text:
Over the twelve months ending with March 2012, the increase in the consumer price index (CPI-U) as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, often referred to as the inflation rate, is 2.7 percent (2.3 percent if you exclude food and energy). While these numbers are below the historically-cited norm for inflation, 3 percent, the numbers are still troubling for some people.
Government-reported increases in the consumer price index do not tie to any individual's experienced increase in the cost of living. No person can assume that if wealth grows by the rate of inflation that life is just as affordable as it was a year ago. For example, if my income was $100,000 in 2011 and $102,700 in 2012, although my salary would be keeping pace with inflation, it's likely that I still would find that this year's income would not afford me as much as last year's income was able to afford me.
With $100,000 in a high-yield savings account, the $750 I would have earned in before-tax interest not only loses to government-reported inflation, it would be pathetic compared to any rate of increase of expenses I experienced personally.
Part of the problem is that the CPI-U is calculated by measuring the change of price of a variety of consumer goods, but each type of good is weighted according to its importance. The level of importance is taken as an average importance across all citizens based in or near cities in the United States. Thus, the weighting may not be appropriate for any one individual. For example, as of the last CPI-U calculation, gasoline for vehicle fuel was weighted 5.7 percent. 5.7 percent of the year-over-year increase in consumer prices can be attributed to the increase in gas prices.
Any one family's exposure to the cost of gasoline could easily be greater than 5.7 percent. A household with two incomes might involve a husband and wife who both commute an hour or more to, and an hour or more from, their places of work. For a family like this, the effect of an increase in gas prices could be much more devastating to their finances than the CPI-U would indicate. The increase in this category year-over-year is 9.0 percent. So if for any family, gasoline accounts for more than 5.7 percent of all expenses, the real cost of living would have increased more than the reported inflation rate.
We are often concerned with finding investments that provide a return higher than inflation. Financial planners consider inflation one of many benchmarks. If you want to maintain purchasing power with your funds, you'd look for a low-risk investment that meets or stays on par with the rate of inflation. The government even offers inflation-protected securities, whose yields are designed to artificially keep pace with the rate of inflation, thus providing investors a method of investing with a guarantee of not losing "purchasing power."
The comparison between investment returns as experienced by one individual and a calculation of an average increase of prices is invalid. Financial experts continue to use the average inflation rate as a benchmark for individuals because it's easy and can seem to apply to an entire population at once — even if it really applies to no one.
The criticism of the CPI-U as a personal rate of inflation doesn't end with the idea that an average measurement doesn't apply to any one individual. The method of calculating inflation has changed over time, and modern calculations are criticized for masking the truth. If the rate of inflation were to be calculated the same way it had been four decades ago, the rate would be significantly higher. The public is sensitive to bad economic news, and it's safer for the government officials who are in power to continue to report subdued numbers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics should be free from political influence, but that's an impossible ideal, especially over the course of a generation or two.
As a result of the realities behind criticism of the inflation rate, real inflation in the cost of living is destroying your net worth. Inflation keeps investors chasing returns that, while being better than earning nothing or losing money, are not high enough to continue a standard of living. Fifteen years ago, the most popular television sets might have cost an average of about $500. This was before LCD technology and high-definition became widespread. Today, the average cost of the most popular televisions might be $1,000. Today's LED-backlit LCD HDTVs, while $1,000 today, would have cost more than $10,000 a few years ago when the technology was new. So in one sense, advancements in technology lower consumer costs, but offsetting that reduction is the consumer demand for better equipment, and that demand outpaces the decline in prices. Nobody's buying the first generation iPad today.
Photo: Kai Hendry
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Published or updated April 30, 2012.


text:
The Essentials
Name (First/Last): Amy Markham
Birth date (mm/dd/yyyy): 12/26/1990
Location (City, State/Province): Houston, TX/ Los Angeles, CA
Zodiac Sign: Capricorn
Height: 5'5
Weight: 107lbs
Measurements: 32D-23-33
Ethnicity (Mother/Father): Mother-Korean Father-Caucasian
Turn-ons: Boys who aren't afraid to get dirty, drive nice cars, and smell really good
Turn-offs: Girly men, guys with no self-confidence and no ambition.
Pet Peeves: Girls who say they are "race car drivers and professional drifters" in an attempt to try and impress people when they have no clue what they are talking about and people who have their hands on their phone 24/7.
Website: www.modelamymarkham.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/modelamymarkham
Twitter: @AmyMarkhamTX
PASNATION Username (http://pasnation.pasmag.com): modelamymarkham
The Interview
Is "Name" your real name or model name?
It's my real name.
Where are you from? And, are you currently living there? If not, where are you currently living?
I am originally from Killeen, Texas but I just got my own house in the Houston area. I split time between Texas and my place in Los Angeles, CA for work.
Does your personality match your Zodiac sign? Describe.
I am a die-hard Capricorn to the end! I am a work-a-holic, very, very ambitious and I was born to achieve. I just wake up every day with this intense drive to succeed, and go bigger and do better. I am very competitive, and I am most happy when I am consumed in my work. Weird, I know….It's a Capricorn thing!
How long have you been modeling?
As of last September, I have been modeling for officially one year…and what a GREAT year it has been. : ) I must say I have been very blessed with my opportunities.
What would you say are your strengths as a model? (ex. body, eyes, smile, certain poses and emotions...)
Everyone loves my eyes, and I am very good with my poses. I know how to change things up, know which pose shows off my assets the best, and I know my facial expressions to the T.
Do you have any birthmarks, scars or tattoos? Please state "what", "where", "how noticeable?"
I have a birthmark on the side of my right knee that looks like the state of GA and that's it. I am very anti-tattoo because I feel it gives you a "different" appearance in modeling and limits the kind of work you can do, plus its more work for the photographers to edit out if they don't like it. I try to keep a very clean appearance, as I plan to be around for a very long time.
Describe yourself in 3 words or statements.
Ambitious, funny, entertaining.
What is your best beauty secret?
I do not tan in the sun or use tanning beds. I take very good care of my skin by using masques, anti-wrinkle creams and serums, good lotions and a good exfoliator. To get my glow I get a custom airbrush tan once a week designed for my skin tone (so I don't look orange) and I am good to go!
What do you look for in a guy? What would he have to do to get your attention and to keep you interested?
In a guy, I look for someone who is driven and ambitious. Someone who is motivated to succeed because I want a man who has similar goals in life. Plus, knowledge in cars always helps because I do have a thing for car guys. : )
What gets you in the mood? What are some of your turn-ons?
I love back rubs, bubble baths with the candles lit and a good glass of wine. Wine tends to always get me in the mood, haha.
How do you feel about pick-up lines? What was the best line that was used on you? Did it work?
I'm not really into the whole pick up line thing, partially because all the guys tend to use the stupid, over-used lines on me. "Are you wearing space pants? Because your ass is out of this world" Yeah……um, okay. *rolls eyes*
So what is the weirdest thing that has ever happened to you on a date? How did the rest of the night go?
I was going on my first date with this guy (I didn't really know him and at that point I was still unsure if I liked him) and he had me meet his ENTIRE family, and they were all so excited to see him bring home a girl that they kind of went a little nuts….it was really awkward looking at baby photos and pretending to go along with it all. I ditched him after that, haha.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how wild are you in the bedroom?
I would say 20, because I know that's what all the men want me to say but sorry guys, I'm pretty normal. So a 7?
What do you wear to bed?
Sports bra or an oversized tee and booty shorts
What item of clothing or accessory makes you feel the sexiest?
A good pair of pumps and my Louis Vuitton bag.
Have you posed in the nude? If so, how did it make you feel?
I have posed nude before, and it was a little weird at first but it helps when you have a team full of normal people working around you and cracking jokes in between sets. Makes it not seem so serious.
Where can we see you? (ex. shows, tv, magazines, etc)
You can see me as the host of BiteMeTv, at your local Hasting's and Barnes and Nobles in my latest magazine features: MMA unleashed magazine, Fannatic Magazine, and Girls of Lowrider, all currently out until December. I will be on the December cover of Maxx Tuning magazine and I also have a few international magazine sets coming out later this year, plus a few more covers that will be a big surprise. 2011 was a great year for me, and 2012 is going to be even better!
What is your dream car? What modifications/upgrades would you make, and why?
I like Z32's, only because I am surrounded by them 24/7. The 300zx reminds me of like a Japanese corvette, it's really sleek and it's capable of putting out intense amounts of power. I know guys with like 2860RS turbos who are already at max psi and are craving for more, like 650hp isn't enough for a street car? For me, a set of Tein Flex coilovers, NT05's, fully built engine with upgraded forged internals, upgraded turbos, selin dual intake, Ash-Spec intercooler kit, upgraded radiator and the rest of every mod you can possible do would be good for me….and paint it pink and rhinestone the hell out of it.
Do you have many traffic violations? Any stories you'd like to share with us?
I get pulled over every now and then but cleavage helps. Plus, when they see my ID and notice I'm from Killeen, TX they all like to talk about army stuff and then forget about giving me a ticket. So far, so good!
With any 'spotlight' type of job, you are looked upon as a role model. What advice would you give out to aspiring models?
Keep going, and don't let what people say get to you. And don't believe anything until you have it in your hand.
Words to live by?
"Don't waste your time dreaming of success. Make it happen"
Any shout-outs or last words?
I love my fans! You guys are awesome! Plus thank you to the guys of BiteMeTv, Brian Cardenas for his awesome photography skills, and everyone who makes my job possible. Much love! :D

