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NEEDHAM, Mass. — Even though David Jensen returned to Needham, Mass., from the Sarajevo 1984 Olympic Winter Games without a hockey medal, his hometown still threw a parade in his honor.
"This is phenomenal, I've never seen anything like this," the former Hartford Whaler and Washington Capitol said Sunday afternoon as throngs of Needham residents at the start of the "Rally for Aly."
"I had a parade in 1984 here in Needham. It was in February; it was pretty cold. I was a high school kid back then; it wasn't like this, nothing like this."
Then again, the town has never had the likes of Aly Raisman before.
Since returning from the London 2012 Olympic Games with two gold medals (team event and floor exercise), a bronze (balance beam) and her newly minted status as an international sports star, the gymnast has signed an endorsement deal with Poland Springs (a bottled water company), worked the national talk show circuit and tossed the first pitch at Fenway Park.
The festivities in her hometown decidedly were more old-fashioned as an estimated crowd of 5,000 watched the 18-year-old U.S. Olympic women's gymnastics team captain parade from Town Hall to a gazebo in a large park at the foot of the town's high school.
"I just wanted to thank you guys all for coming," Raisman said. "It means so much, I can't thank you enough. I don't know what to say, I'm pretty much speechless. For all of you that came out here it seriously means so much to me.
"I worked so hard this whole year, and it's been the best summer of my life so thank you all so much and I love you all and I hope I made you all proud."
Raisman's parents, Lynn and Rick, who have become well known in their own right for their enthusiastic cheering in London, also addressed the crowd.
"It's unbelievable all the support, just driving through the town, seeing all the signs, people coming up to us everywhere," Rick Raisman said. "There's just so many people to thank, we don't even know what to say; we're speechless how incredible this is for our family. We're so proud of Aly, obviously. The police, the fire department, everyone at the town hall has put so much time and effort into this, so you know we can't thank you enough. We're just so happy."
The parade, which the town has been planning for about six weeks, was the culmination of a nearly two months of Rasiman-mania in Needham.
She was the star attraction, but the town also honored Olympians and Paralympians with ties to Needham, including Jensen, Olympic rower Seth Bauer, Paralympian Pam Fernandes, and two other Olympians, Bethany Hart and Mary Mazzio.
Bauer, the coxswain of the 1988 U.S. bronze-medal-winning men's eight rowing team, is a 20-year resident of Needham. Fernandes is a three-time Paralympic cycling medalist and the first Paralympian to receive the U.S. Olympic Spirit Award. Hart was on the 2006 U.S. bobsled team, and Mazzio rowed on the 1992 double sculls team.
"This is awesome," said Mazzio, who grew up in Needham and finished 11th in rowing in 1992. "It's phenomenal, and that fact that the town has totally rallied behind her is wonderful. It's really fun... It's so hard to train for all those years so it's wonderful people understand what Aly might have gone through."
Needham Board of Selectmen chairman Jerry Wasserman said Raisman has brought the community together.
"The atmosphere for the last few months has been electric in Needham," Wasserman said. "People are very, very excited. It means a lot. It means a lot to have somebody that was born and brought up in Needham to succeed this way. And she is, I believe, first of all a role model to all our kids but especially the young women.
"The message isn't just to do well in the Olympics; the message is 'If you work as hard as she has and stay focused you can do what you want to do.' "
Hordes of young girls attended the parade, including a 14-year-old local gymnast, Grace McFarland, who munched on cookies while holding pictures of the U.S. gymnastics team just before the parade started.
"Yeah I love Aly," McFarland said. "She's my inspiration, and I look up to her."
At the end of the parade route, a giant American flag hung from a towering crane. An ice sculpture of the Olympic rings melted next to the gazebo where the speeches were given and several groups gave performances, including young gymnasts from Raisman's first gym, Exxcel Gymnastics and Climbing of Newton.
"It's like stepping into the past. I feel like I'm in the 1950s the way the whole town turned out," Bauer said. "Aly is such a hero, and the best thing is seeing all of the little girls here. There are tons of little girls here."
Despite the traditional red and blue bunting on town hall, the parade on Sunday was a bit more modern than it might have been in the '50s: Carly Rae Jepsen's hit "Call Me Maybe" blared from speakers before Raisman — who was sporting aviator sunglasses, a brown-flowered dress and wedge heels — was paraded through the streets in a yellow Lamborghini convertible.
And there doesn't appear to be any slowing down. After the parade she was off to sign autographs and take photos with fans at American Girl stores in Massachusetts and New York. Soon she will be back with her Olympic teammates on the 40-stop national Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions, which opens Sept. 8 in San Jose, Calif.
"Really, Aly did a great job," Bauer said. "Now is the hard part for her. But she's handling it great."
Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc. Justin A. Rice is a freelance contributor for TeamUSA.org. This story was not subject to the approval of any National Governing Bodies.


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Gosh I thought maybe – just maybe – I had everyone fooled again this week with my Tuesday Teaser but NOPE – I did NOT. Want a "refresher" as to what I showed for photos yesterday???? Then I'll give you the scoop.
So where were my parents on this particular vacation? Hmmmm? One thing is for sure – it was a beautiful day when Mom took these photos don't you think in addition to a pretty place? Well, they were in Ogunquit, Maine in the US of A at The Cliffside Inn. They were in a part of the place that was built out on the rocks very close to the water so at night they could have the patio doors open onto their balcony and listen to the ocean smashing up on the rocks. They were there in September too – about this time of the year.
Wanna know now WHO was the "FIRST RIGHT GUESSER" of the Teaser? It was my buddy Nerissa from Nerissa's Life ! He guessed it was Maine and he was right. I had some folks who guessed New England and then all kinds of other guesses all over the globe BUT it was Maine. WOOT WOOT NISSY! This is yours:
I may have to update this blog after it goes live this morning (when Mom gets up that is to say) but for now, Nissy was the ONLY "right guesser"……….so everyone else gets THIS!!
Update: 6AM EST from a sleepy-eyed Mom……Jan from Wag-N-Woof Pets guessed MAINE after we'd scheduled this post so we want to congratulate her for ALSO guessing Maine!!!! Jan, you get THIS!
Thanks to everyone who guessed and even those of you who didn't guess but tune in on Tuesdays just to "sightsee" with me. FYI, my parents are going back to this same place in Maine next month for a bit of a quick getaway. Some places deserve a second visit !!
Now just in case you've been living on another planet and aren't aware – my friend Mollie has added a BUNCH of incredibly fabulous STUFF to her online store. She sure has. Really unique things you won't find anywhere else and all of them handmade by Mollie and her Mom (I don't think Alfie helps out much – I think he's just in charge of napping). Please take a minute and visit the stores (she has TWO stores – one for those of us on THIS side of the pond and one for those who are on HER side of the pond). Under her blog header you'll see separate links for each store. I have a house full of "Mollie Stuff" and love everything – SO WILL YOU!! Click the photo to go!
Pssssst………come a little closer……..this is something we should keep a bit quiet for now but I understand from Hutch A Good Life that they MIGHT be adding a new guinea pig friend for Nacho soon…….his name is Noah and he's adorable…….stay tuned for updates….keep your fingers, toes and paws crossed that Nacho has a new friend SOON! He's been very lonely.

subset: commoncrawl


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New in my Getty Images portfolio:
Basketball Courts from Above
Low-level aerial view of the basketball courts in the schoolyard at Broadview Public School, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
This picture was taken from a camera rig suspended below a kite (Kite Aerial Photography – KAP).
Click on image to go to the same image in my Getty Images portfolio.


