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Butler Student Completes Fellowship with Secretary of State's Office
Contact: AJ Freeney-Ruiz
Indianapolis, IN - Secretary of State Todd Rokita today announced Allison Hines of Columbus has completed the 2005 Indiana Secretary of State Fellowship Program. The summer-long program selects four undergraduate students from around the state and allows them the opportunity to experience state government first hand.
"Allison's hard work and positive attitude are a testament to her fine character. As are her leadership and passion for public service," Rokita said. "She truly has been a valuable addition to our team this summer as we continue to work to make this office a national model."
Hines is a junior at Butler University where she is pursuing degrees in journalism-public relations and political science. She is a member of the Council on Presidential Affairs and co-chairman of Butler College Republicans.
Hines previously worked for the Indiana Republican Party and will serve as an intern this fall with Congressman Mike Pence in Washington, D.C. The graduate of Columbus East High School served as class president and editor of the student newspaper as well as a varsity cheerleader before moving to college.
Hines cites her work in each of the Secretary of State's divisions as being the most memorable aspect of the fellowship and specifically cites her work to create a database of all newspaper articles written about the office as the most rewarding.
"My time here at the Secretary of State's office has allowed me to see government from an inside perspective I would not have been able to experience otherwise. You never realize all that goes on in state government until you experience it for yourself," Hines said. "It has been an honor to work for Secretary Rokita and his staff. They go above and beyond to make state government work for the people of Indiana."
Hines is the daughter of DeWayne and Tamara Hines.


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- Parent Category: News
Kankakee losing revenue; tax-sharing companies pull up stakes
Kankakee Mayor Nina Epstein tells the Chicago Tribune it appears all of the Kankakee tax-sharing deals are in jeopardy. That's a reported $4 million in revenues.
Two companies have cancelled their contracts with Kankakee. This comes after the state of Illinois changed its rules on how sales tax rates are calculated. The city's contracts, most of them anyway, have been with Internet-based firms.
Plans for Kankakee are to cut about 10% of its city budget to make up for the loss in sales tax revenues.
Kankakee COUNTY has also announced cuts of $35 million to its annual budget.
Larger companies had set up shop in Kankakee where the state's sales tax was much cheaper than Chicago. The two companies that ended the Kankakee arrangement were able to work around $4.3 million in local sales tax since 2006 by using Kankakee's lower 6.25% tax.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Hey guys!
I haven't posted in the MOC subforum for a while, so I'm showing you here my latest creations .
I hope you like them, btw. Critism is very appreciated for future builds!
I saidly didn't got any good shots of the wall, but in the following picture you can see a small cutout of it:
The backgroundstory you can read here, this topic is just to show the MOC, not the story .


text: Make a statement in this finely detailed gown from TERANI. This strapless dress has a delicate sweetheart neckline and is beautifully embellished along the bodice with shimmering crystals and sequins. The dress is formfitting, and has a mermaid flare at the tail of the dress, constructed from layers of soft tulle.


text: Hot Free The Escapers Flux 5.6.15 Multilingual (Mac OS X) Flux V has been rebuilt for OS X Mavericks & Yosemite. It's 64 bit, it's ARC, it's multi-threaded, it's Mavericks & Yosemite only, we have left the past behind, it's time to move forward, and only forward. We have tried to make Flux V the best, the most flexible, the most powerful Web Design app for the Mac. What is Flux?Flux is an application for designing websites, visually and using hand coding. You can start with a template, or with a blank page, it's up to you. You can hand-code, or never touch a single byte, it's all your decision. What You See Is What You GetFlux has an amazing WYSIWYG rendering engine, which means you can drag, stretch, and move objects like a you can in a DTP application, and your webpages will look exactly how you intended. Flux will generate all the code for you, with no unneccesary tags.Size, position, even margins and padding can be altered with handles on the elements themselves. If the properties are stored in external CSS stylesheets, these are automaticaly updated, and yes, you can still hand-code, Flux will understand your code. Flux doesn't make a distinction between typed code, or objects created by Flux, you can create anyway you like, and Flux will understand. Key Features:- CrowdCode - Download new and exciting elements for your pages, advanced users can even submit code for others to use. The Escapers hopes this will become the ultimate library for Web code.- Code Editing -Flux lets you edit your code freely, no limitations, just like a text editor. You can still use WYSIWYG, Flux makes no distinction between your code and any other code, it's all text editable and drag and drop editable.- Google Fonts - Use really cool typefaces in your pages without image hacks, Flash or anything else unpleasant. Flux will add the code for you, and let you choose from hundreds of different fonts.- WYSIWYG - Using Flux, you don't need to alter complex CSS jargon to move, resize, and configure elements, just move them with your mouse, and Flux will do the hard stuff for you. New in V5Flux V has dozen of new features and 100s of bug fixes. The all new Site Manager now has integrated FTP support. There are Media popups for finding the right image, a contextual toolbar makes changing properties easier than ever, we could go on, but it would be easier if you downloaded it and saw for yourself. Download Link(s)File(s) size: 40.1 MB


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September 2018
An epigenetic mechanism underlies the powerful cocaine–environment associations that promote relapse.
August 2018
Researchers developed a tool that enables them to closely monitor HIV activity in key brain cells. The tool may accelerate the development of treatments for HIV in the brain.
June 2018
Understanding the relationships between impulsivity and drug use vulnerability may help identify new ways of treating or preventing substance use disorders.
March 2016 A gene variant appears to partially shield people whose behaviors entail high risk for exposure to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from becoming infected.
February 2015 Can marijuana use put offspring at heightened risk for opiate addiction, even if the use stops before the offspring are conceived? Results from a recent NIDA-funded study are consistent with other studies suggesting that a parent's history of drug use, even preconception, may affect a child's brain function and behavior.
October 2014 Research shows that some gene variants that influence body mass index also shape smoking behaviors.
June 2014 Two recent studies suggest that genotyping may enable clinicians to base therapies on individual patients' potential responsiveness to opioid drugs' therapeutic effects and vulnerability to their harmful effects.
May 2014 One of NIDA's goals is to try to understand the individual differences that contribute to whether or not someone who takes a drug will become addicted to it. Dr. Rutter's research focuses on three types of differences: Environmental, developmental, and genetic and epigenetic.
November 2013 A meta-analysis of 13 genome-wide association studies of African Americans' smoking patterns confirms the significance of genetic variation in region 15q25.1. The analysis also tentatively implicates several genome locations that have not previously been associated with smoking behaviors.
August 2013 In a surprising finding, male rats who used cocaine sired male offspring who later exhibited blunted responses to the drug. Researchers determined the cause was an epigenetic alteration.


text:
Get a Website Built
Budżet £250-750 GBP
I am looking for someone to add an online store to an existing website and also make some superficial changes to the current design such as changing images, layout etc.
The current website is [url removed, login to view] and the changes will be similar to as below although this will be made easier to understand once we agree to work together and all assets will be provided:
• Change main image for attached to email (Picture of inside with turnstiles)
• Can the main backing image be on rotation?
• Change all text in the information boxes as per the content provided below and follow the same order
• Please change all images for attached to email
About Us
• Update content for attached to email
Menu Page
• Update menu and image
Meal Prep Page
• Change all images and order as follows; Stay Healthy, Get Shredded, Get Massive, MACRO Plan, Detox Plan
• Change content for attached (how it works etc)
• Please have each image click through to the correct area in the new online shop
• Update gallery with all images attached to emails
• Update latest news with the stories attached to email
• Add testimonials attached to email
Online Store
• Can this then be split into the following 3 sections: Collection, Delivery, Meal Prep
• Display full menu similar to Just Eat for collection and delivery but we want to include images (attached to email)
• Meal Prep needs to be organised into the different bundles with images
• Each bundle clicks through to the recommended dishes which have a drop down with nutritional information
• Can we organise the choices as follows: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snacks
• Can we have an option to tailor the meals if customer isn't happy with recommendations (this can be done similar to the app)
• Please see [url removed, login to view] for ideas
• Please use image and content attached to email
86 freelancerów złożyło ofertę na kwotę £691 do tego projektu
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text:
Ita maximo terrore perculsi Fidenates, prius paene quam Romulus equitesque qui cum eo erant circumagerent equos, terga verterunt [tergum vertere : fugere] atque oppidum repetebant. Non tamen a persequentibus se eripuere [eripuere = -erunt]: priusquam fores portarum opponerentur, Romani velut uno agmine in oppidum irruperunt.
The second sentence seems to be saying that despite fleeing their pursuers the Fidenates were unable to block the gates to their city before it was invaded by the Romans.
Now I find Orberg's punctuation (if my reading of the Latin is correct) somewhat strange. Because it seems to me that the sentence should be punctuated as follows:
Non, tamen a persequentibus se eripuere, priusquam fores portarum opponerentur, Romani velut uno agmine in oppidum irruperunt.
1) Why is he using a colon after eripuere?
2) Am I right in saying that the word Non governs opponerentur?
I am sometimes at a loss to understand Orberg's punctuation.


