text:
Practicing Law — Bringing Results
Our goal is to bring favorable results to our clients with efficiency and skill. Located in Vienna, Virginia; Greenbelt, Maryland; the Eastern Shore; and Washington, D.C., we are able to better serve military members, civilians, government employees and businesses throughout the region and worldwide.
Knowledgeable Representation Covering a Wide Range of Practice Areas
- Complex family law matters — Multistate, multinational, business and real estate property division, custody, child support, alimony and spousal support are an integral part of our practice
- Military family law matters — Helping service members and their spouses manage unique family law challenges such as military pension law, custody, parental relocation issues, property division, military retirement benefits, child support, alimony and military regulations, among other matters
- Military law — Security clearances, courts-martial, physical evaluation boards, boards for correction of military records, claims court and other federal courts
- Civil and business litigation — Construction litigation and assistance on various business matters, including contracts and leases and employment law compliance
- Estate and guardianship litigation — Assisting family members with questions surrounding wills, fiduciary duty and guardianship disputes
- Equine and animal law — Equine contract and tort law, licensing and veterinary law
In addition, our firm has considerable experience handling both trial and appellate actions in federal and state courts in the fields of civil litigation, including commercial law, tort law,elder law, real estate, construction law and commercial real estate transactions.
A Commitment To Exceptional Service
*AV®, AV Preeminent®, Martindale-Hubbell Distinguished and Martindale-Hubbell Notable are certification marks used under license in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell® is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. Ratings reflect the anonymous opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ fall into two categories — legal ability and general ethical standards.


text:
iLife '04: How does it stack up
Today's Best Tech Deals
Picked by Macworld's Editors
Top Deals On Great Products
Picked by Techconnect's Editors
As you use Apple's iLife programs, you begin to suspect that you can do anything. The programs' simple interfaces and tight integration let you ignore pesky concerns about talent, so you can set your inner director, photographer, or DJ free. And with the release of iLife '04, you can also get in touch with your inner musician -- thanks to a music-recording studio called GarageBand.
But to get the updated versions of iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD, and the new GarageBand, you'll need to shell out $49 for the suite. (iLife '04 is free with new Macs.)
Because not everyone uses iLife for the same reasons, we've put together separate reviews of each new iLife application. (For our take on the whole package, see " Putting a Price on iLife.")
How Does It Stack Up? > GarageBand > iPhoto 4 > iMovie 4 > iDVD 4 > Putting a Price on iLife

