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PDFs encapsulating Peerev® are the ones you should be sharing on the Web (to aggregate reviews from the online communities you’ve reached out to).
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Your Peer Evaluation library embeds Total Impact which pushes to your account the diverse online impacts of your ‘research products’ including articles, datasets, software, and grey literature. Total Impact tracks these products' footprints across Mendeley, PubMed, Dryad, CiteUlike, Plos, Twitter, Research Blogs, Wikipedia, Slideshare, Sourceforge, Github and a growing host of non-traditional dissemination channels. More on Total Impact at total-impact.org.
Regularly check Total Impact’s (alt)metrics to find out where your dissemination efforts are yielding results and if your scholarly communications require your attention.
6. Peer to Peer endorsements and transfer of reputation
An important social feature in Peer Evaluation is the ‘I trust this peer’ button, available on all profile pages. Trust relations are equally valuable to your readers, funders and employers. This ‘trust’ feature has more value than a standard ‘Like’ button, since Peer Evaluation displays the names, professions and affiliations of your endorsers. | {
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Three’s a charm? AHA breaks its own embargo again, this time on Twitter
The American Heart Association just sent this message to its press list:
EMBARGOED LIFTED ON AHA SCIENTIFIC STATEMENT FOR NOV. 15, 2012
TO: Writers, editors and broadcasters
FROM: American Heart Association Communications, DallasAHA Media Contacts*** Embargoed is lifted on the following materials for Thurs., Nov. 15, 2012 *** American Heart Association Scientific StatementThe Measurement and Interpretation of the Ankle-Brachial Index: A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association
The embargo, originally scheduled for 4 p.m. Eastern, appears to have been broken by a tweet from….the AHA:
The Measurement and Interpretation of the Ankle-Brachial Index: A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Assoc… http://ow.ly/2tdZsr | {
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A Theologian Has A Falling Out With God In 'Still'
Lauren Winner is the author of Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity and the memoir Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life.
Jen FarielloHarperOne
Theologian Lauren Winner was 21 when she became a Christian.
Although she was raised in a Jewish household and had converted to Orthodox Judaism, she says she felt drawn to Christianity. Her surprising conversion is the subject of her first memoir, the bestseller Girl Meets God.
In Winner's new book, Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis, she writes about a spiritual crisis.
Winner, an ordained Episcopal priest who teaches Christian spirituality at Duke University, says it happened around the time her mother died and her marriage collapsed.
She tells weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz that nothing could have prepared her for what amounted to a falling out with God.
"In my life, I had this dramatic conversion to Christianity and it had lots of intense emotions," she says. "I thought that those feelings would just endure, and that those feelings would sort of sustain me in the life of faith forever. And then I came to a place where I was no longer in the glow of the young adult new Christian conversion; I was now just in the middle of my faith life."
For about five years, Winner says, she found it hard to do many of the things that she was used to doing, like going to church — which she often forced herself to attend — and praying.
"I found the ceasing to pray part of this to be one of the scariest parts," she says.
But even though she could not pray during this period, she still felt herself somehow surrounded by prayer.
"In hindsight, I have a hunch — a belief — a sense that I was very much sustained in this season of real spiritual desolation by the faithful prayers of other people," Winner says.
Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
Transcript
GUY RAZ, HOST:
Theologian Lauren Winner was 21 years old when she became a Christian. Although she was raised in a Jewish household and had converted to Orthodox Judaism just two years before, she says she always felt drawn to Christianity. Her surprising conversion was the subject of her first memoir, the bestseller "Girl Meets God." But in Winner's new book, she writes about experiencing a spiritual crisis. It happened around the time her mother died and her marriage collapsed. Winner teaches Christian spirituality at Duke University and is also an ordained Episcopal priest. Her new book is called "Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis." And she says that nothing could have prepared her for what amounted to a falling out with God.
LAUREN WINNER: In American Christianity, I think that we have a habit of telling our spiritual stories in a way that culminate in conversion. They culminate in the born-again experience or they culminate in baptism.
RAZ: It's where you're headed to naturally, you're saying.
WINNER: Yes. The way that we - particularly American evangelicals, we know to tell the story of how we were far away from God and then we were born again or then we came to know God as though that were the end of the story. But I think that is actually only the prelude to the story. And in my life, I had this dramatic conversion to Christianity, and it had lots of intense emotions. And I thought that those feelings would just endure and that those feelings would sort of sustain me in the life of faith forever. And then I came to a place where I was no longer in the glow of the young adult, new Christian conversion. I was now just in the middle of my faith life.
RAZ: I mean, the journey you took to get to that point was pretty extraordinary one. For people who don't know you, you wrote a memoir called "Girl Meets God," and this was essentially about your conversion to Christianity. You had been raised Jewish. How does your family react to your decision?
WINNER: Some of my Jewish relatives were decidedly unhappy about my conversion to Christianity. Over the years - I'm now 35 - I have come to actual place of real sorrow for the pain that my conversion has caused some members of my family. And, you know, I deeply regret that this thing that is central to my life - I mean, I wish it were otherwise. I wish that the thing that was so central to my life was not a source of ongoing pain for members of my family.
RAZ: This memoir, of course, obviously deals with your struggles with faith. The two key moments - the death of your mother and the breakdown of your marriage, which is sort of kind of in the background in the book - you don't go into too many details. I don't want to pry.
WINNER: Good.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
RAZ: There are obvious perils with Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat Pray Love." The circumstances are kind of similar, obviously, with the divorce and - but she took a trip around the world and you write: I just moved off the porch and went again to church. And you do go to church, even when you absolutely don't want to. Why'd you do it?
WINNER: When everything else in my spiritual life was flagging - when I wasn't praying, when I wasn't believing anything - I did have some instinct that got me to church more often than not on a Sunday morning.
RAZ: You tell a story about that time when you are going to church. And at a certain time, you're very frank. I mean, you're annoyed by some of the people around you.
WINNER: I was visiting Massachusetts one week and had a terrible week and didn't want to go to church and went to church. And as the service started, a woman sidled up to me and sat to my immediate left. And this woman looked like she had seen better days. And about halfway through the service, she started to tap her finger on the pew in front of us in a way that made - it felt to me like the whole building was shaking. And I just was so annoyed that this woman was tapping the pew. And I glared at her, and I hoped she would take the hint. And then I, you know, of course, without thinking, my left hand shot out and I placed my hand firmly over her tapping hand, you know, like a mother would still the tapping hand of a child.
And of course, I was horrified that I had done this. And then I noticed that the woman didn't seem offended and wasn't shaking my hand off. And then I realized that she had actually begun to hold my hand, and we held hands for the rest of the service. And, you know, that was where I met Jesus that day, in that woman who converted my serious breach of etiquette into a moment of bodily communion and bodily intimacy. And I think that's probably a moment I will not ever forget.
RAZ: That's writer Lauren Winner. Her new memoir is called "Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis." She's also an assistant professor of Christian spirituality at Duke's Divinity School. Lauren, thank you so much. | {
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Top bitcoin wallet addresses
A Bitcoin wallet is a software program which stores the information necessary to transact bitcoins.Find all you need to know and get started with Bitcoin on bitcoin.org.The Best Bitcoin Hardware Wallets. The 3 Best Hardware Wallets For Bitcoin of.Updated Mar 20 2014-technical wallets Five Ways to Lose Money with Bitcoin Change Addresses.How to Backup and Restore a Bitcoin Wallet. then used to determine wallet addresses.Here is a list of the Top 100 Richest Bitcoin Addresses and detailed statistics about the richest partial Bitcoin Wallets.There are also wallets that store private keys on physical devices, like USB sticks, external hard drives and hardware wallets.Coinbase is a secure online platform for buying, selling, transferring, and storing digital currency.Factors to consider when choosing the best bitcoin wallet for you.
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ScamBitcoin.com is a blog dedicated to educate traders about how money can be made by including Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency in your trading portfolio. The value.Bitcoin users who hold tens of thousands of dollars in bitcoin are advised to store their funds in accessible cold storage-based bitcoin wallets.The puzzle z is generated through interaction between B and T and solved through an interaction between A and T.Bitcoin Wallets Comparison Chart and Reviews. Software Bitcoin Wallets Comparison.How can I make multiple Bitcoin addresses point to. account and the tills are your different Bitcoin addresses. the best bitcoin wallet to use to.
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This can be done by downloading software to an individual computer.We are the easiest to use and most secure bitcoin wallet service.Compare, rank and list Bitcoin debit cards and bitcoin prepaid. | {
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Published via the yankee Geophysical Union as a part of the Special guides Series.
The foreign Magnetospheric examine, or IMS, was once a world application lower than the auspices of SCOSTEP during which a coordinated attempt used to be made to appreciate magnetospheric strategies. The lively section of the IMS, within which facts have been accrued, ran from 1976 to 1979 with different info accumulating efforts approaching line at numerous occasions in this interval. even supposing there have been many nationwide courses dedicated to the IMS the coordination among international locations was once largely on the point of the engaging scientists instead of on the point of the paperwork. This element of the IMS had its merits and its hazards. one of many hazards is that there's no coordinated method for reporting of the IMS effects, both with reference to the knowledge collecting attempt, the workshops dedicated to those information or the medical result of the IMS. it truly is in an try to introduce a few order during this chaos now we have compiled the papers during this ebook. we are hoping that the publication serves either the energetic researcher concerned seriously within the IMS from the start and people who wish to achieve access into the IMS examine attempt. For whereas the energetic info amassing section is over, the information research section has simply started and there's a lot to do with the data.
The aim of this e-book is to provide a theoretical and sensible advent to seismic-while-drilling by utilizing the drill-bit noise. This contemporary know-how deals vital items for geophysical keep watch over of drilling. It contains features common of borehole seismics and of the drilling keep an eye on surveying, hitherto the only area of mudlogging.
Seismic waves generated via earthquakes were interpreted to supply us information regarding the Earth’s constitution throughout numerous scales. for brief classes of below 1 moment, the envelope of seismograms alterations considerably with elevated go back and forth distance and coda waves are desirous about scattering as a result of randomly disbursed heterogeneities within the Earth.
Seismic Exploration of Hydrocarbons in Heterogeneous Reservoirs: New Theories, tools and functions is predicated at the box examine performed over the last decade by way of an authoring staff of 5 of the world’s best geoscientists. in recent times, the exploration ambitions of world's oil businesses became extra advanced.
The significantly acclaimed serialized overview magazine for over 50 years, Advances in Geophysics is a hugely revered ebook within the box of geophysics. in view that 1952, every one quantity has been eagerly awaited, often consulted, and praised through researchers and reviewers alike. Now in its 56th quantity, it includes a lot fabric nonetheless proper today--truly a necessary booklet for researchers in all fields of geophysics.
Additional info for The IMS Source Book: Guide to the International Magnetospheric Study Data Analysis | {
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My Writing and Personal World….
Main menu
Tag Archives: brightspot
I have officially passed the halfway word count mark (and got cheered by all the fellow Toronto NaNoers who were participating in the subway writing session this afternoon – that was fun!). I’m now at 26.5K words. Over 53 percent done. In 30 percent of the time allotted. I’d say I’m doing really well for a newbie.
Of course, Brightspot has practically taken over all of Chp. 4 written so far (thus the not-usual NaNo User Pic); if this keeps up, she’s going to become as major a character as my protagonists. This wouldn’t be terribly bad… if it weren’t for the fact that I wasn’t expecting her to come in until the (possible) sequel….
Anyway, I’m having a great time with this, both the writing itself and the social aspect. (And the competition doesn’t hurt – I’m on the Word War team and we are beating Vancouver….)
Today is the first anniversary of Brightspot’s death. I found myself a bit worried about how I was going to handle the day, considering how much I still miss her.
As it happens, it was also Day 3 of Toronto Trek, and I managed to keep busy enough that I didn’t even think about it. I don’t think Brightspot would have objected – in fact, I know that she would have wanted me to be happy, to celebrate my memories of her life. She was like that.
I still miss her dearly. I shall always miss her dearly; she holds a special place in my heart. We grew up together throughout my adolescence and young adulthood, and she was (as the subject states) my confidante as well as my beloved friend and pet. But the fact remains that life does go on, and I have two other wonderful cats who are special to me in their own ways. No other pet can or will take Brightspot’s place in my life – but I have other places for them to occupy.
Kitten, Demon-Child, Sweetheart… I shall always love you and miss you, Brightspot. You are in my heart forever. And I think you would (do, perhaps?) approve of Aspen – she certainly keeps Mitzy on her toes! | {
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Print Advertising
Advertise in Perspectives (print - and now DIGITAL!)Perspectives is NAILBA’s official magazine and communication tool, attracting the attention of the largest wholesale brokerage carriers and technology companies in the industry.
Perspectives subscribers include NAILBA member agency contacts (principals, case managers, recruiters, marketers, underwriters, etc.), and C-level and marketing personnel from brokerage’s carrier and vendor partners in the life insurance, LTCi, DI, annuity, and health marketplace. In addition, Perspectives is shared with the leadership of all insurance and brokerage sister associations (AALU, NAIFA, Life Happens, etc). The current subscriber list exceeds 1200 individuals.
NAILBA launched a digital version of Perspectives magazine in 2014! Links and emails included in print advertising will be live in the digital edition. Digital advertising options are included as a benefit to our print advertisers! Purchase the comparable print option first and get first right of refusal for the matching digital option.
A full-color, glossy-stock magazine published six times a year, Perspectives highlights current developments in the insurance and wholesale brokerage field—from the latest financial products and services, to industry technologies, sales products, business applications and more.
Advertisers gain unprecedented access to the nation’s most successful wholesale brokerage agency principals and the CEOs and senior officer of the major insurance carriers through this must-read publication.
Product PreviewAdvertising within the NAILBA 36 Product Preview guide is a great way to promote and expose your product or service which you will be showcasing at the upcoming NAILBA event, at an amazingly cost effective rate! This 4-color outsert will be in October in advance of NAILBA's Annual Meeting to all NAILBA 36 attendees and Perspectives recipients. | {
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Heat bolster lineup with Allen and Lewis signings
By Simon Evans, Reuters
MIAMI - The NBA champion Miami Heat strengthened their already imposing roster on Wednesday by completing the signings of free agents Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, hugely boosting their threat from long distance.
Ray Allen holds his new jersey at a news conference after signing with the Miami Heat NBA basketball team in Miami, Florida July 11, 2012. Allen joins the Heat after leaving the Boston Celtics. REUTERS/Joe Skipper
Allen is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) all-time leading three-point scorer and a 10-time All-Star who won a championship with Miami's Eastern Conference rivals, the Boston Celtics, in 2008.
The 36-year-old guard turned down a two-year offer from the Celtics, reportedly for $12 million, in order to join three-time NBA most valuable player LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in Miami.
"There are only a handful of players that absolutely strike fear into their opponent and Ray is one of those players," said Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, who declined to get into the specifics of Allen's role on court. "We brought him here to be a big part of what we do."
Allen should bolster a team that was just 10th overall in three-point shooting last season while also helping to open driving lanes for both for James and Wade.
"I'm looking forward to having a high-octane offense with Dwyane and LeBron pushing it and creating so many shots for everybody else," said Allen.
Allen, who will turn 37 later this month, will likely back-up Wade at the shooting guard position but could also play alongside him as an alternative to Mario Chalmers.
Heat president Pat Riley said he had learnt from the failure to build upon the team's title triumph in 2006 and wanted to make sure he added additional elements right away this time.
"That was my mistake. You have got to keep adding pieces to it. We've got to raise the bar and expect more from ourselves," he said.
Forward Lewis, 32, is a 14-year NBA veteran and two-time NBA All Star who played with Allen at the Seattle Supersonics from 2003-07. In their final season together they averaged a combined 48.8 points.
Lewis, also a highly-rated three-point shooter who has a career average of 16.1 points per game, spent last season with the Washington Wizards before being traded to the New Orleans Hornets who bought out his contract, making him a free agent.
After two injury-hampered seasons, Lewis will be hoping to have a shot at a maiden NBA championship and he is also reported to have rejected better financial offers.
Lewis, who has also played for Orlando, is expected to share power forward duties with Udonis Haslem and Shane Battier.
The Heat now have 13 players under contract and have two places remaining on their roster. (Reporting by Simon Evans; Editing by Frank Pingue) | {
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Upgrading Indy's Water System
Much of the water distribution system that serves Indianapolis is more than 100 years old and water main breaks are in the headlines far too often. Citizens Energy Group acquired the system in 2011 and is systematically upgrading, repairing and replacing the aging system.
As a Public Trust and not a for-profit utility, Citizens Energy is highly sensitive to rate increases and focuses intently on executing their capital investments as efficiently as possible. Using value engineering, they are rethinking the way projects are designed and built. For example, a new technology called pipe bursting allows new water pipes to be inserted into old ones to avoid more costly and disruptive excavations of streets.
Value engineering is producing better results for the citizens of Indianapolis, while achieving millions of dollars in savings.
SAVE International® is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of value engineering. VE benefits include decreasing costs, increasing profits, improving performance and improving quality. | {
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Facedown Fest 2 Day Pass Tour dates 2016
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Last Wednesday night, after the blizzard had stopped and the city had plowed arterial roads, I took two buses to Pilsen in 36 minutes. Transit buses have an average speed lower than bicycling and I don’t think I could have biked there in 36 minutes. (I didn’t want to bike because I didn’t know the condition of roads from my new place in Avondale to dinner in Pilsen.)
I credit the speedy journey to the complete lack of cars on the road and the few people wanting to go out on Wednesday, as well as ride the bus.
The blizzard gave Chicagoans a break. Hundreds of thousands of workers stayed home on Wednesday. Thousands more got the day off on Thursday. Car traffic remained light through Friday and the Chicago Transit Authority trains and buses were packed on Thursday (partially because of mechanical problems on the Blue Line but also because of new riders who couldn’t drive or carpool).
Many people took walking tours around their parks and neighborhoods, or went to see the calamity of Lake Shore Drive. Flickr is loaded with the explorers’ photos. Check out 2,000+ labeled “snomg chicago.”
The blizzard’s effect on traffic and roads
The snow plows inadvertently created a curb extension at the main intersection in Wicker Park, often used as part of a traffic calming project. This was gone on Saturday, but in addition to its removal, the entire corner sidewalk was cleared.
A lot of bike lanes are buried right now and people riding bikes are riding in the middle shared lanes, further calming traffic. I’m not sure how long the civility I noticed between drivers and bicyclists last week will last, even as bike lanes remain “closed” or have been illegally co-opted into backup parking lanes. See next photo.
These drivers have illegally parked their cars in the bike lane. The municipal code does not offer any relevant (i.e. snow-related) exemptions for parking or standing in bike lanes.
Riding and driving through town has been interesting. There’s no room for people riding bikes to share the lane with drivers side by side, so they must share it front to back. | {
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__________________
Laura, wife to my hard working husband Brandan, mom to Luke (5/08) and my VBAC babies Clara (12/09) Asher (4/11) and Lydia (3/13). "I expect to pass through life but once, if, therefore, there can be any kindness I can show, or any good things I can do to any fellow human being, let me do it now, and not deter it or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again." -William Penn | {
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An Australian Z31 300ZX 2+2. A guide to updating your Z31 along with local JDM news.
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A great day out at Calder Park saw some great drifting and a healthy turnout for the JDMST EOMM that included the top 100 Show & Shine. It was great to see not one member of the Police constabulary. It was the first “day out” of this type of event for the Z31, thanks go to all the organizers.
The monthly JDMST was off to an awesome start with a new venue at a multi story carpark with many hundreds of cars filing in. I was there early and got a good position near the top to watch the incoming cars who were mostly very well behaved (did notice a commodore getting sideways). The meet was building into a huge affair but downstairs actions were building to bring it down in a heartbeat.
The cops who look to be informed of the meet prior were nervously waiting on the side lines with their defect kits, a move that is highly provocative and not necessary. Why they would do this is questionable but could only be seen as a hard handed method of displaying some sort of authority which was not required. Soon they began to pull over cars then unfortunately some idiot high up in the car park launched a bottle towards a parked cop car in the adjacent alley and all hell broke loose. Within minutes the one way entry street was totally blocked off and what resembled a riot squad was quickly moved in. The venue was quickly cleared and any future prospect of another meet here seems unlikely.
A better way needs to be worked out to cover the growing interest in these types of events.
A good turnout at a new venue as the old site is now fenced off. Crowd behavior was excellent but the event was marred by an onslaught of police presence and intimidation that frankly was not necessary. Hopefully next month a new venue can be arranged that is more accommodating.
This Japanese version of the earlier Z31 is a treat. Lots of body mods which include a molded in front lower bumper cut and trimmed to suit overall bumper, Kouki front and rear guards and a great set of wheels. Interesting to see how the car evolved and the difference a set of wheels can make.
An initial run of 24 pairs has been produced with future runs dependent on sales. The pics are from the sellers car which has received glowing comments.
Many think the finished vents are originally fitted OEM type products. Inspiration was taken from the Nissan 280zx hood vents but the sizing has been scaled down. To achieve the same look as pictured the hood will require cutting and an aftermarket mesh under grille will need to be purchased and installed.
It might seem like a daunting task to cut holes in your pristine bonnet, but after you have started you will see how relatively easy the task can be. The old adage measure twice cut once is mandatory I think unless you want to risk a possible disaster. Also having the right tools goes a long way towards making the job easy. I used a Dremel tool with a cut off wheel which worked well on the top and bottom side, but a jigsaw with the right blade would also be good.
The first task is to work out where the vents will be positioned. Points to consider are aesthetics , functionality and how a hole might affect any components underneath. It would probably not be a good idea to place a vent over an electrical component that might suffer from moisture. Once installed there will be water that enters through the vents during washing on when standing still in heavy rain but it is surprising how little water makes its way in. Most is instantly evaporated away by the hot engine bay temps (that are now somewhat cooler). During washing you could place an old towel under the vents, but so far I have not found it necessary.
I started by positioning the vents where I thought they looked best and then took some measurements. I then worked out where the holes would be on the underside and checked to see if there were any obstructions etc. Don’t forget to look at the position of your firewall as a venting past this area is probably of little use.
After some minor adjustments I worked out the exact measurements and taped the area with masking tape which serves as a surface to draw the cut lines and also protects the paintwork. The hole size I chose was 130mm x 180mm which is the minimum size with a couple of millimeters to spare. I measured in 141.75 mm from the side of the bonnet and 214mm from the back of the bonnet (centre of back edge of vent). Use the blank vent to trace the angle once the first line along the bonnet edge is in place.
Then I fired up the Dremel and steadily cut all 4 lines in around 20 minutes.
Some of the reinforcing subframe is removed on the intitial cut but the rest is probably best done underneath. I used a drill from above to mark all 4 corners then used masking tape on the underside to set up my cut line for the subframe. Working on the curved surfaces with the Dremel is a little tricky but a slow steady hand gets the job done. I simply cut the under bonnet lining with scissors.
So in about an hour the finished hole is ready for a file to remove burrs and then some paint added to the edges to prevent future rust.
The Dremel does a fairly neat job but remember the cut lines are covered by the installed vent and will hide any irregularity.
The next stage was to apply a paint finish to the vents, but before painting it pays to spend a little time forming the vent to fit the bonnet/hood snuggley. Most bonnets are not flat and by gently bending the raw vent to suit the shape of the bonnet, a better bond and less chance of paint cracking will be apparent at the installation stage. The laser cutter leaves behind a very small entry and exit burr on each opening which is easily removed with a small file. I also took off the sharp edges with the same file preferring a slightly rounded edge for the paint finish. The vents always have a “good side” and the underside which gets slightly scratched on the laser cutting table so be sure work out the best side for the top side. Then a couple of coats of metal etch primer from the spray can was applied.
I use a hair dryer and a warm room which greatly enhances the drying time which soon had the vent ready for the top coats. For my build I wanted to match the bonnet color which was easily supplied by my local Autobarn store. The paint code off the firewall was all they needed to mix a spray can in about 10 minutes. I applied 3 coats on the top and two underneath and then finished off with 2 coats of clear on the top. The clear coats are not mandatory as I found without matched perhaps slightly better in my case.
It is a good idea to let the paint cure for at least 24 hours before installing the vent as the paint will still be soft underneath. There are different methods of fixing the vents with glueing or bolting being the obvious. I was looking for the 280zx style which has no showing bolts but some nice fixing screws with fancy caps could also look good.
I used a simple builders glue which here is called “Selleys Liquid Nails” which is easy to use and provides a strong bond. I first laid out the vent in the finished position then laid down masking tape around the exterior line of the vent to work out how much room I had for the glue. It is important to apply an even bead close to the edge of the cut that is not too thick so as to escape out the sides onto the bonnet once the pressure is applied to the vent. I placed a towel over the vent and then placed several lead weights on top and left for 24 hours. You could smear something like butter around the edges where the bonnet meets the vent in the case of over application of the glue which is then easily removed later without affecting the paint finish.
The next step was to install an under grille which is up to the individual. I had some spare black expanded aluminum left over from my front end mod which I quickly trimmed up with scissors and then fixed on the underside with builders glue again. Once dry the glue can be painted by hand from underneath with black paint to achieve a better finish.
If I can find an appropriate rubber or plastic edging it would finish of the underside.
The remaining task is to polish the top side paint finish which I did with some cutting paste and then polish both done by hand with a soft cloth. The end result I think looks great and also will be useful when the hotter months approach.
The finished result resembling a “shark gill” appearance certainly improves the visual stance of any vehicle. For those installing this product feel free to pass on your finished results so I can post here.
UPDATE June 2012: I am rebuilding the old http://customzcar.tripod.com site that is over 10 years old. The Z31 has recently gone through some changes and upgrades with more in store which will be updated over the next few weeks. I am also working on a new project to produce bonnet / hood vents made from aluminum that will be a modern replica of the 280zx vents that appear on the famous “Toshi” machine shown below (black). This car has inspired me to refurbish my Z31 which I have owned for 18 years. I also have a pretty trick R34 which will also be showcased on this site.
Lets face it the Z31 unmodified is now starting to look extremely dated. I do appreciate a bog standard model for the sake of preserving the brand, but with a few minor mods the Z31 can be updated into a very nice looking car. Even the pre 1987 models can look awesome with the right body kits as seen in the red car above. Hopefully this site will encourage other Z31 owners to show the world what these cars are capable of. I will be presenting some of the best Z cars I have found on the web and look into some of the mods as well as covering what I think is necessary to make the longer 2+2 version a head turner.
Older image from about 2001
A “photoshopped” example of the end plan
End result is better than expectations…
The front lip gives the appearance of the lowered front end I am looking for. Further lowering may not be required 🙂
Most of the Car is in refurbished standard form will all original parts. | {
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Posts tagged marvell avastar
Last time we saw the SMILE Plug cloud computer, it was nothing more than a render -- an alabaster box with dual external antennas and a glowing green (or red) visage to let you know when it's functioning properly. We were told that it would be a dev kit that creates an ad-hoc network within a clas... | {
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Doctors say owners should avoid taking their pets to places with lots of other dogs for the next few days. In addition, pet owners who have been in contact with dogs other than their own should wash their hands and change clothes before touching their dog. | {
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Messages - slickfish1
I suspected this very thing a while back due to very slow finishes on the last 4 to 6 gravity points. It turns out that it was due to having too much residual sulfite after oxygenating. I was at 30 ppm and have since reduced to 10 and that solved the problem. | {
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This Free Citation Generator, with its Style Guides and Community Forum, is run by Scholars for APA Style and MLA Style (Harvard referencing) as well as Chicago Notes Style and Turabian Style (Oxford referencing), for your Bibliography, List of Works Cited, and Reference List. Here's our story so far. | {
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Author Dalkey's Book
Reviews
Ascension - Water Trilogy 1
Nia is a sixteen-year-old living in the lost city of Atlantis. She longs to become an Avatar, one of the rulers of the city. She is in love with Cephan, a boy from a lower class, and is struggling against her parents, whom she feels are dictating her life. She discovers a secret about her treasured world that will change her life forever....Water Trilogy, Book Three: Transformation
Nia and Corwin return to Atlantis to try to save Nia's beloved home from the evil Ma'el. They hope to use a magical sword to win victory but it will be harder than they ever could have imagined. Nia and Corwin may have to make a great sacrifice to save Atlantis. This is the third book in a trilogy.... | {
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The nearly-two-minute video sees Arlen struggling to survive in a very dangerous and unsual desert outside of Texas. Some scenes have her meeting the Dream, who is a cult leader, and being captured by Miami Man, who appears to be a cannibal. The trailer ends with Arlen toting a Magnum revolver, before firing it at someone unseen.
"The Bad Batch" is a dystopian love story which is set in a community of cannibals. It follows Waterhouse's Arlen as one of thousands Americans who is unacceptable to civilized society. She is dumped to a hostile dessert and forced to deal with weird, savage people who threaten her life. | {
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According to details, Dr. Uzma was travelling with her children in Gulberg area, when a police mobile vehicle instructed them to stop their car. She claimed that suddenly another police vehicle came and hit them from the front of their car.
Then, some police officials came over and starting misbehaving with them and hurled abuses, and even pointed guns at them. She said that they were acting like terrorists and there was no place where they could move their move as there was a footpath next to it.
She revealed their identity to the armed men but they continued with their demeaning antics and raised a severe hue and cry. She said that her children have been mentally affected from the dramatic incident and are currently being consoled.
PTI spokesman Naeem-ul-Haq strongly condemned the incident and said that that the harassment and misbehaviour of the Lahore police with a respectful women such as the sister of Imran Khan was rather shameful.
He said that the Lahore police was only to serve the interests of the rulers, and no such police force across the world treat its citizens as them.
Naeem questioned the provision of security and protocol to Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He said the government should stop the mistreatment of its citizens.
The PTI has said that it will register an report in the respective police station. However, police officials appeared clueless and said that the incident was not in their knowledge.
It is also alleged that Maryam Nawaz was in the protocol when the incident took place which is only provided to the Prime Minister.
This was confirmed by Imran Khan who was speaking to the media in Karachi. He said that his sister went to the house where the protocol was deployed and was told that Maryam Nawaz Sharif was visiting due to some personal family matter.
Meanwhile, Maryam Nawaz has denied that she was in the protocol. She said that she was in Islamabad when the incident reportedly occurred and arrived in Lahore later in the evening. She said that she felt sorry for Imran Khan’s sister but said that such rumours should not be spread in the holy month of Ramazan.
Feel sorry for Mr. Khan’s sister. Was in Isb when I got the news. Arrived in Lhr at 4:30. Liars should have some shame at least in Ramadan. | {
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Vinyl Powdered Clear - HandPlus
Non-sterile, ambidextrous, vinyl gloves are free of latex protein making them ideal for those with latex protein sensitivity.
Low powder for easy donning with a beaded cuff for added strength making them less likely to tear when donning.
Carton contains 1,000 gloves (10 boxes of 100) | {
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FICTION BOOKS
Clicking on any image will take you to the Amazon Page for the book
Yesterday is Tomorrow
Book is still in progress.
Estimated publication date revised to beginning of 2019
A Dr Essie Rosenberg Mystery.
Essie is the village busybody who sniffs out the impossible – even solving murders.
Wealthy Mrs Victoria Lansdowne has been killed under strange circumstances. Even stranger still are the deaths of her previous husbands. Their children are claiming their share of the inheritance. More pressing is just who killed her? Of all the children, who is the guilty one? How does Dr Essie solve the mystery? | {
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Custom Mondraker Foxy 29 Long Term Test Rig
Custom Mondraker Foxy 29 Long Term Test Rig
Custom Mondraker Foxy 29 Long Term Test Rig
After giving back the glorious Yeti SB 5.5 I’ve built up a new beast that will keep me company for the coming year: a Mondraker Foxy 29 carbon.
I’ve already tested the bike a few months ago, but the results of that test (in short: I liked it a lot) prompted me to ask the Italian distributor for a frame to build up with custom components that you’ll find in several tests over the coming months.
The frame is the flagship offering with a Fox X2 coil sprung rear shock with lever for a speedy lockout, set to my weight: 30% of sag and with any type of adjustment you could wish for.
The frame is big on detail, even though the internal cable routing is not guided and required a little ‘patience’ during assembly. The cable ports are solid and help to avoid any rattling in the frame.
The suspension system is the classic “Zero System” from Mondraker, while the chainstay’s angle is perfectly matched to that of the down tube, if you look at it from the side. Aesthetically, it’s one of the best designs that I’ve seen on the market today.
Detail on the carbon fiber bridge that connects the two linkage plates which drive the shock.
Detail of the sheath that protects the rear shock from spray and mud coming off of the back tire.
Mondraker uses “Forward Geometry”. They were first to have adopted a more extreme approach to the whole “long reach, short stem” idea. The reach of Foxy is 470mm in size medium, in test, while the stem is very short, at only 30mm. Other geometry here .
The attachment of the rear brake caliper is rather unconventional. They are the new Hayes Dominion A4, with 180mm rotors in front and back.
For assembly I shortened both cables and bled the system. It was easy to do, you can even use Avid / Sram syringes.
On the left crank you can see the Race Face Cinc powermeter, which I will follow up with a long term test on.
I mounted my favorite wheels of the moment, those would be the new Crank Brothers Synthesis E11. The tire knobs are extremely massive and aggressive, with the Specialized Butcher 2.3 BLCK DMND . They weigh about 1,150 grams each, but their performance is really up there, as you will soon read in a dedicated test. The rear tire has no logos because it’s a prototype.
The fork is a Factory 36 with 160mm of travel and a 44mm offset. Get ready for a comparison with the new Lyrik .
The weight of the complete bike without pedals is 13.9kg. but keep in mind, the tires and rims are really massive and downhill oriented, I also have another set of lighter wheels that will drop the weight down to 13.3 kg. Fox is also sending me an air shock to cut another 300 grams.
Prepare to see the Foxy 29 often, because it will be used to test-ride new components that I will by trying in the coming months! | {
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Karen Hydendahl
Los Angeles, California"My figurative art explores themes of internal struggles of pain, delirium, and optimism under siege. My inspiration is mainly derived from my lifetime battle with migraines – pain invisible to anyone outside my own orb. The auras and hallucinations inform how I approach each subject. I like painting double images to add unease infused with a wanting to put things back in focus, walking a line of the need to withdraw but fighting for a semblance of sanity and connection. Most of the portraits I paint, are inspired by people I know who also suffer from migraines. However, the resulting images are meant to connect with anyone suffering profound pain invisible to others." - Karen Hydendahl | {
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Pages
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Will Work for Carrots
Happy Easter from Paper Nest Dolls! Lucy Woods made a great card using the image Will Work for Carrots. Perfect colors and embellishments adorn the card for this special day. The Bunny Sign image was also used to complete the project. To see more of Lucy's creations go to Little Lucy's Handmade Cards or click HERE. | {
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16 freelancers estão ofertando em média $66 para esse trabalho
Hello,
First of all, its my pleasure to bid on your project, I have gone through your requirements. We are a highly skilled team to provide you the best experience. We are ready to work on it as soon as you will awaMais
Hi,
I will configure interspire on server and make it working and pass all authentications for good inbox delivery like spf,dkim,ip rotation,etc. for good inbox delivery.
• Install LAMP
• dns name serverMais
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I will install Interspire as per your requirement. I have 10 Years of expertise in bulk mailing, email marketing, Power MTA ,Interspire and Mailwizz mailing application with secured server set up.
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Hi
I can help you with Interspire.
I am a Sr. Linux Admin, Unix Admin, System Admin, Storage Admin, Server Admin, Virtualization Expert having hands-on proven experience over the past 12 years on different Linux Mais
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I am a system and network administrator, with more than 10 years of experience.
During that period I have installed, administrate and maintain a large number of various servers, such as Web Server (ApaMais
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I will setup and configure interspire on the main domain name and will implement all mailing techniques like SPF, DKIM, DMARC, etc
I do have expertise in server setup, server configuration, migration, email Mais
Hey there,
After reviewing your project description its clear that you want someone to install and configure interspire email marketer on your server and domain.
I'm very experienced with System Administration, LMais | {
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Round Rock ISD looking at design of proposed new high school
As Round Rock continues to grow, Round Rock ISD is looking at proposals for a sixth high school.
Currently, there are more than 3,200 students enrolled at Round Rock High School. If overcrowding isn't addressed, the school could have more than 4,000 students on the campus by 2021.
"Our community has asked for smaller high schools, high schools that are below, at 2,600 or below," said district spokesman Corey Ryan. "Currently none of our high schools meet that criteria."
Seven years ago, Round Rock ISD bought a 182-acre tract of land along Pearson Ranch Road. That land could be turned into a three-story high school that would serve up to 2,600 students. This high school would be built to primarily relieve overcrowding at Round Rock High.
The district used $15 million of surplus money from past bonds to create a schematic design of what the new campus would look like. A new bond election would be needed to get the school built.
"The high school 6 design is $130 million for the school and an additional $20 million as of right now if they add an auditorium," Ryan said.
Construction on the new high school could start as early as August 2017.
A citizens bond committee is looking at a possible 2017 bond package to fund the new school and more projects in the district. | {
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While devices like the Pebble smartwatch are currently billed as niche devices, a new report from ABI Research claims that things are going to change in a hurry when it comes to smartwatch market penetration. The forecast suggests that by the year’s end, 1.2 million smartwatches will have shipped.
ABI says that with more folks switching to smartphones, it is likely that at least some of these folks will be interested in the idea of getting notifications and other data from their phone onto a watch.
Further, ABI believes that there will likely be four categories of smart watches in the near future: the notification type, voice operational smart watches, hybrid smart watches and completely independent smart watches.
The notification type is simply a watch that offers alerts for incoming calls, messages and other notifications. Voice operational smart watches differ in that that can start and stop calls and issue commands using voice.
Next we have hybrids, which combine notifications with voice functionality. They also have their own primitive OS and might have limited functionality when not synced to a smartphone.
And then there are independent smart watches. According to ABI, this could end up being devices like the iWatch, Samsung Galaxy watch and Microsoft’s rumored watch. These devices would have their own operating systems and likely their own apps and other features. While independent from your smartphone, they could still likely sync to a device to pull notifications, though.
While ABI’s predictions and category breakdown are interesting, keep in mind that it is all speculation at this point. What do you think of the idea of a smart watch, is it something you could see yourself using? Conversely, are you interested in other wearable computing devices like Google Glass? | {
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Android 2.1 + Sense UI On Touch Pro2
With the growing popularity of Android OS in the mobile smartphone world, Window Mobile developers have kicked it into over drive, and have been working ever so hard to getting the latest software on our device. In the latest release by XDAndroid, they managed to get the latest Android software(Android 2.2 has yet to be released) running on the Touch Pro2, with the software we all love to see and use… Sense UI.
Now they did not only add new software, but they put some new fixes into it. This release comes with a host of new fixes that can be easily seen from their well documented change log:
NEW Apr 23 New 2 new builds added to the download section. First we have a 2.1 Android Open Source Project build. This is built by phh using stinedb’s new kitchen. Second we have 2.1 with SENSE UI! Thanks to Klinux for his work on this sqsh!
3/17 zImage/Modules: Re-enable speakerphone by adding "external.rhod_speaker=1" to startup.txt (ONLY SPEAKERPHONE, no external audio, Mic also will not work.)
3/08 3D Finally working(ish) Will not show Nexus boot screen, or some other 3D apps that require LOTS of RAM. (Remove cmdline "hw3d.force=1" from your startup.txt to go back to the old settings and get your splash screen back)
3/08 System.sqsh from babijoee, includes Home++ (you can still select standard Android Home as default) | {
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News
Victim was laid on ground unconscious during attack in Richmond
A VIOLENT thug who kicked another man in the head “as if kicking a football” while he lay defenceless on the ground has been jailed for six months.