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Billy Connolly once famously worried how a guy who drives a snowplough gets to work in the morning. But in a deal announced today with TomTom, he might just be able to help out himself. One of Britain's most popular comedians, the Big Yin is the newest voice of satellite navigation. He joins the growing line-up of voices available for use on devices made by TomTom, the world's leading navigation solutions provider.
Over 40 million TomTom users can now download Billy's voice as their trusted navigator, with indispensable advice such as: "Turn around when possible. It is advisable to turn your entire car around. Do not just turn around inside the car."
The Big One reassures you he's no impersonator. "This really is Billy Connolly. It's not the creepy guy you get on cheap birthday cards. It's my real voice. No swearing, no dirty bits, I'll keep you safe."
Billy Connolly said today: "You'll take the high road and I'll take the low road, and I'll be in Scotland afore ye with my wee canny sat nav."
But he'll have a go if you don't follow his navigation instructions. "Make a U turn. None of this would have been necessary had you been listening a minute ago." Or, more sardonically: "U turn ahead. I'll be here when you get back."
TomTom sat nav devices guide drivers with audible, turn-by-turn instructions and 3D maps, saving time and money through technical innovations such as IQ Routes. This is based on the world's largest collection of historical speed profiles - 1.8 trillion speed measurements - across 15 million kilometres of European roads.
TomTom's Live Services include HD Traffic for real-time traffic information across borders in seven European countries, updated every three minutes - as well as five day weather forecasts anywhere in Europe.
Billy Connolly can be downloaded from today for £8.99. Other available voices include John Cleese, Snoop Dogg, KITT, Burt Reynolds, Dennis Hopper, Kim Cattrall, Eddie Izzard, Sven Goran Eriksson - and even Homer Simpson.16 April 2010


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Granco Federal Credit Union of Ephrata, Washington has been serving its members for more than 58 years, currently from 2 locations. It is classified as a primarily communications or utilities common bond.
Checking services include no cost share drafts, share certificates with low minimum balance requirements, bill pay services and overdraft lines of credit. Debit cards and prepaid debit cards are available.
For members needing to establish credit, the credit union offers a credit builder program. Financial counseling, financial education and financial literacy workshops are available.
In addition to vehicle loans and other types of credit, Granco FCU can do real estate loans. Conveniences include check cashing, international remittances, low-cost wire transfers and money orders. Granco FCU members may also take advantage of student scholarships and loans based on expected tax refund.
Those with other financial, savings, and investment needs will appreciate individual development accounts and insurance/investment products that are offered.
You can visit the credit union electronically via online account access, bank by phone and mobile. Remote functions allow you to fill out a loan app, get your account balance, order checks, make loan payments, view account history, make share account transfers, bill payments, download your account history, view statements and make payments via mobile devices.
Free credit report for Canada residents.
Monitor your credit and protect against identity theft! Who checked your credit report recently, and what did they see?
Wenatchee Valley Federal Credit Union , East Wenatchee (33 miles.)
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Special offer to credit union members. See your instant credit report.
Also see our daily credit union news page.
Online newspapers and TV stations serving Ephrata and Washington: KING-NBC, USA Today, or view a national listing of newspapers.
Thinking of buying a car? See Washington car dealers listed alphabetically by city.