subset: commoncrawl


text:
August 17. 2013 10:39PM
Hanagan 14s fall in Babe Ruth World Series opener
MOSES LAKE, Wash. -- The New England Champion Mickey Hanagan All-Stars fell to Southeast Champ Longwood, Fla., 4-1, in the pool play opener of the 14-year-old Babe Ruth World Series on Saturday.
Nick Salcito's RBI double scoring Jon Robinson in the sixth inning was the only scoring the Hanagans could muster in the game.
Starting pitcher Pat Swanson went the distance for Manchester, giving up four runs (1 earned) while scattering six hits, walking three and striking out five.
Longwood starter Brandon Tague went six innings, allowing four hits and four walks while striking out eight. Robbie Scott closed out the seventh for Longwood, which got two hits and three RBIs off the bat of third baseman Jared Tummins.
Next up for Manchester in round-robin play is Pacific Southwest champion Westchester, Calif. The teams meet Sunday at 11 a.m. (Eastern)


text:
Hey guys, Migs here... I'm so excited to have another unique and amazing spotlight lined up not just for today, but for the next two weeks. Please meet the Green family. This amazing family has 9 children, plus 2 in heaven, and as you might have guessed many of these children came into the Green home via adoption. And if that's not amazing enough 7 of the Green kids have special needs. In a way this is a 7 part spotlight, but really this spotlight is about the whole family. And once again I'm excited to be talking about special needs and adoption--such a beautiful combination. And get this, the Greens actually emailed me their spotlight from CHINA where they are picking up their 6th adopted child Calli as we speak. I can't believe they even had time to do this! (super humans?) With them half a world away and extremely busy always, I tried my hardest to get pictures of all the kids and label them correctly, but I'm not sure I did it correctly. (I tried!) Without further ado here's part 1 of the amazing Green family spotlight.
Hello there! We are excited for a chance to share our beautiful children with you! My name is Christianne Green, and I am so blessed to be the mother to nine amazing children in our home and two precious spirits in heaven. My husband, Jeremy, and I are sitting in our hotel room in Xi'an, China, as we answer these questions! We are here experiencing such a beautiful week as we have added the most angelic 12-year-old girl to our family! She is our sixth adoption from China-- all amazing kiddos, all with special needs. We also have three incredible biological children, and together these children have blessed our lives in the most perfect way. Our life is full of ups and downs, twists and turns, challenges and blessings, heartache and hope--and we wouldn't have it any other way. Jeremy will answer the questions for part one, and I will take part two. Thanks for taking the time to learn a bit about our family and this crazy, beautiful road we have taken! :)
Miggy: Jeremy, you and your family represent another spotlight first--not just 1 or 2 kids with special needs, but 5 soon to be 7! And most of these children have come into your home through adoption. I am SO excited to talk with you today about special needs and adoption. First, will you tell us a little about your introduction to the world of special needs? Did you have a biological child who had special needs and then decide to adopt children with special needs or was it vice versa?
Jeremy: Our first three children were biological. Jessica had some significant medical needs which had introduced us to the world of children's hospitals and diagnostic tests. This was an important consideration as we decided whether or not to adopt a child with special needs. We were concerned about our ability to accommodate the additional time and energy these needs can demand from parents.
Miggy: Now perhaps this will overlap with the first question, but will you tell us how you came to the decision to adopt and specifically why and how you decided to adopt a child with special needs?
Jeremy: After our three bio-kids were born, we had two sweet babies who were stillborn at about 20 weeks. Tests showed that Christi had a rare blood-clotting disorder, making it unlikely that future pregnancies would be successful. Soon after this realization, we started to seriously consider adoption. Once we had started the process with our adoption agency, we had access to their "waiting children" list, a list of kids with special needs who were waiting for families. Christi started to look through it, and her heart really went out to several of these special children. After some beautiful experiences and much heartfelt prayer, she and I felt strongly that little Dang Mei Hui (now Elli) was right for our family. Adopting Elli and bringing her home was a beautiful and miraculous experience, which opened our hearts to the possibility of opening our home to even more of these special kids.
Jeremy: OK. They are listed in acquisition order:
Taylor: Our firstborn. Taylor has shouldered much responsibility as our family has grown. He is a joy to be around. His kindness and willingness to pitch in and help out have been invaluable to our ability to adopt so many children. He is incredibly brilliant and a bona fide sports nut.
Parker: With beautiful copper-colored hair and a magnetic personality, Parker is impossible to miss. He is loved by everyone he knows. His charm and charisma make him a fantastic friend. But it is his sweet and sensitive spirit that has been such a blessing to us as a family. His sensitivity to the needs of his brothers and sisters is amazing. And he is always willing and often eager to help meet those needs.
Jessica (Jesi): Jesi is our little sweetheart. She has blonde hair and blue eyes, and every time we take her to China, the children there think they have met a Barbie doll. Jesi loves to play with her brothers and sisters, and often creates make-believe scenarios to act out with "the littles." (The littles is what we call Sophi, Lexi, Elli and sometimes Xander. All are eight or younger. Jesi calls herself "a medium" :)
Jessica(left) and Gracelin (right)
Elizabeth (Elli): Elli was our first adoption. She is a beautiful girl and a joy to be around. Her blindness and severe autism combine to make a challenging combination of needs. She has very little communication with us, although she understands much more than she can say. Elli requires a lot of attention, her own room, and lots of TLC. She LOVES music, and can (and often does) belt out the words to well over a hundred songs.
Gracelin (Graci): Princess Graci (as she loves to call herself) is one special kid! Graci's loving biological parents knew she was dying. Born with pulmonary atresia, her oxygen levels were near 70%. She had blue lips and nails and her little heart simply couldn't deal with her condition much longer. So her parents made what was undoubtedly an excruciating decision to leave her at a train station at age five, knowing that her likelihood of life-saving surgery would be much higher in an orphanage than in their family. This proved to be the case, and ultimately their selfless act saved her life. We adopted Grace at age 9. She came home with us and in just over a year had two open heart surgeries. She is doing very well at this point and her prognosis is miraculously good. Graci loves her friends and her brothers and sisters. All of the littles (and the medium!) are constantly asking if they can sit by Graci, eat by Graci, be with Graci, etc. This is largely because of how wonderful Grace is with them. She plays with them, helps mediate quarrels and is generally a wonderful person to be around.
Alexander (Xander): Bundle of energy! That's our Xander. He loves attention and loves to be loved. He wants hugs and cuddles as often as possible. His fun-loving personality makes him very fun to be with (as long as he can keep his crazies in checkJ). Xander with born with CLOVES syndrome, resulting in large lymphangiomas on his lower body. One of these was just removed in a major surgery in July. You should see his awesome scar from the back of his knee down to his ankle! Both feet are also malformed. Despite these challenges, Xander remains an active kid who loves to run and play and shoot a basketball.
Alexis (Lexi): Lexi is the most un-shy person you will ever meet. As soon as a new person walks into the room, she makes a beeline for them. Being blind, she wants to hold their hand. She will then proceed to ask a multitude of questions. These questions won't stop until someone tells her that question time is over. What's your name? How old are you? (She'll remember this forever and tell other people, too!) Why are your hands rough? Do you have kids? Etc., etc., etc. Lexi is doing well at school, learning braille and mobility skills in addition to the regular curriculum. Lexi has an endearing, sweet, outgoing personality.
Sophi (Sophi): Sophi is pretty much the cutest thing ever. She is four years old and was born without arms and with a missing fibula. This has resulted in a 5cm leg discrepancy. Her ability to do things with her feet is almost unbelievable. She can eat, brush her teeth, color, even comb her hair with her rather talented toes. She is undaunted, wanting to do anything and everything other kids do and wanting to do it on her own. She is loved by everyone who knows her. The urge to scoop her up in your arms is strong when you meet her. I hope she stays this age foreverJ.
Calais (Cali): Sweet, pure, angelic Cali. She has been part of our family for exactly three days. And she is a perfect fit. Cali loves having a mom and dad and has bonded wonderfully well with her sisters Jessica and Graci. Cali loves to please others and has the sweetest smile ever. Cali was born with Spina Bifida. Around age three she started using crutches after a failed surgery. She is now in a wheelchair and likes to use it more like a race car. It is rather funny to see this meek little girl tearing down a wheelchair ramp just as fast as she can. We are SO grateful to have Cali in our family.
Conner: We are still in the process of adopting Conner. He is completely blind, but can play the piano beautiful. We have little information on him at this time, but have seen a video of him on the piano. We are looking forward to meeting him and bringing him home. Hopefully next summer!
Miggy: Tell us a little about the process of bonding with your adopted children while also about learning the ropes of their conditions at the same time? (Perhaps this is a lot to ask in just one question, as I'm sure each child has been a different experience, but even if you just want to choose 1 or 2 children and talk about them--whatever you think will be beneficial for people to know. These are just suggestions, feel free to answer how you want. :))
Jeremy: Bonding with each of our children has been different. Some have taken longer and some have been extremely quick. Xander, for instance, saw us walk into the room where he was waiting, jumped up and said, "Mama! Baba!" And that was it. He was so glad to have a family. With each child there have been unforeseen challenges that have arisen. But they are all very good kids, and we have been able to work together to overcome any issues they might have. In general, it seems that the younger the child is when they come into our family, the quicker and easier the bonding process is.
As far as learning the ropes of their condition, it has mostly been a case of jumping in with two feet. We have known ahead of time of all of our adopted kids' special needs (except Elli), so we have had time to mentally prepare for and do some research on each of their special needs. The school system has been a great help, as has the center for assistive technology. We are always looking to others who have experience for the expertise and advice on how to best cope with the challenges we face. As I mentioned above, the one child who came to us with an as yet undiscovered special need was Elli. We know she was blind, but we did not know she had cognitive disorders. The lack of communication or judgement capability has provided many unique challenges for us. Things are often scattered about randomly. This is not malicious, but simply because Elli doesn't know better. And yet Elli is a pure, innocent spirit. She is a joy to be around. As Christi puts it, "Elli is like oxygen to me. I need her in my life every day!" So along with the challenges come great rewards.
Miggy: You have several children with varying special needs, I can't imagine how you manage to do it all! Tell us what an average day in your house looks like. Do you have some tips/tricks/systems to keep everything running smoothly?
Jeremy: Christi and I have a saying. "Every day is a big day!" It seems that every night when we go to bed, we look at each other and say (sometimes with a sigh): "Wow! That was a big day!" We finally realized that the truth of the matter is that every day is a big day. We're up at 6:45am. Christi works on getting kids ready. I pack the lunches. The three oldest are picked up at 7:25am. Jesi, Lexi and Xander are picked up at 7:45. Elli's bus comes at 8:30 and Sophi starts pre-school at nine. Christi then has a couple of hours with no kids! This is, of course, assuming that no is sick and staying home from school. This is a rather large assumption. With as many people as we have in our family, odds are that someone will be sick on any given day.
Christi picks up the kids at 3:00 pm, and Elli's bus arrives at 4:10pm. From that point on it's a mad rush of homework, dinner, basketball practices and games, dance lessons, scouts, swim lessons, church activities, etc. I try to read to the kids each night before they get tucked in. Getting ready for bed often takes over an hour by itself.
I have the following tip: selectively procrastinate. If it's not VERY important, don't do it! You just don't have time. One way of handling a family the size of ours would be to be extremely organized and regimented. This is NOT our family. We go to the other extreme. Most things are done on a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants basis. We make sure to get the essential things done, do as many of the important things as we can, and let the rest fall by the wayside. It works for us. We've definitely learned increased patience as we've had the incredible opportunity to be parents to such incredible kids!
Thank you so much to the Green family. I think I just realized I have a lot more time and energy than I think I do... the Green family amazes and inspires me. I also love that last tip--if it's not VERY important don't do it! Good advice for everyone, no? Stayed tuned for part 2 next week. Read more about the Greens on their family blog here. Also a family friend started a fundraising blog on their behalf which you can check out here. (What a great friend!) Thanks again Greens! Have fun in China and we'll see you next week.
As always if you or anyone you know would like to be part of our special needs spotlight please email me--or have your friend email me directly!--at thislittlemiggy at gmail dot com.
Have a great weekend!