Jamie Ellis joined in an attack on the victim after he had already been kicked and punched unconscious.
Prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court, Richard Bennett described how the injured party had been set upon in Richmond's Market Place after he took exception to a comment about his girlfriend by a man accompanying Ellis.
The victim and his girlfriend had been sat awaiting a taxi shortly after 2am on August 24 last year following a night out when they encountered 24-year-old Ellis.
After words were exchanged a struggle ensued between the three men and the victim was knocked unconscious.
Mr Bennett said: “The defendant is seen to deliver a forceful kick to his [the complainant's] head like a footballer kicking a football.
“He was unconscious at the time and in no position to defend himself.”
Both assailants made off, but had been spotted by a CCTV operator and after Ellis, who was covered in blood, got into a taxi police were sent to his home address to arrest him.
The victim suffered a broken nose, chipped tooth and swelling to his face which closed an eye.
These included hitting a complainant with a bottle and headbutting an 18-year-old man.
“All these convictions relate to violence in the centre of Richmond and particularly in the Market Place,” the prosecutor added.
The court heard how Ellis, a labourer with an electrical firm, turned to alcohol to run away from his problems.
However his job and the fact he was in a relationship gave him the opportunity for some stability in his life.
Recorder Felicity Davies said Ellis had readily joined in the violence and the victim had been lucky not to suffer worse injuries.
She said Ellis had been fortunate not to have been previously jailed and had also failed to comply with the terms of a community order given to him in June 2012.
The judge told him: “When you drink you are a danger to other people. Your behaviour on this occasion and the offence you committed are so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate.” | {
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Fourth of July Creek
FOURTH OF JULY CREEK By Smith Henderson
A title like Fourth of July Creek suggests another run at the Great American Novel, and the fact that it’s the debut novel of Smith Henderson, whose best-known credit previous to this is writing the egregious, and truly unforgiveable, Super Bowl commercial “Halftime in America” (starring Clint Eastwood), may make the casual reader take a step back.
But hopefully not too far back. Henderson bears comparison to Jonathan Franzen as a dramatic chronicler of contemporary American life, and though he’s more remote in his subject matter – backwoods and hardscrabble where Franzen is bourgeois and suburban – he has the same intense readability and feel for modern states of mind.
Fourth of July Creek is set in the early 1980s in Montana, a rather barren place that seems dominated by the colour brown. We drive through “hills the color of toast,” and an “ugly scrubscrape the color of dirty pennies” with its “stubbled fields in five kinds of brown.” Even one of the minor characters is described as smelling “like brown. Like whiskey, tobacco, and river water.”
The residents of this harsh brown landscape are a hard workin’, hard drinkin’, hard fightin’ and hard lovin’ bunch. Our hero is Pete Snow, a divorced, semi-alcoholic social worker with the Department of Family Services operating out of the town of Tenmile, a place where biology throbs and churns.
Pete’s own life is a mess, with a brother wanted by the law and a runaway daughter, but he still has to do his best to help others in even more trouble, including a young boy named Benjamin Pearl who is being raised in the woods by his father Jeremiah, a demented, conspiracy-nut survivalist.
It’s life on the wrong side of the tracks, to be sure, but Pete (on one of his better days) has a vision of it as a calling to minister to fallen humanity, dreaming of how “all of life can be understood as casework,” with the DFS being “a kind of priesthood.”
In a novel so structured around the theme of people as damaged goods it’s no surprise that dysfunctional parent-child relationships become a refrain. Children are abandoned, neglected, physically abused, and worse, by parents who are absent, intoxicated, stoned, or just plain crazy.
Their homes may be a trailer, a shack in the woods without electricity, or even a tent or lean-to. A lot of time is spent by Pete, and others, just trying to find people. We are among a class with no permanent residence.
Henderson’s multi-track, almost gothic plot is smoothly paced and his language has a rural, earth-tone feel to it, right down to the “howdy” greetings and the use of redundant locutions like “might could” (as in we “might could have a freeze coming”). And while many of his characters are types – the religious wing-nuts, the pot farmers, the brutal cops, the good ol’ boys and hillbillies – he usually stays just this side of making them caricatures. They all have his sympathy.
It’s ironic, and the irony is a big part of the book’s message, that Jeremiah Pearl is both a believer in the Rapture as well as a representative of the damned Left Behind. This is a novel about the human wreckage left behind by personal failures, not to mention a part of the United States – the so-called “fly-over” portion – about to be left even further behind by the changing economy of the twenty-first century.
This is less halftime in America then it is the End Times, as much for the downwardly mobile as for the rapture-ready. Families have broken down completely, with mistrust and the fallout from violence being passed on to every new generation. And the only thing preventing the chickens coming home to roost is the fact that they no longer have any fixed address. | {
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Ka-Ching
Ka-Ching is a 3rd person, family-friendly shooter that was announced on September 8, 2008 shortly after an in-world update. Since launch it has proven to be one of Kaneva's most popular features and frequently draws a steady stream of both new and seasoned users.
Contents
Ka-ching! is a FREE multi-player,
third personshooting game played exclusively inside the 3D World of Kaneva.
The Goal:
Team up with your friends to find, collect, and deposit the most coins (Ka-ching!), dodge foam darts, and check your opponents (send them back to the starting point) by firing foam darts.
Ka-Ching Arena Sign-up
The Teams
Up to 8 players are divided into two teams: red and blue. Assemble a team with your Kaneva friends, or join one in progress. There is a minimum of one player on each team required to start the game.
The Game
From the Ka-ching! lobby, walk up to the Arena Manager (the Avatar behind the counter) and press the TAB key.
To join a game in progress: Click Join Game.
To create a new game: Click Create a New Game. Game Managers will then have the choice of naming the lobby and selecting a map (Curlable)Office" and "Octagon" are available), choose either The Office or The Octagon arena.) Players who start a new game will be automatically appointed "Game manager" (A title which can be subsequently handed to any player once they have joined the game) giving them the ability to boot players, lock the game (Making it impossible for new players to join), and start the game once all players have clicked the "ready" button.
A Ka-Ching store has been implemented in the game's lobby, offering Ka-Ching related armor that offers only cosmetic changes (And has no impact whatsoever on gameplay).
The store maintains regular traffic and offers all items for less than 1,000 Rewards per piece. All purchasable clothing currently comes in two colors (Red or Blue) and can be purchased by either gender.
A standard game of Ka-Ching lasts 5 minutes or until one team collects 50 coins. The objective is solely for each team to collect as many coins as possible and deposit them in the map's center.
The maximum number of players 8 with a minimum of 2 players required to start any game of Ka-Ching. Currently there is only one gametype which has every member of both teams struggling to collect and deposit coins while making use of weapons firing foam bullets. The purpose of these weapons are to "Check" enemy players which is achieved by firing on them until forcing them to "Bounce" (The in-game equivalent of death). A player is bounced once their health bar is emptied by enemy fire. Upon bouncing the defeated player will be treated to a 5 second respawn timer, thus disabling them from assisting their team in anyway. Players spawn with the base weapon ("Stinger", a blue stylized semi-automatic rifle that inflicts minimal damage on opponents) though they can attain two more powerful weapons ranging from the middle-class "Sweeper" (High rate-of-fire with medium damage but short range) to the mighty "Suckerpunch" (The most powerful weapon in game, direct hits kill players immediately). All weapons except for the Stinger have limited amounts of ammo that can be only replenished by walking over the same weapon.
Since it's inception: Ka-Ching has been greeted with a user-created gametype commonly referred to as "Coin Race", wherein the shooting aspect of the game is removed in favor of allowing users to simply collect coins. These games have earned massive popularity among new users in that they allow time to better acquaint themselves with all three maps, though some veteran Ka-Chingers commonly see these games as a lackluster means of attaining Ka-Ching Fame and often remark on the general lack of difficulty in Coin Race games. In the June 30 2009 Kaneva update a feature was installed that allows players to deactivate the use of weaponry in games, making Coin Race and No-shooting games the first gametype to be added since the original "Collect, dodge, shoot" format. A small group of players also enjoy games which prohibit the collection of coins.
In-game powerups and weapons are available to any and all players and spawn periodically in set locations. In addition to the weapons, two unnamed powerups are available, one replenishing lost health and another offering invulnerability to enemy fire for a limited amount of time.
Coins also spawn periodically around the map and are the only means of scoring in typical games. Teams need 50 coins to win and have to collect a minimum of 3 to be able to deposit them. Every 3 coins generates a bonus coin which adds to your total collected (Collecting 3 coins would add one bonus coin, while collecting 6 would add two bonus coins, making the minimum number of coins deposited 4 while still requiring only 3 to score). Players can collect as many coins as possible (Even in excess of 50, which is the maximum score in any game of Ka-Ching). Coin "Drop Zones" are always located in the center of every map and are the only place coins can be dropped.
Ka-Ching fame (Independent from World and Dance Fame) was implemented in the March 10, 2009 update for Kaneva, allowing players the chance to attain Ka-Ching-related titles, clothing, and items. Like Dance Fame, Ka-Ching fame features 50 levels with items and titles earned for every five levels completed. Multiple ways to collect Ka-Ching fame have been added as well, offering ways to collect fame for both first-time users and constant Ka-Chingers. Ways to earn Ka-Ching Fame are listed below according to packet:
One-Time Packets (Can only be earned once)
First Ka-ching Game - Play one full game of Ka-ching
First Ka-ching Win - Assist your team in winning one game
First Ka-ching Coin Scored - Score once while playing
First Ka-ching Check - Check your first player
Daily Packets (These methods can only be completed a set number of times before ceasing in rewarding fame)
Ka-Ching launched featuring two maps offering both open and cramped level design. Available at launch was the stylish, modern, and team-segregated Office and the rustic and multi-layered ruins in Octagon.
The Office is a medium sized map in the general shape of an octagon. The map's outer layer is designated by both "Red" and "Blue" zones wherein a similarly-colored team will spawn. The outermost layer simulates recreational areas in the office, with couches and water coolers placed throughout the zones. The "core" of the map can be accessed through doorways in the eastern and western sides of the map or through offices at the northern and southern straights on each map. This "Center" is the resting place of both coins, powerups/weapons, and the Drop Zone. Weapons and powerups are also placed in two identical corners both to the front and back of each team's spawn, and are connected to every other part of the map via hallways that also boast vast amounts of coins. The hallways also feature one windowed room per zone that allows for surveillance of the map's core and well-placed fire on the center.
Office is notoriously cramped in most instances and has proven to be Ka-Ching's most popular map. It is the simplest in terms of layout and takes mere moments to understand the design, making it useful for new players.
Octagon (As it's name states) is designed in such a shape and contrasts the modern and streamlined design of Office with a more ancient and open area for playing. Octagon's first floor is near entirely open, leaving for limited amounts of cover and more prolonged firefights. There are four staircases on the main floor and "jump jets", a perk featured exclusively in Octagon that allows players to be lifted rapidly upwards by a stream of compressed air. There are numerous alcoves and small hallways on the second floor, typically closed off at some length in by ruins. The "Drop zone" is located on a platform directly above the map's center and is accessible only through the second floor or jump jets on the ground floor.
In keeping with Octagon's more ancient look: some of the stairways are inaccessible through walking, and certain platforms and walkways sport large holes or structural damage. Rumors conclude that this map was originally known as "Dig Site" in its early stages of testing. Octagon has thus far shown disappointing results in terms of traffic, and despite being one of only two maps available at Ka-Ching's launch it is rarely played by most seasoned Ka-Chingers. Most uses of Octagon tend to be for more check-oriented games (See [|Gameplay] ) due to it's open, yet misleading design.
Announced with its launch on March 10, 2009, the Food Court is easily the largest map in Ka-Ching history. Taking place in a mall, the Food Court (Like Office) spawns each team on once side of the map, with coins located atop tables that line the area. A small gazebo-esque structure guards the area direct center of each team's spawn, and often supports weaponry in addition to two multi-level offices on the eastern and western sides of the map.
Food Court quickly rose as a contender to Office in terms of popularity, offering both the sprawling open firefights featured in Octagon and the confined close-quarters combat in Office. On March 13th 2009, after only 3 days of being operational, Food Court was removed from the list of available Ka-Ching maps for unspecified reasons. It was reinstated on the list of playable maps in the June 30, 2009 update. | {
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Michael was playing chase with a friend when he ran across the street and was hit by a bus on Betty Jo Drive in Fayetteville Saturday. His stepfather, Daniel Zalsman, said Michael suffered knee damage from the accident. "It was pretty graphic; it was hard to see." he said.
U of A transit officials are now working with Fayetteville Police to make sure that nothing was missed in the accident. Steve Voorhies, university spokesperson, said Razorback Transit drivers go through extensive training before they are allowed to get behind the wheel.
All drivers have commercial licenses and also go through defensive driver and CPR training.
Voories said the bus driver saw Michael run across the street, but wasn't able to stop in enough time.
"Anybody who has driven...that's their worst nightmare, to have a pedestrian dart in front and not be able to stop. Now, just magnify that on campus with 25,000 students."
The driver involved in the incident has not returned to work. Officials said he is "not comfortable" just yet. | {
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Poland – AIESEC Exchange
20/05/2013
About a year ago, I was joining AIESEC Sorocaba. For those who don’t know, AIESEC is the world’s largest youth-run organisation. We are present in over 113 countries and with over 86,000 members. AIESEC provides a platform for youth leadership development. AIESEC offers young people the opportunity to be global citizens, to change the world, and to get experience and skills that matter today.
When I joined AIESEC I’ve already had a dream in mind, go abroad for an international exchange. I’m really passionate about presentations and teaching, so I applied for Global Citizen Program. I started to search for an exchange in Eastern Europe, to be more specific, in Poland. Fortunately, I was accepted for an educational program in Katowice – Silesia. My mission was present about brazilian culture for teenagers from public schools.
Before leave Brazil I couldn’t wonder what was waiting me. I had only a special thought: go to Poland and teach teenagers that Brazil is not just about carnival and soccer. It was my main goal.
I’ve spent seven weeks (jan/feb – 2013), it couldn’t have been better, I was pretty well received by polish people! They are very hospitable. If you think you are hospitable, you should meet a polish family, they are very kind. I want to say thank you, for every family that hosted me (for free), you rock :)
It’s amazing the amount of people who speak english, everyone speaks english! Definitely, language isn’t a barrier in Poland. By the way, many poles are studying other languages. I hope a similar situation in Brazil, for the future.
Most part of the time, I was presenting for teenagers. However, I presented for all ages, from kindergarten, through high school, to adults (in a private english school). Thank you all! Polish students are very polite. Beyond that, polish teachers are motivated, even earning a bad salary, keep the good work.
I learned a lot of new things, I taught a lot of things, I’m sure I lived the best experience of my life. It’s impossible to explain in a blog post.
I would like to thank all people that helped me, other trainees, AIESECers, host families, teachers and students, you guys are doing a great job and you are helping the world to be a better place. I’m proud of you! | {
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Cat Café Temporarily Closed Because It’s Out Of Cats!
Vancouver’s first cat café, or Catfé as it’s owner calls it, has temporarily closed after a rush of adoptions left them completely ‘catless’. The cafe first opened it’s doors last December and allows customers to drink a coffee and meet the eight to 12 rescue cats that are provided by the BC SPCA. All of the cats were up for adoption and have now all found their forever homes.
Michelle Furbacher, who opened the Catfé on December 14, says: “We are excited that so many cats have already found homes, but we also look forward to providing a fun, cat-filled space in the near future with lots of new feline furriends to meet”, she added: “Obviously, we were hoping not to have to be closed, we want the cats to get adopted, but we also want to have a space where you can just go hang out with the cats even if you’re not necessarily looking to adopt.”
Michelle plans to reopen Friday but she reminds the public there are plenty of cats at other shelters that are still waiting for homes. | {
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The entire Anti Hadeeth ideology is destroyed with this one verse from the Quran:
"16:44. (We sent them) with Clear Signs and Books of dark prophecies; and We have sent down unto thee (also) the Message; that thou mayest explain clearly to men what is sent for them, and that they may give thought."
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Beware Muslims, had they won the Lina Joy case, Islam will cease to exists as we know it. I wrote this article a while ago, to answer a certain request made by a representative from The Brunei Times. Unfortunately, my article succeeded not in getting through the editor's filter. But instead of scrapping it, I'm posting it here, so that anyone interested in the facts of the case may access an abridged version of it. And most importantly, you would be able to understand what grave implications the case would have had in store for the rest of us Muslims had it been decided in Lina Joy's favour. (The implications of the case also happen to be something few people are aware of.)
I used very simple English and tried my best not to use any legal terms, so this should be a very accessible article. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask, and I'll try my best to answer them. (I have direct access to the PPI lawyers, so if you have any questions of legal nature that I am unable to answer myself I will immediately forward it to them.)
====================================
I think it better to grab than lose your attention, hence I will explain using layman's terms and refrain from bombarding you with legalese while I go about explaining the Lina Joy case.
Lina Joy, born 'Azlina Jailani', claimed to have embraced Christianity at the age of 26.
Over the years she has expressed her desire to enter into a legal marriage and have a child. However, she could not do this for the laws of Malaysia forbid inter-religious marriages.To this effect she then sought legal recognition of her faith from the National Registration Department (NRD), by applying for the removal of the word 'Islam' from her identity card. The NRD, thinking itself unfit to take religious affairs into its hands (being only an administrative body), insisted that she first produce a declaration from the Syariah court that acknowledged her renunciation of Islam, and went on to reject her application when she could not do so.
Lina refused to visit the Syariah court. She also claimed that it had become unfit to hear her matter, by virtue of her having left the Islamic faith. Thus began the legal battle that would span nearly a decade.
Lina Joy's claims were founded upon two grounds:
* 1) Whether the NRD had acted properly in rejecting her application, and * 2) Her insistence that the provisions of Article 11 of the Constitution gave her the complete freedom to profess any religion of her choosing.
The respondents (the Majlis Agama Islam, the Government of Malaysia, and the NRD) based their claims upon these grounds:
* 1) Article 160 of the Constitution, which states that a Malay must be of none other than the Islamic faith - i.e. He or she must be Muslim, and * 2) As the issue of apostasy falls under the category of Islamic matters and doctrine, the only means of recourse, as provided for by Article 121 (1A) of the Constitution, would be available to her only through the Syariah court.
The High Court dismissed Lina Joy's claims on the grounds that it had no jurisdiction to hear her matter. She appealed to the Court of Appeal, on the grounds of administrative law, but did not succeed there. She then appealed to the Federal Court.
The Federal Court's decision was handed down on the 30th of May 2007, with the majority judgment ruling in favour of dismissing Lina Joy's appeal. (One judge dissented.) In essence, the majority judgement came to these conclusions:
* 1) For a Muslim, his religious rights and duties prior to his conversion remains unchanged until he gets a declaration from the Syariah Court saying that he is no longer a Muslim. * 2) Article 11 (1) does not give rise to absolute freedom of religion. * 3) The right to profess and practice a religion is subject to the principles and practice of that religion.
Mention must also be made of the two languages employed to deliver the decision -- Bahasa Malaysia (by the Chief Justice) and English (Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak). (This has resulted in the dissenting judgment enjoying more immediate coverage than the former. )
-----------
The multi-religious composition of Malaysia explains why there has been so much interest from the public since the very beginning.
For brevity's sake, perspective on this case could be said as coming from two camps: In the first, the Muslims, who feel enraged that Lina Joy has attempted to circumvent the jurisdiction of the Syariah court and hold that it amounts to an act of condescension towards the current dual-legal system in practice. In the second, the non-Muslimsand a small group of Malays (whose members fancy themselves 'liberal' Muslims), who endeavour to support Lina Joy's cause for it would champion issues such as human rights and fundamental liberties, which are dear to them.
I certainly beg to differ with the opinions of some who claim that at the heart of the Lina Joy case lies a dispute on religious freedom. I am inclined to offer this correction to them: that the case of Lina Joy has all along been concerned with the question as to which court has jurisdiction to try cases of apostasy involving Muslims, and that the issue of freedom of religion was auxiliary to this.
I must bring to light the fact that Lina Joy is not restricted from leaving the religion if she wishes for that. The decision affirms this contention of mine and makes lucid the fact that she needs to apply to visit the Syariah court to obtain a formal declaration to that effect, subject of course to the limits of jurisprudence.
Why then have some groups stretched the truth to fit their claims that the Lina Joy case amounts to obstructing altogether their right to freedom of religion? There has been much ado about this, especially on the Internet. (That's not taking into account their other interesting claims; for example, that the Lina Joy case has been decided unfairlyand has thus caused devastating implications to be wrought upon the citizens of this country.)
Unbeknownst to the masses, even ghastlier implications would have come to manifest had Lina Joy's appeal succeeded. I beg you to consider these, for instance:
* 2) The coming to existence of a constitutional paradox - Article 160 of the Constitution states that a Malay must be a Muslim; thus, if a Malay person declares himself a non-Muslim, what race would he (legally) belong to then? As he cannot satisfy the constitutional criteria of a Malay, he would lose not only his Malay status but his Bumiputra privileges as well.
* 3) The diminution of the powers of the Syariah court - Not only would our Islamic court would be deprived of its right to adjudicate on matters of apostasy involving Muslims, said right would then be conferred to the civil court, whose judicial members are comprised of Muslims and non-Muslims trained in the intricacies of civil laws but not Islamic laws.
* 4) Of inheritance rights - Seeing as to the fact that Muslims and non-Muslims are governed by different inheritance laws, and the fact that non-Muslims cannot inherit from Muslims, one can easily imagine then the gory court battles that would emerge from disputes on inheritance.
* 5) The impossibility of religious enforcement - Consider perhaps, a man eating eating in public in the fasting month of Ramadhan who, when arrested by religious officers, professes to having left the Islamic faith. The religious officers would be unable to perform their duties if so.
One need not look more than twice at the above list to understand that it is the Muslims, comprising roughly 60% of the country's population, who would be adversely affected the most. (Article written by Mr Wan Zafran)
110
comments:
Anonymous
said...
A very misleading piece full of half-truths.
"I am inclined to offer this correction to them: that the case of Lina Joy has all along been concerned with the question as to which court has jurisdiction to try cases of apostasy involving Muslims, and that the issue of freedom of religion was auxiliary to this."
Technically true, but omits the fact that the Syariah court had NEVER permitted apostasy (well up until a few weeks ago in Penang), and definitely haS never permitted apostasy of a Malay.
One also can understand Lina Joy's obvious reluctance to go to Syariah court, given the court's detestable precedent of sending would-be apostates to "rehabilitation camps" which are comparable to Guantanamo Bay and clearly violate every human rights law on freedom of religion.
"Unbeknownst to the masses, even ghastlier implications would have come to manifest had Lina Joy's appeal succeeded. I beg you to consider these, for instance:"
Oh dear, allowing freedom of religion will DESTROY Islam. Funny how Indonesia, which freely allows conversion between faiths is still majority Muslim.
But hey, when rational arguments fail, one can always fall back on simple fear-mongering, eh?
Highly unlikely. When a non-Muslim becomes a Muslim, it apparently does not "invalidate Muslim law" but when the reverse happens it will?
Some elaboration would be highly appreciated.
"* 2) The coming to existence of a constitutional paradox - Article 160 of the Constitution states that a Malay must be a Muslim; thus, if a Malay person declares himself a non-Muslim, what race would he (legally) belong to then? As he cannot satisfy the constitutional criteria of a Malay, he would lose not only his Malay status but his Bumiputra privileges as well."
Somehow, I doubt Lina Joy would care about her "legal racial status" more than her basic human rights. And there ARE non-muslim Bumiputras. Or have you forgotten our East Msian brothers?
And besides, the provision is foolish. How can one's race be dependent on one's religion? Does a Caucasian converting into Islam cease to be "White" and instead falls under the "Arab" tag?
A Malay will be a Malay, whether he/she is a Christian, Muslim, Bhuddist, atheist or Scientologist. To claim otherwise would be contravening irrefutable biological evidence. And only stupid people would do so, kan?
" * 3) The diminution of the powers of the Syariah court - Not only would our Islamic court would be deprived of its right to adjudicate on matters of apostasy involving Muslims, said right would then be conferred to the civil court, whose judicial members are comprised of Muslims and non-Muslims trained in the intricacies of civil laws but not Islamic laws."
Nothing wrong with that.
Once one leaves Islam, one is no longer a Muslim, so how can the Syariah court have jurisprudence over a person not of the Muslim faith?
"* 4) Of inheritance rights - Seeing as to the fact that Muslims and non-Muslims are governed by different inheritance laws, and the fact that non-Muslims cannot inherit from Muslims, one can easily imagine then the gory court battles that would emerge from disputes on inheritance."
Perhaps.
But just as with marriage laws, these can be changed to reflect the situation.
Hence, it is a poor excuse.
"* 5) The impossibility of religious enforcement - Consider perhaps, a man eating eating in public in the fasting month of Ramadhan who, when arrested by religious officers, professes to having left the Islamic faith. The religious officers would be unable to perform their duties if so."
Most foolish reason yet.
One would only have to produce one's identity card with religion on it, and the religious officers will be forced to leave him/her alone.
One of my friends who is actually Chindian, but with coffee-coloured skin closely resembling a Malay, goes through this process at least once every Ramadhan. Clearly the Islamic faith has not been destroyed, and neither has JAIS' power been diminshed.
Besides, religious enforcement officials could do well to learn a dose of humility and professionalism when conducting their business, with even staunch muslims feeling uneasy with their high-handed ways and rude manners.
You are right on one thing though, this is NOT a battle for religious freedom. That battle has already been won. Religion is between one and God, and the State or Syariah court or whomever is NOT a go-between.
This, then, is only a battle between the enlightened and the foolish fundamentalists' who bury their head in the sand and refuse to accept reality. There can be no compulsion in religion, and never a trueer word has been spoken. Or do you not believe the words of the Koran?
Why is it in Malaysia that laws are required to make it difficult or impossible for Malays/Muslims to leave the Islamic faith? Does Islam not have enough merit or attractive enough to hold on to its followers without legal restrictions? Even funnier is the necessity to deploy religious officers to catch non-fasting Muslims or Muslims committing khalwat. Who are they to judge the alleged offenders? Let Allah in His infinite wisdom judge them Himself when they eventually meet Him. Those officers should instead use their time to reach out to those in need.
One would only have to produce one's identity card with religion on it, and the religious officers will be forced to leave him/her alone.
One of my friends who is actually Chindian, but with coffee-coloured skin closely resembling a Malay, goes through this process at least once every Ramadhan. Clearly the Islamic faith has not been destroyed, and neither has JAIS' power been diminshed."
MY REPLY: What if he says, i just reounced Islam but my IC is not ready yet?
why cant you accept the actual fact that what people believe in has got nothing to do with the constitution? Its between you and God, not the constitution. Is the constitution your religion?
what is the point of staying a muslim but profess other faith? Just let her believe what she wants to believe.
You are definitely a selfish man. You should know why, if you dont, let me tell you, because people like Lina Joy wants to be free and happy with her new religion but you are not happy with that, cause you are afraid that more would do the same and that makes you worry and not happy.
why dont you just admit and say directly that it bothers you that there are muslims who wish/want to leave the religion.
its simple rather than trying to use the LAW to justify why muslims cant leave islam.
i wonder why if a non-muslim and convert to islam, fundamentalists like you would jump in joy and praise that islam is the true and only religion. why cant non muslim do the same in malaysia or any muslim country? Why can muslim in western countries fight for what they want and these countries are slowly giving in? why cant we do the same here in malaysia?
"One also can understand Lina Joy's obvious reluctance to go to Syariah court, given the court's detestable precedent of sending would-be apostates to "rehabilitation camps" which are comparable to Guantanamo Bay and clearly violate every human rights law on freedom of religion."
why cant you accept the actual fact that what people believe in has got nothing to do with the constitution? Its between you and God, not the constitution. Is the constitution your religion?
what is the point of staying a muslim but profess other faith? Just let her believe what she wants to believe.
MY REPLY: Which constitution are you talking about, sir? If it's the Malaysian constitution, then you're barking up the wrong tree
i believe you dont understand the statement cause in your mind, if a sentence contains ISLAM and CONSITUTION = your rebuttal would always be = Article 160 of the Constitution...
if your narrow mind cant get what that sentence means, let me tell you in really really plain and simple english. Religion is a personal thing, you want to believe in simut ka, pokok ka, batu ka, bunga ka, tea cup ka.. its really up to you, thats what you believe. The consitution shouldnt stop you for believing what faith you profess. just make sure what you believe doesnt harm anyone including yourself. Please stop using the "Article 160 of the Consitution" statement, its getting boring.
Islaminasation is taking place, dont worry, sooner or later, Malaysia would be a 100% country. Well even in now school,fundamentalists' like you are trying to brain wash non muslim children to study about islam. Imagine the history books in school, there will always contains sentence like "Abd Ibn XXXX, ahli matematik muslim terkenal" etc. Strange thing is, when i was studying in australia, the history book i had did not contain sentence like "Famous Christian Mathematician, XXXXX".
All we can do is slowing down the process. I believe you would be happy with what i said about malaysia being 100% in the future. Please go ahead and jump for joy.
So just leave Lina Joy alone cause she is trying to live her life. So please let her be happy. She has that right as a human being
"For Lina Joy, would it mean that it is impossible to leave Islam? Or one born as a malay therefore a muslim , can NEVER leave Islam?"
YES that's correct. Becuase she can never proof that she was never a practicing Muslimah and she can never prove that she never believed in ISlam and she can never proof that she has never had faith in ISlam.
"YES that's correct. Becuase she can never proof that she was never a practicing Muslimah and she can never prove that she never believed in ISlam and she can never proof that she has never had faith in ISlam."
ok, so can we then safely say that the malays in malaysia got NO choice at all, as far as the laws are concern to choose their religion, cos they are born malay therefore muslims and can NEVER leave Islam.
Oh ya.. if only she proves it by giving hard evidence like filming it, or taking pictures. but fundamentalists cant accept that, since they will stay the video is made using virtual effects and pictures are photoshopped.
But the best is to live telecast the hold baptism proses through all the international networks like Al Jazeera, CNN dtc. Then everyone in the world can watch you live outside the Vatican shouting "THATS NOT CONSITUTIONAL, AS THE ARTICLE 160 OF THE CONSITUTION......"
Free publicity plus fundamentalists will praise you and you will return to malaysia being recognized and conferred the Datuk..no ... Tan Sri... NO..but THE TUN title for you contribution to the country. and that would definitly make you HAPPY!! ;)
you guys ought to stop patronizing this tulang guy. it's rather pointless don't you think? there's nothing you can do to change the way he thinks as he is entitled to his opinions - no matter how stupid y'all think they may be - the same way he disregards your arguments.
ignoring people like these will be the best course of action. they will stay where they are for the rest of their lives.
my advise, leave them well alone - work hard, live well, be happy, vote wisely and vote always.
I just have one thing to say.. Tulang Besi or Abdul Rahman Abdul Talib or whatever.. Seen too many times of this name popping up, everytime I read the article it's the same old crap. U know what, we should just ignore him for all I care.
He says he "travel alot", but all he gained is duty free crap. He said that he slants towards "facts rather than opinions", yet all I see are self opinionated junk. Even the title of the blog, "anti anti-hadeeth" is a clear paradox of what you claim you are.
Arguable everyone has their own opinions, but to reply a comment by calling people stupid or foolish just show the level of intelligence involved here. You know what, u may think other ppl are stupid or foolish or whatever your limited vocabulary have in store, but we all think the same way about you too.
I think we can let Lina Joy go now. The religion bashing should stop now. It shouldn't be started at the first place because it will always lead to immature arguments and hatred towards each other. Islam and Christian are Abrahamic religion which share a lot of doctrines anyway. These people should learn to live their life together. People converts between religion because they seeks improvement of their faith or for any other reason but for me, being an atheist who lives an honorable life is much better that a person who claims The Only religion for himself but practicing more vices than Niko Bellic.
And Islam or any religions or beliefs will never cease to existence even if the whole population of this world becoming apostates.
"* 5) The impossibility of religious enforcement - Consider perhaps, a man eating in public in the fasting month of Ramadhan who, when arrested by religious officers, professes to having left the Islamic faith. The religious officers would be unable to perform their duties if so."
Why should there be "religious enforcement" in the first place? Religion is a belief system. Everybody is entitled to believe in what they want to believe. Maybe the man eating during Ramadhan does not believe that fasting makes a difference.
I could not understand how some people want to govern how people should believe! Much less penalize them for not "believing properly".
i just don't understand one small matter... why people don't get the fact that under our constitution... it says one has the right to or in other words freedom to practice any religion....
to me... i just know one thing... never force a person to practice a religion worst... even force some1 to pray! coz if do force some1... he or she wont be doing it full heartly and i believe the person is not gonna gain anything...
one last thing... all religion is for good... if you take the world's big religion such as Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hindu or wateva la... the basic thing they preach is ...
"be good, do good"
so wateva the religion is... whoeva the person is... be happy that the person have some faith in a religion which helps the person not deviate the path...
The syariah can annul declaration of islam but not apostasy, which will send the person to a brainwashing camp ala quantanamo>
well, let me ask....
did lina joy freely convert to islam or was she forced to be circumcised before she can ever talked?
DOES NOT THIS PROVE MY POINT???
and all these while, the bloody fanatic moslem keeps accusing the christians for forcing us natives in malaysia to convert...
all those who convert or embrace christianity in malaysia are all free to leave also.
sadly not for moslem.... so who is forcing conversion?
Born moslem are all forced to convert right? cos they did not make the choice, but by mere accident of birth?
Also, those who are angry that some natives of malaysia convert to christianity is so FUCKING jealos or frustrated that there is little chance of converting them to Islam because christianity brought along education which opened their mind to see WHAT ISLAM REALLY IS.. a big BULLSHIT
The syariah can annul declaration of islam but not apostasy, which will send the person to a brainwashing camp ala quantanamo>
well, let me ask....
did lina joy freely convert to islam or was she forced to be circumcised before she can ever talked?
DOES NOT THIS PROVE MY POINT???
and all these while, the bloody fanatic moslem keeps accusing the christians for forcing us natives in malaysia to convert...
all those who convert or embrace christianity in malaysia are all free to leave also.
sadly not for moslem.... so who is forcing conversion?
Born moslem are all forced to convert right? cos they did not make the choice, but by mere accident of birth?
Also, those who are angry that some natives of malaysia convert to christianity is so FUCKING jealos or frustrated that there is little chance of converting them to Islam because christianity brought along education which opened their mind to see WHAT ISLAM REALLY IS.. a big BULLSHIT
The syariah can annul declaration of islam but not apostasy, which will send the person to a brainwashing camp ala quantanamo>
well, let me ask....
did lina joy freely convert to islam or was she forced to be circumcised before she can ever talked?
DOES NOT THIS PROVE MY POINT???
and all these while, the bloody fanatic moslem keeps accusing the christians for forcing us natives in malaysia to convert...
all those who convert or embrace christianity in malaysia are all free to leave also.
sadly not for moslem.... so who is forcing conversion?
Born moslem are all forced to convert right? cos they did not make the choice, but by mere accident of birth?
Also, those who are angry that some natives of malaysia convert to christianity is so FUCKING jealos or frustrated that there is little chance of converting them to Islam because christianity brought along education which opened their mind to see WHAT ISLAM REALLY IS.. a big BULLSHIT
The syariah can annul declaration of islam but not apostasy, which will send the person to a brainwashing camp ala quantanamo>
well, let me ask....
did lina joy freely convert to islam or was she forced to be circumcised before she can ever talked?
DOES NOT THIS PROVE MY POINT???
and all these while, the bloody fanatic moslem keeps accusing the christians for forcing us natives in malaysia to convert...
all those who convert or embrace christianity in malaysia are all free to leave also.
sadly not for moslem.... so who is forcing conversion?
Born moslem are all forced to convert right? cos they did not make the choice, but by mere accident of birth?
Also, those who are angry that some natives of malaysia convert to christianity is so FUCKING jealos or frustrated that there is little chance of converting them to Islam because christianity brought along education which opened their mind to see WHAT ISLAM REALLY IS.. a big BULLSHIT
the thing with religion is...Islam is all about rules.. They pray 5 times a day.. which the christians and other religions don't.. i respect that...
Christianity is all about personal relationships with God... Thats what the Jesus Freaks claim..
IMHO... there is no moral absolutes.. I read the bible a few times and i am going to make an effort to read the Quran at least once in my lifetime...
There is actually no reason to insult other peoples beliefs... but I also believe that one should have freedom to choose.Anon favours freedom of choice while tulang besi favours rules and regulations... and even though I am for the freedom of choice thingy.. i cant actually say that the other is wrong cos "there are no moral absolutes"
and the reason why tulang besi defends the constition is becos he grew up in a faith that values rules rather than choice and freedom.
so both of u have legit arguements.. considering your backgrounds..bring an atheist or a new age spiritualist in here and u get different school of thoughts...
RIAK - dosa paling susah nak elak. Ramai yang 'menghukum' berdasarkan 'I am more knowledgeable and pious than U, thus I am better than you.' Baca sejarah Agama-agama di dunia. The Jews, Christians etc. all had done something similar to what the Malay Muslims are doing to Lina. By being nasty to her, all of U have successfully help 'justify' her action. After all, who wants to be part of a nasty group. In my opinion, find the root cause. Address it if you can. Wah banyak cantik mahkamah manusia pulak boleh pastikan siapa Ialam siapa tidak!!! Sama macam Paderi Kristian boleh hapuskan dosa. Gilo ko???!
"to me... i just know one thing... never force a person to practice a religion worst... even force some1 to pray! coz if do force some1... he or she wont be doing it full heartly and i believe the person is not gonna gain anything..."
MY REPLY: When u enforce the traffic laws, do you actually ask the people whether they like the laws to be applied on them?
No, because the moment they are born on this land and issued a birth certificate, they are automatically subjected to the laws of this land, whether they know it or not.
The article in the Malaysian constitution defining Malays as Muslims is already warped as it is because it definitely does not see the difference between race and religion. Race: Malay. Religion: Islam. As simple as that.
Anyhow, whether the constitution is warped or not does not matter. Lina Joy is not a Malay. Being in Sabah, she would most probably have been a Kadazan Muslim or a Bajau where the majority of them are Muslims. Sabahans have never really cared for all these bullshit about race or religion. To us, it is about being orang Sabah. For us it is about kicking out the illegals from the Philippines and Indonesia who are given MyKads and proclaimed bumiputera. In short, it is more of orang Sabah vs PTIs and orang Sabah includes the Kadazan Dusun Muruts, Bajaus, Sabahan SUluk, the Chinese etc.
Also, when Sabah agreed to be a partner in the Malaysian Federation, one of the 20point agreement says the article saying Malaysia's official religion is Islam DOES NOT, i repeat DOES NOT cover Sabah.
Our history books only tell us about the 20 points but never tell you what it really is.
So there you go. Islam is not the official religion of Sabah and hence the Lina Joy case shouldn't even be a problem.
I salute you for your article. I hope there should be more writings of this type which relate the physical applicacy of our great religion to our daily life. For example, the non-adoption of shariah laws to govern the practice of Borrowing and Lending allows the borrower to use all sorts of excuses not to pay his debts. The civil laws do not only fail to offer satisfactory solutions to the problem, but even often add graver woes to the lender, such as instructing the loan to be repaid in small instalments not commensurate with the lender's sacrifices. I believe, if the Shariah law is used, the borrower would not be prepared to make flimsy excuses and the lender in such a situation would readily forgo his money, being assured that his dues would go to his credit at least DiAkhirat. Wouldn't this help to solve some of our current problems ?