text:
Israel and Gaza: Enough Is Enough
Israel and Gaza: Enough is Enough
By Rabbi Michael Lerner
First step: the international community, led by the U.S., should impose an immediate cease-fire on all sides of the struggle, and should introduce an international peace force to restrain and if necessary arrest anyone involved in any side of this struggle who is acting to continue the violence. That force should be equally charged with arresting any military figures on the Israeli side or guerrilla forces on the Palestinian side that are attempting to engage in hostilities.
Second step: hold an international conference to create a politically and economically viable Palestinian state living in peace with Israel (details on what that would look like are in my bookEmbracing Israel/Palestine which you can order online at www.tikkun.org/eip, or on Kindle format at Amazon.com).
Third step: begin a truth and reconciliation process to coincide with implementing the creation of a politically and economically viable Palestinian state.
So how do we get there, given the apparent willingness of everyone from Obama to the most liberal Dems in the Congress to want to be seen as giving Israel carte blanche to do what it will to punish Hamas, and even the normally predictable peace voices are keeping a very low profile?
We have to move the focus from who did what to whom and how badly should we feel to the more significant question: how do we use this moment to push beyond the usual cacophony of righteous believers in the goodness of their side's cause so that we can realize that the issue for all humanity is how to put love, kindness and caring for each other and for the earth on our collective agenda, realizing that the human race simply cannot allow itself to be distracted by outrageous and endless vicious nationalist struggles.
Yes, there are steps that could be taken to guarantee a lasting cease-fire. Israel could offer to end the blockade of Gaza (which in any event has been ineffective in keeping Hamas from gaining long-range missile capabilities) and end all drone over flights in both the West Bank and Gaza and all targeted assassinations in exchange for Hamas agreeing to allow international monitors search all forms of entry to Gaza to prevent that military hardware from being imported and simultaneously agreeing to prevent all future bombardment of S'derot and any other Israeli targets and to punish those engaged in rogue actions of that sort (e.g. Islamic Jihad or whoever else tries to provoke war by shooting at Israel from Gaza). This same force should be policing West Bank settlers some of whom are committed to disrupting any peace process that might lead to a reduction in the West Bank settlements.
But no such moves are likely to work without a fundamental change of attitude: a new approach of compassion for each side by the other, the adoption of a zero tolerance of war as a solution to anyone's problems, and the replacing of the strategy of "we'll show them how tough we are" attitude that I call a strategy of domination with a new strategy of generosity ("we'll show them how much we can care for them beyond all reasonable expectations"). Cancel the endless attempts in the media for each side to try to prove that their side is the righteous victim and the other side the "evil other." Most important: we need to develop a societal wide therapy to help Israelis overcome their greatest fear: the fear of being seen as a "fryar," someone who is too optimistic about the decency of other human beings and the potential or turning enemies into friends. Until this Israeli pathology is overcome, no amount of rationality is likely to emerge in Israeli discourse or poltics.
The first steps in this process: it is time the Israelis acknowledge the cost of their Occupation and denial of fundamental democratic and human rights on the Palestinian people. Much of the Israeli media gives little attention to the ongoing violence directed at Palestinians, such as outright stealing of land from Palestinian farmers, IDF suppression of non-violent demonstrations against the Occupation, and holding Palestinians without charges. Targeted assassinations now carried out by drones whose daily presence in the skies over Gaza make that tiny area the world's largest outdoor prison. Ironically, except for the tiny percentage of Israelis who read Ha'aretz, most Israelis don't even have a clue about what the daily oppressive reality is like for people in the West Bank, much less for the million plus human beings living in Gaza.
The majority of Israelis go about daily life oblivious to the suffering that the status quo generates until Palestinians launch their (thankfully mostly ineffective) missiles against hapless citizens in S'derot and other southern Israeli towns. And when Israelis flex their overwhelming military muscles, the leaders (sic) of the organized Jewish community in the U.S. jump into line, screaming that Israel's existence is in danger (a complete fantasy) and that the U.S. must support its "ally" (which meanwhile is scheming how to drag the US into a war with Iran).
While it is true, as Palestinians and their global supporters purport, that Israel can (and does) murder far more Palestinians than Hamas murders Israeli civilians, nonetheless, the murder of civilians on either side only builds resentment and entrenches both sides in their self-righteous indignation. As civilians on both sides hide in terror (one in their bomb shelters, the other hiding wherever they can), their political leaders play a game of chess to promote their position and prolong the fighting. When in actuality, neither Hamas nor the Netanyahu government wants peace.
Hamas wants to subvert the P.A. efforts to get Palestine a higher status at the U.N. because that would make Hamas less viable in the coming Palestinian national elections. Its willingness to continue these symbolic (and more recently less symbolic and more substantive) launchings of missiles against Israeli targets are not aimed at winning anything. Though some may justify them morally as the response of the powerless to the ongoing evil of the Israeli occupation and its murderous day-to-day reality, we must also note that it is a cynical ploy by Hamas to undermine the Palestinian Authority's past seven years of non-violence and seeking accommodation with Israel. At the same time, Palestinian non-violence is the last thing the Netanyahu government wants, hence its provocative policies and statements as it continues dunam by dunam to undermine the possibility of a two state solution that it deceptively claims to still support, and now escalating the violence against Palestinian civilians as its calling card for the forthcoming Israeli elections. Netanyahu is willing to endanger the lives of Israelis by failing to reward Palestinian non-violence from the P.A. but instead escalating violence against Gaza. It's his ticket not only to reelection, but also to his legacy as "the Prime Minister who stood firm against outside pressure."
Nothing Israel can offer short of ending the Occupation now and creating a politically and economically viable Palestinian state (along terms I've outlined in chapter 9 of my 2012 book Embracing Israel/Palestine) will change anything. A cease-fire will lead to continuation of an awful status quo. Yet the kind of generous offer I propose in my book is not going to happen until there is a much larger change in the consciousness not only of Israelis and Palestinians but of their champions and cheerleaders around the world.
In short, what is needed is a new global ethos of recognizing that our well-being depends on the well-being of everyone else alive today and the well-being of the planet as well. The path to homeland security for everyone and every country is a path of generosity. And that generosity has to take form both in consciousness and in action. Consciousness that is learned by hearing each other's stories so that we are able to see the world from the others' perspective. In Israel and Palestine, that must involve learning about each other's histories to provide compassionate understanding for the current situation.
The action form: the U.S. should take the leadership with the other advanced industrial countries (the G-20) to launch a domestic and global Marshall Plan aimed at giving 1-2% of each country's Gross Domestic Product each year for the next twenty to once and for all end global poverty, homelessness, hunger, inadequate education, inadequate health care and to repair the damage done to the global environment. Such a program, financed from the trillions saved in military spending, and in part by a 1% Tobin tax on all global money transfers of more than a million dollars. This strategy would provide the world with a far more effective path to safety and security. If implemented in a true spirit of generosity, such an action would break the depressive certainty that every country has that no one cares about anyone else but themselves, and thus open the hearts of people in the Middle East who remain stuck in various demonizing visions of who the other "really is."
To implement such a strategy, it will take average citizens around the world, like you and me, not only to demand an end to this senseless violence, but also to insist that our own countries reject the strategy of domination and adopt the strategy of generosity. As a symbolic statement of our support for this direction, I urge you to use this Thanksgiving to raise this idea of generosity and caring for others as the foundation for our global survival and as the only practical and realistic path to end the struggle between Israel and the Palestinians!!! And lovingly tell the partisans who will insist that what is needed is more support for the violence of one side or the other that their approach is really destructive to the well-being of the very people they claim to be serving, because the endless cycle of violence does damage both to the bodies and spirits of both Israelis and Palestinians. And then, if you can develop this capacity of compassion within yourself, provide empathy for the depth of their pain (try to understand their story – the story of those who will put you down for being too idealistic – because they too are in pain and can only be moved when their pain in listened to and understood). And then engage with them in visualizing a way to bring a lasting peace that doesn't involve annihilating or expelling the other from the Holy Land! And recognize that the realists who insist that caring for others is unrealistic are actually the reason why we've never been able to eliminate war, poverty and oppression. So affirm the centrality of love and generosity, because in fact these provide the foundation for the only strategy that can possibly work.
To assist in this process, please read the following prayer or meditation early in the Thanksgiving meal, and then be prepared to face those who seek to minimize the seriousness of your statements or to tell you how unrealistic it is or how inappropriate since they don't want to think of anything serious. Tell them that it's time for them and for the world to be less "realistic," (to the extent that realists allow "that which is" to shape their vision of "that which could be") and more visionary, else we are condemned to endlessly repeat the self-destructive behavior being manifested in the current struggle in the Middle East. The path of the so-called "realists" has led to endless wars and destruction. Enough is enough! It's time to stop being realistic and instead start insisting on the kind of world that we, and all humanity need and want. After Thanksgiving, contact your Congressional reps and tell them that you want the US to change its role from lead cheerleader for Israel to actually being substantively pro-Israel, understanding that the only way to be pro-Israel is to also be pro-Palestine, because the fate of both peoples is eternally interlocked and interdependent.
The Thanksgiving Meditation, Prayer or Guided Visualization
Today we give thanks to this incredible universe for all the beauty, the goodness and the miracles that surround us every day and to which we have given too little conscious attention. And we celebrate the ability to be with friends, neighbors, family or others on this holy day of joyful appreciation of all the good in our lives.
This is the right moment, then, for us to also put forward our prayers or intentions for a world of peace. We who recognize that our ability to live today enjoying all the benefits of North America was achieved in part through a genocidal struggle against the native peoples of this land are not willing to live through another period in which other peoples may be losing their lands to settlers or oppressive colonization.
This year it is hard not to be dismayed at the murdering that goes on between Israel and Palestine, and the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians. This Thanksgiving some of us commit ourselves to doing all we can to stop the conflict and to start the process of non-violent, open-hearted reconciliation and peace. We reject the advice of the "political realists" who tell us that this struggle will go on forever, at untold levels of human suffering. Instead, we urge our own government to work with others to impose a cease-fire, and then to convene an international conference of the most powerful and spiritually responsible countries that can act together to build the new consciousness our planet so badly needs.
Some of us, whether or not we believe in God or Goddess or Spirit, are Spiritual Progressives—that is, people who want the world to be reorganized in ways that promote love, kindness, generosity, ethical and ecological sensitivity, and awe, wonder and radical amazement at the grandeur and mystery of all that is. We spiritual progressives believe that the real source of strength for any country or people will come from the degree to which its neighbors and the people of the world see that country as a source of generous love, social justice, peace, non-violence and generosity toward all and environmental sanity toward the earth.
So on this Thanksgiving we call upon the world to actively involve itself with bringing peace and prosperity to all places where violence and wars continue to be waged. We call upon the advanced industrial countries to launch a domestic and global Marshall Plan by dedicating 1-2% of the GDP of the economically advanced industrial countries of the world, the G-20, to be used to eliminate poverty, homelessness, hunger, inadequate education, inadequate health care, and to repair the global environment—to be paid for by the trillions of dollars that will otherwise be spent on militarism and attempts to dominate and control the world. We know that this approach will require major political changes, and that is why we support the Network of Spiritual Progressives' "Money out of Politics" campaign that goes way beyond affirming that corporations are not people and money is not speech. The ESRA also bans all private and corporate monies from national and state elections (check it out atwww.spiritualprogressiives.org
And in the spirit of Thanksgiving, we affirm our dedication to being unrealistic for peace, social justice, environmental sanity, and a world based on love, caring, kindness and generosity. In so doing, we will make realistic what at first seemed to be unrealistic. And so it is. Amen.
–Rabbi Michael Lerner is editor of the Jewish and interfaith quarterly Tikkun magazine (in print by subscription and on line at www.tikkun.org), chair of the interfaith (and atheist-welcoming) Network of Spiritual Progressives www.spiritualprogressives.org, and rabbi of Beyt Tikkun synagogue in Berkeley and San Francisco California www.beyttikkun.org. ,
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24 Responses to Israel and Gaza: Enough Is Enough
Dear Rabbi Lerner ~
I have distributed your compassionate and thoughtful message ("Israel and Gaza: Enough Is Enough") to my network, even though I take issue with it on a number of points. In general you tend to represent the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a symmetrical one, where blame is to be apportioned even-handedly, despite the harangues of "all the usual suspects" to identify emotionally with one side or another. To break the cycle of violence, you call upon all parties to bargain in good faith with the prayerful encouragement of the international peace-loving community.
Factually, I believe you are in error in suggesting that Hamas sabotaged the peace process, fearing it would lose political standing if a lasting settlement was to come about. In fact, it is fairly clear from the journalistic record that Israel initiated the current round of mayhem in order to scuttle the promise of a comprehensive truce. They managed to do so by, first, by having the IDF shoot a 13-year old Palestinian boy on November 08 under the pretext of searching for an arms cache; and then on November 14 they went much further by assassinating Ahmed al-Jabari, the leader of Hamas' military wing in a rocket attack. According to Dr. Gershon Baskin, who negotiated the release of Gilad Shalit and who was facilitating peace negotiations with Mr. Jabari, what happened is as follows [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/opinion/israels-shortsighted-assassination.html]:
"My indirect dealings with Mr. Jabari were handled through my Hamas counterpart, Ghazi Hamad, the deputy foreign minister of Hamas, who had received Mr. Jabari's authorization to deal directly with me…
"Passing messages between the two sides, I was able to learn firsthand that Mr. Jabari wasn't just interested in a long-term cease-fire; he was also the person responsible for enforcing previous cease-fire understandings brokered by the Egyptian intelligence agency. Mr. Jabari enforced those cease-fires only after confirming that Israel was prepared to stop its attacks on Gaza. On the morning that he was killed, Mr. Jabari received a draft proposal for an extended cease-fire with Israel, including mechanisms that would verify intentions and ensure compliance. This draft was agreed upon by me and Hamas's deputy foreign minister, Mr. Hamad, when we met last week in Egypt."
Reading over this now-defunct draft, one finds many points of agreement with your own peacekeeping proposals, including the willingness of Hamas to punish maverick elements who unleash rockets against Israel – even to the point of permitting Israel to bomb their rocket sites without retaliation.
With regards to your own proposal I am frankly astonished that you would propose that the USA take a leadership role in ameliorating the conflict, when since the days of Jimmy Carter that country under the guiding hand of AIPAC has steadfastly supported Israel militarily, economically and diplomatically, no matter what. If in the immediate future you are looking for an honest broker having no obvious stakes in the outcome, why not consider the People's Republic of China, for instance?
You invoke the Holocaust complex as an explanation for the jitteriness of the Jewish people when facing rocket attacks that issue from Gaza, however infrequent and ineffectual. Yet the most hysterical voices in Israel seem to be coming from Yisrael Beiteinu, a group now merged with Netanyahu's Likud that consists largely of Russian immigrants. Although they are not Holocaust survivors, these folks nevertheless advocate ethnic cleansing with the aim of achieving a Greater Israel stretching from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River.
As an explanation for Israeli passivity, you propose that the vast majority of the Israeli population know very little about the sufferings of the Palestinian people. How is this to be explained with regards to a well-educated polity, except through the same mechanism of denial which excused all those Good Germans from knowing about Jewish suffering during the Nazi Zeit?
Please explain, Rabbi Lerner, how a policy of appeasement can produce better results than it did in Neville Chamberlain's time? Looking back to the Nazizeit, would today's Holocaust survivors not wish that the Allies had blockaded, embargoed and generally isolated Germany before things got so badly out of hand?
Perhaps these Holocaust victims who are still so influential in Israeli politics are just re-enacting the trauma of the Warsaw Ghetto from a different perspective, by playing the role of the SS this time round. We may feel compassion for these crazed souls. But surely the first order of business is to deprive them of their deadly toys.
Of course we should all make every efforts to extend the olive bough, but in the case of intransigent nations with a psychopathic leadership class this may be an effective strategy only when we accept nothing of commercial value in return. No electronic components, no oranges, no machine-guns, nothing. Rather than just praying for a change of heart within the leadership caste, as humble consumers we can loosen some of the anguish in our hearts by making a sacred vow to boycott this tiny nuclear-armed apartheid state before it is too late.