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Today marks the one-year anniversary of ShannonAThompson.com!
I wanted to thank everyone for encouraging me as I continue on this journey of writing and publishing. You might recall that I announced a GIANT giveaway to celebrate 9,000 followers, and it is now up and running:
a Rafflecopter giveaway (for U.S. residents only)
You can enter the raffle until October 9, so have fun and enter to win all of these fantastic novels:
- Minutes Before Sunset by Shannon A Thompson, paperback
- 2013: A Stellar Collection – a pre-release of the upcoming anthology from AEC Stellar Publishing
- Matter of Resistance by Raymond Vogel, paperback
- When Stars Die by Amber Skye Forbes, ARC
- Shifting Sands by T.L. McCown, paperback or ebook
- Creating Shamsiyah by T.L. McCown, paperback or ebook
- Indigo by Jacinda Buchmann, ebook
- Legends of Windemere: Beginning of a Hero by Charles Yallowitz, PDF
- Legends of Windemere: Prodigy of a Rainbow Tower by Charles Yallowitz, PDF
- Dead Medium by Peter John, paperback
- Wrapped Up in Brown by Peter John, chapbook
- The Realm of Enchantians by Kristen Howe, ebook
- Pebbles by Madhu Kalyan, ebook
- Between by Cyndi Gill Tefft, ebook
- Crashing Back Down by Kristen Hope Mazzola, ARC
- Rakasha: Legends of the Hindi Tiger Demon by Robert Davis, both paperback and ebook
- Deviation by Christine Redding Manzari, paperback
- The Eye-Dancers by Michael S Fedison, ebook
- The Sea Between Worlds by Michelle M. Welch, ebook
- Darks Secrets by Josephine Harwood, ebook
- Diary of a Complicated Pregnancy by Carol Cameleon, PDF
- Ditch the Guilt by Carol Cameleon, PDF
- Dragon Wraiths by Amanda Martin, ebook
- Baby Blues & Wedding Shoes by Amanda Martin, ebook
- Electronic Gags by Kudakwashe Muzira, ebook
- Stealing Megan's Husband by Christine Cappleton, ebook


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Thank you to everyone who voted in Round 1 of the 1st annual Ladies… NBA Playoffs of Hotness! Click that happy blue link just below here to see the brackets and vote on Round 2!
Click on the bracket to enlarge it ('cause let's face it, I spent WAY too much time on creating it, so you might as well be able to see it!). I figured the fairest way to match Round 2 up would be to pit the highest percentage winner against the man who won with the lowest percent. Here are the Elite Eight – place your votes, and you have until Monday, May 31st at 8am!
George Hill vs. Brook Lopez
Luke Walton vs. Dwight Howard
Steve Nash vs. Dwayne Wade
Dapperin' it up!
Chris Paul vs. Rudy Fernandez
Bringin' the cheeeez!
Alright, same as last time – vote to your heart's content, please share with other NBA ogglers, and check back Monday Wednesday 6/2 at noon for Round 3's quarterfinals!


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Hans And Sveta New Year Trip To The Netherlands, Rotterdam and Amsterdam!
Russian women for marriage, Small family Russian marriage agency, Belarus Brides, Russian Brides, Russian Dating, A Belarus Bride Russian Matchmaking.Read More
A BELARUS BRIDE RUSSIAN MATCHMAKING. Single Russian Brides Want Marriage HOME PAGE. Belarus Women Matchmaking Seek Marriage. Russian Women Seek Marriage. Sincere Belarus Brides Matchmaking.


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Spiritual blindness
24x36 inches (61 x 91.5 cm)
(canvas or paper stock)
A limited edition of 100 Giclée prints will be made on canvas and paper stock.
Each with a signed and numbered certificate of authenticity from Raymond Aguilera and the Giclée master printmaker.
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Ray: Is there a limit on how many you can choose from? Personally, the ones with emotional impact that send a strong message are the ones I like the best. These would be "Spiritually Blind" and the angry man who just does not want to hear about the Lord. And, we must not forget that these would not only be for ourselves, but to give as GIFTS to friends and loved ones, as well. Yes, I believe the ones that have strong emotional impact that send a strong message are the best ones. No one is really going to be impacted by a pretty bowl of fruit. A picture of a pretty bowl of fruit is common. It would help us help you better, if we each would make a "gift list" in which we would like to buy one or several and give them as gifts to people we know that would benefit from them. I'd love to send several people a terrific reproduction of the "spiritually Blind" picture. I believe that one would wake them up to some truths. Also, in your quest for other ideas to paint, if might help to ask yourself just "what" angers God the most? Could it be, being so busy in our daily lives that we don't even invite him into it or even give HIM the time of day? I know you are gifted with creative visualization. I am but am not gifted in painting.
Edie Porter
Hi Ray;
I like most:
Communion and spiritual blindness.
I would prefer canvas.
Love the blind reading the bible, so deep.
Greetings Ray,
I think the following paintings take the cake: 1st Spiritual blindness;
2nd the hobo (homeless man) 3rd the woman carrying candlelight, 4th the
angry tongue, 5th Spiritual warfare and 6th Sylvia. And these will be
more exquisite on a 45 x 60cm portrait painting. (I am afraid but I am
not conversant with the American metric system, things like yard, inches
Ray, the relax, the Lord is on your side every step of the way. Don't
feel small when challenges come, it is for your preparation and
spiritual growth. Rather rejoice when challenges come flooding in, and
know fully well that your exaltation and glory is right at your
doorstep. Yes, you cannot stop the enemy from fighting, BUT you CAN STOP
him from winning, for you have TWO GIANTS within you; in fact all true
worshippers and believers do. And these are Jesus Christ of Nazareth and
the Holy Spirit. Therefore, who do we fear, huh? No one and absolutely
nothing, BUT GOD ONLY, since the Word states expressly that, "The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and they who live by it grow in
understanding" (Psalm 111:10 NEB). So when God entrusts you with
something, be it a gift; or anything, or even burdening you with a
mammoth task to carry out, DO IT with zeal and joy, for He will NEVER
put you through something He knows that you would not be able to handle.
For He knows of our weaknesses and infirmities.
Let us know when the paintings have been reproduced and tell us the
price. I believe I will be the first one in the Eastern Cape, South
Africa to have one or two of your good artworks. For I do not know of
anyone in this part of the country who subscribes to the e-mail list.
Keep up the good work, and please the Lord even more.
Stay blessed,
Bongani Pityi
Bisho, Eastern Cape
South Africa
Hi Brother In Christ Jesus - Ray.
I have had it in my mind to ask you if you would sell me one of your painting since the first ones came out for show, But I was afraid to ask because as an artist myself I know that some paintings with such deep meanings are sometimes not for sale and I was also respectful that God had a plan for them so I did not ask so when I herd that God Told you to make prints and sell them I was excited to know that I could get one and even more excited about the signing and the promise from God that comes with it.
My finances are all screwed up right now so I cashed in the rest of my vacation pay at work so I could get one, as this means more to me than any vacation could. And I also wanted to help a poor neighbour with some of the money I got as well.
I will keep you informed as to where it is to go and the impact it is having after it is framed and put up.
Ray I know that you have reservations about asking for money for prints of your paintings, But I am really glad God asked you to do this.
I like the Spiritual Blindness painting because it shows that there are so many people out there that are like Saul on the road to Damascus, He was very knowledgeable on the religion of the times but blind to the truth, and I pray that God will open their eyes to the truth through these paintings and His moving Spirit
Your Brother in Christ Jesus --- Andrew ---
Hello Ray,
It´s amazing and very good reminder. Keep on painting. You are doing a
very good job.
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For Prices of Giclée Prints - Click on Painting
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© 1989-2009, Raymond Aguilera, All Rights Reserved