* 1) Article 160 of the Constitution, which states that a Malay must be of none other than the Islamic faith - i.e. He or she must be Muslim
- i find this article very disturbing. why should a piece of paper determine what religion any person is. - wouldn't you want every person to have the right to determine their own beliefs. what is there was a law saying that no christians can convert out of it. therefore no christians can ever become muslims! woudln't you be outraged as a muslim? so many souls will never find the peace that we know. - what is defined as malay?- science has proven that the idea of RACE is a myth. there is nothing biologically to differentiate the different labels of races apart other than colour of skin and even that is so subjective. you can have a dark skinned chinese fellow because he's a farmer who looks just like a malay. - what can be differenciated is ethnicity
Ahhh......it seems certain people have gotten offended when the truth is freely offered to them.
"That's not even true. They Syariah court ALLOWS annulment of declaration of Islam, they did not allow apostasy."
AND you answered your own question.
Definitely, I would not go to the Syariah courts myself if I was Lina Joy expecting something approximating "justice".
This would be equivalent to getting a trial at a Soviet Kangaroo court where the verdict has already been predetermined and somehow, still expecting "justice" to prevail.
"In Indonesia Islam is already destroyed.
What we have are just Muslims.
Unless you don't know the difference between Muslims and Islam????"
This is among the most ludicrous piece of BS on the entire Internet. LOL.
Islam is "destroyed" in Indonesia? Only in your alternate universe it seems. You display zero understanding of Islam and now attempt to talk as if a scholar?
Islam is hardly "destroyed" in Indonesia, if anything Indonesian muslims are more pious than many Malaysian Muslims, who pay lip service in public but dishonor the true teachings of Islam.
The INSTITUTIONS of Islam in Indonesia may not function as to your liking, but thats none of your business really. And besides, Indonesia is a SECULAR state, which coincidentally, is what Malaysia is as well. Quelle suprise.
"Are u disagreeing with Article 160 of the Malaysian constitution???
On precedence?"
Why yes I am disagreeing with Article 160.
Because it is patently wrong based on scientific FACTS. If the constitution said the earth is flat, would you still agree with it?
"Again another show of ignorance of the law by anon 4:07.
Leaving Islam is a FELONY and therefore subject to punishment.
Plus, the Federal Court has ruled 2-1 that Lina Joy still falls under the jurisdiction of the Shariah courts.
i don't know why people call your comments as clear? It only shows your ignorance of the country's constitution"
Since Merdeka, the Constitution has been changed more than 160 times by the BN government.
I don't see why Article 160 cannot be changed or ammended.
This only proves YOUR ignorance, not ours. If constitutions can be changed for more trivial issues as limiting powers of Raja Melayu, I don't see why it can't be changed to preserve the rights of freedom and religion.
And since you love the constitution so much, here's a gem for you - in no where in the constitution does it state Malaysia is a Muslim state.
"What kind of a stupid answer is this???
Only a reflection of your ignorance of the country's constitution and the law."
It is an answer which reflects the fact that laws can, and have, been changed and ammended hundreds, nay, thousands of times since Malaysia was founded to adjust to changing situations.
Did you not know this?:scratches head:
"What if he says, i just reounced Islam but my IC is not ready yet?
It's doable isn't it.
I think i've proven your stupidity many times now."
Errrr..........I suggest eating fish heads to improve your IQ. Because rude as you are, the validity of your points are close to nil.
He/She can then produce a formal letter from the court showing he/she has renounced Islam and is waiting for a replacement IC.
You know, similar to one of those letters you get when you lose your IC and need to show it to the Police.
This is something simple, even a toddler should be able to think of that. Surely our Malaysian education system has taught you better than that?
PS: our now "cekap, bersih dan amanah" NRD can produce ICs in less than 2 weeks, so this point is moot anyway.
I guess because you have not much to say, you have to resort to being rude. The fact that so many are against you is perhaps reflective of the fact that your stand does not resonate with the majority of Malaysians.
"""One also can understand Lina Joy's obvious reluctance to go to Syariah court, given the court's detestable precedent of sending would-be apostates to "rehabilitation camps" which are comparable to Guantanamo Bay and clearly violate every human rights law on freedom of religion."
If you can't see whats wrong with comitting an innocent woman to a concentration camp for the "crime" of changing her religion (a BASIC HUMAN RIGHT) then I am afraid you are in need of urgent psychiatric help.
Perhaps, one day you will have the wisdom to reflect back on this and understand its implications on an innocent human being.
Tulang Besi...I admire your courage and your efforts to uphold al-haq (the righteous) and there are very commendable and noble. You have done your job, may Allah reward you the same. As stated in Al-Quran..if they meet those ignorants including munafiks...just say salam and pass on. Our jobs, as Muslims are to explain it (about risalah Islam)explicitly and nicely, the best we could) hoping they will understand. Allah has the absolute power to change their hearts, as our jobs are just sampaikan! Don't argue, those guys as He says in Al-Quran...their eyes are blinds, ears are dumbed and hearts are closed. Dont worry, Allah is with us.
The Freedom of Choice is one of humanity most treasured article. Even God acknowledge it all of us.
Sadly the malays in malaysia do not have this choice, or do they?
MY REPLY::Sorry but I think that is wrong.
For instance, God doesn't allow abortion, yet people justify infanticide based on that and the excuse of freedm of choice.
Bones, while you quote the above, the fact remains that mortals like us can STILL choose to obey or not or comply rite? Even one can comit murder and get away with in this life rite? If God doesn't allow(for the moment) then kaboom and we perish in an instant correct? The fact ppl can get away with murder is telling. But God being God will have the last say when the murdering mortal life on earth is done.So people still have the choice to follow or not. Life is full of choices, but sadly for some it is not.
Good morning everyone,Speaking as a born and bred Malayseian without any real racial identity due to the fact that my parenst had teh audacity to fall in love and get married and had 3 children who are paying taxes even though they are earning their income from different places in the world as their own country either could not provide "equal" opprtunity> We love this country and we have not only invested our money but our lives to the defence of this country. My family has served honorably in defending this country and yet my own daughter would only be known as a Malaysian outside of Malaysia while in her own country she will be known as bangsa lain lain. Have we not learnt that God wether we call Jesus, Jehovah, Allah or by any other name does not need US to defend Him. Is He not the Creator of all things? Yet in His wisdom He has given the Freedom of Choice. Is he wrong? To my brothers anon, Tulang Besi, Muslim Knight and everone else do you not agree you serve and believe in a great God. Is he not Almighty and all Knowing? Does He not love ALL of us? My only wish in life is when i meet my maker, i can approach Him knowing that I have live the best life i can so that I would hear from Him ... Well done, good and humble servant. I asked for forgiveness from everone if have offended anyone in anyway.
Does any one know if there are other countries constitution that state that a particular race must be of a particular religion???
If yes.. then all non muslims who have converted to Islam..you are not muslims according to the constituiton because you are not malay..ha ha ha ha ha... so now I have a chance to become a non-muslim again.. after all, after I converted, the people who converted me have deserted me, including my husband...
"What about Article 3 that says the religion of the Federation is Islam?"
What a blatant disregard for the whole sentence. It also says that other religions can be practised freely
"What about Article 121 1A that state High Court has no jurisdiction in matters of Shariah?"
Even so, in the case of Lina Joy, even if she went to the Shariah court first, the High court has no need to meddle in the affairs of the Shariah court if they had followed Article 11 or Article 3.
"What about the fact that Shariah laws have existed before the constitution merdeka?"
Even if the Shariah laws have existed before Malaysia was ever set up, it doesnt defeat the fact that we now have a new set of laws (that coexist with the Shariah laws). If that is the case, would the British still administer the hanging and quartering of criminals long ago? Different times call for different laws
"Point is, liberal interpretation of Article 11 is WRONG."
I do not see where I have gone wrong. Please elaborate because all your replies seem to just be telling people that they are wrong without any proper constructive reasoning
Tulang Besi said... YES that's correct. Becuase she can never proof that she was never a practicing Muslimah and she can never prove that she never believed in ISlam and she can never proof that she has never had faith in ISlam.
Tulang Besi said that you can never prove that she was never a practicing Muslimah and she can never prove that she never believed in Islam and she can never proof that she has never had faith in Islam.
How does she prove that she was a practicing Muslimah and she believed in Islam and she has faith in Islam?
I found the topic is very interesting. If the article 160 is correct in saying that, a Malay must be a Muslim. Correct me if my understanding is wrong... Does it also means that other races can enter Islam but may choose to leave it in a latter day. Since, you are what race you are and you can't change that. The article does bring the opposite effect also.
Furthermore, if a malay chooses to denounce his main malay heritage, and choose his/her minority heritage as a orang asli, Chinese, bumiputera or etc, since most of us are inter-mixed. Then, he/she should be allowed to distant him/herself from been tied down on this article.
This article only makes me feel so damn lucky that I was not born into a muslim family in Malaysia. If I were, I would be sooo miserable and sad all my life because tulang besi's favorite Article 160 would make me a felon if I were to practise the most basic human right, the freedom of choice. And I don't think I want to believe in a god that uses Article 160 and the courts to prevent people from exercising their freedom of choice. Is there even such a god??? Constitutions and courts are man-made, rite? So this particular god actually subscribes to the man-made Article 160 and relies on the courts in Malaysia to keep his faith and his flocks in check???! What a sad, sad, sad god that would be. Again, I must thank my lucky stars that I was not accidentally born to muslim parents. Otherwise, I'll have to reckon with Article 160 and the Msian courts in order to be allowed into heaven when the time comes. That's so depressing...
HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED why millions of Muslim men are dedicated to killing Americans? Or why so many are willing to blow themselves up to kill Israelis? Or why they are so committed to blowing up random people in Bali, London, Madrid, etc.?
Islamic terrorists are doing this all over the world, attacking westerners and their own fellow Muslims alike. Why?
Because of memes. A meme is anything that can be copied from one mind to another. The custom of shaking hands, for example, is a meme. A melody is a meme. A recipe for lemonade is a meme. Even the word "meme" is a meme, which has just made a copy of itself in your mind. Read more about memes here: What is a Meme?
One of the characteristics of memes is they can evolve because some memes are better at making copies of themselves than other memes. They get more copies of themselves into other minds.
So memes compete with each other and evolve. Part of the way they become better at making copies is to join together with other memes in a mutually-supporting group. A combination of memes (known as a "memeplex") is often able to get itself into more minds than single memes.
From a memetics standpoint, a religion is a memeplex — collection of memes. One of the memes might be, for example, "This is a holy book."
And the holy book itself is, of course, a collection of memes.
Let's look at how religious memeplexes evolve and compete. To begin with, let's assume we already have a religion established. It already has a holy book and millions of people already have a copy of the memeplex in their minds.
And then there is a slight variation.
The original memeplex had a "live and let live" attitude, and never tried to encourage its followers to get converts. But then someone comes up with the idea that if you can persuade a non-believer to become a believer, you earn some sort of spiritual merit. You are saving souls, and your chances of getting into heaven are better.
Okay, now you have two variations on the same memeplex: One says "live and let live." The other motivates people to spread the memeplex to others.
After a thousand years, which of the two variations will have more copies in the minds of people? I'm betting on the motivated-to-spread-it version.
Let's assume the motivated memeplex is more successful. Does that mean it makes people happier? Or more successful in life? Or have healthier children? No. Just because a memeplex is successful doesn't mean it benefits any of the people holding the memeplex.
The same is true in genetics. Contrary to common sense, a successful gene doesn't necessarily benefit the organism. It is "successful" in the sense that it has made lots of copies of itself and is found in many organisms. But it may actually be harmful for the organism. For example, if there is a gene for alcoholism, and if drinking causes someone to have more children (or start having children younger) than someone who doesn't drink, over thousands of years, the alcoholism gene would be more successful than the non-alcoholism gene even though it is bad for each individual person carrying the gene.
In the same way, the success of a meme doesn't necessarily mean it's good for the person holding that meme.
If a memeplex says it is wrong to use contraception and wrong to masturbate, that memeplex would get itself copied into more minds than an identical memeplex without these two added memes (assuming offspring would be taught the memeplex too).
So the hapless believer, trying to follow the rules and be a good person by avoiding the evils of contraception and masturbation, would have more children than he might want or could afford, causing him to work overtime to support them — working two jobs if he must. It sends him to an early grave, but puts more copies of that memeplex into the minds of future generations than someone without those two memes.
So the memeplex has used the man for its own purposes, or at least that's one legitimate way to look at it. And in a way that sheds new light on Islamic terrorism.
The three elements that make for a successful meme are fecundity, fidelity, and longevity. In other words, if a meme makes lots of copies of itself, copies itself accurately, and lasts long enough to make copies into other minds, it is a successful meme. All else being equal, the meme that makes more copies, or copies with more fidelity, or lasts longer in the mind, will always out-compete a meme that does any of these less effectively.
Now, with that understanding, here's the point: If you were going to deliberately design a combination of memes with the purpose of making a memeplex that could eventually dominate the world — one that would eventually out-compete every other memeplex — you would be hard-pressed to do better than Islam.
Let's look at some of the individual memes within the Islamic memeplex:
1. A standardized version of the memeplex is written down, which makes for perfect replication fidelity. This is something basic to several religions and isn't an Islamic invention, but it is an important factor in the success of Islam.
Something only transmitted orally can change over time, but something written will be identical a thousand years from now, and with modern printing presses, can be reproduced in the millions, giving it enormous fecundity and fidelity.
2. The Koran includes instructions for its own spread. It tells believers they must spread Islam. It is their holy duty to bring Mohammad's warnings and Islamic law to every corner of the world.
3. The memeplex includes instructions for its own preservation, protection, and replication fidelity. The Koran, the most important of the Islamic holy books, directly tells its followers that they can never change or modify or "modernize" any of the teachings within the memeplex. It is a capital sin to try to do so. The memeplex ensures its own preservation this way.
These first three memes are pretty standard for several successful religions. But now it gets interesting...
4. Islam commands its followers to create a government that supports it. This may be one of the most brilliant innovations in Islam. Islam is the only religion that uses it. Other groups of religious people have had political aspirations, but no other major religious group orders its followers — as a religious duty — to create a government that follows its own system of law.
Islam has a system of law, called Shari'a, and all Muslims are obligated to continually work toward making their government — wherever they are — follow it. Because of some of the other memes added to Islam, you will see that this political addition to the memeplex has significant consequences. I think this is Islam's most brilliant innovation, and also the most terrifying to non-Muslims.
5. Permission to spread the memeplex by war. This is another brilliant innovation. Although some other religions have spread themselves using force, they had very little justification from their own religious doctrines.
Not so with Islam. Expanding by conquest is very much accepted and encouraged by the memeplex. The poor non-Muslims not living in an Islamic state need to be saved from the sin of following laws other than Allah's. If they won't voluntarily change their laws to Shari'a, then it is the duty of Muslim warriors to insist. The world cannot be at peace until every government on earth follows the laws of Allah.
The use of warfare combines with the instruction to create an Islamic state. So Islam spread quickly as their armies got bigger. They conquered and set up Islamic states, many of which have lasted to this day, and as you'll see, the laws within an Islamic state make it very advantageous to convert to Islam.
This is one of the most effective methods ever invented for getting the Islamic memeplex into huge numbers of minds. It's a method of control and indoctrination similar to those used successfully in communist and totalitarian states. But as you discover below, Islam makes unique use of the power of the law to enforce complete conversion to the memeplex.
6. Lands must be conquered. Lands that Islam has lost must be reconquered, like Spain and Israel, for example. The Islamic empire must continually expand. Contraction is bad, expansion is good. So if a land was once Islamic and now it is not, that is contraction, and must be remedied.
According to this meme, the earth is Allah's. If there are parts of the earth not following Islamic law, it is the duty of the faithful to gain control of that land and establish Shari'a. It is a sin to let it be.
7. The memeplex provides for new soldiers by allowing polygamy. A Muslim man can marry up to four wives, and he can have sex with as many slave girls as he wishes.
The Koran especially encourages men to marry widows. This is an important meme to add if you are going to be losing a lot of soldiers in war. You need some way of replenishing your army. You don't want the memeplex to die out from a lack of offspring.
8. It is a punishable offense to criticize Islam. You can see why this one is a good supporting meme for the memeplex. It helps curb any memes that would reduce the authority of Islamic memes. This one, like many of the others, is good for the memeplex, but bad for people. This one limits freedom of speech.
9. You can't leave Islam once you're in. This is an interesting one. It is actually illegal in Islamic states to convert out of Islam. This is a critical part of Shariah law. Someone who has rejected Islam who was once a Muslim is an "apostate." This is a crime and a sin, and the punishment for it is death (and eternal damnation in hell thereafter).
Obviously, you can see why this meme has been included in the memeplex, but this one has actually caused Islam a problem because those who are following Islam to the letter consider more "moderate" Muslims (those who want to ignore or alter the more violent passages of the Koran) to be apostates. Since the punishment for apostates is death, fundamentalist Muslims are fighting modernizing Muslims all over the world, and keeping many rebellious, modernizing Muslims from speaking up for fear of death.
Every time a group of Muslims decides that maybe Islam should be updated for the 21st century and maybe women should have some rights or maybe the government should be more democratic, the devout Muslims call them apostates and try to kill them.
The memeplex is protecting its own fidelity (the original memeplex cannot be altered). This is not good for the organisms (the Muslim human beings), but it's great for the memeplex.
Another meme in Shariah law says it's against the law for anyone to try to convert a Muslim to another religion. Again, this is a meme to help protect the fidelity of the memeplex.
10. Islam must be your first allegiance. This is a great meme to add if the goal is world domination. You are a Muslim first, before any allegiance you give to your family, your tribe, or your country.
This does two things: It causes a unity of people across borders, and it allows the group to grow bigger than any other entity. In other words, the "Nation of Islam" can grow bigger than any country, no matter how large (which gives the group a massive numerical advantage).
11. The only guarantee of a man getting into heaven is if he dies fighting for Islam. This is a great meme for creating fearless, enthusiastic warriors, especially given the vivid description of the sensuous delights of heaven.
A Muslim man has a chance of getting to heaven if he is a good Muslim, but it is not guaranteed. However, if he dies while fighting for Islam, he is guaranteed to get in, and that's the only thing he can do to guarantee it.
12. You must read the Koran in Arabic. This unites believers by language, and language is a very powerful unifying phenomenon. For added incentive to learn Arabic, another meme says you can't go to heaven unless you pray in Arabic.
So all Muslims all over the world share a language. This makes it easier to coordinate far-reaching campaigns of protest, political pressure, and war. I doubt if Mohammad foresaw this possibility, but this meme is brilliant, even if it was an accident.
13. You must pray five times a day. This is one of the five "pillars" — that is, one of the five central practices of a Muslim. Within an Islamic state, it is enforced by law. Every Muslim must pray five times a day. The practice helps the memeplex dominate a Muslim's life, infusing his daily rhythm with Islam.
It would be impossible to forget anything you deliberately do so often. Five times a day, every day, a Muslim must bow down and pray to Allah.
Research has shown the more effort a person expends for a cause, the more he believes in it. So this is a good way to eventually make believers out of people who became Muslims through coercion.
Islam completely takes over every aspect of Muslims' lives. Not only are they required to pray five times a day, they have to go through a washing ritual beforehand. Islam dictates the laws, and the laws cover many public and private behaviors. In an Islamic state, it is impossible to be a casual Muslim.
14. The prayers involve moving together in time. When Muslims pray, they all face the same direction, they bow down, get on their hands and knees, and put their face on the mat, all in unison, and then rise back up. Again and again.
When people move together in time, whether dancing or marching or praying, it creates a physical and emotional bond between them. That's why all military training involves close-order drill (marching in unison), even though it has been a long time since military groups have actually marched into combat. There is no longer a need for the skill, but all military training has retained this method because it is so effective at creating a strong feeling of unity between soldiers.
The same is true of any physical movements people make in unison.
15. A woman is in a thoroughly subordinate position. This meme really helps support the war meme. If women had too much influence, they'd try to curb the fighting. Women in general don't like to send their husbands and sons off to war. But if women have no say, then the rest of the memes can express themselves without interference. By subordinating women, the memeplex prevents their effective vote against war, violence, and conquest.
The rules and laws (memes) within Islam that keep women subordinate are numerous. For example, she is not allowed to leave her house unless she is accompanied by a male relative. Under Islamic law, a woman is forbidden to be a head of state or a judge. She can only inherit half of what a man can inherit. In court, her testimony is only worth half of a man's. She is not allowed to choose where she will live or who she will marry. She is not allowed to marry a non-Muslim or divorce her husband. Her husband, however, can divorce her with a wave of his hand. And according to Shariah, he can (and should) beat her if she disobeys him.
All of these rules keep her subordinate, which helps keep the war machine going unimpeded by domestic conflict.
16. The only way a woman can get into heaven for sure is if her husband is happy with her when she dies.
This meme obviously helps with the subjugation of women. It motivates her to subjugate herself. It gives her a strong motivation to subordinate her wishes to her husband's, because while she might have a chance to get into heaven if she's a good Muslim, the only way she can guarantee she will go to heaven (and avoid eternal suffering in hell) is to make sure her husband is happy with her when she dies.
17. Allah gives Himself permission to edit his own work. This is an interesting one. The Koran was written in sections (Mohammad's revelations) over a period of 23 years. The circumstances of Mohammad's life and his religion changed quite a bit over those 23 years. It says in the Koran that if a passage written later contradicts an earlier passage, then the later one is the better one.
One of the memes in the Koran is "this is the word of Allah." People had already memorized his earlier revelations, so Mohammad couldn't just change his revelations. It would look a little strange to go change anything that Allah already said.
But with this new meme — that later revelations abrogated or nullified any earlier revelations it contradicted — Allah's methods could change as Mohammad found more effective ideas.
18. The Koran uses the carrot and stick to reinforce behavior. Throughout the book are vivid descriptions of hell, where sinners and non-Muslims will have to drink boiling, stinking water, will be thrown face down into a raging fire, and will be there for eternity, suffering endless torments in agony.
There are also vivid descriptions of heaven. In heaven you'll wear green silk robes and recline on plush couches. Trees will shade you, fruit will dangle nearby. You'll have tasty food and refreshing drinks served in silver goblets. To have a chance of achieving this, you must be a devout Muslim. To guarantee it, you must die in jihad (for men) or make sure your husband is always happy with you (for women).
19. It provides a huge and inspiring goal. Leaders of countries or companies or religions have all discovered that you can get the most motivation and enthusiasm from your followers if you provide them with an expansive vision. An enormous goal. In the Islamic memeplex, the goal calls for a continuous effort to expand the domain of Islamic law until all the world has submitted to Islam.
Many religions have the goal of converting everyone, but Islam has a method available nobody else has: To expand by seizing and converting governments to Shariah.
Once the whole world is Islamic, peace will reign. That's why even terrorists can say with complete sincerity, "Islam is a religion of peace."
The Koran says it is best if non-believers accept Islam and become Muslims without force. But if they refuse, then you must fight them and conquer them and save their poor souls by insisting they live by the laws of Allah.
Once all countries are conquered, the world will be at peace. Therefore, Islam is a religion of peace.
It is an enormous and inspiring goal, and a strongly unifying purpose. It creates motivated, enthusiastic followers.
20. Non-Muslims must pay a large tax. Once Muslims conquer a country and convert the government to Islamic law, any non-Muslims have the choice between becoming Muslim or becoming a dhimmi. Dhimmis are allowed to practice their non-Muslim religion if they pay the jizya (a tax). If they convert to Islam, they no longer have to pay a tax, so there is a practical incentive to convert.
But another aspect of this makes it a brilliant meme. The tax takes money away from the non-Muslims and their competing memeplexes and gives that money to support Islam. This is pure genius!
The income from these taxes (usually a 25% income tax) helped fund the Islamic conquests during the first two major jihads. They conquered vast lands, most of them already filled with Christians and Jews, many of whom did not convert at first, and their jizya poured huge sums of money into the Islamic war machine.
Eventually, the numbers of Christians and Jews dwindled down as they converted or escaped, until now, in most Islamic countries, Jews and Christians are very small minorities.
The tax-the-non-Muslims meme helps the Islamic memeplex make more copies of itself by suppressing competing religious memeplexes and financially supporting the Islamic memeplex.
Several memes within Shari'a law extend this effect. Non-Muslims are not allowed to build any new houses of worship. They're not even allowed to repair already-existing churches or synagogues. This puts the houses of worship of any competing memeplex in a state of permanent decline. Brilliant.
Also, non-Islamic prayers cannot be spoken within earshot of a Muslim — again, preventing Muslims from being infected by a competing memeplex. No public displays of any symbols of another faith may be shown either.
All of this prevents the spread of any competing memeplex, and makes competing religions die out over time. That's why today there are so many "Muslim countries." Almost every other country in the world is made up of many different religions.
One added meme makes it that much easier for Muslims to dominate non-Muslims within an Islamic state: Non-Muslims are not allowed to own weapons of any kind. To subjugate a people, all dictatorial rulers in the history of the world have done the same thing: Disarm the subjugated people. They are much easier to manage, less dangerous, and less capable of upending the status quo.
21. A Muslim is forbidden to make friends with an infidel. A Muslim is allowed to pretend to be a friend, but in his heart he must never actually be a friend to a non-Muslim. This is one of the best protections Islam has against Muslims leaving the faith.
In any other religion (except Islam) conversions to a new religion are made because a friend introduced it. This rule effectively prevents that. This meme effectively prevents competition from other memeplexes.
22. The Koran councils the use of deceit when dealing with infidels. Mohammad instructed one of his followers to lie if he had to (in order to assassinate one of Mohammad's enemies). The principle was clear: If it helps Islam, it's okay to deceive non-Muslims.
This principle has served Islamic goals very well through history. And it serves those goals today. There are real-life examples of Islamic leaders saying one thing in English for the western press, and saying something entirely different to their own followers in Arabic a few days later.
Deceiving the enemy is always useful in war, and Islam is at war with the non-Islamic world until the whole world follows Shari'a law. All non-Muslims living in non-Islamic states are enemies. So deceiving westerners is acceptable. Even encouraged if it can forward the goals of the spread of Islam.
And so we have the strange phenomenon covered by Steven Emerson in Terrorists Among Us, where organizations in America were ostensibly raising money for orphans, but really giving the money to terrorists. They deceived good-hearted western infidels into giving money to organizations that were actively killing western infidels. As it says in the Koran, "War is deceit." This meme gives Islam a tremendous advantage over memeplexes that encourage indiscriminate truthfulness.
23. Islam must always be defended. This meme is a primary linchpin that gives justification for war with almost anybody, as you'll see in the meme below. After the enemy is defeated, of course, Muslims are required to establish an Islamic state.
24. The memeplex instructs on the use of pretext to start wars. The Koran devotes a lot of time complaining about people who did not support Mohammad when he first started his religion, with Allah often condemning them to torment in hell in the hereafter.
If the only way to get to heaven is dying while fighting for Islam, you need war. And if it is your holy duty to make all governments use Shariah law, you need to conquer those governments. But you don't really want to look like the aggressor. Appearances count. All throughout the Koran, Mohammad tries to justify his aggression as defending Islam.
And because of the rise of multiculturalism (respect for all other cultures) in the West, the use of pretext convinces people in the West who are unfamiliar with Islam. Many people think al Qaeda is angry at the West for having troops in Saudi Arabia. That's merely a pretext. They want all non-Muslims out of the Middle East. Then they say they will cease hostilities. It is a ridiculous and impossible goal, so they are justified in permanent war against the West.
And it's surprising that so many westerners are fooled by this one because it flies in the face of a fundamental western principle: Equality. What Osama bin Laden is saying is infidels are so undeserving, their very presence defiles their holy places. Wow. What does that say about the filthy infidel?
Why doesn't this kind of racism or prejudice or infidelphobia (or whatever you want to call it) outrage more westerners? Instead, many think the west ought to pull out of the Middle East so these poor offended terrorists aren't so angry with us any more!
The principle of pretext is to provoke a hostile reaction and then use the hostile reaction as a reason to escalate hostilities. It's the same method schoolyard bullies have used for probably thousands of years: "What are you looking at? Hey, you bumped into me! Now you're going to pay! Nobody disrespects me!"
25. The explicit use of double standards. Islam has one standard for Muslims, and a different standard for non-Muslims, which always gives the advantage to Muslims and provides incentives to convert.
For example, Islam must be spread by its believers, wherever they are. But when other religions try to spread their own memeplex, Muslims are supposed to see it as an aggression against Islam — an act of aggression that must be "defended." Remember, Islam must always be defended.
Another example of how the double standard meme gives the memeplex an advantage: When Islam is defamed in any way, Muslims should violently defend it. Even in a cartoon. But Muslims can and should defame Jews and Christians in Muslim newspapers and television, and they should defame any infidel or enemy, as they defame the U.S. today.
Here's another example: The Islamic fundamentalists of Saudi Arabia are pouring money into building mosques all over the free world. But according to Shari'a law (Islamic law), which is the law in Saudi Arabia, no non-Muslim religious structures are allowed to be built. However, Muslims all over the world protest loudly and violently when anyone in Europe or America resists the building of more mosques in their countries.
They don't see the irony in it. They don't feel strange having such an obvious double standard. They are, after all, Allah's followers and everyone else is deluded. Fairness and equality with such unworthy infidels would seem very out of place. A double standard seems completely appropriate from that perspective.
The double standard principle is part of the memeplex, and it has been a great advantage to the spread of Islam (and the suppression of competing memeplexes).
26. It is forbidden to kill a Muslim (except for a just cause). It is not forbidden to kill an infidel. This causes a bond between Muslims, fear in non-Muslims, and motivation to become Muslim. This is also another example of an explicit Islamic double standard.
WE CAN ADMIRE the brilliance of the Islamic memeplex in an abstract, intellectual sort of way, but it is terrifyingly real. Millions of people try to follow these memes to the letter. And their belief in the memeplex is strongly supported by the side-effects of Shari'a law. By making the government and laws ruled by Islam, the memeplex applies two powerful principles of influence: social proof, and authority.
Everyone practices the religion in an Islamic state (or they are flogged, taxed, or killed) and no one can criticize it, not friend-to-friend, and not through any media. The psychological impact of this is enormous. Three generations later, it would be almost impossible for any Muslim living in that state to think outside of Islam. The authority and social proof would be overwhelming.
If you were trying to come up with a memeplex to take over the world, I don't know if you could do better than Islam.
The success of a meme has nothing to do with making people happy or healthy. Memetic success only means it propagates well.
The same is true for genes. A successful gene is one that gets the most copies of itself into future generations. The genes making up a deadly virus may kill millions of people and cause untold misery, but from a genetics point of view, the virus is genetically successful.
Genes don't care about people. They don't try to make us happy. They are cold and indifferent to our plight.
Same with memes. A memeplex will use up and spit out human lives in the service of its propagation, indifferent to the pain, misery, or death it causes.
A memeplex, well-drilled into someone's head and reinforced by the powerful authority and social proof of his whole society, can cause him to blow himself up just to kill others for the fulfillment of a fantasy goal of ultimately attaining world peace and the triumph of Allah (and a harem of 72 dark-eyed voluptuous beauties devoted to his every wish).
Many Muslims now living in Islamic states are trapped and would defect from the memeplex if it were safe to do so.
And even those who like being Muslims can be released from the hold the memeplex has on their minds. Like suddenly "coming to" when you're being hypnotized, the understanding of memetics itself can help undermine the hypnotic effect of the religious beliefs.
And the first thing in the multicultural and tolerant society need to be aware of is the formidable memeplex threatening to overtake us all. The memeplex takes advantage of tolerance and freedom.
People that have submitted to Islam or born into Islam may feel they had no choice (or their parents or grandparents felt they had no choice). They are being used by the memeplex.
We must not judge Muslims too harshly. Many of them are in some way rebelling against some of the memes, but out of custom, guilt, or because their Islamic government violently enforces the rules, they practice the religion like the rest of them or they will be label as not a good Muslim."Muslims are the first victims of Islam," wrote E. Renan. "Many times I have observed in my travels in the Orient, that fanaticism comes from a small number of dangerous men who maintain the others in the practice of religion by terror.
The memes in your head (such as a blind faith in multiculturalism) are not the kind that will convert you into a Muslim, but they help the spread of Islam by taking down your defenses, and even encourages you to spread information that makes the non Muslim easier to defeat.
"Actually, what they mean by 'Islam is a religion of peace' is that their mission is to make the whole world submit to the law of Allah (Shari'a), and once that is accomplished, then will be peace in the world. Therefore, Islam is a religion of peace. That's not really peace as we know it."
Salam.Without any emotional intention to belittle any religion or opinion, I think most of the argument in favour of Lina Joy made here are based on the following premises:1. That Lina can have freedom to choose her religion.2. That muslims have no right to interfere in another muslim's decision to change religion.3. That matters of religion are personal to holders and should not be forced upon anybody.
To understand why Islam is seen as contradicting the above, let us see then what are the concepts that muslims hold on to, contributing to the actions, beliefs and views that the muslims so firmly belief in:
1. Islam as a religion is a supreme concept and of utmost importance. This is natural as any religion is supposed to be from God, and God created everything and has power over everything. God is above all, the very same concept as other religions too.
2. Muslims regard fellow muslims as brothers and sisters while maintaining harmonious relations with other fellow humans. Their concerns for other muslims will be most obvious when it comes to matters of religions, as it is about God and God is above all.
3. While human has the right to choose, including choosing the religion, human can always choose wrongly. This is especially so when a particular religion is chosen because of worldly interest, humanly love, cultural and social inclination, etc, but not on the truth of the religion. This is not only the case of muslims choosing to embrace other religions, but for others to embrace Islam too.
4. As religion is supposed to be above all else, the choice should only be based on truth alone. By leaving the religion, you are indirectly saying: "that was not the truth".
Based on these, when a muslim is leaving Islam, their counterparts will be worried, as he/ she is leaving a religion from God which is above everything else. Did he/ she convert for the truth of the other religion, or is it because of love, cultural or social inclination above the truth. Or if it is because the other religion is believed to be true, has he/she understood Islam to the extend that he/ she believed that Islam is not true?
This is very important because it is about right or wrong, heaven and hell. If a muslim strongly believes that by being a good muslim, he is going to heaven, then would he be willing to see his brother/ sister leaving Islam and going wrong or going to hell? Muslims then have to take responsibility, and Islam shows the way for them to undertake the responsibility. The counselling sessions are nothing like a torture camp. It is to explain Islam if he/ she does not fully understand. And also to make sure he/she does not leave Islam because of his/her misunderstanding of the truth, but rather bacause of very personal interest and wrong judgment.
In fact, I wonder why people of other religions e.g. christians and buddhists and hindus are not concerned about their people changing religion like changing slippers. Don't they react seeing their brothers going the wrong path? By a person leaving a religion, he is indirectly saying that the former religion is not the truth. Don't you feel that you are obliged to explain why it is otherwise.
To me, if you don't feel obliged, and just succumb to the supposed fact that choosing religion is a personal choice, then you have a very shallow faith on your religion. And you don't love your fellow mates when he choose the wrong path. Unless you also have doubts about your religion and just remain in the religion for reasons other than the truth. If Islam has a divine system to deal with this sort of crisis to protect its dignity and other religions don't, then don't feel offended.
For muslims, I don't think there is any shame in defending the faith of our brothers and sisters for that is a responsibility. This is the system that has seen very rare cases where people leaving Islam by disputing its truth. No holds barred, mostly leave bacause they want to drink beer, they want to freely gamble, love and lust, sex without marriage, financial difficulties etc. Going through the case of Lina Joy, these are also the roots.
Absolutely nothing wrong in defending your own beliefs. Tulang Besi has the right, the Anons have their rights.
But quoting the constitution to claim as universal truth? I hope that's not what's happening here.
Everyone knows that the constitution is meant to be the supreme law of the land. Meaning any laws that are drafted should not go against the constitution. Who wrote these laws? Certainly not Allah, God, Buddha, or whichever deity you believe in. It's written by humans. Humans have written some stupid laws in the past (I don't think this is disputable). But when in court, they have to look at the constitution to deliver judgement, and in Lina Joy, perhaps they used the Article 160 as their guiding light in delivering judgement, instead of using Article 11. Was the judge wrong in interpreting the law? Maybe not. If the judge used Article 11 as a determinant in their decision making, then would the judge be wrong in interpreting the law? Maybe not as well. What we have here is an imperfect constitution with contradicting articles. (That is why I see NO problem in the article since it is arguing on a legal basis)
So to use the imperfect constitution to argue legal facts, sure, that's OK.But to use the constitution to claim that some things are indisputable, I guess that's why some of the followup comments just sound like bullshit.
For example,Fact: EC chairman should step down at 55 years old (Before Nov 2007).Fiction: EC chairman should step down at 55 years old (After Nov 2007)
""In fact, I wonder why people of other religions e.g. christians and buddhists and hindus are not concerned about their people changing religion like changing slippers. Don't they react seeing their brothers going the wrong path? By a person leaving a religion, he is indirectly saying that the former religion is not the truth. Don't you feel that you are obliged to explain why it is otherwise.""
It's not that the other religions are not concerned but they accept the free choice if individuals. Toi say that one has a shallow faith because of this, hey are you God to judge??
Here is my summary of the contraditions in Malaysian constitution and laws concerning this issue in layman's language:
1. Every Malaysian has the right to choose his/her own religion except Muslims.
2. Muslims can embrace another religion with the approval of the Islamic courts but the approval will never be given. ( except the Penang case after the prime minister vowed to solve this issue after losing support from non-muslims during the election)
3. No Muslim can never leave Islam even unto death. The religious department would snatch the body from the family.
4. Any marriage would be automatically disolved if one partner becomes Muslim while the other is not.
5. Any children below 18 would be considered a Muslim if one of the spouse become Muslim. The children would be awarded to the muslim spouse.
6. Non-muslims cannot receive inheritance from Muslims.
7. Everyone can propogate his/her religion except to Muslims. Muslims can use state instruments to propogate Islam because Islam is the 'official' religion of the country.
9. Islamic activities will receive Federal and state funding. The religious courts, the religious department , religious schools, muslim activities etc will all receive Federal and state funding.
10. Muslims can opt to pay zakat instead of income tax. The Zakat will be channelled to fund Islamic activities only. The Zakat will not be used to benefit non-muslims. Thus, majority of the country's expenses would be funded by non-muslims only!
You seem to be a fearfull, paranoid and delusional person. I hope that your kind will become extinct in the future. I certainly dont want my children exposed or influenced by narrow minded, fearfull people like you. Why don't you address more pertinent social issues such as the high unemployment rates of local graduates etc. Go back into your cave and stay there.
The truth is Article 160 only applicable to malay race and not other race who embraced muslim. That is the clear stated fact. It clearly stated that a malay must be muslim but it doesn't stated that a Chinese/ Indian /other bumiputera muslim who embraced muslim must be muslim till end of his/her life.
Assamualaikum, May God AlMighty have mercy on your soul as you have committed shirk. There is no compulsion in religion as GOD has promised that ALL of us will be judged during the Day of Judgment. If you persists in believing all you have written, then is it very clear HELL is your final destination.
Fools will yell and yell for no reason. Despite these people arguing for Lina Joy are not even Muslims.They have all right to leave and enter any religion they want.Yet they just wanna cry foul here and poke nose into something that concerns Malays only!Now dont quote of a few instances where non-muslims got entangled, by and large it appies only to Muslims - and MOST muslims want it!
Whats the use of having Syariah law if conversion is accepted?If I get convicted under Syariah, I can merely change my religion to escape being tried under Syariah.
For the sake of argument, say you wanna make conversion acceptable, you just cannot when there are many other laws that are based on it. Its like pulling out a can from the base of a tower of cans placed at a supermarket. Everything else will tumble.Hence it is reasonable to pick up cans from the top of the tower and pick up the one at the base in the end.So bring back this conversion isssue only when all the other laws, including Syariah laws become irrelavent.
