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The screenplay for the sequel to J.J. Abrams' better-than-we'd-dared-hope Star Trek is almost done, and news has been trickling out. We dig through all the evidence, and ask whether this film could avoid the dreaded ailment of sequel-itis.
So there's been a trickle of news about Star Trek 2 (or 12) lately, which we've been covering in our "morning spoilers" feature. But now that Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof have almost finished the script, we've been poring over all the hints we've gotten about the next Trek chapter and wondering if it can build on what was great about the first film. Assuming Abrams even comes back to direct again, can he and his crew energizing the Dilithium chamber of great storytelling one more time?
Sequeli-itis is more than just a kind of rot, or blight, that attacks the branches of a successful original story. It's really an ailment of the soul, a withering of the innermost narrative spark. The more warmth and character a story had the first time around, the more damage sequel-itis can do — as opposed to, say, Transformers, which really didn't have that much greatness to ruin. (We list some general treatments for sequel-itis here.)
A great sequel actually builds on the themes and ideas in the first movie (or book, or whatever) and deepens the characters and their relationships. Not surprisingly, the have listed The Dark Knight as their model for how to do a great sequel. Said Damon Lindelof:
The bar is very, very high for the sequel. But I think we are looking at a movie like The Dark Knight which actually sort of went one step beyond Batman Begins. It was really about something and at the same time was a superhero movie. So we don't want to abandon all the things that made the first movie work - and have it sort of be fun and emotional, but we also really want the movie to thematically resonate, so we are putting on our highfalutin hats.
Which does sound like the right approach — and we're also encouraged by the fact that the writers have talked up the idea that this movie is about Trek's core characters, and the film's villain won't be as important as the developments of Kirk, Spock and company, and their relationships.
But here it's important to pause and ask what Star Trek was actually about — because it's not really about what the film-makers claimed it was about, back when it was hitting theaters. We were told Star Trek was showing us, for the first time, how Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura and the rest came together aboard the Enterprise and how they became a crew. But although the film does provide us with an origin for these characters, it's really about people who have been thrown off their destiny, who are trying to get back on course. We, the viewers, "know" that Kirk is supposed to end up as captain, and Spock is supposed to be his friend and first officer — but because some bald tattooed asshole went back in time and fucked everything up, they're at odds and Kirk is tossed off the Enterprise onto the ice planet of the red ass-monsters.
So a big part of why Star Trek "works" as a film is that we see these relationships asserting themselves in spite of the curveball these characters have been thrown. Kirk is still able to assume command, he and Spock are finally able to trust each other, and the bromance remains intact. But some stuff is changed as a result of the timeline switch — among other things, Spock starts a romantic relationship with Uhura, and Vulcan is destroyed, killing Spock's mom. Spock is a lot more damaged and emotionally raw as a result, but he's also more open in some ways.
So the second movie, presumably, will be about strengthening and recreating those relationships — including the famous Kirk-Spock-McCoy triumvirate, in which Spock is the voice of reason and McCoy is the voice that shouts loudly and asks if people are out of their Vulcan minds.
And given that the first film was about these characters finding their destiny in the face of a curveball from the future, I'm guessing the second film will present them with a new challenge to their hard-earned status quo.
A while ago, Badass Digest cited an inside source who told them that the villain of Trek 2 won't be Khan (as fans everywhere had speculated) but rather another classic-series villain — "Harry Mudd or Trelane or Gary Mitchell or the Talosians or the Horta." This report has gained a lot of currency since it first came out, and so far nobody's come forward to contradict it, although it remains a rumor for now.
And mulling it over, the thing that jumps out at me is that three of those five villain candidates have one thing in common — they can screw with reality, or with your perception of reality. Trelane is basically a "Q" archetype, who has godlike powers over the physical world. Gary Mitchell's also got godlike powers (although they'd have to introduce him as a character and then show him passing through the barrier, which is a lot of build-up.) And the Talosians can make you experience any illusion they wish, which is the next best thing to warping reality itself. (For the person under the Talosians' power, there's no difference between these illusions and an altered reality.)
So assuming that report is true, there's a strong chance the villain in the next movie will be someone who can literally erase the ground under our heroes' feet and leave them with nothing solid to hang onto — except each other. (I'd call it a better than 60 percent chance, given that I don't see them doing the Horta storyline. I can't imagine the Horta sustaining an entire film, and they're not even really villains.) A reality-warping villain would be the perfect test for a crew who are already in the "wrong" timeline and trying to fulfill their original destinies.
The other piece of news — which is actually confirmed — is that the new movie will have a new character, a Vulcan woman, in it. (Or Romulan, possibly, but we just had Romulans in the last movie.) Writing about a meeting among the movie-makers, the New York Times says:
Mr. Orci, meeting with the producers J. J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk, and his fellow writer Alex Kurtzman, jump-started the discussion with an iPad slide show, showing stills from the first film, snapshots of potential locations and a photo of a suggested actress for one of the roles. On the woman's photo, he had used his iPad to paint on a Vulcan ear.
This could, of course, be someone who appears for a split second in the background of one scene. But the fact that Orci and company bothered to include her in their slide show of stuff that will be in the new movie, and speculated about what actress could play her, makes her sound slightly more significant.
And as people pointed out when we mentioned this in morning spoilers a while back, the idea of introducing a Vulcan woman brings up some obvious story points — with Vulcan destroyed and the Vulcan population drastically reduced, how will Vulcans handle going into Pon Farr, the every-seven-years mating drive that the males experience? And does someone like Spock have a duty to mate with a Vulcan woman, instead of sticking with Uhura and further diluting his already half-Vulcan bloodline?
I guess what it comes down to, in my book, is these characters continuing to grapple with the questions of "Who are we?" and "Who are we meant to be?" Which, one way or another, are the issues every hero or set of heroes has to deal with in their journeys. What will make this a really compelling follow-up, rather than a lukewarm sequel, is if these characters are tested more heavily, and forced to make bigger leaps of faith as a result, than they were in the first film. And if there's more away missions on cool planets, more Kirk outbluffing baddies, more McCoy freaking out, and more starship battles, of course.


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This blog post on trust in governments is a compilation of presentations given at the OECD Workshop entitled "Joint Learning for an OECD Trust Strategy", held on 14 October 2013. The post, composed by Melinda Deleuze, is part of Wikiprogress' December spotlight on governance.
During the workshop, a variety of topics were discussed regarding trust in governments. Some common themes were why measuring trust is important, how to measure trust, the reflection of trust in governments on quality of governments, the crisis' impact on trust and reasons for lack of trust.
To give some highlights:
- Trust in government is intermingled with many other areas, namely:
- policy effectiveness
- economic policy
- the economy
- the economic crisis
- compliance
- accountability
- regulation
- education
- social capital
- After the crisis, in Iceland, trust in institutions remained relatively high, trust in politicians very low, and voter turnout relatively high.
- To strengthen the quality of government, there should be:
- free universal education
- universal social services/insurance systems
- fairness (impartiality) in the implementation of public policies
- merit-based recruitment and promotion to the civil service
- gender equality
- Unemployment has a strong, negative effect on trust in public institutions.

subset: commoncrawl


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You may find the following links helpful in learning more about tree management. Be sure to check back often as we will be adding new resources to this section.
The International Society of Arboriculture is a worldwide professional organization dedicated to fostering a greater appreciation for trees and to promoting research, technology and the professional practice of arboriculture.isa-arbor.com
DNR regional foresters offer incentive programs and technical assistance to help plant trees in urban communities and support the efforts of private land owners to better care for their forests. dnr.state.md.us
The National Arbor Day Foundation has an abundance of helpful information you can support tree planting efforts
The National Association of State Foresters is a non-profit organization that represents the directors of the State Forestry agencies from all 50 states, eight U.S. territories and the District of Columbia. Tree City USA is sponsored by the National Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the National Association of State Foresters. stateforesters.org
Information about how to select and plant appropriate trees close to power lines, including color-coded selection chart, hardiness zone map and photographs. mnpower.com
Operated by the United States Department of Agriculture the National Arboretum functions as a center for tree and botanical research.
The USDA Forest Service and State Forestry Agencies, in partnership with national and local organizations, provide a comprehensive approach to the stewardship of urban trees and forest resources. fs.fed.us
Our foresters are licensed professionals who take great care and pride in the work they do with the trees in the communities we serve. Combined, they bring more than 80 years of experience to work each day.
For answers to your questions about tree maintenance, call 1-800-642-3780.


