5% year-on-year -- the first dip since a 1.4% reduction after the 2008 financial crisis.
"I wouldn't be shocked to see a 5% or more drop in carbon dioxide emissions this year, something not seen since the end of World War Two," Jackson, a professor of Earth system science at Stanford University in California, told Reuters in an email.
"Neither the fall of the Soviet Union nor the various oil or savings and loan crises of the past 50 years are likely to have affected emissions the way this crisis is," he said.
The prediction – among a range of new forecasts being produced by climate researchers - represents a tiny sliver of good news in the midst of crisis: Climate scientists had warned world governments that global emissions must start dropping by 2020 to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
But the improvements are for all the wrong reasons, tied to a world-shaking global health emergency that has infected more than 950,000 people - while shuttering factories, grounding airlines and forcing hundreds of millions of people to stay at home to slow the contagion.
Experts warn that without structural change, the emissions declines caused by coronavirus could be short-lived and have little impact on the concentrations of carbon dioxide that have accumulated in the atmosphere over decades.
"This drop is not due to structural changes so as soon as confinement ends, I expect the emissions will go back close to where they were," said Corinne Le Quéré, a climate scientist at the University of East Anglia in eastern England.
After world greenhouse gas emissions dipped in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis, they shot back up a whopping 5.1% in the recovery, according to Jackson.
The pattern of a swift rebound has already begun to play out in China, where emissions fell by an estimated 25% as the country closed factories and put in place strict measures on people's movement to contain the coronavirus earlier this year, but have since returned to a normal range.
That kind of resilience underscores the magnitude of the economic transformation that would be needed to meet the goals of an international deal brokered in Paris in 2015 to try to avert the most catastrophic climate change scenarios.
A U.N. report published in November found that emissions would have to start falling by an average of 7.6% per year to give the world a viable chance of limiting the rise in average global temperatures to 1.5C, the most ambitious Paris goal.
"I don't see any way that this is good news except for proving that humans drive greenhouse gas emissions," said Kristopher Karnauskas, associate professor at the Department of Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.
With the world dependent for fossil fuels for 80% of its energy, emissions forecasts are often based on projections for global economic growth.
Last month, Glen Peters, research director of the Center for International Climate Research in Oslo, predicted carbon emissions would fall between 0.3% and 1.2% this year, using higher and lower forecasts for global GDP growth from the OECD.
A few days later, the Breakthrough Institute, a research centre in California, predicted emissions will decline 0.5-2.2%, basing its calculations on growth forecasts from JP Morgan, and assuming the global economy recovers in the second half.
"Our estimates indicate that the pandemic's climate silver lining is vanishingly thin," said Seaver Wang, a climate and energy analyst at the institute.
"It's as if we went back in time and emitted the same amount we were a few years ago -- which was already too much. In the grand scheme of things, it really makes no difference."
Some foresee a bigger hit to the economy. The London-based Centre for Economics and Business Research estimates that world GDP will fall by at least 4% this year -- albeit with a "huge margin of error."
That drop would be more than twice as large as the contraction during the financial crisis, and the largest annual fall in GDP since 1931, barring wartime, the centre said.
With governments launching gigantic stimulus packages to stop their economies collapsing, investors are now watching to see how far the United States, and China, the European Union, Japan and others embrace lower-emission energy sources.
"Even if there is a decline in emissions in 2020, let's say 10% or 20%, it's not negligible, it's important, but from a climate point of view, it would be a small dent if emissions go back to pre-COVID-19 crisis levels in 2021," said Pierre Friedlingstein, chair in mathematical modelling of the climate system at the University of Exeter in southwest England.
"This is why it is important to think about the nature of the economic stimulus packages around the world as countries come out of the most immediate health crisis," said Dan Lashof, U.S. director at the World Resources Institute.
(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla, Valerie Volcovici and Matthew Green; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Daniel Wallis)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


text:
U2 superstar Bono and former President Bill Clinton joined forces at the 35th annual American Ireland Fund gala at Lincoln Center in New York on Thursday night for a good cause -- to promote music education for children in urban and rural areas throughout Ireland.
"I have said many times -- if I hadn't been exposed to music as a child I don't think I would have been president," said Clinton, who still plays his saxophone, but added that he realized at the age of 16 he wouldn't be able to make a career of it.
Bono was the special guest at the AIF gala, attended by more than 1,300 guests and raising $3 million to enrich music programs for children in Irish schools. U2 and the Ireland Funds have partnered on a multi-year initiative to bring musical training to Irish children, with U2 committing $7 million to the project.
Bono wowed the audience with stories of how he was introduced to music in his youth.
"I grew up in the northside of Dublin in the beleaguered sixties and seventies -- music meant everything to me," Bono recalled.
He also fondly remembered putting his ear as a young child to his grandmother's piano, and being mesmerized by the sound -- until she was forced to sell it because it took up too much room in the home. Bono wanted his parents to purchase the piano, but it didn't happen. The world's most famous rock star then took it upon himself to make music a permanent part of his life.
"My megalomania started at an early age," he laughed. "Everyone in my house was going to have to listen to me now!"
He said U2's lack of formal musical education led the band to create their own unique style because they were unable to copy anyone else's.
"Music," said Bono, "is another language in which to express yourself."
"The feeling from music," he added, "is liberating. It's the most liberating language of all."
Clinton appeared onstage immediately after Bono's speech to the audience, and he thanked the U2 front man for penning a piece on his behalf in the current issue of Time Magazine's Most Influential 100 list.
"When you're old and grey and you've got to compete with Lady Gaga," the former president laughed, "your only shot is to get Bono to write on your behalf!"
Clinton spoke fondly of his trips to Ireland and the 15th anniversary of the IRA ceasefire in the North, and urged Irish Americans to stay involved in the cause of peace and justice.
"I've never had a greater honor than to be involved in the Irish peace process," Clinton added.
Bono also talked up the positive aspects of his native land, which he acknowledged has been hit hard by the recession.
"We may be down, but we don't give up and we're coming back!" he said, eliciting cheers from the crowd.