And this Lina Joy thinggy is not even a debate amongst Muslim community in Malaysia, its more of a debate between Muslims and non-muslims. I wonder why? when this has to do with Muslims only.Had this been an issue, it wud have been more of a debate amongst Muslims - which is clearly not the case. All you can hear is few like Harish Ibrahim and so, yelling on top of thier voice.Thier arguments are of mere concern to Malays themselves.His points are only receiving applause from the Non-Muslims.
There are a few anonymous comments,that have had no shame in uttering profanity and rebuking Islam as a religion itself.These self-styled Christian,as one anonymous comment said Jesus is peace, and was not even a conqueror comparing to Muahmmad (SAW).Christians dun even know thier own religion, your own Bible has innumerable versions with many different meanings, where is the real script? eh? dunno...Did u know in Christianity too!! Apostacy is unnaccebtable..haiyya.. who cares!
Jesus never fought a battle?Heard of Moses then? Ah!! You cant jump over Moses who fought a battle.How come a prophet Moses who fought a battle and THE LORD JESUS contradict his own commands to Moses to fight the unbelievers and drown them all!
Deuteronomy 13:6-9 "If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying: Let us go and worship other gods (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other, or gods of other religions), do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people."
"And he should go and worship other gods and bow down to them or to the sun or the moon or all the army of the heavens, .....and you must stone such one with stones and such one must die."
2 Chronicles 15:13 "All who would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman."
Matthew 15:1-91 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked,2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!"3 Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?4 For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'5 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,'6he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.7You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:8 " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'"
STOP calling others BULLSHITWhen you know not yourself what "BULLSHIT" you believe yourself.
I never made these verses,they are word to word as quoted form the BIBLE. go and open one of your own personal copy if you do not believe me!http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deut%2013:6-9;%201%20Kin%2018:40&version=49
To anonymous who quoted from the books of Deuteronomy, 2 Chronicles and Matthew, I am glad you are reading more than your own religious books. Unfortunately, you are reading out of context and without understanding the metanarrative. You must first learn to read rightly, then you will understand what the verses you have read imply.
The metanarrative tells us that man cannot save himself. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot obtain salvation through good works. It is for that reason that God took the initiative to redeem man. Hence, Jesus Christ, fully God, fully man. Read Deuteronomy, 2 Chronicles, Matthew, and indeed the whole Bible, but read within context and the metanarrative.
As for the memeplex,heard of the same approach so long ago but its was more about Talmudic Judaism, White Supremacy KKK, Bolshevik down to Aryan supremacy thingy. So now its the Muslim turn. Well its nothing new anyway. Just another spin around the same old theme East against West/Black against White/Greco-Roman against Persia/Asia, Aryan against Semite/Jews against Goyim/Gentiles, Judeo-Christian against Islam right down to brother against brother, son against the mother. As like any boxing ring matches, there will be sponsors and there will also be crazed spectators all round.So this memeplex threat thing ... are they going to redeemed Austwizt past by putting in bad memeplex copies? Pretty scary for the memeplex eh? I have always thought that the Cold War was a big hoax and the buildup of nukes was only meant for somebody else over a different excuse.
Reading about a poor Native chief in a Caribbean island was about to be burned alive but was compelled by the priest from Colombus party to accept Christ as Saviour otherwise be damned in hell, he retorted back "If heaven is where the Christian goes to, he wants to be in Hell". The whole population of that island was decimated after providing hospitality to these Christian. He was among the last remained before being burned. Of course there were hundred millions of culling in the last 2000 years. Eugenics is an ancient science mind you.
Them Muslim always had a bad image spin hundred or more centuries ago for spoiling the Roman Christian West party to conquer the world using the Cross and sword funded by the new money guys from Jerusalem. Therefore nothing new about memeplex anyway. After Muslim who is next, Hindus and the Sino Asian or Africans?
No wonder the Temple was doomed in Ist century AD. Old Law gone superceded by new Super Law but challenge by another Super Law to check them. One says Ok to kill of old/woman/children or whatever breathing in the land while the other said otherwise in the conduct of war.
If I were to look at the state of natives in North and South America, Philiphines, I get the picture how this can turn to be here.
So the Malays are trapped in the Constitution and no way out? So go save them la and see if they want to be just either but not both. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
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Groups of over than 250 guests will be able to rent a special train to any destination and for any purpose. The origin and destination stations, the intermediate stops and the railway times will be determined upon your request, subject to the approval of the officials operating the railway, and upon prior preliminary coordination.
In addition, you can integrate complimentary transportation to your destination, activities on the way or refreshments during your journey. Group travel by train will make your experience unforgettable and will enable you to enjoy a pleasant and quiet trip, around tables, with electrical outlets and all within a space reserved entirely and exclusively for you! | {
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Struggling with payday loans
In 2001 the North Carolina General Assembly went out of its way to outlaw the payday lending industry in the state.
On Wednesday, Crystal Feldman, a spokeswomen for N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory said that the governor has concerns regarding a Senate bill meant to bring back an industry that the state worked so hard to remove.
And we believe that his concerns are certainly valid.
The payday loan industry preys on desperate people living on a paycheck-to-paycheck basis by saddling them with excessive fees and interest rates on loans of low amount.
Now, the industry has hired a bevy of high-powered lobbyists and, with the support of two key Republican Senators, is attempting to gain approval for the return of payday lending in the state.
Under the scope of the bill, there would be a re-institution of a class of loans up to $500. According to a report Wednesday by the Associated Press, the lending institution can charge fees up to $75.
Industry advocates will say that there is a lack of options for people with poor credit to get instant cash.
But, even with tougher restrictions to protect borrowers, this is not the time to even think about permitting payday lending. In fact, we might go so far as to suggest that there is no good time to allow the institution.
McCrory has long stated that he objects to increasing the financial burden on families but that is exactly what payday lenders do. Small loan amounts with high fees have been known to be worse for those taking out the loans than traditional bank loans.
Need us remind McCrory and members of the General Assembly that the people are the state government’s “customers.” Remember the phrase “a government of the people, by the people and for the people.
A better suggestion would be to raise the state’s minimum wage so paychecks would stretch better between paydays thus eliminating the need for these seedy short-term loans.
That proposal would also help our businesses because people would have more money to spend.
All-in-all payday lending is a bad idea and McCrory as well as members of the General Assembly should bear in mind the damage that letting this kind of industry into North Carolina can do to its residents. | {
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Labour maintaining threshold of decency, says Siptu leader
The leader of the State’s largest trade union has said the Labour Party in Government is maintaining “a threshold of decency” that could be threatened by any alternative administration.
In a speech at the Labour Party centennial conference in Clonmel yesterday, Siptu president Jack O’Connor said Labour had secured the restoration of the minimum wage, the reintroduction of the registered employment agreement and employment regulation order wage-setting mechanisms, the implementation of the EU directive on rights for agency workers, and the preservation of the basic rate of social welfare. He said none of these measures “would survive any alternative government”. | {
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Beef Tenderloin Medallions with Madeira Wine Pan Sauce. This is a GREAT special occasion meal......it has a high Wow! factor and easy to make. I would recommend only cooking 3 minutes per side initially before removing a tenting with foil while you make the sauce. Once sauce is made return filets to pan for additional 3 to 4 minutes for medium. By the time you plate it and serve, it will have rested enough to let the juices redistribute.
Steak Diane
STEAK DIANE ~~~ paraphrased, "steak diane is similar to steak au poivre. it is either cut thin or pounded thin so that it will cook rapidly. the meat is seasoned and quickly sauteed in butter. a sauce is prepared from the pan juices with varied ngredients that may include butter, mushroom, dijon mustard, shallot, cream, truffle, meat stock, A1 steak sauce, and worcestershire. one may sometimes also find that the dish goes thru a final tableside flambee presentation via brandy or madeira… | {
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Can’t wait for “The Grand Budapest Hotel“? After seeing it at the Berlin Film Festival, we don’t blame you (our review). But if you want a bounty of Wes Anderson in your life, and soon, hit your local video store or online retailer or wherever you buy DVDs, because there’s a treat coming.
The Criterion Collection is dropping “Fantastic Mr. Fox” next week, and get folks ready, they’ve revealed a new trailer for the film. Introduced by an animated Jarvis Cocker (who voices Petey in the movie), the spot takes you behind the scenes of the Roald Dahl adaptation, while pimping the bounty of extras the release will contain. It’s another reminder of the detailed worlds Anderson puts together in his films, something he reportedly tops in ‘Budapest,’ which might be his most ambitious picture yet.
Footage of the actors voicing their characters, puppet construction, stop-motion setups, and the recording of the score
Interviews with cast and crew
Puppet animation tests
Photo gallery of puppets, props, and sets
Animated awards acceptance speeches
Audio recording of author Roald Dahl reading the book on which the film is based
Fantastic Mr. Dahl, an hour-long 2005 documentary about the author
Gallery of Dahl’s original manuscripts
Discussion and analysis of the film
Stop-motion Sony robot commercial by Anderson
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Erica Wagner; a 2002 article on Dahl’s Gipsy House by Anderson; White Cape, a comic book used as a prop in the film; and drawings, original paintings, and other ephemera. | {
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Nigerian Catholics display fighting spirit
As I See It
FR. RAYMOND DE SOUZA
June 11, 2012
There is a new archbishop in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city. That might not strike you as big news, but it is. The last time Lagos had a new archbishop was in 1973.
Cardinal Anthony Okugie, now 76, retired in May after an astonishing 39 years as archbishop. His successor, Archbishop Alfred Martins, is already 52, so likely will only serve for about 25 years or so.
In the four decades since Okugie was appointed, Nigerian Catholicism has come to the forefront of the universal Church. Nigeria's explosive growth, its sending of missionary priests to the dying churches of Europe and North America, and its face to face confrontation with militant Islam all have lessons to teach Catholics the world over.
In the 20th century, Africa went from a Catholic population of 1.9 million in 1900 to 130 million in 2000, a staggering growth rate of 6,708 per cent, writes journalist John Allen. Half of all adult Baptisms in the world, the surest sign of missionary expansion, are in Africa.
Inexorably, pastoral and intellectual energy in the Church will follow population, and this means that African leaders are destined to play an increasingly important role in the global Church. Canadians already know this, as Nigerian priests serve in many Canadian parishes whose last priestly vocation came long before Okugie was a bishop.
This causes handwringing among some native-born Canadian Catholics. Will they adjust to our ways? Will they understand how we do things here?
I take a different view, and think that the Canadian Church may have rather more to learn from the Nigerian experience than we have to teach them.
CNS PHOTO | REUTERS
Debris blocking a road burns after a bombing at St. Finbar Catholic Church in the Nigerian city of Jos March 11. The bomb killed at least 10 people at the Church.
An example from a recent meeting of priests illustrates the point. A 50-something priest with roots in the local area, as gentle as the day is long, told of being confronted by an angry man in a store who said, "I would like to punch you in the face." Taken aback, the kindly priest inquired of the aspiring assailant why he would do such a thing.
UGLY BULLY
"Because I don't like you," he replied, even though he knew nothing about the priest, except that he was a priest. Recounting this unpleasant episode, the pleasant priest said he is now reluctant to wear his Roman collar when doing errands.
A group of Nigerian priests were present and afterwards discussed the story. I was intrigued as to what they would think.
One of them advised a different approach: The proper response to a belligerent bully was to inform him, in a firm and measured manner, that an unprovoked blow would be met with a similar response. A man threatening to assault a priest just for being a priest should understand forthwith that he would be met not with fear but resistance.
A PUNCH FOR A PUNCH
I was more sympathetic to the Nigerian response. One doesn't know how one would react until the moment arises. Yet if the choice was between being afraid to wear my collar and the other guy being afraid to assault me, the latter option has its appeal.
I am fully aware of the injunction of the Lord Jesus to offer the other cheek. I know violence is not the solution to violence. Yet in the same way that a father is proud of his son for standing up for himself against a playground bully, I admire the fighting spirit in our spiritual fathers.
Why might Nigerian clergy, for example, be rather more feisty? Well consider what the Okugie and his brother bishops faced earlier this year.
In March a Catholic church was bombed on a Sunday morning, the work of the Boko Haram extremist Islamist sect, which has repeatedly killed and terrorized Christians. The bishops of the Lagos/Ibadan region appealed for the slaughter to stop, and accused the Nigerian government of neglecting its duty to protect the Christian community.
"We demand that something more concrete be done urgently to consolidate security, restore public confidence and salvage the very integrity of the Nigerian nation," the bishops wrote. Then they added, "Without this, individual Nigerians would have no choice but to defend themselves – a dangerous option, no doubt."
WATCH AND LEARN
In the 1990s waves of anti-Christian violence were met by Christian militias who fought back sometimes to excess. No one, least of all the Nigerian Catholic clergy, desires a return to that, but they acknowledge that people will defend themselves. It's a fighting spirit, not without problems, to be sure. But not without lessons to teach us. | {
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Asmar Collections - Tops
Seline Turtleneck
The oversized Seline Turtleneck offers cozy comfort and contemporary style. An intricate waffle knit pattern creates an unique silhouette, with a large collar you can't help but snuggle into. Made with Extrafine Merino Wool, this premium knit is incredibly soft and contains natural temperature regulating properties.
Ash Sleeveless Funnel Neck Top
Made with our ultra soft modal fabric, the Ash top is the perfect layering essential for fall. Featuring a luxuriously soft collar and sleeveless design, the lightweight and breathable fabric will quickly become a closet favourite!
Chloe Cardigan
This casual cardigan is made with temperature regulating superfine Merino Wool. The finger length finish and 3/4 sleeves add a stylish twist to a wardrobe classic. The open front and large front patch pockets complete the look.
Juno Long Sleeve Tissue Knit Sweater
Featuring a shallow swoop neckline and fitted body, the whisper weight Juno sweater is an elegant and graceful top for any season. Featuring elongated sleeves, this semi-sheer lightweight knit is the perfect travel companion, wrink resistant, breathable and an effortless coordinate with any piece.
Kaylee Crew Neck
A classic long sleeve tee that you will never want to take off! The luxurious soft modal fabric is exceptionally smooth against the skin, with a subtle sheen that enhances the tops appeal. The natural fibers retain their shape and won't bag out over multiple wears/washes. A must-have piece for every woman's wardrobe, the Kaylee Crew Neck is a part of the Basics by Noel Asmar collection.
Amelia Tank
The Amelia Tank is made with our ultra breathable, superfine Merino Wool and offers natural moisture wicking and temperature regulation properties. This sleeveless design features a crewneck and asymmetrical high-low bottom hem with generous side slides for added movement and flow.
Avery Boyfriend Shirt
This casual classic features a button up front and oversized patch pocket front. A cotton silk blend, the Avery Boyfriend Shirt offers relaxed style with a contemporary twist. With convenient sleeve tabs that allow you to wear the cuffs rolled up or worn down, this versatile essential is a summer wardrobe must-have.
Cascade Sleeveless Top
A dynamic design with a modern triple layer design. Style this silhouette with the Dakota Pant or wear it half tucked into your favourite linen pant or short for a striking summer look! Featuring a feminine keyhole closure at the back, the Cascade Sleeveless Top is a flowing and effortless wardrobe essential. | {
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Medical Records
Massachusetts General Hospital compromised patients’ medical confidentiality, including HIV status, by losing billing records on a train on March 9, a class action claims in Suffolk County Court, Boston. | {
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Company's first-ever global campaign to launch in celebration of The Olympic and Paralympic Games
Toyota continues its evolution as a mobility company with its first-ever global marketing campaign. "Start Your Impossible" launches today in 24 countries in celebration of Toyota's eight-year global sponsorship of The Olympic and Paralympic Games as the first-ever Mobility Partner in the history of The Olympic Partner (TOP) Programme to sponsor the mobility category.
"Start Your Impossible" debuts with a film entitled "Mobility For All" which features 100 real-life mobility stories of Olympic and Paralympic athletes and other individuals (ages 1 to 100) in every stage of life. An additional 15 markets will start running in the months leading up to The Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2018.
While "Mobility For All" is the first creative asset to debut globally, Toyota will roll out nine additional spots globally that feature inspirational stories and Toyota's range of mobility products - a mix of conceptual inventions used for research and development purposes and products that Toyota has committed to deliver to the market.
The "Start Your Impossible" campaign TV commercials close with an original mnemonic featuring Toyota's mobility products and athletes who embody the best in human performance. Print, digital and out-of-home "Start Your Impossible" creative aims to start conversations about breaking barriers to achieve dreams.
Toyota has recently launched a website - MobilityForAll.com. In consultation with the National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) in the United States, the website (which will be rolled out in phases) is built to be accessible for users with various impairments and to allow all users to experience the site's content. Whether set to default, visually impaired, hearing impaired, mobility impaired or cognitively impaired, all coding and design features work to make the experience equally enjoyable for all users.
A partial list of the digital and social amplifications of "Start Your Impossible" that will be available at launch include:
• Relay Your Challenge: With the belief that achieving the impossible begins by setting goals and declaring them aloud, Toyota encourages consumers and its team members to share their 'impossible statement' and relay it forward so that people worldwide can participate and challenge themselves. Visit RelayYourChallenge.com.
• Impossible Stories: These are inspiring in-depth long form videos of 10 impossible challengers in 10 countries, three of which are available at launch. The documentaries convey a deeper understanding of Toyota's vision for the future through the challengers' stories of starting their own "impossible."
A group of 16 distinguished athletes taking part in the first "Mobility for All" spot of the campaign includes: Tatyana McFadden, the world's leading wheelchair racer who has won 17 Paralympic medals across five Games for the USA; Brad Snyder, American Paralympic swimmer, former captain of the U.S. Naval Academy swim team and three-time gold medalist at the Paralympic Games Rio 2016; and Rami Anis, a swimmer from Syria, part of the Refugee Olympic Team at the Olympic Games Rio 2016.
To view and learn more about Toyota and the "Start Your Impossible" campaign visit MobilityForAll.com.
"At Toyota, we embrace the potential of new technology to help us create products and services that enable people to overcome barriers and to reach their potential," said Susumu Matsuda, Marketing Division General Manager, Toyota Motor Corporation. "The Olympic and Paralympic Games align with Toyota's values and are platforms to showcase our global commitment to the concept of mobility for all."
"Mobility means something different to every person around the world. At Toyota, we have always defined mobility as providing people with the opportunity to move freely, and we believe the time has come to share our mobility vision and solutions with everyone. I can think of no better stage to announce our evolution as the human movement company than the pinnacle of human movement, the Olympic and Paralympic Games," said Jack Hollis, Group Vice President and General Manager, Toyota Motor North America. "At Toyota, we believe that movement is a human right. With the 'Start Your Impossible' campaign, we aim to inspire people and as a company, aspire to solve challenges and create solutions to mobility barriers that limit human potential."
"The campaign, was born out of an unprecedented move by Toyota and our long-standing agency partners at Saatchi & Saatchi (Los Angeles and Dallas) and Dentsu (Tokyo) that broke down agency walls to collaborate as one integrated team," said Hollis.
...ends/
About Toyota
Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is the global mobility company that introduced the Prius hybrid-electric car in 1997 and the first mass-produced fuel cell sedan, Mirai, in 2014. Headquartered in Toyota City, Japan, Toyota has been making cars since 1937. Today, Toyota proudly employs 370,000 employees in communities around the world. Together, they build around 10 million vehicles per year in 29 countries, from mainstream cars and premium vehicles to mini-vehicles and commercial trucks, and sell them in more than 170 countries under the brands Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino. For more information, please visit www.toyota-global.com. | {
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Thursday, April 19, 2012
We're getting close. Do you remember when I showed you the shoots just coming up a few weeks ago? The recent rain should give this patch a good growth spurt and then I can pull off some of the stems. I may check out the market on Saturday for some strawberries and make a strawberry/rhubarb pie.
The rhubarb's doing well. I still haven't burned the mistletoe.
If I keep the patch watered, it should produce for a while. I may have enough to be able to freeze some, which I've never done.
11 comments:
Walt... don't bother freezing it... preserve it in syrup. If you freeze it it breaks down and just gives a slimy result! You can chop it up small and tray freeze that... and use it frozen as fruit in muffins, etc.
Mine has already produced a flower, not quite fully bloomed. It happened so fast! What are you supposed to do? Cut the stem before it pops up like that? I do need to collect the stalks and I'll make jam, as I did last year. I don't really like rhubarb jam for bread and jam, but it's great on an apple pie. I just spread it thickly on the layer of apples instead of sprinkling sugar and then cook the pie.
My rhubarb is up !! And looking very lush and healthy....yum yum !!I cut it into 2" lengths, open freeze it and bag it, which seems to work quite well........lots of rhubarb and apple crumbles for later in the year.
Spring has come so early here to Northern New England that Fritz's rhubarb is close to half or even two thirds as developed as yours. He makes a great rhubarb and ginger jam, and a spiced rhubarb preserve for poultry and roast meats.
Image of the Week
Time in Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher
Newsiness
Natasha
About the Author
Living outside of Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher since 2003. You'll find here pictures and descriptions of our daily life in rural France, some travels, and other stuff about me, my husband Ken, our dog Tasha, and our cat Bertie.
All photos in this blog were made by and are the property of the blog author, WCS, unless otherwise noted. If a photo is mis-credited, please leave a comment so that it can be corrected. Photos belonging to others will be removed at the owner's request. | {
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Scandal Recap 2.13: “Nobody Likes Babies”
It’s like we never left Olivia Pope’s DC as this episode barely misses a beat, jumping in right where we left off with what could have potentially been the best cage match on network television. Three men enter, one man leaves. Given Hollis’ involvement my guess is that is probably would have looked and sounded something a lot like when that dog used to beat up Foghorn Leghorn on the farm.
The breakdown: Each week, Joseph or I will provide a Friday Scandal recap the day after the newest episode airs. The next Thursday morning a longer roundtable discussion of the episode is posted featuring Joe, Kendra, and a variety of guest commenters. What do you think?
Spoilers for Scandal 2.13: “Nobody Likes Babies” are under the cut.
But Hollis lives and–hey, look!–Mellie’s got her baby! She and Fitz are posing for new portraits for an outlet that I’m assuming is not People Magazine, or any real press outlet for that matter, because they’re making jokes about kids getting beat up on the playground which I can’t imagine a real President of the United States could ever do. Maybe the school bullying topic isn’t in vogue anymore? Maybe he wasn’t on the record. Maybe I should stop trying to make sense of anything going down on this televised romance novel.
Oh well. For the first time all season I’m not in love with Olivia’s outfit in this next scene with Cyrus. Being that this is such a rare event (we all know Olivia Pope’s closet is always on-point), I found myself imagining what her shirt would look like without that high collar instead of paying attention to the intense metaphor-laden discussion she and Cyrus were having. Why do all the acting moments on this show involve bits of spittle flying from character’s mouths? The definition of subtlety is lost on this writers’ room.
Back to Fitz, who has what I can only assume are legitimately valid points about Mellie’s recklessness in inducing labor four weeks early: given the number of flashbacks and time-skips this show employs, I was surprised we didn’t get a shot explaining how Mellie managed to convince her OB-GYN to induce labor to save her marriage or her political career. Pretty sure they’re one in the same at this point. (And let’s talk about the overused plot device that is the flashback–yikes. You tell me I’m getting a flashback on an episode of one of my silly teen paranormal shows, and I practically throw myself out of my chair in excitement because it’s just one. Another flashback on Scandal and I start checking the Devils score. Less is more, Scandal. Live in the now!)
Image via InStyle Magazine.
Almost as annoying as the flashbacks are the crosscuts between scenes which I won’t try and detail. Suffice to say: it was the Supreme Court Justice in the hospital with the assassin. Verna Thorton and her oxygen mask (watch that oxygen mask, people–it’s making more dramatic moves than a string of pearls in a Tyler Perry movie), not Hollis, tried to kill Fitz because she loves her country and (more so) wants to save her legacy before her dying breath. It’s the first in a series of poor reasoning and judgment that plague various characters this week.
At Gladiator Headquarters the team needs to figure out some way to get evidence out of David Rosen’s house. This leads to arguably the least interesting plot of the episode in which we’re forced to pretend we care about a relationship that isn’t Fitz/Mellie/Olivia or James/Cyrus. Abby volunteers herself to go back into David’s apartment undercover so she can crack his safe while he’s gone. I argue that a) Huck probably could have done the same thing faster, better, and without the unnecessary sexual-emotional turmoil and b) David, being an attorney, would be horribly naive to leave Abby in his home with grand-jury evidence that he must know her boss would love to see destroyed, no matter how much he loves her. But I don’t have a TV show, so there we are.
But if you were over-analyzing too much, never fear because…suddenly, everyone’s naked! And by “everyone” I mean Cyrus and James because, now that James has been subpoenaed by David, they can’t have a conversation without checking to see if the other one’s wearing a wire. If this were a USA Network original series featuring Matt Bomer or Gabriel Macht. I’d at least know to call this scene and the two-minute naked conversation that ensued pure, unadulterated fanservice. On Scandal it was just … odd. Confessing to election-rigging due to a worry of a life of Ivy-League mundanity could have happened while clothed. Or at least with a bathrobe.
Feeling neglected by lack of decent storyline, Quinn finds a whole $5000 that she proudly hands over to Huck to try and buy a hit out on Hollis. It’s kind of valid–he did destroy her life after all–but also laughable that she thinks $5000 pays for a professional hitman. I mean, I’ve never tried to take out a hit on some one before, but I’ve watched enough cable dramas to know that cash ain’t gonna cut it. Huck knows that, too, and knows a bad life decision when he hears one. But while he’s talking Quinn out of her mistake, Cyrus is dialing his assassin up on speed dial. And this was a man worried about a life of mediocrity–mediocrity doesn’t have an assassin on speed dial.
Then–finally!–we’re at those last ten minutes that this show lives for. Who did Cyrus take his hit out on? (James.) Will he go through with it? (No.) Will Fitz ever find out about the voter fraud? (Yes.) Did Fitz kill Verna? (Yes.) Did that come out of nowhere? (Kind of.) Does this mean that Fitz and Olivia can finally be together? (Are you kidding? Shonda’s got this on lock for a five-season minimum, at least.) Olivia and Edison are over, but Fitz and Mellie are stronger than we’ve ever seen them. Oh, and next week we jump ten months into the future because they were running out of election flashbacks to use.
Post navigation
I’m confused by Fitz’s reaction to Mellie, and I’m wondering if he’s started some kind of long con. Mellie and Olivia are guilty of the exact same thing, but he feels betrayed by Olivia’s treason and yet reaffirmed by Mellie?? What’s sad is that of all the guilty parties, Olivia’s motives were perhaps the LEAST selfish of everyone’s. Everybody else was doing it for power, she was doing it for “her man,” as eyerollingly pathetic as that was.
That said, I’m kind of glad it turned out this way. Olivia needs some major time OFF from relationships. She as much admitted to Edison that she is only attracted to toxic, destructive relationships. Maybe this will give her perspective on why the great Olivia Pope turns into such a man-weak plaything at the end of the day.
Foxessa
I am deeply curious to see what happens next! Which is the reason for stories after all, I guess?
Foxessa
This was a rocker, until you look at it in retrospect.
First — two babies, two married couples who have the babies.
Both members of each couple feel betrayed by the other. In fact they are all betrayed by each other — so much so that one member of a couple is determined to murder the other, and the other is determined to turn in his nogoodnik partner who steal elections. Yet, in the end, both of the married couples do not do any of those things and see each other as each other’s only trusted partner.
In the middle is Olivia Pope, who is betrayed by Fitz the married man as married men tend almost always to do, for one or another and the next reason, finding a reason to stay with wife and family.
On the other side we have the other non-married couples lying to each other and betraying, as Abby and Rosen. They feel badly, but they do it anyway. For Olivia! Why? What is she after? What is she fixing? Fitz is a terrible POTUS. Cyrus would have been just as bad. What is all this pontificating by everyone about how great they’d have been in the office, while showing how dirty they are all the time, and entirely without any agenda for improving either his nation or others? Vera — really? And then, Fitz, he’s a murderer — which that he was, was signaled miles away. We knew he’d do in Vera (slightly) before her time. OTH, she tried to have him murdered, so maybe it’s just D.C. insider politics as usual, tit for tat.
However, as Fitz is a murderer we know Olivia will never be with him. Never. Ever. So does this mean the series is over at the end of the season?
Race, Culture, and Identity in a Colorstruck World
About This Blog
Racialicious is a blog about the intersection of race and pop culture. Check out our daily updates on the latest celebrity gaffes, our no-holds-barred critique of questionable media representations, and of course, the inevitable Keanu Reeves John Cho newsflashes.
Latoya Peterson (DC) is the Owner and Editor (not the Founder!) of Racialicious, Arturo García (San Diego) is the Managing Editor, Andrea Plaid (NYC) is the Associate Editor. You can email us at [email protected]. | {
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UConn places five players among 30 preseason Wooden Award candidates
Five players on the UConn women's basketball team are among the 30 preseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award.
The list revealed Tuesday includes Huskies seniors Kia Nurse, Gabby Williams and Azura Stevens, and juniors Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson. Stevens, the only non-starter in the group, is a Duke transfer who is eligible this season after sitting out 2016-17.
Ohio State senior Kelsey Mitchell, who has a shot at breaking the NCAA's career scoring record this season, also was named a preseason candidate.
Preseason Wooden Award Candidates
The women's players listed as the preseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award:
Player
School
Year
Pos
Kristine Anigwe
Cal
Jr.
C/F
Ariel Atkins
Texas
Sr.
G
Monique Billings
UCLA
Sr.
F
Allazia Blockton
Marquette
Jr.
G
Kalani Brown
Baylor
Jr.
C
Lexie Brown
Duke
Sr.
G
Jordin Canada
UCLA
Sr.
G
Napheesa Collier
UConn
Jr.
F
Sophie Cunningham
Missouri
Jr.
G
Asia Durr, Louisville
Louisville
Jr.
G
Katelynn Flaherty
Michigan
Sr.
G
Rebecca Greenwell
Duke
Sr.
G
Ruthy Hebard
Oregon
So.
F
Myisha Hines-Allen
Louisville
Sr.
F
Sabrina Ionescu
Oregon
So.
G
Tynice Martin
West Virginia
Jr.
G
Brooke McCarty
Texas
Sr.
G
Brittany McPhee
Stanford
Sr.
G
Kelsey Mitchell
Ohio State
Sr.
G
Jaime Nared
Tennessee
Sr.
G/F
Kia Nurse
UConn
Sr.
G
Arike Ogunbowale
Notre Dame
Jr.
G
Mercedes Russell
Tennessee
Sr.
C
Katie Lou Samuelson
UConn
Jr.
G/F
Azura Stevens
UConn
Sr.
G/F
Shakayla Thomas
Florida State
Sr.
F
Victoria Vivians
Mississippi State
Sr.
G
Morgan William
Mississippi State
Sr.
G
Gabby Williams
UConn
Sr.
F
A'ja Wilson
South Carolina
Sr.
F
Nineteen players on the list are seniors, headlined by A'ja Wilson, last season's most outstanding player at the Final Four who led South Carolina to the 2017 NCAA title.
Louisville's Asia Durr, who set a single-game school record with 47 points Sunday, is among the nine juniors on the list. Oregon's Ruthy Hebard and Sabrina Ionescu, who posted her fifth career triple-double on Sunday, are the only sophomores.
The John R. Wooden Award is given annually to the most outstanding men's and women's college basketball players. Washington's Kelsey Plum was last season's recipient, and was joined on the 2016 Women's Wooden Award All-American team by Collier, Samuelson, Mitchell and Wilson. | {
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The John Birch Society (JBS) is an extreme right-wing organisation[2] founded by candy manufacturer Robert W. Welch, Jr. in 1958 as a wingnutred-baitingpropaganda machine last line of defense against the massively ongoing, clandestine Communist takeover of the United States. An early book by Welch, The Politician, became controversial after it became widely known that an early manuscript included the accusation that President Dwight Eisenhower was a "conscious, dedicated agent of the Communist conspiracy." Just in case you wondered exactly how ridiculously out-there the JBS is.
Contents
The John Birch Society took its name from a missionary named John Morrison Birch. According to the society, Birch, a missionary in China who joined the United States military during World War II, became the first victim of the Cold War. Despite having helped the Chinese by fighting the Japanese there, after the war he was supposedly killed by the commies[4] (25 August 1945), but the US government kept it quiet until one Robert Welch discovered the truth and exploited the poor son-of-a-Birch's name for his own political agenda.
“”The old American virtues have already been eaten away by cosmopolitans and intellectuals; the old competitive capitalism has been gradually undermined by socialistic and communistic schemers; the old national security and independence have been destroyed by treasonous plots, having as their most powerful agents not merely outsiders and foreigners as of old but major statesmen who are at the very centers of American power. Their predecessors had discovered conspiracies; the modern radical right finds conspiracy to be betrayal from on high.
In its early days the JBS was a somewhat respected institution. However, things soon moved in a more conspiracist and radical direction. For example the JBS at one point claimed that then President Eisenhower was an "agent of the Communist conspiracy" (simply for talking to the Soviet Union as opposed to starting World War III). Welch expounded on this theory bullshit at book length in The Politician.[6] "Birchers", as they were known, wrote a lot of letters during their early years on various scare issues, such as opposition to summits between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and keeping fluoride out of the water supply, from which it could enter our precious bodily fluids and corrupt our purity of essence. The Birchers were frequent promoters of moral panics on everything from the Panama Canal treaties to the nuclear disarmament movement, all claimed to be part of the Communist movement to undermine American security, and shared cross-membership and tactics with early Religious Right groups like Billy James Hargis's "Christian Crusade."
The JBS was not only anti-Communist, but critical of government in general as well, and claimed that America was the greatest in 1900:
“”There was still plenty of poverty in many areas, of course. But, it was a healthy kind of poverty, where every man took for granted that relief from dire want was entirely his own problem and responsibility. And, even the poverty was thus offset by the enormous blessing of freedom.
—John Birch Society Bulletin, July 1976.
Their tactics quickly alienated the mainstream American conservatives; years later, William F. Buckley, Jr. wrote an article on how he, Barry Goldwater, Russell Kirk, and a bunch of PR people did some very delicate maneuvering so that the Goldwater campaign could denounce the John Birch Society without losing the votes of the society's members, with Goldwater eventually stating that "We cannot allow the emblem of irresponsibility to attach to the conservative banner."[7] Nevertheless, they were out campaigning on Goldwater's behalf; during the 1964 campaign, Birchers mastered the tactic of mass distribution of cheap paperbacks, and three in particular: None Dare Call It Treason by John Stormer, A Texan Looks At Lyndon by J. Evetts Haley, and A Choice, Not An Echo by Phyllis Schlafly. You can find multiple copies of all three at your local thrift store, most of them still unread.
The Birchers' favored term for the "conspiracy" was the New World Order. Not surprisingly, their rapidly falling membership in the 1970s and 1980s turned around after 1990 when George H.W. Bush in an act of ill-advised stupidity used that very phrase in a speech. This gave the Birchers a new lease on life during the 1990s. After the New World Order conspiracy theories took outlandish and bizarre directions during the 1990s ranging from tales of black helicopters to shape-shifting reptilians, the Birchers staked out a position of relative moderation among the lunatic fringe and warned against acceptance of these more outlandish theories while promoting the New World Order theory as laid out in Gary Allen's 1972 book as being a liberal-secularist conspiracy led by the Rockefellers and other high financiers to bring about a socialist world government… again.
Arguably the Society's greatest claim to fame came in 1983, when Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by a Soviet interceptor after straying into Soviet airspace. The flight was carrying Georgia Congressional Representative Larry McDonald, who also happened to be the Society's second president. It being one of several incidents that nearly started WWIII, the fact that it didn't was taken by JBS's New American magazine as proof of the extent of Communist power over the US government. This really said more for Ronald Reagan keeping a cool head, and now that Reagan has been anointed a saint by the American Right for single-handedly destroying the Soviet Union, the whole affair never gets mentioned any more.
The society has been linked to 1988’s failed California Proposition 102, which required anyone who tested positive for HIV to be reported to the government and their sexual contacts investigated. It also would have erased laws against compulsory testing.[16]
Recently, they have morphed into aligned themselves with the Tea Party movement, and they are even co-sponsoring the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC),[17] the largest conservative conference in the US (this probably says more about modern conservatism in the US than it does about the JBS). They have a web site where they push every right-wing conspiracy theory you can think of while trying to pass themselves off as small government conservatives, though they quickly give themselves away as fairly authoritarian.[18]
They run a website, jbs.org, which includes links to their major projects "Stop a Con-Con" (opposed to a constitutional convention), leave NAFTA, leave United Nations, and to stop the chimericNorth American Union.[19] Their magazine, The New American, continues and they are also affiliated with FreedomProject, which pursues a similar agenda while opposing abortion and selling mugs.[20] As well as the idea that global warming is a liberal media conspiracy,[21] they also promote more esoteric conspiracy theories, such as that Karl Marx was only a front for a secret organisation, The League of the Just.[22] Some things never change...
In 1961, the Chad Mitchell Trio, one of many folk groups of the era, recorded the novelty track The John Birch Society Song which lampooned the organization.
In 1962, Bob Dylan did likewise with Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues.
Cartoonist Walt Kelly created "The Jack Acid Society" in several story arcs in his comic strip Pogo. The strips were collected, along with some original pieces, and published in 1962 as The Jack Acid Society Black Book.
The 1971 film Cold Turkey has a scene where members of the "Christopher Mott Society" are listening to a phonographic record of a speech by a right-wing pundit.
Paul Simon's solo version of "A Simple Desultory Philippic" includes the line "I've been John Birched, been stopped and searched."
"What's Wrong With Civil Rights", newspaper article alleging that the civil rights movement was created by the commies in order to create a Negro Soviet Republic.[23] See also "Anarchy USA", a similar 1hr15mins+ Cold War propaganda film produced by the Society against Civil Rights. | {
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Advertisement: The television advertisement for Vitasoy promoted various plant based milk products made from soy beans, almonds, oats, rice and coconut. The advertisement said, in part: "For 40 years, Vitasoy have been turning plants in to milk with added goodness. Mmm delicious plant milk. Vitasoy - growing milk since 1940."
The Chair ruled the complaint was withdrawn.
Complainant, DCANZ, said: the references to milk in the advertisement could confuse consumers and were misleading.
The relevant provisions were Principle 2 of the Code for Advertising Food and Principle 1 and 3 of the Code of Ethics.
The Chair ruled to deal with the matter by "adjudication with attendance of the parties" pursuant to Rule 3 of the Complaints Procedures of the Advertising Standards Complaints Board.
As a result of further correspondence between the parties outside of the formal adjudication process, the Complainant advised the Secretariat they no longer wished to proceed with the complaint.
At the request of the Complainant, the Chair ruled the complaint was withdrawn.
Chair's Ruling: Complaint Withdrawn
The data used in this site has been taken from the New Zealand Advertising Standards Authority's Complaints Database. Some adjustments have been made to improve consistency, such as standardising company and complainant names. We do not guarantee the accuracy of this data. If you find any errors, please let us know by emailing us at [email protected]. | {
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One of the most important integration nowadays is QuickBooks integration with MS Access. But before going to see what are the reasons, and how Pros and cons related to this particular integration we need to understand first that what exactly Microsoft access . Simply Microsoft MS Access is an information management platform which enable user…
Get Help from Intuit Certified Experts
“247 QuickBooks” is an independent third party technical support provider and we are not affiliated to Intuit® in any form. Consultation, technical support and other data services offered by 247 QuickBooks are independent of Intuit. By using this website, you agree to our terms and conditions. | {
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God Stories from the Fellowship Gathering
Here at the fellowship gathering, as we share meals and meet new people, I’ve been trying to focus on what God is already up to in our our midst. So I’ve been asking “what mission are you most excited about in your church.”