But that doesn't we shouldn't keep praying just the same.
I close with a poem which I wrote on the occasion of last Gaza massacre. (I suspect that "kaza" in Old Yiddish does not really means cheese, but please forgive my poetic licence.)
One love.
The Hundred Year Siege
Kaza in Old Yiddish means cheese.
For reasons lost to time, that is what people
used to call the Jewish section of the city,
where they went to buy fresh produce.
Standing on the knoll above the ghetto,
one can imagine the pastel dwellings,
pockmarked with shell holes, as blocks
of rubbery emmental, such as were sold
in the delis that lined Einsteinstasse,
before it was reduced to rubble
one hundred years ago.
The decision by the ageing Gestapo not
to invade Kaza, apart from the periodic
stuka blitz, has been regarded as
a mixed blessing by the populace,
now in its fourth generation under siege.
The rabbinate is grateful to worship
in the grassy hollows where synagogues
once stood, but there is concern that prayer
under open skies invites a backward slide
into paganism with its torrid spectacles.
Starved and half-crazed, the survivors
spend their days crawling through rubbish
looking for rats to club. It has been
slim pickings since the wehrmacht welded
the sewers shut some ninety years ago.
Still going the rounds is that tired joke
about some jut-jawed American actor
exchanging his Ben Hur costume
for a Soylent Green lab jacket.
Now and then the partisans will
throw a machine-gun over the wall,
and always there's somebody with
spunk enough to play the game.
First, you hear the rat-a-tat-tat.
Next come the stukas snarling.
Later, the airwaves crackle with
alerts about ghetto criminality.
Yes, our poets still sing of love.
But what is this abomination
that has smitten them?
Like Narcissus, they imagine
embracing a blond hunk,
while guzzling foul water
from puddles in the street.
Thank you, Mr. Smith, for your powerful and beautifully written response to Rabbi Lerner. You are saying what needs to be said.
"While it is true, as the Palestinians and their global supporters purport, that Israel can (and does) murder far more Palestinians than Hamas murders Israeli citizens, this ignores the suffering of citizens in S'derot who for years now have regularly faced rockets launched from Gaza that forced them to run to shelters to protect their families from the potential murderous impact of those Hamas generated missiles. And now millions of Israelis are once again experiencing the fear of mass annihilation. The rockets fired at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, reinforce the Holocaust traumas that pervade Jewish consciousness and provides the most right-wing elements in the Israeli government with precisely the kind of "evidence" it needs that there can be no two state solution (because the Palestinian Authority can't control Hamas and hence can't deliver a lasting peace agreement)."
Michael, as a stealth Zionist you are part of the problem and still expect us to believe you? I don't think so. Look at your words I posted above and think about the real 64 year long Palestinian Holocaust caused by European and American Jews to a completely innocent peoples, the Palestinians made to pay for European Gentiles treatment of Jews. This is the gross inequity and basic human rights violation that you never address being a closet Zionist yourself, one of the European invaders trying to reign in the political Left and liberals to the Zionist cause. A two-state solution for Palestinians is no solution at all. Look at the fact of the split country that dooms it from the start as a viable separate state. And Palestinians really only have to be patient and wait out Jewish control over Palestine because by 2050 even in Israel Palestinian Arabs will outnumber and outvote in any real democracy Israeli Jews. Why not help Palestinians with real solution, like the Canaan Peace Plan.
Steve Lewis,you are obviously in the pay of Hamas and have shown yourself to be another left wing anti-Israel/anti-semitic troll.
I condemn equally Hamas,Israel,the settlers and radical extremist elements on all sides. Both sides are suffering-Hamas never has nor will recognize Israel,nor do they realize that Jews and Israelis too are human and in pain.
Dear Rabbi:
You are a Sixties radical. Why don't you put your body where your mouth is? Why not leave your secure womb in the San Francisco Bay area and get on the ground one more time.
You claim to have been in the trenches in the Sixties. Why not go back to the barricades one more time.
Rabbi Hartman did this in the Seventies. He went from Canada to Israel.
If not now, when?
In the meantime, have a happy Thanksgiving.
Alan D Hughes: I guess you are an ultra right wing Israel supporter: people like you and Hamas both deserve each other.
I condemn Hamas,Israel's ultra right wing,the settlers all equally.
It makes me sick. Hamas has never looked at the suffering of Israel,nor has Israel and the settlers ever looked at innocent suffering and victims of Palestinians & Israelis who are both caught in this unholy crossfire. I guess all sides like war.
Rabbi lerner is such a compassionate person who exudes a spiritual enlightenment that he is very attractive to read,study, etc
But I also find I have a lot in common with what Douglas Smith has written – it resonates very strongly
Both sides are not equal – Israel does have the lion's share of everything at the moment.
The position of the West and the US and the EU i particualrly disgraceful right now – we have armed Israel to the teeth, in fact, israel is now hysterically over-armed.
Obviously, this hasn't always been the case but David GrOssman, the novelist, once wrote"THisis the first time in 2, 0000 years that we are on top.."
It says a lot
There has also been the case of extremmely negative leadership.
Nethnahyu has promoted an environment of fear and hatred – he has convinced Israelis that a state of perpetual warfare is necessary for israel's survival and by default, his re-election is necessary.
The days of Rabin and the peace camp are now long gone. Rabbi lerner's words were more heeded to then.
Hamas won the election in gaza in 2006 and i agree with Douglas – this has ot be recognized. The siege of Gaza has to be lifted
That's a minimum
Dear Rabbi Lerner,
Thank you for your words and insight. Like all honest peacemakers, I'm sure you are used to being torn at from all sides. Please know that people of all backgrounds and traditions are inspired by the leadership you bring, and are praying alongside for lasting peace and justice.
You propose a peacekeeping force to keep the Arabs in Gaza from firing missiles at Israeli civilians.
Allow me to point out that such a force was created in Lebanon with the express purpose of keeping Hizbollah from re-arming, and yet they've apparently imported thousands of new missiles right under the noses of the UN peacekeepers.
Today's Washington Post has the latest example: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/security-official-lebanese-army-dismantles-rockets-in-south-lebanon-aimed-at-israel/2012/11/19/e10ab860-325d-11e2-92f0-496af208bf23_story.html
Folks, Tikkun itself is just like Michael Lerner's blog here, it's a fraud, it's window dressing for a bad religious ideology that dooms Judaism and its priesthoods from ever becoming a moral model universally. The elephant in the room that Jews have made Gentiles fearful of even mentioning is the historical and ideological fact Judaism is based on racism. It's theology is based on separating Jews from the majority of humankind and the separation is not done in peaceful respect at all: like all racist ideologies, it's foundation is that Jews are a superior race than Gentiles and despite all the attempts to cover this fact up it's Scriptural basis cannot be hidden, it's in the Torah and Talmud and don't be fooled by the blanket ADL defense that all these Scriptures were made up by Gentiles as if racist white supremist Gentiles would spend their spare time learning all the ins and outs of rabbinical Talmudism. This post will no doubt be instantly labeled "anti-Semitism" as Michael has previously censored my posts because I blame Ashkenazim Jews like he is, like I am as well, for creating the hideous mess that is Israel in the first place. Unless and until the crime against humanity is exposed as such that is the Jewish religious war to capture Palestine from Palestinians there will be no peace with Palestinians. To them, to any person of ethical stature, what Western powers did in cahoots with Zionist Ashkenazim to destroy Palestine is criminal. How can Palestinians make peace with fascist invaders and occupiers? Who would want them too but Zionist Jews protecting their criminal enterprise from rightful anger from its victims.
If Michael was really the political visionary and spiritually wise guy he thinks he is, he'd own up to the racist ethnic cleansing ideology of Zionism that has no place in any modern democracy that treats all of its citizens without prejudice. The Muslims have it right when they claim Zionism is just another form of European Crusader mentality and is only a ruse for Western powers to establish their European control colony in the midst of Muslim Arabs. But lest you all think I want to see Israelis pushed into the sea, no I don't, and being a true spiritual visionary unlike some prominent phonies I could mention making that claim, God has given me a spiritually based peace plan that protects all citizens of the Holy Land, Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Go to: http://biomystic.org/canaanpeaceplan.htm.
I'm sorry to be so harsh on Michael and his Jewish religion but it's past time for us to let this particular Abrahamic religion continue on creating social havoc in its perpetual religious war with Gentiles. And please note, Judaism is not the only bad actor in the Abrahamic fold, Pauline Christians and Muhammad's Muslims do their share of using God for cover for power mad ambitious males who aren't content with rulership only in their own lifetimes but want to and have succeeded in reaching out from their graves to swindle millions of believers suckered by authority figures handing them Scripts and telling them what to do. Your priests, your ministers, your imams, your rabbis..
Judaism is in its End Times. God has given me the true Celestial Torah and it is the source of the Messiah-Christ-Anointed One commandment from the Most High. I teach it and you can learn it at: http://biomystic.org/celestialtorah.htm.
Have a truly Happy Thanksgiving everyone, you too, Michael. Read my stuff and learn where the real Torah came from.
The Middle East is the home of all three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. So, they should be living in peace and harmony as religious cousins of each other. But will that ever happen? Only God knows.
The ball is in the court of Zionism. Why and how? Arab-Palestinians in particular and Muslims in general were devastated in 1917 and by the subsequent confrontations. As the time passed, both Palestinian-Arabs and Muslims in general, now accepted the reality of Israel being mandated by the UN with a border in 1947, but Israel is either discounting this honorable position or are too ambitious, as the occupation issue tells us. However, it is the occupation that is causing these recurrent conflicts and taking so many of lives, mostly from the Palestinians. The simple solution and possible peace could be achieved easily, if and only if Israel withdraw from all the occupied land and go back to the border of 1947, hence call for peace. Will Israel do that? Only God knows. Arab-Palestinians and Muslims would have embraced Israel and the Zionists as their religious cousins and forget the past pain, but they need a window of peace to do that. Who can convince and force Israel to go back to the 1947 border? Only God knows.
Steve Lewis: I am now sure that you are nothing but an internet troll and a racist anti-Jewish hater and a Hamas agent.
Why don't you go back to your Hamas friends and get lost?! Your references to "Zionists" is offensive to me. It isn't only Israel that is at fault here in this conflict,Hamas shares major blame,egged on by armchair generals and Hamas fools like you! A plague upon Hamas,a p[lague upon Ahmadinejad and a plague upon anti-semitic trolls like Steve Lewis!! I'll be happy to endorse you to Hamas-you belong with them!
Steve Lewis,you are obviously,an anti-semitic,ignorant,pro-Hamas fool.
Why don't you go and live with Hamas and become their "Toady"!
It's anti-semitic haters like you and David Duke that should be banned from Tikkun.
Take your anti-Jewish bias elsewhere.
As for your Hamas supported propaganda,STFU!!
Marc, whenever my critics resort to schoolyard name-calling and slander to defend their positions I know I've won the debate. Here in America, there were European-Americans who befriended the indigenous peoples and to other European-Americans they were often referred to in highly negative terms as "Injun lovers". I am one of these European-American Injun lovers whose worked with Native Americans now off and on for over 17 years helping in their efforts to reclaim lost ancestral lands taken by white European-Americans without any sort of compensation. Now here you are as European Jewish-American trying to copy the racism of Gentile European-Americans, only your racism is applied to Arab Palestinians as you call me, an "anti-Semite" completely forgetting Palestinians are Semitic peoples while you are probably just like me, Ashkenazim Jewish convert descended with only minute traces of real Semitic ancestry but that doesn't stop you from calling me in so many words, an Semite-loving anti-Semite. The absurdity of your attack matches the irrationality of Zionist Jews from Europe actually thinking they could claim a land never their own as if international laws preventing invasion and occupation of other peoples countries did not apply to Jews, being "special" as in especially greedy and inhumane towards the human rights of Gentiles in their way.
Israel is a moral monstrosity in most every sense of that word. An ugly eyesore filled with bigots whose religion teaches them never to share, just take, take, and take some more. God's finished with Judaism and Israel and Zionism. Abandoned completely now with the Megiddo discovery that completely overthrows all Jewish claims to Canaan/Palestine as based on Jewish myths without historical foundation, such as the great longevity of ancient Israel which turns out to be a nation that lasted less time as an independent nation than our own America.
I know you are frustrated to see your religion dying away but Jews won't be alone in that once the Megiddo findings effect the Armageddon End Times on each and every Abrahamic religion starting with Judaism.
It's NEVER a good sign when anybody uses a phrase like "God has given ME the celestial Torah"(or the True Gospel, for that matter).
You need to recognize where religions begin and why as a result of many religious visionaries you're here posting on a religious discussion forum.
Rabbi (sic) Michael Lerner's narrative depends on a deeply cynical reading of the words and actions of Israel's leadership, and a conversely rose-tinted reading of that of the Palestinian leadership. Behind his flowery rhetoric of mindfulness, Lerner is an angry man.
On a more pragmatic level, Lerner ignores the history of successful peace talks in the region, versus those that were unsuccessful. Looking back to what happened with Nasser and Egypt there is reason to be optimistic that the Palestinian fantasy of wiping Israel off the map will one day fade, but not using the approach of Oslo. Change the Palestinian school textbooks, insist on a congruent message of two-state recognition and universal human rights delivered in both English and Arabic, and in a generation, peace will arrive.
The British Chief Rabbi Lord Sack spilled out the truth at BBC last week when he said:"I think it has got to do with Iran, actually."
What he meant was, the 1.5 million native Palestinians living in Gaza concentration camp have never posed a threat to the the Zionist regime. But the current Israeli assualt on Gaza is Netanyahu's desperate attempt to draw Obama into the war on Israel side in case Iranian ever try to come to rescue Gazans from US-donated F-16s.
Hey! Rehmat: I get it-you are an ignorant,hateful,anti-semitic troll.
Why don't you STFU! And go back to Hamas,as you obviously work for them-I'm happy to endorse you to Hamas and Ahmadinejad!!
To: both Steve Lewis and Hehmat: Have some Nux Vomica!!!
Zionists claim that GOD made a covenant with Abraham giving his descendants right of occupation. Interesting piece of myth (or perhaps propaganda, but no actual proof). Then Yasser Arafat (not his real name) liked to claim that the "Palestinians" were there "since time immemorial". Also not true. So, neither side has a good case for occupation and the rest of us need to spank them all and make them play nicely together.
Actually, Michael's always been jealous of me because he knows I know more about the roots of Judaism than he does. Know for example, that the Jewish earthly Torah was ripped off from Egypt and done the typical Jewish remake job which butchered it. While the Egypt understood the celestial connections between heaven and earth, Jews stealing the Egyptian concept divorced astrological meaning from the earthly Torah and thus ruined it. Instead of ancient Egypt's record of being the longest lasting continuous civilization on earth, the Jews with their botched job Torah created only a template for continuous religious warfare and the inevitable social and political instability and disruption continuous warfare would bring. Instead of lasting thousands of years, ancient Israel lasted less time as an independent nation than America. Judaism is a trumped up religion based on rabbinical liars and lying. The Megiddo finds of Israeli archeologists confirm the lies of an ancient Israel stretching back to a time of Abraham and Moses and David and Solomon. All crocks of baloney which makes ALL Torah/Tanakh/Talmud doctrines devoid of spiritual authority. You can't get spiritual authority from fables and fictitious personages. Of course, rabbis having their careers at stake won't tell you this and keep the Abrahamic ruse going that kills and kills and kills for control of territory. The only moral option for any Jew at this point is to renounce a bogus religion that is the foundation of 2500 years of non-stop Abrahamic religious warfare that has cost the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
For those interested in how God has provided for spiritual guidance even as Judaism, Pauline Christianity, Muhammad's Islam, Bahai, Mormonism, and all the Abrahamic religions that base their theologies on the Bible stories as real history go down the historical discovery tubes, please go to: http://biomystic.org/celestialtorah.htm.
Celestial Torah Christianity shows with historical ancient astro-theological images and their meanings where the Messiah/Christ/Anointed One theology originates which is far older than Judaism or traditional (Pauline) Christianity. By divorcing astrological meaning from the earthly Jewish Torah, priests of Judah and now rabbis continue to promote a very false tribal ideology in place of a universal spiritual theology that is truly Messianic because it recognizes where God has placed the Humanitarian Model in the heavens where no man can touch it for spiritual guidance for us on earth.
For those interested in how God through the Son of Man tradition culminating in Jesus Christ's Humanitarian Model reestablishes the One to one linkage between God and humanity, please go to: http://biomystic.org/gospelofhumanity.htm
The Gospel of Humanity reveals the identity of God and God's Plan for humanity unlike Judaism which was not given that spiritual information because of fraudulent spiritual authority claimed by Jewish mystics and priests. So Jews were given nebulosity and vagueness and failed to recognize God's restitution of the direct God/Humanity relationship plainly symbolized in Genesis I and known throughout the ancient world which reproduced that relationship in pagan mythologies of gods and human beings intertwined in destinies.
A new Christian Humanism is here as spiritual relief and passover guidance to avoid the End Times of Abraham as God takes the ax to the trees that have produced such bad fruit.
steve go post on your own site. You spout nonsense and you don't sound too humanistic to me. I think there is freedom of religion in the United States and frankly your rantings are irrelevant to the discussion. If you want to find converts or haters, I don't think most people here are interested. Most will bypass your nonsensical self-tirades and you call yourself a Christian? Jesus would be ashamed of you.