Other notables at the AIF gala included the organization's long-standing chairman Loretta Brennan Glucksman, U2 manager Paul McGuinness, Riverdance composer Bill Whelan, actor and newly appointed Irish cultural ambassador Gabriel Byrne, U.S. economic envoy to Ireland Declan Kelly, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.


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The Bank of the South Pacific (BSP) this week became OLPC Oceania's lead private sector partner in the region.
OLPC Oceana and BSP are announcing a strategic partnership to advance South Pacific education. As its first act in its role of Lead Private Sector Partner for OLPC Oceania, BSP is donating 1000 XOs to children in three OLPC project schools in the Solomon Islands and Fiji. In coming months, BSP plans to provide more support for children in Papua New Guinea as it spearheads private sector support for OLPC.
OLPC's Regional Director for Oceania, Mr. Michael Hutak, thanked BSP for its generosity and welcomed the partnership as a breakthrough for Pacific education. "With BSP's strong corporate leadership in the Pacific, its regional branch network and its strong commitment to community participation, we look forward to a long and effective partnership, not just to our mutual benefit but to the advancement of Pacific education.â€
BSP Group Chief Executive Officer Mr. Ian B. Clyne said the new partnership was a perfect fit with the Bank's corporate social responsibility goals and would broaden the reach and impact of the BSP Children's Foundation, complementing programs such as BSP's widely-praised BSP School Kriket program. The partnership continues BSP's commitment to Pacific development and follows a recent Fiji$100,000 donation to emergency relief efforts following the devastating floods in Fiji.
As Lead Private Sector Partner, BSP will join the regional initiative OLPC Oceania, which is a coalition of national governments, educators, donor agencies, academia, the private sector, civil society and community organizers, all working to assist Pacific Island countries to establish the OLPC concept in schools. Mr Hutak said BSP will bring much-needed private sector expertise and know-how to the Pacific initiative.
Currently there are OLPC projects running in 10 Pacific countries, with approximately 10,000 laptops being used by children in 50 schools. Across the globe, OLPC has distributed over 2.4 million laptops to poor children in 40 countries.
Some 200 laptops donated by BSP's Children's Foundation will be deployed by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community in the Solomon Islands in remote Marovo Lagoon, the site of the first Pacific OLPC project in 2008. The remaining 800 laptops with be distributed in two demonstration schools in Suva, Fiji, in partnership with Government of Fiji and the University of the South Pacific. The schools will be where Fiji's teacher and technical training will occur. BSP plans to promote the establishment of similar demonstration schools in Port Moresby and will work with the PNG Govt, the World Bank and other partners to scale up OLPC in PNG.
BSP has also agreed to facilitate the collection of public donations to OLPC Oceania projects, both online and through its branch network.


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Zeke Faux Thursday, 07 February 2013 01:08 PM EST
One former Standard & Poor's analyst who told his bosses that they shouldn't weaken their standards to win more business finds himself at the heart of the U.S. Justice Department's $5 billion case against the ratings firm.
That man, dubbed "Executive H" in the government's lawsuit, is Frank Raiter, a former managing director for residential mortgage-backed securities at S&P, the world's biggest debt-ratings provider. Raiter, 65, now lives on a rural Virginia farm.
S&P supervisors ignored Raiter when he said they should implement a model that would have made banks include more protection in the bonds that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis, according to the lawsuit filed Feb. 4 in federal court in Los Angeles.
"I'm not a whistle-blower," Raiter said in a phone interview. "Ultimately, I just took early retirement because I couldn't go along with their programs."
Raiter said he hadn't heard from the Justice Department since it contacted him in 2010 and that he hopes he won't have to travel to California to testify. The former Marine and community banker retired from S&P, a unit of McGraw-Hill Cos., in March 2005 after clashing with his bosses, Bloomberg reported in 2008.
The lawsuit wiped out $3.82 billion of McGraw-Hill's market value this week as shares of the New York-based company tumbled 24 percent through Wednesday.
Broke Down
Settlement talks broke down after the government sought a fine of more than $1 billion and an admission of wrongdoing from S&P, the New York Times reported. S&P's allegedly inflated ratings were at "the very heart of the recent financial crisis," Attorney General Eric Holder said at a Feb. 5 news conference.
"Any allegations that we compromised our analytical integrity for business considerations are simply false," Ed Sweeney, an S&P spokesman, said in a phone interview.
In other cases, executives who provided evidence to the government have sought and received riches. Bradley Birkenfeld, a former UBS AG banker who went to prison after telling the U.S. how the bank helped Americans evade taxes, was awarded $104 million in 2012 after the Swiss bank agreed to pay $780 million to avoid prosecution. Raiter, who testified before the U.S. House in 2008 and Senate in 2010, said he isn't seeking a reward.
"There are people like that," said Alan Konigsberg, a lawyer in New York who has worked on whistle-blower cases. "Not many."
Housing Boom
Relying on mathematical models, S&P and competitor Moody's Investors Service awarded AAA ratings to mortgage securities packaged during the five-year housing boom, deeming them to be as safe as government bonds. About 90 percent of AAA securities backed by subprime mortgages from 2006 and 2007 were later downgraded to junk, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said in a 2011 report.
S&P developed a new model in 2004 that would generate more accurate ratings for mortgage bonds, called "LEVELS 6.0," according to the government lawsuit. The updated system contained information on the riskier loans that were growing more prevalent at the time and would've made banks add more protection to deals to get top ratings, the U.S. said.
Raiter told other executives that they should implement the new model immediately and that S&P was allowing bonds to be sold without enough loss protection, according to the lawsuit. He was told that unless the upgrade would increase S&P's revenue, there was no reason to waste money on it, the U.S. said.
No 'Justification'
S&P released a different version called "LEVELS 5.7" in 2006, after Raiter retired, the U.S. said in the lawsuit. An S&P employee, identified only as "Executive I" in the lawsuit, changed the model without "analytical justification" to make sure S&P's ratings were no stricter than Moody's, the U.S. said.