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The iPhone 5 smartphone has the A6 CPU, which industry experts say is the first in a line of many upcoming Apple custom processors that will better balance performance with battery life in iPhones and iPads.
The custom-designed A6 core is a big step for Apple, whose previous A4 and A5 processors for iPhones and iPads were based on designs adopted from ARM. The A6 is also based on ARM architecture, but after analyzing code, chip size and the architecture, experts have concluded that Apple has designed its own CPU from the ground up rather than licensing an existing processor design.
It took a few years for Apple to customize its own CPU, but the company wants to control its own destiny, experts said. The new chip gives Apple top-to-bottom control over its smartphones and tablets, and ensures that the CPU and applications perform in tandem while preserving battery life in devices.
Apple will likely continue to custom-design its own CPUs for iPhones, iPads and other devices, the experts said. But Apple will face challenges in a few years as chips get smaller and integrate radios and other components, which may require further investments.
Apple has been quiet on details about the new chip, but has said A6 delivers twice the performance compared to the A5 processor. The iPhone 5 delivers 150 percent more performance than the predecessor 4S, which had an A5 processor based on a Cortex-A9 design, according to iFixit, a computer repair firm that did a teardown of the iPhone 5 shortly after it was released on Friday morning in Australia.
Anand Shimpi, who runs the tech site Anandtech, was the first to suggest that iPhone 5 has a custom core. He said the new phone is faster than the 4S, but he didn't have many details by Friday afternoon. He plans to publish benchmarking numbers and other details in the coming days.
Shimpi expects Apple to continue to tailor chips to balance application performance and battery life on smartphones and tablets. A6 is based on the existing ARMv7 architecture and has a new floating point core, he said.
"Apple knows exactly what they want to do. They can deliver performance when they know they have applications that need it," Shimpi said.
Apple is committed to increasing performance but is very particular about battery life, even if it has to lower the clock speed of a CPU, said Linley Gwennap, founder and principal analyst at The Linley Group, which analyzes and benchmarks chip performance. Based on certain chip parameters, The Linley Group earlier this week also said it thought the A6 has a custom CPU.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they put [A6] in the iPad," Gwennap said. Apple could just crank up the clock speed and put it in the iPad to take advantage of the larger battery in the tablet.
It's possible that Apple will ultimately design a custom ARM-based CPU for Mac laptops, but will perhaps wait two years for ARM's 64-bit architecture, Gwennap said. ARM processors are currently 32-bit and cannot address more than 4GB of memory, while Mac laptops need 64-bit architecture and the capability to address more memory. ARM has already announced the ARMv8 64-bit architecture and expects devices like smartphones and tablets based on the architecture to start shipping in 2014.
But the chip industry moves at a fast pace, and Apple is taking on more responsibility with custom processor design. Right now, the iPhone 5 has a separate CPU and baseband chip, but will have to keep up with Qualcomm, which already offers a Snapdragon S4 dual-core chip with an integrated radio, and Nvidia, which is on its way to integrating software-defined radios in future Tegra chips.
The company has to tweak chip designs or microarchitectures to keep pace with advancements in manufacturing process technology, much like Intel's tick-tock strategy, which advances chip technology in line with the manufacturing process, Anandtech's Shimpi said. It appears that the A6 chip may be made by Samsung based on the 32-nanometer process, he guessed.
Contract chip manufacturer TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.) is already making chips with the 28-nm process, and GlobalFoundries this week said it will start making chips using the 20-nm process in 2013 and the 14-nm process in 2014.
Gwennap said that Apple has able chip leadership in Peter Bannon, an Apple director who came to the company with the 2008 acquisition of PA Semi, and Gerard Wallace, an ARM fellow who was one of the leaders in the team that developed the Cortex-A8 and Cortex-A15 CPU. Apple's former platform architect Jim Keller was recently hired away by Advanced Micro Devices to run the processor division.
"They've been hiring like crazy," Gwennap said of Apple. "They have the ability to bring in the people they need."
iPhone 5
Read our full iPhone 5 review


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Members of the New York State Senate and Assembly always go on a wild ride in the last few weeks of the session, passing bills by the bucketful, and ignoring others in the rush to adjourn. This year was no different, and when the dust settled – and the legislators had gone home – 2007 turned out to be at best a mixed year for advocates of greater civil rights and liberties.
Consider three bills before the legislature: one on gay marriage, one on the rights of accused rapists (and, not incidentally, the health of rape survivors) and one on transgender rights.
Same-Sex Marriage
In June, the State Assembly became only the third legislative body in the nation to pass a bill opening marriage to same-sex couples. (The other two such votes came in California where they were met by a veto from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.) The New York measure was a program bill submitted by Governor Eliot Spitzer, the first governor in U.S. history to propose such legislation. And it was guided to victory by openly gay Assemblymember Danny O'Donnell of the Upper West Side, who made personal appeals to scared and wavering colleagues. His efforts yielded a positive vote from Speaker Sheldon Silver, an Orthodox Jew who began public life opposed to gay rights, and an 85-61 victory, not overwhelming in a house with a 60-seat Democratic margin but beyond the expectations of most observers.
Earlier in the session, State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno made it clear that his house would not take up the same-sex marriage bill. "This governor has his priorities wrong," Bruno said in April.
Spitzer conceded he did not think the bill had "a realistic shot" at being passed but said he was introducing the measure "because it's a statement of principle that I believe in and I want to begin that dynamic."
The marriage equality bill enjoys broad progressive support, including backing from many unions and religious groups, mostly organized by the Empire State Pride Agenda, the state's leading lobby group on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights.
Despite the breakthrough in the Assembly, opening marriage to gay and lesbian couples remains a heavy lift in New York. Beyond the predictable opposition from conservative Catholic, Protestant and Jewish leaders and the Conservative Party, it does not enjoy the support of Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton. They favor only civil unions, which they say will deliver all the rights of marriage while reserving that institution for heterosexual couples.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, perversely, came out for same-sex marriage in 2005 on the day he announced his appeal of the only court decision in New York mandating it. His action deprived advocates of same-sex marriage of the opportunity to go to the Court of Appeals in 2006 with thousands of gay couples from the city who would have been legally married. In July 2006, the state's highest court ultimately ruled 4-2 against a constitutional right of gay couples to marry.
Earlier this year, the Conservative Party tried to use the issue in a special election for a State Senate seat on Long Island, distributing fliers saying that electing the Republican candidate was the only hope for stopping gay marriage. But Democrat Craig Johnson, a supporter of same-sex marriage, won, reducing the Republican majority to two.
Most political observers believe that the Democrats are poised to regain a majority in a Senate that has been in Republican hands for most of the last 75 years. But unless there is a Democratic landslide in 2008, any new Democratic majority will be slim and not necessarily inclined to pass a controversial bill on same-sex marriage right away.
Transgender Rights
When the legislature finally passed a bill adding "sexual orientation" to the human rights law in 2002, it became the 13th state to do so. (The first was Wisconsin in 1981.)
New York balked, however, at including transgender rights in the human rights law 2002, and the Empire State Pride Agenda did not insist on it at the time. Today, discrimination on basis of "gender identity and expression" is illegal in 13 states -- including New Jersey, which acted this year -- and the District of Columbia. New York, though, still has no state law on the issue.
To remedy that, advocates have proposed a stand-alone bill called the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, GENDA for short. Transgender activists such as Donna Cartwright argue that the push for this measure has not been nearly as intense as the advocacy work for the marriage bill. It did not even get a vote in the Assembly, let alone the Senate. "GENDA needs extra emphasis to have a real chance of passage. And [the Pride Agenda]… has a real responsibility to give it that boost," she wrote.
Alan Van Capelle, the Pride Agenda's executive director, said that the group pushed hard on transgender rights this year and managed to get 95 sponsors in the Assembly, more than enough votes for passage – and 10 more than the number of members who voted for the marriage act. "One piece missing is that GENDA doesn't have a Danny O'Donnell [chief sponsor of the marriage bill] who is going to work it every day," he said.
Van Capelle also said that the marriage issue benefited from being in the papers and the public consciousness. "Legislators aren't as educated about transgender issues," he said.
HIV Tests for Rape Suspects
When Eliot Spitzer successfully ran for attorney general in 1998, his ad campaign featured a rape survivor complaining that a rape suspect cannot be force-tested for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, "until after he's convicted, maybe years later, which may be too late." Spitzer proposed a law that would give rape victims the right to get rape suspects tested and the results supplied to them.
At the time, Spitzer's proposal was condemned as "demagogic" by AIDS activists and his opponents in the race and lambasted by everyone from the state health department to the National Organization for Women. They said this issue presented a dangerous distraction from what rape survivors need to do vis-Ă -vis HIV -- commence a regimen of drugs within two to 36 hours of exposure that can prevent HIV from taking hold in their systems. Even if an immediate HIV result from a suspect was negative, the survivor of the attack needs to take the drugs in case the alleged perpetrator's HIV infection is so recent that it does not show up in a test.
Results from a suspected or convicted rapist are "irrelevant," AIDS specialist Dr. Howard Grossman said then. "If I were a rape victim, I'd be taking post-exposure prophylaxis no matter what the status of the perpetrator," he told me at the time.
The New York State health department established a protocol for survivors of rape in 1998 that urged them to take the drugs necessary to prevent HIV infection immediately -- or at least within 36 hours.
During his eight years as attorney general, Spitzer did not publicly press for the HIV testing. Once he got elected governor, however, he resumed his quest for it, and it passed with overwhelming majorities in both houses of the legislature.
O'Donnell, one of 21 members of the Assembly to oppose Spitzer on the bill, said passage was "emotionally understandable, but the science was not out there." State Sen. Tom Duane, the only legislator who is open about being HIV-positive, also came out against the measure. "This bill does nothing to protect victims and may do harm," he said in an interview.
Andrea Mitchell, a rape survivor who works for Housing Works, an AIDS agency that worked to defeat the bill, wrote in the Albany Times Union that it fails to provide post-exposure drugs to survivors of rape and "focuses obsessively on the HIV status of the perpetrators of rape at the expense of their actual victims." The bill as amended would only apply to suspects who have been indicted, something that almost never happens within 36 hours.
The measure was opposed by the New York Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Planned Parenthood, New York Civil Liberties Union and the YWCA.
Spitzer argues the testing would help survivors of sex crimes. His spokesperson told the New York Times, "The governor believes that a victim of rape or sexual assault needs to know as soon as possible the HIV status of their attacker. This information is critical to the physical and emotional well-being of the victim."
Assemblymember Nettie Mayersohn championed Spitzer's bill in the Assembly, chastising critics like Gay Men's Health Crisis. "Their whole program is to protect the infected person, not the victim," she told the New York Post.
Gay Men's Health Crisis lobbied against the bill, but did not organize the kind of public outcry from the public health establishment that might have defeated the proposal. Indeed, despite the fact that the group's executive director, Marjorie Hill, is a former assistant commissioner for HIV/AIDS Services at the New York City health department, she was either unable or unwilling to get the city department to speak out against it. A spokesperson for the department refused to make an on-the-record comment about whether or not the bill was good or bad for public health.
Many legislators feared that by voting against the bill, they could leave themselves open to attacks that they were soft on rapists. Indeed, just after the session ended, the State Senate Republican Campaign Committee set up a web site called New Yorkers in Jeopardy, targeting Democrats who voted against this bill accusing them of "not protecting us" and "not recognizing that a rape victim has a right to know if their rapist has HIV."
Assemblymember Crystal Peoples of Buffalo acknowledged being "confused" during the floor debate, but she voted for the bill anyway. Assemblymember Patricia Eddington of Patchogue, a clinical social worker, at first condemned it as "feel good legislation," but after two amendments were added voted for it. Assemblymember Charles Levine of Glen Cove said, "I don't know whether this is a just bill," but he voted for it anyway saying that "part of the healing process means that someone's got to feel safe."
Some members resisted. Deborah Glick of Greenwich Village said that the only way to determine if a rape survivor has been infected "rests with the victim and that information is not provided by testing someone else." Ellen Jaffee, a member of the Assembly from Pearl River, said the bill provided "false hope" and is "neither grounded in science nor appropriate public health policy."
Mixed Message
Some opponents of the bill worry about what it says about the governor. While Michael Kink of Housing Works praises the governor's competence, he said Spitzer's "willingness to choose the soundbite is a serious flaw." Kink said administration officials leaned on the state health department to provide a letter of support for the bill.
Other observers do not discern an obvious pattern on the part of the governor or legislature. Assemblymember Dick Gottfried of Chelsea said, "I don't know if there is a pattern or theme to the actions of the legislature in these three bills….Each of these issues has its own pluses and minuses and merits and politics." Gottfried voted for the marriage bill, against the AIDS bill and could not get his transgender rights bill to the floor.
Van Capelle of the Pride Agenda agreed. "I don't think the legislature acts in thematic ways. You can see them doing things that seem to contradict each other."
Andy Humm, a former member of the City Commission on Human Rights, has been in charge of the civil rights topic page since its inception in 2001. He is co-host of the weekly "Gay USA" on Manhattan Neighborhood Network (34 on Time-Warner; 107 on RCN) on Thursdays at 11 PM. Â