subset: commoncrawl


text:
traditional concept of man was that of a materialist or spiritualist,
moral or immoral person, sinner or saint. A divided man is miserable.
He is neither healthy nor whole; the other half that has been denied will
go on taking revenge. It will find ways and means to overcome the part
you have imposed upon yourself. You will become a battleground, there
will be civil war.
In the past we were unable to create real human beings; we made humanoids.
A humanoid is one who looks like a human being but is utterly challenged.
He has not been allowed to bloom in his totality. He is adhoora, and because
he is half is always tense; he cannot celebrate. Celebration is the fragrance
of being whole.
Only a fulfilled tree will flower. Man is yet to flower. The new man will
be earthy and divine, worldly and other-worldly. The new man will accept
his totality and he will live it without any inner division, without getting
split. His god will not be opposed to the devil, his morality will not
be opposed to immorality; he will know no opposition.
He will transcend duality, he will not be schizophrenic. With the new
man will come a new world, because the new man will perceive in a qualitatively
different way. He will live a totally different life. He will be a mystic,
poet, scientist. all at once.
The moment a child grows to become whole, society starts to suffocate
him, stifling and cutting him into fragments, telling him what to do and
what not to do, what to be and what not to be.
Losing his wholeness, he becomes guilty about his whole being. He denies
much that is natural, and in that very denial he becomes uncreative. Now
he will be only a fragment, and a fragment cannot dance, a fragment cannot
sing. And a fragment is always suicidal because the fragment cannot know
what life is. The humanoid cannot decide on his own.
Others have been deciding for him — his parents, the teachers, the
leaders, the priests; they have taken all his decisiveness. They decide,
they order; he simply follows. The humanoid is a slave.
My concept of the new man is that he will be Zorba the Greek and he will
also be Gautama the Buddha. The new man will be Zorba the Buddha. He will
be sensuous and spiritual — in the body, yet with a great consciousness,
a great witnessing.
He will be Christ and Epicurus together. Religion failed because it was
too other-worldly. It neglected this world. And you cannot neglect this
world; to neglect this world is to neglect your own roots. Science has
failed because it neglected the other world, the inner, and you cannot
neglect the flowers.
Once you do that, neglect the innermost core of being, life loses all
meaning. The tree needs roots, so man needs roots, and the roots can only
be in the earth. The tree needs an open sky to grow, to come to great
foliage and to have thousands of flowers. Then only is the tree fulfilled,
then only does the tree feel significance and meaning and life becomes
Religion talks only of flowers that remain philosophical, abstract; they
never materialise because they are removed from earth. And science has
failed because it cares only about the roots.
We now need a new humanity in which religion and science become two aspects
of one human being. And art will be the bridge. That's why I say
that the new man will be a mystic, a poet and a scientist.
- Osho
is entering into a new phase; a new consciousness is to dawn. For at least
ten thousand years, as far as consciousness is concerned, nothing new
has happened. There have been Buddhas and there have been Albert Einsteins,
but we are still waiting for a Buddha who is also an Albert Einstein or
an Albert Einstein who is also a Buddha. The day is coming closer and
closer. Albert Einstein in his last days was very much interested in meditation,
in religion. His last days were full of wonder. He said in his old age,
"I used to think when I was young that sooner or later all the mysteries
of existence would be solved, and I worked hard. But now I can say that
the more we know, the more existence turns out to be mysterious. The more
we know, the less we know and the more we become aware of the vastness...."
has not been able to demystify existence. Now this is recognized not by
ordinary technicians but by geniuses, because they are the pioneers; they
can see the dawn very close by, they are the prophets. Albert Einstein
says that science has failed in demystifying existence, that on the contrary
it has mystified things even more.
Einstein had also been a buddha, there would have been atomic energy but
no atom bombs, and atomic energy would have become a blessing -- the greatest
blessing ever. The earth would have become a paradise. But Albert Einstein
is not a buddha; unfortunately he knows nothing of meditation -- a great
mind, but the master is missing; a great mechanism, a great airplane without
the pilot.
religious man is again one-dimensional, just as the scientist is. Albert
Einstein is one-dimensional, so is Gautama the Buddha. And because the
East has become one-dimensionally religious it has suffered much. And
now the West is suffering much, and the cause is one-dimensionality. The
West is bankrupt as far as the inner world is concerned and the East is
bankrupt as far as the outer world is concerned.
propose the fourth way. The true man will be all three simultaneously:
he will be a scientist, an artist, and religious. And I call the fourth
man the spiritual man.
I say this, that the whole man will be all the three together, please
don't take me literally. One need not be literally a scientist and yet
one can be whole -- but his approach will be scientific. He may not be
an Albert Einstein, or a Newton, or an Edison. Buddha is not an Albert
Einstein, but still his scientific approach is there: he is utterly scientific
in his approach. He will not allow any superstition. He will not allow
any illogical approaches. He will be very logical -- although he will
lead you beyond logic! but he will lead you very logically, step by step,
with a method.
would like you to be enriched by Newton, Edison, Eddington, Rutherford,
Einstein; and I would like you also to be enriched by Buddha, Krishna,
Christ, Mohammed, so that you can become rich in both the dimensions --
the outer and the inner. Science is good as far as it goes, but it does
not go far enough -- and it cannot go. I am not saying that it can go
and it does not go. No, it CANNOT go into the interiority of your being.
The very methodology of science prevents it from going in. It can go only
outwards, it can study only objectively; it cannot go into the subjectivity
itself. That is the function of religion.
The society needs science, the society needs religion. And if you ask
me what should be the first priority -- science should be the first priority.
First the outer, the circumference, then the inner -- because the inner
is more subtle, more delicate.
Science can create the space for real religion to exist on the earth.
think of a man who is an Albert Einstein and a Gautam Buddha both. Just
meditate on that possibility -- that IS possible. In fact if Albert Einstein
had lived a little longer, he would have turned into a mystic. He had
started thinking about the inner, he was becoming interested in the inner
mystery. How long can you remain interested in the outer mystery? If you
are really interested in mystery then sooner or later you will stumble
upon the inner too.
My concept is of a world which is neither Eastern nor Western, neither
inner nor outer, neither extrovert nor introvert -- which is balanced,
which is whole.
Einstein had been born in Buddha's time he would have been another Buddha,
for the simple reason that that was the only challenge for a man like
him. Mathematics was done by mediocre people, and they were doing perfectly
well. There was no need for an Albert Einstein to get caught in a mediocre
game. No, he would have moved in the same way as Buddha or Mahavira. All
the best people were attracted towards religion; that's why religion touched
the pinnacles of height.
- Osho
World Government
World Government was tried by the League of Nations before the second
world war, but it could not succeed. It simply remained a debating club.
The second world war destroyed the very credibility of the League of Nations.
But the necessity was still there; therefore they had to create the United
Nations Organization, the U.N. But the U.N. is as much a failure as the
League of Nations was. Again, it is still a debating club because it has
no power. It cannot implement anything; it is just a formal discussion
make it a success, the simple thing is to make it a World Government.
All nations should surrender their armies, their arms, to the World Government.
Certainly if there is only one government, neither armies are needed nor
arms. With whom are you going to have a war?
each big country, each power, is loaded with nuclear weapons, so much
so that if we want to, we can destroy seventy earths like this, right
now. That much nuclear power is there, available; to destroy each person
seventy times. We also have war-gases enough to kill the entire life on
earth five thousand times. It is not needed, one time is enough -- but
politicians don't want to take any chances. Their faces are all masks.
They say one thing, they do another thing.
are basically, deep down, impotent -- hence the urge to power.
feel their weakness, inferiority and powerlessness; they know they are
nobodies. But if they can convince the mediocre mob that they will be
fulfilling their needs -- then it is a mutual understanding, a bargain.
Then the masses give them power, and once they have got the power, they
forget all their promises; in fact they never meant them. Once they have
the power, then you see their real faces.
politician is nothing but an egoist. Inside he feels inferior -- and afraid
of that feeling of inferiority. He wants to be somebody, so that he can
forget that feeling of inferiority. Power gives him the chance: he can
see that millions of people are under his thumb. He can convince himself
that he is not a nobody, he is somebody special. And he starts behaving
that way. He starts misusing power. Once he is in power, he never wants
to be out of it, because subconsciously he knows very well that out of
power he will have to face his emptiness, his feeling of inferiority,
his impotence.
the power is in such people's hands. Any crackpot can push a button and
finish the whole of humanity -- the whole of life on earth.
United Nations should be converted from a formal organization into a real
World Government, and all nations should surrender their armies and arms
to it.
ways can be found for the arms technology to be used for some creative
purposes. And millions of people in the armies will be released for such
creative work, and all the scientists that all the governments are holding
in their power will become, under the U.N., one single unit.
prime minister of the existing countries will become a member of the World
Government, and all the prime ministers of the countries which join into
one World Government will continue to work functionally. They won't have
any real power, because the question of anyone invading anyone else does
not arise. They will simply run the railways and post offices, etc., of
their countries.
is a possibility that a few governments won't join the World Government;
then they have to be boycotted completely as if they don't exist. There
should be no relationship with them, no communication, because that is
the only way to bring them to join. And they cannot stand against the
World Government. They will have to surrender. It is better to surrender
gracefully. And then they will have their government, they will have their
internal guards, a national force which can manage internal affairs, but
they will not have plants making nuclear weapons and millions of people
engaged in the unnecessary exercise of killing man.
members of the World Government will choose the world president. But the
world president will be chosen not from the members of the World Government,
but from outside. And one thing should be absolutely certain about him
-- that he is not a politician. He can be a poet, a painter, a mystic,
a dancer, but not a politician. Anything except that. So in this way we
will destroy the political power which has been the whole torture in the
way the U.N. is now, with a few countries having veto power, should be
is again a power trip, and this has been the cause of many troubles: one
single government can veto something for the whole world. Instead, each
president from different nations will have voting power according to the
nation's population of matriculates, of high school graduates.
will change the whole power structure in the world. Then details can be
worked out very easily.
- Osho
thing is absolutely certain: The days of the politicians are over.
They have done too well their job of being destructive, violent.
is favorable to the politician; and as each day passes his death
comes closer. He himself is responsible. He improved the weapons,
which can bring death to the whole world, to such a point that there
is no way of going back. Either there will be an ultimate war --
which means death to all and everything -- or a total change of
the whole structure in the human society. I am calling that change
One thing
-- we have to drop the idea that every man, just because he is twenty-one,
is capable of choosing who is the right person to decide the fate
of nations. Age cannot be a decisive factor. We have to change the
decisive factor; that is changing the very foundation.
My suggestion
is that only a person who is at least a matriculate, a high school
graduate, will be able to vote. His age does not matter.
For the
local government, matriculation will be the qualification for the
voters. And graduation from a university, at least a bachelor's
degree, should be a necessary qualification for anybody running
for election, for the candidates. A master's degree should be a
minimum qualification for the one who is running for mayor.
For the
state elections, graduation with a bachelor's degree should be the
minimum qualification for the voters. A master's degree in science,
the arts, commerce, should be the necessary degree for the candidates.
For the cabinet ministers an M.A. with highest honors should be
the minimum necessary qualification; more will be, of course, more
appreciated. And anybody trying to become a cabinet minister will
have to know something about the subject. His qualification should
correspond to the subject matter that he is going to deal with in
his term of office.
So if
somebody is going to be an education minister, then his qualifications
should make him capable of being an education minister.
He should
have at least a master's degree in education with highest honors;
with less than highest honors nobody should be a minister on the
state level. Yes, if he has better degrees -- doctor of education,
Ph.D. in education -- that is good, that will make him more qualified.
attorney general should have at least a doctorate in law, an LL.D.--
not less than that, because he is going to defend the law of the
state, the rights of the citizens. He should have the best degree
possible so he knows everything about it.
governor should have the best of all the degrees possible for him:
M.A. with highest honors, Ph.D. -- his Ph.D. should be in political
science -- and at least one honorary degree, a D.Litt. or LL.D.
For the
federal government, a master's degree will be the voter's minimum
qualification. A master's degree with highest honors and a Ph.D.
should be the minimum for the candidates running for election. And
the ministers should all have the highest degrees in the subjects
for which they are going to be ministers. If it is education then
the highest degrees in education available in the country; if it
is going to be health, then the highest degrees in health available
in the country.
The president
should have at least two Ph.D.s and one honorary D.Litt. or LL.D.;
and the same for the vice-president because he can become president
any day. In this way mobocracy is destroyed. Then just because you
are twenty-one it does not mean you are capable of choosing the
the government should be a very skillful, intelligent job.
Just by
being twenty-one you may be able to reproduce children -- it needs
no skill, no education, biology sends you well prepared. But to
choose the government, to choose people who are going to have all
the powers over you and everybody, and who are going to decide the
destiny of the country and the world, just to be twenty-one is certainly
not enough...the way we have been choosing them is simply idiotic.
like all the universities -- within each state -- to call a convention
of all the vice-chancellors and the eminent professors; of the eminent
intelligentsia who may not be part of the university: painters,
artists, poets, writers, novelists, dancers, actors, musicians.
It would include all dimensions of talents, all kinds of people
who have shown their caliber -- excluding politicians completely.
All the
Nobel Prize winners should be invited -- excluding the politicians
again, because within these past few years a few politicians have
been given Nobel Prizes, and this has degraded the value of the
Nobel Prize.
So from
each state a delegation should be chosen for the national convention,
which goes into details of how the meritocracy can work.
From the
national candidates there should be an international convention
of all the universities of the world and the intelligentsia. This
would be the first of its kind because never has the whole intelligentsia
of the world come together to decide the fate of humanity. They
should write the first constitution of the world.
It will
not be American, it will not be Indian, it will not be Chinese --
it is going to be simply the constitution of the whole of humanity.
There is no need for different kinds of laws. There is no need --
all human beings need the same kind of laws.
And a
world constitution will be a declaration that nations are no longer
They can
exist as functional units but they are no longer independent powers.
And if the whole intelligentsia of the world is behind this convention
it will not be very difficult to convince the generals of the world
to move away from the politicians.
And what
power do politicians have? All the power that they have we have
given to them. We can take it back. It is not their power, it is
our power. We just have to find a way to take it back -- because
giving is very easy, taking is a little difficult. They will not
be so simple and innocent when you take the power back as they were
when they were asking it from you. It is our power, but they will