text:
ARMED robbers wearing balaclavas threatened two security guards with a machete before making off with a 'substantial' amount of cash in an early morning raid.
Police are appealing for witnesses to the armed robbery, which took place at 6.30am this morning (Friday, February 7) at Sainsbury's on Crescent Road, in Middlesbrough.
Two Loomis security guards were filling up the cash machine at the store when one of them was approached by two men wearing balaclavas as he was retrieving the cash box from the van. One of the men was brandishing a large machete-type weapon and a scuffle ensued.
They then frog-marched him over to his colleague inside the store and threatened them into handing over a substantial amount of cash.
A dark car with a driver inside was waiting for them outside of the shop and they made off down Crescent Road towards Union Street. Police have recovered a grey Vauxhall Astra in Meath Street, in Middlesbrough, a short distance away from the scene and are carrying out forensic tests.
Police are carrying out extra patrols in the area and following up house-to-house enquiries in the area.
Anyone who was in the area who saw anything suspicious or knows anything about the robbery is asked to contact Cleveland Police on the non-emergency number 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800-555-111.
A Sainsbury's spokesman said: Sainsbury's spokesperson: "We can confirm that there was a robbery at our Crescent Road Local store this morning.
"No one was harmed and we are working with the police on their investigations."


text:
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 22nd Dec 2012 16:12 UTC
In the final years of my high school career, more concerned with going out and drinking three times a week than with actually doing anything meaningful at my supposedly posh gymnasium, I rediscovered my love for computing - a love lost during the onset of aforementioned going out and drinking. Realising I would hit university soon, I saved up 2000 guilders, ordered the parts for a brand-new computer, and thanks to this then state-of-the-art computer, old flames were rekindled. Since this pun is burning a hole in my pocket - it was an enlightening experience.
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RE[4]: But is it more than eyecandy?
by djohnston on Sat 22nd Dec 2012 22:08 UTC in reply to "RE[3]: But is it more than eyecandy?"