The lawsuit included an e-mail from "Executive I" that also was published in 2010 by the Senate subcommittee, which identifies him as Thomas Warrack, a managing director at S&P. He didn't return phone and e-mail messages seeking comment on the allegations.
In 2004, Raiter objected to a change in S&P's procedures that would have required polling investors and investment bankers when changing ratings criteria, the government said. He wrote an e-mail to Thomas Gillis, then head of criteria, and two other executives who aren't named in the lawsuit.
'Superior Analytics'
"Are you implying that we might actually reject or stifle 'superior analytics' for market considerations?" Raiter wrote.
Still, the changes were made later that year, according to the lawsuit. Gillis, who remains at S&P, didn't return messages seeking comment. S&P's revenue from rating collateralized debt obligations almost doubled to $182 million in 2006 from $96 million a year earlier, the U.S. said.
"They were just enjoying the revenue, and by 2005, when I left, we were getting calls from corporate monthly: How much money are you going to make this month?" Raiter told the Senate panel in 2010. "Structured was driving the whole ratings business, and RMBS was the fastest-growing unit."
Senator Ted Kaufman, a Delaware Democrat, asked Raiter at the hearing why S&P employees had allowed the company to keep inflating its ratings.
"If you have been in business, the choices that you face in a dilemma like this is you can quit," Raiter said. "If you have a family to support, that might be a little bit tenuous. And some of us chose to do just that."
The case is U.S. v. McGraw-Hill, 13-00779, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).
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Wednesday, January 04, 2012First sentences: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Requested by Helen Louise.
So famous a first sentence that it's actually hard to approach from an analytical perspective. It sits in the centre of literature like a diamond, sparkling and edged and difficult to dismantle. Jane Austen is a narrator famous for her comedies of manners and social satire, but popularly adored for her romances. In her most famous opening, she manages to pull off a complicated trick by establishing both her arch tone and her promising plot. Considered in detail, this sentence is a masterpiece of having it both ways. 'Universally acknowledged', for instance. The narrative voice claims with confident didacticism that it can speak for everyone, that the universal is within its purview. At the same time, obviously the truth is not universally acknowledged - or else the clever narrator and we, the clever readers, would not be able to laugh at the joke. Immediately we are flattered with a sense of superior understanding; society is a joke, and we are in on it. So far, so sarcastic - but at the same time, when one considers the plot, it's not as straightforward as all that. We get the advantage of seeing through this conventional 'truth', but in fact, it's not what 'universally acknowledged' implies, which is to say, a piece of received wisdom. Instead, believing a rich man must want to marry is a piece of wishful thinking. Wealthy men are essential to the comfort of wealthless women, and to 'acknowledge' that a wealthy man must be eager to provide that comfort is to be sufficiently afraid of poverty that one convinces oneself that salvation will arrive somehow. By making fun of this fear as if it were a mere foolish proverb, Austen gives her first hint that in this novel, too, the fear will be assuaged. The threat of poverty hangs over the heroines, but fearing it is laughable. We are not really threatened. For whatever the dangers that Austen hints at for her heroines, we always know they will not come to pass. Poverty is a wind howling at the door, but we are safe inside. The plot will bear this out: a single man in possession of a large fortune might not be in want of a wife, but in fact both Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy are quite keen to marry - and indeed, are both perfectly willing to set aside financial considerations to do so. Even the comfortably-off Mr Collins wants a wife; wealthy men in Pride and Prejudice are getting married right and left. The Jane Austen museum in Bath sells copies of her books, but it also sells tote bags imprinted 'I [heart] Mr Darcy'.* Irritating people are a threat in Austen books, but poverty will never truly bite. Marriage actually will save the day. Consider, for instance, the order of the sentence, and its linguistic roots. Marked out by those nineteenth-century commas, it breaks down almost mathematically into its components: universal acknowledgement, single man with fortune, want of a wife. Society, man, marriage. This is the progression the plot will follow: we meet Elizabeth and Jane's setting, then their future husbands, then their happy endings. Rhythmically, the sentence lands on its last word with a satirical but reassuring clang, the multi-syllabic, Latinate 'universally' and 'possession' shifting to the monosyllabic, Anglo-Saxon 'want of a wife.' Bill Bryson's Mother Tongue, discussing those two registers in English, quotes Simeon Potter's comment: 'We feel more at ease getting a hearty welcome than after being granted a cordial reception.' English is a language with Latin-Norman flesh and Anglo-Saxon bones. Austen was writing at a time when a debate about the relative merits of Latinate versus plain English had been passionately pursued for some time, and this sentence is highly aware of the distinctions. For satire of manners, we have ornate Latin. For blunt fun-poking, we have Anglo-Saxon ... but at the same time, it is Anglo-Saxon that conveys the truth. It is not true to say that it is universally acknowledged, but it is true, in this story, that the single men with large fortunes will want wives. Universal acknowledgement is a fussy fiction - both of the characters, such as Mrs Bennet, and of Jane Austen in her arch moments - but wanting a wife is real. This, I suspect, is the essential appeal of Jane Austen's most famous novel. We get the best of both worlds: to see through the financial machinations of mothers but to marry a rich man anyway, to laugh at wishful thinking but to get our wishes granted, to scorn convention with merry, biting cynicism, but to succeed within its terms better than the people we are laughing at. Pride and Prejudice is an underdog fantasy, a tale of being a double winner - both as an undeceived outsider and as a triumphant insider. The class and gender conventions are avenged as we, with Elizabeth, both mock and resist them and still succeed by their rules. Austen is an angry writer, sometimes a furious one, sometimes even a hateful one - but my goodness, does she promise us the world. *True fact; I went there on my honeymoon. Financial considerations, I suspect; a gift shop has to sell something, and if someone's visiting the museum at all it's a pretty good bet they already own copies of the books.
I recall learning in a class on Austen that the opening sentence is a parody of Samuel Johnson's tendency towards aphorisms of this kind.
For whatever the dangers that Austen hints at for her heroines, we always know they will not come to pass.
Certainly true for us, but I wonder if it was entirely true for Austen's original readers.