text:
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — C.J. Sapong broke a seven-match goal drought, and Kei Kamara scored his team-leading fifth goal and added an assist to help Sporting Kansas City beat the San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 on Sunday.
Sporting (8-3-1) broke a four-match winless streak.
Simon Dawkins scored in the 72nd minute for San Jose (8-3-3), cutting it to 2-1.
Kamara set up Sapong's fifth-minute goal with a long cross from the right flank, with Sapong finishing with his left foot from 7 yards for his fourth goal of the season.
In the 39th, left back Michael Harrington took a cross-field pass from right back Chance Myers, then fed the ball in to Kamara for a bouncing header past goalkeeper Jon Busch.
Harrington was a 23rd-minute substitute for Seth Sinovic, who fell over the end boards and sustained a cut on his left hand that required 20 stitches. Sinovic was already playing with his broken right hand in a cast.
San Jose was without its two leading scorers, with Chris Wondolowski (11 goals) on international duty and Steven Lenhart (five goals) suspended for yellow-card accumulation, but still made the game close.


text:
Neritina granosa
|Scope: Global
Language: English
|Scientific Name:
|Neritina granosa Sowerby, 1825
|Taxonomic Source(s):
|Johnson, P.D., Bogan, A.E., Brown, K.M., Burkhead, N.M., Cordeiro, J.R., Garner, J.T., Hartfield, P.D., Lepitzki, D.A.W., Mackie, G.L., Pip, E., Tarpley, T.A., Tiemann, J.S., Whelan, N.V. and Strong, E.E. 2013. Conservation status of freshwater gastropods of Canada and the United States. Fisheries 38(6): 247-282.
|Red List Category & Criteria:
|Vulnerable B1ab(ii,iii,iv) ver 3.1
|Year Published:
|Date Assessed:
|Cordeiro, J. & Perez, K.
|Bohm, M., Collen, B. & Seddon, M.
|Dyer, E., Soulsby, A.-M., Whitton, F., Kasthala, G., McGuinness, S., Milligan, HT, De Silva, R., Herdson, R., Thorley, J., McMillan, K., Collins, A., Offord, S., Duncan, C. & Richman, N.
Neritina granosa has been assessed as Vulnerable under criterion B1ab(i,ii,iii,iv) due to its restricted distribution. It has an estimated extent of occurrence of less than 20,000 km2, a severely fragmented distribution, is unlikely to occur in more than ten locations (based on current knowledge of stream occupancy) and shows a decline in habitat quality, number of locations, and AOO. It is extirpated from some islands. If it were possible to estimate population declines (or use a proxy), then this species may qualify for a higher threat category.
|Range Description:
|This species is found in high quality streams on four Hawaiian islands. It was historically on all the islands of Kaui, Maui, Molokai, Hawaii and Oahu, restricted to high-quality streams (Hawaii Biological Survey 2010). It is likely now to be present in around six to ten locations, based on known stream occurrences (see population section), and is only confirmed from four of the Hawaiian islands, Maui, Hawaii, Kaui, and Oahu (Hodges 1992, Hodges and Allendorf 1998, Fitzsimons et al. 2005, Hau 2007, Hawaii Watershed Atlas 2008, Kido 2008, Hawaii Biological Survey 2010). Its estimated extent of occurrence is less than 20,000 km2.
|Countries occurrence:
Native:United States (Hawaiian Is.)
|Additional data:
|Range Map:
|Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.
|This species was formerly common in Hawaii, but has declined throughout its range and is now present in only a few relatively pristine streams (Brooks 2009).
Maui: Hodges (1992) and Hodges and Allendorf (1998) reported populations ranging from 70,000 to 350,000 individuals in three streams on Maui and many other stream populations probably were of a similar size, although some may have been larger. Monthly counts were from 576 in Ïao Stream (1999-2004) while Honomanü Stream counts were from 67912 (Hau 2007). Known number of locations is at least three (three streams), but may be more.
Hawaii: Recent surveys on Kawainui stream, Hawaii island, found this species in densities of 9.5 ind m-2 in the middle part of the stream (Hawaii Watershed Atlas 2008). Known number of locations is at least one (Kawainui stream), but may be more.
Kaui: In a stream on Kaui, this species extended from the stream mouth to 259 m asl (although it has been recorded up to 400 m asl), being most abundant in the lower stretch. Densities ranged from 0.01 to 0.02 ind. per sq. m (Kido 2008). Known number of locations is at least one (one stream on Kaui), but may be more.
Oahu: Here, the species is uncommon (Hawaii Biological Survey 2010). A recent survey on a stream in Oahu recorded only two individuals (Fitzsimons et al. 2005). Known number of locations is at least one (one stream on Oahu).
|Current Population Trend:
|Additional data:
|Habitat and Ecology:
|This amphidromous species (migrates between salt and freshwater for reproduction) inhabits relatively pristine, fast-flowing streams with boulders and gravel substrates (Hawaii Biological Survey 2010). Adults feed on algae in the benthic zone (Brooks 2009). It may also occur under waterfalls (Pyron and Covich 2003).
|Freshwater; Marine
|Continuing decline in area, extent and/or quality of habitat:
|Use and Trade:
|This large snail is an important food item for Native Hawaiians (Hodges and Allendorf 1998).
|Major Threat(s):
A variety of threats have caused past declines in this species. These include: impoundment; water diversion and changes in stream flow; urbanisation; and habitat alteration or shading brought about by non-native riparian vegetation (Brooks 2009). Further threats that may impact this species include siltation via erosion of disturbed watersheds, direct or indirect pollution of surface or groundwater, and introduction of invasive species that may predate on or compete with native species (Gon III 2006).
Impediments to natural flow and saline water encroachment are the greatest threats, however natural flow restoration is possible (Hau 2007). Such diversions in Iao and Honomanu Streams on the island of Maui have reduced stream flow, and with it the reproductive success of this species (Hau 2007). This means the snails are unable to complete their migration upstream and are restricted to estuaries, where they are vulnerable to tidal action and desiccation (Hau 2007). They are limited in their upstream migration by low stream flows and instream obstructions (HI NHP pers. comm. 2008).
Amphidromous species are also vulnerable to deterioration in more than one habitat, such as freshwater, estuaries and the open sea (Hodges and Allendorf 1998). Reduced stream quality on Oahu island has meant that populations there have declined (Hawaii Biological Survey 2010). This large snail is also an important food item for Native Hawaiians (Hodges and Allendorf 1998). Flooding also results in overflowing sewage plants entering streams (Goodwin 2006).
Extensive flooding - resulting in high sedimentation, turbidity, nutrients, trash and other pollutants emptying into streams, rivers, estuaries, and oceans is also a major threat. The recent flooding event caused wastewater treatment plants to overflow - causing hundreds of thousands of gallons of raw and untreated sewage to enter streams inhabited by this species (Goodwin 2006).
|Conservation Actions:
This species has a Global Heritage Status of G1 - Critically Imperiled (NatureServe 2009). Few populations are protected, although restocking efforts are underway in some parts of its range (Goodwin 2006).
Surveys to establish population size, distribution and trends on all islands in the Hawaiian Archipelago are recommended. Stream restoration, management and protection are vital to ensure continued viability of most populations of this species.
|Cordeiro, J. & Perez, K. 2012. Neritina granosa. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2012: e.T189675A1932107. . Downloaded on 15 October 2018.
|To make use of this information, please check the <Terms of Use>.
|If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please provide us with feedback so that we can correct or extend the information provided


text:
I'm here! Sorry I've been gone. I've been out sick for about the past week (will give more details later) but I'm feeling slowly but surely better. I'll be back to work tomorrow afternoon after a long self imposed vacation doing absolutely nothing. Huge storms ripped power from our area this past weekend, so internet and phone were totally down (thanks Holls for making it not suck so much with book recommendations and texts) and are now fully restored.jasmine wrote:
thats about it for me. wheres obie?
I know I've probably missed a ton on here but I promise I'll catch up and by Thursday I'll be annoying the crap out of you all once again.
BTW---I'm totally into those Sookie Stackhouse books now on Holly's recommendation. Not as thick or as angsty as Twilight; but some hot vamp action. I'm on the third one now.
I've missed you peeps! Jas---I totally was scoping those pics you posted on facebook of you and Nocs---Jeez---have you people seen how hot that couple is? It puts the rest of us to shame I tell ya. To shame. And thanks for my Lush addiction by the way---they should be giving you commission for what I spend in there it's unreal.
Off to read more fanfic and ponder the world's quandries. Just finished Stitches and Scars, and that was good if you like a human doctor edward. I forget the one I read recently that was just gawd awful. I'm about to start Bella Hale---so Bella was adopted by the cullens at a very young age apparently and has to grow up with a very akward vampire brother type edward. Got a ton of reviews, so we shall see.
Happy cinco de mayo people! In Texas, that means Happy 5th of May and also "Stuff your fat face with Mexican food" so I'm making taco salads. It's healthy---er, for the most part. If you take out the cheese, sour cream, guacamole and stuff, I'm sure it's healthy. Oh, and the fried chip bowl thing. lol.
Hope everyone is living the dream!
A radiant Obie!