text: INXS (pronounced "in excess") is an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax. For twenty years, they were fronted by Michael Hutchence on lead vocals, whose "sultry good looks" and magnetic stage presence made him the focal point of the band. Initially known for their New Wave/ska/pop style, they later developed a harder pub rock style, including funk and dance elements.


text:
2014 ISEF Special Awards
College Park, MD, May 30, 2014—AAPT/APS Special Awards in Physics and Astronomy at the 2014 International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) were announced during the awards ceremony at the conclusion of the fair. The 2014 competition, held in Los Angeles, California, May 11-16, is the only international science project competition for students in grades 9 through 12. Students qualify to compete by participating in school, local, regional, and/or state science fairs.
Top award winners receive a one-year AAPT and APS student membership, a certificate from both AAPT and APS, as well as subscriptions to AAPT's The Physics Teacher and select APS journals. Each sponsoring teacher of a student who receives an AAPT and APS award also receives a certificate.
The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF),https://student.societyforscience.org/special-awards-organizations is the world's largest international pre-college science competition, providing an annual forum for more than 1,700 high school students from over 70 countries, regions, and territories to showcase their independent research and compete for about $5 million in awards.
In addition to the Grand Awards, which were announced on Friday, May 16, more than 70 Special Awards organizations also provide awards. Special Award organizations provide educational scholarships, cash awards, summer internships, scientific field trips, and equipment grants. Special Awards were announced on Thursday, May 15.
AAPT/APS 2014 Special Award Winners:
First Award of $1,200
Second Award of $800
Third Award of $500
Certificate of Honorable Mention
About AAPT


text:
[Manga Maniac Café] Please welcome Kelly Fiore to the virtual offices this morning!
[Kelly Fiore] Thanks so much for having me!
[Manga Maniac Café] Describe yourself in 140 characters or less.
[Kelly Fiore] I'm an author, mother & former high school teacher. I love Hair Metal (think Def Leppard) & baking. I'm obsessed w/my Fiat 500 & I'm a sucker for movies with James McAvoy.
[Manga Maniac Café] Can you tell us a little about Taste Test?
[Kelly Fiore] Sure – TASTE TEST is about a high school senior named Nora who applies to be a contestant on Taste Test, which is a show like Top Chef but for teenagers. Nora gets on the show, but has to leave her best-friend-and-maybe-more, Billy, behind, along with her dad and the barbecue business she loves. When she gets to the set of the show, Nora's faced with a snotty roommate named Joy and an infuriating fellow contestant named Christian. Christian is super-competitive and, of course, super-hot – and that only makes Nora dislike him even more. As Nora gets further into the competition, secrets and mysteries begin to surface – there is a huge scandal bubbling just below the surface, a scandal that could bring down another contestant and maybe even a judge. Nora is determined to reveal this dramatic twist to the producers of the show, but when accidents start happening in the kitchen, she realizes she's got bigger problems after all. Nora needs to dig a little deeper to find out the truth about what's happening on the Taste Test set – before she becomes a victim, too.
[Manga Maniac Café] How did you come up with the concept and the characters for the story?
[Kelly Fiore] There are certain shows that have characters with great chemistry and sexual tension – the Pacey/Joey factor is what I like to call it (for those of you who don't know, Pacey and Joey were two of the characters on the 1990's show Dawson's Creek.) Blair and Chuck from Gossip Girl are another great example. I really tried to emulate that frustrating but satisfying relationship between Nora and Christian.
[Manga Maniac Café] What three words best describe Nora?
[Kelly Fiore] Competitive, Sassy, and Loyal
[Manga Maniac Café] If Christian had a theme song, what would it be?
[Kelly Fiore] That is a GREAT question! That might be the best one I've been asked!
I think Christian is the type of guy who would have a playlist, like in the locker room – how athletes play certain songs to psych themselves up. I feel like AC/DC "Back in Black" would be a good bet, but also something like "Can't Deny It" by Fabolous. Something with a lot of "smack talk" to it.
[Manga Maniac Café] Name one thing Nora is never without.
[Kelly Fiore] She has two pictures that she brings with her from home – one of her and her dad and one of her with her best friend, Billy. In some ways, she's never without those two people, even though they're far away from her. She learns to respect her roots and the culture she grew up in – I know that's not really a tangible thing, but it's definitely something she carries with her.
[Manga Maniac Café] What three things will you never find in Nora's kitchen?
[Kelly Fiore] Another fantastic question! In Nora's kitchen, you'll never find something fancy taking the place of something simple. No lobster, no caviar, no fois gras – she'd much rather cook ribs, potatoes, and corn on the cob!
[Manga Maniac Café] What are your greatest creative influences?
[Kelly Fiore] In terms of YA, my greatest writing influences are YA authors I admire – there are so many great writers out there. Some of the books that I find most inspiring are Liar by Justine Larbeleister, Please Ignore Vera Dietz by AS King, and Teach Me by RA Nelson. As a writer in general, poetry is what helped me establish my writing style and my voice. I have an MFA in poetry and it was my first love – I feel like poetry taught me how to tighten my prose and be more expressive in an abbreviated space.
[Manga Maniac Café] What three things do you need in order to write?
[Kelly Fiore] Coffee, noise in the background (usually the TV), and natural light. I work best around lots of windows!
[Manga Maniac Café] What was your biggest distraction while working on Taste Test?
[Kelly Fiore] The internet. Ugh – social networking is SO my downfall. It's far too easy to get sucked into the lives of other people instead of creating the lives on the page.
[Manga Maniac Café] What is the last book that you read that knocked your socks off?
[Kelly Fiore] The Fault of our Stars by John Green is absolutely as good as everyone says it is, and it was probably the last book I read that really blew me away.
[Manga Maniac Café] If you had to pick one book that turned you on to reading, which would it be?
[Kelly Fiore] The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. It was such a clever, magical world and I was totally enamored with the way Juster described his characters and settings. It's such a great story – so creative.
[Manga Maniac Café] What do you like to do when you aren't writing?
[Kelly Fiore] I spend most of my time with my husband and son – we love going on road trips and going hiking. I love to cook and try to do it as much as possible, although it's admittedly less often when I'm working on a book!
[Manga Maniac Café] How can readers connect with you?
[Kelly Fiore] Follow me on Twitter! I'm @kellyannfiore – I would love to talk to readers! You can also find me on Facebook @ www.facebook.com/KellyFioreYAAuthor or at my website, www.kellyfiorewrites.com.
[Manga Maniac Café] Thank you!
About the book:
If you can grill it, smoke it, or fry it, Nora Henderson knows all about it. She's been basting baby back ribs and pulling pork at her father's barbeque joint since she was tall enough to reach the counter. When she's accepted to Taste Test, a reality-television teen cooking competition, Nora can't wait to leave her humble hometown behind, even if it means saying good-bye to her dad and her best friend, Billy. Once she's on set, run-ins with her high-society roommate and the maddeningly handsome—not to mention talented—son of a famous chef, Christian Van Lorten, mean Nora must work even harder to prove herself. But as mysterious accidents plague the kitchen arena, protecting her heart from one annoyingly charming fellow contestant in particular becomes the least of her concerns. Someone is conducting real-life eliminations, and if Nora doesn't figure out who, she could be next to get chopped for good.
With romance and intrigue as delectable as the winning recipes included in the story, this debut novel will be devoured by all.