text:
Birkbeck, Morris
Birkbeck, Morris, 1764–1825, English pioneer in the United States. One of the most advanced agriculturists in England, he had a huge farm in Surrey. In 1817 he emigrated to the United States. He and another English traveler, George Flower, sought to create a settlement in Illinois. The two quarreled, but the undertaking resulted in the occupation of thousands of acres of land and the founding of Albion, Ill. Birkbeck's Notes on a Journey … to the Territory of Illinois (1818, repr. 1968) and Letters from Illinois (1818, repr. 1968) helped to bring European settlers to the fertile prairies of the Middle West and are invaluable historical sources.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. History: Biographies


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Many things happen in life. There are joyous days and times of suffering. Sometimes unpleasant things occur. But that's what makes life so interesting. The dramas we encounter that are part and parcel of being human.
If we experienced no change or drama in our lives, if nothing unexpected ever happened, we would merely be like automatons, our lives unbearably monotonous and dull.
Therefore, it is important to develop a strong self so that you can enact the drama of your life with confidence and poise in the face of whatever challenges you may encounter.
~ Daisaku Ikeda


text:
The parallel came to mind once again when I read this post by Arthur Goldhammer.
Commenting on a recent Sarkozy press conference, Goldhammer wrote:
…The "politics of civilization" was not an idle phrase to be forgotten after the New Year's greetings. Now the borrowing from Edgar Morin is openly affirmed. The intention is to infuse politics with poetry, to eschew the pallid practice of "governance," that wan neologism, in favor of what de Gaulle would have called grandeur. Sarko's grandeur partakes not of glory, however, but of the affective. The words "love" and "value" loom large.
I was immediately reminded of Mr. Abe's efforts to sugarcoat his ideology with "affective" terminology, the most prominent term being, of course, that ubiquitous Abe adjective "beautiful." It seems that like M. Sarkozy, Mr. Abe sought to transcend the "governance" of his predecessors by appealing to the deeper values that he and his comrades believe all Japanese share.
However, one difference is that Mr. Abe, as prime minister, was responsible for "governance" and all the messiness it entails. The grandeur of the French presidency seems to give M. Sarkozy some room with which to muse about these subjects; indeed, it might well be a requirement of the job.
(UPDATE: As noted by MTC in the comments, the more obvious comparison for the frenetic M. Sarkozy is, of course, Mr. Koizumi. Agreed. And M. Sarkozy is obviously a much more adept politician than the hapless Mr. Abe. My point is simply that Messrs. Abe and Sarkozy think about their nations' pasts, presents, and futures in similar terms.)
Meanwhile, in the same press conference M. Sarkozy proposed that the G8 be expanded to the G13, with the new members being Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, India, and China. This might very well make the summit meaningful again, if not more effective (the G8's ineffectualness is, I think, as much a function of overambitious agendas as of the roster of attendees).
I expect that this proposal will not be popular in Tokyo. As anyone who has seen Japanese media coverage of preparations for the July G8 summit in Hokkaido knows, Japanese elites take the G8 seriously. They are proud of Japan's membership and would undoubtedly be extremely reluctant to make this exclusive club that much less exclusive. And given that China would be included in an expanded summit, I can easily imagine that the Japanese government is in no hurry to see group expanded, especially considering China's role in keeping Japan out of that most exclusive of international clubs, the permanent membership of the UN Security Council.