text:
Bay State following in NH's footsteps with 'upskirting' lawFrom Staff and Wire Reports
March 06. 2014 8:11PM
- Mass. Supreme Judicial Court has found upskirt photos taken on a subway aren't illegal. Should such voyeurism be a crime?
- Yes
- 83%
- No
- 17%
- Total Votes: 917
New Hampshire law makes it illegal to take a photo up a woman's skirt in a public place, and the Bay State is following suit in response to a Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling that outraged many.
On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court acknowledged that the state's existing so-called Peeping Tom laws were not strong enough to convict an Andover, Mass., man accused of secretly taking cellphone photographs up women's skirts on the MBTA.
By Thursday afternoon, both the Massachusetts House and Senate had approved a bill that would criminalize the secret photographing or videotaping of a person's "sexual or other intimate parts."
"We're outraged by what has occurred and from today forward we want to make sure that these types of actions are dealt with in our court system and dealt with swiftly," House Speaker Robert DeLeo said.
Gilles Bissonnette, a staff attorney with the New Hampshire ACLU, said New Hampshire's (RSA) 644:9 "tries to create a carve-out for this very situation where a person might be in a public place, but someone is trying to film that person's body under a person's clothing."
He added: "The statute in essence is saying those body parts are under clothing and one would have an expectation of privacy to those parts," Bissonnette said Thursday.
Violators, if convicted, could face up to a year in jail and/or a $2,000 fine.
The Massachusetts ruling, written by Justice Margot Botsford, overturned a lower court decision. It came in the case of Michael Robertson of Andover, who was arrested in August 2010 for allegedly trying to take photos up women's dresses on Boston's Green Line subway.
Robertson's lawyer, Michelle Menken, argued before the SJC in November that women "can not expect privacy" on the subway and the current laws only protect those who are nude or partially nude.
The ruling found the women did not meet the threshold of being partially nude, nor did they have a reasonable expectation of privacy on a public train to not be photographed while fully clothed.
The SJC acknowledged the laws needed to be changed, and noted there were two bills pending in the Massachusetts Legislature that "appear to attempt to address the upskirting conduct at issue here."
MCT Information Services contributed to this report.
Crime, law and justice Politics Technology Social issues New Hampshire Top Section Stories


text:
Early college programs blend high school and college in a rigorous, yet supportive program, compressing the time it takes to complete a high school diploma and the first two years of college. All Early College Programs share a common goal: to raise the high school and college graduation rates for students traditionally under-served in Arizona.
Concurrent Enrollment
Gives students the opportunity to take courses on the college campus with other college students.
Dual Enrollment
Take college level courses in high school with fellow high school students.
Homeschool Families
MCC welcomes Homeschool students and we have resources for you to succeed.
Hoop of Learning
Native American high school students earn college and high school credit at the same time.
Summer Camps
Workshops, classes and camps offered at the Southern and Dobson Campus and Red Mountain Campus for youth K-12.
Achieving a College Education (ACE)
MCC's scholarship program designed to improve access to higher education and improve success once enrolled in college.


text:
Charles Arlinghaus: Spending New Hampshire's surplus already?BY CHARLES ARLINGHAUS
October 08. 2013 5:12PM
The state's newly announced $76 million surplus is not as good as it sounds, and already politicians are lining up to spend the money they are supposed to be unable to touch. Our rainy day fund law has become a joke and its routine suspension had lawmakers on the verge of a feeding frenzy.
The state has just announced a surplus left over from the budget prior to the current one. New Hampshire's two-year budget finishes up on June 30 of the next Legislature's term, and the unaudited final numbers aren't announced until October. So we just received a final report (actually semi-final, there will be slight changes to the audited number) on the budget passed in 2011.
You remember that budget. It reduced spending for the first time in two decades to make up for the gimmicks of prior budgets. The governor at the time refused to sign it and the current governor spent a campaign and most of the recent budget process talking about what a horrible, distasteful thing it was.
That was then. This is now. The governor now takes great pride in the "sound fiscal management" that has produced a $76 million surplus, the largest we've enjoyed since the $82 million Benson surplus announced eight years ago. Sadly the abuse of that Benson surplus looks to be our fate a decade later if we aren't careful.
After warnings in 2003 from budget expert Doug Hall about the precipitous decline in the state's reserve funds, two successive budgets should have rebuilt them. The state's reserves had declined to just $17 million. Gov. Craig Benson had made rebuilding the reserves — largely the state's rainy day fund — a priority.
By law, the $82.2 million surplus his budget produced should have been automatically transferred to the "rainy day" Revenue Stabilization Account. The point of the fund was to build up reserves during surplus years as a buffer against the revenue shortfalls of the cyclical economic downturns. It's a sound policy — if you follow it.
By the time the surplus was calculated, Benson was no longer governor. Legislators suspended the law in the next budget and started planning how to spend the money. One of my early diatribes in this space encouraged people to "Stop them before they spend the surplus."
Pressure forced them to spend only part of it. The next budget ended in a $51 million surplus, but again the next Legislature suspended the rainy day fund law. The state should have had $150 million in its rainy day fund, but the large, eager eyes of legislative spenders decided to spend it. In the monsoon that followed, our reserves quickly vanished.
The budget passed in 2011 cut spending significantly to bring fiscal balance out of the chaos of the prior four years (spending had increased by a billion dollars in two successive budgets and holes were plugged with gimmicks, borrowing and a one-time federal bailout). That budget, as annoying as then-Gov. Lynch and current-Gov. Hassan found it, has produced a $76 million surplus. The rainy day fund law would require that surplus to be automatically deposited into the state's rainy day fund. But it won't be.
The recently passed budget uses $57 million of that surplus to balance itself, so the leftover is only $19 million. The governor is talking this week about adding more spending back into the budget and making a small deposit in the rainy day fund if any is left over. Other politicians are whispering about alternate ideas for spending the money, as if they'd won the lottery. Never mind that the rainy day fund law would require all $76 million be set aside if that law hadn't been "temporarily" suspended again.
This is how the state gets into financial trouble. We have a good year and the first thought politicians have is "hey, money, let's spend it." Former Gov. Hugh Gregg spoke about this short-sightedness a decade ago in a piece he wrote for my organization advocating spending restraint: "When business is good and help wanted signs are posted everywhere, governments tend to be profligate and don't worry too much about tightening their budgets." Gov. Gregg pointed out that the level of spending that seemed sustainable during revenue peaks was not sustainable during the inevitable downturn to follow.
The point of a rainy day fund law is to restrain the short-sighted spending eagerness of politicians not looking beyond the next election. Neutering that law is recipe for disaster. Every penny not already spoken for in the budget needs to be deposited immediately into the rainy day fund to remove temptation from politicians who are unable to resist.
Charles M. Arlinghaus is president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank in Concord.


text:
It must be tough writing for the New York Times. Day after day, you have to come up with an anti-Bush angle to every story, whether it's legitimately there or not.
Take today's multiple reports on the Congressional investigation into the response to Hurricane Katrina. One of the Times' articles is titled "White House Knew of Levee's Failure on Night of Storm." Wow, sounds like quite a revelation. The article, by Eric Lipton, reports that President Bush has said that he didn't learn that the levee in New Orleans had broken until Tuesday, August 30. But new documents made public by Congressional investigators reveal that … drum roll … the White House received an email on the levee breaking at midnight on the night of August 29! Which means that Bush learned about the levee on August 30. Not exactly a scoop.
That was just a misleading headline. But Lipton made an outright misrepresentation just a few paragraphs later. In its original version, which I assume appeared in print this morning, his article said:
But the alert did not seem to register. Even the next morning, President Bush, on vacation in Texas, was feeling relieved that New Orleans had "dodged the bullet," he later recalled.
Only Bush was not on vacation in Texas. Lipton just made that part up. Actually, on the morning of August 30 he was in California, meeting with soldiers who were wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. So the Times has done a sub silentio correction. The article now reads:
But the alert did not seem to register. Even the next morning, President Bush was feeling relieved that New Orleans had "dodged the bullet," he later recalled.
Just another hit-and-run by the Times.
Today's Senate testimony was unedifying, as Michael Brown and the Homeland Security Department pointed fingers at one another. They're probably both right, but I think it's highly plausible that establishment of the Homeland Security Department, and incorporation of FEMA and many other agencies under that umbrella, probably did confuse lines of authority and make response more complicated. With hindsight, President Bush's initial resistance to establishment of the HSD was probably right.
The Times published a number of significant documents today; one that wasn't emphasized in the paper's coverage, but seemed significant to me, was the "After Action Summary" by Captain Timothy Bayard of the NOPD on the city's response. Captain Bayard wrote:
The New Orleans Office of Emergency Preparedness failed. They did not prepare themselves, nor did they manage the city agencies responsible for conducting emergency response to the disaster. Their function was to coordinate with state, federal and other local agencies, to enlist logistical assistance. We did not coordinate with any state, local or federal agencies. We were not prepared logistically. Most importantly, we relocated evacuees to two locations where there was no food, water or portable restrooms. We did not implement the pre-existing plan. We did not utilize buses that would have allowed us to transport mass quantities of evacuees expeditiously. We did not have food, water or fuel for the emergency workers. We did not have a back up communication system. We had no portable radio towers or repeaters that would have enabled us to communicate. The other mistakes have been mentioned previously.
The first paragraph of Captain Bayard's "Summary/Recommendations" reads:
The Office of Emergency Preparedness needs to be revamped. If their role is to have us prepared to handle a disaster such as this they FAILED. They lacked a plan, did not provide the necessary equipment, provided no direction or leadership, did not coordinate or attempt to have commanders of field operations coordinate with any state or federal agency, etc. We really need to take a long hard look at this section.
Bayard's view of FEMA doesn't seem to be as negative as the Senate's. His second recommendation reads:
Connect with FEMA as soon as possible. They have an unlimited amount of assets, personnel and equipment available. We must assign a Captain to FEMA as soon as they arrive. This Captain must coordinate all search, rescue and transportation operations with the FEMA commanders.
The Times, however, has no interest in critiquing the performance of Democrats in Louisiana.