I rejoice in the ministry of Proyecto Amistad, which reaches out to children in Mexican border towns.
I delighted in hearing from a California church that does a weekly open house in which church members receive all comers. These caring members listen to needs, offer prayer, and extend the hope of the gospel.
I sat stunned by the work of a men’s group in a 40 member Tennessee church … They made their monthly meeting into a visitation to the local juvenile detention facility to offer mentoring, prayer, and encouragement.
I was challenged by the pastor of a small Tennessee town who said that he felt a calling to connect with each resident in his town and ask how the church can serve them.
A Virginia pastor told me about the NC-17 worship service his church was starting. They don’t allow children under 17 to the service so they can teach on sexuality and greed and wrath and other adult topics.
A church in Kansas has committed to becoming a community of prayer; they are discerning how to apply that in daily life.
A 50 member church in New Jersey has a Wednesday evening children’s program for neighborhood kids. When the children presented the Christmas pageant, the congregation tripled in size.
These churches are discerning the call of God to their communities and responding. | {
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Reaching A Broader Audience With Social Media
Are you ready to learn about the hottest new marketing trend, social media marketing? Hundreds of thousands of people are creating new profiles on sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Businesses are doing it! So should you! As you read through this article, you will learn several helpful social media marketing ideas that can help you take advantage of this new method of reaching your customers.
Done correctly, use of Twitter for business promotion can be highly effective. You can reach thousands of people through Twitter, if you know how to use it in the right way. Twitter involves the use of keywords and hashtags, among other things, so learn how these work.
Create new blog entries regularly and constantly. Readers will keep coming back to see fresh content if they know when you will be posting updates. Think of it like a magazine subscription. Ensure that you are constantly asking people to return to your profile.
Offer exclusive specials to the people that follow you via social media. Lure them in with something they can’t resist or find elsewhere. An example would be to have a contest that is exclusive to your social media followers. If this is not an idea that would work for you, give them exclusive offers and coupons that are only available to fans and followers. You can also only include special announcements on any of your social media pages.
Figure out how much you want to engage with your customers. If you desire to maximize sales, try to advertise using social channels and remember to keep it simple. If you do want to engage in an ongoing relationship with clients, then approach it easily with a simple introduction at first. Your customers will let you know where to go from there.
The preceding paragraphs detailed many different strategies for getting your business into the social media game. Use these tips so you can feel like you can be imaginative as you start to develop your presence on social media websites. This hard work will expose your information to millions of readers around the world, leading to new customers and increased profits.
Educate yourself on social networking itself. You might keep a Facebook profile already, but using it for business is very different. Also, look on the Internet for pertinent advice from professionals in this field.
social media marketing tips 911802-16-2015
Use YouTube’s automation services to your advantage. Once your YouTube account is ready to go, set up your account so that whenever you post a video, it will be automatically be posted to other sites you own. To do this, use the options panel to specify the sites to which your videos should be posted.
Call 954.780.6585 for a SEO Search Engine Optimization Consultant to review the Social Media Marketing status of your Company. Our Search Engine Marketing Specialists will run a thorough review of your website and give you detailed reports. | {
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"God willing and the creek don't rise, he's going to play," Harbaugh said of Smith, who missed the final two regular-season games with a partially torn triceps tendon.
Harbaugh said he was unaware of who Ford was, the longtime country music star who died in 1991.
"I thought that was Jack Harbaugh," Jim Harbaugh deadpanned, when asked if he got the line from Ford. Jack, of course, is Jim's father.
Harbaugh added that he was confident from the outset that Smith would be ready to go after Smith suffered the injury against the New England Patriots on Dec. 16, even knowing the severity of the injury, which will require surgery in the offseason.
"I felt with the brace he would be able to play with what he had ...," Harbaugh said. "There's been significant improvement since that time."
Smith has participated in all four practices the past two weeks in the 49ers preparation for their first playoff game Saturday night against the Green Bay Packers at Candlestick Park.
Smith is participating at full capacity, opting against wearing a black, no-contact jersey. He is wearing a brace on his left arm, similar to the one worn by Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis in the Ravens game against the Colts last weekend.
Lewis, too, suffered a triceps injury and missed significant time during the regular season. Lewis recorded 13 tackles against the Colts. | {
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Lawyers from Jones Day have been functioning like a Praetorian Guard around the president since the day he took office. How the firm landed so many of its partners into key positions in the Trump administration has baffled the media, especially since its partners were big supporters of Hillary Clinton’s campaign. According to Bloomberg News, Jones Day’s lawyers contributed $7,422 to Trump’s campaign while showering Hillary Clinton’s campaign with $267,899.
Wall Street On Parade has previously reported that Jones Day lawyers in Trump’s White House Counsel office had previously represented Freedom Partners, the front group of Koch Industries, the giant fossil fuels company majority owned by the billionaire Koch brothers. Freedom Partners had quickly provided the Trump administration with a list of regulations it wanted gutted – like the Paris Climate accord (which Trump revoked on June 1, 2017) and numerous EPA rules. Jones Day had also been a lead law firm for Koch Industries’ mergers and acquisitions for years. SourceWatch reported last year that a dozen people who previously worked at Freedom Partners were given jobs in the Trump administration. Among that group was Marc Short, former Freedom Partners President, who became Director of Legislative Affairs for Trump. Short stepped down in July of last year after many of his key objectives had been achieved.
On the same day that Donald Trump was sworn into office, the Jones Day law firm issued a press release indicating that 13 of its lawyers were heading to the Trump administration. Key among the posts were Don McGahn, who had been General Counsel to Trump’s campaign committee, and was now going to be serving as White House Counsel. McGahn’s Chief of Staff was also coming from Jones Day, Annie Donaldson. Both had previously represented Freedom Partners.
In addition to McGahn and Donaldson, surrounding the President from Jones Day was Bill McGinley (Deputy Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary), Greg Katsas (Deputy Counsel to the President), James Burnham (Senior Associate Counsel to the President), David Morrell (Associate Counsel to the President).
Other Jones Day appointments included: James Uthmeier (Special Advisor to the Secretary of Commerce), Stephen Vaden (Special Assistant to the Secretary of Agriculture) and Kaytlin Roholt (Special Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee.)
One name not included in the Jones Day press release who also moved to the White House on inauguration day was Michael Roman. Roman’s primary salary was coming from Freedom Partners, but his financial disclosure form indicated that he had also received compensation “exceeding $5,000” from Jones Day for “research consulting” prior to moving to the White House.
“The competitive intelligence team has a staff of 25, including one former CIA analyst, and operates from one of the non-descript Koch network offices clustered near the Courthouse metro stop in suburban Arlington, Va. It has provided network officials with documents detailing confidential voter-mobilization plans by major Democrat-aligned groups. It also sends regular ‘intelligence briefing’ emails tracking the canvassing, phone-banking and voter-registration efforts of labor unions, environmental groups and their allies, according to documents reviewed by Politico and interviews with a half-dozen sources with knowledge of the group.
“The competitive intelligence team has gathered on-the-ground intelligence from liberal groups’ canvassing events in an effort to assess the technology and techniques of field efforts to boost Democrats, according to the sources. And they say the team utilizes high-tech tactics to track the movements of liberal organizers, including culling geo-data embedded in their social media posts.”
According to a subsequent report from Politico, Roman had worked directly under McGahn in the White House counsel’s office. He left last year. Nancy Cook of Politico reported last year:
“As a former Koch operative and longtime opposition researcher, he cut a mysterious figure in the White House — as one of the few high-level non-lawyers working in the White House counsel’s office. Few were certain of his exact job.”
Now, as Congressional subpoenas are flying at Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank with a large presence on Wall Street, and Trump is suing Deutsche Bank to prevent it from responding to the subpoenas – Jones Day is in a sticky wicket. Its former partners are advising the President but Deutsche Bank has been a long-term client of Jones Day.
As luck (or fortuitous planning) would have it, the Jones Day lawyers had received “a blanket waiver clearing them of ethical conflicts,” and allowing them “to take up some matters they may have worked on in prior jobs,” according to a report in the National Law Journal in May of 2017.
Last month the House Intelligence and the House Financial Services Committees subpoenaed documents from Deutsche Bank, President’s Trump long time banker which has, over the years, loaned Trump “a total of well over $2 billion,” according to the New York Times. During much of the time these loans were being made by Deutsche Bank, other banks refused to loan to Trump because of his history of defaulting and his businesses filing bankruptcy. That fact has raised the curiosity of these two House Committees because what Trump also has in common with Deutsche Bank is Russian money.
In 2017 Deutsche Bank settled with U.S. and U.K. authorities over a $10 billion Russian money laundering scheme, paying a combined fine of $630 million. In November of last year, Deutsche Bank’s offices in Frankfurt, Germany were raided by 170 law enforcement officials. The probe involved potential money laundering.
We know what the Democrats, now in charge of House Committees since January, are thinking about when it comes to Trump and Deutsche Bank because of earlier reports. The draft report released by Democrats on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on March 13 of last year contained this paragraph:
“Donald Trump’s finances historically have been opaque, but there have long been credible allegations as to the use of Trump properties to launder money by Russian oligarchs, criminals, and regime cronies. There also remain critical unanswered questions about the source of President Trump’s personal and corporate financing. For example, Deutsche Bank, which was fined $630 million in 2017 over its involvement in a $10 billion Russian money-laundering scheme, consistently has been the source of financing for President Trump, his businesses, and his family. We have only begun to explore the relationship between President Trump and Deutsche Bank, and between the bank and Russia.”
Deutsche Bank’s “$10 billion Russian money-laundering scheme” which became known as “mirror trades,” was the subject of a May 23, 2017 letter sent by Maxine Waters, then ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee and other House Democrats to John Cryan, then the CEO of Deutsche Bank. (Waters is now Chair of that Committee with the power to subpoena.) The letter began:
“We write seeking information relating to two internal reviews reportedly conducted by Deutsche Bank (‘Bank’): one regarding its 2011 Russian mirror trading scandal and the other regarding its review of the personal accounts of President Donald Trump and his family members held at the Bank. What is troubling is that the Bank to our knowledge has thus far refused to disclose or publicly comment on the results of either of its internal reviews. As a result, there is no transparency regarding who participated in, or benefited from, the Russian mirror trading scheme that allowed $10 billion to flow out of Russia. Likewise, Congress remains in the dark on whether loans Deutsche Bank made to President Trump were guaranteed by the Russian Government or were in any way connected to Russia. It is critical that you provide this Committee with the information necessary to assess the scope, findings and conclusions of your internal reviews.”
In February 2008, right in the midst of the financial crisis that would take down Wall Street in September of that year, Henry Klehm, the Global Head of Compliance for Deutsche Bank, joined Jones Day. He has been there ever since. Klehm had worked at Deutsche Bank from June 2002 to October 2007 when many of the instruments like Residential Mortgage Backed Securities (RMBS) and Credit Default Swaps (CDS) that blew up and deepened the financial crisis were created at Deutsche Bank.
“Deutsche Bank knowingly and intentionally securitized loans originated based on unsupported and fraudulent appraisals. Deutsche Bank knew that mortgage originators were ‘giving appraisers the value they want[ed]’ and expecting the resulting appraisals to meet the originators’ desired value, regardless of the actual value of the property. Deutsche Bank concealed its knowledge of pervasive and consistent appraisal fraud, instead representing to investors home valuation metrics based on appraisals it knew to be fraudulent. Deutsche Bank misrepresented to investors the value of the properties securing the loans securitized in its RMBS and concealed from investors that it knew that the value of the properties securing the loans was far below the value reflected by the originator’s appraisal.
“By May 2007, Deutsche Bank knew that there was an increasing trend of overvalued properties being sold to Deutsche Bank for securitization. As one employee noted, ‘We are finding ourselves going back quite often and clearing large numbers of loans [with inflated appraisals] to bring down the deletion percentages.’ Deutsche Bank nonetheless purchased and securitized such loans because it received favorable prices on the fraudulent loans. Ultimately, Deutsche Bank enriched itself by paying reduced prices for risky loans while representing to investors valuation metrics based on appraisals the Bank knew to be inflated.”
A key area where Jones Day has provided repeated legal representation to Deutsche Bank has been in the Credit Default Swap area.
Some of the Jones Day lawyers who took their seats in the Trump administration on inauguration day are no longer there. In less than a year’s time, Gregory Katsas went from Jones Day to the Trump administration and was then nominated by Trump and confirmed as a Federal Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Jones Day partner Chad Readler was confirmed in a highly controversial vote of 52-47 in March of this year to sit as a Federal Judge on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Federal Judges, once confirmed, have a lifetime appointment to the bench.
Don McGahn has returned Jones Day where he is listed as “Practice Leader Government Regulation.” He is not enjoying a quiet return to corporate law practice, however. The House Judiciary Committee has issued a subpoena to him for documents related to Trump’s potential obstruction of justice in Bob Mueller’s Special Counsel probe. According to Politico’s reporting this week, McGahn is defying the subpoena, raising the risk that he may be held in contempt of Congress.
If there is any hope for America to restore itself to a true democracy, the House must continue to take this investigation where the facts lead – including the outsized influence that the Jones Day law firm has had in the Trump administration and its ties, and the President’s ties, to Deutsche Bank. Another key area for investigation are the Jones Day ties to the Koch’s Freedom Partners and the role that group has played in dismantling critical regulations and safeguards that protect the American people. | {
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Catch and release skunks without getting sprayed! The low-profile design of this trap prevents the skunk from lifting its tail once inside, eliminating its ability to emit odorous spray. Simply place cat food, peanut butter, sardines or fish-scented baits in the trap as an attractant. The skunk will then cross an infrared beam upon entering, triggering closure of the entry door and ensuring capture. The smooth interior, compact design and darkened conditions keep the animal calm and safe. Skunks typically take 15 to 20 minutes to exit once the release door is opened. Trap is also effective on squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits and more. Requires four “AA” batteries (not included). Imported. | {
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Evesham Vista Mini PC
A living room-friendly Media Center PC
Our Verdict
An interesting media PC that's only held back by its physical dimensions
For
Good digital audio quality
Compact dimensions
Against
DVD playback can't match a standalone player
Connectivity limited by space
PCs are widely regarded as the ugly red-headed stepchildren of real home cinema equipment. Huge, wheezing beige boxes, they are better suited to gathering dust in the second bedroom than lounging stylishly next to the flatscreen TV and surround speakers in your living room. Aren't they?
Not in this case. With the Mini PC Evesham has managed to shoehorn a real computer into an amazingly petite box. About six inches square and no more than a couple high, it owes one heck of a creative debt to the Mac Mini.
Unlike Apple's tiny machine, this is designed to be used as a media device. It comes pre-loaded with Windows Vista Home Premium Edition, which features Microsoft's lounge- and remote control- friendly Media Center application, making this both a Sky -style PVR and a hub for storing and playing back all your digital movies, music and photographs.
As well as being small, the PC looks cool, thanks to its blue power LED, brushed black frame and clean lines. There's no disc tray, only a slot that automatically pulls in CDs and DVDs.
Thanks to low fan noise and a vibration- damping rubber 'foot', it runs nice and quiet too. It's not totally silent, but what little noise there is isn't going to be heard over a film, TV show or audio track.
As you might imagine, there isn't much space on the back panel, so connectivity is a little more limited than on the average PC. There are only two video outputs here: DVI and S-video. The former supports high- definition resolutions and a VGA adaptor is also supplied, so hooking this up to a flatscreen TV or projector should be a cinch.
An HDMI output would have been handy, but you could always try a DVI-to- HDMI adaptor (and cross your fingers that your TV supports the right resolutions via HDMI - the Hitachi 37LD9700 screen I used didn't, surrounding the picture with a wide black border).
Audio options are similarly restricted to a two-channel 3.5mm line output and a mini optical output for digital surround sound. You also get a couple of USB ports, Firewire, an aerial input (but no loopthrough) for the built-in TV tuner and a single mic jack. While there's enough to do the job, it isn't a particularly AV-friendly selection, and the lack of any video inputs means you can't run a Sky or cable box through the system.
Save for a niftier, rejigged menu screen, Vista's version of Media Center is virtually identical to XP's. With its large text and icons, it's designed to be viewed on a screen from afar, and is accessible from the desktop at the push of a button on the supplied remote control. Alternatively, you can set it so Media Center starts up with the PC - select this option and you'll rarely have to see the rest of Vista, despite it running in the background.
Open up Media Center and you're presented with a range of options, including a DVD player, access to your music, video and photo libraries and live TV from the built-in DVB-T tuner. Accompanying the TV is a 14-day EPG serving up programme schedules and information. This works in a similar way to Sky 's EPG, allowing you to quickly set recordings for individual shows or even entire series.
With only one tuner here you can't watch one channel while recording another, which strikes me as something of a missed opportunity. Any recordings you do make go directly into a folder on the 100GB hard disk, and can be accessed easily from Media Center.
You can change the recording limit and quality, but at the default quality, which is near indistinguishable from the broadcast, a 75GB folder should be able to hold around 55 hours of recordings. You can archive anything you want to keep straight onto DVD through Media Center when space starts to run out. The recorder also buffers any TV you have watched recently (you can set the period of time), allowing you to effectively pause or rewind live TV.
The DVD player is decent enough, but with nothing in the way of image processing it can't compete with a good-quality standalone deck. Shaun Of The Dead, for instance, is clean and noise-free, with reasonable amounts of detail visible in faces, but also lacks sharpness and suffers from the appearance of jaggies around the likes of car grills, fences, railings and so on. Colours also seem a little washed-out and lifeless at times.
CD playback is solid but uninspiring, with Neil Young's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere sounding too shrill and digital for my tastes. Stick a CD in and it will rip automatically to the hard disk, along with track info and album artwork. You can choose from a variety of bitrates, including lossless, but annoyingly you can't select these from within Media Center - you have to hop back into regular Windows Media Player and tick your desired boxes there.
Digital audio quality from DVDs and television is good, however. Shaun Of The Dead's surround effects were detailed where appropriate and suitably beefy at times (the gunshots are superbly hefty) while the score sounds great.
While squeezing so much functionality into such a small box is impressive, it's evident that the Evesham's size does limit what it can do. There's no space for an HDMI output, a dual digital tuner, any kind of memory card reader and the inclusion of a mere two USB ports means that hooking up external hard drives could be a problem.
On the plus side, you get an unobtrusive component able to bring PC functionality into living rooms where traditional PCs fear to tread. Microsoft has high hopes for its Media Center OS, and so do we. This debut Vista-powered media centre finally begins to show the power and promise of the platform. Sam Kieldsen
Free to Access, Read and ShareBuild Your First Website eBook
In association with GoDaddy
Techradar Pro has teamed up with GoDaddy to produce a website-hosting tips eBook, looking at how to plan your website, picking the right domain name and great ways to promote your website. | {
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Monday, December 14, 2009
It probably didn't help as much as it should have.In a allegedly "Christian" land whose financial foundations were supposedly engineered by a historically rigid and pious Protestant work ethic, the religion supposedly serving the Faith of our Fathers seems to show an awful lot of wear in these recessional days. Especially when the Prosperity Gospel is what's being preached from the pulpits of today.
Yes, you heard me and yes, you can give it some thought yourself by checking out this painfully honest and all too illuminating essay here. Frankly, I'm not just outraged, disturbed and angry. I'm just not surprised. Faking it til you make it has reached a whole new level of cultural delusion among the "children of light," which is why the "children of this world" still possess a level of wealth that is supposed to be possessed by confession of those same well-lit King's Kids. | {
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A British born Indian travels to India and founds out how lucky she is for living in the UK.
She also meets the father of the girl who was raped in the bus incident.
An indian woman was hurles by acid, she tells what she experienced.
Another woman tells her how she was pulled in her hair, got pulled in her clothes and no helpednher. She was lucky of not getting raped!
Various Indian women tell her how difficult it is to live as an indian woman in daily life.
This is the flag of Islam, for you cannot separate the Muslim league from Islam. Many people misunderstand us when we talk of Islam, particularly our Hindu friends. When we say this flag is the flag of Islam, they think that we are introducing religion into politics, A FACT OF WHICH WE ARE PROUD. Islam gives us a complete code. It is not only a religion, but it contains laws, philosophy and politics. It contains everything that matters to a man from morning to night. When we talk of Islam, we take it as an all embracing word.
- Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah (11th January 1938)
Let us go back to our holy book, the Quran. Let us revert to the Hadeeth and the the great traditions of Islam which have everything in them for our guidance if we correctly interpret them and follow our great Holy book, the Quran.
- Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah (6th March 1946)
"It is my strong belief, that there is no ideology which is more democratic, enlightened and progressive than Islam."
NEW DELHI: An elaborate sting operation, conducted on 23 key people of the Ram Janambhoomi movement by an Indian website magazine, has claimed that the demolition of the Babri Masjid on Dec 6, 1992, was elaborately planned by various wings of the Sangh Parivar and executed with precision by trained volunteers.
It wasn’t, as it was made out, a case of mob frenzy going out of control, according to the sting.
The Bharatiya Janata Party questioned the timing of the report — three days before India goes to the polls — and urged the election commission to stop its broadcast.
The investigation, carried out by Cobrapost, claimed that by piecing together versions given by the top Ram Janambhhomi players, it is apparent that top BJP leaders like L. K. Advani and the then UP chief minister Kalyan Singh, as well as the former premier, Narasimha Rao, were aware of the planned demolition of mosque.
Posing as a would-be-author researching his book on the Ayodhya movement, Cobrapost associate editor K. Ashish travelled to Ayodhya, Faizabad, Tanda, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Mathura, Moradabad in UP, Jaipur, Aurangabad, Mumbai and Gwalior interviewing 23 of those who participated in the operation. He clandestinely recorded conversations with them.
If what they claim is true, the Ram Janambhoomi leaders and activists toiled secretly for months on a plan codenamed “Operation Janambhoomi” and executed it with military precision. Volunteers were trained, logistics painstakingly put in place and the assault on the disputed shrine launched using large surging crowds with volunteers skilled in demolishing structures embedded in it.
Not only do those interviewed spell out details of the planning, they also allegedly reveal how enthusiastic young participants were deliberately used as cannon fodder by provoking a police firing on volunteers in 1990 because of the belief of some leaders that the movement would not gather steam unless “some Hindus die”.
Many of those interviewed by the make-believe author are accused in CBI cases pertaining to the demolition. Yet, they seemed to have no qualms in "confessing" (or boasting) about their role in the episode that left a deep communal schism in India.
Those recruited for training were not told about their mission till a month before the demolition.
Bajrang Dal conducted a month-long training in Gujarat June 1992 for 38 of its cadre from different regions.
In subsequent drills the volunteers learnt skills such as climbing tall structures using grappling hooks and ropes. At a top-secret meeting in a basement, top VHP office-bearers asked this band of 38 to form a force to tear down the disputed structure.
While the VHP and Bajrang Dal were holding a secret meeting at Ayodhya to plan the Babri assault, Sena leaders too were deliberating on the fate of the shrine in New Delhi. If everything failed, Sena had a plan B: dynamite Babri, the Cobrapost alleged.
—By arrangement with the Times of India
Hakim Bey: Don't just survive while waiting for someone's revolution to clear your head
Napoleon Bonaparte: The world suffers a lot, not because of the violence of bad people, but because of the silence of good people!
According to a report in The Times of India, Togadia on Saturday targeted Muslims buying properties in Hindu areas. He later joined a street protest outside a house bought by a Muslim businessman near Meghani Circle.
In the politically charged atmosphere where the issues of communalism and hate speeches have triggered a big debate, the leader of saffron outfit VHP also reportedly gave a 48-hour ultimatum to the businessman and directed a gathering to attack the house if he did not "relent".
Indian police are interrogating students and security personnel in relation to a violent attack on Ali Hasan Raza — a Pakistani student at Pondicherry University, according to Indian media.
Cases have also been registered under various Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections including 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 448 (punishment for house trespass), according to police.
According to some reports, police believe the attack may have been the result of mistaken identity.
"We suspect that the attackers might have mistaken him for someone," investigating officer and sub-inspector V Sivakumar said.
The police said most students had vacated the hostel as their exams were over. They however added that the attack was likely carried out by those who stayed on in the hostel.
The attack
On Tuesday, Raza was assaulted by three unidentified men in his room at the Sir CV Raman Hostel.
The group of men reportedly crept up on him while he was sleeping and then beat him with iron rods and liquor bottles. Raza sustained injuries on his head, neck and back.
The 24-year-old was severely wounded and is being treated at the Puducherry Institute of Medical Science (PIMS) and Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (Jipmer). During treatment, Raza said the attackers were his age and may be students of the university.
Raza was doing a post-graduate course in South Asian studies. He is the first and only Pakistani student in Pondicherry University.
In response to the attack, the Student Federation of India (SFI) secretary voiced concern over the incident and said the university must take all measures to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice. The university also issued new restrictions on entries to the boys hostel.
The UNMogip was set up under the Karachi agreement in 1949 after the first war between the two countries. — File photo by Reuters
NEW DELHI: India has asked a United Nations Military Observer Group on Kashmir to vacate a government-provided bungalow in New Delhi, in a toughening stance against a mission that Indians have long opposed.
The Indian foreign ministry said on Tuesday the government had asked UN Military Observers Group on India and Pakistan (UNMogip) to hand over the Delhi premises from where it was running a liaison office for more than four decades for free as part of efforts to rationalise the mission's presence in India.
The small UN mission has its main offices in the capital of India-held Kashmir, Srinagar on the Indian side and in the Pakistani capital Islamabad as part of a UN Security Council resolution to supervise the ceasefire in the divided region.
New Delhi considers the whole of disputed Kashmir as an integral part of the country and has bristled against external involvement in the region including the UNMogip that was set up under the Karachi agreement in 1949 after the first war between the two countries.
The UN Security Council resolutions recognise Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory until the will of the people of Jammu and Kashmir is determined through a plebiscite under the United Nations auspices.
Pakistan has maintained its demand for the implementation on the plebiscite resolution, which according to the country’s Permanent Representative in the United Nations, Masood Khan, remains held up from the Indian side..
New Delhi has argued that the UN had little role to play after India and Pakistan signed the Simla Pact in 1972 under which the two countries agreed to resolve all disputes including Kashmir bilaterally.
Pakistan, however, has frequently called for third-party involvement to settle the dispute in Kashmir.
“We have said that as far as we are concerned the UNMogip has outlived its relevance. This is a consistent stance that we have articulated on several occasions,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told reporters after the Indian Express reported the notice given to the UN group to leave the Delhi premises.
UNMogip said it had received the request in May when India was in the midst of an election that the right wing Bharatiya Janata Party led by Narendra Modi eventually won.
No reasons were given for vacating the office, Major Nicolas Diaz, in charge of the Delhi office, said.
He said the observers group would continue to operate in line with the UN mandate and that it was looking at alternative accommodation.
The military authorities of Pakistan have continued to lodge complaints with UNMogip about ceasefire violations in Kashmir.
The military authorities of India have lodged no complaints since January 1972 and have restricted the activities of the UN observers on the Indian side of the Line of Control.
They have, however, continued to provide accommodation, transport and other facilities to the observers.
Hakim Bey: Don't just survive while waiting for someone's revolution to clear your head
Napoleon Bonaparte: The world suffers a lot, not because of the violence of bad people, but because of the silence of good people! | {
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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — As you enter the dark set — an old library from the 1700s filled with ancient artifacts — at Universal Orlando Resort’s new Halloween experience, it’s obvious you’re in for a creepy time.
The actor playing a librarian flips from quirky to spooky as he warns of a deadly curse if you venture into a warehouse filled with powerful, paranormal artifacts. But none of his warnings and babblings can quite prepare you for The Repository, a new virtual reality experience that opened Thursday as part of Universal Orlando Resort’s annual Halloween Horror Nights.
The immersive, interactive adventure features human actors as well as first-of-its-kind virtual reality technology. Participants in groups of four follow a series of signs that must be remembered in the right order to wipe out the curse. And don’t you dare let go of the keystone you’re given. You’ll need it to finish the challenge.
Be prepared for a pricey evening as well as a spooky one. The Repository, which runs select nights through Oct. 31, costs an additional $49.99 plus tax on top of the $104.99 general admission (prices can vary; details at http://www.HalloweenHorrorNights.com/Orlando ).
The experience keeps you on edge as you and your group are guided through various rooms in the warehouse where actors and props await. It’s not an experience for those who scare easily or have personal space issues. The actors come close, talk loudly and are extremely animated as they react to your words, expressions and movements.
“What this place is built on is interaction,” said T.J. Mannarino, senior director of art and design at Universal’s entertainment division. “It’s all about you and what you do together and with the actors in the space and even with the objects and the props that you come into contact with.”
He added: “You now have the chance to be the story and we as storytellers now interact and react to what you do as you move to through the space.”
The highlight of the 30-minute show is a virtual reality, or VR, experience, while wearing goggles, that creates the illusion of being in a cemetery with paranormal activity swirling around. It will leave the bravest person afraid to move.
“We have found that a very small amount of external senses really goes a long way in VR, whether that is motion, whether that is winds or just the implication of something flying over you,” said Thomas Geraghty, advanced technology director at Universal Creative.
With goggles on, participants walk around a 20-by-20-foot room as they search for symbols, Geraghty said. “So you can really have some agency and explore the whole library and find your way around the tower,” he said.
Once out of the virtual reality experience, you and your group come back together. Now you must remember the symbols and their order, and align the keystones accordingly to solve the curse. You don’t get a lot of time to complete the task, but there’s a payoff, says Mannarino: “You can pretty much wipe the curse out and basically neutralize this place from all of its evil.”
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | {
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If you were redirected here from newer version (vedabase.io) it is because technical issues. It is most probably going to take few hours to fix. Once everything works properly you can use vedabase.io without redirection to old .com version.
“Thus the Lord liquidates the debt by offering Himself to the devotee.” Considering in this way, the Ācārya began worshiping the Lord.
Purport:
Through devotional service one can easily please Lord Kṛṣṇa with a leaf of the tulasī plant and a little water. As the Lord says in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.26), a leaf, a flower, a fruit or some water (patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam), when offered with devotion, very much pleases Him. He universally accepts the services of His devotees. Even the poorest of devotees in any part of the world can secure a small flower, fruit or leaf and a little water, and if these offerings, and especially tulasī leaves and Ganges water, are offered to Kṛṣṇa with devotion, He is very satisfied. It is said that Kṛṣṇa is so much pleased by such devotional service that He offers Himself to His devotee in exchange for it. Śrīla Advaita Ācārya knew this fact, and therefore He decided to call for the Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa to descend by worshiping the Lord with tulasī leaves and the water of the Ganges.
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder-Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna ConsciousnessContent used with permission of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. www.Krishna.com All rights reserved. | {
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Lot 18 Constitution WayRochester, NH 03867Price: $318,000
$/month over payments
Federal 30-year interest rate: 3.18% last updated on Jun 4, 2020* All Figures are estimates. Check with your bank or proposed mortgage company for actual interest rates.This product uses the FRED® API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
$318,000List Price
3Bedrooms
3Bathroom
0.16Acreage
2019Year Built
1,568Square Feet
Active
Listing Tools
$/month over payments
Federal 30-year interest rate: 3.18% last updated on Jun 4, 2020* All Figures are estimates. Check with your bank or proposed mortgage company for actual interest rates.This product uses the FRED® API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Take this opportunity to build with a local and highly respectable builder. With ONLY 7 of the 14 lots remaining in the established Little Quarry neighborhood, move into your brand new home in just 5-6 months! Constitution Way is a great location for commuting as it is minutes to Route 16, Route 125, and Route 108. This subdivision lies in southern Rochester, just a stones throw from the convenience of Somersworth/Dover shopping, groceries, restaurants and more. Customize the home of your dreams and see your visions unfold. This floor plan offers a quaint covered porch and has lots of curb appeal! From the front porch, your guests are brought into the entryway of the open concept first floor. The spacious living room that is open to the kitchen/dining area allows for easy entertaining with family/friends. From the kitchen, you can escape the indoors and head to your private rear deck to enjoy the outdoors - ideal for summer entertaining! In addition the 1st floor offers a mudroom and 1/2 bath. The second floor has your master suite with a master bath and closet. Off the hall is 2 additional bedrooms, a full guest bath and laundry. Enjoy your 2 car garage under and utility room for covered parking and storage. Come pick out your selections, colors, and more! OTHER PLANS AND LOTS AVAILABLE. Note: photos seen are examples of builders recent work.
Mortgage Info
Est. Mortgage: $/month over payments
Federal 30-year interest rate: 3.18% last updated on Jun 4, 2020. * All Figures are estimates. Check with your bank or proposed mortgage company for actual interest rates. This product uses the FRED® API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Property Details of Lot 18 Constitution Way
Property Details
Basic Information
Property Type: Single Family
NEREN: 4755487
Acreage: 0.16
Building
Square Feet: 1,568
Year Built: 2019
Zoning: Res
Stories: 2
Roof: Shingle - Architectural
Building Construction: Wood Frame
Exterior Color: TBD
Foundation: Concrete
Garage Spaces: 2
Location
Town: Rochester
County: Strafford
State: NH
Zip: 03867
Interior Features
Description: Take this opportunity to build with a local and highly respectable builder. With ONLY 7 of the 14 lots remaining in the established Little Quarry neighborhood, move into your brand new home in just 5-6 months! Constitution Way is a great location for commuting as it is minutes to Route 16, Route 125, and Route 108. This subdivision lies in southern Rochester, just a stones throw from the convenience of Somersworth/Dover shopping, groceries, restaurants and more. Customize the home of your dreams and see your visions unfold. This floor plan offers a quaint covered porch and has lots of curb appeal! From the front porch, your guests are brought into the entryway of the open concept first floor. The spacious living room that is open to the kitchen/dining area allows for easy entertaining with family/friends. From the kitchen, you can escape the indoors and head to your private rear deck to enjoy the outdoors - ideal for summer entertaining! In addition the 1st floor offers a mudroom and 1/2 bath. The second floor has your master suite with a master bath and closet. Off the hall is 2 additional bedrooms, a full guest bath and laundry. Enjoy your 2 car garage under and utility room for covered parking and storage. Come pick out your selections, colors, and more! OTHER PLANS AND LOTS AVAILABLE. Note: photos seen are examples of builders recent work.
Copyright 2020 New England Real Estate Network, Inc. All rights reserved. This information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed. The data relating to real estate for sale on this web site comes in part from the IDX Program of NEREN. The information being provided is for consumers' personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. Data last updated June 7, 2020.
Olde Port Properties participates in MREIS' Maine Internet Data Exchange (Maine IDX) program, allowing us to display other Maine IDX Participants' listings. This website does not display complete listings. Certain listings of other real estate brokerage firms have been excluded. Mortgage figures are estimates. Check with your bank or proposed mortgage company for actual interest rates. This product uses the FRED® API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. | {
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Invitación: Taller Espacio Social, Memoria y Conflicto en Colombia.
Workshop
Social Space, Memory and Conflict in Colombia
16.11.2018, 10.00-18.30
Museum der Kulturen Basel
A joint event of the Seminar of Social Anthropology, University of Basel / Museum der KulturenBasel and the Swiss Society of Americanists with the support of the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Since the peace agreements, Colombia has become the focus of research related to conflict and postconflictsituations and also receives a growing attention in public perceptions. The country has been frequently associated with endemic violence in the popular imaginary, in public media and academic research. Here, space has long been interpreted as contested in a physical sense that means as a territory over which is fought or where violence occurs. However, this perspective on space is limited to seeing it as a resource to be owned and exploited.
In contrast, the ‘spatial turn’ in the social sciences and humanities provides an opportunity to explore the relationship between social space (cities/ landscapes etc), conflict (dynamics, actors, urban resistance etc) and popular imaginations (memory/ narratives etc.) in much greater depth.
The workshop is thought as a platform for recent research projects about Columbia based in Switzerland. We propose to address these three overarching concepts of conflict, space and memory as a main window to allow for a broad scope of presentations that might be interlinked and speak to each other.
For this workshop, we intend to create connections and exchange within the Colombia-related academic world within Switzerland and abroad while bringing diverse disciplinary backgrounds, regional interests and historical and contemporary perspectives together.
Call for Papers: Social Space, Memory and Conflict in Colombia
Call for PapersEthnologisches Seminar/Workshop: Social Space, Memory and Conflict in Colombia16.11.2018 in Basel
A joint event of the Seminar of Social Anthropology, University of Basel / Museum der Kulturen Basel and the Swiss Society of Americanists with the support of the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Since the peace agreements, Colombia has become the focus of research related to conflict and postconflict situations and also receives a growing attention in public perceptions. The country has been frequently associated with endemic violence in the popular imaginary, in public media and academic research. Here, space has long been interpreted as contested in a physical sense that means as a territory over which is fought or where violence occurs. However, this perspective on space is limited to seeing it as a resource to be owned and exploited. In contrast, the ‘spatial turn’ in the social sciences and humanities provides an opportunity to explore the relationship between social space (cities/ landscapes etc), conflict (dynamics, actors, urban resistance etc) and popular imaginations (memory/ narratives etc.) in much greater depth.
The workshop is thought as a platform for recent research projects about Columbia based in Switzerland. We propose to address these three overarching concepts of conflict, space and memory as a main window to allow for a broad scope of presentations that might be interlinked and speak to each other.
For this workshop, we intend to create connections and exchange within the Colombia related academic world within Switzerland and abroad while bringing diverse disciplinary backgrounds, regional interests and historical and contemporary perspectives together. We are particularly interested in processes of knowledge production within the different fields of research and welcome papers that deal with questions of reflexivity within the proposed framework.
The workshop is directed to researchers and students of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Political Sciences, History, Law, Geography as well as Conflict and Memory Studies as well as persons interested in the current research in and about Colombia.
We would be pleased to receive your abstract proposals (250 words) in English or Spanish until 30.07.2018. Presentations should be no longer as 20 min to guarantee a discussion of at least 10 min).
We will notify the participation and publish the program mid of August 2018. | {
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Special service to mark 200 years since architect Pugin's birth
The Victorian architect Augustus Pugin was born 200 years ago Credit: Archive
Today marks 200 years since the birth of Augustus Pugin, one of the UK's most influential architects. He designed Big Ben, two Oxford colleges and several other buildings. The anniversary has been marked in various ways including a service at the church in Ramsgate where he was buried in 1832.
Pugin was buried at St Augustine's Church near his home in Ramsgate Credit: Meridian Tonight | {
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It is actually 30% Sush. The biggest thing a person can do is go to one child only at a later age, then compost several ways, live on solar/wind power reduce consumption re-use tires for houses, and recycle purified metal, paper, and plastic, and grow much of your own food. I do all that and live in the USA, do you do all that in the extreme overpopulation of India? Your people have already got the inbred through time, NEGATIVE ecological trait of crowd tolerance which will crash your country soon. You are right, I am an expert, and have been for 40 years, and along the way, on a lot more than ecology and population dynamics. There was an eco-footprint crude survey on this board, and if everyone was like me, we would need just one planet. The eco-footprint of Indians would have to be less than 1/3 mine because there are over 3 times as many of you. You couldn't pay me enough to even visit the stench, polluted drinking water, and crowds of your country. The movie(and book by Michael Tobias and Oregon Public Television, 1994) "WWIII: Overpopulation and the Biosphere showed India depleting the rest of its soil, groundwater, and forests, by 2010. The crude survey did not show, or have, the impact of having only one child versus more. More hurts the biosphere, while one helps, in general.It is true that massive industrialization and agriculture, especially without pollution restraints, is deadly to the population of the country like China, and the world who get the settling mercury everywhere. Mercury and other pollution can destroy the mind and body in a variety of ways. So can over-crowding induce anxiety, hostility, and depression, to the point of the drugs to combat the symptoms being significant pollutants, along with birth control hormones to stem overpopulation even causing sex changes in fish in rivers downstream from big cities. The dead zones off of estuaries has risen sharply in number and size.The industrialization of India is not helping. Total pollution from China is far greater than that from the USA, who is slightly ahead of Europe. A big part of total pollution is a function of population, and so is groundwater, forest, and soil depletion. You end up either getting polluted to death or run out of water, or food, or get a disease from polluted water and low immunity from malnutrition.