text:
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), due to come online sometime this year, will be capable of the highest energy collisions ever attempted by mankind. One of the questions raised during its design was the probability of creating black holes and subsequently destroying the Earth. It has since been decided that this is unlikely.
An interesting article has appeared in the European Journal of Physics, (free copy here) which essentially looks at what would have to be true to make black holes with the LHC. The amount of energy required to create a black hole depends on the strength of gravity. At macroscopic scales, this is well-known from Newton's law and its relativistic equivalent. Scaling from these laws tells us what the strength of gravity will be when we start knocking protons together—a boat load. If you visualize gravity as a bunch of lines expanding radially from a central mass, then this becomes obvious, the number of lines don't change, but they do get closer together—gravity sucks harder when you get closer to the central mass. However, if there are more than three spatial dimensions, the lines have all these other dimensions to spread out in, effectively weakening gravity. We know that the macroscopic world has only three dimensions; however, many quantum gravity theories posit extra dimensions on a small scale, which would reduce the amount of energy required to create a black hole.
The situation gets more complex though because the collisional energy of the LHC is also associated with a length scale, which is something less than an attometer (10-18m). To make use of these extra dimensions, they must be bigger than this scale. Thus, we have two conditions; there must exist extra dimensions, and the dimensions must be at least 0.01am in length. If this happens to be true, the LHC may be good at producing very small black holes. If Hawking is correct, these will almost instantly decay in a spray of quarks and other particles, which are readily detectable (though it remains an open question if their appearance will be linked to black hole formation). On the other hand, Hawking may be wrong and these black holes could be stable, forming a kind of dark matter. In this case, they will sink to the center of the Earth and begin devouring us all (at a rate of about one particle every few years.
Even if micro-black holes are stable, you should not be alarmed. The LHC is not the highest energy thing around as we are constantly bombarded by cosmic rays, some of which are more energetic than anything the LHC will produce. Taking the bombardment rates observed today, we can expect there to be about 0.5kg of black holes sitting at the center of the Earth today.
The final thing I will say is that the linked paper is not really a research paper, but rather it is aimed at students. Even if you don't follow the maths (and it really isn't necessary to), it is worth reading.


text:
The Baltimore Orioles were getting a little tired, said Craig Sager, that voodoo man of sideline sports style, and who could blame them? It was the top of the thirteenth inning on a
Thursday night Friday morning at Yankee Stadium, and even rally caps weren't working. So the O's bench invented a new era of rally cap: all of those birds on top of their bills, all lined up atop the dugout fence, all pointing in the same direction — the direction they wanted the game-breaking hit to fall in a 1-1 tie to end Game Four and save their season, like some kind of Ouji board equal parts wool and will. And it wouldn't be playoff baseball if it didn't work, and so J.J. Hardy hit a game-winning double and Game Five was born.
There will be another do-or-die contest in this year's division series, between the Washington Nationals and the St. Louis Cardinals, both of whom, it must be noted here, also have excellent, classic, eminently-wearable team hats. Also surviving into the championship round: the Detroit Tigers and the San Francisco Giants, also with excellent caps, although we wouldn't have complained seeing A's and Reds hats for the next week, either.
Maybe this all started when Baltimore brought back its classic cartoon-bird logo for the 2012 season, and probably it's not a "trend" at all. But even if there is no such a thing as luck on the diamond, the gods of fashion are shining upon this October. An addendum to our recent list of the most stylish baseball hats of all time may be in order, is what we're saying. But at the very least, it's okay (or at least relevant) to wear a baseball cap again. At least right now, at .


text:
Heat make it 25 with win over Pistons
Miami, FL – The Miami Heat continue to win games, and keep on making them interesting as well.
After battling back from large deficits in their previous two victories, the Heat dug themselves an early 11-point hole against the lowly Detroit Pistons before dominating the second half en route to a 103-89 decision that extended their winning streak to 25 games.
LeBron James once again led the way for Miami, now eight games shy of matching the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers' NBA standard for consecutive triumphs, with the reigning league MVP tallying 29 points on 12-of-15 shooting along with eight rebounds and eight assists. Dwyane Wade added 19 points, with Shane Battier netting eight of his 11 after halftime.
"The more you get tested in this league, the better you get as long as you handle it the right way." said Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra afterward. "I like that every game we're getting tested."
The Pistons lengthened a streak in the opposite direction, losing for the 10th consecutive outing despite a 23-point, 15-rebound effort from Greg Monroe. Jose Calderon and Kyle Singler each finished with 18 points in the setback.
"I thought our effort was good," Pistons head coach Lawrence Frank remarked. "We had good energy, but I didn't think we were able to sustain it for long. There were some game-time mistakes that we made and turnovers really hurt us."
Miami was down by 27 points at one stage in Wednesday's remarkable 98-95 comeback win at Cleveland and topped Boston on Monday after trailing by as many as 17, and got off to a sluggish beginning in this one as well.
The Pistons shot a scorching 63.2 percent in the opening quarter and built a 28-20 lead near the conclusion of the period following a 10-2 run. Their advantage reached 11 points when Calderon buried a trey and then hit a free throw after Wade was assessed a technical foul with 4:25 left in the half, capping a 6-0 swing that put Detroit ahead by a 48-37 count.
"It's an area we need to address," said Spoelstra of his team's recent slow starts. "This team has shown for three years that when there's a particular aspect of the game we're not playing the way we're capable of, we address it, we work on it and we try to improve on it."
Miami began to close the gap prior to the intermission, however, outscoring the Pistons by a 14-6 margin over the final 3 1/2 minutes of the second quarter and moving within 54-51 at halftime on Wade's 3-pointer with 5.1 seconds left.
The Heat then turned up the defensive intensity after the break, limiting Detroit to a 5-of-19 success rate on field goals and forcing six turnovers during the third quarter. Wade scored six points during an 8-0 spurt that put Miami up 60-59 near the midway stage of the frame, and after the teams traded the lead several times, Battier sent Miami in front to stay by burying a 3- pointer that made the score 70-68 in the final minute of the session.
That basket kick-started another 8-0 sequence that extended the Heat's lead to seven in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, and Miami put the game away with an 11-0 tear later on.
James scored off a Norris Cole feed to cap the deciding push, which gave the Heat a comfortable 92-76 lead with 5:19 to go.
Game Notes
Miami shot 62.5 percent (20-of-32) from the floor in the second half ... The Pistons are mired in their longest winless stretch since an 11-game skid from Mar. 13-Apr. 3, 2010 and have now dropped seven in a row on the road ... Miami center Chris Bosh managed just five points on 1-of-7 shooting ... The Heat topped Detroit for the ninth time in the last 10 meetings between the clubs.


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basil and mint leaves
lemon zest and freshly ground black pepper
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil
2. Boil the zucchini for 2 minutes then remove with a slotted spoon. Drop in the pasta and stir well
3. While the pasta is cooking, make your pesto by blitzing the zucchini, garlic, walnuts, herbs and olive oil in a food processor. Taste for salt and adjust accordingly
4. Combine the pesto and the beans in a large bowl and mix well. When the pasta is ready, drain it, but reserve a few tablespoons of pasta cooking water. Mix the pasta with the sauce and beans. If too dry, add the pasta cooking water. Dust with pepper and thinly grated lemon zest, top with a few leaves and serve hot
Watch Made in Italy with Silvia Colloca, on DVD
Silvia's Cucina the cookbook is available in stores and online!
Silvia's new book Made in Italy with Silvia Colloca is on sale now!
Made in Italy with Silvia Colloca is produced by SBS Australia and Fremantlemedia
Silvia's Cucina is on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram


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The Facts Behind Breed-Specific Dog Food
Find food that fits your pet's needs
Find a dog food that fits your pet's needs
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Do I Need Breed Specific Food for my Puppy?
Choosing a food for your beloved puppy has become an overwhelming task. Pet stores are filled with aisle after aisle of different dog food brands, each one boasting that if you feed this food your puppy will live a longer and healthier life.Some brands have even developed breed-specific dog foods that are said to address the health needs of your specific breed of puppy. One can see why puppy owners gravitate to a dog food that claims to be tailor-made to their own dog's genetic makeup, but is it the right choice?
Unfortunately, breed-specific puppy foods are little more than a marketing gimmick and do not have sound nutritional science backing them. We do not yet have the research that pinpoints the difference in nutritional requirements between different specific breeds of dogs. A small breed dog's metabolism, for example, is much different from a large breed dog, but it is unlikely that a Yorkie's nutritional needs vary all that much from a Shih Tzu's.
Will Breed-Specific Dog Food Help My Pup?
Breed-specific dog foods are not necessarily harmful; they are just somewhat redundant if you (and your veterinarian) are already correctly assessing your puppy's nutritional requirements based on life stage, size and specific health needs. Take a large breed puppy like a Golden Retriever, for instance. He can develop serious joint disease if fed a food that is too high in calories or calcium. It is critical that Golden Retriever puppies grow up eating an appropriate dog food so their bones develop properly. However, there is no benefit to feeding a Golden Retriever specific puppy food rather than any high quality large breed puppy food. When comparing a Golden Retriever puppy food to a Labrador Retriever puppy food, there are no differences in the critical nutritional components of the nutrition.
For the complete article on breed specific dog food, visit petMD.