text:
Legends® Luxury Ultimate Down Pillow - Medium, Back Sleeper
Overview & Details
- Ultimate medium down pillow.
- Medium goose down pillow for back sleepers.
- The medium support pillow cradles the natural curvature of the upper spine to create the perfect position for your head and neck.
- Pillow filled with a lofty 600 fill power white Hungarian goose down.
- Pillow covered with a soft and smooth 400-thread count imported cotton shell.
- Medium down pillow ideal for back sleepers.
- Also available: Ultimate soft goose down pillows and Ultimate hard goose down pillows.
- Handmade in La Crosse, Wisconsin of fine imported materials.
- Exclusively ours.
- Extend the life of your pillows with our pillow protectors.
- The Company Store's pillow fabrics are double stitched, down proof and Oeko-Tex® Certified to be free of all harmful chemicals.
Experience superb support in the places back sleepers need it most with our Ultimate medium down pillow. Featuring perfectly plump 600 fill power white Hungarian goose down, our lofty medium down pillows cradle the natural curvature of the upper spine to create the perfect position for your head and neck so you'll wake up feeling rested and refreshed. The goose down pillows also feature a smooth 400-thread count cotton shell keeping softness at the surface. The Company Store's pillow fabrics are all double stitched, down proof and Oeko-Tex® Certified to be free of all harmful chemicals so you can rest easy. What's not to love?
Exclusively ours, you'll only find our Ultimate medium down pillow at The Company Store. You may also enjoy our Ultimate goose down pillows in soft and firm.
Lifetime Guarantee
Most products manufactured in La Crosse, WI factory are covered by our Lifetime Guarantee, and may be returned at any time. We will gladly offer you an exchange, merchandise credit towards a new product, or gift card (excluding delivery fees).
Look for this symbol throughout the catalog and website, which indicates the product carries a Lifetime Guarantee. For more information, please click here to review our FAQ's.


text:
Browsing Geophysical Institute by Title
Now showing items 94-113 of 494
Directly measured currents and estimated transport pathways of Atlantic Water between 59.58N and the Iceland-Faroes-Scotland Ridge (Co-Action Publishing, 2015-11-24)Using vessel-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler data from four different routes between Scotland, Iceland and Greenland, we map out the mean flow of water in the top 400 m of the northeastern North Atlantic. The ...Journal article
Disappearance of Pacific Water in the northwestern Fram Strait (American Geophysical Union, 2005-07-28)Water of Pacific origin, entering the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait, exits the Arctic Ocean through the Canadian Archipelago and the Fram Strait. The amount and timing of Pacific Water export through these gates ...Journal article
Dispersion and abundance of salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) in a Norwegian fjord system (The University of Bergen, 2011-11-20)Based on numerical results of currents from a high resolution fjord model, dispersion of salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) in the Hardangerfjord has been modelled. The results show that salmon lice abundance in the ...Master thesis
Dissipation measurements using temperature microstructure from an underwater glider (Elsevier, 2014-09)Microstructure measurements of temperature and current shear are made using an autonomous underwater glider. The glider is equipped with fast-response thermistors and airfoil shear probes, providing measurements of dissipation ...Journal article
Dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy inferred from Seagliders: an application to the eastern Nordic Seas overflows (American Meteorological Society, 2012-12)Turbulent mixing is an important process controlling the descent rate, water mass modification, and volume transport augmentation due to entrainment in the dense overflows across the Greenland–Scotland Ridge. These overflows, ...Journal article
Dissolved Oxygen and Biochemical Oxygen Demand in the waters close to the Quelimane sewage discharge (The University of Bergen, 2010-06-01)The River dos Bons Sinais Estuary is one of the most important estuaries in the central region of the Mozambican coast. It is situated between the confluence of Cuácua and Licuári rivers and the Mozambican Channel in the ...Master thesis
Diurnal Circulation of the Bolivan Altiplano. Part I: Observations (American Meteorological Society, 2005-04)In July and August 2003 a field campaign was conducted to explore the diurnal circulation of the Bolivian Altiplano. Vertical soundings by remote-controlled aircraft yielded profiles of temperature, pressure, and humidity ...Journal article
Downslope windstorm in Iceland –WRF/MM5 model comparison (European Geosciences Union, 2011-01-05)A severe windstorm downstream of Mt. Öræfajökull in Southeast Iceland is simulated on a grid of 1 km horizontal resolution by using the PSU/NCAR MM5 model and the Advanced Research WRF model. Both models are run with ...Peer reviewedJournal article
Drag coefficient reduction at very high wind speeds (American Geophysical Union, 2006-03-31)The correct representation of the 10-m drag coefficient for momentum (K10) at extreme wind speeds is very important for modeling the development of tropical depressions and may also be relevant to the understanding of ...Journal articlePeer reviewed
Dual staining with CFDA-AM and SYTOX Blue in flow cytometry analysis of UV-irradiated Tetraselmis suecica to evaluate vitality (Inter-Research, 2016)After disinfection of ballast water, it is crucial to detect organisms and determine their vitality to assess the performance of the chosen treatment technique. Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation is a treatment technology commonly ...Journal article
The dynamic and thermodynamic structure of monsoon low-pressure systems during extreme rainfall events (Co-Action Publishing, 2015-08-12)A cyclone-tracking algorithm is used to identify monsoon low-pressure systems (LPS) in the ERA-interim re-analysis (1979–2010). The LPS that are connected to observed extreme rainfall events are picked out and studied with ...Journal article
The dynamic and thermodynamic structure of monsoon low-pressure systems during extreme rainfall events (Co-action publishing, 2015-08-12)A cyclone-tracking algorithm is used to identify monsoon low-pressure systems (LPS) in the ERA-interim re-analysis (1979–2010). The LPS that are connected to observed extreme rainfall events are picked out and studied with ...Journal article
Dynamic Modelling of Squirrel Cage Induction Motors for Studying Motor Current Signature Analysis (The University of Bergen, 2018-06-16)This study investigates dynamic modelling of induction motors with a variety of different defects and condition monitoring of these. The focus is directed at squirrel cage induction motors(SCIM) which is the most used ...Master thesis
Dynamical downscaling of ERA-40 in complex terrain using the WRF regional climate model (Springer, 2010)Results from a first-time employment of the WRF regional climate model to climatological simulations in Europe are presented. The ERA-40 reanalysis (resolution 1 ) has been downscaled to a horizontal resolution of 30 ...Peer reviewedJournal article
Dynamical Perspectives on the Formation and Intensification of Polar Lows (The University of Bergen, 2014-11-25)This thesis consists of a collection of scientific publications addressing dynamical aspects of the formation and intensification of polar lows. Polar lows are small scale, intense, short-lived cyclones developing over ...Doctoral thesis
Dynamically combining climate models to "supermodel" the tropical Pacific (Wiley, 2016-01)We construct an interactive ensemble of two different climate models to improve simulation of key aspects of tropical Pacific climate. Our so-called supermodel is based on two atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs) ...Journal article
Dynamics and Predictability of the Extreme Extratropical Cyclone Nina (The University of Bergen, 2016-06-01)An extreme extratropical cyclone struck western Norway at 12 UTC 10 January 2015 causing significant damage to property due to extreme winds. The European region has a history of being struck by extreme cyclones that cause ...Master thesis
Dynamics of a CO2-seawater interface in the deep ocean (Sears Foundation for Marine Research, 2005)A trough filled with liquid CO2 located at 3940 m depth has been used as a model system for CO2 deposition on the seafloor. To study the intrinsic properties of the interface between CO2 and seawater a wave maker was used ...Journal article
The Dynamics of the East Madagascar Current System and Its Influence on the Biological Production Associated to the Shelf - An Observational Study (The University of Bergen, 2011-06-01)The dynamics of the East Madagascar Current (EMC) system, and its influence on the biological production associated to the shelf, is studied by using cruise-data collected onboard the Norwegian R/V. Dr. Fridtjof Nansen ...Master thesis
The East Greenland Current studied with CFCs and released sulphur hexafluoride (Elsevier, 2005-03)The distribution and evolution of water masses along the East Greenland Current (EGC) from south of the Fram Strait to the Denmark Strait were investigated using chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and the released tracer sulphur ...Journal article


text:
A luxurious guesthouse situated on Kanonkop Hill above Knysna, Kanonkop House offers spectacular views of the lagoon and the iconic Knysna Heads. Ideally located near the centre of town, this well-appointed guesthouse is a perfect base from which to discover the surrounding area.
Explore Knysna's forests on foot or by bicycle and see if you can spot any wildlife - the bird watching is superb. Embark on a sunset cruise of the lagoon or go shopping at the local markets and crafts shops - many are within easy walking distance of Kanonkop House and offer a variety of shopping experiences. Knysna is a rewarding destination for any golf enthusiast: book a round or two at the exquisite Pezula Championship course or Simola Country Club.