I can't tell you how much I love these First Sentences, Kit. Your posts are like biting into a chocolate truffle and then immediately wanting more. I keep thinking OOH, I WANT TO (RE)READ THAT BOOK NOW. You're killing me, but in a good way. :D
Awesome. I hated Pride and Prejudice when I read it, but I was a kid and I think I would appreciate it far more now. I really should go reread it.
A request - One Hundred Years of Solitude. I totally don't understand why people find this book brilliant - I hated it - and perhaps a breakdown of the first sentence can help me understand what I'm missing.
Yes, I didn't like Austen till I was twenty. So much of her writing is about small social moments that I think you need a certain amount of life experience to get her point...
I really didn't get Jane Austen until I was older AND someone explained to me that it was intended as satire, and that one wasn't supposed to be taking the cheesier moments seriously. Guess I was a little clueless :)
I remember in the famous BBC adaptation, they put the line into the mouth of Elizabeth and Jane as they mockingly completed a sentence Mrs Bennet had clearly come out with enough times for them to know it by heart. I thought it was quite a neat way to convey it in the different medium.
After several failed attempts I recently tried Pride and Prejudice again and couldn't put the damn book down. There is something about the way Austen wrote that is captivating but I couldn't have told you how Austen did it. Things like word selection and juxtaposition are important.
What is also amazing is when someone comes along who is able to both analyse and communicate why Austen is a captivating writer. This is something I could never do myself. Only a very few people could. I'm glad you're one of the few. Now I have to go back and re-read some of the other books whose opening sentences you've analysed. The Kidd
Storiteller, I'm glad I'm not the only one who was underwhelmed by One Hundred Years of Solitude. But yes, that's an opening sentence I'd like to see.
These are such clear and precise analyses. I hope that perhaps, when you've done more of them, Kit, your publisher might be willing to put them together into a book. I find myself wandering around the house, pulling out this and that book and looking at the first lines, just for fun. (And no, I can't analyze them with a writer's eye, so keep doing what you're doing, please?)
One Hundred Years Of Solitude sentence coming up; it should be posted on Wednesday January 18, with a couple of other posts before then. :-)
Thanks so much for doing this - as you point out, it's so familiar that it's actually quite hard to think about critically... Really like this post.
I think we are conditioned in our society to find some of our happiness from romantic relationships. This is due mostly to our lack of understanding of where real happiness comes from. Real happiness comes from feeling good on the inside. This comes from having a good level of health. Relying on someone else to make you happy is a recipe for disaster. The only person you can truly rely on in life to make you happy is yourself.
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The President. Good afternoon. We have just finished--well, not just finished--because I know there's been a little bit of a delay--we have finished what I consider to be a very productive meeting. I want to thank President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel for hosting us here in Strasbourg and Kehl. I should add that not only were they gracious hosts, but the commitments that they made with respect to Afghanistan indicate the seriousness of purpose with which they are approaching the NATO challenge and our mission in Afghanistan in particular.
I want to congratulate Prime Minister, and now Secretary General to be, Mr. Rasmussen He is an outstanding public servant, somebody with an extraordinary reputation, and I have confidence that he's the right man to help lead NATO during a period in which we are moving from a vision first created in the 20th century to a vision that responds to 21st century challenges.
I should point out that the election of Prime Minister Rasmussen was unanimous, but there was important efforts to make sure that everybody felt included. And I want to thank, in particular, Turkey for raising some concerns having to do with their security issues and their confidence that the new Secretary General would address them. So I congratulate all the parties concerned in arriving at a outstanding outcome.
The NATO was founded on the basis of a simple but solemn commitment: An attack on one is an attack on all. And from that foundation we've forged the strongest alliance in history, an alliance that is stronger because it is made up of free nations.
Sixty years ago, much of Europe was in rubble, and this continent was divided. Today, the cold war is over, and Europe is free. Former adversaries have reconciled. We've protected peace and security in the Balkans. Our alliance has more than doubled in size. There was nothing predestined about the success. It took decades of consistent effort, careful cooperation, and collective action. But while we celebrate NATO's achievements, we can't rest upon them. The 21st century has ushered in a new era of global threats. To meet these dangers, the alliance must renew and reform itself once more.
The United States came here to listen, to learn, and to lead, because all of us have a responsibility to do our parts. America can't meet our global challenges alone, nor can Europe meet them without America. I'm confident that the leaders who joined me here today share that view, and that we're moving forward with a sense of common purpose.
We made great progress. Albania and Croatia are now formally NATO members. We welcomed France's renewed commitment to the alliance's military structures. And we agreed to develop a new strategic concept, which will be critical in modernizing NATO so that it can meet the challenges of our time.
We need to strengthen our planning to protect all of our allies. And we need the capacity to meet new and unconventional challenges. We need to partner with other countries and international institutions, and we need a constructive relationship with Russia on issues of common concern.
Today I focused in particular on Afghanistan. NATO's mission there represents both the promise of its past and its purpose for the future. After 9/11, our allies declared the attacks on New York and Washington an attack on all. And together, we embarked on the first mission beyond Europe against an enemy that recognizes no borders or laws of war.
Seven years later, Al Qaida is active in the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. These terrorists threaten every member of NATO. They've struck in both Europe and North America. They are plotting new attacks, and that's why my administration undertook a comprehensive review of our strategy. We listened carefully, and we consulted closely with our allies. And today I briefed them on the results and discussed how we might move forward together.
We start from a simple premise: For years, our efforts in Afghanistan have lacked the resources needed to achieve our goals. And that's why the United States has recommitted itself to a clear and focused goal to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan and to prevent their return to either country in the future.
This effort cannot be America's alone. All of NATO understands that Al Qaida is a threat to all of us, and that this collective security effort must achieve its goals. And as a signal of that commitment, I am pleased that our NATO allies pledged their strong and unanimous support for our new strategy. Keep in mind, it was only just a week ago that we announced this new approach. But already, with Secretary Clinton's work at The Hague and with the success at today's summit, we've started to match real resources to achieve our goals.