text: It is the Hawthorn Effect, Ted....is that what you were getting at? Here is something laughable and apropos. Bertrand Russell once said in a paper that when a brain surgeon is operating on the brain of a patient, what he is observing is not in the patient's head, but inside his own head. He said he hadn't found a philosopher yet that understood what he meant by this. But the general thinking is that when you think you are perceiving reality or a physical object, in this case an exposed brain, you are not perceiving it at all, because light reflects off the physical object, travels through the air, hits your retina, triggers a nerve response, travels to the brain, and finally generates a perception of so-called "reality". We are really enclosed and shut off from the physical world in this model. But the real kicker is that while you are observing this phenomenon, and substantiating the claim that the surgeon is not perceiving the physical brain, YOU (or we) are in the same blasted predicament. And this goes on ad infinitum to generate a rather interesting paradox. We really don't know what this physical realty is, then, based on this conundrum. This line of thought has led some to reject the notion of a physical world (the Idealists) and posit that there is only mind, no material world; and others have rejected the endeavor of trying to find out whether there is a physical world, and if there is one, its nature (the phenomenalist). This latter group considers all sense-data neutral. It is what it is, period. Hence, to some extend, and back to Rick's comments, this philosophical model of perception forces us to be more skeptical in our thinking about the so-called world of "external reality" and what we can know about it. It's actually worse than the Heisenberg principle...it forbids any sort of objective perspective of the physical world, if that world even exists beyond our mental perceptions of it. And back to your comments, Ted, because we don't have this objective advantage, we instead create models or reality which we "project" upon the world, whatever that world may be. Kris ________________________________ From: email@example.com [mailto:firstname.lastname@example.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2005 4:37 PM To: email@example.com Subject: Re: AW: zen and the fluent music Just a thought, I dunno if this has anything to do with Heisenberg or not. But there is a generally held theory that (on some level) observation alters the observed and therefore affects the results. I do not know if this is some corollary to the principle that the more accurately you determine the position of a sub-atomic particle the less you can determine about it's specific direction and/or velocity or not -- but there seems to be a tangential connection of some sort there (in my mind at least). I'm cetainly no expert though. I'm also not sure if this is the connection that Rick's friend might be refering to but it seems plausable that it could be -- if only as a metaphoric parallel. We observe the universe and perceive (and then project on it) "paterns" and schemes of organization to help us understand it based on what we see. But what we see is always incomplete at some level -- and changing too. So the paterns we develop are always inevitably inacurate, incomplete and (from time to time) changing. Also, the more we know (if we are wise) the more we know we don't know. Some new-agey folks believe our "projections" actually alter the "reality" around us. I don't believe it a bit. But that's an "idea" that's making the rounds. "Think nice thoughts and it will become a world of love and peace . . . oh yeah . . . and send all you money to Guru Wannahockaloogey." I believe it's more like Ed Abby says in one of my favorite quotes by him: "Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion." Some truths are mutable, some (in my now cantakerous AARP-member years) seem much less so. What can I say? I'm a cranky OLD GUY and I like to hear myself talk. Best regards, tEd (r) kiLLiAn In a message dated 7/12/05 2:25:35 PM, firstname.lastname@example.com writes: I don't see the Heisenberg influence here at all. It seems like taking Einstein's laws to explain why cars do not drive faster than 55 or 65 mph on American highways... "Different is not always better, but better is always different" http://www.pfmentum.com/flux.html http://www.CDbaby.com/cd/tedkillian http://www.guitar9.com/fluxaeterna.html http://www.garageband.com/artist/ArsOcarina http://www.towerrecords.com/product.aspx?pfid=2845073 http://www.netmusic.com/web/album.aspx?a_id=CBNM_17314 http://www.indiejazz.com/ProductDetailsView.aspx?ProductID=193 Ted Killian's "Flux Aeterna" is also available at: Apple iTunes, BuyMusic, Rhapsody, MusicMatch, MusicNet, DiscLogic, Napster, AudioLunchbox, Lindows, QTRnote, Music4Cents, Etherstream, RuleRadio, EMEPE3, Sony Connect, CatchMusic, Puretracks, and Viztas. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Blah, blah, blah. So???


text: From a pair of too-cool sisters to a 21-year-old editor darling, meet fashion's most promising new talents. At 21 years old, Mathieu Mirano is one of the youngest (and most talented) designers in the game. The one-time Parsons student jumpstarted his career with a lookbook of his very first collection — consisting of just nine pieces — that he shot in his apartment. "I sent it out," he says, "and strangely enough, only the top guns came out to say how much they loved it." A fortuitous call from _Women's Wear Daily_ had Mathieu cutting a post-collection vacation short, flying to New York for a meeting, and never looking back.\n\n\n\n This season he presented at Lincoln Center, a goal he didn't think he would achieve so early in his career. "When I was told I was going to show at the tents and that I was accepted into this group with the greatest designers in New York, I couldn't believe it. I had a little emotional moment with myself, and said, 'This is really going to happen.'" Take one look at his designs, and you can see why he's being welcomed into the fold.\n\n\n\n According to Mirano, his spring collection profiles a "scientist transforming into this rainbow-colored creature that she's studying". This means the first couple looks involve what must be the world's most stylish white lab coats, while the last feature spectacular bursts of color. Fossil-printed leather and beautifully draped dresses accessorized with dinosaur bone jewelry and Lucite-bottomed heels (also designed by Mathieu) fill in in between. However, the pièce de résistance is arguably a dress whose bodice is made of iridescent beetle wings. You read that right: beetle wings.\n\n\n\n "We always want to use new materials," Mathieu explains. "So we were researching, and we found these beetle wings in Thailand. Here in the United States, when we eat an oyster, we throw away the shell; in Thailand, they actually eat the beetle and throw away the wings." Finding them too beautiful to ignore, his small team imported the wings and invented a process for attaching them to fabric. "It's great because it's like a different use of fine jewelry. The wing is like a gemstone, like a ruby or a diamond in a way." How does one follow up a beetle wing bodice? We'll have to wait until next season to find out. Sisters Darlene and Lizzy Okpo are New York cool kids through and through. Born in the Bronx, raised in Staten Island, and currently residing in Brooklyn, "we've literally been in all five boroughs at one point in our life," Lizzy explains. It was her job at Opening Ceremony, that Manhattan mecca of all things hip, that allowed for the debut of the clothing line she cooked up with Darlene. The pair count downtown darling Solange Knowles as a close friend. Yes, these girls are painfully, enviably, undeniably cool, but it's their keen design sense that's getting them noticed.\n\n\n\n Conceived five years ago, William Okpo the brand was inspired by the William Okpo the man, who just happens to be Darlene and Lizzy's father. "We grew up watching our dad be very stern and militant about his appearance all the time," says Lizzy. "We were really inspired by the idea of him coming to the U.S. from Nigeria in 1976 and obtaining this superb look." The first William Okpo collection hit Opening Ceremony's shelves in the fall of 2010, and the accolades haven't stopped since.\n\n\n\n After presenting at GenArt's Fresh Faces of Fashion show last year and its New Garde show in February, the sisters mounted their very first solo presentation at New York Fashion Week last month. The collection is supremely functional (denim and drawstrings) and humbly chic (double collars!), inspired by "everyday people". It's easy to see their father's influence in the clean, crisp pieces. The footwear — clear plastic laceups in bright blue and orange, the result of a collaboration with Namibian shoemaker Herbert Schier — is also something to behold.\n\n\n\n "We're still young, still growing, still learning," Darlene says, adding that the two dream of having their own store one day. "It's more than just fashion, this whole idea of having a business. What me and Lizzy love the most is being able to have something we actually own." And what is it like working with her sister? "Stressful, annoying, aggravating," she jokes. "We have no choice but to deal with each other! If we decide we just want to yell at each other, my father comes in." And even then, we have to imagine William is pretty darn proud. While plenty of ambitious kids realize they want to get into fashion at an early age, few can say they were working by the time they were 14. Jonathan Simkhai had just entered high school when a shop owner in his hometown of Scarsdale, a suburb of New York City, offered him a job after seeing him pick out clothes for his friends.\n\n\n\n A sales position soon turned into a buying position. "I started going to appointments and buying clothes, doing that whole market thing," explains Jonathan. "And then I started working with my uncle who had an apparel manufacturing company." While working for his uncle, he decided to explore the design side of the industry, taking classes at Parsons and FIT. Part of the impetus for starting his own line was his desire to reach a younger customer, to dress his friends again.\n\n\n\n "One of my girlfriends was borrowing my clothes and wearing oversized men's shirts to go out. I called her up and was like, 'Oh, I need my shirt back.' But she told me she loved it so much!" he says with a laugh. "There was a void in the market for menswear-inspired designer stuff, so I told her, 'I'll make a collection of clothes for you, and I'll get my stuff back.'"\n\n\n\n Starting with men's shirts and going from there, Jonathan started perfecting his sporty masculine-meets-feminine aesthetic. His spring collection marked the first time he showed on a large scale, presenting at Milk Studios in New York. Oozing California cool, the models donned mirrored shades and duds — inspired by LA skate culture past and present — that managed to be structured but not rigid.\n\n\n\n It comes as no surprise that Jonathan sees his whole operation as a balancing act. Not only does he explore juxtaposition in his designs, his background in retail has him constantly thinking about what's wearable (and sells) versus what's interesting to shoot. However, this hasn't been too much of a challenge for Jonathan, who has caught the eye of buyers (you can find his wares at Barneys) and editors alike.\n\n\n\n As for what to expect going forward, the designer has plans for accessories and collaborations, but his most exciting next move could involve menswear. Men's clothing from the newly minted prince of menswear-inspired womenswear sounds promising indeed. Never heard of Ostwald Helgason? That's about to change in a big way. The London-based label held its second-ever presentation at Milk Studios during New York Fashion Week, showing off a collection that was among the most memorable of the season.\n\n\n\n Having garnered support from professional cool hunters Opening Ceremony back in 2010, Susanne Ostwald and Ingvar Helgason have seen their profile rise significantly in the past few months. Their fall collection, inspired by "the race to the South Pole, the idea of exploring new territories and sailing through uncharted seas", was a hit among editors and street style devotees. "It was also the first time we developed our own exclusive fabric and fully knitted garments," they add. And with fans as varied as Rihanna and Susie Bubble, the duo is cutting a wide swath.\n\n\n\n Susanne and Ingvar studied fashion design in their native countries (Germany and Iceland, respectively) before meeting in London, where they both worked for Marjan Pejoski, a designer best known for creating Björk's now-iconic swan dress. In 2008, they started Ostwald Helgason, bringing together Susanne's interest in color and prints and Ingvar's in materials and silhouettes. "Our focus is on unexpected detail and subversive use of color and pattern," says the pair.\n\n\n\n For spring, they looked to Frances Brody, a philanthropist who commissioned Matisse to create a mosaic for her Los Angeles home. Bits of the famous piece show up in the collection's prints, as do references to Brody's mid-century California style (think saturated colors and mod shapes). The result is striking, to say the least.\n\n\n\n Having solidified their place in the hearts (and closets) of fashion's elite, Susanne and Ingvar are continuing to develop their accessories line and cook up their next collection. While their designs have evolved over the past couple of years, the brand's ethos remains the same.\n\n\n\n "We are drawn to a sense of adventure and exploration, and the Ostwald Helgason girl is always on some kind of expedition into the unknown," they explain. "She is definitely curious about the world around her." "I wanted to do something that was very American without being heritage American," says Matthew Edelstein, recalling the genesis of his brand Friends & Associates. This may seem like a tall order given the nostalgia-drenched runways of late, but Matthew has made good on his wish. He unveiled his first collection (a resort collection, no less) back in June, and the label has slowly but surely been gaining steam.\n\n\n\n Growing up in a small town in Washington, Matthew knew he always wanted to be a designer. His passion led him to Parsons, where he realized fashion magazines were a better fit. He was an assistant at _W_ before hopping around to _Harper's Bazaar_ and _Details_, eventually leading to a career as a freelance stylist. His flexible freelance schedule gave him time to explore his then-dormant design ambitions, and Friends & Associates was born.\n\n\n\n "It's all about the idea of working with people that you enjoy being with and having fun and being creative together," he says of the name. "And then the 'Associates' part is like a joke on a law firm. It's 'Friends' for fun and 'Associates' because we mean business. It's the opposite of one person's name on the label."\n\n\n\n Matthew and his team created a mix-and-match collection full of chic separates for their debut, taking cues from "iconic uniforms of different kinds: athletic, cheerleader, military, sailor, scout". As he explains, "We take these shapes and give them a contemporary twist with new proportions and strong color." The final products are clean, elemental, and open to personal sartorial interpretation.\n\n\n\n The designer is now hard at work on his spring collection — which will build on resort and allow for even more mixing and matching — and he's savoring the warm reception he's gotten from his old colleagues. "It's super exciting to show all of these editors who I know from working in magazines the collection. I'm on the complete opposite side of things!" he enthuses. "Showing people that you've known for a long time a project that's really close to your heart and having them respond well to it is just amazing." Misha Nonoo's international pedigree is enviable: a childhood in Bahrain, teen years spent in London, college in Paris. Given her worldly formative years, it's notable that all of her designs are produced in their entirety in New York, the city she moved to upon graduation.\n\n\n\n "It's important to support an industry that is dying in certain places," Misha emphasizes. "It gets harder and harder to find people to bead, harder to find people who will do special finishes or hems or knit. That's one of the most challenging parts really, making sure that we maintain that 'Made in New York' aspect."\n\n\n\n It was her first job, working for a small eveningwear designer who manufactured her pieces domestically, that stoked her interest in local production. A business major, she treated her position as an apprenticeship as she learned the ins and outs of patternmaking, fabric selection, and everything else that goes into designing.\n\n\n\n "I'd always known I wanted to work in fashion, and I always wanted to have my own label. I really thought about the fact that I probably needed to go to school and study the business part, because that was what I was much more lacking in than having a design idea," she says of her nontraditional path. "I had this aesthetic in my mind already of what I wanted to create, but I thought I've got to get the nuts and bolts down if I'm going to have my own business."\n\n\n\n As for that aesthetic, Misha describes it as "a new, refined elegance" that reflects her European upbringing. Her friend Pippa Middleton has been spotted in her designs, though it's not just the bright young things that she's targeting. "I design for a woman who is very confident, accomplished, and completely ageless," she explains, adding that her customers range from twenty-somethings to women in their 60s.\n\n\n\n Her latest collection was her biggest yet, and she incorporated playful prints into her arsenal of ladylike shapes. Misha says she may return to her eveningwear roots for a formal capsule collection, having just gotten married in Venice in a dress that was produced in New York's garment district. "It took 450 hours of hand labor," she says. "All made here." By all accounts, Marissa Webb is a fashion industry vet. An education at FIT, a first job working with Ralph Lauren, and ten years designing for J.Crew more than prepared her for starting her own eponymous label this fall. "I felt like it was now or never," she explains. "I'm not one to give up my dreams that easily."\n\n\n\n And so she began to conceptualize what a Marissa Webb brand might look like. The answer involved a study in contrasts, "taking whimsical, feminine references and giving them a masculine edge", resulting in pieces like a leather tutu skirt. The tension between architecture and nature is also of interest to Marissa, who spent her childhood surrounded by the latter and her adult life in New York City.\n\n\n\n "Starting your own company from the ground up is a huge undertaking, much more then I ever imagined. We are all constantly multi-tasking, and we all wear multiple hats," she says of her small team which includes her brother and sister. "Besides months of just setting up shop, one of our greatest challenges was finding the right people to work with, people who would take a chance with us. It was a lot of pounding the pavement and honestly knocking on doors in the Garment District."\n\n\n\n That pavement pounding paid off last month when she unveiled the fruits of her labor, a 20-look collection fit for the urban sophisticate. Black leather shorts and a beautifully structured white dress were shown alongside pops of neon and an irresistible tie-dyed print. Accessories are also in the mix, which makes sense given one of her many roles at J.Crew was head accessories designer.\n\n\n\n So, where will you be able to find the cool-yet-elegant goods? Marissa will be peddling her wares on her own e-commerce site, and she's currently in talks with wholesale buyers. "Stay tuned!" she says. We will, and we certainly won't be the only ones.