text:
In a major boost to the healthcare delivery system in the east, West Bengal government has decided to infuse Rs. 2,600 crore...
Johns Hopkins scientists have created a free, Web-based tool to help patients decide whether it's best to accept an immediately available, but...
Philips launches start-up AI collaboration programme for healthcare
1 lakh benefitted with Ayushman Bharat since its launch: Nadda
75% Indian women shy away from breast cancer screening: Survey
Eye exercise while working on laptop
Disruptive application of artificial intelligence in health-tech
How e-cigarettes play a crucial role in tobacco harm reduction?
ePharma rules to streamline healthcare delivery process
BLK takes a pledge to save Delhi from impending Arthritis epidemic
Union Government launches 72-hour pollution forecast system
Simple tips to improve your posture at work
CCI gives nod to acquisition of Star Health by Safecrop Holdings
Anxiety & Depression: When parent must start a conversation
Therapiva to buy Dr Reddy Laboratories' Hyderabad API unit
Chiratae, Alkemi invest $3 mn in fertility services provider Elawoman
Myths and facts surrounding ovarian cancer
Nayati Healthcare introduces India's first eICU technology
Apollo Spectra Hospitals partners The Esthetic Clinics to introduce world class services
Want to get better waistline, boost energy with seeds?
5 myths about Arthritis debunked
'Bringing Social Change with Determination'
Reckitt Benckiser partners Maha Govt to nourish 1000 villages across State
UP: Six pharma parks in the offing
Obesity & Aesthetics: Risk factors of being overweight
Bangladesh, India Need to Strengthen Cooperation in Health Sector
World Mental Health Day: WHO underlines youth and mental health in changing world
How AI, blockchain technologies are enhancing patient care?
Wipro GE Healthcare partners SAMEER to develop indigenous MRI
'India needs to address challenge of adult immunisation'
Food habits to keep your heart healthy
Chirayu: Making Every Life Count
Stryker appoints Meenakshi Nevatia as new MD for India
Electronic Health Records: Evolution of Indian healthcare sector
UNFPA: Offering Right-based Family Planning Services in Rajasthan
Fujifilm Making A Splash with Innovation
Zydus Cadila receives USFDA nod for breast cancer drug
Quality vs cost in healthcare
Common sports injury myths busted


text:
Anthropologie's Animal Themed Boho Christmas
When I posted a sneak peek of Pottery Barn's new holiday line yesterday there were some yawning commenters who said, "Yeah, seen it before," and I have to admit that it really was a lot of the same-old-same-old. But I can't say that about Anthropologie's holiday catalog — it's definitely a departure into a creepy but cool bohemian rhapsody.
It's the catalog stylist who's the real genius here. The photo shoot includes weird Alice in Wonderland style cardboard cutouts, a live turtle stacked with bracelets on its back, an angry fox perched on top of a plaid chair, and a general sense of weirdness that makes one ask, 'What holiday is this, anyway? '.
The products themselves are a little tamer — you'll find matryoshka ornaments and patchwork Merry Christmas garlands in the mix, but there are also feathered trees and decapitated reindeer... just in case your decorating theme this year is "A Very Creepy Christmas."
To see the full Anthropologie 2010 Holiday Collection, click here.
Anthropologie 2010 Holiday Decor
• Repurposed Reindeer, $68
• Downy Feather Mini Tree, $18
• Teeming Forest Tree Topper, $498
• Matryoshka Ornaments, $18
• Merry Christmas Garland, $128
• Wild Woodland Vases, $18 - $28
• Lunet Chair (Plaid), $1,698
• Enchanted Buck Measuring Cups, $48
• Silver & Gold at Pottery Barn
• IKEA Goes Red, White, & Blue
• West Elm Holiday Collection by David Stark


text:
Former Gov. Robert L Ehrlich Jr. would have us believe that voter fraud is rampant because of "2.4 million invalid voter registrations and nearly 2 million dead people still on U.S. voter rolls" ("Voter ID laws uphold system's integrity," Feb. 26).
However, he neglects to mention that, aside from such clerical errors, the incidence of voter fraud is virtually negligible.
By contrast, criminals can and do use over-the-counter medications to produce illegal drugs — so the law requiring Mr. Ehrlich to show an ID to obtain Claritin D actually does save lives.
With any law, legislators and voters must balance costs and benefits. In Baltimore and most other cities, thousands of elderly and often infirm U.S. citizens have no driver's license, passport or student ID, and no way to get to the MVA to obtain a photo-ID.
Consequently, voter-ID laws will disenfranchise citizens without providing significant benefits to the integrity of the electoral system.
B. Krueger, Ellicott City


text:
Should feds be worried that desktop computers are on the way out? Should administrators tasked with buying new government PCs start to think in terms of tablets and smart phones instead?
Back when people of a certain age began working in government, a typewriter was one of the most common and necessary tools inside a lot of offices. Over the years the government bought fewer and fewer of them, however, and as the old ones wore out, they weren't replaced. These days, young, new government employees may not have even seen a real typewriter. A tool that was considered indispensable is now completely forgotten. Could the desktop PC be next?
IDC recently released its estimates for PC growth, if you can call it that, for 2012, predicting that new PC sales will grow only by 0.9 percent. Anything positive is still pretty good these days, but in the long run, a less-than-1-percent gain doesn't bode well for the industry. It's easy to look at that dismal number and think it means the end of the line.
8 tech dinosaurs: Which would you kill?
Some people are already taking that stand, saying that desktops will give way to smart phones and tablets the way typewriters gave away to PCs. The fact that HP and Dell both are experiencing a perilous drop in desktop and notebook sales supports that argument.
But before we start thinking totally in terms of apps, I think there are a few things to consider. First off, the desktop PC did not just replace the typewriter. It could do a lot more than process words. No typewriter ever sent an e-mail or logged into the Internet to check the factual content of a document. The PC brought new functions and features to the government workforce, one of which just happened to be a sort of typewriter.
Smart phones can't do all the things a desktop computer can, or at least they can't do them as well. They perform different functions, mostly low-level computing tasks suitable for the small screen and virtual keyboards, and deliver lots of entertainment functions on the move.
If you need to actually do serious word processing or networking, or run many of the more complex programs that government uses, you are going to need a PC.
Secondly, just because the PC market isn't growing by leaps and bounds doesn't mean that people are chucking them out of the windows down at the Agriculture Department. One thing about desktop PCs these days is that they are incredibly powerful. When we benchmark the new Intel i3, i5 and especially the i7 chips, we find almost more power than anyone can realistically use short of gaming or perhaps computer-aided design applications.
You simply don't need to buy a new PC every three years anymore. In fact, if you are doing mostly office functions, a desktop PC can last a very long time. It's like those funny commercials with the gum that keeps its flavor. Just because something is not wearing out, doesn't mean it's not popular. It just means fewer new sales.
Finally there is one more factor that is kind of lost in the fine print of the reports. Desktop and laptop PC sales still vastly outnumber the sales of tablets and smart phones. They are growing much more slowly, while smart phones are ballooning, but they won't cross paths anytime soon.
The wild card here may be Windows 8. In the October issue of GCN, I will be reviewing Microsoft Windows 8 and coming to a conclusion as to whether or not government should begin to adapt the new OS. I'm hard at work on that piece right now and have not yet come to a conclusion.
However, I will say that Windows 8 is the same for tablets and desktops, with the bulk of the features shining more for the tablet side. That could make tablets and the way they work more attractive to desktop users. It could actually further reduce new PC sales since people could figure they are going to get a tablet-like experience on their desktop anyway.
But that is a talk for another time. For now, rest assured that your desktop machines aren't going anywhere.
About the Author
John Breeden II is a freelance technology writer for GCN.
E-Mail this page
Printable Format
things will have to change significantly before i go without a desktop. Visibility is as real as security. Sure, with fancy 4G LTE and an AT&T connection or what have you, you can SEND large files but you can't create them without a good monitor and lots of memory. As a graphics designer in Dallas, I'll be the last one to relinquish my PC.
No actual worker can honestly say they are more productive on a tablet than a computer. No informed administrator or project manager will ever agree that their business data is better off on someone elses hard drives.
There is so much to be said on this topic that a comment section can't do it justice. Whether your talking about all-in-ones, laptops, netbooks, or tablets the price of mobility and minimal space usage costs a pretty premium financially and functionally. I enjoy my tablet on the go and for quick little tasks; however, I would not want it to be my primary work computer and I won't be replacing any of my users desktops with tablets anytime soon either. That being said as far as Windows 8 is concerned, I don't want a tablet centric OS on my desktop. So, I'll just buy a few retail copies of 7 Ultimate for my personal computers and hope they work until Microsoft comes to their senses.
From post on Wed, Aug 29, 2012
Partly an indictment of the public school system, partly an indictment of higher education, in not being able to produce a product that works.
The indictment is not on the public school or higher education system but on the politicians whom have systematically gutted the above systems and corporations who have moved 90% of industrial complex off shore including their profits to avoid paying taxes and thus not supporting the country that made it possible to start a business.
Back in the mid 1990s Citrix came out with a system of running apps and all computations from server base and sending the the user only the pixels to the desktop. The beauty of this system is that the desktop did not need the two to three year updates or replacement only the servers. This is the system that the government and all business should consider instead of Cloud Computing. Cloud Computing is vulnerable. In house servers with Citrix is not based on Cloud Computing but private networks. With Citrix base system the only reason to update a workstation is for lowering power consumption.
Terry Schneider
Happy PC Computing
Show All Comments
Advanced Search
8251 Greensboro Drive, Suite 510
McLean, VA 22102
© 2018 1105 Media, Inc.
8251 Greensboro Drive, Suite 510
McLean, VA 22102703-876-5100 © 1996-2017 1105 Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