go on having it if the mob remains there to give it to them; the
mob can be convinced about anything.
It is
the function of the intelligentsia.... I would like to say that
now, if anything happens to humanity, the whole condemnation will
go to the intelligentsia: "What were you doing? If those idiots
were ready to kill humanity, what were you doing? You simply went
on grumbling, being grumpy, but you did nothing else."
And the
time is running short. Once we decide that the voting power is not
the birthright of every human being but is a right which you will
have to earn by your intelligence.... You have to see the distinction:
Everybody is given the opportunity to earn it, there is equal opportunity
for all to earn it, but it is nothing birth-given; you have to prove
Once we
move the power from the mob into the hands of intelligent people,
people who know what they are doing, we can create something beautiful.
a man who has devoted his whole life to thinking about education
and its problems, has done all that was possible to do to find out
every detail, every fundamental of education, all the possible philosophies
of education -- if he becomes an education minister, there is a
possibility that he will do something.
I suggest
to shift completely from the mob to the chosen few.
am not
against the people. In fact, in the hands of these politicians,
the people are against themselves. I am all for the people, and
what I am saying can be said to be exactly what has been said about
democracy: for the people, by the people, of the people -- just
"by the people" I will have to change. This intelligentsia
will be for the people, of the people. It will be serving the masses.
is so simple a thing. You don't elect a doctor, and just anybody
can stand, because it is a birthright and people can vote...two
persons fighting to be the doctor or to be the surgeon. What is
wrong in it? The people choose for themselves: for the people, by
the people, of the people. They choose one person -- to be the surgeon
-- because he speaks better, he looks good on the television and
he makes great promises.
But he
is not even a butcher, and he is going to become a surgeon! A butcher
would have been better; at least he would have known how to cut
-- but you don't choose a surgeon by election.
How can
you choose a president by election? How can you choose a governor
by election? For one post so many people are hankering, desiring.
Those who are most sick with ambitiousness will fight the most,
they will kill -- they will do anything.
You are
giving so much power to power-hungry people; with your own hands
you are helping them to hang you!
This is
not democracy.
In the
name of democracy these people have been exploiting the masses.
So politicians
and priests both have to be dropped out of their long, long-standing
establishment, and a totally new kind of management has to be developed.
Just to
make a distinction I am calling my system "meritocracy."
But merit for what? The merit is to serve and share. And once you
have decided to shift the power from the politicians to the intelligentsia,
everything is possible -- everything becomes simple.
is a whole program of transforming the structure of society, the
structure of the government, the structure of education.
It is
a difficult job, arduous but not impossible -- particularly in such
a situation when death is the only alternative.
- Osho
vision of education is five dimensional. The first dimension is
informative like languages, history, geography and many other subjects
which can be dealt by television and computers. The second dimension
is the sciences which can be imparted again by television and computers
with the guidance of a human guide. Love, laughter and an acquaintance
with life, its wonders, its mysteries and a reverence for life is
the third dimension of Osho's vision. The forth dimension is art
and creativity where the student can choose from the whole rainbow
of creative art and become a part of existence. The fifth dimension
of Osho's vision of education is the art of dying which includes
all meditations so that the child can become aware of the eternal
life within him. Read on as Osho explains………
the education that has prevailed in the past is very insufficient,
incomplete, superficial. It only creates people who can earn their
livelihood but it does not give any insight into living itself.
It is not only incomplete, it is harmful too -- because it is based
on competition.
type of competition is violent deep down, and creates people who
are unloving. Their whole effort is to be the achievers -- of name,
of fame, of all kinds of ambitions. Obviously they have to struggle
and be in conflict for them. That destroys their joys and that destroys
their friendliness. It seems everybody is fighting against the whole
up to now has been goal-oriented: what you are learning is not important;
what is important is the examination that will come a year or two
years later. It makes the future important -- more important than
the present. It sacrifices the present for the future. And that
becomes your very style of life; you are always sacrificing the
moment for something which is not present. It creates a tremendous
emptiness in life.
The commune of my vision will have a five-dimensional education.
Before I enter into those five dimensions, a few things have to
be noted. One: there should not be any kind of examination as part
of education, but every day, every hour observation by the teachers;
their remarks throughout the year will decide whether you move further
or you remain a little longer in the same class. Nobody fails, nobody
passes -- it is just that a few people are speedy and a few people
are a little bit lazy -- because the idea of failure creates a deep
wound of inferiority, and the idea of being successful also creates
a different kind of disease, that of superiority.
is inferior, and nobody is superior.
One is
just oneself, incomparable.
So, examinations
will not have any place. That will change the whole perspective
from the future to the present. What you are doing right this moment
will be decisive, not five questions at the end of two years. Of
thousands of things you will pass through during these two years,
each will be decisive; so the education will not be goal-oriented.
The teacher
has been of immense importance in the past, because he knew he had
passed all the examinations, he had accumulated knowledge. But the
situation has changed -- and this is one of the problems, that situations
change but our responses remain the old ones. Now the knowledge
explosion is so vast, so tremendous, so speedy, that you cannot
write a big book on any scientific subject because by the time your
book is complete, it will be out of date; new facts, new discoveries
will have made it irrelevant. So now science has to depend on articles,
on periodicals, not on books.
The teacher
was educated thirty years earlier. In thirty years everything has
changed, and he goes on repeating what he was taught. He is out
of date, and he is making his students out of date. So in my vision
the teacher has no place. Instead of teachers there will be guides,
and the difference has to be understood: the guide will tell you
where, in the library, to find the latest information on the subject.
And teaching should not be done in the old-fashioned way, because
television can do it in a far better way, can bring the latest information
without any problems. The teacher has to appeal to your ears; television
appeals directly to your eyes; and the impact is far greater, because
the eyes absorb eighty percent of your life situations -- they are
the most alive part.
If you
can see something there is no need to memorize it; but if you listen
to something you have to memorize it. Almost ninety-eight percent
of education can be delivered through television, and the questions
that students will ask can be answered by computers. The teacher
should be only a guide to show you the right channel, to show you
how to use the computer, how to find the latest book. His function
will be totally different. He is not imparting knowledge to you,
he is making you aware of the contemporary knowledge, of the latest
knowledge. He is only a guide.
With these
considerations, I divide education into five dimensions. The first
is informative, like history, geography, and many other subjects
which can be dealt with by television and computer together. The
second part should be sciences. They can be imparted by television
and computer too, but they are more complicated, and the human guide
will be more necessary.
In the
first dimension also come languages. Every person in the world should
know at least two languages; one is his mother tongue, and the other
is English as an international vehicle for communication. They can
also be taught more accurately by television -- the accent, the
grammar, everything can be taught more correctly than by human beings.
We can
create in the world an atmosphere of brotherhood: language connects
people and language disconnects too. There is right now no international
language. This is due to our prejudices. English is perfectly capable,
because it is known by more people around the world on a wider scale
-- although it is not the first language. The first is Spanish,
as far as population is concerned. But its population is concentrated,
it is not spread all over the world. The second is Chinese; that
is even more concentrated, only in China. As far as numbers go,
these languages are spoken by more people, but the question is not
of numbers, the question is of spread.
is the most widespread language, and people should drop their prejudices
-- they should look at the reality. There have been many efforts
to create languages to avoid the prejudices -- the Spanish people
can say their language should be the international language because
it is spoken by more people than almost any other language.... To
avoid these prejudices, languages like Esperanto have been created.
But no created language has been able to function. There are a few
things which grow, which cannot be created; a language is a growth
of thousands of years. Esperanto looks so artificial that all those
efforts have failed.
But it
is absolutely necessary to create two languages -- first, the mother
tongue, because there are feelings and nuances which you can say
only in the mother tongue. One of my professors, S. K. Saxena, a
world traveler who has been a professor of philosophy in many countries,
used to say that in a foreign language you can do everything, but
when it comes to a fight or to love, you feel that you are not being
true and sincere to your feelings. So for your feelings and for
your sincerity, your mother tongue... which you imbibe with the
milk of the mother, which becomes part of your blood and bones and
marrow. But that is not enough -- that creates small groups of people
and makes others strangers.
One international
language is absolutely necessary as a basis for one world, for one
humanity. So two languages should be absolutely necessary for everybody.
That will come in the first dimension.
The second
is the enquiry of scientific subjects, which is tremendously important
because it is half of reality, the outside reality. And the third
will be what is missing in present-day education, the art of living.
People have taken it for granted that they know what love is. They
don't know... and by the time they know, it is too late. Every child
should be helped to transform his anger, hatred, jealousy, into
An important part of the third dimension should also be a sense
of humor. Our so-called education makes people sad and serious.
And if one third of your life is wasted in a university in being
sad and serious, it becomes ingrained; you forget the language of
laughter -- and the man who forgets the language of laughter has
forgotten much of life.
So love,
laughter, and an acquaintance with life and its wonders, its mysteries...
these birds singing in the trees should not go unheard. The trees
and the flowers and the stars should have a connection with your
heart. The sunrise and the sunset will not be just outside things
-- they should be something inner, too. A reverence for life should
be the foundation of the third dimension.
People are so irreverent to life.
They still
go on killing animals to eat -- they call it game; and if the animal
eats them -- then they call it calamity. Strange... in a game both
parties should be given equal opportunity. The animals are without
weapons and you have machine guns or arrows.... You may not have
thought about why arrows and machine guns were invented: so that
you can kill the animal from a faraway distance; to come close is
dangerous. What kind of game is this? And the poor animal, defenseless
against your bullets....
It is
not a question of killing the animals; it is a question of being
irreverent to life, because all that you need can be provided either
by synthetic foods, or by other scientific methods. All your needs
can be fulfilled; no animal has to be killed. And a person who kills
animals, deep down can kill human beings without any difficulty
-- because what is the difference? And there are cannibals....
Just a
few days ago in Palestine, the people demanded that the government
allow them to eat human flesh, because there was not enough food
-- so why waste a dead body? Whether it has died naturally or has
been destroyed by the terrorists or has been in an accident, it
is good food! And the surprising thing is that the government of
Palestine has agreed -- they had to. Food is short, and people cannot
be left hungry. Today they will be eating the naturally dead or
the accidentally dead, or those killed by terrorists; but this is
not going on forever. Soon they will start finding ways to kill
people -- to steal children, because their flesh is thought to be
the most delicious.
A great reverence for life should be taught, because life is God
and there is no other God than life itself, and joy, laughter, a
sense of humor -- in short a dancing spirit.
The fourth dimension should be of art and creativity: painting,
music, craftsmanship, pottery, masonry -- anything that is creative.
All areas of creativity should be allowed; the students can choose.
There should be only a few things compulsory -- for example an international
language should be compulsory; a certain capacity to earn your livelihood
should be compulsory; a certain creative art should be compulsory.
You can choose through the whole rainbow of creative arts, because
unless a man learns how to create, he never becomes a part of existence,
which is constantly creative. By being creative one becomes divine;
creativity is the only prayer.
And the
fifth dimension should be the art of dying. In this fifth dimension
will be all the meditations, so that you can know there is no death,
so that you can become aware of an eternal life inside you. This
should be absolutely essential, because everybody has to die; nobody
can avoid it. And under the big umbrella of meditation, you can
be introduced to Zen, to Tao, to Yoga, to Hassidism, to all kinds
and all possibilities that have existed, but which education has
not taken any care of. In this fifth dimension, you should also
be made aware of the martial arts like aikido, jujitsu, judo --
the art of self-defense without weapons -- and not only self-defense,
but simultaneously a meditation too.
The new
commune will have a full education, a whole education. All that
is essential should be compulsory, and all that is nonessential
should be optional. One can choose from the options, which will
be many. And once the basics are fulfilled, then you have to learn
something you enjoy; music, dance, painting -- you have to know
something to go inwards, to know yourself. And all this can be done
very easily without any difficulty.
I have
been a professor myself and I resigned from the university with
a note saying: This is not education, this is sheer stupidity; you
are not teaching anything significant.
But this
insignificant education prevails all over the world -- it makes
no difference, in the Soviet Union or in America. Nobody has looked
for a more whole, a total education. In this sense almost everybody
is uneducated; even those who have great degrees are uneducated
in the vaster areas of life. A few are more uneducated, a few are
less -- but everybody is uneducated. But to find an educated man
is impossible, because education as a whole does not exist anywhere."
- The Golden Future, Chapter #23
WILL BE for making life more comfortable, more luxurious, more beautiful;
and meditation will become an absolute part of education all over
the world. And the balance between the two will create the whole
meditation you cannot have the clarity, and a grounding within yourself,
and a vision which is simple and innocent.
I want
our place slowly to develop into a world academy of sciences for
creativity. This will be perhaps the greatest synthesis ever.
The search
for religious truth in no way hinders the search for the objective
reality, because both areas are absolutely separate. They don't
overlap: you can be a scientist and a meditator. In fact, the deeper
you go into meditation, the more clarity, the more intelligence,
the more genius you will find flowering in you. This can create
a totally new science.
to me, the new science will be only one science which has two dimensions:
one dimension working in the outside world, the other dimension
working in the inside world -- and just one word is enough.
The word
"science" is a beautiful word; it means knowing.
uses observation as its method. Religiousness also uses observation
as its method, but calls it meditation. It is observation of your
own subjectivity.
calls its work "experiment" and religiousness calls its
work "experience." They both start from the same point
but they move in the opposite directions: Science goes outwards
and religiousness goes inwards.
I am utterly
uninterested in anything that is not rooted in reason, in logic,
in experiment, in experience.
The old
science was created as a reaction against religion.
The new
science I am talking about is not a reaction against anything, but
an overflowing energy, intelligence, creativity. Politics corrupted
science because its own interest was only in war. Religions could
not accept science because they were all superstitious, and science
was going to demolish all their gods and all their superstitions.
Science has passed these three hundred years in a very difficult
situation – on the one hand fighting with religion, and on
the other hand unconsciously becoming a slave to the politicians.
want this place to grow and I am making arrangements for a world
academy of sciences and arts, totally devoted to life-affirmative