text: Back Cancer Survivor Tips Learning how to take care of your physical and mental health after a cancer diagnosis is the key to living your life to the fullest. These steps from the National Cancer Institute can help cancer survivors do just that. Understand your plan of care Make sure your health care provider clearly explains what to expect: How often will you need to return for checkups? What tests will you need? What major physical and emotional issues can you expect to face in the next year or two, and how should you deal with them? If your oncologist recommends frequent checks for cancer recurrence, take the advice seriously. Get screenings Don't neglect other recommended cancer screenings. A woman successfully treated for melanoma should have regular mammograms, just like other women. Manage your symptoms Be proactive in dealing with any aftereffects of radiation or chemotherapy. Contact your doctor if you are worried about new or ongoing symptoms. This includes cognitive changes, such as short-term memory loss, inability to remember names or finish sentences, confusion, or inability to complete simple tasks. Exercise regularly Recent studies show a moderate exercise program can improve physical stamina and lift the psychological well-being of people who are feeling fatigued long after treatment has ended. Develop a plan for physical activity that works for you, based on your health care provider's advice. Avoid tobacco Staying smoke-free is one of the most important things you can do to stay healthy and cancer-free. Improve your nutrition Make sure you're eating a well-rounded diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Maintain your mental health Signs that you may need help from a mental health professional include constantly worrying about your cancer returning or often feeling anxious or depressed. Consider calling a social worker, clinical psychologist, or psychiatrist. Stay current with treatment developments Visit reputable websites, including the NCI site. Or, visit the NCI's Cancer Information Service. Check out the American Cancer Society website and its Cancer Survivors Network. Seek support Support groups for cancer survivors can be a great source of comfort when you suffer fear of recurrence, have questions about self-care, or just need some understanding. Support groups can also be helpful for family members, including children.


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Khushaal Susral Ep – 117 – 10th November 2016 Khushaal Susraal portrays story of two families, who get bonded with each other after marriage of their children Huma and Umer.
Fazaila Lashari
Sadia Ghaffar
Furqan Qureshi
Rubina Arif
Anwer Iqbal
Afraz Rasool
Asad Mehmood
Rizz Kamali and others.
Director: Shahid Younus
Writer: Nuzhat Suman
Mon to Thu at 7:30PM only on ARY Zindagi.


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Keeping an eye on the bigger picture once a week is helpful because trading in the direction of the weekly trend has better odds of being profitable. Below are the weekly reversal levels for over 1500 stocks and ETF. Click the "Expand" button (bottom right) to watch in full screen mode.
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Trade smart, Danny
Note: If you have any trouble to see the presentation below, or if you want to download the PDF file for offline use, then you can click here.


text: Within a healthcare facility, miscommunication might be dangerous. If your medical doctor can't fully grasp a patient due to a vocabulary buffer, the chances of misdiagnosis and mistreatment escalate. It's not unconventional for members of the family to offer as advert hoc interpreters in such scenarios, even if this method may cause long lasting issues.… Continue reading Children Policlinic


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TUESDAY, Oct. 25, 2011 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that the active ingredient in the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, which was initially developed as a treatment for heart disease, could help children with a rare condition called pulmonary arterial hypertension.
The drug, which is expensive to take regularly and has side effects, is already approved under the name Revatio to treat the condition in adults. Some pediatricians already use it to treat children, noted Dr. Thomas Kulik, senior associate in cardiology at Children's Hospital Boston. But it has not yet received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for that purpose.
Pulmonary arterial hypertension, a rare condition, causes abnormally high blood pressure in the arteries that lead to the lungs. It can be inherited, accompany some forms of heart disease or occur for no known reason, Kulik said. The disease can limit the ability to exercise and lead to heart failure or even death.
In adults, research has shown that Revatio can help improve oxygen delivery and exercise tolerance but it's not clear if it improves lifespan, said Kulik, who is also an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
In the new study, researchers gave a placebo or low, medium or high doses of sildenafil to children aged 1 to 17 years for 16 weeks. After that time, they tested 105 of the children.
Previously, study author Dr. Robyn Barst of Columbia University in New York City led research that found that the active ingredient in another erectile drug, Cialis (tadalafil), seemed to effectively treat pulmonary hypertension in adults.
In the new study, researchers found that children who took the drug and could exercise at the end of the study had more improvement in lung function than those who took the placebo. The researchers, including two from Pfizer, manufacturer of Viagra and Revatio, also found that the children could exercise more and with greater ease.
Kulik, who is familiar with the findings but was not involved with the study, said the effect was modest at best. Still, he said, "sildenafil probably somewhat increases the ability of pediatric patients to exercise."
In adults, he said, the drug can cause vision problems, and in kids it can cause a condition called priapism, in which the penis remains erect. Lowering the dose can eliminate the problem, he said.
Overall, a medium dose appears safest and most effective, the researchers said, but still more research is needed. Kulik said it will take some time to determine if it improves lifespan for children with the condition.
The drug can cost several thousand dollars a year, he said.
The study was scheduled to be released Tuesday at the American College of Chest Physicians annual meeting, in Honolulu.
Research presented at meetings is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
More information
To learn more about pulmonary arterial hypertension, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.