text:
iNoScope wrote:/togglefps if I'm not mistaken
thanks man had a blank i remember now
iNoScope wrote:/togglefps if I'm not mistaken
sol721 wrote:just got my new pc and i can run a race with 20 people fine at like 50 fps with high graphics then 25 people it goes down to 8 fps? any solutions
Arod_501 wrote:Hey guys, just wondering if anyone could tell me how to get the 2014 supercross tracks for the stock supercross server. it wont let me play In it so I assume its because I don't have them
That's correct, you need to download the tracks. Here's the link in one spot http://www.tmfactory-racing.com/amatracks.html.
ztodd7 wrote:I need help with setup or something. I keep endoing off jumps no matter what I do..... sitting down standing up leaning back, turned the rebound damping up like you would do in real life and I still continue to endo. anyone have some tips? getting very frustrating because this would not happen in real life with the rebound damping turned that high.
Enduro_Rider824 wrote:Hey, new guy here. I've been looking for snapshot and can't find it so I was wondering: Did JLV do away with snapshot?
TeamHavocRacing wrote:If I had a nickel for every time someone asked for this, I would have a whole shitload of nickels.
Return to "General Discussion"
Users browsing this forum: Phathry25 and 10 guests


text:
Governor-elect asks agencies to make cutsBy GARRY RAYNO
State House Bureau
December 05. 2012 10:40PM
CONCORD - Governor-elect Maggie Hassan Wednesday told state agencies to reduce their budget proposals for the upcoming biennial budget.
In a letter, Hassan told department heads to submit fiscal 2014 budgets that spend 97 percent of their current appropriation, and fiscal 2015 budgets with the same spending as this fiscal year.
She asked agencies to meet the targets for all general, liquor, sweepstakes, highway, turnpike and fish and game funds.
"While we are beginning to see signs of recovery and revenue growth, we face fiscal uncertainty, particularly around how decisions in Washington and the so-called fiscal cliff will impact New Hampshire's state budget, economic growth and revenues," Hassan said in the memo. "There are also investments that we must make as a state in the coming two years in order to protect the health and safety of our citizens and to build an innovative economy that will ensure long-term growth. These budget targets will give us options and flexibility to assess and respond to unfolding economic and external events."
During the campaign, Hassan said she would like to restore some of the money cut from higher education by the previous legislature as well some money for the state's largest hospitals for care they provide to the state's poorest residents.
She told agencies the reduced budgets should not violate maintenance of effort requirements or federal laws or regulations and should focus on identifying reductions through innovation and efficiencies, not across-the-board cuts.
"I recognize that many state agencies have faced significant cuts in recent years and reaching these targets will be challenging," said Hassan.
Overall, state agencies and institutions have asked for an additional $691 million in spending to be funded by state tax dollars for the next two fiscal years, a 26 percent increase.
The total request - including federal and other funds - is an additional $11.9 billion in spending or 19 percent.
The hearings are the first of many steps before the state's two-year operating budget is finalized in June.
Hassan has to present a balanced budget plan to lawmakers by Feb. 15.
- - - - - - - -
Garry Rayno may be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
PEORIA — Peoria School District 150 board members are scheduled to vote on controversies past and present during a regular board meeting Monday that has been moved from district administrative offices to Von Steuben Middle School for the third time in a row in anticipation of a large turnout of supporters for Charter Oak Principal John Wetterauer.
Charter Oak parents, teachers, retired teachers, retired administrators and others have packed the last two School Board meetings urging the board to reinstate Wetterauer, who has been on paid administrative leave since December after a district investigation reported irregularities in how teachers administered standardized tests to special education students at the school over a three-year period.
Though it is not clear if or what decision the board will make about Wetterauer's future, board members are scheduled to vote on resolutions to authorize issuing a notice of remedial warning to two tenured teachers, presumably the two Charter Oak special education teachers who administered the tests.
The district's investigation report, submitted to the Illinois State Board of Education, alleges Charter Oak staff violated testing protocols for the Illinois Standards Achievement Test by coaching students to get the right answers in a variety of ways, including erasing wrong answers. Wetterauer failed to provide district-required training to teachers on administering the tests, according to the district's investigation.
At its Jan. 13 meeting, board members delayed action on possible discipline of Wetterauer until he had a chance to respond to the allegations.
Neither Wetterauer or his attorney, Nile Williamson, has replied to the board's offer, other than through a formal response from Williamson to District 150 attorney Michelle Todd on Jan. 16. Through his attorney, Wetterauer denied knowledge or involvement in testing misconduct. Williamson has also questioned the validity of the district's investigation.
According to a statement from District 150, Wetterauer and his attorney, Williamson, could not meet with the board in a closed special meeting on Jan. 23 because Williamson had a scheduling conflict. As of last week, the two had not responded to the board's second offer to meet Jan. 27, before the regular board meeting.
The state board can conduct its own investigation, which could result in revoking or suspending an educator's certification.
The board is scheduled to approve an intergovernmental agreement with the city of Peoria that would allow the city to aid the district in selling six properties along Prospect Road.
District 150's ownership of the strip of residential properties — purchased for almost $1 million in 2006 when a previous administration planned to build a school next to Glen Oak Park — became a symbol of the failed plan and community opposition to it.
The properties are at 2138, 2142, 2144, 2206, 2208, and 2212 N. Prospect.
The board will also vote on a recommendation to reappoint State Rep. Dave Leitch, R-Peoria, to a five-year term as District 150's representative commissioner on the Public Building Commission.
Pam Adams can be reached at 686-3245 or email@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @padamspam.
Charter Oak fallout vote expected at District 150 meeting
PEORIA — Peoria School District 150 board members are scheduled to vote on controversies past and present during a regular board meeting Monday that has been moved from district administrative offices to Von Steuben Middle School for the third time in a row in anticipation of a large turnout of supporters for Charter Oak Principal John Wetterauer.


text:
Epic Wrestling Match Between Pig And Pit Bull
July 14, 2014
A little black pig and a pit bull have a very energetic play fight...
Click Here For The Most Popular On Sunny Skyz
Little Girl Lip Syncs 'Girls Like You' With Daddy And It's The Cutest Thing Ever
Teacher Finds Messages On Her Student's Pencils
Couple's Maternity Shoot In A Pumpkin Patch Has A Terrifying Ending
This Is Brilliant. Students Use A Shared Google Doc To Take Lecture Notes
Three Sisters Are Going As The Hocus Pocus Witches For Halloween
Street Musician Gives His Earnings To A Homeless Man, Then Is 'Blown Away' By What Happens Next
Little Girl Lip Syncs 'Girls Like You' With Daddy And It's The Cutest Thing Ever
The Incredible Moment This Man Finds His Dog In The Streets 3 Years After He Lost Him
Athlete With Cerebral Palsy Learns He's Been Signed By Nike
Barbershop Quartet Mixes Comedy With Cover Of 'All Star' By Smash Mouth
Werewolf? Man Films Enormous Wolf During Late Night Drive


text:
By Alan Radding, Big4.com Guest Blogger
Is there a consultant out there who hasn't heard of Big Data? Most probably can't program map/reduce, the code behind Hadoop, but that's not the point. The vendors will take care of that. Still, there is much left for consultants to do. The big action will be helping clients capitalize on the analytics possibilities, recognizing worthwhile insights, and putting them into action.
Big Data has become the latest rage and a survey by the IBM Center for Applied Insights shows why. Organizations that make extensive use of data analytics experienced up to 1.6x the revenue growth, 2.0x EBITDA growth, and a 2.5x stock price appreciation compared to their peers. And what they are analyzing now is Big Data, a combination of structured data found in conventional relational databases and unstructured data pouring in from widely varied sources.
How big is Big Data? By 2015 the digital universe, as forecast by IDC, will hit 8 zettabytes (ZB). (1ZB = 1021 bytes, one sextillion bytes). Adding to the sheer volume is the remarkable velocity at which data is created. Every minute 600 new blog posts are published and 34,000 Twitter tweets are sent. If some of that data is about your clients or their brand, products, customers, competitors, or employees shouldn't they know?
Large organizations, of course, can benefit from Big Data, but midsize and small businesses can too. A regional pizza shop chain needs to know the consumer buzz about their pizza as much as
Domino's. In that sense, Big Data needn't be big.
Big data encompasses both structured and unstructured data. The data comes from a variety of sources. Traditional systems contain predominantly structured data. Unstructured data comes from general files; from smart phones and mobile devices; from social media like Twitter, Facebook, and others; from RFID tags and other sensors and meters; and even from video cameras. All can be valuable to organizations in the right context.
Since you are not likely coding map/reduce you will need appropriate tools and technology to leverage Big Data. Earlier this month, IBM introduced three task-specific Smarter Analytics Signature Solutions. The first addresses anti-fraud, waste, and abuse by using sophisticated analytics to recommend the most effective remedy for each case. For example it might recommend a different letter requesting payment in one case but suggest a full investigation be opened in another.
Another Signature Solution focuses on next-best-action. This uses real-time analytics across various data to predict customer behavior and preferences. It then recommends the next best
action to take with regard to a customer, such as to reduce churn or sell more products.
The third Signature Solution, dubbed CFO Performance Insight, works on a collection of complex and cross-referenced internal and external data sets and applies predictive analytics to achieve increased insight, visibility, and control over financial performance along with predictive insights, root-cause analyses, and more. These are delivered via an executive-style dashboard.
IBM isn't the only IT player to jump on the Big Data bandwagon. EMC has put a stake into this market. Oracle, which has been stalking IBM for years, also latched onto Big Data through Exalytics, its in-memory analytics product similar to IBM's Netezza. Of course, small players like Cloudera, which early on staked out Hadoop, the key open source component of Big Data, also offer related products and services.
For consultants, it is worth getting familiar with Big Data and the resulting analytics. Expect it to continue as an important issue for some years to come.
Alan Radding researches, analyzes, and writes about business and technology. He has worked with leading research and consulting firms including Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (Center for Business Innovation).