The science
that can create Hiroshima and Nagasaki and destroy thousands of
people, birds, trees without any reason -- just because the politicians
wanted to see whether atomic energy works or not -- that same science
can create more food, more life, better health, more intelligence
in all fields of life. But it has to be taken out of the hands of
politicians. And it should not bother about religions.
bothered about religions in the past because they themselves were
conditioned by the same religions.
I have
been in contact with scientists, Nobel Prize winners, who have been
fighting for my rights in other countries. These Nobel Prize winners,
eminent scientists, artists of different dimensions, will constitute
the academy, and they will make efforts to change science's whole
trend of being destructive.
Our sannyasins
-- and there are many who are scientists, artists, physicians --
will help the academy. We will arrange scholarships, and people
from all over the world can come and study a new way of science,
a new way of art that affirms life, that creates more love in humanity
and that prepares for the ultimate revolution of a single world
And the
World Academy of Creative Science, Arts and Consciousness will be
the first step, because if the scientists from all over the world
slowly get out of the grip of the politicians, all the politician's
power will be finished. They are not powerful; the scientist is
the power behind them. And the scientist is in a difficulty, because
there is no institute in the world which will give the scientist
enough of the materials, instruments, machines that he needs to
work with.
The academy
will have support from all over the world, from all the scientists
without exception, because now everybody is seeing that they are
serving death, not life.
We can
have the greatest library for scientific research and we can have
sannyasins working, studying. The synthesis will be that everybody
who is working in the institute will also be meditating, because
unless meditation goes deep in you, your love sources remain dormant.
Your blissfulness, your joy remain unblossomed.
Man is
not for science, science is for man.
But science
can be of tremendous help if all the scientists of the world who
are creating destructive power are removed from their positions.
They want to move, but they have no place to move to. We have to
create a place for them. They are all feeling guilty....
Einstein died feeling utterly guilty because he had helped to create
atomic bombs and those bombs were surrendered to President Roosevelt
of America. Once those bombs were in the hands of the politicians,
Albert Einstein went on writing letters saying: "These should
not be used; they should be reserved as a last resort." But
nobody bothered about those letters – who cares? And the bombs
were used without rhyme or reason.
are in a difficulty. They cannot work individually; they have to
work under a government. The government's interest is war. And no
religion is going to support the scientists because their findings
go on destroying religious superstitions. There is an immense vacuum
which I want to fill by creating a World Academy of Creative Science,
Arts and Consciousness, absolutely devoted to life, love, laughter
– absolutely devoted to creating a better humanity, a better
and more pure, healthy atmosphere, to restoring the disturbed ecology.
The most
important thing for the academy will be to create pure science,
just the way I am making every effort to create pure religiousness.
Man can
have inside him a pure religiousness -- that means love, that means
silence, that means meditation -- and also a sense of pure science,
so that no branches of science go on doing work unnecessarily which
is destructive to other parts.
The second
great thing the academy has to do.... Up to now science has developed
accidentally. There has been no sense of direction; people just
went on discovering anything without any idea for what. Even moving
accidentally, they have created much, but it is in the service of
destruction. Pure science will give a sense of direction and a unity
to all the sciences, so that science works as a whole, not as different
As it
exists now, every science has become so specialized that no science
knows anything about another science. This is a dangerous situation,
but this can be avoided. It has not been possible to avoid it just
by using human intelligence. Even to know all the information about
one branch of science is an impossible task, but to know about all
the sciences and their details -- mind is certainly not capable
of it. But the computer opens a new door.
the computer all the sciences can be accumulated into one science
as such.
And the
computer can even sort out what is contradictory in different branches
of science. It can help to make the whole of science organic, so
that some branches do not go against other branches.
are so many things that the world academy has to do. It has to spread
around the world the idea that misery is unnatural, that sadness
is sickness, that the lust for power needs psychiatric treatment,
that a man who goes on gathering money is mad.
And once
we make the whole of humanity aware of the dangers of our past ways
of life and where the whole past is leading us -- to a global suicide
-- it will not be difficult to convince the intelligent, the young,
to drop the past and to accept the greatest challenge of creating
a golden future. The world academy, devoted in every sphere to creativity,
is going to happen.
This world
is not going to be finished by idiotic politicians.
All over
the world that's all they are doing -- preparing the funeral pyre
for the whole of humanity. We are going to stop it. And if they
insist, we will tell them: "Jump into the funeral pyre yourself!"
Once we
can get rid of the priests and the politicians, the whole earth
will become so full of peace, silence, love...so many flowers and
so many rainbows. We have been in the wrong hands; the world academy
has to create an atmosphere so that these wrong hands are no longer
The world
academy is a conscious effort to do everything perfectly aware of
what the consequences will be. Small experiments can be done which
will give us the idea of the consequences. Right now there are thousands
of inventions of scientists which have been purchased by the vested
interests and are lying down in their basements; they have never
been brought into the market for the people to use.
we are behaving so insanely -- exploiting, polluting the earth --
any invention is bound to change many things. Perhaps many industries
will be closed because a better product, more life-affirmative,
is available. Now those industrialists will try to purchase the
rights and keep those scientific discoveries hidden from humanity.
I want
our place to be the first synthesis between religiousness and a
scientific approach to life.
This will
fulfill my dream that the inner and the outer of man are not separate.
And it is absolutely possible, there is no difficulty in it. I have
found the right sources, so you can rejoice in the fact that soon
this place is going to become the world capital of science and religion.
And once governments see their scientists disappearing, the world
government will become a possibility.
should not be the monopoly of any one nation, any country. The whole
idea is stupid. How can science be monopolized? And every country
is trying to monopolize the scientists, keep their inventions secret.
This is against humanity, against nature, against existence.
a genius discovers should be in the service of the whole.
It will
be a great revolution in the history of man. The whole power will
be in the hands of the scientists, who have never done any harm
to anybody. And once all the power is in the hands of the scientists,
politicians will fade away of their own accord. They have been exploiting
scientists for their own purposes, and to be exploited by anybody
is not an act of dignity.
The scientists
should recognize their dignity, they should recognize their individuality.
They should recognize that they have been exploited down the ages
by the priests and the politicians.
Now it
is time to declare that science is going to stand on its own feet.
Scientists have to be courageous enough and declare that they don't
belong to any nation, to any religion, and that whatsoever they
will be doing will be for the whole humanity. This will be a great
freedom -- and I don't see that there is anything impossible in
ACADEMY CANNOT be only of science because science is only a part
of human reality. The academy has to be comprehensive; it has to
be for creativity, for art, for consciousness. Science is for the
outer world, consciousness is for the inner world -- and art is
the bridge between them.
it will have three divisions, major divisions, not separated, but
just for arbitrary purposes to be denominated as separate.
The most
fundamental thing will be creating methods, techniques, ways of
raising human consciousness. And certainly, this consciousness cannot
be against the body; this consciousness is residing in the body.
They cannot be accepted as inimical to each other. In every way,
they are supportive. I say something to you and my hand makes a
gesture without my telling the hand. There is a deep synchronicity
between me and my hand.
You walk,
you eat, you drink, and all these things indicate that you are body
and consciousness as an organic whole.
You cannot
torture your body and raise your consciousness.
The body
has to be loved, you have to be a great friend to it. It is your
home. You have to clean it of all junk and you have to remember
that it is in your service continuously, day in, day out: digesting,
changing your food into blood, taking out the dead cells of the
body, bringing new oxygen, fresh oxygen into the body -- and you
are fast asleep.
It is
doing everything for your survival, for your life -- although you
are so ungrateful that you have never even thanked your body. On
the contrary, your religions have been teaching you to torture it
-- that the body is your enemy and you have to get free from the
body, its attachments. I also know that you are more than the body
and there is no need to have any attachment. But love is not an
attachment, compassion is not an attachment. Love and compassion
are absolutely needed for your body and its nourishment. And the
better body you have, the more possibility there is for consciousness
to grow. It is an organic unity.
A totally
new kind of education is needed in the world where fundamentally
everybody is introduced into silences of the heart -- in other words
into meditations; where everybody has to be prepared to be compassionate
to one's own body, because unless you are compassionate to your
own body, you cannot be compassionate to any other body.
The body
is the greatest mystery in the whole of existence.
This mystery
needs to be loved, to be intimately inquired into -- its mysteries,
its functionings.
But the religions have unfortunately been absolutely against the
body. It gives a clue, a definite indication that if a man learns
the wisdom of the body and the mystery of the body, he will never
bother about the priest or about the God; he will have found the
most mysterious within himself. And within the mystery of the body
is the very shrine of your consciousness.
And once
you have become aware of your consciousness, of your being, there
is no God above you. Only such a person can be respectful of other
human beings, other living beings, because they all are as mysterious
as he himself is -- different expressions, varieties which make
life much richer.
Once a
man has found the consciousness in himself, he has found the key
to the ultimate.
Any education
that does not teach you to love your body, does not teach you to
be compassionate to your body, does not teach you how to enter into
its mysteries, will not be able to teach you how to enter into your
own consciousness.
The body
is the door, the body is the stepping-stone. And any education that
does not touch the subject of your body and consciousness is absolutely
not only incomplete, it is utterly harmful, because it will go on
being destructive. It is only the flowering of consciousness within
you that prevents you from destruction, and that gives you a tremendous
urge to create -- to create more beauty in the world, to create
more comfort in the world.
That is
why I include art as the second part of the academy. Art is a conscious
effort to create beauty, to discover beauty, to make your life more
joyful; to teach you to dance, to celebrate.
And the third part is a creative science.
Art can
create beauty, science can discover objective truth, and consciousness
can discover subjective reality.
three together can make any system of education complete. All else
is secondary -- maybe useful for mundane purposes but is not useful
for spiritual growth, is not useful to bring you to the sources
of joy, love, peace, silence. And a man who has not experienced
the inner ecstasy has lived in vain, unnecessarily. He vegetated,
he dragged himself from the womb to the grave, but he could not
dance and he could not sing and he could not contribute anything
to the world.
to me, a religious person is one who contributes to the world some
beauty, some joy, some happiness, some celebration which was not
there -- something new, something fresh, some more flowers. But
religion has never been defined the way I'm defining it. And all
the ways religion has been defined have proved absolutely ugly and
wrong. They have not helped humanity to rise to the heights of joy
and beauty and love; they have drowned the whole humanity in misery
and suffering. They have not taught you freedom; on the contrary,
they have enforced on you all kinds of slavery in the name of obedience.
Obedience to whom? Obedience to the priests, obedience to those
who have money, obedience to those who have power: in short, obedience
to all the vested interests.
A small
minority has been enslaving the whole humanity for centuries.
Only a
right education can transform this ugly and sick situation.
My idea
of a World Academy of Creative Science, Arts and Consciousness is
really, in other words, my vision of a real religion. Man needs
a better body, a healthier body; man needs a more conscious, alert
being. And man needs all kinds of comforts and luxuries that existence
is ready to deliver.
is ready to give you the paradise here now. But you go on postponing
it; it is always after death. My approach is to teach you that this
is the paradise, there is no paradise anywhere else. And no preparation
is needed to be happy. No discipline is needed to be loving. Just
a little alertness, just a little wakefulness, just a little understanding.
REALITY THERE are not many problems. The problems people talk about
-- like in the World Commission report "Our Common Future"
-- are just by-products; they are only offshoots. And there is no
way to remove them. You can cut them, but that is only a temporary
measure. Even cutting them will be difficult, because the whole
orthodox mind will be against the action.
two things are needed. A world government is an absolute, urgent
necessity, and we need a world academy of sciences solely devoted
to creativity. No scientist should be allowed to make anything destructive.
Now is
a great moment. Now we can manage to have one world.
This crisis
is a golden crisis, because people only change under great stress.
a crisis is tolerable, people will tolerate it. But we are now at
a point where things are no longer tolerable. There is no more time
for commissions and their reports.
The problems
are very simple. They just have to be made clearly available to
the whole of humanity: these problems are your creation and you
are still creating them. Just a great awareness has to be spread
that we are still supporting these problems, so that everybody can
understand that we have to withdraw our support and take some practical
steps. For example, if someone wants to be a world citizen, the
U.N. should give a world citizen passport so the person is no longer
connected to any nation. These are just small steps, but they can
immediately become large steps. They will create an atmosphere.
the responsibility: Man has never faced a greater responsibility
before, a responsibility to renounce the whole past, to erase it
from your being.
This earth
can be a splendor, a magic, a miracle. Our hands have that touch
-- it is just that we have never tried it. Man has never given a
chance to his own potential to grow, to blossom, to bring fulfillment
and contentment.
The future
should not be just a hope and an opportunity -- those are terrible
words. The future should be absolutely ours. We have lived with
the idea of a golden past, but it was never golden. Now we can create
a future which is really golden.
So I say:
the new man is the greatest revolution that has ever happened in
the world. And since we know the old world and its miseries, we
can avoid all those miseries; we can avoid all those jealousies,
all those seriousnesses, all those angers, all those wars, all those
destructive tendencies.
The new
man means that we are no longer going to allow anybody to sacrifice
us for any beautiful name. We are going to live our lives, not according
to ideals but according to our own longings, our own passionate
intuitions. And we are going to live moment to moment; we are no
longer going to be fooled by "tomorrow," and promises
for tomorrow.
The new
man is not an improvement upon the old; he is not a continuous phenomenon,
not a refinement.
The new
man is the birth of an absolutely fresh man -- unconditioned, without
any nation, without any religion, without any discrimination between
man and woman, black and white, East and West, or North and South.
The new
man is going to be the very salt of the earth, concerned about how
to increase the joys of life, the pleasures of life -- more creativity,
more beauty, more humanity, more compassion.
We can
go through a total transformation: we can create innocent people,
loving people, people who breathe in freedom, people who help each
other to be free, who are nourishment for each other's creativity
and for everybody to be dignified, to be respected.
The new man is the manifesto of a new humanity, one humanity.
This is
a great and fortunate moment -- to be in this challenging situation.
It is not a situation that is going to destroy the earth, but only
the churches and the politicians and those who hold onto the past.
is no need to worry about the future. Science has arrived on the
scene in time to accept the challenge.
It is
a golden opportunity, because if the whole of humanity becomes aware
of the roots of the problems, then the solutions are actually very