_________________"With every decision, think seven generations ahead of the consequences of your actions" Ute rule of life.“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”― Chief Seattle“Those Who Have the Privilege to Know Have the Duty to Act”…Albert Einstein
You keep talking about population. India is still consuming much less than your Amerikka.
...and people suffer because of it. How in hell a population can grow out of control with so little resources is truly astounding and grossly irresponsible.
I live the way I do and I will continue or die trying. Can you say the same, or will you simply accept whatever meager existence you can get? Apparently it's the latter.
Fosgate,
Western society is living in a state of Delusion. It thinks it is living a better life because its GDP is higher - because it is consuming more. The reality is just the opposite - the more you have the more restless and miserable you are.
Modern Industrial Society has existed for 100 years - 200 years - 300 years. When we compare this period with the total duration for which human society has existed on earth this period is so short - so small that it almost does'nt exist. It is almost zero.
Material things don't bring peace and happiness. Today billions of people have got things which even Kings did not have in the past. Car, computer, television, fridge, telephone - no King ever had these things. But people are still restless and unhappy.
A very large percentage of the population is surviving on precription drugs, illegal drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.
One-third of the population has become fat like elephants.
People talk about increase in lifespan. What is the use of increased lifespan if people have to resort to Drugs, Alcohol and Cigarettes to pull through life. And just wait a few more years - the average lifespan will soon become zero - human life will cease to exist on earth.
Look at your divorce rate - look at your crime rate[highest percentage of population behind bars] - a culture of sex and violence - a culture of greed and decadence.
Western society is living in a state of Delusion. It thinks it is living a better life because its GDP is higher - because it is consuming more.
Sure, we consume more, but you think it all comes to us for free? Those in western societies tend to work harder and smarter for it. My Indian neighbors would agree. But you go ahead, blame your squalor on someone other than yourself.
Quote:
The reality is just the opposite - the more you have the more restless and miserable you are.
Actually, you'll find that the restless and miserable are those who have less inclination to work and more to mooch off those that do--welfare, in other words.
_________________TANG SOO!
Last edited by Fosgate on Sun Jun 24, 2007 4:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Sushi, You are right, Kings didn't have loud electric guitars like me, and on solar power. There is a reason for some of the stuff like greed and profiteering. However, much of the anxiety, hostility, and depression in the world is caused by our own genetic predisposition against crowded conditions. The genetics are such that humans would not ruin a given habitat or would self-regulate their numbers to that within ecological sustainability. It is called the Human Overcrowding Syndrome, but is overcome by genetic disposition over generations toward crowd tolerance, a negative ecological trait, mainly in Asians. The effect of the Human Overcrowding Syndrome is the behind the scenes secondary cause to overpopulation of WWI and WWII, and the wars of today. Simply having the crowd tolerance gene has led to extremely gross overpopulation as in India where you drink feces laden water and eat only a meager diet of rice and vegetables, like Chinese and other Asians. Millions that have never used a toilet live in Asia, including hundreds of thousands in India. Living skinny, unhealthy, in the filthy streets all their short lives, and you want to blame it on westerners when it is your own fault. There are many smart people in Asia, but not smart enough to decrease their pollution and gross overpopulation. It is not really that much different here in that respect. Smart people who are not greedy are NOT in power. If I was the ruler of the western world, it would be ecologically sustainable by force. People would be forced to have one or no kids, live on solar or wind power in Earthships, low meat use, low fuel use, and grow much of their own food, while still having flat LCD screen TVs, and computers, efficient washing machines, and composters. Low IQ , the greedy, and the over-breeders would be killed off, or let die off. However, I am not in charge, God is, ultimately, and we live under His Laws of bio-ecology. India will be probably the first in a cascading process of economic and ecological collapse and population die off.
_________________"With every decision, think seven generations ahead of the consequences of your actions" Ute rule of life.“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”― Chief Seattle“Those Who Have the Privilege to Know Have the Duty to Act”…Albert Einstein
Have you ever noticed it's those without material things that feel material things don't bring peace and happiness.
Quote:
Today billions of people have got things which even Kings did not have in the past. Car, computer, television, fridge, telephone - no King ever had these things. But people are still restless and unhappy.
And many of those kings had things stoneage man didn't have. Things like wheels, and weapons. Things that helped them take away things from others. Seems even the kings were still restless and unhappy even though they didn't have a fridge.
Of course no one has asked stoneage man if he was happy eating raw meat he scavanged, and if he was happy hiding from wild animals because he couldn't defend himself. But we must assume he was happy, because it seems he's the only one that didn't have anything to make him unhappy.
Quote:
A very large percentage of the population is surviving on precription drugs, illegal drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.
Which is something that has gone on for all time. Hundreds of years ago the drug may have been different and not bought and sold on the open market, but man has always found something.
Quote:
One-third of the population has become fat like elephants.
The haves and the have nots. There will always be a percentage of the haves that go to the extreme. Also we don't eat enough good food today comapred to hundreds of years ago. But if the have nots had the ability to eat what the haves eat, in time they would also become fat like elephants. Or as we say here, fat as a hog.
Quote:
People talk about increase in lifespan. What is the use of increased lifespan if people have to resort to Drugs, Alcohol and Cigarettes to pull through life.
It would be easy to find countless cases of someone whose life is extended because of legal drugs, and it would be easy to find many cases where these people do good things for other people long after they would have died without these drugs.
Again just another case of the have nots complaining about something they don't have.
Quote:
Look at your divorce rate
But look at it this way. If they divorce before they have any kids, then i'ts sort of a population control measure.
Quote:
look at your crime rate[highest percentage of population behind bars] - a culture of sex and violence
But if they're in prison they're not making new little criminals.
Quote:
a culture of sex and violence - a culture of greed and decadence.
Yeah, aint life grand.
_________________I don't know what your problem is but I bet its hard to pronounce.
In the name of Globalization you have forced a uniform monoculture in the entire world - destroying all local cultures.
Force? Give it a rest. The demand was there or it wouldn't have happend. Check your backyard, buttercup. There are elements of western culture from which even easterners cannot look away. So don't even think of playing this east vs. west. culture card with me.
Happiness to me is a loud electric rock/blues/metal guitar in my hands, and peace is a warm gun.
_________________"With every decision, think seven generations ahead of the consequences of your actions" Ute rule of life.“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”― Chief Seattle“Those Who Have the Privilege to Know Have the Duty to Act”…Albert Einstein
Industrial Society destroys ecosystems at every stage of its functioning - when consumer goods are produced - when consumer goods are used - when consumer goods are discarded/ recycled.
Raw material for industry is obtained by cutting up Forests. It is extracted by mining/ digging up the earth. It comes by destroying/ killing Trees, Animals and Land.
Industries/ Factories use Water. The water that comes out of Factories is contaminated with hundreds of toxic chemicals. Industry kills Water. What to speak of Rivers - entire Oceans have been polluted.
Industry/ Factories burn millions of tonnes of fuel and when raw material is melted/ heated up, hundreds of toxic chemicals are released into the atmosphere. Industry kills Air.
Industrial Society has covered millions of square miles of land with cement and concrete. Industry kills Land.
When consumer goods are discarded/ thrown away in landfills it again leads to destruction of ecosystems.
When consumer goods are recycled, hundreds of toxic chemicals are released into air, water and land.
Consumer goods are sold/ marketed through a network of millions of kilometers of rail / road network and shipping routes which causes destruction of all ecosystems that come in the way.
"Growth Rate" - "Economy Rate" - "GDP"
These are figures of "Ecocide".These are figures of "crimes against Nature".These are figures of "destruction of Ecosystems".These are figures of "Insanity, Abnormality and Criminality".
I think you're making some assumptions. That it's impossible to have a industrial world that doesn't destroy things.
The problem with modern industry is that we're not real good yet at 'closing the loop' of consumption-to-waste-to-consumption again. Nature actually has such a system; what it produces doesn't overwhelm it's capicity to utalize the waste also produced. If we pattern what we create more along the same principles it will be possible to have a truly modern world that's also truly livable.
We're not there yet. But we're working at it. We must fix the problems we've created in this world. But to do so, we must run to meet them, not turn and flee. | {
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REFILE-Australia's Qantas grounds 10 aircraft on overdue inspections
SYDNEY, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Qantas Airways, Australia’s biggest airline, said it had grounded 10 turboprop aircraft and cancelled some flights after failing to complete inspections in a timely manner.
“This is an administrative issue that relates to technical compliance and not a safety issue with the aircraft,” a Qantas spokesman said on Tuesday, without giving any further details.
A person with knowledge of the situation said the delay was due to confusion over the need to inspect bolts that Qantas had replaced on some of its 31 Q400s following a directive from the aircraft maker Bombardier Inc to do so.
The airline reported the issue to Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority once it realised the new bolts had to be checked after a deadline for inspections had lapsed, said the person, who was not authorised to speak publicly about the matter.
The 76-seat Qantas Q400s fly regional routes on Australia’s east coast under its QantasLink brand.
“We are rebooking affected customers on alternative flights and apologise for the inconvenience,” the Qantas spokesman said.
“Disruption is expected to be minimal aircraft have already started returning to service.” (Reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by Himani Sarkar) | {
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Tag Archives: policies
Many of the companies I work with want the benefit of the team effect in software development. The managers in these companies recognize the enormous benefits teams provide to the company–creativity, engagement, learning.
However, in many of these companies, the HR systems focus only on individual accomplishment. Individual goals, individual bonuses and merit-pay processes cause real damage when the desired behavior is collaboration and team work. I’ve talked to managers who spend the year building up teams, only to see their work undone by the review and ranking process.
In a small company, managers have the ability to directly change the goal, bonus, and pay systems. In large companies, or in companies where the software group is only one division, changing those policy may seem impossible.
Until you persuade HR to change to more team-focused strategy, take these steps to minimize competitive focus and amplify the emphasis on shared goals.
Amplify the Importance of Team
Make the expectation for teamwork behaviors explicit. Make team performance a significant portion of each team members performance expectation. By significant, I mean 60% or more. Anything less communicates that teamwork is “nice to have,” but not essential. When people must rely on others to achieve a useful goal, tie the success together in performance expectations.
Dampen the Race for Rankings
Minimize the competitive focus by reducing stratification. Rather than have five or more ratings, use only three categories.
The top category is for people who are truly exceptional. They may out-perform the system, make an extraordinary contribution on a project, or stand out in some other way. In most organizations, there aren’t many of these people, and most people know who they are and agree on who they are.
The bottom category is likewise small and for people who are exceptional. This is for people who clearly are unable to perform, due to lack of skills, poor fit for the job or some other reason. Note: Before you put someone in this category, check the manager’s contribution to the problem. Most performance problems are not the sole fault of the employee. When an employee is in the wrong job, or clearly lacks the skills, that points to problem with the hiring process, not the person. Of course, it doesn’t make sense to keep someone in a job they cannot do. But let’s not blame the individual when a management process has failed.
The middle category is the big one–for the people who are doing their jobs well and performing within the bounds of the system. Many companies waste an enormous amount of managers’ time arriving at fine-grained but spurious distinctions between employees contribution. Such distinctions are meaningless in collaborative and interdependent work. Managers’ time would be better spent working to improve the system so everyone does better.
A three-tier strategy based on normal variation and exceptions reduces the unhealthy effects of ranking individuals against each other. As a bonus, it frees up a great deal of time that managers would otherwise spend on suspect differentiations.
Don’t Treat People as Fungible
Don’t waste time comparing people as part of the evaluation. Comparing people within a team or group fosters division and competition. Comparing people across teams or functions is irrelevant–except when considering promotions.
Emphasize Interdependent and Collaborative Work
Eliminate individual performance bonuses. Some companies give team bonuses to recognize a team that has solved a particularly difficult problem, saved the company a huge amount of money, or launched a successful product. Since the bonus goes to the team, in most cases, the team members divide it equally.
Even without formal team bonuses, you can use the pot of money HR allocates for individual bonuses in this way.
Aim for Policies that Focus Improving the Organization
In the long run, consider some form of profit sharing or gain sharing based on the over-all performance of the department. Couple this with a clear emphasis on improving team and system performance and meeting business goals. This reduces the likelihood that people will skew their effort towards meeting individual goals at the expense of unit wide business goals.
Take a Stand
Many managers tell me that HR forces them to act out harmful policies related to annual evaluations, ratings, and rankings. HR is there to support performance, not disrupt it. Talk to them about the detrimental effects you are seeing. Share the research. Decline to participate in the ranking mess. If HR insists, distance yourself from the mess and have an HR manager communicate the ratings/rankings.
I have talked to many managers who have opted out of the rating and ranking madness and none of them have been fired. And several of them–through their action–started the conversation and change towards policies that support rather than hinder team work.
This article first appeared on stickminds.com.
Many years ago, psychologist Kurt Lewin reduced the mysteries of human behavior to this simple statement:
B = ƒ(P,E)
Behavior is a function of the Person and the Environment
Of course, it’s not that simple. But I still find this notation useful, because it reminds me that the skills and abilities of the person aren’t the only factors that contribute performance.
Much of the time, organizations focus on the Person part of the equation. That’s important, because our work requires intelligent people with a wide range of functional skills, technical and domain knowledge, and appropriate interpersonal skills. Most managers work hard to hire the right people. Managers also provide coaching and feedback to help people hone their skills and develop their capabilities.
But that’s only half the equation.
Organizational factors, corporate culture, policies, and the direct work environment influence performance, too. The good news is that you can influence the environment for your group in ways that increase performance.
Are You Creating an Environment for Success?
Let’s assume that you’ve hired bright, capable people who have the appropriate skills and qualities for the job. They have the technical skills the job demands, they know the domain, and they’re familiar with the product. Yet the work isn’t going as well as you think it should. Maybe it’s the environment, not the person. Look at these areas to see if you can improve the environment for success.
People need to know what the priorities are. Managers don’t (and can’t) make all the decisions about how work is done. Managers need to establish clear priorities so that the people closest to the work can make good decisions. Communicate a clear mission and ensure that each person understands his top-three priorities. People perform better when they understand the mission of the group and what’s most important.
People can’t do their best without the right tools for the job. But hardware and tools, of course, aren’t the only resources people need. They need time, access to expertise, and training. No one I know can manufacture time, but setting clear priorities and keeping the workload reasonable reduce the sense of overwhelming demands. When budgets are tight, find inexpensive ways to feed the need for training and expertise. Offer to buy books for a lunchtime study group and support access to content websites and other free sources of information.
People desire respect. Every once in a while I hear a manager assert that people work best when they’re a little afraid. I don’t buy that. Show respect by keeping promises, communicating openly, and listening to other people’s ideas. Don’t take phone calls and pages or check email during meetings, especially one-on-one meetings.
People want challenging work. Make work assignments based on interests, or better yet, work with your team to have them self-organize. That way, people will have a chance to choose work that appeals to them. Now, every group has some scut work. Rather than assign that to one unfortunate person, rotate responsibility for the work no one really enjoys, but everyone recognizes is necessary.
People want recognition and appreciation. I’m not talking rewards here, monetary or otherwise. Humans crave genuine acknowledgement for their contributions at work—both concrete accomplishments and the intangible ways they contribute to the spirit and success of the group. Let people know that you notice and appreciate them every week. I don’t think saying “thank you” or “good job” is good enough. I like to address the person directly, like this: “Don, I appreciate you for shipping that data update on time. It makes a big difference to our clients.”
Are There Environmental Roadblocks Stifling Performance?
Suppose you’ve done all of these things (and more) to establish an environment for success. Your work is not done.
Corporate culture and norms are part of the environment and so are policies, procedures, measures, and reward systems. Examine the organizational environment to see if there are other obstacles that keep people from doing their best.
Are there factors that actually punish people for doing a good job? I once worked with a support group that was having a crisis in customer satisfaction. Support agents were expected to meet certain targets for the length of calls.That worked fine with simple problems, but when a tough problem that took more than a minute or two to fix came along, it was a problem. The measure actually punished people who went the extra mile for the customer and stayed on the phone long past the allotted time. These folks had the knowledge and skills to perform, but an environmental factor (a poorly designed measure) was in the way.
Sometimes policies and procedures are the culprit in stifling performance. One organization I know of requires bi-weekly budget reporting and forecasting. It can take up to seven working days to assemble all the bits of information needed to create a report. The procedure is difficult and frustrating, and the time people spend every month on budgets means they aren’t doing other valuable work. In another group, each team member is required to provide written feedback to every other team member every quarter. It wasn’t so bad when there were five team members, but now that there are twenty people in the group… well, you can do the math.
Pile on enough environmental roadblocks and people become frustrated and cynical. And frustrated, cynical people are less likely to do a good job.
Individual managers can’t always change measurement systems, policies, and procedures. Insulate your group where you can and put the rest in context.
Remember that an individual’s skills and abilities aren’t the only factors in performance. Managers need to attend to both the person and the environment when assessing performance. Don’t wait until the next performance evaluation season rolls around. Evaluate the work environment now. Does the management infrastructure enable high performance? Are you working to remove or reduce the obstacles that are hampering performance? What else can you do to create an environment for success? | {
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London and Paris wheat 'starting to look weak'
EU grains closed mixed ahead of the release of today's important USDA WASDE report, which will give us a first glimpse into their take on crop production prospects around the globe for the 2014/15 marketing year.
May 14 London wheat ended down GBP2.25/tonne at GBP161.45/tonne, and new crop Nov 14 London wheat closed GBP0.80/tonne lower at GBP156.15/tonne. May 14 Paris wheat closed EUR0.75/tonne easier at EUR207.25/tonne, Jun 14 Paris corn fell EUR0.25/tonne to EUR184.25/tonne and Aug 14 Paris rapeseed was up EUR2.00/tonne to EUR359.00/tonne.
Both old crop London and Paris wheats are starting to look weak, and are coming down to meet new crop. May 14 Paris wheat goes off the board on Monday. For Paris wheat this was the lowest close on a front month in more than a month, and for London wheat it was the lowest since the early days of March.
For the week May 14 London wheat was GBP5.55/tonne lower, with the new crop Nov 14 easing a more modest GBP2.05/tonne. May 14 Paris wheat closed the week EUR8.00 lower than it began it. Jun 14 Paris corn showed little change, up half a euro, and Aug 14 Paris rapeseed was also barely changed - down a quarter.
An apparently more conciliatory take on Ukraine by Russia's President Putin has eased tensions in the Black Sea a little this week, although the situation there is far from resolved. As we saw just last weekend, things could look different again come Monday morning.
Spring planting and the export of the 2013 crop still goes on in Ukraine though, apparently relatively unhindered. The Ministry there said that the country has now exported a record 29.971 MMT of grains this season, including 18.791 MMT of it's record 2013 corn harvest, along with 8.572 MMT of wheat and 2.269 MMT of barley.
Spring grains have now been planted on 6.8 million hectares in Ukraine, which is 82% of the Ministry's target. That total includes just over 4 million ha of corn (79% of target). They've also sown 3.595 million ha of sunflower (83% of plan) and 1.103 million ha of soybeans (67% of target).
Crop conditions all around Europe continue to run at least 2 weeks ahead of normal. FranceAgriMer reported today that 18% of the French wheat crop is now heading, up from 6% a week ago and compared to only 1% this time last year. The differences between this year and last year are even more apparent in the French winter barley crop, which was 96% headed as of May 5, against 52% the previous week and only 10% at this point in 2013. They said that 55% of the spring barley crop is now displaying an ear of at least 1cm long, versus 21% last week and only 16% a year ago.
French corn planting is also advanced compared with last year at 83% done, versus 65% in 2013.
As far as crop conditions go, FranceAgriMer left the proportion of winter wheat rated good/very good unchanged from last week at 73% versus 66% a year ago. Winter barley good/excellent was also unchanged at 70% compared to 66% this time last year.
Late in the day the USDA estimated the EU wheat crop at just shy of 145 MMT this year, the highest in 6 years and the third highest on record. EU wheat exports for the current season were raised to 30 MMT, and were projected at 27.5 MMT in 2014/15. World wheat production will fall in 2014/15 from last season's record high 714 MMT to 697 MMT, although ending stocks will show a small increase to a more than ample 187.4 MMT, they said.
The USDA raised their projected 2013/14 EU corn imports by 1 MMT to 13 MMT, and interestingly see that level of imports holding through next season as well.The EU-28 corn crop in 2014/15 was seen almost identical to this season at 64.65 MMT. Corn consumption in the EU is seen rising from 74.5 MMT this season to a record 76 MMT in 2014/15.
EU barley production in 2014 was estimated 5% lower than last year at 55.6 MMT. Consumption in 2014/15 will decline 4% to 51.5 MMT, they estimated.
The 2014/15 EU rapeseed crop was forecast at 21.5 MMT, up 1.6%, from last year, 1.0 MMT above the 5-year average and only 0.1 MMT away from the 2009/10 record.
They forecast the 2014 UK wheat crop rebounding 27% from last season's poor production year to 15.15 MMT, using a planted area of 1.95 million hectares and an average yield estimate of an achievable 7.77 MT/ha. They see the UK barley crop down 19% at 5.75 MMT, courtesy of fall in plantings of a similar percentage. The UK oat crop is seen more than 31% lower at 660 TMT, again due to a similarly large fall in plantings. The UK rapeseed crop will climb 14% to 2.43 MMT, despite a small reduction in area, as yields bounce back to more "normal" levels of an average 3.44 MT/ha, they said. | {
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Friday, July 8, 2016
http://registry.faa.gov/N444WMNTSB Identification: GAA16CA31614 CFR Part 91: General AviationAccident occurred Wednesday, June 08, 2016 in Cornelia, GAAircraft: CESSNA 172, registration: N444WMNTSB investigators will use data provided by various entities, including, but not limited to, the Federal Aviation Administration and/or the operator, and will not travel in support of this investigation to prepare this aircraft accident report. | {
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Choose loading method:
SYSBOOT [4..0]signalsin the AM335x processor are used to select loading mode and order, they are read at power-up. Mode SYSBOOT [4..0] = b10011is installed on thismodule by pullup resistors 100K. To change the loading mode, you can pull up smaller denomination resistors (eg. 1K) to the desired value or use XBOOT jumper on the debug board. The table lists signalsconformity on the module, processor and development board:
SYSBOOT
Corresponding GPIO
X3 connector output number on the module
XBOOT on MTAX-MB-AM335x-v.2
SYSBOOT0
GPIO2_6
33
XBOOT5
SYSBOOT1
GPIO2_7
32
XBOOT4
SYSBOOT2
GPIO2_8
31
XBOOT3
SYSBOOT3
GPIO2_9
30
XBOOT2
SYSBOOT4
GPIO2_10
29
XBOOT1
Several loading modes:
SYSBOOT[4..0]
Loading order
notes
b10011
NAND-NANDI2C-MMC0-UART0
Factory installed regime for modules MTAX-SOM-AM335x
b10001
XIP-UART0-EMAC1-MMC0
Setjumper XBOOT4 (2-3) orbyacompoundthroughresistorX3: 32 and X3: 80
b00011
UART0-SPI0-XIP-MMC0
SetjumperXBOOT1 (2-3) orbyacompoundthroughresistorX3:29andX3:80
b10110
SPI0-MMC0-UART0-EMAC1
SetjumperXBOOT5 (2-3)andXBOOT3(1-2)
b10111
MMC0-SPI0-UART0-USB0
SetjumperXBOOT3 (2-3) orbyacompoundthroughresistorX3:31andX5:38
b00111
EMAC1-MMC0-XIP-NAND
SetjumperXBOOT1 (2-3) and XBOOT3(1-2)
b01011
USB0-NAND-SPI0-MMC0
SetjumperXBOOT 1 (2-3) and XBOOT2(1-2)
Connecting UART
To observe the loadingprocess of the processor module MTAX-SOM-AM335x, before toturn it on (power supply), you must connect the outputs of the UART0 module to a PC serial port through the corresponding transmitter (UART ↔ RS-232 or UART ↔ USB). Connection order of the contact sockets X1, according to UART0 of the module, indicated in the table below:
Pin No. Signal Name
Signal
Appointment
10
UART0_TXD
Transmitteroutput
11
UART0_RXD
Receiverinput
12
GND
GND
8
+3.3V
Power (given by module). Inference can be employed to arrange the power adapter (UART ↔ RS-232 or UART ↔ USB) | {
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HOW WOULD YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE DIFFERENTLY IF YOU WEREN'T AFRAID OF OTHER PEOPLES OPINIONS?
The Wake Up Call...
I share my story to help people to understand that nothing in life is guaranteed, and that millions of lives are changed by the unexpected every day.
Some people are born knowing what it is that they want to do and they go after it, while others like me need a wake up call.
Since the age of 16 I knew that I wanted to run my own business. I pictured myself with a Louis Vuitton briefcase, a Chanel suit, and Christian Louboutin shoes. There was only one problem: I had no idea what the business would do and even less of an idea about how to start one.
So I copied what everyone else around me was doing and after university I went and got a job in financial marketing.
And for the next 10 years I steadily climbed the greasy pole, trying to ignore the empty feeling that followed me around.
I filled it with Prada and parties, and Mulberry and Moet, and when that didn't work I went shopping.
Does any of this resonate with you?
Do you find yourself trapped in a job that you hate, a business that is overwhelming you, or suffering from stagnated growth and diminishing turnover?
On Saturday 25 February 2012 at the age32I had a stroke.
It happened while I was on a business trip to the United States.
One minute I was planning a day of Starbucks and shopping with my friend (I’d flown in early for the weekend and so had she), and the next I was hooked up to drips, surrounded by medical technicians frantically trying to figure outwhat had happened to me.
In the moments when I thought I was going to die, I remember thinking that I hadn’t actually lived my life at all.
That I had spent 32 yearsexisting, fitting in, and procrastinating about starting things because I didn’t know how to do them.
Sound familiar?
Do you find yourself not valuing the time that you have?
Do you forget to enjoy the moment because you are too busy chasing tomorrow, your fortune, and your future success?
My wake-up call prompted me to face my procrastinations head on, to start the business I had always wanted to, and to write my first bookTime Management for Entrepreneurs,and to start teaching people what I have learned on my journey and know for sure.
I have been running my own businesses for over 10 years, and I would have described myself as an effective time manger. Reading Abigail's book allowed me to take a step back and asses the reality of my daily schedule, which over the years has become a juggling act due to the number of businesses that I now run. The book helped me to reevaluate essential and non-essential tasks, it also helped me to identify some time stealing activities that had crept in and overall it has enabled me to tighten up how I spend my working day so that I am now efficient as well as effective when it comes to time management! Reading this book was an excellent use of my time!
Simon Coulson, Kent
A great book for anyone who is struggling with time management and getting sucked into doing things they shouldn't. It takes you on a clear path from understanding where you are wasting your time and analysing what this means to your business. It then shows you clear actions to take so that you can save time and start to turn this time into a more profitable exercise.
I would recommend this book, its easy to read and full of great ideas to really help you master your time management.
Amanda C Watts, London
"I recommend Abigail's book Time Management for Entrepreneurs to anyone running, or looking to setup, a business. It has the concepts and ideas to help you identify where your time is going, and how to make more time to concentrate on growing your business.” | {
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Hot milf Shay has a massive pair of tits, and her man loves to lick and play with them. Her legs are wide open and waiting for him to get deep in there. The busty mom takes her man's hard cock deep in her twat.
We have a zero-tolerance policy against illegal pornography. All movies and links are provided by 3rd parties. We take no responsibility for the content on any website which we link to, please use your own discretion while surfing the links. | {
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Many citizens claim desire for bipartisan political action. Recent media cacophony demonstrates that both national political parties may enthusiastically cooperate and embrace phantom interests for our cash. I’ve received recurring pleas purportedly supporting candidates and causes and recently for impeaching Presdient Barack Obama and some media are clamoring for impeachment. Although House Speaker John Boehner has denied plans, some political strategists have begun soliciting funds for countering impeachment efforts. That’s creative bet-hedging. Are you confident the next Congressional election will change all Class 2 (up for election) Democratic U.S. Senate seats to Republican, and all Class 2 GOP seats will be held? If the 114th Congress Senate will be thusly comprised with 65 Red seats won’t it be short the Constitution specified 2/3 present members voting for trying impeachment. Or, do you believe that sufficient Blue and Red Senators will join and vote to try? Review the Senate’s W.J. Clinton impeachment votes. Be not seduced by false hope to spend on illusions. Be wary about “emergency” or “urgent” solicitation claims and motifs. Anticipate that hired political agents will misrepresent for our money. Participate, study, work to discourage non-residents intruding into our governmental jurisdictions and political spaces, and spend wisely. | {
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Pot Limit Omaha Poker
&
Overview
Omaha Poker is a poker game derived from Texas Hold’em poker. It puts skill to the test more than other poker game variants because each player is dealt 4 cards in the game out of which 2 and only 2 have to be used to make your best 5 card combination. The communty cards open as in Texas Hold’em but a player can use only 3 of these to make his best hand.
Types of Omaha Poker Games
Pot Limit Omaha Poker – This is the most popular variant of Omaha Poker. Called PLO, in this a player can bet what is in the pot at the time of betting (i.e. Rs. 100 into a Rs100 pot).
No Limit Omaha Poker - A player can bet any amount that can go up to all of their chips.
Fixed Limit Omaha Poker - There is a specific betting limit applied in each game and on each round of betting.
Pot Limit Omaha(PLO) is the most played Omaha Poker variant in India and owing to this popularity, adda52 decided to launch its online variant in 2014. PLO involves a high intensity of skill and concentration owing to the restriction of using 2 and only 2 hole cards and the betting limitation to pot limit.
Goal of Pot Limit Omaha
The goal of PLO is to make the best 5 card combination using exactly 2 of the 4 hole cards and 3 of the 5 community cards. Before you start playing PLO, it is best to learn thr game and acquiant youself with the game rules. To make this learning easier for you, we have divided our tutorial section in various parts- | {
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Persona (1966)
Persona (1966)
IMDb - 82%
82%
Rotten Tomatoes - 93%
93%
Roger Ebert - 100%
100%
Summary
Persona is a 1966 black and white Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann. Persona’s story revolves around a young nurse named Alma (Bibi Andersson) and her patient, a well-known stage actress named Elisabet Vogler (Liv Ullmann), who has suddenly ceased to speak. Persona has been labelled a psychological drama and modernist horror and was subject to cuts due to the film’s controversial subject matter. It is the sixth collaboration between influential cinematographer Sven Nykvist and director Ingmar Bergman and features their trademark minimalism. As with Bergman’s other works, the film is shot and set in Sweden and deals with the themes of illness, bleakness, death and insanity. Persona is considered one of the major works of the 20th century by essayists and critics such as Susan Sontag who referred to it as Bergman's masterpiece. | {
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Yes I do. A lot. I don't always agree with her, but I like her style of politics, and find her honest and inspirational. Fundamentally I think that she's a good egg, and not afraid to try to do the right thing. I'm glad that she's in our corner at the moment.
I adore her. I think she's a very able stateswoman and a terrific role model. Pretty shallow of you to be focused on her voice as opposed to what she's actually saying. And her voice isn't annoying anyway.
Displaced Scot and can't stand her. She's an embarassement to Scots. She's like an ever bleating totally blinkered one trick pony. Talks total shite. "I'm going to call a referendum". Eh no you're not, only Theresa May can do that. We will stay as part of Europe and are negotiating with Brussels, no we frighten won't, and no you're not, they've already said no. We have to devolve, then apply and meet all the criteria.
I can't stand her. Actually that's not true, I admire the way she always stands up for what she believes, its just that I don't share many of those beliefs. I would probably really admire her if it she was anything but SNP. I did warm to her about Brexit. She needs better advice about her appearance, it shouldn't matter but it does. She is better than that toad Salmond who I would not trust as far as I could throw.
I admire her statesmanship and I trust her, she makes a good leader. I don't vote SNP and I voted no in the Indy ref. Times have changed since then and I'm not sure I'd vote no again. My reasons to vote no were largely to stay in the EU which wasn't guaranteed with independence. Look where that got us.
I think NS has strong political principles and knows her mind unlike May who seems to me to be winging it.
Not a fan - she's nice enough on a personal level, surprisingly warm etc. but she really turns it on for the cameras, and I fundamentally don't agree with her constant pushing for indyref 2 when the support just doesn't seem to be there. Focus on running through country well without harping on about it, then people might trust you more.
Not a big fan of her. I'm sure people in the central belt will hold her more dearly than those of us in rural areas and northern Scotland do especially after centralising all the emergency call centres. I wish she would concentrate on the day job such as fixing the NHS etc than banging on about Brexit and other diversions to hide her parties failings the constant demands for Indy2 are not doing much to encourage investment in the business sector
Eh @Bluntness100 ? She has been elected, as much as any othe MP, MSP, AM etc...
I really like her. I don't always agree with her politics, but I think she is fab, and a great role model.I can see nothing wrong with her appearance, voice etc, and tbh her message is far more than just another referendum (although granted, you'd need to look beyond the headlines of the press for a good idea of that).
She will be responsible for the destruction of Scotland. I think she is utterly vile. I totally get that she would love Scotland to be independent. Fair enough. However, it is not in Scotlands interest to be separate. I truly believe we are better together. I live in the South East of England but all of my family are still in Scotland. | {
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God, evolution, Darwin, bikes, mountains etc
Squirrel purloins, then returns, GoPro camera
I nominate this for the Squirrel Video of the Year (my own rodents, by the way, are all fattened up for winter after generous ingestion of seeds and nuts). As the Daily Mail explains, a David Freiheit of Montreal affixed a piece of bread to the GoPro camera and put it near a squirrel.
The results were absolutely predictable, as you can see below. At least the guy got his camera back.
The video, of course, went viral, with over a million views in the last week. | {
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The United States Federal Bureau of Investigations, FBI, has offered a paltry $1000 reward to whistleblowers who can offer information to arrest a Nigerian New Yorker, 32 year-old Kelechi Declan James.
The agency has declared Kelechi wanted for allegedly scamming victims of more than $5 million.
A statement on FBI website reads: “FBI agents are looking for the public’s assistance in locating Kelechi Declan James. He has federal criminal charges against him from an investigation by FBI New York’s Cyber Crime Task Force.”
Kelechi Declan James declared wanted by the FBI
“James is known to frequent the Brooklyn neighbourhoods of East New York (Crescent Street and Loring Avenue; Vermont Street between Blake Avenue and Dumont Avenue), Brownsville, Bedford-Stuyvesant (MacDougal and Hull Streets), Crown Heights (Park Place and Utica Avenue), Flatbush (E 29th and Avenue D), and East Flatbush (East 51st and Winthrop Street). The FBI is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to his arrest.
“James is 32 years old, 6’0” tall, and approximately 175 pounds. He is a Nigerian national, has brown eyes and black hair, and may have a beard. Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of James is urged to contact law enforcement immediately. The FBI can be reached 24 hours a day at (212) 384-1000. He is not considered to be violent in nature.
“As alleged in a complaint sworn out of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, James, along with four other co-conspirators, ran a business e-mail compromise scheme that resulted victim losses of more than $5 million for their victims.
“As part of scheme, James and his co-conspirators defrauded victims across the U.S. by tricking them into wiring money to bank accounts the victims believed were owned by family members, friends, or business associates. They did this in two ways: by overtaking an e-mail account of an individual trusted by the victim and then requesting money be wired to a bank account; or by developing a relationship of trust with victim like an Internet romance and then asking the victim to wire money.
“As soon as the money was wired, it would be moved from one account to another, and the funds would be withdrawn. James’s role in this scheme was to withdraw the money from bank accounts.” | {
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Announcements
UVI Honors Students at Academic Awards
The University of the Virgin Islands celebrated the 40th Annual Academic Awards by honoring top students for the 2013-2014 academic year at awards ceremonies held in April on the Albert A. Sheen Campus on St. Croix and on the St. Thomas Campus. More information is available from the Media Section of the UVI homepage – http://www.uvi.edu – and from this direct link. | {
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Summary: Some lapses in direction don’t drag down a sure-footed episode that introduces a longer-term challenge to Oliver’s quest and more depth to our lead character.
If you have not seen this episode yet and do not wish to be spoiled, do not continue reading!
Recap
When Oliver goes to court to repeal the death in absentia declaration filed on his behalf, he runs into Laurel, who is trying a case against a crooked shipping magnate with ties to the Chinese Triad criminal society. Laurel argues that, while attempting to hide his involvement in drug trade, Martin Somers ordered the father of her client killed.
Somers’ name also appears in Robert Queen’s book and Oliver goes after him in his vigilante persona. Spooked, Somers calls on the triad for help in the form of drug trafficker China White. After Thea tells her brother he needs to open up to someone, Oliver visits with Laurel. They are attacked by White and crew, but Diggle and Oliver manage to fend them off. Quentin Lance, not wanting to lose another daughter, warns Oliver to stay away from Laurel.
As the Arrow, Oliver confronts Somers to get his confession about the murdered man. He fights with China White again before Lance and the police arrive. Cornered by Lance, Oliver escapes by giving up a recording of Somers admitting his crime.
Meanwhile, as Walter and Moira attempt to bring Oliver back into the business fold, Oliver makes the decision that he can’t do what he wants to accomplish by giving in to what everyone else wants him to be. Flashbacks to the island reveal Oliver burying his father’s body and discovering a book with the drawing of a strange symbol in it. As Oliver says goodbye to his father, he’s shot in the shoulder by an arrow. In pain, Oliver turns to see a man in the distance in a green hood…
For a full recap and more on the episode, visit our helpful episode guide.
Review
Freed from the constraints of having to set up a series, now the fun of Arrow can begin. For the most part, in this second episode, it does.
Still saddled with some silly dialogue and plot points painted in broad strokes, this chapter manages to start to warm and deepen Oliver Queen’s character while continuing to slowly leak out tidbits of his “origins” on the island. And with the starched quality of that statement aside…
Speaking of starched, series star Stephen Amell continues to attempt to settle into Oliver’s skin, at points coming across a bit too rigid, but at other times showing flashes of his own natural personality that give him some life on-screen. Though it’s clear he’s tethering Oliver to the dark experiences that now haunt him, he would do well to start relying on the latter to allow himself to breathe and connect with the others in the scene. The moments he does lead to a more believable performance and allow the audience in. Amell appears to be an engaging, mischievous soul off-screen and bringing that to the mix without tipping Oliver too far into the jovial would make the game all the more fun.
They make a crucial choice for Oliver to allow him to open up and connect with someone. The scene with he and Laurel sharing ice cream is a bit choppy in quality but there a lovely moments where Amell and Katie Cassidy share a soft connection that really sells the history of their characters well. That connection and insight brings on Oliver’s two best moments of the episode: the one in which he plays drunk and defiant to the crowd to let people know he will not be joining the family business and a very touching moment where he explains to the memory and spirit of his father what he must do to accomplish the quest they both set out for Oliver.
Laurel also has a great moment with her father after Somers has been caught and things begin to settle down near the end. Paul Blackthorne struggles a bit with finding an appropriate accent for Quentin Lance, which leads to some bigger line deliveries throughout. Cassidy is also guilty with juggling some broader work this episode, but the final scene the two share actually manages to ground both in their characters, their relationship, and their performances. One hopes this was the instance that clicked for them and they’re able to build on it going forward.