text: The Louise Galvin Shampoo for Fine Hair is an intensive yet lightweight treatment which will leave your fine hair shiny, smooth and full of volume without leaving a heavy residue. With wheat proteins and vitamins to eliminate flyaways and natural conditioning agents, your hair will be left tangle-free, soft and voluminous. – I.M


text:
News & Events
For the Media
Drago of Sudbury Receives Clarkson University's Top Alumni Honor
[A photograph for media use is available at http://www.clarkson.edu/news/photos/jdrago.jpg .]
Potsdam, N.Y. -- Joe Drago of Sudbury, Ontario, a retired educator, has received the Golden Knight Award from his alma mater, Clarkson University. Presented each year during Reunion Weekend, Clarkson's most prestigious alumni award is given to alumni who have distinguished themselves either by service to Clarkson through Alumni Association activities or have demonstrated outstanding career achievement, bringing distinction to themselves and to Clarkson.
Drago earned his bachelor of science degree in business administration from Clarkson in 1963. He continued his education at Niagara University where he received his master of science degree in education in 1972. Subsequently, he earned guidance and business specialist certificates and the Ontario Secondary School Principal's Certificate.
Beyond his professional career, Drago was a dedicated volunteer in his community and was recognized and honored locally, provincially and nationally for his work with charities and organizations. For 12 years, he sat on the Sudbury Memorial Hospital Board of Governors and was involved for 14 years with the Sudbury Memorial Hospital Foundation. He also has been involved with the Sudbury District Health Council, the Salvation Army, the Sudbury Food Bank, the House of Kin, the Alzheimer Society of Canada, the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, the Heart and Soul Capital Campaign for Health Care, and more. Drago has served as the founding chairman of the Sudbury Regional Hospital Foundation since its inception in 1998. In 2003, he was the recipient of the Centennial Award by the Ontario Medical Association, their highest honor given to a non-physician.
While at Clarkson, Drago played under head hockey coach Len Ceglarski and was a key member of three of Clarkson's most successful teams during the 1960s. During his time at Clarkson, the Golden Knights compiled a 56-15-3 record and participated in two NCAA tournaments, finishing as national runner-ups in 1962 and gaining a third-place trophy in 1963. He also was a member of Theta Chi Fraternity, a Varsity "C" Member and a member of the Ice Carnival Committee.
For over 40 years, Drago was involved with hockey. He has coached at the midget, high school, junior major, junior intermediate and senior levels. For 17 years, he has been involved with the Sudbury Wolves Major Junior "A" organization, serving as director of operations, coach, general manager, president and part owner and governor. For 12 years, Drago served as the commissioner for the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey Association and later as the OHF Junior Council chair. Currently is the president for the Ontario Hockey Federation.
In 2003, Drago was honored with the Commemorative Medal for the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, which recognizes Canadians who have made significant contributions to their fellow citizens, their community and to Canada.
Drago and his wife, Sylvia, live in Sudbury, Ontario. They have two daughters, Lisa and Deana, and four granddaughters.
Clarkson University crosses the boundaries of disciplines, nations and cultures in order for discovery, engineering innovation and enterprise to come together. As a result, faculty and graduates grasp the full impact of their calling, direct their research to the world's pressing issues and lead with confidence and distinction. One in seven alumni is already a CEO or other senior executive. Located in Potsdam, N.Y., just outside the six-million-acre Adirondack Park, Clarkson is home to 3, 000 students preparing for rewarding careers through 50 rigorous programs of study in engineering, business, arts, science, and health sciences, as well as unparalleled outdoor recreation and life experiences beyond the classroom.
Photo caption: Joseph Drago (right) receives the Golden Knight Award from Clarkson University President Tony Collins.


text:
!! May 24th Shannonville Full Track lapping event, Touge.ca
View Single Post
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 282
Car: Mpower
!! May 24th Shannonville Full Track lapping event, Touge.ca
2008 4th Touge.ca Shannonville Full Track lapping event – May 24th, 6:00 – 9:00 pm, Saturday evening ---- Signup Sheet
Hello all Bimmer Drivers,
We have the track Saturday evening from 6:00-Dusk/9:00 pm booked, cost will be $79 of prepaid.
Full Track Map
We are limiting the track day to about 35 cars, so that it gives you plenty of room on the track while keeping the crowd down.
We will have a short briefing prior to getting out on the track, followed by a few warm up laps, then lapping for the rest of the day. "Lapping" refers to just that, doing laps. Passing is STRICTLY prohibited except on the back straight, and only when the person in front of you has allowed you by signaling you to pass. We reserve all rights to kick people off the track that are driving dangerously and/or aren't listening to track marshalls.
For those that have never been to the track, we encourage you to try it out, even if you're still on stock/all season tires (they'll suck, and burn up quick, but it's still fun)
All those interested in attending this track day on May 24th
Kindly post and sign up in this thread.
Include first and last name, car type
- My name is your name
- I drive: Your car make, model, year, color
- I will drive my car at the track on May 24th.
And email your contact info to
Helmets are strongly recommended for safety reasons, you will have to sign a disclaimer at the track, for those who do not wear helmet and not following our lapping rules, the participants take full responsibility for their action. (if you have helmets, it won't hurt to bring them up).
All those interested please sign up or email Kevin asap.
Prepaid: $79
After May 17th or At the track: $105
Pls signup for prepaid to reserve your spot asap and we don't accept anymore participants when all spots are filled.
All prepaid no later than May 17th, Saturday
Please contact
Kevin@ 416-5649999
if you would like to pay the track fee in person in GTA or Money order or Personal Cheque. Whoever wants to pay the track fee by
EMT- Email Transfer with online banking OR Paypal
, the email address is "
<== Clement's STi vs Kamal's F360
For all other enquires, details and schedule, please check out
View Public Profile
Visit MpowerK's homepage!
Find More Posts by MpowerK


text:
NH man's wife flies to Rome, meets Pope Francis after giving birth on death row in SudanFrom Staff and Wire Reports
July 24. 2014 10:45AM
ROME/KHARTOUM - A Sudanese woman who was sentenced to death for refusing to renounce her Christian faith, then detained after her conviction was quashed, flew into Rome on an Italian government plane on Thursday and hours later met with Pope Francis.
Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, whose conviction for apostasy, sentence and detention triggered international outrage, walked off the aircraft cradling her baby and was greeted by Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi.
Soon afterwards, Ibrahim, her husband Daniel Wani, and their two children - Martin, 18 months, and Maya, two months, had a private meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican.
"The Pope thanked her for her witness to faith," Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said.
The meeting, which lasted about half an hour, was intended as a "sign of closeness and solidarity for all those who suffer for their faith," he added.
"Wonderful news that Meriam Ibrahim and her family were finally able to leave Sudan and are safely in Italy," U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, tweeted after the news broke.
"Great news that Meriam and her family have safely left Sudan," U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said in her tweet. "Hope they're back in the U.S. soon."
U.S. Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter also hailed the news.
"I thank the State Department for keeping the pressure on Sudan and securing a successful result, and my colleagues in Congress who I worked with to achieve Meriam's release. I am proud the United States remains a bastion of religious freedom in the face of such terrible oppression," she said in a prepared release.
Ayotte and Shaheen also worked with the State Department for months to secure Ibrahim's freedom after she was jailed and sentenced to death by hanging for apostasy by a Sudanese court. In June, when the conviction was overturned and she was released from prison, she was then barred from leaving the country. She and her family sought refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum.
"We're relieved that Meriam and her family have finally been allowed to leave Sudan and travel to safety in Rome, and we're delighted that they were welcomed by Pope Francis," the senators said in a joint statement. "No one should be persecuted for exercising their right of religious freedom, and Meriam's unwavering faith and determination in the face of danger are an inspiration to us all."
The senators said they appreciated the collaborative international effort led by the State Department, the U.S. embassy in Khartoum and "our international partners, including the Italians, that reunited the family. We'll continue to assist the family as needed."
The spokesmen for the elected representatives did not know when the family will be back in the United States.
A source told the New Hamsphire Union Leader that the U.S. embassy in Italy is working on making flight arrangements for the family, who are reportedly tired and want to return home as soon as possible. It's expected they should be back by weekend's end.
There were no details on what led up to Ibrahim's departure after a month in limbo in Khartoum, but a senior Sudanese official said it had been cleared by the government.
"The authorities did not prevent her departure that was known and approved in advance," the senior official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Ibrahim was accompanied on the plane by Italy's vice minister for foreign affairs, Lapo Pistelli. He told journalists at Ciampino airport that Italy had been in "constant dialogue" with Sudan but did not give any more details on Rome's role in securing her exit.
He published a photograph on his Facebook page of himself with Ibrahim and her two children on the plane with the caption: "A couple of minutes away from Rome. Mission accomplished."
Ibrahim was sentenced to death in May on charges of converting from Islam to Christianity and marrying Christian South Sudanese-American Daniel Wani of Manchester, N.H.
In good health
Her conviction was quashed last month but Sudan's government accused her of trying to leave the country with falsified papers, preventing her departure for the United States with her husband and two children.
She was initially detained, then released and moved into the U.S. embassy in Khartoum.
Pistelli told reporters at the airport that the family was in good health and would stay in Italy for a few days before leaving for the United States.
The minister, who carried one of Ibrahim's young children off the plane, said he expected her to have "some important meetings" during her time in Italy.
Ibrahim says she was born and raised as a Christian by an Ethiopian family in Sudan and later abducted by a Sudanese Muslim family.
The Muslim family denies that and filed a lawsuit to have her marriage annulled last week in a new attempt to stop her leaving the country. That case was later dropped.
Prime Minister Renzi mentioned Ibrahim's case in his speech to inaugurate Italy's six-month European Union presidency earlier this month.
"If there is no European reaction we cannot feel worthy to call ourselves 'Europe'," Renzi said.
Apostasy is punishable by death in many countries' interpretation of Islamic law.