text:
Home > Journals > CLR > Vol. 60 > Iss. 5 (1975)
Volume 60, Issue 5
June 1975
Some Thoughts on the English Bar
John May
Welfare Law the Problem of Terminology
Peter W. Martin
Federal Jurisdiction Over Federal Welfare Claims
John Kelly and David Rothenberg
Meeting Short -Term Needs of Poor Families Emergency Assistance for Needy Families with Children
Lawrence Gardella
Outlook for Welfare Litigation in the Federal Courts Hagans v Lavine Edelman v Jordan
Arthur J. Fried


text:
For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.
1 Peter 2: 20
For most of us, the idea of being beaten for our faith is rather abstract. We have heard of people who have received this sort of treatment and worse, but we have never come close to anything more severe than hearing some harsh words or being dismissed as irrational or foolish by people who do not agree with us. I am not ignoring the possibility that physical harm or danger can and might come the way of followers of Christ in our world today, but I do believe that this sort of thing, in its literal sense, was more directly a part of Peter's first century environment than it is a part of our twenty-first century one. Yet, the idea that he is expressing here still applies to us, and I think that it is valid in some important ways when it comes to our witness for Christ in our world.
In truth, there is much to be endured for us today. We even are exposed to beatings; however, the pummeling is just of an emotional, spiritual, and mental nature rather than being applied to our flesh. Some of this abuse is directed at our faith and comes our way as a direct result of the conflict that exists between God and His adversary, and much of it is more generally caused by the work of that same adversary in the cultural flow of life around us. The challenge for each of us who follow Christ and for His church is to remain fully and truthfully engaged in the discourse and the dialogue of our culture while not falling prey to its methodology and its hopeless self-reliance. This is a hard balance to maintain when the blows of unjust, unloving, and self-focused society are reigning down upon the lives of those who are least able to defend themselves and upon any of us who would seek to speak and to live out righteousness in the face of these various forms of rejection of Christ's Gospel of love.
Thus, when we walk in righteousness, we also must be prepared to enter fully into Christ's grace, for it is this grace that holds us up when others reject our point of view, and it is during these hard times of opposition to what is occurring around us that we also need to be prepared to enter into the conflict with grace as the foremost quality that we demonstrate. This is the point of contact where endurance is tested most severely, for this is where a very personal and rightfully heartfelt passion for what is just and holy is placed in direct conflict with ideas and values that others hold as necessary, appropriate, and even as God-honoring. Winning these discussions is really not the point, but speaking and demonstrating truth while pouring out Christ's redemptive grace onto those who oppose our view is what the dialogue is actually about. This process often feels worse than a physical beating would, and it lasts much longer, too. Yet, Christ provides the strength to endure it all while not surrendering God's values and our drive to see that His justice prevails in our world. In this process, Christ also pours out His grace upon us so that we can, in turn, bring His peace-making love into the center of the conflict.