Kind of lost in the shuffle but no less exciting to see on the screen was the introduction of the first notable villain of the series, Kelly Hu as China White, a character who made her first appearance in the comics during the Green Arrow: Year One mini-series that forms part of the DNA of this adaptation. Oddly, there is a bit of reserved quality to the way she’s brought in, relegating the character to more of a glorified henchman in this given story. The fact that she gets away and this is but the first episode of an arc for the character, one can’t help but feel this was more to whet the appetite than really pit she and Oliver against one another.
That’s an exciting development for the series. While the nature of Robert Queen’s list that Oliver is working off of sets up an episodic quality to the show, the showrunners are weaving enough into the narrative that serializes the story and builds from episode to episode. Oliver getting on the Triad’s radar is something that looks to play out for a while and should add more depth to White and their struggle.
The glaring disappointment with this episode would have to be the direction and cinematography. While most of the episode was quite competent, the odd cuts and structure of the scene where Laurel is trying her case in court intercut with the events around the death of Victor Nocenti felt like a feeble attempt to create a living comic book. It proved distracting and drew us out of the story nearly altogether. Also, while the scene where China White and her goons attack Oliver and Laurel was exciting, the action of the fight between Oliver and China at the docks — which should’ve been the highlight of the episode — was lost in wide angled shots, sweeping camera movements and an odd rhythm that never really played to the choreography. After the precedent of the action beats set in the pilot, that was a letdown.
What was a bit surprising was the reveal of the other person on the island that likely trained Oliver in the skills that he has brought back with him. It seemed fairly clear, especially given the Deathstroke mask seen on the beach in the pilot, that someone else was either on the island or was going to appear that would provide that guidance for Ollie. Seeing Oliver struggle for a while trying to survive on the island and then coming across this other person appeared to be the most likely scenario that would play out. That’s what is so striking about this turn of events. He’s barely had time to settle on his new home and is allowed just to bury his father’s body when this stranger reveals himself, wearing the very hooded outfit Ollie will claim as his own one day, no less. Unexpected, to say the least, and telling of how they don’t want to hold the story back.
For only its second episode, the show has a sure footing and looks well on its way to finding the right alchemical mix to be around for a long while. If Amell can punch more holes in the moribund but determined (read:stiff) Oliver, while not giving up his pathos or tenacity, that’ll get the heart pumping on this entire world. There is also a bit of smaller connective material not finding its way into the story yet as it flits from plot point to plot point. That should come with a few more episodes under their belt.
Lastly, action should be choice centerpieces of a series like this. They should re-examine what worked in the first episode to make sure that those beats maximize the fun that the series wants to have.
Odds & Ends
Diggle’s suspicions that Oliver is more than meets the eye, especially following the knife-throwing incident at Laurel’s, were played wonderfully by David Ramsey.
Moira talking to a mysterious figured played better given the context of last episode. Just what did Robert Queen stumble upon and how does that symbol identify it?
Personal distaste for most scenes of superheroes “suiting up” in movies and television shows, but the two times Ollie did it here were much more natural.
As lackluster as the final fight was shot, the training sequence was well choreographed and shot well.
The digital recorder arrow was just practical and just dorky enough.
Laurel’s empassioned speech to her father about what her job means to her and why she does it was the perfect ethos for a certain fishnet-stocking-wearing alter-ego.
Following the trend of naming characters after creators associated with the comics, Victor and Emily Nocenti are named after comic writer Ann Nocenti.
The scene where Thea gets a good look at Ollie’s scars was well played by Willa Holland and Stephen Amell.
A SECOND OPINION
by Derek B. Gayle
For its second outing, Arrow does a nice job expanding on the strong points of its first episode and dialing back the weaker points. The narration is minimal–though could be done without altogether–and there’s a bit of humor thrown in for Amell as he plays up his drunken, party-boy alter ego (though there’s still a dark undercurrent considering it’s all an act.) Seeing the supporting characters get some development, especially the interaction between Laurel and her father, is a big step up from the pilot.
What really stands out is the integration of the main revenge plot with Oliver’s relationship troubles with his friends and family. Oliver’s heart-to-hearts with Thea and Laurel shine some light on the problems he’s had with people in general: his focus on that quest for vigilante revenge, while certainly important, is preventing him from having empathy for his loved ones, to the point that he hurts them. He begins the steps to repair that this week, which actually feels like a more satisfying arc than in the pilot.
As a result, we’re getting more on track with what Arrow will truly focus on from week-to-week—not so much the big “father’s revenge list” plot, but Oliver’s balancing act of staying true to himself and having good relationships with his friends and family while he goes on his revenge quest. Seeing Green Arrow fighting China White and interrogating Benny from Supernatural is certainly cool and all (and the action plot this week was certainly fun, though standard) but it doesn’t matter if we don’t care about Oliver. So playing up the fact that he’s not totally perfect at making decisions about how to deal with Laurel, Thea, and his mother makes for a story that’s easier to get emotionally invested in.
With Oliver being portrayed as more of a flawed human than an enigmatic vigilante, he’s much more interesting and entertaining. Also, we’re quickly getting an unsurprising, but important explanation: Oliver learned how to be Green Arrow from someone else on the island.
Overall, it’s what I’d expect a basic Arrow episode to be like, and in many ways is an improvement over the somewhat flawed pilot.
Matt Tucker Editor/Senior Writer/Reviewer
Matt Tucker is a stage and film actor, writer, Seattleite, comics nerd, sports fan, and aspiring person. Someday, he’ll be a real boy. He's an editor and senior writer for KSiteTV network (GreenArrowTV, DaredevilTV) and the sports blog Sonics Rising. He's also Movies/TV editor at SmarksOn. Follow him on Twitter at @MattBCTucker. | {
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Sixty years after the Treaty of Rome came into force, doubts about the benefits of trade openness are increasing among the general public and policymakers, with Brexit and calls from many governments for a reversal of key integration agreements painting a bleak picture of what may come next. This column revisits the gains EU members have reaped from trade integration since 1957 and what would be the costs of going backwards. The results suggest that the Single Market has increased trade between EU members by 109% on average for goods, with associated welfare gains reaching 4.4% for the average European country.
The financial sector is a major contributor to UK’s GDP, but only a fraction comes from exports to the EU. In this video, David Miles discusses to what extent the financial sector depends on the access to the European Single Market. This video was recorded at the LSE Growth Commission in December 2016.
Several models exist for the UK's relationship with the EU following Brexit. This column argues that from an economic perspective, joining the European Economic Area and retaining access to the Single Market is the best available option. However, given the importance the new UK government – and at least part of the UK public – attaches to imposing controls on immigration from the EU, this option may not be politically viable. The question the UK must address as it debates the aftermath of Brexit is whether the costs of the alternative are a price worth paying.
The EU has started conversations on a capital markets union, raising questions about integration of services such as finance. This column argues that regulated services are especially important for the European economy. Europeans will eventually be faced with a choice between maintaining sovereignty and building a single market. Whereas the ‘old’ single market in goods and unregulated services was satisfactorily addressed through standards harmonisation, the new single market challenge is all about regulatory enforcement institutions.
The EU has adopted a new approach to completing the Single Market. Choice of policy measures are not made ex-ante, but rather ex-post, following a period of market monitoring and analysis. Here are some of the new market-monitoring tools to be used.
20 - 21 August 2018 / Goethe University Frankfurt / Central Bank Research Association (CEBRA) and the Research Center SAFE (Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe) at Goethe University Frankfurt | {
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Staff Emergency Plan
Using an ALL-HAZARDS approach to planning, Barnwell County Hospital is committed to preparedness efforts and to protecting our patients, visitors, and staff. BCH integrates our preparedness planning with our partners. Working with the state, region, county, and local agencies insures that we make our citizens as safe as possible and our response to emergencies effective. BCH uses the Hospital Incident Command System to manage emergencies. | {
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Monday, March 10, 2008
So I just started a new, albeit temporary, job as a telemarketer. We sell a service that helps people clear up their credit reports. Technically, I'm a paralegal--but I don't handle law cases, and I never speak to an attorney. Basically, I think the title is just to make us feel valued.
So what is a college graduate doing working at a call center? Well, that's none of your business.
But today was my first day. Well, my first real day. Last week was an exhilarating week of training that lead to two days of "practice" sales. Meaning that we were on the phones, and anything we screwed up would politely be cleaned up by our trainer and a smile.
Not so much today.
Not that I screwed up or anything today. In fact, it was quite successful. In 8 hours I made one sale and contacted over 240 people. I left more than 185 messages on voicemail, and had two people get all the way through my spiel only to ask me to call back tomorrow. Not excruciating at all.
Not that I blame them, mind you. It's not like I won't enjoy a nice break from the monotony of 5 rings and someone ending with: "...have a blessed day." It'll be a downright joy to actually speak with a living soul who isn't questioning me up and down thinking that "I'm John from ________" is code for "why is this ____ calling my wife/girlfriend/boyfriend?!"
But either way, it's not too bad. Sure, I just spent good money and time on a college education that got me a nice job as a creative team member with a company that had to downsize two months later and has now led me to a call center that will pay me a commission or $6 dollars per hour.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
I'm not sure which is worse: Going crazy and knowing it, or doing the whole thing as an unabashed ignoramus.
Either way, I'm off to law school in the fall. The University of Oklahoma School of Law, to be precise. (I feel that I need to say cliches like thatin order to fit in with all the courtroom drama I see unfold on television.)
In all honesty, I'm really excited. The studying that might feel like taking a tack hammer to the skull isn't so exciting--but in a way, it sort of is.
So in order to perfect my legalese, I need to get out of my write-as-much-as-possible-with-as-few-words-as-possible way of going about things. Apparently in legal writing, if you can write something in 789 words that the typical person writes in a little under 9.5, you're on your way.
It should be a good time. And if anyone has any ideas as to which medication I should be on, please feel free to let me know.
**By the way, the photo was taken from a website called wackyboxes2005.com. | {
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Oct 23 How the Religious Right Turns Freedom of Religion on its Head
Today, we found out that Hobby Lobby, the conservative religious crafts store has asked the Supreme Court to take up their crusade to deny contraception to their employees.
Lawyers for the privately-owned retail chain and its sister company Mardel Christian bookstore have said the health care law’s requirement that the company provide insurance coverage for morning-after pills, emergency birth control methods, and intrauterine devices goes against the corporation’s religious beliefs. Hobby Lobby sued the Obama administration last September over the contraception mandate.
That's just it. The Constitution provides no protection to anyone to force their religious beliefs on anyone else, much less a corporation's supposed right to dictate the private medical decisions of their employees. In fact, the Christian Right has it exactly backwards: the right to religious freedom belongs to the individual, not the employer.
But but, they will say. They're not trying to keep their employees from getting contraceptives or using them; they are just claiming the religious freedom not to pay for it in their insurance plan. This is an even more dangerous idea. When an employer provides health insurance coverage to its employees, it does so as part of the compensation package for its employees. The employer has no more right to decide for their employees what they will use that insurance to pay for than they have the right to dictate to employees what they can buy with money from their paychecks issued by a given employer.
Compensation is earned. It is not a gift; it is not a loan, it is not store credit that can only be used to buy certain things. Once one earns it, it is not the business of any employer to say how to use it.
As for the loud moaning about business' religious rights, let me be clear: if they have any, it comes a few giant steps behind the religious freedoms of individuals, i.e. employees. The constitution explicitly gives Congress three responsibilities - not coincidentally, the three things the right wing hates the most: to tax, to spend and to regulate commerce. Businesses have no more constitutional right to discriminate against their female employees in their health care plans than they do to discriminate based on race in their hiring practices.
Think about the implications of this for a minute. If Hobby Lobby has the right to deny contraception in their health insurance plans because their owners do not believe in birth control, what is to keep an employer who is a Jehovah's Witness from banning coverage for blood transfusions in their insurance plans? Jehovah's Witnesses have as much a religious objection to blood transfusions as Hobby Lobby does to birth control.
I spoke with a young woman today who is fighting to bring attention to stories of the one in three women in America who will have an abortion in their lifetimes about the critical importance of protecting this right and the availability of abortion services (interview will be posted tomorrow morning). And here we have a company trying to destroy even the basic right to birth control.
But on second thought, I'm sure this will help Republicans with their outreach to women. I am sure of it. | {
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Dear friends and readers,
Quarterly Call to Donations
To remind, this is our quarterly request for donations. If you want the information and analysis that this site provides to continue, you must support the site. As the alternative is the presstitutes or Ministry of Propaganda, it is a good decision to support this site.
Quarterly Call to Donations
Dear friends,
It is time for my quarterly request for donations. As we agreed, my columns and this site will continue as long as your support is forthcoming. If you wish to fully escape The Matrix and see reality as it really is, you are brave and I am honored to have you as readers and supporters. If reality is too much for you, then I should cease putting myself at risk. PCR
If the government had confidence in its 9/11 story, every effort to investigate would not be blocked
Today We Filed Suit to Reverse the City’s Fraudulent Determination on Our Second Petition
Read our filing and letter to Justice Wooten.
Dear Supporters,
On September 4, 2014 the High-Rise Safety Initiative submitted a second petition containing over 33,000 signatures to override the City Council’s lack of action on our first petition. The second petition secures our place on the November 4th ballot if it contains at least 15,000 valid signatures, assuming we also win the pending lawsuit regarding the petition’s legality, where we still have not received a decision.
This past Wednesday, the City Clerk certified only 7,343 out of 33,366 signatures in the second petition as valid, leaving us 7,657 shy of the 15,000-threshold.
A Determination that Reeks of Fraud
Given the dramatic difference in the percentage of invalidated signatures, 57% on the first petition compared to 78% on the second petition, it was immediately apparent that the City Clerk and the Board of Elections had determined to wrongly invalidate thousands of signatures — and in so doing, disenfranchise thousands of voters — in order to keep the High-Rise Safety Initiative off the ballot.
Sure enough, when the City finally provided a copy of its notations, we saw that the percentage of signatures invalidated because the signer was allegedly “not registered” had skyrocketed from 43% on the first petition (28,404 out of 65,597) to 73% on the second petition (24,523 out of 33,366).
With the help of several volunteers, we then reviewed a sample of 663 signatures invalidated because the signer was allegedly “not registered.” We found that 43% were in fact registered voters; their signatures had been marked “not registered” without rhyme or reason. If that rate held for all 24,523 signatures marked “not registered,” it would mean that the City wrongly invalidated some 10,653 signatures, nearly one third of the people who signed the second petition, and it would put us well over the 15,000-threshold.
This Must Not Stand
Earlier today we filed suit to have the City’s fraudulent determination reversed and sent a letter to Justice Wooten, the judge presiding over our case, to advise him of the second suit. With only four days until the October 3rd cutoff to have ballot submissions finalized, there simply isn’t enough time for us, or the court, to review the City’s notations in their entirety. But the numbers already speak for themselves. As we will argue this week, there is surely enough evidence to conclude that the City did not review the petition objectively and in good faith, and its determination should therefore be annulled.
We will keep you posted as this issue and the lawsuit regarding the petition’s legality unfold this week. Once again, we thank you for your incredible support of our efforts.
This site offers factual information and viewpoints that might be useful in arriving at an understanding of the events of our time. We believe that the information comes from reliable sources, but cannot guarantee the information to be free of mistakes and incorrect interpretations. IPE has no official position on any issue and does not necessarily endorse the statements of any contributor. | {
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Shift to home care will aid Hoosier elders
July 23, 2006
Some of the most important decisions made in Indiana this year will concern the quality, availability and variety of care for elder residents. One decision that already has been made is a credit to the Family and Social Services Administration. It has become the basis for much needed change. We liked the response last month of Indiana Division of Aging Director Stephen A. Smith when, during a visit to South Bend, he considered that there are 10 times as many Hoosiers living in nursing homes as there are receiving alternative types of care. "That's terrible," Smith said. Indeed it is. But it is also changing. Until this year, almost all of the public money in Indiana used for long-term care for the elderly had gone to nursing homes, with just a pittance to home- and community-based care. Now, many more Hoosier elders will qualify for help with assisted living, home health care and adult day care. As of July 1, the maximum income one could have and still qualify for Medicaid help with those services changed from about $600 a month to about $1,500 a month. With this welcome shift, Indiana's bias toward nursing home care also will shift. It isn't that nursing homes aren't needed. They most assuredly are, as a series last week by Tribune staff writer Joseph Dits clearly showed. The state of Indiana must hold nursing homes to a high standard and make sure there are adequate around-the-clock care facilities available. As the baby boomers age, the demand for nursing homes undoubtedly will increase. The number of people who need help to stay in their own homes or at some level of semi-independent living will increase, too. But before Indiana starts keeping up with new demand, it has a lot of catching up to do. Indiana ranks 48th among states for percentage of non-nursing home Medicaid spending for long-term care of the elderly. While Indiana spends 84 percent of Medicaid elder care dollars on nursing homes, the figure nationally is 70 percent. The fact that it has been easier in Indiana to receive Medicaid-funded nursing home care than Medicaid-funded home care has been a real disservice to taxpayers, too. Last year, nursing home care cost an average of $38,298 a year per person. Home- or community-based care cost $25,954. Add to that the certainty that most elders would like to stay in their own homes, or at least not go to a nursing home, and the FSSA's determination to depart from the status quo in Indiana is even more commendable. Still another reason to expand the choices for elders occurs to us. A shortage of care for elders not living in nursing homes seems to be a very likely reason for the high level of unmet needs among senior Hoosiers. A survey commissioned by the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County and released in May turned up some disturbing results. Consider the data:
60 percent of St. Joseph County residents feel safe in their neighborhoods, compared to 70 percent nationally.
70 percent of county residents have at least one unmet daily living need, compared to 48 percent nationally. It seems logical that increased funding for home assistance services will increase those services' availability. Elders' awareness and use of services then will increase, too. The result will be elders who are more healthy, confident and independent. At the start of this year, there were about 35,000 people in Indiana on waiting lists for home care. The waiting period has hovered around three years. The two most common ways to get off the home care waiting list were going to a nursing home or dying. That disturbing reality reflected the success of an effective nursing home lobby at the Indiana General Assembly. But no one else benefited. We are very glad to see the beginning of a major policy shift. Indiana will be a better place to live and grow old because of it. | {
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HSBC is reviewing a past investigation of forex trades after the arrest on Tuesday night of a senior manager in New York for alleged fraud, according to a source familiar with the matter.
HSBC examined the trades done by Mark Johnson, its global head of foreign exchange cash trading, in 2013 as part of a broader internal probe and found no irregularities, the source said.
A spokeswoman for HSBC declined to comment.
Johnson was on Wednesday charged in a criminal complaint filed in a federal court in Brooklyn with engaging in a scheme to front-run a $3.5bn transaction by one of the bank's clients, alongside former HSBC executive Stuart Scott. Both men were charged with wire fraud conspiracy.
On Wednesday the bank said it was co-operating with the Department of Justice's (DoJ) investigation.
In its statement, the DoJ did not name the client the pair allegedly defrauded, but a different source familiar with the situation said the trades involved British oil firm Cairn Energy.
An HSBC spokesman said the bank is cooperating in the DoJ's foreign exchange investigation. Cairn Energy was not immediately available to comment.
Scott, who was head of cash trading for Europe, left HSBC in 2014.
"Our client strongly denies the allegations. Given there are ongoing proceedings it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time," Gerallt Owen, a lawyer at Withers who is representing Scott said in an emailed statement.
The investigation could deal a reputational blow to HSBC in a business area in which it is particularly strong. The lender specialises in helping clients engage in cross-border deals, aided by its large global network at a time when many rival investment banks are shrinking.
Authorities in the UK said they had been working closely with counterparts across the Atlantic, although the DoJ is the first prosecutor to lay charges in the multi-year worldwide investigation into forex market-rigging.
Some of the world's biggest banks, including HSBC, paid a combined total of around $10bn to settle U.S. and British allegations of foreign exchange manipulation in 2014 and 2015.
Britain's Serious Fraud Office dismissed suggestions it had missed possible wrongdoing while sifting through 500,000 documents in its wider forex investigation before closing it earlier this year.
"There is no suggestion that something was missed. We followed the evidence available to us in our jurisdiction in respect of the Forex investigation and reached the conclusion that it was insufficient to support a realistic prospect of conviction," a spokesman said.
Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it is continuing to investigate individuals over allegations of misconduct in the foreign exchange investigation.
"We have been liaising with the DoJ regarding FX investigations on both sides of the Atlantic. We will not comment on specific strands of investigations," a spokesman for the FCA said. | {
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Bernie Sanders Had No Plan for Losing Nevada
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Bernie Sanders is running on a campaign promising dramatically more left-wing domestic policies than Hillary Clinton. How will he get those policies passed when Republicans control Congress and would block even moderately liberal ones? That’s where the “political revolution” comes in. Sanders claims he can spark a massive upsurge in activism and political turnout, replacing the Republican-led Congress with one friendly to single-payer health insurance and other priorities that have historically lackedsupport.
So far, turnout in the Democratic primary has lagged far behind its 2008 pace, casting severe doubt upon this promise. Does Sanders actually believe it, or is it merely a thing he says to sidestep serious objections to his candidacy? Benjy SarlinAlex Seitz-Wald reports that Sanders genuinely believes it. Sanders, reports Seitz-Wald, “wanted a win so badly in Nevada that he never wrote a concession speech, according to aides, and the night before the caucuses he said that historians would mark Nevada as the beginning of his promised politicalrevolution.”
Some Democrats want to know if Sanders has some realistic backup plan for what he would do as president if the political revolution doesn’t come to pass. Looks like we have ananswer. | {
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related
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A proper staycation carries the luxury of sleeping in a strange cushy bed without the hassle of traveling anywhere or really packing anything. No, you’re not at the hotel for the big conference; you’re there because you’ve busted your ass at work all month and you deserve to have a maid for one weekend. So treat yo' self and make a reservation at these 12 hotels/inns around Chicago with an ideal itinerary for food and nightlife.
River North
This sexy hotel is the perfect stay for a fantasy night of rockstardom or a weekend out with friends. With a wet bar, extra seating, and hi-tech audio in your room, you may end up staying in -- and staying up -- to party.Where to eat: Walk just down the block to Eataly and take a seat at any of the delicious half-dozen restaurants from the famed Batali and Bastianich families.Where to drink: Try any of the Painkillers at Three Dots and a Dash, and sip on a Weston from The Berkshire Room at the hotel before bed.What to do: Hit up one of the nearby piano bars for a few songs.Where to brunch: Go to Bottlefork for a "Bag" of Crisps & Eggs.
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Old Town
Just a short trot from Lake Michigan and North Avenue Beach, Hotel Lincoln is a trendy, up-cycled blast from the past. Too bright to be a Norman Rockwell painting and too dark to be a Wes Anderson creation, this Americana-inspired hotel sits firmly in the cool middle.Where to eat: Go old school with a slab of baby back ribs from Twin Anchors (yes, the restaurant from Bonnie Hunt’s Return To Me).Where to drink: Stop by any of the nearby dive bars like the Old Town Ale House to drink cheap beers or head over to Old Town Social for a cocktail.What to do: See Chicago’s up-and-coming comic talent on the stages at The Second City or witness Michael Shannon in a play at his old stomping ground, A Red Orchid Theatre.Where to brunch: With some tasty dishes and a great patio, Perennial Virant is a great bet.
Logan Square
This six-room, tavern-style hotel-above-a-whiskey-bar is perfect for the local traveler looking for a few drams and night away from home. With rooms bridging the gap between modern luxury and private design studios, you’ll feel like you’re staying with a good friend -- if your friend were a successful eccentric artist who tastefully didn’t believe in the oppression of bathroom doors.Where to eat: Yusho, Japanese noodles and grill from former Charlie Trotter’s Executive Chef, Matthias MergesWhere to drink: Throw down an Anxiety’s Door from Billy Sunday and don’t look back.What to do: Stop by some specialty boutiques before catching a midnight movie at the Logan Theatre.Where to brunch: Go to Off Site Bar’s weekend pop-up Donut Shop (Longman & Eagle’s little brother next door), or try Reno for a killer breakfast sandwich on its house-fired English muffin.
West Loop
If you’re a foodie (which, come on, everyone is now), Soho House Hotel is the spot for you. Swarming with amenities and situated on Chicago’s Restaurant Row -- home to a number of different public and private dining options -- the higher room rate is worth the investment.Where to eat: Take your pick of BBQ by the pound from Green Street Smoked Meats, a burger from Au Cheval, or meals from celebrity chef Stephanie Izard at Girl & the Goat or the more casual Little Goat Diner.Where to drink: Sit back with a hookah and a Marrakesh cocktail while enjoying belly dances at Alhambra Palace.What to do: The hotel itself has got a lot going on: drop by the spa for an array of relaxing treatments, take a quick dip in the secluded rooftop pool, sit down to a private screening of a film in the plush, 30-seat theatre, or go a few rounds with your friends in the regulation-size boxing ring.Where to brunch: You can never go wrong with offerings from best butcher shop in town at The Publican.
Oak Park
So you want to get as far away as possible, but must stay reliant on the CTA? Easy, jump on the Green Line and ride to Oak Park’s Harvey House Bed & Breakfast. This little five-room B&B offers beautiful rooms in a variety of styles with modern amenities and, of course, a home-cooked seasonal breakfast.Where to eat: Snack throughout the day on a cheese flight from Marion Street Market, then sit down to dinner at the lively local favorite, Maya Del Sol.Where to drink: After dinner, get up and walk over to the bar at... Maya Del Sol. There’s no such thing as too much of a good thing.What to do: Sleep in. You’re in the suburbs now! When you get up, tour the Hemingway and Frank Lloyd Wright museums for a slice of Chicago history.Where to brunch: If the Harvey’s Popover Pancakes don’t fill you up the next morning, Chicago’s Home of Chicken & Waffles is just down the street.
The Loop
The recently revitalized Athletic Association carries history and modern amenities. Rooms are decked out with vintage touches from when the space was a men’s club in the previous century, and you’ll have one of the best views in the city.Where to eat: You could easily stay on the premises for any meal, whether it’s a steak at Cherry Circle Room or a burger at Shake Shack.Where to drink: Enjoy a nightcap on the rooftop terrace at Cindy’s while watching the fireworks over the water.What to do: Try your luck on a ticket lottery for one of Chicago’s pre-Broadway run of shows, stroll Millennium Park in the moonlight, and play a few rounds of bocce in the hotel’s game room.Where to brunch: Wildberry Pancakes and Cafe has Oreo S’Mores Pancakes.
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Andersonville/Uptown
Want to get away, but still want to feel like you’re home? The Guesthouse Hotel’s condo-style suites are bright, cozy, romantic, and offer sweeping skyline views of the city while also avoiding the out-of-town tourists of many other hotels.Where to eat: Get in line at Hot "G" Dog for a specialty sausage from this recent venture by former Hot Doug’s cooks, then wash it down with a slice of Coffee Toffee Pie at First Slice.Where to drink: Choose from the enormous selection of craft beers at the likes of Hopleaf or Jerry’s Sandwiches, or sift through the 35-page whiskey list at Lady Gregory’s.What to do: Spend the day perusing a lineup of great boutiques and antique shops, then relax into Al Capone’s old booth at The Green Mill for a late-night jazz set and a classic cocktail.Where to brunch: Tweet, Big Jones, Bongo Room, Taste of Heaven... just to name a few
Wicker Park
With a full-service spa below, this intimate, eight-room inn was designed with relaxation and rejuvenation in mind: in-room steam showers, goose-down pillow-top mattresses, a private “healing” garden -- it’s perfect for anyone looking for a day to recharge and unwind.Where to eat: There are so many options in Wicker Park, it’s hard to pick just one. We recommend eating delicious and simple at Big Star or Piece Pizza and then indulging in dessert at Mindy’s Hot Chocolate. Or go all out with a reservation at the Michelin star-winning Schwa.Where to drink: The Violet Hour. Just line up and wait at the unmarked door with everyone else. It’s worth it.What to do: Have a spa day complete with facial, massage, and chakra healing, and spend your night at any of the neighborhood’s concert venues.Where to brunch: Head to Dove’s Luncheonette for chilaquiles or the smoked brisket hash and a Bloody Maria.
Chinatown
Food, culture, more food, and karaoke. It may not be the fanciest hotel on the list, but a stay at the Chinatown Hotel will break you out of your routine without breaking the bank.Where to eat: Enjoy a traditional dim sum experience at Phoenix for a wide selection of traditional Chinese bites. For dinner check out the low-key, but delicious Go4Food.Where to drink: Venture to one or all of the many karaoke bars throughout the neighborhood for any number of brightly colored shots.What to do: Tour the architecture, visit the Chinese-American Museum, and try some Green Tea Oreos or a Wasabi Kit-Kat at Aji Ichiban candy store.Where to brunch: Pick up some buns at Chiu Quon Bakery to help soak up whatever it was that got you up to sing last night.
St. Charles/Geneva
Sure, it’s a little bit of a trek, but these two neighboring towns and historic hotels have a lot to offer. Just ask the likes of famous past residents Louis Armstrong, Gerald Ford, or JFK.Where to eat: Grab a sub to go from Josef’s Elegante Meats & Deli or a pie from Pizzeria Neo, and bring it to...Where to drink: ... the BYO food tap room over at Penrose Brewing.What to do: Play an early round of golf at one of several nearby courses, take a stroll along the Fox River Trail or through the Japanese Tea Garden at the Fabyan Forest Preserve, then finish the night off at the Cascade Drive-In for a double feature like the good old days.Where to brunch: Choose from an assortment of Benedicts at Nosh before selecting a few “tasting” portions of French toasts for dessert.
Lincoln Park
This beautiful seven-room mansion in the center of Lincoln Park is pure luxury. In fact, if you’ve got the money for this one, you should just splurge on airfare and go somewhere else. And when you get back, try out this quick weekend itinerary.Where to eat: Grab a po-boy and a craft beer at Local Option for lunch, and dessert at Sweet Mandy B’s.Where to drink: Pick up a snack and drink at The Barrelhouse Flat before heading over to classic Chicago blues club, Kingston Mines.What to do: If you didn’t spend too much time drinking at Local Option, you can walk through the Lincoln Park Zoo like a rational, civilized adult, learning about animals from all over the globe. If you did spend too much time at Local Option, you can still visit the zoo. Just try not to scare the children or animals. Maybe stay out of the Bird House for your own safety.Where to brunch: If you haven’t already had brunch at such Lincoln Park go-tos as Toast or Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba!, you’ve been missing out.
Hyde Park
Yeah, yeah, it’s a big-box hotel chain. But I’ll tell you what: it’s nice, it’s clean, and it’s in the heart of a great Chicago neighborhood where our friggin’ president hung out! It's just a little walk from trails and parks along the lake that -- honestly -- you’ve probably never visited. And if nothing else, there’s a pool you can use without trying to sneak in.Where to eat: Try A10 for the homemade pastas like the bucatini carbonara.Where to drink: At the end of the night, head to the bar at The Promontory for a late music set and a digestif.What to do: There are so many great small museums in the area like the Oriental Institute and the Smart Museum. Or take in a drama at the Court Theatre on the University of Chicago’s campus.Where to brunch: Medici is the epitome of a classic neighborhood bakery. It's always filled with locals because the food is good. And it’s a safe bet that you’ll see the Obamas stop in if they're in town.
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Tag Archives: smart phones
Success is not about hard work. It is absolutely about focus and ensuring you use your time productively. But when we constantly talk about how hard we’re working, we perpetuate the idea that you have to work all the time to succeed in this world, and you just don’t.
What you should be doing is deciding what will really move the needle forward for what you’re trying to accomplish each day and week, and focus on that. Focus. If you get done what you decided you wanted to get done, you get to quit.
I (the smart home) had the same view of Kashmir’s house that her Internet Service Provider (ISP) has. After Congress voted last year to allow ISPs to spy on and sell their customers’ internet usage data, we were all warned that the ISPs could now sell our browsing activity, or records of what we do on our computers and smartphones. But in fact, they have access to more than that. If you have any smart devices in your home—a TV that connects to the internet, an Echo, a Withings scale—your ISP can see and sell information about that activity too. With my “iotea” router I was seeing the information about Kashmir and her family that Comcast, her ISP, could monitor and sell.
Smartphones, and consumer technology more generally, don’t just have the potential to harm the people building them. There is also the enormous environmental damage caused in the handsets’ production, through resource extraction, intensive manufacturing and transport. “If you’re wanting to buy a[n ethical] phone right now, your choices are limited,” says Greenpeace’s Gary Cook, “and Fairphone has done the most in terms of current manufacturers.”
The organization found there’s plenty of environmental blood that can be laid at the door of the smartphone. In the last decade, production of the devices has consumed nearly 968TWh, enough to power India for a year. In 2017, smartphones, and related products, made 50 metric tons of e-waste — discarded smart devices and their accessories — and it’s only going to get worse.
This goes beyond delivering excellent results–it’s important to maintain a positive attitude about what you’re currently doing, even when you’re not 100% excited about it. That being said, if you’re looking to move into a different function that requires an entirely different skill-set, you also need to show you possess those abilities already. How? Take on a couple projects that are relevant to your desired role to showcase what you can do.
Before I made the jump from customer service to business development, I took on extra work to help resolve customer issues related to our partnerships. I became an expert in the product and technical details of the product integrations we had with our partner companies. As a result, the business development team included me in their conversations with partners, and I helped negotiate and resolve the technical aspects of our partnership deals. | {
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“Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically,” he says.
“The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods."
~ UK Professor & Parliamentarian Boris Johnson
CRN Politics
By Barry Secrest
The planet-wide agenda under a co-opted Obama regime for surrendering US sovereignty to emboldened global governance authoritarians, has now reached into hyper-speed impetus.
As individual states sequentially gather to oppose Obama's attempts (by fiat) at destroying the rights of personal privacy for both women & children to use restrooms unmolested, the dictatorially progressive Eurozone has now waded into the mix.
The unelected ruling elites presiding over Europe actually released a statement, this week, threatening individual US states for asserting, via new legislation, the traditional precept that men's restrooms were made for men and women's were made for women.
This, by the way, constitutes yet another encroachment by external forces, of overall US sovereignty.
The EU's statement, with a veiled promise of unspecified action, comes on the heels of Obama's threat to deny federal funding typically allocated towards the states, despite the fact that Congress, and not the executive branch of the United States, holds the power of federal appropriation.
"A statement posted on the EU website from spokeswoman Catherine Ray says the laws “discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons” and “contravene the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the U.S. is a state party, and which states that the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection.”
The covenant was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966 and has been ratified by 167 countries. Under the U.S. Constitution, international treaties have the same authority as federal law. The covenant does not specifically list sexual orientation and gender identity among the categories protected from discrimination."
Despite the Eurozone's attempts, as coupled with UN Agenda-21 & 30, and the US Federal government, many states are increasingly resistant towards internationally-forced attempts aimed at superseding US state sovereignty.
So far, the three states of North Carolina, Mississippi, & Tennessee have passed legislation reaffirming the traditional concept of restrooms as being available for use only to those whose sex by birth is clearly represented via entrance labeling of either male or female.
But, while the Federal government was originally intended as a Federalist defender towards the rights of individual US states, under both the Obama regime and a political class now heavily infiltrated by the globalist movement, individual states are now increasingly finding themselves fighting against both the US government and global authoritarians, with their falsely conscripted authority that simply does not exist.
“We relinquished our adherence to the British crown and European powers over 200 years ago,” Diaz said. “The law is now in federal court, where it will be resolved.”
N.C. Republican Party executive director Dallas Woodhouse said the move is “absolutely no surprise since North Carolina Democrats led by Roy Cooper want to install European socialist policies ... that are an affront to the common sense traditions of North Carolina and America.”
The EU is taking a similar position on House Bill 2 as the U.S. Department of Justice, which recently said the law’s controversial provision on transgender bathrooms."
In effect, the global elites are now claiming cultural jurisdiction over individual American states, despite the US Constitution's effectively having deemed such actions as illegal, nearly a quarter century ago.
Moreover, the EU's agenda towards usurping power & authority, not only in the US but also throughout the world, has now reached the point that alarmed international experts are comparing the EU's all encompassing agenda to Hitler's rise, which sparked World War II.
"The European Union is pursuing a similar goal to Hitler in trying to create a powerful superstate.
In a dramatic interview with the Telegraph, he warns that while bureaucrats in Brussels are using “different methods” from the Nazi dictator, they share the aim of unifying Europe under one “authority”.
But the EU’s “disastrous” failures have fuelled tensions between member states and allowed Germany to grow in power, “take over” the Italian economy and “destroy” Greece, he warns."
In essence, the world renowned United Kingdom Professor is recounting, in astounding exactitude, the same warnings that this website and a handful of other conservative/libertarian information resources have been warning about for a significant number of years, now.
A singular entity threatening to install a unified, single-structure, world-dominating government system, or superstate, that essentially cancels out all other nation-state authorities.
However, in this instance, Johnson goes on to statethat the EU is angling for its superstate takeover, utilizing a different methodology, from tyrants of the past:
“Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically,” he says.
“The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods."
But then what is this new method that the EU is utilizing beyond the obvious ?
Johnson doesn't specify exactly how he sees the EU takeover as using a different methodology from Hitler, however, it can be observed that the EU's latest actions towards a multi-cultural takeover, as enumerated much earlier in this post, actually mirrors the same set of circumstances taking place in the US. In essence, while the EU hasn't technically invaded its own individual nation states, it has fomented an invasion of hostile migrants, all over the Eurozone, in the form of Mideastern refugees.
Indeed, there is a confluence of agendas taking place, each of them working towards one centralized goal.
The"Trans-Pacific Partnership" in conjunction with the Trans-Atlantic Partnership, which are two world trade agreements waiting in US congressional wings, promise to further erode America's already embattled sovereignty even further; a thing that Sen. Jeff Sessions refers to as a sort of "One unified government structure"-- even as Great Britain muses over whether it will remain as a member of the EU.
In effect, the globalists are using the threats of diminished exports, and therefore presumed economic collapse, against nations who resist joining their world trade kingdom, along with other multicultural movements.
In America, what the White House and congressional TPP backers aren't saying is how the TPP will seek to roll-up some of the largest western trading partners into a pact which is less about trade than it is about abolishing US sovereignty in favor of a centralized ruling tribunal run by a small number of international oligarchs, probably located in Europe.
Sessions went on to describe the deal as a “breathtaking erosion of US sovereignty.”
So, in essence, as European citizens are turning against Brussels, the superstate capital with anti-EU sentiment spreading throughout the continent, the unelected parliamentarians are increasingly ignoring their own people.
The exact same thing is happening in the US, with a political revolution taking place against the establishment government.
Much as in the US also, a refugee/migrant influx is threatening to tear Europe apart while also moving the entire continent towards a Cloward-Piven style financial collapse. In fact, the entire western world, as operated by the political ruling establishment, appears to be governing against the will of its people, almost as if by rote.
Much as in the United States, European citizens have also had enough...the question becomes one of asking what are the odds?
A huge migrant / refugee influx, of individuals, mostly untrained, overrunning a civil society unabated from the third world to the first world, in both Europe and the US, even as crime increasingly soars throughout the West, at unprecedented rates.
What are the odds of the same exact set of events happening on both sides of the globe at precisely the same moment....and in both instances, threatening the stability of the entire western world?
But also, will the ruling oligarchy listen to its citizens, if a departure from the EU is demanded? Will the US political class listen to its citizens if a halt to illegals surging over the border, is demanded?
Once you seek to answer these questions, all the evidence points to an unthinkable singularity.