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I spoke earlier today at the 2013 Liberty Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland. But I don't think anybody is going to remember my speech about the collapse of the welfare state, even though I presented lots of powerful data from the BIS, OECD, and IMF, and also shared a very funny cartoon showing what happens when there's nothing left for interest groups to steal.
At a normal conference, my remarks may have resonated, but I freely admit that I was completely overshadowed by the presentation of Shin Dong-Hyuk, who is the only person to have successfully escaped from the North Korean gulag.
In the future, if I ever get discouraged and think the fight for freedom is too difficult, I will watch this video and realize that nothing in my life will ever compare to the horror of living under communism. It's not nearly as powerful as today's first-person presentation, but the video will give you some sense of the utter barbarity of the North Korean government.
If you want more information, here is his Wikipedia entry, but I also suggest you watch this short speech by Blaine Harden, a journalist who wrote the story of Shin's escape.
Keep in mind, by the way, that North Korea is an awful and repressive country even for the people who aren't in the gulags. Malnutrition is such a problem, for instance, that children are stunted and the North Korean army had to lower its requirements to allow soldiers as short as 4'8″.
So perhaps now you understand why I get so upset when people in the west glorify communist thugs such as Che Guevara, or use the Soviet hammer and sickle as a cutesy marketing gimmick.
I hope nobody would ever think to wear a Hermann Göring t-shirt or use the swastika in a value-neutral fashion, so why should it be okay to whitewash and/or rehabilitate communists?
P.S. I was never a fan of former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, but he deserves lasting applause for seeking to protect children from the anti-western, soft-on-communism crap published by the late historian Howard Zinn.
P.P.S. Since today's post is about a very dour topic, let's close with a bit of humor about the communist version of efficiency.


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The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) has granted 3.9 million Swedish crowns (US$ 587,000) for a three-year project on sustainable sanitation in flooded areas in India. The research project is lead by Stockholm Environment Institute in collaboration with the WASH Institute, India, and focuses on sustainable sanitation solutions in areas experiencing recurrent flooding. The state of Bihar is the most flood-prone state in India with more than 16 percent of the total flood-affected area and with more than 22 percent of India's flood-affected population.
The current sanitation coverage in Bihar is less than 25 % but actual use is much lower.
Flooding and the sanitation-related issues that come with it strongly affect the most vulnerable individuals, children under five, the disabled, elderly and child-bearing women, through diarrheal diseases.
SEI announced the project at the Global Forum on Sanitation and Hygiene which took place from 9-14 October 2011 in Mumbai, India.
For more on the project go to the SEI web site.
Source: WSSCC Global Forum on Sanitation and Hygiene


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When child support is calculated, it is based on the state's guidelines and how they interact with the parents' income, the number of children involved, and the percentage of time each party has with the children. These parameters provide the court with the necessary information …CONTINUE READING
Tag: child support case
Changing Your Thinking Behind Saving Money After a Divorce
After a divorce, it can be challenging to think about your financial future. In the abstract, it can feel like you are facing a hill that you will never be able to climb. With half of your assets given to your ex-spouse, the recovery process …CONTINUE READING
Hasselhoff's Situation Illustrates Need for Alimony Modification, Termination
When you have been paying alimony for a long time, it can make your bank account feel like a boat, attempting to stay afloat. However, the boat is leaking slowly, and no matter how many different supplies you may have, you do not have anything …CONTINUE READING
Men's Divorce Countdown: Tax Implications of Divorce
Men's Divorce is proud to present Men's Divorce Countdown, sponsored by Cordell & Cordell! Join Dan Pearce, online editor at MensDivorce.com, as he details the tax implications of divorce. Daniel PearceDan Pearce is an Online Editor for Lexicon, focusing on subjects related to the legal …CONTINUE READING


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In a city with 137 liquor licenses in one square mile, it is hard to imagine a time when selling alcohol was illegal. A time when customers ordered ice cream sodas at the bar.
Schnackenberg's, the luncheonette founded in 1931 on Washington Street, closed for renovations at the end of this summer. Not much has changed there in 50 years, but the historic eatery will reopen in the spring of 2013 after the changing of hands and a long renovation.
Local husband and wife restaurateurs Eugene and Joyce Flinn, who own Amanda's and Elysian Café, have signed a long-term lease from the family that owns the authentic soda shop.
Schnackenberg's is the second oldest store in Hoboken, behind United Decorating Company on lower Washington Street. Some Hoboken residents feared that the integrity of the venue would be lost. Schnackenberg's vintage Coca Cola sign stands out on a drive down Washington Street.
"Many people have an emotional attachment to this place." – Eugene Flinn
The cosmetic changes will be minor. According to Flinn, most of the changes will be operational and behind the scenes. There will be slight changes to the menu, which recently consisted of low-cost sandwiches, burgers, milkshakes, and egg creams. The new fare will be similar to the old.
"The goal is to restore it to its heyday," Eugene Flinn said Wednesday, "[when] ice cream soda shops took over the social marketplace during Prohibition and soda jerks became like bartenders."
Mom and Pop shop
Schnackenberg's was opened over Labor Day weekend in 1931. Dorothy Novak, Mark Novak's mother and co-owner, inherited the restaurant from her parents and passed it on to Mark to follow tradition. Dorothy Novak has devoted much of her life to Schnackenberg's. It was very important to both Mark and Dorothy to keep the name.
Flinn and Novak have become friends through the years, which is why Novak trusts Flinn with the eatery's reputation.
"[Schnackenberg's] is owned by my mother and I, and my mother has retired," said Novak. "Eugene and I have been talking about this for years and his reputation speaks for itself."
"They also own the building," Flinn said of the Novaks. "So they need to be happy with who they are living above as well."
"We wanted to preserve the family tradition," Novak said. "[Flinn] was the best possible option as far as I am concerned."
What's in store?
The main goal of the new and improved Schnackenberg's will be breakfast and lunch, as well as old-fashioned ice cream sodas and sundaes for the kids.
"People are always looking for a social meeting place that may not include alcohol," Flinn said.
Aesthetically, patrons will not see that drastic of a change upon walking in. The floors and booths will be kept the same.
The menu will concentrate on building more of a breakfast and luncheonette base, but many fan favorites will stay. The price range should also remain comparable.
Schnackenberg's is well-known for making handmade chocolates, a recipe that Novak's grandfather used in 1931. There is a chocolate kitchen in the basement so the chocolates are melted into the moldings right on site. The chocolate kitchen will be upgraded and continue to churn out the sweets and display them for the holidays, like Easter.
The basement itself will undergo major renovation, as will other components that increase functionality and operations.
The outside will also be redone, but only to restore the 1930s façade. This will include the infamous signage.
"People forget what Hoboken was [back then]," Flinn said. "We're trying to retain the traditional businesses."
Flinn also noted that he will be using all local tradesmen to do the work. Flinn has employed architect Lee Levine and graphic designer Phil Huling as well as the local laborers he plans to hire.
"Many people have an emotional attachment to this place," said Flinn.
Schnackenberg's is opting to open in April if all goes well.
Amanda Palasciano may be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Like night and day: How commuters change population numbers
Ever wonder where all the other people stop-and-going around you during your commute are on their way to? Or how many people are in town during the week versus on the weekends? No? Well, just go with me on this.
Suburb-to-suburb commuters outnumber city-to-suburb commuters in the U.S., but in a sprawling metro area like Atlanta's, there's a good chance your fellow commuters are on their way not just to another town, but to another county.
For their June "regional snapshot" (PDF) the ARC used 2010 census data to find out how the morning and afternoon flow of commuters affect the population of each of the 10 core metro counties by comparing daytime populations to resident populations.
"Daytime population," by the Census Bureau's definition, incluldes "the number of people who are present in an area during normal business hours, including workers. This is in contrast to the 'resident' population present during the evening and nighttime hours."
The tricky element of that calculation is that the estimates are based on trips made only by workers, so they don't include people coming into an area for anything other than work, like shopping, conventions, tourism or even those on business trips.
The largest daytime change occurs in Fulton Co, where the population increases by more than 32, percent to almost 1.2 million. Clayton County's daytime population is boosted by 12.8 percent, thanks in part to the 58,000 people who work in and around the airport. Daytime population increases in Cobb and DeKalb counties are 2.3 and 0.2 percent, respectively.
At the other end of the spectrum, Paulding County's population decreases by 25 percent during the day, and Cherokee County's by more than 20 percent. Barrow County's population falls by nearly 18 percent during the day, while Henry and Coweta County's both fall by 15.7 percent.
Although it has the second largest percentage increase in daytime population for work, Clayton County also has the higest percentage of people leaving during the day for all trips combined, work and non-work. More than 51 percent of daytime trips that originate in Clayton County end somewhere else. Rockdale County was next, with about 47 precent of all daytime trips going outside the county, then DeKalb County at nearly 44 percent.
No huge surprises here, but it's interesting to see some numbers put to the daily migrations.


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I used to buy all of Henry's jeans used and then I passed them on to E. But there comes an age when you can no longer find any used jeans in your son's size. It starts around 4T and there is a virtual jean desert until… well, H wears a 6 slim and I still can't find them. Because boys this age are HARD on jeans.
I have not been able to pass jeans down either. By the time one boy is done with them, there is only enough jean left for shorts, if I'm lucky. Besides that, E is determined to keep growing and seems to be catching up to his older brother. They are only one size apart now. Some things fit both of them.
All of this is to tell you that patching jeans has become an important skill in this house.
Here is a quick tutorial of how I keep my boys' knees covered through the winter. This method give the jeans that popular "destroyed" look, except they are hole-free and will hold up for a few more months.
Here we have a pair on holey jeans…
I have yet to buy a patch, instead I have cut "patches" from the lower legs and backs of jeans that were too holey to be repaired. I use pinking shears to cut a piece of denim large enough to cover the hole. If you don't have any jeans to cut from, you can buy jean patches at a fabric store.
Pin your patch to the inside of the jeans, with the pins on the outside so you can pull them out as you sew.
My sewing machine has this crazy stitch. All machines are different, but select the craziest stitch you have.
Next I remove the accessories box that allows my machine to have a free arm…
And then I slide the leg of the jeans over the arm. This is so that I can stitch the patch on without sewing through the whole leg, closing it on accident.
Now start sewing. You are going to stitch all over the hole and the patch. Back-stitch is your friend, because with the jeans over the arm like this you can't turn them at all.
I found it helpful to stick my left hand in the top of the jeans and use my right hand to operate the back-stitch lever. Now sew, sew, sew. Cover the entire hole and all around it.
Almost done. Sew like crazy.
After the patch is covered with crazy stitches, slide the jeans off the machine arm, turn inside out and trim any excess patch away.
All done! A little extra life with a rough and tough patch for your kids' jeans!
Depending on the thread you use, you can really make the patch stand out with contrasting thread, or disappear if you can get a good color match. I have about four different blues. I try to get close, but thankfully, my boys are at an age where they really don't care either way.
Do you patch kids' clothes? What tips do you have?