text:
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text:
Slope Calculation for the LVAD Ramp Test
Author + information
- Published online December 3, 2013.
Author Information
- Nadav Nahumi, BA,
- Ulrich Jorde, MD and
- Nir Uriel, MD∗ (urielnir{at}gmail.com) (nu2126{at}columbia.edu)
- ↵∗Mechanical Circulatory Support Program, Division of Cardiology, Columbia University Medical Center/New York Presbyterian Hospital, 622 West 168th Street, PH-12, Room 134, New York, New York 10032
We would like to add a letter to our paper previously published by Uriel et al. (1).
We are honored to have been contacted by many centers nationally and internationally about our ramp test. However, it has come to our attention that some centers performing the test are unfortunately having issues analyzing their collected data. To ensure that such technical issues do not limit the applicability of the ramp study in clinical decision making, we propose to add a brief elaboration of our analysis in addition to a downloadable, pre-formatted Excel spreadsheet.
As we know, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD), power, and pulsatility index (PI) are expected to change with the manipulation of a patient's left ventricular assist device (LVAD) speed in a well-functioning pump. For our ramp protocol, we start at 8,000 RPM and increase the LVAD speed by 400-RPM increments. For our linear fit analysis, each 400-RPM increment is given a value of 1 "speed change." Therefore, the values of the dependent variables (LVEDD, power, and PI) are plotted against the number of 400-RPM speed changes (i.e., 8,000 = 0; 8,400 = 1; 8,800 = 2, and so on). A numerical slope can then be generated via the Excel function: = slope (dependent variable, number of speed changes) as seen in Figure 1. For this example, the LVEDD slope = −0.149.
The spreadsheet in the Online Appendix contains randomly generated sample data. These sample data have been analyzed by the 2 methods that we have detailed. The extra sheets that are attached have been pre-formatted to generate the diagnostic ramp graphs and slopes that we refer to in the paper.
To access the Excel spreadsheet, please see the online version of this article.
Please note: Dr. Jorde is a consultant for Thoratec, Jarvik, and HeartWare; and has received honoraria from Thoratec. Dr. Uriel has received speaker honoraria from HeartWare. Mr. Nahumi has reported that he has no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose.
- American College of Cardiology Foundation
- ↵
- Uriel N.,
- Morrison K.A.,
- Garan A.R.,
- et al.


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As I contemplated what I would write for today's blog, I decided that being the beginning of November it would be a great time for introducing the subject of "Christmas School." I couldn't believe it when I read Judy's post, Holiday School. At first I thought I would have to come up with something else, but after reading her wonderful ideas I realized that my ideas compliment Judy's and between the two posts maybe we can help you alleviate some Christmas and holiday stress.
To let you know where I am coming from, I started homeschooling my 7th grade son at Thanksgiving after pulling him out of an unsafe public middle school. With a toddler and preschooler at home, and two other boys in the local elementary school, homeschooling seemed almost overwhelming.
And then came Christmas.
I was overwhelmed and I will admit it now...a bit cranky. Between schooling, cleaning, church activities, baking, cards, presents...well you know what I mean. It was too much!
At any rate, the next year I got smart and planned for Christmas by making the necessary preparations part of school: not in addition to school.
Our Christmas school worked this way: we did no formal school for the two weeks before our Christmas break [for late middle/high school kids I did have them keep up with their math]. I had the kids help with cleaning, baking and addressing the Christmas cards. I had them help with wrapping presents, delivering goodies to neighbors and everything else there was to do. It was part of the school day.
For years our children each did some sort of art work or wrote a poem and then I put it all together, got it printed and sent it out as our Christmas card. During Christmas School they did the creative part and then they helped fold, stuff and put labels on the envelopes. There are lots of skills involved in this and it made getting ready for Christmas a fun, family event.
In addition, I read great Christmas Classics aloud to the whole family. A couple of my favorite read-alouds are The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, which I read aloud annually for 20 straight years and the original A Christmas Carol by Dickens. Even my young children loved this story, though the language is a bit hard. Many times we would watch the Mickey's Christmas Carol cartoon after reading the original story.
Christmas was fun and not stressful.
The difference--I planned for Christmas, made it part of school and included the children as much as possible. The work got done, we were not stressed out at all and the children looked forward to it every year. I counted it as school and if you want to quantify it into subjects you might use these: home economics, art, life skills and cultural studies.
So, my advice to alleviate stress? Plan for the times you will be stressed and incorporate your children as much as possible. It will be educational, family building and a way to make great memories with your children.
Take care,
Because I love to bake, I wanted to include a recipe for making the best gingerbread men I have ever tasted. These are a holiday tradition at our house. We don't decorate them, but you could. I always make a double batch for a total of about 100. They don't last long and make terrific gifts The last couple of years I put holes in the top of the dough with a plastic straw, then after baking we run yarn through the holes and hang them up on our Christmas tree as ornaments. [I just need to be sure to put them higher than our dog can reach!]
Mix till all is blended and chill. Roll out cookies to desired thickness , cut with a cookie cutter and bake at 375° for 7-9 minutes.
Note: After you get the dough mixed up it may still look pretty dry, but just take it in your hands and work it into a ball. I use a 3" gingerbread (tin) cookie cutter and this make about 50 cookies.
As a tip, it is easier if you dampen your counter and lay a plain cotton (not terry cloth) dish towel on the dampened counter. Sprinkle the towel with a couple of tablespoons of flour and then put 1/3 of the dough (rolled in a ball) on the towel. Flatten it slightly with your hand, sprinkle it with flour and roll out like a thick pie crust on the towel. If it gets sticky, sprinkle with a bit more flour. After rolling and cutting out all the cookies, shake the towel off outside and wash as normal.


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Visit the institution website for COVID‑19 updates
Entry requirements
Applicants should be: a qualified medical practitioner, with a qualification equivalent to a UK MBBS; a non-clinical scientist with a minimum of an upper second-class BSc or equivalent in a life or biomedical science subject; or a healthcare, pharmaceutical or biotech professional and scientist with equivalent experience (minimum of three years).
If your education has not been conducted in the English language, you will be expected to demonstrate evidence of an adequate level of English proficiency.
The English language level for this programme is: Good.
Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.
Months of entry
Course content
The Cell and Gene Therapy MSc provides you with an in-depth insight into this cutting-edge and rapidly developing field. The programme is delivered by scientists and clinicians researching, developing and testing new treatments for genetically inherited and acquired diseases using gene delivery technology, stem cell manipulation and DNA repair techniques.
The UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (UCL GOS ICH), and its clinical partner Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), is the largest centre in Europe devoted to clinical, basic research and postgraduate education in children's health, including haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and gene therapy.
The UCL School of Life and Medical Sciences (SLMS) has the largest concentration of clinicians and researchers active in cell and gene therapy research in Europe. This is reflected by the many groups conducting high-quality research and clinical trials in the field including researchers at UCL GOS ICH, the Division of Infection and Immunity, the Institute of Ophthalmology, the Institute for Women's Health, the Institute of Genetics and the Cancer Institute.
Fees and funding
Please see UCL website for full information about fees and costs for this programme.
Qualification, course duration and attendance options
- MSc
- flexible60 months
- Campus-based learningis available for this qualification
- full time12 months
- Campus-based learningis available for this qualification
- part time24 months
- Campus-based learningis available for this qualification
Teaching includes lectures, seminars, problem classes and tutorials. Assessment varies depending on the module, but includes written coursework, multiple-choice questions, written examinations, a practical analysis examination and the dissertation of up to 10,000 words
Course contact details
- firstname.lastname@example.com
- Phone
- +44 (0)20 7905 2119


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Amazing landscape
Our adventure team are now fully on their way back to Tasiilaq. The Spring is really present, snow is melting quickly and makes traveling a little bit more demanding.
May 29
Hi, this is Gudleik calling in todays update. We still have an amazing weather. I guess thats kind of the best description on this trip: the good weather trip. We don't really mind that, but it means that the breakdown of the snow also goes fast. When we comes down to the lover part of the land it will be more demanding to find good places to run the dogs, so some places we mush on gras, stones and rocks. We are now going down some of the steep hills we earlier climbed up, and to us who are not used to mush, some of the steps are quite dramatic. Its unbelievable what you can do with a dog team!
Our lunch camp was one of a kind. A beautiful view. Something that I earlier only have seen on film, and the meal was nothing but real greenlandic rain deer meet!
Other than that Morten now have been using shorts and T-shirts quite a lot, and I must say he dress it very well here on the glaciers in Greenland. In the eventing we had a couple of rounds playing cards and the others spotted me sabotage the game by losing so I could go early to bed.
– Gudleik