We're leaving Strasbourg and Kehl with concrete commitments on NATO support. Our allies and partners have already agreed to provide approximately 5,000 troops and trainers to advance our new strategy as well as increased civilian assistance. To support critical elections for August 20th, NATO will fully resource our election support force to maximize security. And our allies have committed additional funds to an Afghan elections trust fund that will provide the necessary resources for free and fair elections.
To accelerate and enhance our training of Afghan security forces, a new NATO mission--a new NATO training mission will focus on high-level support for Afghan Army and training and mentoring for the Afghan police. And many of our allies and partners have also pledged support for a new trust fund to sustain Afghan National Army's going forward.
And to strengthen Afghan institutions and advance opportunity for the Afghan people, we are working with our NATO allies and partners to achieve substantial increases in nonmilitary assistance and to provide the kind of doctors, engineers, educators, and agricultural specialists that are needed to make a difference on the ground.
Now, we'll need more resources and a sustained effort to achieve our ultimate goals. But these commitments of troops, trainers, and civilians represent a strong downpayment on the future of our mission in Afghanistan and on the future of NATO. These are the new missions that NATO must take on in the 21st century, and these are the new capabilities that we need to succeed.
NATO was founded upon mutual responsibility to our common security. And today I'm confident that we took a substantial step forward in renewing our alliance to meet the challenges of our time.
And before I start taking questions, let me just note that while we were busy dealing with common securities issues here at the summit, we received news yesterday of an extraordinary tragedy back in the United States, where a lone gunman killed and injured multiple people. My administration is in communications with law enforcement officials, Federal, State, and local. We are monitoring the investigation. I am heartbroken for the families who survived this tragedy, and it just underscores the degree to which, in each of our countries, we have to guard against the kind of senseless violence that the tragedy represents.
So with that, let me start with Richard Wolf, USA Today.
Outcomes of the G-20 and NATO Summits
Q. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm wondering if you can say that you got what you asked for here and also in London, because you didn't ask for everything you wanted. And what I mean by that is you didn't get a lot more combat troops here, and you didn't get direct government stimulus there.
The President. Well, first of all, I don't want to circle back and have a whole new press conference about the G-20 summit, since I answered some pretty extensive questions there. A week before the summit, 2 weeks before the summit, on multiple occasions, I indicated that the notion somehow that we were seeking to dictate to other countries their budgets and their approach to government spending was simply not accurate. What we said was that all of us have to take important steps to deal with economic growth.
We in the United States have taken appropriate actions to fill the huge hole in demand that had occurred as a consequence of the financial crisis. We saw that other countries at the G-20, like China and Japan and Great Britain and France and Germany, had all similarly taken stimulus steps. And the most important thing in terms of stimulus that we wanted to see at the G-20 was a commitment that as we monitor what takes place, we assure that if what's been done is not adequate, then we reconvene to make sure that we're taking steps that are adequate to create jobs and regrow the economy.
With respect to what we wanted here in NATO, the first thing we wanted was consensus and unity around a refocused approach to Afghanistan. And because of careful consultation with our allies prior to releasing the results of our strategic review, we came here expecting consensus and were gratified to receive that consensus. You had NATO putting its stamp of approval on what I believe is a well-thought-out, hard-headed strategy and approach to Afghanistan, but also the need to deal with the interaction between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
This was not a pledging conference, and yet we already received the kinds of commitments that, historically, you don't see at a conference like this. And I think if you will talk to prior participants, they would tell you that what was pledged here today was significant.
Let me just review: We fully resourced the elections, 3,000 from allies and partners; 300 new paramilitary trainers and mentors for NATO training missions in Afghanistan; 70 NATO-embedded training teams to support expansion of the Afghan National Army; $100 million downpayment on the Afghan National Army trust fund; and civilian assistance of half a billion dollars.
That was at a summit that was designed to discuss strategy as opposed to attract pledges. And I think it's an indication of the fact that this alliance is committed to achieving the focused goals that we've set out in Afghanistan. I think that you're not going to see a division between allies in terms of how we approach the situation. I think our allies are encouraged by not only the consultation that we conducted prior to releasing our strategy, but also our commitment to continually reviewing the strategy to ensure that it works.
And what we anticipate is not only that we will see additional resources brought to bear on the strategy, but that also we will have established a baseline of honesty and clarity about our purpose so that it will be much more difficult for each of us in NATO to try to avoid or shirk the serious responsibilities that are involved in accomplishing our mission. Okay?
Peter Maer, CBS.
Q. Thank you, Mr. President. I've got a two-parter on this policy. I'm wondering if at any time in the course of the meeting or before, you asked for a commitment from NATO for combat troops in a war stance like the ones already there and the thousands of others that you're ordering.
And since you keep referring to this--and you have referred to it as an Afghanistan and Pakistan policy--and you said recently that you don't envision sending--you don't envision NATO troops being sent to Pakistan, what is the message to Pakistan and the terrorists who are hiding out there?
The President. Well, as I said, this was not a pledging conference. All the NATO allies have troops on the ground who are in harm's way. Our ISAF partners have troops on the ground in harm's way. They are making significant commitments despite having participated in what has turned out to be a very lengthy operation.
And so the whole point of the strategy was to get beyond this notion that somehow there is one kind of troop and one kind of way of accomplishing our mission in Afghanistan. The trainers that we're sending in are not--are no less important than those who are in the south in direct combat with the Taliban because if we can't achieve these other goals, then we will put more and more of a burden, an unsustainable burden, on those troops that are conducting direct combat operations. So the answer is, number one, all these allies have combat troops on the ground. Number two, part of our strategy is to make sure that we've got a much more comprehensive approach.
With respect to Pakistan, we want to bring all of our diplomatic and development skills to bear on strengthening Pakistan in part because they have to have the capacity to take on Al Qaida within their borders, but also because to the extent that we strengthen Pakistan's ability to deliver goods and services and a better life for its people, then the less the contagion of extremism in that country or in the region is likely to spread.
And I informed our allies here today that we are going to, despite difficult budget circumstances, put more money into aid to Pakistan, conditioned on some concrete results in dealing with the terrorist threat. And we are going to be pushing our allies to participate, for example, in the donors forum for Pakistan that's going to be taking place.