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Audi says, 'so long vampires' in Super Bowl adFri, 27 Jan 2012
Audi has combined two of America's favorite things for its S7 ad, the Super Bowl and vampires. The German automaker released its one-minute commercial on YouTube, ahead of the big game next week.
The S7 is the high-performance version of the A7 sedan. It has a coupe-like roof line with a cavernous trunk.
The spot features a group of twenty-somethings partying in the woods. Music is playing, the bonfire is going and the guests are sipping from blood-donor pouches. To bring home the point that they're vampires, a couple runs up a tree like in a scene from the Twilight series.
At the same time, a man is making his way to the party in the hero car, a new Audi S7. He cruises through the woods until he finally pulls up at the shindig with the new light-emitting diodes blazing. The vamps start vaporizing when the super-white light hits them. After about 20 are vanquished ,the commercial ends with the Twitter hashtag #SoLongVampires.
Cute, but we'd like to think that Audi has something better to tout than its new headlights, quattro perhaps, or maybe the V10 R8.
Now, if the LEDs could take out vampire-movie lovers--that's something we could get behind.
By Jake Lingeman


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The Biblestudents encountered already many problems in France and were forbidden to teach or preach in public. The Catholic church did not have any problem because many in France consider themselves Catholics. Lots of those Catholics protested against the Muslim community growing in their country, never questioning why so many where leaving the Catholic faith and found themself disillusioned and cheated by that big organisation, which claims to be the true religion.
The last few weeks many of those French were calling blue murder and wanted a ban on everything that smelled to Islam. By doing so they got the clear thinking minds also in their back-garden, because lots of French want the burqini (burkini) banned in France. (Some other countries want to follow suit.) Though several people noticed also that the burqini was covering less of the body than certain habits of Catholic clergy. So why would the French police allow nuns to go in the sea with their habit but humiliate Muslim women dressed in a fashionable swimwear called burqini (burkini)?
Several French people shouted that burqini's to be dangerous clothing (?!?) that should be forbidden. We wonder what could be so dangerous about that attire. The Catholic nuns and priests have much more space to hide dangerous weapons or to wear bomb belts than those women who wear a burqini.
Now it came to happen what hung already some time in the air. It was clear that the governement not only wanted to get the attention away from her inability to protect the French people, they also would love to get any form of religiosity out of their community.
As citizens of a country one would expect the interior ministry's responsibility to guarantee security and to decide the severity of responses which however must never become provocations that could potentially attract attacks. The governement should do everything to have the different groups of people, from different origin and cultures, living together in unison. but now it looks like the governement does everything to put oil on the fire and to get as many people against each other.
In name of secularism the French governement decided to abandon any religious sign/symbol or religious badges in public places, and as such does not want their citizens to show in their clothing what they believe. Christian youngsters who previously wore fishes or crosses, yarmulkes, scarves or any other religious clothing shall shall not allowed to enter the school because it is now prohibited in the schools, which started today.
What started off as an attack on the Muslim woman has now become a general attack on the freedom of religious thought.
Clearly there are many Europeans who, seemingly sincerely, think women are not strong enough to decide for themselves what for sort religion they want to belong to or what sort of clothing they want to wear.
Striking is it that mainly men have the greatest objection to those Muslim women wearing covering clothes. Though also several Western women do not want to accept that those European ex-Catholics can make up their mind for themselves and decide for themselves which religion to belong to and what to wear.
A woman's swimsuit measured in the name of modesty (1925); woman forced to undress in the name of liberty (2016)…as seen in "Men Won't Stop Controlling Women's Dresscode" by Nuha ElZubeir, Identity Mag.
Some decades ago women were penalised when they had clothing on, which showed some bare legs or arms. We ourselves knew our parents to wear covering swimwear and many of us had problems when they wanted to run outdoors with sleeveless shirts or short trousers. Now half a century later it looks it has to have come the opposite, when somebody wants the body covered he or she is looked at as doing something wrong. In France it has even become so far to call the covering of body parts indecent and against morals and French values.
Has it become that French morals today dictate that men and women should have as much as possible bare body parts, though not fully naked, because that would take the sensuality away and would make everybody the same. They prefer that the nudity is accentuated but not hidden. When hidden, it proofs today, then the French are getting uneasy.
French men seem not to like it when a woman wear what she wants. They do not seem to believe a woman is capable of that. As soon as a woman prefers certain body parts covered they call it her being oppressed by some one else (her husband, her parents, her religious leader). They do not seem to see or to understand, that such woman perhaps can be much stronger than all those who follow the fashion magazines and always want to be by the time wearing the latest hype.
Well this time they also have a hype. All the smear campaign made that the sales of the burqini are booming.
Hopefully lots of women also dare to show that they are themselves able to decide what to wear, what to show or what to hide of their own body, that is their own property and not the property of the onlookers at the beach or on the street. For a woman to be in charge of her own body, that seems to be a big problem in the macho world of the so called land of liberty, freedom and equality.
When women would be equal, why want they listen more to them who can speak for themselves? Why do they not want to believe them?
For those who are Catholic or for those who say they are Christian, they should be aware that Jesus had a loving spirit for all around him and did not show favouritism to those who would have been dressed in such or such a way.
In the Tanakh, Messianic Scriptures and in the Quran, the Divine Creator of everything, Allah, the God of gods, the Elohim Hashem Jehovah, demands of those who love Him, to love their neighbour as themselves. God demands those who love Him, to respect all creatures God allows here on earth. As such God demands from believers in the Almighty to respect other believers, even if they are heathen or do not want to know anything of God.
As Christians we should respect those who believe in Allah/God, but want to belong to an other religion than ours. We should respect also their choice of denomination or Islamic group, and if they want to follow the rules of a certain Islamic (or other) group we should respect that as well. This mean if they feel they should cover up their body, though we also know it is not explicitly so described in the Holy Writings, we should respect their choice.
We also should recognise that those shouting and saying their concerned about their values, are having the wrong values, because covering body parts is more ethical and respectful than to flaunt with naked body parts.
Find also to read about the burqini or burkini:
- Women's Groups Say Gender Equality is a Must for Sustainable Development
- Gender connections
- Gender equality and women's rights in the post-2015 agenda
- What is Racism??
- Is Europe going to become a dictatorial bastion
- On French beach French police forces woman to undress in public
- Women in France running with naked bosom all right but with covered bosom penalised
- France and the Burkini
- French showing to the whole world their fear and weaknesses
- Pew Research: How People in Muslim Countries Believe Women Should Dress
- Allowing dress code according liberty of religion
- The Dress Code for Women in the Quran
- Meditating Muslimah on "hijab to be a religious obligation"
- Coverings Worn by Muslim Women
- Does Banning Face Veils Help Us Fight Terrorism?
- Islamism Rises from Europe's Secularism
- You are what you wear
- Where's the Outrage Over Nun Beachwear? – The Daily Beast
- Not limiting others but sharing peace with all
- What we don't say about the refugee crisis?
- A charter for a truly free world and why we need it
- When will it stop
- 'I try to keep my hate in check. If you can't hate, you can't love.'
- Meditating Muslimah on "hijab to be a religious obligation"
Further of interest
- Bombs in a burkini?
- I got 99 problems and the burkini is one of them…really?
- 99 Word Blog (#024) Banned Burkinis
- Fleeing The Hijab
- Current Events Corner 8/16/2016
- "France is at War with its own Citizens" – Yasser Louati on the Cannes "Burkini" Ban
- Uproar in France over 'burkini ban' at Cannes beaches
- #62 French police force Muslim woman to remove her Burkini on Nice beach (photos)
- Undress for safety
- Nudism/Naturism and burkini madness: Why not ban all clothes at the beach?
- Does Banning Face Veils Help Us Fight Terrorism?
- Why are the burqa and burkini being banned?
- Fashion vs the Government: The Burkini Debate
- The scandal of women's bodies in secular Europe
- French burkini ban exposes the myth of neutral secularism
- Burkini and French Secularism
- Ban of burkini: theresult ofmalechauvinism or secularism
- France's Burkini Ban: Identity politics go to the beach
- Forcing a Muslim Woman To Undress is Not Fighting Oppression. That IS Oppression!
- Banning The Burqa And Burkini Is Not The Correct Liberal Response To Conservative Islam
- The Hypocrisy of the Burkini Ban
- A Burqini is not Equivalent to a Burqa
- Corsican town becomes third in France to ban the burkini after #Islamics riot
- France's Burkini BigotryBurkinis in the land of Liberté, égalité, fraternité
- To Burkini Or Not To Burkini: The Ages Of Men Deciding What Women Should Wear
- French Burkini Bans Face Legal Challenge as Tension Mounts
- France has for its name, the contrary of Liberty and Fraternity practice.
- A cover story
- Does France have a problem with racism?
- Everyone everywhere wants to tell women what to wear
- The Day The News Made My Blood Boil
- Beachwear bull
- Women protest French burkini ban outside French Embassy in London
- Show us your bits..
- It's Always the Cover Up
- Thoughts of the Day: Burkini Ban
- Doing something for something's sake is a dangerous strategy
- Burkini Ban : French Farce
- Burkini beach
- Islam, France, Burkini: A chit chat on FB
- Facebook 45 – Suorkini
- The burqa-One mermaid's opinion
- burkinis or bikinis?
- Burkini vs Bikini
- The Burkini
- Burquini – How It Happened
- Burkini Ban: Nice
- Cannes Ban
- Why the Burkini ban poses a threat to Muslims and Non-Muslims alike
- #Burkiniban – the problem is veiled ideology
- 24 August 2016 – All Lives Matter (or Overly Clad Women)
- Why the French burkini ban is damaging feminism
- Dear French PM, The Burkini Ban Is Abhorrent
- Burkini being a threat
- The Burkini ban
- Liberty, Equality, Bigotry?
- From Bloomers to Burkinis: The Same Old Story? by Sarah Ansari
- Modern feminism makes no sense at all
- Jean-Luc Mélenchon on the Burkini : "C'est une provocation".
- And the Debate about Burkini Ban continues #burkiniban
- Can't we just put all the cards on the table?
- The folly of the #Burkiniban
- Bitches, Puhleeeeze….
- Ban the Burkini.
- The Burkini Ban
- Everything under the sun
- Very simple solution RE: Olympics and Burkini
- Next time I go to swim I might wear a good burkini
- Saudi Arabia Bans Stripy Fisherman Shirts and Berets
- Another Attack on Western Civilization from Muslim Women
- The Burkini Ban Is Pointless And Racist
- The Burkini Ban is good. Not to let your Country turn into Saudi Arabia – without Oil – in a couple of Decades, we must defend it. The right that our countries remain western.
- So! (en) | Islamic veil across Europe
- Pope urged to wear swimming trunks
- Where's the Outrage Over Nun Beachwear? – The Daily Beast
- the decomposition of logic and democratic values
- Freedom of choice. It's not so simple.
- Europe has been awash with racial tension this summer
- France's 'burkini ban', one step too far?
- In hiding
- #BurkiniBan
- France has 'misunderstood' burkini, Australian designer says
- "Burkini" Ban Accomplishes Nothing Positive
- The Hijab and MeIslamophobia or nah?Islam and the downfall of European culture
- The Islamisation of my Country – 1
- So let me get this straight…
- At what point does a ban become a chance to publicly humiliate?
- New Feminism – via Unapologetics
- Ban the Burqa, Allow the Burkini :: Middle East Forum
- If you ever had any doubt that Bill O'Reilly of FOX News wasn't actually a Muslim-sympathizing liberal, this will remove it
- Quebec opposition MNAs reopen divisive debate over religious attire with call for ban on burkinis
- Salafist fuckin' la revanche
- The best tweets showing the absurdity of the #BurkiniBan on French beaches
- Australian burkini designer profits from French ban
- Burkini, Bikini. Potato, potarto.
- New Feminism
- "Burkini"ban in Quebec: Samer Majzoub interview on CJAD by Aaron Rand.
- Why an Italian atheist should thank France for the burkini affair
- Kini Miney Mot
- More French towns spread ban on the burkini
- How Western is the Bikini?
- A Burqini is not Equivalent to a Burqa
- Nudism/Naturism and burkini madness: Why not ban all clothes at the beach?
- The scandal of women's bodies in secular Europe
- Everyone everywhere wants to tell women what to wear
- Forcing a Muslim Woman To Undress is Not Fighting Oppression. That IS Oppression!
- Does Banning Face Veils Help Us Fight Terrorism?
- You may find this offensive The Burqini Ban
- Burkini and French Secularism
- Islam and the downfall of European culture
- Why the French burkini ban is damaging feminism
- At what point does a ban become a chance to publicly humiliate?
- the decomposition of logic and democratic values
- The Burkini Ban is good. Not to let your Country turn into Saudi Arabia – without Oil – in a couple of Decades, we must defend it. The right that our countries remain western.
- Another Attack on Western Civilization from Muslim Women
- Does France have a problem with racism?
- Burkinis in the land of Liberté, égalité, fraternité
- Burkini Ban : French Farce
- The Day The News Made My Blood Boil
- French burkini ban exposes the myth of neutral secularism
- Bretons bathe fully clothed as Muslim asked to leave beach
- French mayors dismiss suspended burqini ban
- United Nations Strongly Condemns French Authorities Decision to Ban Burkani
- What Not To Wear: A Short History Of Regulating Female Dress From Ancient Sparta To The Burkini
- You've Got to BurKining Me!
- To bare or not to bare
- French city Nice suspends its ban on burkinis
- Young Muslim Americans say discrimination is 'worse now than after 9/11'
- US Muslim Women Debate Safety of Hijab amid Backlash
- Lifting Veil off Attitudes about Niqab, Hijab
- The niqab ban: 2011-2015 – The new Liberal government officially puts an end to the former Conservative government's attempt to ban the niqab during the citizenship oath
- June 24, 2015: Under the Niqab
- The Niqab Debate
- Niqab issue is thinly veiled racism
- Niqab issue is about fear of the unknown
- Niqab issue being 'pushed on the populace'
- Is Muslim female face covering nothing more than sharia Bolshevism?
- The Niqab Time Bomb
- Worse than niqab issue: pajamas worn in public
- The 'enemies of reason' are inside the gates
- Islamism, Feminism & Defiance
- Why we stopped wearing the Hijab
- The "Racist" Man at Target
- Video: Pregnant Muslim Woman Verbally Abused On London Bus
- Muslim Woman Allegedly Abused In Hospital Maternity Ward
- Assault On Niqab Wearing Women Shows The Male Violence Many Suffer
- Muslim Girl Punched In face In Birmingham For 'Wearing A Hijab'
- Man Attacked Muslim Woman And Stabbed Boy In The Face Outside Melbourne State Library
- Muslim Woman Abused In Tesco Store For Wearing Face Veil Urges Victims To Report Hate Crime
- Middle East Lifestyles – What about the ladies?
- Bigotry veiled as liberation
- YSL or "Shut Up and Run"
- Unveiling the reality
- Advice to the Muslim Women by Sheikh Saalih al Fawzan
- My Thoughts On Religious Headscarves