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Hi EdD
I remember seeing a 14 year old boy take a 18" Rainbow out of the breadhole on a Bunny Streamer while the rest of us were feeding our faces.
Type: Posts; User: FatBill
Hi EdD
I remember seeing a 14 year old boy take a 18" Rainbow out of the breadhole on a Bunny Streamer while the rest of us were feeding our faces.
I consider it very good fortune to have met the man early in my flyfishing. He told me where and how to catch my very first trout, a 13" Brookie from the Mason Tract of the south branch of the...
If this becomes a fish-in I'm not attending. I'm going to a gathering of friends not another fish-in.
Wife(Amber) and I have room #8. Kaboom1 and Nancy have the room next door 7 or 9 not sure which. Looking forward to meeting all the guys that I haven't yet had the prevlidge to, and renewing the...
Congratulations Great Grandpa from one to another.
Kaiya Faye picked an excellent birthday.
FatBill (7/18/1947)
I had a little 3 1/2" three bladed shrade that lived in my left pocket since I was 10, it was traded for a little 3 1/2" three bladed shrade that lived in my dads left pocket upon his death in 1978....
In Ohio it doesn't have to be endangered or protected, if its a raptor its feather non-gratis.
I was 58, that was 7 years ago. My first rod was self built on an IM6 blank from netcraft. I still fish that ugly piece of graffite, a 9' 5/6 wt. Caught everything from bluegills to steelheads with...
Another Season on the AuSable, tougher but with some good memories of a gentle and caring man.
OMG!! Betty, I fell off my chair and about took out the tying desk when I read your reply
United States Navy
Radarman 2nd Class
U.S.S. Kaskaskia AO-27
I fell in love with spell checker after I figured out that I could teach it to spell my way, that add button is wonderful.
I believe you'll find everything that you need here;
KABOOM1 has built several nets for himself and friends, and has gotten the material for the bags from...
In 1967 I was in Istanbul, Turkey at the request of Uncle Sam. Every taxi cab in that city was either a '56 or '57 Chevy. Sure was strange looking seeing all those chevys everwhere.
Brad's mother crossed the veil this week after an extended illness and a valiant fight. She was one of finest LADIES that was my good fortune to have known. She was loved and will be deeply missed.
I don't know who started this bananas thing but I was on a Lake Erie Walleye charter when the captain found a banana in somebodies lunch. He brought us back to the dock insisted that we all get off...
Pere Marquette in october for the salmon run. My very first wading experience. The "Green Cottage Pool" thought me that you can't swim worth a dam in waders. I've got an eight weight rod and reel...
Try entering the longitude as a negative number which represents west longitude.
The one I'm using at the moment.
What flies do you recomend for smallies on the St. Joe. Looks Like Brad and I will be there this saturday.
Are okra pickles the same as pickled okra, if so can't wait. Kaboom1 and my connection for pickled okra let us down this year. We normally eat them while making maple sugar for the local park...
OMG! Boones Farm, Ripple, MD 20/20, sounds like Mayport Naval Air Station in '65. My God the headaches I've had.
PS. Paul its salvia not saliva!
Hi Guys,
Brad and I talked about and started making plans for this outing on our way to the B.U.F.F. show today in Cincinnati. We're going to consider it our spring opener.
PS Brad has fished...
I have sausage fingers and am very near sighted. I used to spend about as much time tying on flies as fishing until I learned the "Eugene knot" . Its a simple knot tyed with the forceps and it made a...


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Should You Use an Enema for Constipation?
By Cindy FoleyBeing constipated stinks—your bowel movements are dry, almost painful to pass, with little relief. Worse yet, you can manage to push something through only a couple of days a week. You feel bloated, fatigued, and just plain uncomfortable. It's all you can think about. And, after a week or so, … Read More


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For decades buttons have been worn as signs of opinion, political action and even revolution. This button certainly accomplishes all three of the goals, and we hope you'll wear it loud and proud. Love your body. Love who you are. Let this button say it for you.
It's pretty easy to describe this button. It says "Fat is Beautiful." It's about an inch in diameter (that's the difference from side to side when measured through the middle, for those of you interested in a little geometry lesson this fair day). Yep, pretty simply to describe.So, rather than bore you with more details about how the back of the button is a safety pin for adhering it to clothes or cloth, like - well - a button, we're going to give you some examples of circumstances that this button could come in handy or people who might enjoy having it.
Discordant Lover
Is your lover being fussy? Does he say he's into a certain type of body? Well, first - leave this person. Second, sport your button. When he becomes discordant, pop it on, or, you know, stick him with it. Please note that discordant lovers can be women, too.
Rude Mother
Has your mother ever been rude about your size or have you ever heard a friend's mother be rude about her size? There's little convincing snarky mothers to get over their preconceived notions about size, but there are buttons that tell them you don't care for their opinions. Like this one.
Downtrodden Friend
Is your friend sad? Oh, no! Is it size related? Oh, dear! Let's turn that frown upside down. Let her try this button on for size. Oh, and margaritas probably couldn't hurt either.


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Waste Management Fuels Its Trucks Off Trash
David Steiner, CEO of Waste Management talks about how some of his trucks are fueled off the trash they collect.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
I ... oh ... gas on as ... as as you all know twenty two times worse to come outside as it has agreed ... to ask and say you certainly don't want those emitting from landfills ... so ... every one of our landfill has a very sophisticated piping system with the negative assumption that pulls all the methane gas ... and tolls all to a centralized ... the ... and so would you do with that in twenty years ago that it is declared ... and because they didn't have use for ... calm today what we do is we create energy out of it through ... by make electricity ... Wheaton converted into diesel ... and would be diverted to what we are here in California until liquefied natural gas so ... um we have trucks to run in with the budget deficit we convert the methane into liquefied natural gas ... to fuels the drug to a truck comes and ... dumped its place in the landfill the ways he composes and methane gas ... turned into liquefied natural gas that we've been put back into the truck ... trade and environmental flows with the very top of picking a few ways is being powered by the way ... that the ... that is picking up he is not mentioned to me in the week um no right now with liquefied natural gas were doing most of the West Coast ... we plan to get the diesel would do in a mostly in the ... for the ... students The and was moving up a conversion engine and ... three months ... well for us liquefied natural gas is a little bit ... harder infrastructure to to develop for us so what we're doing a movie star ... Arctic to the president of the CNG ... and have we that the trucks that we buy going forward ... will buy ... over ninety percent of our bond will be all CNG dropped now what is STNG truck did write it uses ... in a year uses eight thousand US ... gallons of diesel fuel ... it's a it's a twenty two thousand tonnes ... of emissions and so ... and by the way it is more cost effective for us because you've got this disparity right now between oil and natural gas ... so it's it's much more environmentally friendly ... and it's a great financial backing for us again ... I found I didn't come into this business thinking that we're going to have this beautiful business model although less ... than they really are so beautiful that it turns out that the things that we can do to save the environment ... are the exact same things you can do to increase


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Water from the engorged Mississippi River rushed into the pastures and cropland here to forestall potentially catastrophic damage farther downstream.
MORGANZA, La. — After declaring that "public safety is our No. 1 priority," officials from the Army Corps of Engineers opened the Morganza spillway, sending water from the engorged Mississippi River rushing into the pastures and cropland here to forestall potentially catastrophic damage farther downstream.
As Col. Ed Fleming, commander of the corps' New Orleans district, had said beforehand, one bay of the giant structure was opened Saturday at 3 p.m. local time, sending water out at a predicted 10,000 cubic feet per second. If current forecasts hold, officials would eventually open enough bays to allow water out at 125,000 cubic feet per second, a quarter of the spillway's capacity.
That diversion would relieve the already enormous pressure on the levee system as the river courses past Baton Rouge, New Orleans and a corridor of chemical plants and oil refineries. But it would also flood hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland and thousands of homes, as it pours out into the Atchafalaya River basin. Evacuations have been taking place for days in the towns and communities throughout the basin, along with large scale operations to protect these towns with sand bags and other barriers.
The Morganza, one of four floodways in the Mississippi River and tributaries flood control system, has only been opened once, in 1973. "We're using every flood control tool that we have in the system," said Gen. Michael J. Walsh, commander of the Mississippi Valley Division of the Corps of Engineers.
General Walsh added that the system was still under "tremendous pressure" and would remain so for weeks as the crest slowly moves down the river to the Gulf. The Morganza, which is triggered to open when the river is flowing at 1.5 million cubic feet per second past the Red River Landing north of Baton Rouge, was likely to remain open for weeks, ensuring that the river remains below that flow rate downstream. Any more pressure would put the levees past their design capacity.
With the opening closed to the general public, the occasion did not have the festive, tailgate atmosphere as when another spillway outside of New Orleans, the Bonnet Carre, was opened earlier this week. But there were some who wanted to mark — and capitalize on — this historic moment: a stand by the road into town was selling T-shirts for $20 that read: "Morganza Spillway 2011 Gates Finally Opened." A live video stream has been set up by the Corps to show the flooding.
Just about everyone in southern Louisiana had come to expect the decision to open the spillway and had resigned themselves to the bitter but necessary trade-off behind it.
The water will take days to pour out into the Atchafalaya River basin, filling up marshes, engorging bayous, submerging hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland and seeping into thousands of homes. It will also test the network of federally and locally built levees that wall off towns and small Cajun communities throughout the basin. The water levels in the area will remain high for weeks.
According to maps released by the corps, these areas would be flooded to some degree whether the spillway was opened or not, given the extraordinary amount of water in the system.
There are about 2,500 people in the direct path of the spillway, and around 22,500 others who would be threatened by swollen backwaters. Gov. Bobby Jindal urged people remaining in these areas to begin evacuating.