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Athletic Theme from Yoshi's Island
In this page you will find information and downloads about the musical theme known as "Athletic Theme" from the Super Nintendo (SNES) game
"Yoshi's Island". This is one of the overworld themes you can hear in several stages.
If you have problems downloading or opening the files, solve them here: How to Use this Website.
General information
Name: Athletic Theme
Game: Yoshi's Island
System: Super Nintendo (SNES)
Composer: Koji Kondo
Length: 0:47 (main loop)
Key: F major
Original music: Listen on YouTube
Arrangement: Gori Fater's piano version
Preview sheet music: Page 1 Page 2
Sheet music: Download
Music file: Download
MIDI file: Download
(optimized for Synthesia)
Synthesia: View on Synthesia
/ Play on
Synthesia / Show scores
Game footage: Watch on YouTube
Arranger: Gori Fater
Have you recorded yourself on video playing this piece? Great! Add a link to this page on your video description, send us the link to your video (firstname.lastname@example.com) or write it on the comments and we'll
put it here for everybody to check out.
Other arrangements
Have you got a different arrangement of this theme on your website? Tell us on the comments and we'll put a link here, or
submit it to us!
More Yoshi's Island sheet music
More Super Nintendo (SNES) sheet music
Musical Comments


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Screenagers Focus on Info Seeking
May 27, 2006 at 12:03 am Marie L. Radford 5 comments
I've been wanting to follow-up on my previous post about "screenagers." I am a Co-Principal Investigator (with Lynn Sillipigni of OCLC) of an IMLS grant "Seeking Synchronicity" designed to study virtual reference services (VRS) from user, non-user, and librarian viewpoints. Now in Phase I of the grant, we're in the midst of a series of focus groups, so far having completed 6 focus groups: 4 with non-users of VRS (3 with teens from 12-18 years old, 1 with college students); and 2 with VRS librarians. Soon to come are 2 groups of VRS users.
The series of 3 focus groups with teens just concluded on May 15th at Elizabeth Public Library, NJ where the Library Garden's own Kimberly Paone directs both YA and adult reference services. The other teen groups were held in a rural public library (Denton, Maryland) and a suburban high school (Springfield Township, PA). I want to share some preliminary impressions from these focus groups (stay tuned for a formal paper).
We asked the teens about their information seeking behaviors ("Where do you go for help when you are stuck in an assignment?") For 2 of the 3 groups, not surprisingly, their #1 choice is Google. Few bothered to check any info found on Google, it was assumed to be correct unless their "intuition" urged them to fact check. They also frequently ask classmates for homework help (but usually only the "smart ones," they said, of course).
The other group, from the high school, was more likely to go to their Springfield Township Virtual Library website to use databases or to ask their stellar librarian, Joyce Valenza for help. They regarded Google as convenient, but not as credible as articles found in databases. At Elizabeth PL, the students preferred face-to-face interactions with Kimberly Paone to any other form of communication with a librarian (e.g., phone, email, or chat). Some preferred to find information on their own through flailing around on Google or other search engines or in the library's online catalog. Most carry cell phones but most were unaware that the library had a phone reference service (!) One admitted to being unaware that the library had a web page.
Across all three focus groups, most teens were regular library users and all but a few were Instant Messenger users. When asked why they did not try live chat with librarians, most said that they were unaware that these services existed. All groups were also extremely wary of chat situations as being potentially unsafe. These unknown and unfamiliar chat librarians were seen as potential "psycho killers" (yes, that's a quote!).
Many teens expressed the concern that the librarians in chat would not be interested in them or in their questions and might not have the right information for their school assignments. They clearly treasured the one-on-one personal relationships they had developed with their librarians and most were unwilling to give chat a try. When told that live chat reference was 24/7 in Maryland and NJ (PA is starting a statewide chat service in the near future) some eyebrows shot up as they liked this idea since some prefer to do homework late at night.
Interesting stuff? These focus groups are collecting preliminary information to help design online surveys and telephone interviews that will be conducted with large national samples, so more generalizable results are to come!
Entry filed under: Uncategorized.
5 Comments
My comment isn't about virtual reference for teens, but about PA's planned 24/7 service.
Yes, the state of PA is starting a 24/7 virtual reference service. The pilot is to take place this summer, with the service starting in the fall. This service is to be for ALL types of library patrons, which means it includes academic libraries. I think that it's a great idea to start something. Unfortunately, this service (ASK HERE PA, I think it is to be called) is coming from the state down to us–meaning that librarians in academic libraries had no say in it, but we are being asked to volunteer for it. There is also mention of contracting some of this work out to others. Since this is our bargaining unit work, this is problematic. Stay tuned.
Thanks so much for adding this information to my post. I had heard that PA would be starting a service, but I didn't know it was going to be starting this fall.
Our grant project is looking at VRS for all age groups, but I've been commenting on the teens because we've gotten interesting results from the focus groups with them.
We are also reviewing a large number of chat transcripts (so far 450, but going to over 1300 by the end of the grant period in July '07).
Marie, great study! I'd be interested to hear about your findings. . . My students report that they don't want us "taking over" the tech tools they use outside of school, or "polluting" them by using IM or forums, for example, for schoolwork. Your observation of their reluctance to engage with us through these tools is accurate from our view also.
Here's the book that 1st used the term "screenagers" according to the wikipedia:
Rushkoff, D. (1996). Playing the future: What we can learn from digital kids. NY: HarperCollins.
These results sound very similar to what Joe Thompson and Louise Greene discovered when they interviewed teens back in 2004. I am looking forward to seeing you at one of the Research Programs in New Orleans, Marie!
Laura Kortz


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Battle against malaria slowing down, WHO warns
GENEVA, Switzerland - The fight against malaria has slowed in the past two years, threatening to reverse progress in combatting one of the world's biggest killers, the World Health Organisation warned Monday, December 17.
Funding for efforts to prevent the deadly mosquito-borne disease increased sharply between 2004 and 2009, part of an ongoing drive that has saved more than a million lives in the past decade, but has since leveled off, the UN's health body said.
"Millions of people living in highly endemic areas continue to lack access to effective malaria prevention, diagnostic testing and treatment," it said in a statement.
In its annual World Malaria Report, the WHO pointed out that last year, only $2.3 billion (1.75 billion euros) went towards fighting malaria globally -- less than half the estimated $5.1 billion needed.
"The funding for malaria is not enough," Richard Cibulski of the WHO's Global Malaria Programme told reporters in Geneva, cautioning there could be a resurgence of the disease in coming years.
The slowdown was regrettable in light of progress made in the preceding decade, WHO said, pointing out that between 2000 and 2010, the global malaria mortality rate plunged 26 percent, while it fell a full 33 percent in Africa, saving an estimated 1.1 million lives.
In 2010, an estimated 219 million people were infected with the disease and some 660,000 died, the UN agency said, revising up slightly its previous estimate for that year.
It did not provide any figures for 2011 or 2012.
Reduced funding for fighting the preventable disease, which affects many of the world's poorest nations and mainly kills children under the age of five, was especially regrettable since a little money spent on prevention can save a lot in subsequent healthcare costs, said Dr. Fatoumata Nafo-Traore, the head of the Roll back Malaria Partnership.
"For $1 spent, you get in return $35," she told reporters.
For instance, WHO said that the number of special mosquito nets handed out in the worst-hit sub-Saharan African countries had fallen from 145 million in 2010 to around 66 million this year.
While malaria is widespread in tropical and sub-tropical climates and affects 99 countries, 14 countries account for around 80 percent of the deaths, the WHO said.
Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo alone account for 40 percent of global malaria deaths. - Agence France-Presse