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During last year's Tour de France, Tyler Farrar became the first American rider to win a Tour de France stage on the Fourth of July. This year, Farrar looks set to achieve another first—by being last. Farrar currently sits 163rd in the overall standings at the Tour, and if he can hold his position, he could be the first American to ride into Paris as the Tour's "lanterne rouge."
The lanterne rouge prize celebrates the Tour's last finisher. The term comes from the red lantern traditionally hung on the last car of railroad car. In a world before computer images and satellite navigation systems, the train's conductor would watch for the red lantern to ensure that all the cars in the train remained connected. No red light meant no train. In a poetic turn typical of cycling, the Tour de France has borrowed the term to designate the final rider in the general classification.
There is no prize money for the lanterne rouge, but the riders fiercely contest it all the same. The prize offers a chance for a lesser-known rider to grab some media attention for himself and his sponsors. He becomes a minor celebrity in the cycling world. Big-ticket salaries in professional cycling are a fairly recent development, and many riders have traditionally relied on prize money and appearance fees to make ends meet. Winning the lanterne rouge means invitations to the well-paying criteriums that follow the Tour de France.
The Tour de France has a romantic streak as wide as the day is long. There is glory in survival at the Tour. In the early years of the race, few riders who started reached the finish. Not every rider could fix his own fork in a blacksmith's forge as Eugène Christophe did during the 1913 Tour. At the Tours that immediately followed the world wars, the riders raced through a landscape scarred by war. In 1919, the first Tour de France after World War I, only ten riders reached Paris. Their survival symbolized the endurance of the French nation. Surviving was winning. Little wonder that there is a prize for the rider who perseveres through to the finish, despite no hope of victory.
Cycling culture has long celebrated the panache of doomed attacks and the determination of riders who reach the finish, first or last. Jacky Durand did both with élan during his career. The French rider once rode a 217-kilometer solo breakaway. That one proved a rare success, and won Durand the 1992 Tour of Flanders. But more often, Durand's head-banging attacks ended in defeat. At the 1999 Tour de France, Durand won the combativity prize and rode into Paris as the lanterne rouge. He attacked the most and won the least.
It is a tricky business to finish in exactly last place at the Tour de France. A rider chasing lanterne rouge glory must make sure to stay far enough behind to hold his position. At the same time, he must avoid the pitfall of missing the time cuts on the mountain stages. More than one would-be lanterne rouge has fallen to the race jury's ruthless enforcement of the time cuts. A successful breakaway is also doom for a lanterne rouge contender. By joining a stage-winning breakaway, a rider rockets up the classification.
In 1980, the Tour de France organizers made it more difficult still to win the lanterne rouge. As it turned out, they were not enamored with the media attention devoted to the last-placed rider. During the 1979 Tour, the lanterne rouge competition had proven especially hard-fought, and the tight race was closely watched. Less than one minute had separated Gerhard Schönbacher and Philippe Tesnière as they began the final stage, a time trial. Both riders rode as slowly as possible, but much to his dismay, Tesnière missed the time cut.
For the 1980 Tour, the organizers turned the event into an elimination race in the hope of dampening the interest in the lanterne rouge competition. Between stages 14 and 20, the last rider in the general classification was removed from the race. Securing the lanterne rouge meant playing a canny game of riding almost-last each day. Schönbacher cracked the code, and took his second straight lanterne rouge prize. Defeated, the Tour organizers abandoned the new rule.
Currently, the record for most last place finishes belongs to Wim Vansevenant. Vansevenant won the lanterne rouge prize for three straight years. It took the Belgian three attempts to perfect his lanterne rouge campaign. In his first Tour de France, he finished 140th. The following year, he dropped to 154th, which made him the second-to-last rider in the general classification. By then, Vansevenant had learned the dangers of the time cut firsthand, when he was eliminated from the 2000 Giro d'Italia on Stage 18. Finally after several years of learning his trade, Vansevenant captured his first ever lanterne rouge in 2006. His streak of winning by losing had begun.
American contenders for the lanterne rouge have been few and far between. In 2007, David Zabriskie had a shot at taking over the lanterne rouge. He finished last on two stages, but the coveted last place position in the general classification eluded him. During Stage 11 on the road to Montpelier, Zabriskie made a strong move in the lanterne rouge battle by riding off the back of the field. In a rookie mistake, the American overshot the mark and finished outside the time cut.
This year, Tyler Farrar looks well placed to defend the lanterne rouge all the way to Paris. After 13 stages of racing, he trails Jimmy Engoulvent of Suar-Sojasun by 3:33 in the general classification. During Saturday's stage, Engoulvent joined an early breakaway. Farrar must surely have been hoping that the breakaway would stay away and offer Engoulvent a chance at Bastille Day glory. Unfortunately for Farrar, the break was caught, and Engoulvent remains the American's nearest rival. After Engoulvent, the next closest rider in the lanterne rouge competition is Farrar's teammate and former Paris-Roubaix winner Johan Vansummeren.
The Tour de France has seen its share of rivalries between teammates. Who can forget the 1986 Tour de France when Bernard Hinault battled Greg LeMond? Never mind that LeMond and Hinault wore the same jersey—they fought one another through the Tour's mountains like a pair of badgers over the same tasty grub. Too bad Vansummeren sits more than six minutes behind Farrar in the lanterne rouge race. With the difficult Pyrénées stages to come, there's still time left for Vansummeren to launch his race-winning move, but it'll take a big ride to overtake his teammate.
For now, Farrar's hold on the lanterne rouge remains secure. As the Tour heads into the Pyrénées, he will have to ride smart to avoid the dreaded time cut. Farrar will also have to be watchful. A big ride from Vansummeren or Engoulvent could still lose Farrar the lanterne rouge prize.