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In the 8 years that I've been working in gardens in Saratoga and Lake George, many of my clients have requested help with lawn care. My interest in lawns is beyond non-existant. I actively encourage everyone to replace lawn space with gardens, or at least plant maintenance free turf like Creeping Thyme or Sedum.
People continue to ask for help with their lawns none-the-less.
So, this year our intern Tori will be available for environmental and ecologically friendly mowing in the Saratoga and Lake George gardening region, using a "Reel Mower"- which is, as shown in the photo above, not powered by gas or electricity- simply rotating sharp blades that work on human muscle and elbow grease. Feel free to contact us to schedule an appointment for mowing.
Tough weeding spots- between sidewalk cracks and in stonepaths can be treated with White Vinegar instead of Round-Up. In fact, Round-Up should really halt production and shut their doors as White Vinegar does all the same tasks, for cheaper cost and in a non-toxic way.


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Note: A group of people are joining me in 30 days of getting back to our creative core by deep journaling and some form of meditation. Choosing to do deep, creative work. Today's blog is about timing–an important part of getting your creative work done.
If you want to join us, leave your blog or website in the comments, and check out the people who are in the Blogroll–they are all explorers on the 30-Day journey. They may not post about it every day, but they are your tribe, now, too. Stop by and encourage them.
* * * *
Let's be honest–the journey we've started is work. And it's work that no one else will do for you. Digging into your creative nooks and cranny requires patient, repetitive work, which is one reason I'm doing this for 30 days instead of 10.
The question I got most often was "When should I walk, and when should I write?" Walking meditation is a personal thing. I've tried walking at noon, and I hate the flat light. I tried walking late in the afternoon and I fill with despair. Cold or not, the biggest effect for me is to walk right before dawn and into sunrise. Dawn was 4:30 a.m. in summer and 7:22 a.m. this morning. I have to adjust.
When do you do your journaling?" When I did Morning Pages, I did do it first
thing in the morning. And it worked. But what I'm doing now is completely different–I'm exploring my actions and accompanying emotions in hopes of developing ideas, solving problems, and listening to a spiritual echo in my life.
One of the problems I have is getting to bed on time. I'm a night person, so working at night is filled with energy. But coaching hours are early, and if I'm teaching, it's up at 5:30 a.m., and the night-person/early riser combination is an energy drain.
My solution? Doing my writing at night, as a step in getting ready for bed. Advantages? Lots. Writing down actions/emotions helps me let go of things that didn't go well during the day. It helps me explore my reactions and options. So I let go of guilt as I write, and replace it with positive action. I also explore creative problems, and doing it right before bed helps me dream up solutions, quite literally.
It's the trifecta of bedtime ritual:
- let go of guilt and worry
- write down some actions for the next day
- get ready to dream
When I head off to bed, I'm not rehearsing failure or churning problems. Sounds useful. I'll report back.
If you have something you've discovered, an idea you've had, or a tip to keep doing the work, leave it as a comment.


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Our Services
Management & staffing support
Our staff is available wherever you need us. We pay attention to every detail from ensuring that all equipment is working properly, to personally overseeing room layouts, table settings and flowers/decor, to supervising the overall production and set-up at every conference and meeting. We coordinate meeting room assignments, set up times and group assignments. We even offer the development, coordination and execution of team building activities.
Our on-site concierge services are available to assist your guests at all times including a registration and hospitality desk, welcome packets, program information, amenities and tracking of all packages and shipments. Your guests will be treated like VIP.
Meeting room assignments, coordination of load in/out times and room setups
Management of all production and AV needs including webcasts for duration of program
Tracking of all packages, logging shipments, return shipments, international import/export
Registration and Hospitality desk, distribution of name tags, welcome packets and program information
Concierge services for all attendees
VIP administrative support & amenities
Global destination, hotel & venue sourcing
We have strong business relationships with unique global venues, including all major and boutique hotel brands, saving you time and money in the process. We will source the perfect venue, book all travel and hotel reservations and manage all transportation including negotiations, concessions, and contracts. This includes airport greeters & transfers, transportation to the event and departure notices.
RFP management for hotels, resorts and unique venues
Site evaluations
Negotiations, concessions and contract preparations
Booking of attendee/VIP flights (private or commercial)
Flight status monitoring
Airport transfers (arrivals and departures)
VIP meet and greet, Airport Greeters
Off-site activity or group ground transportation
Personalized departure notices
Budget development & management
An event budget is crucial to your bottom line. We use long standing value-add global vendor relationships and partners to negotiate the best possible rates, concessions and contracts to save you time, money and resources. We will create an estimated and final budget and maintain it throughout your entire event. You can be at ease knowing we will manage all your vendor invoices, payment timelines and final review of all bills to ensure they are comprehensive and accurate.
Create an estimated budget and final budget
Maintain budget throughout the event
Management of all vendor invoices
Maintain payment timeline
Final bill review of all vendors and venues
Creative, design & production
We apply creative design, production and technical expertise so that every detail represents your unique brand.
It is our job to ensure we represent you in the most exceptional way possible. We design your event with unique, customized beauty and impeccable décor. You will be presented with a creative, themed strategy including signage, branding, decorations and gift ideas. Every last detail will be monitored and executed flawlessly.
Our production and technical expertise allows us to present original and extraordinary concepts to your event. We source all vendors including DMC's, AV and lighting.
Sourcing service vendors, such as DMC's, AV, production, lighting, event decor, etc.
Creative strategy and thematic development
Décor, signage/branding and entertainment
Creative proposal of branded gift ideas based on budget, shipping deadlines, distribution
Development, coordination and execution of team building activities
Full vendor management, permits and insurance (if applicable)
Speaker & entertainment management
Many of our clients request guest speakers or special entertainment to generate even more excitement and energy behind their event. We have a vast array of connections and strong relationships with some of the most well-known entertainment and media contacts in the industry. We will handle the entire relationship including booking, contracts, special requirements (security) and special effects.
Food & beverage management
Food and beverages make one of the most lasting impressions of your event. We pride ourselves on our extensive knowledge about cuisines and matters of taste and work with you to develop the perfect food menus and beverage selections, including any special dietary requirements. Our knowledge extends to food and beverage pairing to ensure your guests taste buds come alive. It is our job to "wow" your attendees.
Food & beverage selection and menu creation
Management of attendee dietary requirements
Confirmation of attendee guarantees
Technology & communications
Go paperless! With innovative technology solutions to save our clients time, resources, money, and the environment.
We design and tailor event communication registration websites, customized event apps for distribution of pre, during, and post event content as well as logistical communications, creating solutions to engage with speakers and attendees. At the completion of your event, we offer post communication polls and surveys.
Event registration website build and management
Communication plan (save the date, invitations, confirmations, surveys)
Web registration management (monitor responses, reporting, call center)
Event app development and management (see example)
Post communication polls and surveys (in app or registration)
Live and or delayed webcast platforms, in-venue or in-studio
Strategic consulting
We bring our unique skill set to every project, whether you need complete event management or a branding or brand refresh strategy for all your internal and external marketing initiatives. With our expertise in marketing, operations, technical acumen, and relationship management, we can ensure that all of your business processes are industry best practices, and consistent across all mediums and venues.
Small Meeting Management strategy, development and deployment.
Strategic Meeting Management strategy, policy and deployment.
Strategy Consulting for events, meetings, incentive and conferences
Outsourcing vs. Insourcing of your events programs
Brand strategy and event activation/engagement
Marketing planning and development


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New range of Mazda2
Mazda2 enters showroom with simplified range
THE all-new Mazda2 range of five-door hatchbacks has gone on sale as a three-strong model line-up with a choice of three powertrains and three equipment levels (TS, TS2 and Sport) with the company hoping to sales in the B-segment to 12,000 units during 2008.
Mazda UK marketing director Mark Cameron said: 'Styling is one of the most important factors in the buying decision process in this segment, but consumers are also aware of environmental issues and will appreciate this model's lightweight construction, increased fuel economy and reduced CO2 impact.'
More compact than the outgoing car, the TS2 model is expected to account for 55% of new Mazda2 sales, with 25% of customers ordering a Sport and 20% the entry-level TS.
Justifying a three-model line-up, Cameron said: 'The deliberately simplified nature of the model line-up - a choice of three engines and three equipment levels, in just three models - is made possible by the exceptional levels of standard equipment and minimal options list. This allows us to offer customers a clear and straightforward choice, while also avoiding production and stocking complications.'
The 'generosity' of the standard equipment, says Mazda, means that the 'entry-level' Mazda2 is the TS model - rather than an 'S' model - priced at £8,499 on the road. A £1,500 step up buys the TS2 model and a further £1,800 step purchases the Sport.
Standard equipment on all models includes: ABS with Brake Assist and EBD, driver and passenger front airbags, remote central locking with deadlocks, electric front windows, driver seat height adjust, MP3 compatible CD radio with AUX jack, multi function glovebox with magazine rack, Thatcham Category 1 alarm and immobiliser and electric door mirrors.
The engine line-up starts with the 1.3 litre power unit in 75 PS or 86 PS forms, both returning 52.3 mpg on the combined cycle and generating 129g/km of CO2. Those buyers in search of higher performance can specify the 103 PS, 1.5 litre engine, which returns 47.9 mpg and has a CO2 rating of 140g/km.
Top speeds range from 104 to 117mph and acceleration times to 62mph from 14.0 to 10.4 seconds - depending on model.
From the end of the year, the range will be extended to include a 1.4 litre, 68 PS turbo diesel engine.