It's all been engineered, from the very start, by a Globalist movement that is intent upon remaking the entire global economy into a system of centralized world governance, regardless of what native citizens demand. | {
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Left Archive: Red Action, Issue No. 68, Summer 1994 November 12, 2012
To download the above file please click on the following link: REDACTION
Recently Red Action posted much of their archive online, and this can be accessed here. That includes the above document, but since this was already acquired for the Archive and scanned in it seemed appropriate to include at least one example of the output of the formation (and as it happens we’ve been promised some more documents in the future with a specifically Irish orientation).
Red Action appeared in 1981 when members were expelled from the Socialist Workers Party for squadist activities. Consequently in outlook it positioned itself as an self-avowedly forceful response to the threat of fascism and racism as well as cleaving to a strongly working class centred position. In the 1980s it joined the RCP led Red Front (as can be seen in this document from the RCP in the Archive). Interestingly it transitioned into community based politics in the late 1990s and on into the 2000s, and former members were heavily involved in the Independent Working Class Association which went on to win council seats and only relatively recently became inoperative.
This document is of particular interest because while it demonstrates all the political approaches outlined above it furthermore relates to one key aspect of Red Action, that being an strong identification with Irish Republicanism – it is notable that in other documents available on the Red Action site Thomas ‘Ta’ Power of the IRSP, later assassinated by the IPLO, is quoted. The cover story notes that Patrick Hayes, an English born member of a PIRA active service unit, imprisoned for a short bombing campaign in England in the early 1990s, was a former long standing member of Red Action (for more on this see this from the UK Independent which gives a subjective but interesting overview).
As the editorial accompanying Haye’s statement at the Old Bailey on his imprisonment notes:
As an organisation, Red Action has from the outset supported the right of the Irish to bear arms in principle and supported the military campaign as a TACTIC. Where we see a synthesis between republicanism and revolution Trotskyism seeks only contradictions, and so while paying lip service to the principle of self-determination the middle class left has with a few exceptions been an unswerving critic of its implementation.
It continues:
Of course no one in Red Action knew when, or precisely why, Patrick Hayes took the decision to join the IRA, but from his own testimony it is clear that he regards support for the military campaign and taking part in it more a matter of emphasis than some ‘quantum leap’. Pat never made the media inspired ‘graduation from being a weekend radical to becoming an IRA volunteer’. As in the case of Portinari [a Loyalist gunrunner] the explanation is quite simple. He never was a weekend radical. He is, and always was in whatever capacity a revolutionary.
In some respects these quotes also offer an insight into other aspects of Red Action, namely a strongly critical view of other contemporary further left formations, particularly those with a Trotskyist orientation – albeit it itself came from a Trotskyist heritage. It also held a strongly working class position that saw itself as deeply at odds with the middle class both in class and political forms or in its analysis that other further left formations were distorted by that class.
This combative stance is exemplified by a number of articles in the document on Trotskyism, including ‘Trotskyism’ with No Illusions which lambastes both the British Labour Party and ‘the Trotskyite Left [who] without exception line up with the bureaucracy in defence of the status quo, [whereas] we stand with the working class against the bureaucracy’ and within the working class; with the anti-racists against the racists.’. There is also an article which takes as its starting point the then recently published final edition of the SWP’s Tony Cliff’s final volume of his biography of Trotsky which is sub-titled ‘The Real History of the Fourth International’.
The emphasis on Irish Republicanism is evidenced throughout the text with highly critical articles on the Troops Out movement (and which is also in passing highly critical of the RCP) and a page devoted to “Dispatches from a war zone” and which in this instance deals with informers and pro-British agents.
There’s also a piece under the heading ‘Beyond the Pale’ for Red Action in Ireland, complete with PO Box. The accompanying article, ‘Guns, Drugs & The Community’, outlines the history of the development of the drugs issue in working class Dublin and how Concerned Parents Against Drugs (CPAD) became pivotal in ‘the fight against drugs’. The article notes that ‘The Left’s attitude to this genuine instance of working class people taking control of their lives has also been pathetic. From the SWM’s denunciation of CPAD as vigilantes, to the serious serious damage done to the anti-drugs campaign by the Workers’ Party’s allegations of addicts being kept against their will in France, the left in Dublin has been a hindrance to the CPAD. Sinn Féin are the only group on the left who can claim any credibility from the fight against the drug pushers. Contrary to the allegations of SF infiltration of CPAD, the SF activists actually belonged to the working class communities under threat and had every right ton involve themselves in the fight against drugs’.
In the latter there is the following reference: CPAD wants addicts to be sent to treatment centres where they might actually have a chance to get off drugs. CPAD have in the past sent addicts to the Le Patriarche centre in France but a Workers Party created controversy and lack of resources meant this could not be continued’.
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In the time when I was editing the culture section of Red Pepper, I only once had a review spiked on political grounds. My reliable magazine reviewer Ted Glenn turned his sights on the recently-magazine-ised Red Action and liked what he saw:
“Red Action were always the thinking person’s bootboys; their newspaper alternated gleeful reports of ‘discussions’ with BNP members with closely-printed analyses of key Marxist concepts. Times change: the bootboy days have gone (‘the physical strategy is by no means absolute’) and Red Action comes out in reader-friendly magazine format. Otherwise the – often unpalatable – recipe is unchanged. RA hate the middle-class left, despise New Labour, support the IRA – and are committed, like few others, to recovering revolutionary Marxism from the long dead-end of Leninism. In the battle of ideas, Red Action is a bit tasty.”
Our editor didn’t like what she saw, and the final copy was subtly different:
“Recently relaunched in reader-friendly magazine format, Red Action is the ‘bi-monthly bulletin of the organisation Red Action’. It’s essential reading for RA’s sympathisers and opponents alike – and for anyone who wants to know what’s really going on on the left. Though its street-fighting days may be over, RA’s commitment to anti-fascism and Irish republicanism is undimmed; the magazine is also a vital resource for anyone who wants to see an independent working class opposition to New Labour, or to recover Marxist theory and practice from the long dead-end of Leninism. If you think those are two separate projects, it’s your loss.”
I never actually joined – they were far too gung-ho about the whole Provo thing – but on Marxism & the need for a working-class party I thought they were very sound indeed. Up the RA!
I haven’t had much a chance to view this article online as yet, but one thing that I’ve never really understood about Pat and Jans decision to go on active service for the PIRA, is that surely politically speaking in as much militarily, that wouldn’t have becoming active within the IRSP/INLA made more sense? I mean, they were more in line with what Red Action were about weren’t they? Just a query really.
I think that’s an interesting question – and talking to people with RA sympathies there was definitely a convergence with IRSP in terms of the latter’s approach – at least in terms of what it stood for, but my assumption is that at that point IRSP/INLA had been effectively pushed back by PIRA, no? [in relation to after the IPLO etc debacle]
There is, of course, no attempt to explain the failure of their project, but it’s still interesting and worth reading. On the IRSP/INLA issue, as I understand it they veered towards the IRSM at some points, and published lengthy apologias for them around the time of the IPLO feud, but in the long run found themselves aligned more with PRM.
Can definitely see how the INLA/IRSP has been weakened over the years by fallouts and feuding or ideological disagreements between members. And as a result that would inadverntantly play into the hands of the PIRA/SF.
I can’t say with any certainty, but I can see the PIRA/SF not being too fond of having any rivals thriving within their political bases. And would put pressure behind the scenes for other groups to call a ceasefire incase it would interfere somewhat with what SF were upto at the time (and still now I suppose).
Apologies for my post being a bit incoherent, as I’m typing this out on my phone. Not quite the same as on pc!
That’s very true what you say. Certainly PIRA was always speedy about consolidating the space around it. And it seems to me that that was a powerful dynamic by 1992 onwards.
One other thing though that’s interesting is that this must be one of the very few instances when members of a further left organisation (certainly an UK based one) went on to membership of the IRA. I’m trying to think of other examples.
Yes, its quite a unique interesting case. You’d think that the PIRA would be suspicious of any advance by ‘english people’, for lack of a better description ha, to join the ranks of their active service units.
I do wonder how they (Hayes and Taylor) ended up being compromised and exposed?
Though we do now know that the PIRA’s internal security was hopelessly compromised and they vetted all new volunteers and green booked them. Wouldn’t be hard for a British agent within that department to pass on details to special branch/MI5 etc.
There was a documentary over the summer on TG4 that dealt with informers and the setting up of 3 INLA members in England by Pat Daly. Trying to find it online but not having much look.
According to Toby Hardens ‘Bandit Country’ book. A member of the PIRA did some robberies with Accion Directe. But that’s not really what you ment on a member of the left being involved with a paramiltary group.
Also, quick mention, wasn’t Nic Mullen (convicted of being involved in a PIRA ‘bomb factory’ in 1988) a ‘lefty’.
My sense of it – and not just from the UK Independent article, was that they weren’t very good at concealing their identities during the bombing campaign. Though who can tell? As you say it would seem that the organisation was in security terms on the ropes from – well… tbh from the off in the late 60s/early 70s. Moloney et al write of a trail of disaster with people turned throughout the period of the conflict.
I didn’t see the TG4 doc, but I’ll go looking now.
Yeah, it’s the movement the opposite way, towards PIRA from the further left. Mullen had an interesting career, didn’t he turn up a few years back too?
I always found with Red Action, as with the IWCA, that they spent far too much time screaming terms like “middle-class”, “social worker” and “Guardian-reading” at the rest of the left to be particularly attractive. And in fact they resmbled the worst aspects of the far-left groups they reckoned they were nothing like, in their extreme sectarianism and unwillingness to accept that anybody was legitimate save themselves. This tended to drown out anything useful they had to say about, for instance, the importance of real bread-and-butter issues.
Maybe its a simple matter of the PIRA being the obvious group to be able to join to hit back in the hardest way (militarily speaking) against their enemies.
I did read that around the time of Hugh Torney being chief of staff of the INLA, that they (IRSM) weren’t going to play ball with calling a ceasefire in line with the PIRAs (why would they, being a seperate grouping and all), but could have potentially acted as an alternative for Provisionals diaffected with the ceasefire calling to join and so were threatened into.
I can’t really substansiate that claim, but its not out of the realms of fantasy that they would have been under some sort of pressure to go along with things
I’m surpised the Provisionals didn’t try to wipe out McKevitt and co in 1997!
Sorry this has turned into an irish republicansim post. But it is still quite interesting.
Don’t know that much about Nic Mullen to be honest. Was he a member of the SWP or an anarcho or something running along those lines? Without trying to pigeonhole his politics.
I did know from my time in CW that a member in the north of Ireland had previosuly left CW to join the IRSP there, because despite differences there was enough common ground to do stuff and move things forward as best they could.
I’m not sure re Nicholas Mullen. Though the fact he did a runner to Zimbabwe (where he was IIRC arrested) perhaps says something.
I think that’s true, that had the IRSP had more coherence it would have provided a very welcome berth for those antagonistic to the ceasefires – and I’ll bet the thought struck them. But by then it was all over. Don’t you think it was really too late by 97 for the sort of actions seen in regard to the IPLO (and to a much more limited extent in terms of outcome to the Officials at various stages – if only because the latter were weirdly enough stronger on some level). That would have sunk the peace process perhaps. Though perhaps not.
Maybe it is quite a move. But maybe not as big as we might think, if events on the ground are anything to go by sometimes. I personally am not a marxist or anything like that, and identify more with anarchist tendancies. I think if there was a genuine group (ie IRSP) that was actually working class based with real support then I would rule out joining up despite not agreeing with all the ins and outs of their politics.
Ever read the Notes From The Borderland mag? Some interesting things in that one on Irish Rep. Need to get around to getting some of the old back issues.
I wonder why the likes of Anthony McIntyre and Tommy McKearney didn’t join the IRSP?
Can see how the IPLO feud or whatever anyone wants to call it, really weakened the INLA and the following events between the Torney and Gallagher factions then weakened it further, just as all the 2nd ceasefire stuff was going on.
Yeah I doubt it would have sunk the peace process, not even the RIRAs actions managed to do that and they were probably better armed (though not armed with better politics) to carry out a more sustained campaign.
I welcome the IRSPs move to stand in elections and hopefully give the SF lot a bloody nose and show them up for the shower of shit that they are. But still can’t quite understand why they (INLA) chose to decommision (didn’t they have to meet some sort of deadline?). Unless by still holding an arsenal of weapons risked the IRSP abilities to stand in elections? Looking further down the field on that one.
Non statist to statist… Not easy though. But thats very true re a genuine working class organisation and its attractiveness to a broad range of people.
I can’t recall that I have read it…but just reading their website it looks just right for inclusion in the left archive here. If you ever get a back issue relating in part to Ireland it’d be handy to get a scan for the archive.
Re mcIntyre et al, that’s a very good question. I could hazard a guess they weren’t left enough to want to make that journey but I don’t know. I also would guess that starting out again in a smaller organisation, and a substantially smaller one at that, would have little appeal.
IRSP has certainly been showing signs of life in recent times, I’d think you’re right re the last point as regards long term thinking… As well as which the securitisation not just of the North but also Britain has made that option unfeasible.
How do you mean non Statist to statist? As in potentially being ‘in power’. Sorry for not quite getting what you mean here.
I’ll certainly get some back issues ordered at some point and would be glad to fire them your way.
Read an interview with Tommy McKearney (somehwere in internet land I think, as opposed to book form) in which he talks about left wing Provos starting something called Congress 86. Think that’s the name at least. Fizzled out in the late 80’s effectively. But don’t think it went down well with mainstream PIRA thinking at the time.
Reading different things in the past about the Adams camp (from Moloneys cracking book to other bits and pieces Mr McIntyres stuff too) they almost seem like a fascist organisation. Very happy to nip any dissent at all in the bud if it didn’t fit into whatever party line was being given out at the time. True to this very day no doubt.
Probably a contentious subject, but surely where the left wing are concerned (of which I am a part of) then arming ourselves must at some point be an option if we are to defend ourselves against the rich ruling class, police state etc. That’s why I can’t quite fathom why the INLA chucked away their waterpistols.
Hold on a second, perhaps I’m entirely misinterpreting your meaning when you write CW… who are you referring to there?
RE fascistic… well… I think the history of Republican socialist formations with adjacent militarist organisations/structures tends towards certain command and control styles. Not sure that means fascism, but militarist discipline with all that entails is problematic in itself. But I suspect had things developed differently it would have been much the same with the IRSP, no? Indeed take away the fractious nature of the latter and one is left with not dissimilar dynamics – dominance by military structure over political… intolerance of dissent, etc, etc.
I agree about the possible and probable dominance of the military arm of the party and structure over the political side.
Didn’t the IRSM attempt to readdress the balance in the form of Ta Powers document? I guess a few years before that they had the likes of Dominic McGlinchey running the show and who did seem to crush a lot of dissent through the use of firearms.
Good, that’s what I thought D initially – though for one moment a few comments back I was beginning to think you actually meant the CWI – which is why I asked the question. But that’s kind of my point, wouldn’t Class War be deeply non-statist? Whereas the IRSP would seem to me to cleave to a very traditional sort of Marxist approach, Leninist really.
Ta Power was interesting, no question about it, but it seems to me to be a reworking and updating of of S.Costello’s thinking for the 1980s and by that stage given all the IRSP had been through I don’t know was it possible for them to refashion themselves into something commanding the sort of working class support that was necessary (or another way of looking at it is that SF had got there first).
I recently reread Deadly Divisions and it struck me that a smaller org like IRSP was always going to be at a disadvantage in relation to a broader one like SF which could tilt ideologically a variety of ways (and was broad enough to accommodate say the Marxists from the former PD who joined in the 1980s and much more ‘traditional’ for want of a better word people. (Btw and on a tangent one interesting thing that struck me recently, there’s been some making a lot of noise about Éire Nua and it’s supposed ‘radicalism’ seemingly oblivious to the fact that that was discarded very consciously by the Adams led grouping and has no part to play as an actual ideological influence on SF in the contemporary era).
BTW, ironically enough – name the one group with long antecedents on the Republican side that has never decommissioned, at least not officially (and if it had under the GFA terms it would have to have announced it did so).
“I do wonder how they (Hayes and Taylor) ended up being compromised and exposed?”
My memory of this is that they planted a small bomb in a bin outside Harrods. They were caught on CCTV planting it. The cops couldn’t identify them from the CCTV. So after a while, they decided to publish the CCTV images on the news. And a member of the public identified the two men and told the cops who they were and where they lived. And they were arrested. I distinctly remember seeing the pictures on Sky News – two ment in long coats walking down the street; as one drops something into the bin, the other turns and looks behind them (I assume to check were they being watched/followed).
Anyway, the above is my memory of the official narrative of how they were apprehended – there may of course be a lot more to it.
As to why they joined PIRA as opposed to INLA – well, duh, they may have been thick but they weren’t stupid. | {
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E-Publications
eProceedings of International Conference on Transformation in Communications - ICoTiC 2016
eProceedings of International Conference on Transformation in Communications - ICoTiC 2016
07 February 2017Oleh yudhinugrohoadi
After the first conference held in 2015 with the theme "Cultural Dialogue and Ethical Issues in Globalized World", the 2nd ICoTiC is re-organized with more challenging theme for academics and practitioners from various disciplines, namely "Bridging Communication among Communities in The Globalized Interconnected Era".
This event will be a joint conference between School of Communication and Business of Telkom University and Asosiasi Pendidikan Tinggi Ilmu Komunikasi (ASPIKOM), and some universities: Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Universitas Udayana (UNUD), Universitas Bina Nusantara (Binus University) and Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Gunung Djati (UIN – SGD).
The 2nd ICoTiC will be held on 23-24 November 2016 at Novotel Hotel Bandung, West Java. The choosing of the city as the site of the conference is based on the fact that Bandung as the third largest city in Indonesia is known by its cozy weather, friendly people, natural tourism objects (Tangkuban Perahu Mountain, Kawah Putih Volcanic Lake, Situ Patenggan Lake, etc) and cultural tourism objects as well (historical buildings such as Gedung Sate, Gedung Merdeka, Bosscha Observatories, and Savoy Homann Hotel). Beyond that, Bandung is progressively evolving towards a modern city. By maximizing the function of the city parks, the more sophisticated infrastructures, and the use of the Internet for the benefit of public services, Bandung is appropriately considered as a representation of the interconnected city. Apparently, Bandung, along with Buenos Aires, Curitiba, Dubai, Moscow, and Peterborough, was a finalist for the award Smart City Awards in 2015. Hence, it is not an exaggeration to have Bandung as the venue of the 2nd ICoTiC.
Futhermore, through the 2nd ICoTiC, we are encouraging all academics and those who work in the field of communication sciences, economics and business, techno-culture, new media, journalism, public relations, marketing communication, politics, and those who have an interest in arts, humanities, politics, and issues related to race, gender, and ethnicity, to acknowledge as well as to examine the times in which we live today, and become part of the solution to all the problems. | {
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You are here
Saudi Aramco, Shell plan to break up Motiva, divide up assets
Shell and Saudi Aramco on Wednesday announced plans to break up Motiva Enterprises LLC and divide up the assets, almost two decades after the US oil refining and marketing joint venture was formed.
PHOTO: AFP
[NEW YORK] Shell and Saudi Aramco on Wednesday announced plans to break up Motiva Enterprises LLC and divide up the assets, almost two decades after the US oil refining and marketing joint venture was formed.
Under the terms of a non-binding letter of intent, Saudi Aramco will retain the Motiva name, assume sole ownership of the Port Arthur, Texas refinery, the biggest in the United States, and retain 26 distribution terminals, according to a statement.
It will also have an exclusive license to use the Shell brand for gasoline and diesel sales in Texas, the majority of the Mississippi Valley, the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic markets, it said.
Shell will assume sole ownership of the Norco, Louisiana refinery, where it also operates a chemicals plant, the Convent, Louisiana refinery, nine distribution terminals, as well as Shell branded markets in Florida, Louisiana and the Northeastern region. | {
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Cumming, Ga., businessman Jorge A. Castellanos was sentenced Tuesday to four years and nine months in prison for filing false federal Individual Income Tax Returns for 2006 and 2007.
According to U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, the charges and other information presented in court, Castellanos put together a scheme where he duped his two partners and the company’s investors, and failed to report on his 2006 and 2007 personal income tax returns more than $1.3 million in investment funds he stole.
In 2004, Castellanos and his partners formed an investment business, named GC Trading LLC, which touted itself as pre-selling overstock golf equipment and providing a return of the profits to its investors. Castellanos modeled GCT LLC after another totally separate business with a very similar name that he solely owned and operated: GC Trading Inc.
Castellanos did not operate GCT LLC legitimately. Instead of purchasing golf equipment from vendors with GCT LLC’s investors’ funds, Castellanos diverted most of the money to his GCT INC bank account, and used the money to pay his own business and personal expenses.
Castellanos then tried to hide this stolen income from the Internal Revenue Service by telling his accountants the stolen income was from loans. One accountant relied on this false information and unknowingly prepared and filed false income tax returns for tax years 2006 and 2007 on Castellanos’ behalf.
The false returns resulted in a tax loss of $1,357,562.
Castellanos was convicted of the charges on Sept. 19, after his guilty plea to filing false tax returns. | {
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Introduction
The mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) like sequences have been reported to be present in some human breast cancers, but their association with breast cancer development is still controversial.
Methods
In this retrospective study, we investigated the status of MMTV-like in 42 tumor biopsies and 18 paired normal tissues from Moroccan patients with breast cancer. MMTV-like env sequences were identified by PCR and confirmed by direct DNA sequencing.
Results
Specific MMTV-like env sequences were found in 24 (57.14%) cases of breast carcinomas, and 6 (33.3%) cases of matched normal breast tissues. Comparison to sociologic and clinicopathological parameters showed no significant association between the presence of MMTV-like sequences and age, menopausal status, histological subtype, histological grade, tumor size and the expression of hormone receptors (estrogen ER and/or progesterone PgR) and Her 2. However, a significant correlation was found between MMTV-like presence and parity (p = 0.024).
Conclusions
This present study confirms the presence of MMTV-like env sequences in breast cancer in Moroccan women, prompting further evaluation, on large sampling, to elucidate the probable causal roles of MMTV-like in breast cancer development.
Worldwide, breast cancer is the leading cancer in women with approximately1.38 million new cases per year and 458.000 deaths annually [1]. In Morocco, breast cancer is the most predominant cancer and represents a great public health problem, with an age-standardized incidence rate (ASR) of 49.2 per 100 000 women [2].
Nowadays, multiple factors are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, including age, gender, ethnicity, past history of breast cancer, reproductive and hormonal factors, family history and genetic factors, exposure to ionizing radiation, and environmental and lifestyle factors [3]. A high estrogen level is suspected to increase breast cancer risk, and other hormones such as progesterone, androgen derived from the ovaries and adrenal, thyroid hormones and insulin may play important roles in breast cancer development [3]. However, it’s widely accepted that hereditary transmission of some predisposition genes, especially BRCA1 and BRCA2, are the most known factors to be directly involved in the pathogenesis of breast cancer and is associated with 5–10% of breast cancer cases [4].
Since the discovery of the role of mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) as the causal agent of mammary tumor in mice [5], the viral etiology of human breast cancer has gained a growing interest. DNA sequences showing homology to those of MMTV virus have been detected in human breast cancer, suggesting that this virus called MMTV-like, also called Human Mammary Tumor Virus (HMTV), could be the human form of the MMTV and may be involved in the development of human breast cancer [6–9].
More recently, several studies have demonstrated the presence of MMTV-like env sequences in 30 – 40% of breast cancer cases in several Western countries including the United States, Italy, Brazil and Argentina [10]. Overall, the prevalence of MMTV-like ranges between 78% in Australia to 0% in Iran, Mexico, Germany and Japan [11–15].
Thus, the present study is the first one to be undertaken to determine the presence of MMTV-like in a set of Moroccan breast cancer samples and to evaluate the association between MMTV-like infection and some clinicopathological parameters. The aim of this study is to evaluate the involvement of MMTV-like in the development of breast cancer.
Samples
In this retrospective study, 42 formalin fixed paraffin embedded samples were collected at the pathology department of the National Institute of Oncology in Rabat from patients with breast cancer. To evaluate the presence of MMTV-like in non cancerous tissues, paired normal tissues from 18 patients were also analyzed. For these cases, sampling was done at least 2 cm away from the tumor. No consent was needed for this retrospective study. The study protocol was approved by the Ethical Committees of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Rabat.
Clinicopathological parameters
Hormonal receptors (ER, PgR) were considered positive when ER and /or PgR were positive. The positive cut off is nuclear staining in at least 10% of tumor cells with any intensity.
DNA extraction
Sections of paraffin blocks were treated first with xylene to dissolve the paraffin and with ethanol to remove the remaining xylene. Cells were then lysed in the digestion buffer (Tris–HCl pH 8.0 10 mM, EDTA 10 mM, NaCl150 mM and SDS 2%) containing proteinase K (0.1 mg/ml). DNA isolation was performed with phenol-chloroforme extraction and ethanol precipitation. DNA was then resuspended in sterile distilled water [16]. The tissue DNA was precipitated with 2/5 volumes of 7.4 M ammonium acetate and 2 volumes of 100% ethanol, followed by incubation at -20°C and centrifugation at top speed (13000 relative centrifugal force). DNA was then resuspended in 25–30 μL of sterile distilled water and stored at -20°C until use. In order to evaluate the efficiency of DNA extraction, all samples were amplified by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) using PC04 and GH20 primers specific for human β-globin gene (Table 1).
Table 1
List of primers used for PCR amplification and DNA sequencing
Primer
Fragment generated size
Sequence
Tm (°C)
β-globin
PC04
268 bp
5′-CAACTTCATCCACGTTCACC-3′
54.5
GH20
5′-GAAGAGCCAAGGACAGGTAC-3′
MMTV-like detection
489 F*
171 bp
5′-ACCAGGGGGTGAGTTTTTCT-3′
57
659R*
5′-CCCATCCTGCYTCATACCAT-3′
*F: Forward primer; *R: Reverse primer.
Detection of MMTV-like sequences by PCR
MMTV-like detection was performed by PCR using MMTV659R/MMTV489F primers (Table 1). These primers amplify a fragment of 171 bp of MMTV-like highly conserved in the env gene encoding the viral coat protein.
Amplification reaction was performed in a total volume of 25 μl. The amplification mixture contained 0.4 μM of each primer, 200 μM of each dNTP (dATP, dCTP, dGTP and dUTP), 0.5 units Taq DNA polymerase (Promega, France) and 3 μl of DNA sample in 1× Taq polymerase buffer. For every reaction, a negative control in which DNA template was omitted from the amplification mixture, and a positive control (MMTV DNA) were included. The thermal cycler (Gene Amp, PCR system 9700, Applied Biosystem, Foster city, CA) was programmed for 40 cycles with an initial denaturation at 94°C for 4 min. Each cycle was performed with a denaturation at 94°C for 30 sec, annealing at 57°C for 1 min and extension at 72°C for 1 min 30 sec. At the end of the last cycle, the mixtures were incubated at 72°C for 10 min.
The amplified products were submitted to electrophoresis on a 2% agarose gel in 1× Tris-borate-EDTA buffer at pH of 8.6. The gel was stained with ethidium bromide of 10 mg/ml 2 μL in 100 mL of 1× Tris-borate-EDTA, and the 171-bp amplified bands were visualized on an ultraviolet transilluminator to check for DNA amplification.
DNA sequencing
For each PCR product, both strands were sequenced, in independent reactions, using MMTV659R/MMTV489F primers. Firstly, the PCR products were purified by the ExoSaP-IT clean up system (USB, USA).Direct sequencing was performed on an ABI 3130XL DNA analyzer (Applied Biosystems, Foster city, CA, USA), using the sequencing primer and BigDye® Terminator v3.1 Cycle Sequencing Kit (Applied Biosystems, Foster city, CA, USA), according to manufacturer’s protocol. Nucleotides sequences were aligned and compared to the reference sequence of MMTV-like (Accession number: AF243039) and MMTV (Accession number: AY152721).
Statistical analysis
Categorical variables were expressed as numbers and percentages, and continuous variables were expressed as means ± SD or median (interquartile range). Data were analyzed using the statistical soft-ware SPSS version 13.0.
The results were compared using the Chi2 test to identify associations between the different collected parameters and MMTV-like status. The statistical relationship was considered as significant if the derived p value was < 0.05.
Results
The mean age of patients was 41.6 [36.00 – 49.25] years, with extreme ages at 27 and 73. Among the 42 recruited patients, 29 were diagnosed having Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) (69%) while the remaining 13 cases were Non Inflammatory Breast Cancer (NIBC) (31%). Interestingly, more than 78% of the patients were premenopausal and 31.71% were nulliparous.
The pathological results of the 42 breast cancer cases are reported in Table 2. Except for one patient who had Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC), all the patients (97.62%) were diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC).
Table 2
Pathological Characteristics of the 42 breast cancer cases
Characteristics
Number of cases (%)
Menopausal status
Pre-menopausal
33 (78.57)
Post-menopausal
9 (21.43)
Histological type
Invasive ductal carcinoma
41 (97.62)
Invasive lobular carcinoma
1 ( 2.38)
Histological grade
I
3 ( 7.14)
II
18 (42.86)
III
21 (51.22)
Tumor size
≤20 mm
3 ( 7.14)
20-50 mm
18 (41.86)
>50 mm
21 (51.22)
Histopathologicalgrade II and III were the most frequent with a large tumor size in half of the cases (Table 2).
The presence of amplifiable DNA was confirmed for all 42 cases by PCR based-technique using primers for a fragment of β-globin gene and therefore all DNA samples were adequate for further analysis. Molecular detection of MMTV-like DNA, using PCR amplification of a conserved region of the viral env gene DNA, revealed the presence of viral DNA in 57.14% of breast cancer cases (24 of 42).
MMTV-like detection was also performed on 18 normal tissues anatomically related to tumor tissues, from patients with breast cancer. Results showed that 33.3% of cases are MMTV-like positive (6/18). Among them, 3 cases have MMTV-like env sequences in both normal and tumoral tissues whereas 3 cases have shown the absence of viral sequences in tumoral tissues.
The comparison of the clinicopathological and immunohistochemical data between the MMTV-like positive and MMTV-like negative breast cancer cases is summarized in Table 4. Overall, no association was found between the presence of MMTV-like sequences and age, menopausal status, the histological type, the SBR grade and the tumor size. Moreover, immunohistochemical expression of hormone receptors and Her2 did not vary significantly between MMTV-like positive and MMTV-like negative samples. However, our results clearly showed asignificant correlation between the presence of MMTV-like sequences and parity (P = 0,024).
Table 4
Correlation of MMTV-like status according to the clinicopathological parameters of breast cancer cases
Variables
N
Positive MMTV-like samples (%)
Negative MMTV-like samples (%)
P-value
Age
<35 years
8
2 (25)
6 (75)
0,093
35-50 years
26
16 (61.5)
10(38.5)
>50 years
8
6 (75)
2 (25)
Nulliparity
Yes
13
4 (30.8)
9 (69.2)
0,024
No
29
20 (69)
9 (31)
Menopausal status
Pre-menopausal
35
19 (54.3)
16 (45.7)
0,344
Post-menopausal
7
5 (71.4)
2 (28.6)
Inflammatory breast cancer
Yes
29
19 (65.5)
10 (34.5)
0,097
No
13
5 (38.5)
8 (61.5)
SBR grade
I
2
1 (50.0)
1 (50)
0,762
II
23
12 (52.2)
11 (47.8)
III
17
11 (64.7)
6 (35.3)
Tumor size
≤20 mm
3
3 (100)
0 (0)
0,348
20-50 mm
18
9 (50)
9 (50)
>50 mm
21
12 (57)
9 (43)
ER
+
19
9 (47.4)
10 (52.6)
0,349
-
23
15 (65.2)
8 (34.8)
PgR
+
32
20 (62.5)
12 (37.5)
0,281
-
10
4 (40)
6 (60)
Her2
+
12
7 (58.3)
5(41.7)
0,600
-
30
17 (56.7)
13(43.3)
All samples identified as positive for MMTV-like env sequence were sequenced in order to confirm the presence of MMTV-like in breast cancer samples. The complete PCR products’ sequences, aligned to MMTV and MMTV-like sequences are reported in Figure 1. Multiple nucleotide alignment showed 95-99% homology to MMTV and MMTV-like env sequences.
Overall, 8 point mutations and 1 deletion were found when comparing obtained sequences to the MMTV-like reference sequence. Interestingly, the point mutation G6241A is present in all analysed samples. Moreover, 10 of 24 cases have a nucleotide A at position 623, as the MMTV-like sequence, whereas the remaining 14 cases had a G, as the MMTV sequence.
Worldwide, the viral etiology of breast cancer is largely discussed and remains controversial. During lasts decades, there is a resurgence of interest in a potential role of MMTV-like, a retrovirus homologue of MMTV involved in breast cancer in mice [17].
Many studies have reported that sequences highly homologous to MMTV were found in up of 40% of human breast cancers [18]. To our knowledge, this study is the first one conducted in Morocco to assess the involvement of MMTV-like in the development of breast cancer.
In our current study, the viral sequences were detected in 57.14% of cases. Additionally, the MMTV-like env sequences detected in our cases were highly homologous to the MMTV and the MMTV-like sequences reported previously [19, 20]. MMTV-like detection in African countries is limited to the Tunisian population as reported by Levine et al. [21] and Hachana et al. [22]. The breast cancer samples analysed by Levine et al. [21] were characterized by the predominance of the inflammatory form and showed a high frequency of MMTV-like (74%). However, in the study of Hachana et al. [22], inflammatory breast carcinoma was found only in 1.6% of cases (2/122), and only 14% of cases were MMTV-like positives. This difference suggested a correlation between MMTV-like and inflammatory breast cancer. In our study, MMTV-like was found in both inflammatory and non inflammatory breast cancer cases.
The association of MMTV-like and the inflammatory form of breast cancer was developed in a study of inflammatory breast cancer in the United States evaluating biospecimens obtained from patients enrolled in the North American inflammatory breast cancer registry. Reported data clearly showed that 71% of inflammatory breast cases were MMTV-like positives, as compared with 40% of non-inflammatory breast cancer cases (P < .0001) [23].
In addition, there were major geographic differences. In low incidence countries of breast cancer, MMTV-like env sequences were detected in less than 17% of cases. Indeed, studies of breast cancer cases from Japan and China have detected MMTV-like env sequences respectively in 12% [24] and 16.8% of tumors [25].In contrast, our result concords with the other studies performed in high-incidence countries of breast cancer, such as the United States where MMTV-like sequences were identified in 40–70% of breast cancer cases [23]. Similarly, studies of breast cancer cases from Argentina have detected MMTV-like sequences in 31.7% of the tumors [26, 27]. Interestingly, Mazzanti et al. have reported the presence of MMTV-like env sequence in 82% of ductal carcinoma in situ, but only in 35% of infiltrating ductal carcinoma [28]. In Australia, many studies have been conducted and showed a large discrepancy. Ford et al. [9] have reported MMTV-like sequences in 40% of breast cancer cases, but more recently a study conducted by Glenn et al. [29] revealed the presence of MMTV-like in 78% of the cases which is the highest frequency published up to now.
On the other hand, other studies conducted in England, Iran, Germany and Mexico, have never found the MMTV-like sequences in their breast cancer samples [30, 12–14].
The observed differences could be explained by the technique used in the detection of the MMTV-like sequences; the quality of DNA obtained from breast cancer biopsies and could also be related to the prevalence of Musdomesticus in these regions. In fact, it’s widely accepted that mice might act as a reservoir and transmit the virus to humans [17]. Moreover, human breast cancer is higher in geographic areas (e.g., Western Europe, USA) where Mus domesticus is the most prevalent mouse species than other regions (e.g., Asia) and that M. domesticus mice produce more MMTV as they carry more exogenous virus and have more endogenous proviral loci than M. musculus[17].
In this study, MMTV-like sequences were found in 33.3% of normal tissues sampled at least 2 cm away from the tumor. Many studies have investigated the presence of MMTV DNA in normal tissues and showed the presence of MMTV-like env sequences in 0-19% [9, 22, 28]. The presence of viral DNA in normal tissues was largely discussed and all converge to the exogenous origin of the virus infection [17].Moreover, the high frequency of MMTV-like env sequences in our cases could be due to the sensitivity of the technique of detection. Indeed, the nested PCR used in our study, which is more sensitive than PCR, is often needed to detect the presence of virus DNA, because of low-level infections in humans, in contrast to mice [17].
Interestingly, MMTV-like env sequences were detected in normal tissues from 3 patients with breast cancer and not in the paired tumoral tissues. For these cases, breast cancer could have another origin and patients were on-infected by the virus. Therefore, it will be interesting to follow-up closely these patients to evaluate the outcome of the disease in the presence of the virus.
In the present study, the analysis of clinicopathological parameters showed no significant correlation between the presence of MMTV-like sequences and histological subtype, histological grade, tumor size, hormone receptors and Her 2 expression, suggesting that the infection by the MMTV-like is not associated with the tumor subgroups examined and the evolution of the disease. According to age, and even if it’s not statistically significant, the viral DNA is more frequent in elderly women leading to a trend association between viral infection and patients age, suggesting that MMTV-like may be a contributing factor in human breast carcinogenesis and breast cancer related MMTV-like requires more time for cancer development.
However, a significant association was found between MMTV-like positive samples and parity. This could be explained by the modification of breast tissues during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Indeed, the breast tissues are subject to continuous transformation. Thus, after pregnancy the breast tissue could be more susceptible to viral infection [31].
In conclusion, our study clearly shows the presence of MMTV-like env sequence in breast cancer cases in Morocco. This study prompts to conduct further evaluations, on large sampling, to elucidate the probable causal roles of MMTV-like in breast cancer development.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dr. Hugo Arias-Pulido from The University of New Mexico for his contribution in the development of the experimental protocol and the donation of positive control of MMTV.
Authors' original submitted files for images
Below are the links to the authors’ original submitted files for images.
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. | {
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Job Description:
Installs and repairs solar-energy systems designed to collect, store, and circulate solar-heated water or other medium for residential, commercial, or industrial use. Locates and marks position of collectors, holding tank, and distribution system on structure, according to specifications and blueprints. Cuts holes in roof, walls, and ceiling to install equipment and plumbing, using power saws and drills. Installs supports and brackets to anchor solar collectors and holding tank, using carpenter's hand tools. Cuts, threads, and fits plumbing according to specifications for connecting circulation system, using plumber's hand tools. Lays out and connects electrical wiring between controls and pumps according to wiring diagram and knowledge of standard industry practice, using electrician's hand tools. Tests electrical circuits and components for continuity, using electrical test equipment. Tests plumbing for leaks, using pressure gauge. Pushes control buttons to activate pumps and observes system to detect malfunctions. Repairs or replaces defective equipment. Less
Installs and repairs solar-energy systems designed to collect, store, and circulate solar-heated water or other medium for residential, commercial, or industrial use. Locates and marks position of collectors, holding tank, and distribution system on structure, according to specifications and blueprints.... More | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Christmas Gifts That Get Returned The Most
Think you know what to buy for that cousin that you haven’t talked to for a few years around the holidays?
When it comes to the guys, the most returned gifts are dress shirts and athletic apparel. The least returned gifts for men are ties, wallets, and anti-aging skincare.
When it comes to the ladies, the least returned gifts for women are watches, fine jewelry (necklaces and pendants, in particular) and anti-aging skincare.
Perhaps the most surprising stat GiftNow uncovered is that men are actually the pickiest when it comes to gifts, with only 37% accepting items as-is, compared to 48% of women who keep the items they receive. If all else fails, you can always rely on gift cards to get the job done. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Hart Sprager
Books & Audio
The Cultivation of Meditative Quiescence
In 1988, Gen Lamrimpa, a Tibetan monk, led a one-year retreat in the Pacific Northwest, during which a group of Western meditators devoted themselves to the practice of meditative quiescence (shamatha). This book is a record of the oral… Read More | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
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