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Immigrant Grassroots Organizations Say Arizona Boycott is Not Over
PHOENIX, Arizona – The decision by the Hispanic advocacy group National Council of La Raza to call off a year-long boycott of Arizona for its passage of one of the nation's toughest anti-immigrant pieces of legislation is being met with opposition by grassroots organizations determined to keep up the pressure.
"This is a decision they took without consulting all the people affected," said Salvador Reza, organizer of PUENTE, a pro-immigrant rights movement. "SB 1070 still affects us and it is disrespectful not to consult with the community."
SB 1070, passed by state lawmakers last year and approved by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, sought to criminalize undocumented immigrants by making it a crime to remain in the state without proper papers. A federal judge blocked that and other key provisions of the bill, however, in response to a legal challenge from the Obama administration.
Activists like Reza argue that despite the injunction, local-police are still enforcing aspects of the law and that the overall effect has been to create a hostile climate towards undocumented immigrants in the state.
Some SB 1070 Opponents Urged Decision
For its part, the decision by the Washington D.C.-based NCLR to end support for the boycott was not made in isolation. The call came in the form of two letters – one from Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, a strong opponent of the boycott, and Democratic Congressman Raúl Grijalva, one of its original proponents. The other was sent by the non-partisan Real Arizona Coalition (RAC), whose members include business and religious leaders, and nonproï¬�ts that serve the Latino community.
"We respectfully request that the boycott be ended and that you join us as we lead the way toward a national consensus on how to �x our broken federal immigration system. These actions will send a powerful message that constructive dialogue, not continuing conflict, offers the best way forward for all of us," read the letter sent by RAC late last month. The group played a crucial role last year in pressuring Republicans to oppose another raft of anti-immigrant laws then being pushed by State
Senate President Russell Pearce.
"This decision by NCLR to lift its boycott reflects the success that business and community leaders nationwide are having against laws such as SB 1070," said Gonzalo de la Melena, president and CEO of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, one of the signatories to the RAC letter, in a statement.
"While a number of states have considered tough measures aimed at immigrants in the past year, only a handful have passed such bills, and to date those laws have been barred from implementation by the federal courts."
Steve Moore is president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau, representing an industry that has been deeply affected by the boycott. In a prepared statement explaining his reasons for signing the letter, Moore said, "The lifting of the boycott is clearly a step in the right direction. It acknowledges that illegal immigration is not just an Arizona issue but a national one, and it makes it easier for the community to get back to the business of booking conventions."
Boycott Supporters See Impact
Such sentiments have found little sympathy, however, with groups like PUENTE, which is not alone in its opposition to ending the boycott.
Luis Avila is president of Somos America, a coalition of 27 civil and human rights groups that voted last week to continue their support for the boycott.
"If there are national organizations that want out or want to stop the boycott, they are not seeing the impact that anti-immigrant laws are having on family separation, the death of thousands of people on the border and the harassment of individuals based on the color of their skin," said Avila. "They can say whatever they want, but at a state level we still see the consequences of the anti-immigrant climate."
Some out of state groups also plan to continue with the boycott, including SoundStrike, a coalition of over 200 artists and musicians that adopted a self-imposed ban on performing for pro�t in the state. "It doesn't change anything for us. We don't follow NCLR's lead. It's ridiculous for them to insinuate that the boycott is over, " said SoundStrike spokesperson Javier Gonzalez.
Still, while disagreements remain over the continuation of the boycott, all agree that it has been effective.
"It's galvanized these group of people to push the state in a direction we need to go, which is focusing on getting Congress to enact real immigration reform," said Lisa Urias, a spokesperson for RAC.
Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform (AZEIR), a coalition of 250 businesses across the state and an early opponent of the boycott, was among those in support of NCLR's decision. Todd Landfried, a spokesperson for the group, said the boycott stymies the potential for dialogue among different groups that could push for federal reform.
During the past year, AZEIR joined a coalition of religious leaders and community members in hosting conferences aimed at informing state residents on the facts behind immigration.
"We felt that in light of the progress we have been making, that it made sense to agree with other signatories of the letter in asking [NCLR] to end the boycott," he said. "They could have said no."
Efforts to contact NCLR for comment on its decision were unsuccessful. In a response to RAC's letter, the group wrote that it is "aware of the hardship [the boycott] has imposed on many of the workers, businesses and organizations whose interests we seek to advance."
SB 1070's Economic Toll
Landfried of AZEIR also acknowledged growing public unease with SB 1070, which he said had not resulted in the positive effects hoped for and promised by the law's supporters.
A study released in March by the Center for American Progress (CAP), a think tank based in Washington, D.C., contrasts the economic effects of massive deportation with the cost of legalizing Arizona's estimated half-million undocumented immigrants.
An enforcement-only approach could lead to a loss of 17.2 percent of total employment in the state and shrink the state's economy by $48.8 billion, according to the report. Legalizing undocumented immigrants in the state, meanwhile, could increase employment by close to 8 percent and increase state tax revenues by $1.68 billion.
Another independent study by CAP showed that the boycott took a toll on the state's economy.
According to the report, Arizona lost upwards of $140 million in potential revenue from conventions the state would otherwise have hosted. The same study also projected the overall impact of the bill could amount to as high as $750 million in lost revenue, while the state's image abroad has already taken a serious hit.
"If we keep up the ï¬�nancial pressure forever it can backï¬�re," said Luz Sarmina- Gutiérrez, president and CEO of Valle del Sol, which provides community services to Arizona's Latino residents. "I feel like we're already successful. There's no point in continuing it," she added.
Reza with PUENTE argues that strategically this is the worst time to stop the pressure. SB 1070's sponsor, Republican Senator Pearce, faces a special recall election this November. If he looses, the recall could alter the tone of the immigration debate in the sate legislature.
Still, Reza argues, with or without Pearce the focus should be on getting the law completely repealed.
"They are letting corporations control them," said Reza of the decision by NCLR and RAC.
RAC's Urias defended the group's stance.
"Latinos have to stop �ghting with each other, we have bigger �ghts to �ght than this. Latinos have been instrumental in this coalition," she said. "We're all instrumentally involved and our voice has been heard."


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Beginning as a highly-collectible and highly-designed reference book, LEBOOK was a limited edition guide to the creative community in Paris. Invented by Veronique Kolasa in 1982, as a private resource for her best creative friends, LEBOOK quickly became "The Bible of the Image Industries."
As the international reference for information and inspiration in the luxury space over the past three decades, LEBOOK has a network of 50,000+ creatives at brands and advertising agencies – all involved in marketing, image-making, and media buying.
The first edition of LEBOOK New York was released in 1995, in 1999 LEBOOK London, LEBOOK Berlin in 2009 for Germany and Eastern Europe. LEBOOK West Coast was launched to much demand in 2010. Like the Paris and New York editions, London, Berlin and West Coast provide comprehensive listings for all photography, film, video production and event-related services.
With an unparalleled global presence, LEBOOK has become the international key to the production world—a portal to more than 50,000 professionals. The most famed photographers, art directors, stylists and model agencies; the most lauded producers, location finders, photo labs, rental studios, event spaces and caterers; the pre-eminent record labels, magazines, advertising agencies, fashion designers and PR firms can all be found in LEBOOK. In short, LEBOOK is a must for everything and everyone that propels the creative industry.
Showcasing thousands of images, LEBOOK is a virtual who's who of contemporary talent including work by A-list photographers such as Juergen Teller, Philip-Lorca DiCorcia, Richard Burbridge, Paolo Roversi, Norbert Schoerner, Stephane Sednaoui, Sølve Sundsbø, Terry Richardson, Michael Thompson, and Michel Comte; conceptor/copywriter Ameena Meer; and art directors such as Lee Swillingham, Steven Baillie, Martin Jacobs, Michel Mallard, Daren Ellis, Donald Schneider, Marc Ascoli, Fabien Baron, and Giovanni Russo.
In the past three decades, LE BOOK's website has curated the best in image-making and creative services. LEBOOK has global respect from creative opinion leaders & decision makers.
The world of luxury, fashion and beauty is small and tightly-knit. How do they all know each other? What's their secret network? LE BOOK, of course.
Each LEBOOK directory is designed by a well-known art director in the market and the photographic images and illustrations that grace its covers and box are the work of superstars in the industry. The work and names inside are also tightly edited to include only the best and brightest talent.
LEBOOK publishes their desirable directories annually in 4 markets – New York, London, Berlin and Paris. Currently, each directory, has two volumes, comprising photography, illustration, art direction, digital, magazines, production, post-production, hair & make-up, stylists, video and fashion. But the physical book is just the tip of the iceberg. LEBOOK's IRL networking events, CONNECTIONS, held in 7 key locations, attract advertising agencies, brands, as well as world-renowned and emerging photographers, illustrators, writers, filmmakers, stylists and make-up artists. The goal is a living, breathing pulse of what's new and brilliant in the world of trendsetting image making.
LEBOOK also produces workshops and conferences with partner media - from The New York Times to Nowness, Vogue to Wired - presenting industry panelists from Google to Balenciaga, Nike to Chanel, discussing industry trends and valuable case studies for a targeted audience.
In 2005 LE BOOK launched CONNECTIONS, a custom-made tradeshow for the creative community. At CONNECTIONS, an international network of creative talent and decision-makers gather under the LE BOOK label to form a new, living, breathing pulse of what's going on in the world of trendsetting image-making. CONNECTIONS takes place five times a year in New York, London, Paris, Berlin and Los Angeles. For more information, please visit: www.lebook.com/connections
In 2010, building on the success of CONNECTIONS, LE BOOK created PRODUCTIONS in New York, a new tradeshow for visual production and a unique meeting point for image-makers.


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No extension of Aadhaar linking for mobile services which will remain Feb 6 as deadline: Attorney General K K Venugopal
NEW DELHI: The Centre today informed the Supreme Court that it was willing to extend till March 31 next year the deadline fixed for mandatory linking of Aadhaar for availing various services and welfare schemes.
The Supreme Court now will be setting up a five-judge Constitution Bench next week to hear several pleas seeking an interim stay on the Centre's decision of mandatory linking of Aadhaar.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra was informed by Attorney General K K Venugopal that the Centre was willing to extend the deadline of December 31 to March 31 next year for linking of Aadhaar with various services and schemes.
The Attorney General, however, made clear that February 6 next year would remain the deadline for linking Aadhaar for availing uninterrupted mobile services as it had been mandated by the apex court.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for those who are opposed to Aadhaar scheme told the bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, that the central government should give an undertaking that no coercive steps would be taken against those fail to link their Aadhaar with various services.
The apex court on October 30 had said that a Constitution Bench would commence hearing on the clutch of petitions against Aadhaar scheme from the last week of November.
Recently, a nine-judge constitution bench of the apex court had held that Right to Privacy was a Fundamental Right under the Constitution. Several petitioners challenging the validity of Aadhaar had claimed it violated privacy rights.
Also Read : Link your LIC policy with Aadhaar, PAN online: Know the details
The Centre had on October 25 told the top court that the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar to receive benefits of government schemes has been extended till March 31, 2018 for those who do not have the 12-digit unique biometric identification number and were willing to enrol for it.
The Attorney General had told the court that no coercive action would be taken against those who do not have the Aadhaar card but are willing to enrol for. He had said such people would not be denied the benefits of social welfare schemes till March 31.
Some petitioners in the top court have termed the linking of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) number with bank accounts and mobile numbers as "illegal and unconstitutional".
They had also objected to the CBSE's alleged move to make Aadhaar card mandatory for students appearing for examinations, a contention denied by the Centre.
One of the counsel representing the petitioners had earlier said that final hearing in the main Aadhaar matter, which is pending before the apex court, was necessary as the government "cannot compel" citizens to link their Aadhaar with either bank accounts or cell phone numbers.