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BEN FELLER, Associated Press
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- Standing in the pre-dawn darkness, President Barack Obama saw the real cost of the war in Afghanistan: The Americans who return in flag-covered cases while much of the nation sleeps in peace.
In a midnight dash to this Delaware base, where U.S. forces killed overseas come home, Obama honored the return of 18 fallen Americans Thursday. All were killed in Afghanistan this week, a brutal stretch that turned October into the most deadly month for U.S. troops since the war began.
The dramatic image of a president on the tarmac was a portrait not witnessed in years. Former President George W. Bush spent lots of time with grieving military families but never went to Dover to meet the remains coming off the cargo plane. Obama did so with the weight of knowing he may soon send more troops off to war.
For all the talk of his potential troop increase - maybe 40,000, maybe some other large figure - Obama got a grim reminder of the number that counts: one.
His name was Dale R. Griffin, an Army sergeant from Terre Haute, Ind. He was the last fallen soldier to come before Obama. And his remains were the only ones to be honored in full view of the media with the permission of his family. An 18-year ban on such coverage was lifted this year under Obama's watch.
The president led a team of officials onto the gray C-17 cargo plane carrying Griffin, and then back off, where they stood for several minutes in a line of honor.
It was not quite 4 a.m. The sky was black and a yellowish light came from poles flanking the flight. The only sounds were a whirring power unit on the plane and the clicking of cameras. A blue vehicle carrying members of Griffin's family pulled up.
The president saluted as six soldiers in camouflage and black berets carried Griffin's remains into a waiting white van.
The military calls the process a dignified transfer, not a ceremony, because there is nothing to celebrate. The cases are not labeled coffins, although they come off looking that way, enveloped in flags.
On a clear fall night, the president zipped to Dover in about 40 minutes. He immediately spoke privately in a chapel with all the family members.
The solemn process of transferring remains of 15 soldiers and three Drug Enforcement Agency agents unfolded in four separate movements. Obama took part in all of them. A chaplain offered prayers for the fallen, the crews that brought them home, the families who lost a loved one, and a nation embroiled in war.
By 4:45 a.m., the president had touched back down on the South Lawn, where even an active White House was sleepy.
He walked inside, alone.
A president of two inherited wars, Obama is winding down U.S. involvement in Iraq, but the troubled war in Afghanistan is only widening. It has become the dominant foreign policy change of his early presidency. The stability of Afghanistan remains in doubt while the support of the American people is waning.
At least 55 U.S. forces have been killed in October. That's the deadliest month of the war for U.S. forces since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban.
Obama is faced with a crucial moment: How to keep al-Qaida terrorists from taking root again in Afghanistan without sinking more American lives and money into a war that isn't working. He is in the midst of an intense review of his war strategy. Aides say he is weeks away from making an announcement.
The president apparently wanted to go to Dover now given the enormous blow to U.S. forces just this week.
On Monday, a U.S. military helicopter crashed returning from the scene of a firefight with suspected Taliban drug traffickers in western Afghanistan, killing 10 Americans including three DEA agents. In a separate crash, four more U.S. troops were killed when two helicopters collided over southern Afghanistan. On Tuesday, eight soldiers were killed when their personnel vehicles was struck by roadside bombs in Afghanistan's Kandahar province.
Obama has upped the U.S. commitment in Afghanistan to 68,000 troops and is considering sending a large addition next year, but fewer than the 40,000 troops requested by his commander there, U.S. officials tell The Associated Press. He holds his next war council meeting with the Joints Chiefs of Staff on Friday.
Bush once said that he felt the appropriate way to show his respect was to meet with family members in private.
The lifting of the ban on media coverage of bodies returning to Dover was done to keep the human cost of war from being shielded from the public.
Obama saw it directly.