Q. And the message to the terrorists, sir?
The President. We are going to keep on going until we get this job done. And they should be clear that we are unified. We are strong. They will not wear us down. We are going to complete our mission so that our people are safe.
Okay. Major [Major Garrett, FOX News].
Human Rights and Military Operations in Afghanistan
Q. Thank you, Mr. President, and good afternoon. I'd like to ask you about a law that's recently been passed in Afghanistan that affects the 10 percent of the Shi'a population there. A summary of it says it negates the need for sexual consent between married couples, tacitly approves child marriage, and restricts a woman's right to leave the home. The United Nations Development Fund for Women says this legalizes the rape of a wife by her husband. I'd like your assessment of this law, number one. Number two, will you condition future troop movements of the U.S. to Afghanistan on the basis of this law being redrafted or rewritten? And if not, sir, what about the character of this law ought to motivate U.S. forces to fight and possibly die in Afghanistan?
The President. Well, first of all, this was actually a topic of conversation among all the allies. And in our communication--communique, you will see that we specifically state that part of this comprehensive approach is encouraging the respect of human rights. I think this law is abhorrent. Certainly the views of the administration have been, and will be, communicated to the Karzai Government. And we think that it is very important for us to be sensitive to local culture, but we also think that there are certain basic principles that all nations should uphold, and respect for women and respect for their freedom and integrity is an important principle.
Now, I just want to remind people, though, why our troops are fighting, because I think the notion that you laid out, Major, was that our troops might be less motivated. Our troops are highly motivated to protect the United States, just as troops from NATO are highly motivated to protect their own individual countries and NATO allies collectively. So we want to do everything we can to encourage and promote rule of law, human rights, the education of women and girls in Afghanistan, economic development, infrastructure development, but I also want people to understand that the first reason we are there is to root out Al Qaida so that they cannot attack members of the alliance.
Now, I don't--those two things aren't contradictory; I think they're complementary. And that's what's reflected in the communique.
Q. [Inaudible]
The President. We have stated very clearly that we object to this law. But I want everybody to understand that our focus is to defeat Al Qaida and ensure that they do not have safe havens from which they can launch attacks against the alliance.
Ed Luce from the Financial Times. Where's Ed? There he is.
U.S. Place in World Affairs
Q. Thank you, Mr. President. In the context of all the multilateral activity that's been going on this week--the G-20, here at NATO--and your evident enthusiasm for multilateral frameworks, to work through multilateral frameworks, could I ask you whether you subscribe, as many of your predecessors have, to the school of American exceptionalism that sees America as uniquely qualified to lead the world, or do you have a slightly different philosophy? And if so, would you be able to elaborate on it?
The President. I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism. I am enormously proud of my country and its role and history in the world. If you think about the site of this summit and what it means, I don't think America should be embarrassed to see evidence of the sacrifices of our troops, the enormous amount of resources that were put into Europe postwar, and our leadership in crafting an alliance that ultimately led to the unification of Europe. We should take great pride in that.
And if you think of our current situation, the United States remains the largest economy in the world. We have unmatched military capability. And I think that we have a core set of values that are enshrined in our Constitution, in our body of law, in our democratic practices, in our belief in free speech and equality that, though imperfect, are exceptional.
Now, the fact that I am very proud of my country and I think that we've got a whole lot to offer the world does not lessen my interest in recognizing the value and wonderful qualities of other countries, or recognizing that we're not always going to be right, or that other people may have good ideas, or that in order for us to work collectively, all parties have to compromise, and that includes us.
And so I see no contradiction between believing that America has a continued extraordinary role in leading the world towards peace and prosperity, and recognizing that that leadership is incumbent depends on our ability to create partnerships, because we create partnerships because we can't solve these problems alone.
Steve Thomma, McClatchy.
Troop Levels in Afghanistan
Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Of the 3,000 troops that NATO committed to send to Afghanistan, I wanted to ask you, is that a net increase, or will some of them be replacements? And more importantly, how open-ended is that commitment? Will they stay past the election in August and into 2010 alongside U.S. troops?
The President. You know, the--keep in mind that this is not a ceiling for what we're achieving. Again, I just want to emphasize this was not a pledge conference. So what I prefer to do is to have Bob Gates or Mike Mullen or General McKiernan or others talk to you in detail about troop rotations, how various NATO contributions will be integrated into the various operations that are going to be taking place. But if you asked people who have been around these NATO summits, they will tell you that it is highly unusual to see the kinds of commitments that we saw today this early and this much unanimity in terms of what our strategy should be.
Everybody understands it's going to be hard. And part of why I think our strategy was received favorably was because we did not try to paper over the difficulties. And I think every leader who participated in the summit understands that these commitments place a strain on our populations at a time when we're already going through very difficult times.
We got jobs reports yesterday back home that 663,000 people have lost their jobs just last month. States are struggling. Families are struggling. Military families are going through all the strains and stresses of deployments, and although we're dealing with that issue successfully, thanks to some good planning by Secretary Gates and our drawdown in Iraq, this is still a strain both on our budgets and on our troops, who are performing brilliantly. And that's not unique to the United States; that's true for all the NATO allies.
But what I am deeply encouraged by is, I don't see any lessening of will to ensure that terrorist organizations cannot operate with impunity and continue to threaten devastating attacks on the United States, NATO members, and that I think is--that promises success over the long term.
Let me--I'm going to take just two more questions, and I'll--from non-Americans. You guys weren't even on my list, but I'm adding you on so that--and I want you--I want to make sure that the other world leaders treat my American colleagues well too, though. [Laughter] Did Sarkozy give you guys any questions? [Laughter] You see there? There's got to be mutuality in the transatlantic relationship. [Laughter]
What's your name?
The President's Meetings With Foreign Leaders
Q. Sonja Sagmeister from a little country, Austria, from the Austrian television. Mr. President, you said you came here to learn and listen, so a quite personal question. What did you learn from your personal talk with the European leaders? And did this change in a certain way your views on Europe and its politics?