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The Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times all lead with Israel's dramatic decision to send ground troops, tanks, and artillery into Gaza. After eight days of airstrikes, Israel says the invasion is necessary to dismember Hamas's rocket-launch infrastructure (and, some of the papers speculate, to overthrow the terrorist group)—a task that "will not be easy or short."
All the papers basically have the same information—which is limited, since foreign reporters have not been allowed into the Gaza Strip since last week: Israeli troops entered Gaza from multiple directions in large numbers, engaging in skirmishes that have killed at least five Hamas members and three civilians. Ehuds Barak and Olmert say Israel isn't going to reoccupy Gaza, but it will hold areas as it deems necessary, which risks ugly guerrilla warfare and high civilian death tolls. In response, Hamas vowed to turn Gaza into a "graveyard" for Israeli soldiers before, the LAT says, Israel cut off the group's ability to make TV broadcasts.
The NYT and WP also front analysis pieces that say both sides are refighting the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. The Israelis are keeping expectations low and hitting as hard as possible to avoid a repeat—though they may face "mission creep" toward ousting Hamas. Hamas, which has built a 1,500-man guerrilla force, thinks it can gain legitimacy and fame by copying Hezbollah's moves.
Meanwhile, protests erupted across Europe and the Middle East; U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon expressed displeasure to Israel's prime minister; and the U.S. beat back a Libyan-sponsored U.N. statement calling for an immediate cease-fire.
The WP and NYT off-lead previews of the new Congress that will do much to revamp America's economy. Democrats hope to have a $1 trillion recovery package on Obama's desk by the inauguration, but the NYT thinks it will take until at least February because of competing demands from deficit and earmark hawks. The WP says that Obama really will have to change the tone in Washington before he can pass his agenda, since Congress has grown steadily more ideological and less productive for the past 15 years.
The NYT goes above the fold with what may or may not be another Clinton scandal. (Which, sadly, does not involve Anne Hathaway.) As a senator, Hillary Clinton pushed two key bills that gave millions for Albany developer Robert Congel's planned shopping-entertainment complex. Around that time, Congel gave $100,000 to Bill Clinton's foundation—a sensitive transaction, since similar charity donations have been "a recent ethics flashpoint in Congress."
The WP fronts a look at rising unemployment among college graduates, who will soon be out of work at the highest rate ever recorded. (Available numbers go back to 1970.) As a result, companies are facing a glut of qualified workers and young grads are posting desperately on Craigslist.
But maybe they should be moving to Detroit, suggests the LAT, and getting a job at a solar panel plant. While the rest of the economy is contracting, many green energy outfits are still growing at a breakneck pace—and creating a lot of jobs. General Electric, for example, has promised that for the next three years it will hire every graduate of one college that trains windmill technicians.
An NYT front profiles the "troubled life" of a biodefense scientist who may have committed the anthrax attacks after 9/11 and later killed himself. Free to publish the results because the case is almost closed, the NYT finds no conclusive proof that Bruce Edward Ivins carried out the attacks, but it admits to "a strong hunch, based on a pattern of damning circumstantial evidence, that Dr. Ivins was the perpetrator."
The NYT also fronts a look at the recession's impact on Broadway, where half the major shows are ending before January—including standbys like Hairspray and Spamalot. But the LAT ran a strikingly similar piece a week ago.
The LAT fronts a piece on the sealing of "Smuggler's Gulch," a sizeable canyon that has served as a conduit for illegal immigrants on California's border. In 2005, the Bush administration bypassed environmental regulations so that bulldozers could raze the geographic formation, and now it's done.
And the WP surveys security preparations for Barack Obama's inauguration in Washington, D.C. Historic numbers of national guard troops and other security professionals will be called up for the festivities, armed with new crowd-control technologies like sonar-based loud speakers. (Does that mean Obama's inauguration isn't dolphin-safe?) Interestingly, the paper says there are "no indications that large numbers of demonstrators are coming to Obama's swearing-in."


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Sept. 9, 2012— -- On a hot summer day five years ago, 15-year-old Amber May White and her sister, Crystal, 17, on holiday in Pompano Beach, Florida, did what millions of vacationers do. They went parasailing.
While the girls were aloft being whirled around behind a speedboat, the weather quickly turned nasty. Ominous, dark clouds formed on the horizon to the west and came pressing in, fanned by suddenly gusty winds. Witnesses say they heard the girls yelling to be brought downs but, for some reason, the boat kept going.
Then in one horrifying instant the tow line suddenly snapped, untethering the parasail. The wind whipped up, snatched the chute the girls were attached to and, as if they were in a gigantic slingshot, hurled Amber May and Crystal into the roof of a waterside hotel.
Amber May died of her injuries. Her older sister survived but suffered permanent brain damage.
"I lost my child and my other child will never be the same," said the girls' mother, Shannon Kraus. "I don't believe it was an accident. I believe I was negligence. It was pretty obvious right away they were using substandard equipment because the rope broke."
Kraus sued the parasail operator. Her lawyer says she reached an out of court settlement.
Last month, almost five years to the day of Kraus's daughters' accident and not far from where it occurred, there was another parasailing accident. A 28- year-old Connecticut woman was parasailing in tandem with her husband when she somehow slipped out of the harness attaching her to the chute. She fell 150 feet to the water below and was killed.
According to a group called the Parasail Safety Council, in the past three decades, 429 people have been seriously injured parasailing in the United States. Seventy-two people died, most of them drowning after landing in water and becoming entangled in the chutes and ropes. Mishaps involving someone slipping free from the harness are extremely rare, the group said.
"Actually there are more injuries in roller coasters than there are in parasailing," said Mark McCuloh, head of the council and one of the pioneers of U.S. parasailing.
But unlike roller coasters -- and probably little known to the public -- there are no governmental regulations for safety inspections of the parasailing equipment. There are no mandatory requirements for maintenance and retirement of the tow lines, chutes or harnesses, according to the council.
"There's no mandated rule that a person has to change his rope at a certain cycle period or change a canopy at a certain cycle period or even change a harness or any of the equipment," McCuloh said.
In Florida, where roughly 240 parasailing operators are in business, Kraus and several state legislators have pressed for parasailing safety regulations. For the past four years, the proposed legislation has gone nowhere.
The Federal Aviation Administration has some jurisdiction over parasailing. Parasails are considered "heavy kites," and as such there are limits on how high they can go and how close they can be to an active airport. But the FAA does not insect the equipment.
Shortly after the latest fatal accident, ABC News joined a parasailing outing leaving from Belmar, N.J. On the way out to sea, the boat's operator, Tom Brown, briefed the half dozen vacationers on board about the day's venture and what to do if anything wen awry.
Brown said he's been in the business 27 years and never had a mishap.
Several of the people about to parasail said they had heard of the Florida accident a few days earlier but were undetected.
"I feel it's 100 percent safe," said one teenaged boy about to parasail for the second time in his life.
A short while later, he was aloft, dangling about 100 feet above the ocean. Afterward, he pronounced his adventure great fun.
The Parasailing Safety Council estimates that there have been 137 million rides in this country in the last 30 years. Accidents are rare. Fatalities are extremely rare.
But sometimes things can wrong; sometimes -- as happened to Amber May White -- tragically wrong because of what her mother insists was a failure of equipment that no safety regulator had ever laid eyes on.
"People keep dying. People keep getting injured," she said. "I'm angered."


text: Hi Retro, it is I, the great and noble Lange. I took it upon myself to rip sounds from every classic Sonic game into samples. I have noticed too many faults with other attempts to rip Sonic sounds, most commonly being poor sample rate. I ensured these sounds to be high quality and as accurate as possible. Update: Sonic Advance 1, 2, 3, and Sonic Battle have been added. Also, fixed the spindash rev sound in Sonic Spinball with an HQ filtered version. Here is the full archive: Sonic Sounds Complete Games covered (individual downloads): Sonic 1 Sonic 2 Sonic 3 & Knuckles Sonic 3D Blast Sonic Spinball Sonic CD Knuckles Chaotix Sonic Triple Trouble Sonic Advance Sonic Advance 2 Sonic Advance 3 Sonic Battle Misc - Various Jingles Here is the text in the readme file. It explains this project in great detail, so please read or at least skim through it before any questions, as it covers about everything obvious and not so obvious. Spoiler In summary: Uses emulators with accurate sound emulation and proper settings. Rips every sound in each game's sound test, with little to no bias, ignoring doubles and only naming by number. Has additional material such as S3&K's sustainable sounds and various jingles. Every sound is cropped and no normalization is used on volumes, to preserve the true volume differences between sounds. Every sound is 44100, Stereo, 16 bit. I would like to add that soundtracks for these games can be acquired in vgm format and rendered to wavs or mp3s. For those who don't know, vgm is an emulated format. It stores the music data the same way the games do, and thus the file sizes are tiny, but they are rendered in real time as if played right out of the console, so they are also the highest quality solution. I mention this not just because its useful information, but certain tunes and jingles from these games can be acquired this way. This covers the GG/SMS games' jingles not included here. Use the in_vgm for playing vgm/vgz files. It is compatible with Winamp and XMPlay. Such soundtracks in this format can be found at: Project 2612 for Genesis games. SMS Power for Game Gear and Master System games. Zophar's Domain (the music section) for other GG/SMS games missing from SMS Power. Don't trust this site for its Genesis rips though as they do not seem to be as properly made as Project 2612's. You might have already noticed that emulated formats span other consoles as well. If you make a point of moving to these for your game soundtracks instead, they'll shave off hundreds of mb on your disk used up by mp3s, and you'll have them in perfect quality. Well there it is fellas. I would like to hear your thoughts.