text:
A Salute to Those Who Serve
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Web Site Testing
Web Site Express v.2.7.1.000
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Web Site Publisher v.188.8.131.5297
Web Site Publisher is a free tool which will publishthe web site you develop on your computer to the web.Web Site Publisher is an intelligent FTP publishing tool and can be used to publish any web site that would normally be uploaded using FTP.
Web Site Maestro v.8 64
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Web Site Zapper
Web Site Zapper closes Web browsers that are displaying undesirable Web sites. It can be used either for popup control, or to control Internet access. It can also control WHEN people can access the Internet. Create lists of good and bad Web sites,


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ConVal athletic director, assistant step down amid investigationBy MEGHAN PIERCE
Union Leader Correspondent
October 08. 2013 10:23PM
PETERBOROUGH — ConVal Athletic Director Jon Hall has resigned from that position and has stepped down as coach of the ConVal Boys' Varsity soccer team, according to ConVal School District Superintendent of Schools Brendan Minnihan.
Hall resigned Sept. 30. Mel Keeler, administrative assistant in the Athletic Department, resigned Oct. 1.
There is an ongoing investigation related to discrepancies in student activity funds, according to Minnihan. When asked if there was a connection between the resignations and the investigation, Minnihan said he could not comment.
Both Hall and Keeler had general oversight of the funds, Minnihan said Tuesday, adding that "different people touch the funds at different times."
In an email, Minnihan wrote: "Approximately two weeks ago we became aware of discrepancies in student activity funds. There are funds that various student groups raise through fundraising or other activities. Discrepancies in the cash receipts were discovered when bank deposits were made. We launched an investigation and reported the matter to the Peterborough Police Department. Although no conclusive evidence was uncovered, we have determined that proper record-keeping protocols were not followed.
"The district takes this matter seriously and will be reviewing and revising its practices to assure that tighter financial controls are implemented and followed. The district will also assure that all student activity funds are made whole. It is our understanding that no criminal charges will be pursued against any individual."
He said he has heard some folks speculating that a large amount of money is missing.
"The amount of money that we're talking about is somewhere around $1,000," he said.
Hall and Keeler could not be reached for comment.
Education Social issues Sports Peterborough Top Section Stories


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Please note: You are viewing an archived Bucknell University news story. It is possible that information found on this page has become outdated or inaccurate, and links and images contained within are not guaranteed to function correctly.
By Matt Hughes
LEWISBURG, Pa. — Standing on a rock atop a sandstone escarpment in the Northern Australian wilderness, Professor Chris Martine, biology, spied a carpenter bee. He sharpened his attention, gripped the net in his hand and swung hard. The bee landed in the back of the net, but Martine, in his eagerness, lost his footing, pirouetting clean off the rock and landing 8 feet below on his right ear.
As he came to beneath the rock, Martine put a hand to the side of his head and pulled it back covered in blood. A 30-minute car ride back to town and five stitches later, a deep gash in Martine's ear was patched up. He spent the night in a hotel, but two days later returned to the field, hunting for bees and rare species of wild eggplants. A small sacrifice in the name of science.
In May, Martine spent three weeks on a field expedition in Australia's Kakadu National Park with Professor Beth Capaldi, biology and animal behavior, and senior cell biology/biochemistry major Gemma Dugan. The trip yielded more than a fresh scar on Martine's ear; the trio of researchers returned with a wealth of observations and samples for future inquiry into the very strange relationship between a group of uncommon eggplant species and the bees they fool into facilitating their reproduction.
Unlike most flowering plants, which have both male and female reproductive parts on each plant, these wild eggplants have distinct male and female individuals. In other words, some of the eggplants make pollen and some make seeds, but never both. In order for the plants to reproduce successfully, bees must first visit male plants, then bring their pollen to the females. But bees will not land on the female plants unless they too have pollen to offer, so the females do something sneaky: they make "fake" pollen.
"The question is: If the plant is going to go through all that, why not just make real pollen?" Martine asked. "The whole system seems to hinge on this idea that these plants want to avoid fertilizing themselves and becoming inbred. The plants don't want to fertilize themselves, but they can't just drop the pollen because then the bees won't come. So they make fake stuff for the bees to come, but then what's the consequence to the bees?"
That question would have been difficult for Martine, a plant expert and Bucknell's David Burpee Professor in Plant Genetics and Research, to answer on his own. So he teamed up with Capaldi, an expert in bee behavior.
"It was an invitation to collaborate," Capaldi said. "There are clearly really big questions to answer about the evolution of these rare plants. And as an ecologist and a biologist, you cannot go to Australia and not be amazed."
The majority of costs for the trip were underwritten by the Scadden Faculty Scholar Awards, of which Martine and Evans are 2013 recipients, and by the David Burpee Chair.
The researchers, including Dugan, aided one another in sniffing out the elusive eggplants and observing bees interacting with their flowers. They collected seeds to cultivate wild eggplants in Bucknell's greenhouses for eventual use in lab experiments, where they hope to determine whether bees treat male and female plants differently, whether the "fake" female pollen contains the same nutritional value as the male pollen and whether feeding the "fake" pollen to bee larvae harms the next generation of bees.
Dugan, a biology department summer research fellow, collected samples for her contribution to the project, a biochemical assay of the wild eggplants. She will present her preliminary findings at the July conference of the Botanical Society of America, which recently honored Dugan with an Undergraduate Research Award.
For Dugan, the trip provided a first experience with the realities of work in the field, where conditions are much more difficult to control than in a laboratory setting.
"I have an associates degree in biotech that I got before I came here — I'm part of the Bucknell Community College Scholars Program — so I actually feel quite competent in the lab," Dugan said. "Out in the field I didn't know what I was doing; I had to learn. And some things that I thought would be practical were not practical.
"It's something that I will not forget for the rest of my life," she added. "I did this really amazing thing in this beautiful place that I've never been to before. I learned a lot, and it was super fun."
Sleeping in tents in 90-degree heat, subsisting on canned tuna lunches and coping with mosquito swarms as dense as fog, the researchers had plenty of work just to survive in the harsh and remote Australian wilderness. Seasonal wildfires left in ashes much of the land they came to investigate, and one region they hoped to search was declared off limits, as park rangers had yet to check it for crocodiles.
Despite challenges and setbacks, the trip yielded enough material to keep the researchers busy through the coming academic year and beyond. Indeed, they may have brought back something even more important for scientists: a new perspective on the work they do every day.
"I study social insects, and I got to see a cathedral termite mound; I got to see magnetic termite mounds; I got to see weaver ants," she continued. "From the perspective of what it gave me as a biologist, sure it's going to have research potential, but it was really rejuvenating to be in a place you've never been before and be surrounded by so much interesting biology."


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I have two almost identical images of one flower in the range of 22,000 KB, one of which has had extensive Adjustment Brush editing (two pins on the whole background).The XMP file of the non-edited image is about 7 KB; the XMP file of the heavily edited one is 189 KB. Although there is a twenty-seven fold increase in the XMP file size, 27 times almost nothing is still almost nothing.
The math is interesting Bart but I would clarify the detail.That increase would pertain to 10 000 heavily edited images surely?
To answer the first part of the question, no I don't think there's any way of "finalising" any adjustment in LR. Remember that LR merges all the edits anyway. For example, if you increase exposure 0.3, then another 0.3, then 0.5, then -0.3 the result is that LR stores an exposure value of +0.8, the net value.
Are you quite sure about this? When I make multiple adjustments to exposure, or any other slider setting, the history lists each and every one. While the image shows the net value, it seems that each individual change is stored in the catalog.
AFAIK, Lightroom stores the edits in two ways. The complete list is stored in the catalogue for the history. The summary effect of the edits is also stored in the way that I described. This is stored in the catalogue and also in the .xmp file alongside the raw image (or embedded in metadata in the image file if it's DNG or it's not raw). That means you have every edit, so you can undo one-by-one, but LR doesn't have to render each edit individually, but only the sum total effect for each control. You can demonstrate this. Remove a raw file from the catalogue, but don't delete the raw or .xmp file. Then re-import it. The sum total effect of the edits will be there (as that was stored in the .xmp file, and imported into the catalogue when the image was re-imported), but not the history (as that was stored only in the catalogue, and was lost when the file was removed from LR). If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will come along and explain it better!
Hi Glenn,That's +1.82GB per 10000 images. I wouldn't call that insignificant, not the end of the world, but still. Add to that perhaps some 10-20% of additional space is wasted on the fact that data is stored in full clusters of sectors, and therefore small files waste relatively more so-called slack-space. Add to that the waste cumulating in storage (mirroring). The additional real data (not the slack-space) also adds to required bandwidth for data transmission (and cloud storage fees).So I wouldn't dismiss Phill's question that fast, although I do not think it is possible to integrate the corrections in the Raw file, because it wouldn't be Raw anymore (unless the spot correction data is contained within a partially processed DNG envelope).Cheers,Bart
Bart:This was an extreme example (an outlier really) using the brush on about 80 percent of the image, not removing a few dust bunnies. The percentage of extra space required was (189-7)/22,000 which is about 0.83 percent. On this particular image, I had brushed out the entire background of a flower - twice to increase the effect. The analogous technique with dust bunnies would be to erase each one twice.