The President. It's an interesting question. I had already formed relationships with many of them. Some of them I had met when I traveled through Europe before my election. Some of them I had met because they came to Washington after the election. This is the first time I've been in a forum with so many of them at the same time.
I'm extraordinarily impressed by the quality of leadership. I am constantly reminded that although there are cultural differences that are important and that we have to be sensitive to, what we have in common between Europe and the United States so vastly exceeds any differences that we have, that we should not forget why we are allies, and we should be careful about some of the easy stereotypes that take place on both sides of the borders.
It was also interesting to see that political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate. There's a lot of--I don't know what the term is in Austrian--wheeling and dealing--and, you know, people are pursuing their interests, and everybody has their own particular issues and their own particular politics.
But I think it's a testimony to the success of the European Union, as well as NATO, that on very important issues, each leader seems to be able to rise above parochial interests in order to achieve common objectives. And I think that has accounted for some of the extraordinary success and prosperity of Europe over the last several years.
Yes, right back there.
The Balkans
Q. Dear Mr. President, I am Vladimir Lame from Albania, from Tirana Observer. Thanks for the approval of Albanian candidate to be member of NATO. But do you think this will bring peace and stability in Balkans, first of all? And the new American President will support Kosovo for membership in U.N. and for other countries to recognize this new state?
The President. Well, first of all, we are very proud of Albania and Croatia. And they made extraordinary efforts at reform in order to see this day come about, and so we're grateful for them.
With respect to the Balkans, I think that because of NATO actions, because of European assistance, because of a lot of hard work by the peoples themselves, we have seen a stabilizing of the situation. But some of those gains are fragile. And I am very concerned about the impact that the economic downturn may have on the ability of these various countries to stay focused on achieving peace and resolving differences through negotiations.
That's not unique to the Balkans. That's, I think, true around the world. One of the points that was made during the G-20 summit is that what starts as a financial crisis can move to a broader economic crisis, a social crisis, and eventually, a political crisis. And so we have to monitor that very carefully. We want to play a constructive role in that process. The first constructive role we can play is to help fix this economy. Obviously, we have a big role to play in doing that, and I was very pleased to see what happened with the G-20.
But we have a specific role in emerging markets in developing countries. And many of these Balkan States, we need to make sure that their economies are stabilized during this crisis period. I think that will help in the broader issues of political reconciliation.
Okay. Thank you, everybody. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Note: The President's news conference began at 4:32 p.m. at the Palais de la Musique et des Congres. In his remarks, the President referred to President Nicolas Sarkozy of France; Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany; Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark, Secretary General-designate of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan; and Gen. David D. McKiernan, USA, commander, NATO International Security Force, Afghanistan.
Barack Obama, The President's News Conference in Strasbourg Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/286249


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Candidates offering for the office of City Council shall be elected at-large and from single-member districts as provided in this section.
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View the different types of methods of nomination for municipal elections.
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Which is the better Windows Phone 8 HDR app? HDR Camera or HDR Photo Camera
We've taken a look at the two Windows Phone 8 HDR camera apps, HDR Camera and HDR Photo Camera. They both were updated recently and without a trial version for either, we set out to see which was the better HDR app between the two.
Both are designed to merge three images of a subject at varying exposures, merge the three images into one and offer a higher dynamic color range with the final product. This comes close to being a true HDR process and goes beyond simply applying an effects filter to an image for the HDR effect.
While the goal of these two apps is the same, how each goes about it is very different.
HDR Camera (left) and HDR Photo Camera (right) Settings
HDR Photo Camera launches a camera app to create the HDR photo. Settings can be accessed through the three-dot menu and allow you to:
- Adjust capture parameters (your exposure settings)
- Turn on/off High Resolution Processing
- Choose the option of saving source images
- Turn on/off guidance messages
- Adjust the processing parameters that include contrast, saturation, and exposedness.
With HDR Photo Camera you line up your image, press the shutter button and the images are processed and saved to your Pictures Hub automatically.
HDR Samples: HDR Camera (left) and HDR Photo Camera (right)
HDR Camera also allows you to launch a camera app to capture images but you can also create an HDR photo from previously saved images. Camera settings for HDR Camera include:
- Image Resolution (.3MP to 7.99MP) and aspect ratio
- The option to bracket images by exposure time or exposure value
- Options to set the exposure time and exposure value
- Set capture delays.
With HDR Camera, the creation of the HDR photo isn't as automatic as you see with HDR Photo Camera. You line up your shot, press the shutter and three images are captured, and automatically aligned. You then go through a set of editing screens where you can fine tune the alignment and then set the processing parameters. Processing parameters include saturation, brightness, contrast strength, low-pass, and edge strength. A preview thumbnail of the image will let you see how the adjustments look and when you get things just right, the final HDR photo is created. The number of parameters you can fine tune on HDR Camera is nice but the slider bars are really sensitive to the touch.
Neither HDR app captures the photos quick enough to avoid the need for a rock steady hold on the camera. You can prop your Windows Phone on a ledge, lean against a wall but ideally you'll want a tripod to keep things steady.
So.. which is better? HDR Camera gets an edge by allowing you to adjust the processing parameters after the image is captured. With HDR Photo Camera, you set the parameters before the image is processed which will likely mean you'll be re-taking the image until you get the settings just right.
HDR Samples: HDR Camera (left) and HDR Photo Sample (right)
In just using these two apps at the default settings, HDR Camera comes closer to creating an HDR image out of the box than HDR Photo Camera does. Even after tweaking the processing parameters on HDR Photo Camera, it really doesn't achieve the pop in color that HDR images have. Image quality is good but HDR Photo Camera struggles to achieve a high dynamic range.
While HDR Camera's image processing is more user friendly, HDR Photo Camera is the more stable of the two. Without fail, after every HDR image is captured and processed, when you go to take that second HDR photo with HDR Camera the app crashes. It's really a pain in the backside.