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Christopher Bing illustrates new story of 'Little Red Riding Hood'
Using his daughter as a model, artist Christopher Bing has drawn "The Story of Little Red Riding Hood" in gorgeous expressive, illustrations that convey the fun and foreboding of a classic fairy tale about an innocent young girl who has a lunch date with a big bad wolf.
In his fifth, soon-to-be published book, the award-winning Lexington, Mass., illustrator provides multiple versions that show how the heroine of a centuries-old story changed with the times.
The father of two daughters and a son, Bing has included in "Little Red Riding Hood" the first printed version by Charles Perrault and two later versions by the Grimm Brothers that reveal how a gullible victim became a damsel-in-distress who needed to be rescued by a hunter with a big gun.
Bing has created an up-to-date compilation of a coming-of-age tale for adolescent girls on the cusp of womanhood. It combines a reproduction of Perrault's first printed version, Harvard scholar Maria Tatar's new translation of the Grimm brothers, and vivid and remarkably detailed illustrations.
Referring to its many incarnations, Bing said "Little Red Riding Hood" has been interpreted over the years as "an empowerment tale for young women," a "coming-of-sexual age story" and a "victimization" saga.
Published by Handprint Books, an imprint of Chronicle Books, San Francisco, it will be in stores Sept. 22.
A 1983 graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Bing has illustrated several other stories.
He earned the prestigious Caldecott award for design in 2001 for recasting the baseball tale "Casey at the Bat" in the form of a scrapbook from 1888.
His penultimate book, "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere," is a historically accurate retelling of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem.
Since publishing his controversial "reinterpretation" of "The Story of Little Black Sambo" in 2007, Bing researched the history and cultural implications of "Riding Hood," which existed as an oral tale several hundred years before Perrault published the first printed version of the "Story of Little Red Cap" in 1697.
Bing's own model for Little Red Riding Hood has changed over the years.
When he first considered illustrating the story about a girl originally called Little Red Cap, he planned to use his older daughter Amy as a model. But as the years passed and she grew out of the role, he asked his youngest daughter to be his model.
He dedicated the book to "Tessa, my inspirational muse."
"This is really my children's book. I really did this for Tessa, my young daughter," he said, relaxing in his studio. "I'm reliving my experience of growing up through them."
Christopher Franceschelli, Handprint's founder who edited LRRH, praised Bing for "doing incredibly meticulous research that allowed him to really bring a sense of time and history to this book."
"Christopher achieves a weaving of different historical strands that make up the tapestry of a story," he said from his New York city office. "Christopher can't resist showing us the tale in the context of history."
After studying the story's early incarnations, Franceschelli said Bing brought together French courtier Charles Perrault's "original very cautionary tale" warning "pretty and decorous young ladies ... to resist the advances of predator wolves" and two Grimm versions with different endings.
In the first, he said a passing hunter "serendipitously" saves Red Riding Hood and her grandmother. And in the second, the clever grandmother tricked the wolf with sausages to save the day.
As if straddling the worlds of childhood and adulthood, Bing said he "tries to make my illustrations realistically fantastic."
"I try to make them real enough so viewers don't have to suspend their disbelief," he said. "People always ask me what kind of camera I used. I have to tell them these images aren't photos."
Like Tessa, Red Riding Hood has the spun gold hair and wide-eyed innocence of every fairy tale heroine who wanders into a dark forest. The wolf has the sly eyes and pointy teeth of Carl Rove.
And Bing has set his tale in an enchanted forest of huge trees, running streams and grandmother's cozy house, that is, until you-know-who shows up with an appetite.
In earlier books about Casey, Paul Revere and Abraham Lincoln, Bing evoked the era's atmosphere with precise details and period images, like hand bills or newspaper clippings.
"Little Red Riding Hood" goes further by unfolding in a Walt Disney magical wood that exudes the brooding menace of J.R.R. Tolkien's Forest of Fangom from "Lord of the Rings."
After "months of sitting before a drawing table," Bing finished in April the last of 14 remarkably detailed color illustrations and four black-and-white images. He uses a 108 Hunt flexible quill pen to draw the outlines of his images which he then colors.
He works in a second-floor studio in his barn that can only be entered by climbing a steep ladder that's missing a rung and hoisting yourself up by several ropes. The studio is cluttered with piles of books, musical cassettes, Buddha statues, CDs of "The Shadow," "The Jimi Hendrix Experience" and "The Making of 2001."
Bing recalled himself during childhood years as a "voracious reader who couldn't spell." He graduated from high school by writing book reports and term papers like comic strips to satisfy teachers he understood the subjects.
"I communicate with the world through my images. I had to learn to draw or I couldn't communicate with the world," he said. "I have this movie screen in the front of my skull. That's my way of communicating."
To learn about Handprint Books or order "The Story of Little Red Riding Hood," visit www.handprintbooks.com.
To learn about Christopher Bing or order his books, visit www.christopherbing.com.


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Rwanda:A new Catastrophe; Increased International efforts required to punish and prevent further bloodshed.
MetadataShow full item record
Document collected by the University of Texas Libraries from the web-site of the Reseau Documentaire International Sur La Region Des Grands Lacs Africains (International Documentation Network on the Great African Lakes Region). The Reseau distributes "gray literature", non-published or limited distribution government or NGO documents regarding the Great Lakes area of central Africa including Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.


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She was less than 24 hours old when police say she was thrown from the second floor of an apartment building, a red and white dish towel tied around her neck and her umbilical cord and placenta still attached.
She died from strangulation and a superintendent found her body, in a trash bag, in a courtyard between two apartment buildings in Brooklyn, reports the New York Times.
But that was Nov. 8, 1993. Almost 23 later, police say they have no leads on who killed the child and "zero idea" about the identity of Baby Jane Doe's mother.
They believe she was young, but not necessarily living in one of the two buildings. Officers logged hundreds of interviews and numerous DNA tests but none came back with a match to the infant.
"We broke down records of who was there then, who is there now, who lived on different floors, who's been arrested in those buildings," NYPD Lt.
David Nilsen tells the New York Daily News. "No solid tips." In releasing a sketch of the infant and the admittedly generic dish towel, "we hope to pull at some heartstrings" and encourage people with knowledge of the crime, who were perhaps too scared at the time, to come forward, a rep says.
"Right now, we're drawing at straws," adds Nilsen. CBS New York reports a $2,500 reward is attached to the case. (The Times notes a similar appeal by police led to an arrest in the 1991 murder of Baby Hope.)
This article originally appeared on Newser: NYPD Baffled by Case of Baby Thrown From Building in 1993
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Bitcoin ATM Newport Beach – Coinhub
Coinhub Bitcoin ATM in Newport Beach, California
Our Coinhub Bitcoin ATM Near Me in Newport Beach, California is available for purchasing bitcoin with cash instantly. Coinhub offers $25,000 daily limits and lowest rates for Bitcoin. Bitcoin ATMs (Automated Teller Machines) are kiosks that allow a person to purchase Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by using cash. Coinhub's Bitcoin cash kiosks are a fast and convenient way to buy Bitcoin and have it delivered directly to your wallet in minutes. Coinhub Bitcoin machines are easy to use and allow buying at our btc atm to be fast and instant. If you're using a Coinhub Bitcoin Machine near me, you are able to purchase Bitcoin instantly and receive it within minutes. Purchases can be done in under 2 minutes and there is no prior account needed. To purchase Bitcoin, simply walk up to any Coinhub Bitcoin ATM and verify your details. Many Coinhub Bitcoin ATMs allow you to buy and sell crypto for cash. You can buy Bitcoin using one our Bitcoin ATMs. First, locate the nearest Bitcoin ATM in your area by visiting our Coinhub Bitcoin ATM Locator. Enter your phone number and walk up to the machine. You will then verify your phone with a code and scan your bitcoin wallet. Enter bills one bill at a time for the amount you would like to purchase and confirm the bitcoin atm prior to purchase. Bitcoin is then instantly sent to your wallet. The daily buying limit is $25,000. There are Bitcoin Machines located in major cities across the country. Visit a Coinhub Bitcoin ATM today.
This Coinhub Bitcoin ATM is located inside of Balboa Donuts, Newport Beach, CA 92661 USA. It allows you to buy Bitcoin at any of the following locations and near neighborhoods: Newport Beach; Newport Coast, Corona del Mar, Costa Mesa, Laguna Beach; Laguna Beach; Irvine Business Complex, Santa Ana; Turtle Ridge, Huntington Beach; Rancho San Joaquin Marsh, University Town Center, Turtle Rock; Adams, Fountain Valley, University Park, Westpark.
Business Name:
Bitcoin ATM Newport Beach – Coinhub
706 E Bay AveNewport Beach CA 92661United States
Neighborhoods in Newport Beach, CA
Adams, Balboa Island, Balboa Peninsula, Bay Shores Community Association, Big Canyon, Central City, College Park, Corona Del Mar, Dover Shores, Downtown, East Bluff, East Bluff, Newport Beach, East Side Costa Mesa, Galaxy View Park, Garfield
Things to do in Newport Beach, CA
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Jennifer Idol, Ocean Artists Society member
Using ocean art to inspire people around the world to a greater awareness of our need to preserve our natural world.
How the first woman to dive all 50 states was transformed by her quest
I applied rugged passion and dedication to complete a five-year journey in which I became the first woman to dive all 50 states. An American Immersion relives my journey. It shows what motivated my quest and how I transformed from a successful designer into a conservation artist to help the world around us. I overcame time and financial obstacles to illuminate our underwater resources through vivid photography.
Buy the book on Amazon or BestPub.com.
Visit AnAmericanImmersion.com when you click the image.
I specialize in creating websites, brochures, logos, and underwater photography for dive shops, equipment manufacturers, boat charters, or conservation entities.
For more than a decade, I have been creating quality designs. My clients include Osprey Cruises, Red Dragon Pirate Cruises, Selky Charters, the Manta Pacific Research Foundation, Fangmarks blog, and Dive World Austin. My work has been published in Sport Diver, Texas Aquatic Science, Outdoor Oklahoma, and Underwater Speleology.
In 2011, I set out to dive all 50 states so that I could raise awareness of our country's beautiful underwater world. This journey has transformed how I see our ecology, how I take photos, and my goals and future projects. I complete this journey in 2015 and look forward to sharing the story with you in my book, on Facebook, and in presentations.
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