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Josh Hamilton is in the second year of a five-year, $133 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels. Thus far, he has not exactly lived up to that. He batted .250 with 21 home runs and 79 RBIs in 2013. That was coming off a 2012 in which he batted .285 with 43 home runs and 128 RBIs for Texas and was fifth in MVP voting.
Heck, he won the MVP award in 2010 by batting .359 with 32 home runs and 100 RBIs for the Rangers. He drove in 130 runs in 2008.
A week ago Sunday the left-fielder asked for and received a day off in the series-finale at Texas. He got another day that Monday at Boston. Upon his return this past Tuesday, he went 0 for 3 and saw his average drop to a season-low .263.
Then, like magic, Hamilton caught fire. In the last five games of the just-concluded road trip, Hamilton went 6 for 16 with two home runs, two doubles and eight RBIs. On Monday, ahead of the Angels' series opener with the Miami Marlins, Hamilton talked about what helped him get out of that funk.
"For the first time I tried to quit thinking about mechanics," he said as he began dressing for the game. "Just go up there and be myself and if I see a pitch I want to swing at, I swing at it. Instead of trying to figure out, 'Oh, man, my hands need to be here,' or, 'I need to start here.'"
This method of shaking a slump was new to Hamilton, who has a .293 career average.
"That's the first time I've done that when I've been trying to fix something," he said. "So that's it. That's all I've done, eliminate the mechanical stuff and just go up and swing."
Manager Mike Scioscia said Hamilton's resurgence is a big deal.
"Well, it's huge," he said. "I think out of all the things that we've been looking for on the offensive side, certainly since the All-Star break, has been the middle of our lineup really could do what they're capable of doing. Mike (Trout) has been struggling a bit, Josh was struggling, everybody from Erick Aybar to Howie (Kendrick).
"So some guys up until really the last week were struggling to get into their game and when they do what they can do, you can see how it takes pressure off a lot of the things we need to do on the mound. Josh has really picked it up the last five or six games."
Scioscia said Hamilton asking for time off does not bother him.
"No, it doesn't," Scioscia said. "But I think the big picture is really, just at times you need to catch your breath and with Josh, it was really mutual. We knew he needed to catch his breath. He needed to come in and just say, 'I can't play.'
"It was a situation where we talked and we decided to take that half-step backwards, let him exhale a little bit. And then he had a great workout in Boston … and it just looks like he's attacking the ball the way he can."
Hamilton had batted just .179 (10 for 56) in the month of August prior to his resurgence. He has 10 home runs and 43 RBIs on the season, but he did miss seven-plus weeks with a thumb injury. He had raised his average to .269.
Big win Sunday
After having taken a two-game lead over Oakland in the AL West, the Angels lost the first two games at Oakland on Friday and Saturday. That made Sunday's 9-4 victory there sizeable because that enabled the Angels to come back to Anaheim with a one-game lead on the A's.
Hamilton had two hits, a home run and three RBIs in it.
"It was big," he said. "Obviously, we want to win every game. But Oakland's a tough place to play. The crowd's into it every pitch and they're a team that doesn't give up; they play until the last out is made."
Thatcher still not ready
Left-handed reliever Joe Thatcher, who sustained a rather severe left-ankle sprain on Aug. 2, most likely won't be ready before the end of the month.
"Joe's still a ways away, probably won't be available on the first when we can expand (the rosters)," Scioscia said. "I think shortly after that, hopefully."
Thatcher is walking around the clubhouse better than he has been.


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Posted at 8:13 AM
The Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) in concert with Deutsche Messe AG would like to invite you to join MBDA National Director David A. Hinson and business leaders from around the world at the Hannover Messe International Trade Fair, April 4–8, 2011. As part of MBDA's ongoing mission to promote the tremendous capabilities of minority-owned firms and the promise of phenomenal growth through exporting and strategical alliances internationally, Director Hinson will be a featured speaker at the U.S. Global Business & Markets pavilion on Monday, April 4.
As the largest international industrial trade fair of its kind, Hannover Messe attracts representatives from a variety of industrial sectors including manufacturing, energy, services and more. Participating in Hannover Messe will allow you to explore new markets, meet new contacts, recruit new customers, establish new networks and identify key trends in international trade and technology. Hannover Messe is also the leading international show for tomorrow's technologies and ideas. As a participant or exhibitor, you'll be among the first in the world to preview cutting-edge technologies from elite international firms. Visit Hannover Messe 2011 for more information.
This year, and for the very first time, Deutsche Messe AG is offering MBDA clients complimentary tickets: the special Gold Pass Registration. This exceptional offer entitles you free admission to the Hannover Messe fairgrounds, priority access to the exhibit hall, shuttle service around the fairgrounds, admission to the premium lounge (with internet access, meeting space, newspapers and light refreshments) as well as access to general sessions.
For U.S. minority firms interested in exhibiting at Hannover Messe 2011, the U.S. Commercial Service has organized a distinct area on the floor of the trade show called "The American Business Center" (ABC). For $2,500, businesses will receive cleverly designed shared office center, communications equipment, reception and hospitality service, a multi-lingual assistant, pre-show and year-round promotion, Hannover Fair admission, show catalog and more. Individualized counseling and market strategy discussions with U.S. Commercial Service trade and industry specialists is also included with the ABC offer.
For further information and to determine if your business would benefit from exhibiting:
- Download the ABC Hannover Fairs 2011 overview flyer
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With over 148,500 visitors and 6,150 exhibitors from 71 countries in attendance, participating in Hannover Messe 2011 can help you gain a foothold in international markets. You'll have the unique opportunity to meet procurement specialists, senior managers and investors from across the globe. You'll also connect with key decision-makers directly responsible for contributing capital--last year, 63.8% of visitors played a decisive role in investment decisions.
We hope you will take advantage of this unique opportunity. We look forward to seeing you in Hannover Germany and working with you to realize your business goals.
Email firstname.lastname@example.com to notify MBDA of your participation in Hannover Messe 2011 once your arrangements have been made so we may contact you.


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Contact: Cam Savage
Indianapolis, IN -- Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita today applauded the sentencing of convicted Indiana Securities Act violator Don L. Pratt. The decision rendered against Pratt by Bartholomew Circuit Court Judge Stephen Heimann included 4 guilty verdicts for violations of the Indiana Securities Act. Mr. Pratt's sentence, announced on June 17, 2003, includes 3 years in prison and $5,500,000 in restitution. Pratt's prison sentence will be followed by 5 years of probation.
Pratt's criminal convictions are the culmination of an investigation initiated by Rokita's Office regarding Pratt's activities with Hometown Investments and Hometown Finance, firms that Pratt used to operate a "Ponzi scheme." "Ponzi schemes" work on the "rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul" principle, as money from new investors is used to pay off earlier investors until the whole scheme collapses.
The investigation revealed that Pratt and his company operated as an unregistered agent selling unregistered securities.
The Secretary of State's Office referred the case to the Bartholomew County Prosecutor's Office who under Indiana law has the authority to file criminal charges. The offices continued working together to develop the case, which ultimately resulted in the four-count conviction.
"I'm very pleased Mr. Pratt will be serving a stiff prison sentence," Rokita said. "I want to congratulate Bartholomew County Prosecutor William Nash for a job well done. The Pratt case is a perfect example of how county prosecutors and the Securities Division of my office can put criminals behind bars by working together and sharing resources, without duplicating services and efforts at the expense of Hoosier taxpayers."
I also want to congratulate my staff for their hard work in investigating this case and for their significant contributions to the conviction of Mr. Pratt. This is a remarkable accomplishment and a major step forward in our ongoing fight to protect Hoosiers and their investments."
Rokita further reminded Hoosiers to check out any investment opportunity before investing. Businesses holding themselves out to be corporations should be registered with Rokita's office, as should both investments and their sellers. Information can be verified at Rokita's website http://www.sos.in.gov/ or by phone at 317.232.6576 (for corporations) or 1.800.223.8791 (for securities).


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to do some wild as crazy shit and not care.
wow you just walked past the police chief smoking some weed while talking loudly about fucking his daughter and discussing a shipment of cocaine you have coming in next week.you wild as the taliban.
by zxulu tha big lip bandit November 04, 2004


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There are lots of ways to protect your boat from a hurricane. Advice varies greatly, depending on the size of your vessel, availability of dock space, marina rules and local laws. That makes planning now for a hurricane all the more essential.
Two cardinal rules
1. Whatever preparations you are going to make, make them early. Get started now. Make a trial run.
2. Do not attempt, under any circumstances, to ride out a storm in a boat. No boat is worth your life. Hurricane winds, whether inland or near the beach, can lift a boat out of the water or sink it -- even if it is secured in a marina.
General tips


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The Weather Channel
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