HDR Samples: HDR Camera (left) and HDR Photo Camera (right)
HDR Camera gets the nod with respect to resolution options. HDR Photo Camera only shoots in 16:9 aspect ratio. However, HDR Photo Camera resizes the image slightly (about 7.1MP) while HDR Camera will resize more significantly down to about 3MP. A 3MP image will do fine for web posting and you can likely get a decent 5x7 print from HDR Camera but it would be nice if the app maintained the resolution options it offers with the final image.
While both these apps started out a little on the rough side, the recent updates have improved the overall performance of both. While it would be ideal for both to have a trial version, I think HDR Camera has benefited the most from the updates.
There's still room for improvement with HDR Camera's stability issues and HDR Photo Camera's processing settings (needs more HDR). Both could benefit from a faster capture rate to maybe avoid the need for a tripod. Also, HDR Camera needs to stop resizing the final image and maybe allow you to store the individual images just in case you want to revisit the processing settings.
HDR Camera Samples with processing tweaked
We'll revisit these two apps after the next round or two of updates but for now, if I had to choose between the two I would have to lean towards HDR Camera. I hate the instability with HDR Camera but the ability to adjust the processing parameters with a preview thumbnail is really nice and avoids the need to re-take the image to get the settings just right.
HDR Camera is currently running $1.99 and HDR Photo Camera is currently running $2.49 in the Windows Phone Store. Both are Windows Phone 8 apps and neither have a trial version.
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George is the Reviews Editor at Windows Central, concentrating on Windows 10 PC and Mobile apps. He's been a supporter of the platform since the days of Windows CE and uses his current Windows 10 Mobile phone daily to keep up with life and enjoy a game during down time.


text: In an astrological chart, the Sun reveals our main life purpose, the core reasons behind why we've been born and what we're in the process of becoming. When we express our Sun (birth) sign, we are acknowledging our birthright: the opportunity to manifest our individual life path and potential. In the horoscope, the Sun is linked to the concept of vocation – a true and personal calling – rather than a job or career.


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Posted 13 years ago
(760 items)
When I just saw (on the earrings site of Collectorsweekly) the same pair of earrings in an auction as I have in my collection in a so called demi-parure I was very surprised. Because I gathered this parure years ago I'm of course always very curious of the bidding value. I'll hope to get in this case the aswer very soon at the ending of this auction.
This demi parure is a pair of 19th century ( probably late circa 1880) Continental Europe Silver Gilt and Diamond set Foliate drop earrings and large pendant, which I think it's originally belonging one piece of a larger necklace.
The form of these juwels , I believe, Ivy leaves set with single rough cut diamonds and from the three leaf spray is suspended a fancy mount drop with another rough cut diamond in the centre. The earrings as the pendant are made from solid silver with a gold /gilt backing and Gold wires.


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Jenica Hair is the only Natural Clip-In Human Hair Extensions that provides luscious, thick and low maintenance care. Our hair does not have any synthetic mix in the natural hair so it is long lasting and you can re-wear for up to 3-6 months. We have the most in demand hair product because of our affordability, our Quality and Quantity of hair we provide, and a variety of colours to choose from. Our hair is double drawn providing thickness from roots to ends and we use the best quality thread for the sewing process to ensure the wefts are secure with minimal shedding and tangling.
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Smoke-free units require less cleaning, which requires less time and money from management. Restoration firms estimate a $15,000 cost for smoking units.
Tar and cigarette particulates will attach to all surfaces within the unit, including walls, carpet, and blinds. These can often not be removed in spite of cleaning efforts.
Fire insurance premiums can decrease and will reduce the risk of financial loss due to fire.
Remember, a smoke-free policy does not mean that you cannot rent to smokers or are only limited to non-smoking tenants. It only means that smokers are not allowed to smoke in units and outdoor common areas. Smokers have become increasingly used to "no-smoking" areas. Complexes are allowed to restrict smoking anywhere on the premise, but others may also create an outdoor designated smoking area at least 20 feet away from operable doors or windows or other areas where smoking is prohibited.
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Secondhand smoke contains all the 4,000 toxic chemicals found in cigarettes and is actually more dangerous than the smoke inhaled with a cigarette since there is no filter available for secondhand smoke.
In 2006, the California EPA Air Resources Board classified secondhand smoke as a toxic air contaminant with no known safe level of exposure, even in outdoor settings.
There are too many sources of shared air for smoke to stay contained within one unit.
Vents are not the only cause of contamination. Aggravating amounts of smoke can easily passes through pipes, floorboards, and even walls.
Even if the smoker opens the windows or smokes on the balcony, the smoke drifts to the other units through the outside air, preventing the non-smoking tenants from open their windows without exposure to smoke.
Non-smoking tenants with or without a pre-standing ailment, such as asthma or a heart condition among others, can become medically ill from the exposure.
The Marin County Tobacco Disease Control Program has received hundreds of phone calls from stressed and aggravated tenants and landlords dealing with drifting smoke problems.
Many responsible, non-smoking tenants have seriously contemplated or ultimately decided to leave their apartment because of the aggravation caused by secondhand smoke.
Non-smoking policies eliminate the tension between tenants and with management and reduce otherwise unnecessary and unwanted turnover, creating less stress and saving money for landlords and tenants.
There is no constitutional right to smoke. Banning smoking is not discrimination
Landlords have the legal right to ban smoking in all or part of the rental property, including individual rental units.
''No Smoking" restrictions are the legal equivalent of "No Pets" or ''No loud noises"
The reality is that a landlord will more likely face a lawsuit from a frustrated and medically injured non-smoker than from a nonsmoker. Today's legal climate tends to favor nonsmokers in these kinds of disputes.
If someone is injured by tobacco smoke and takes legal action, your liability insurance may not protect you because tobacco smoke is a pollutant that has been categorized by the California Air Resources Board as toxic with no known safe level of exposure.
The Marin County Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Alcohol, Drug and Tobacco Programs website offers resources, assistance, and an online report form. They will offer assistance to residents and property owners/managers with signage, letters, advice, template rental lease agreements, and articles to help with the transition to 100% smoke-free housing. Questions can be directed to the Tobacco-Related Disease Control Program office at 415-473-3020.