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The Undercover Soundtrack – Anne Allen
Posted by Roz Morris @Roz_Morris in Undercover Soundtrack on April 2, 2014
'Tragedy and loss are cornerstones of my story'
Once a week I host a writer who uses music as part of their creative environment – perhaps to connect with a character, populate a mysterious place, or hold a moment still to explore its depths. This week my guest is romance mystery novelist Anne Allen @AnneAllen21
Soundtrack by Philip Chapman, Denis Quinn, Medwyn Goodall, Terry Oldfield, Johann Pachelbel, Rod Stewart
Thanks, Roz, for allowing me to air my thoughts on the music that influences me while I write. Your series has shown how varied the music is that writers listen to in their search for creativity. My own selection is quite limited in comparison but it did inspire me while writing my first novel.
I do love music but there are also times when it seems to get in the way; I find myself so drawn into the music, particularly vocal, that I literally lose the plot! Music helps to create the mood, spark the creativity but then must either be less noticeable or pertinent to what I'm writing at that time. My normal listening taste is quite eclectic; Michael Jackson, Adele, Nina Simone, Pavarotti, 1812 Overture, Chris Rea… And I love the more meditative New Age music which always formed a backdrop to my sessions when I practised as a hypnotherapist.
While writing my first novel Dangerous Waters I started off by playing New World Collection Relaxation II, a compilation of different artists playing hauntingly beautiful music which fed my soul while I stepped into the unknown as a writer. The first track, Wisdom by Philip Chapman, is played on a piano but with strings in the background and always calms me. My central character, Jeanne Le Page, is a young woman returning to her island home of Guernsey for the first time in 15 years, after fleeing to England as a girl of 16. She had lost her family in a tragic accident and now returns after the death of her grandmother, while also mourning the end of a long-term relationship. Tragedy and loss are the cornerstones to the story but as time goes on, hope of a fresh start and new love appear and the mood changes. My favourite track on this album, Soldier of Love by Denis Quinn, is in harmony with this change and provided the ideal background for the latter part of the writing process.
Seeking catharsis
Jeanne experiences so many conflicting emotions through the story and music helped me to identify with them. I cried at times too, the words and music encouraging me to release my own grief as I wrote. I had lost two people I had loved and writing Dangerous Waters proved a catharsis. Another favourite of mine is the Pachelbel Canon which I found inspirational as I grappled with difficult chapters. Bearing in mind that this was the first time I'd written anything more substantial than a 500-word true-life story, I was in a constant state of insecurity; totally untutored. Entering the heads of other characters was also challenging, but I could empathise with some more than others. Molly, a character in the book, was based on a family friend. She was also a hypnotherapist who played a part in helping Jeanne to recover the memory lost after the accident and I played tracks such as Dream by Medwyn Goodall and Wings of the Morning by Terry Oldfield during the hypnosis sessions in the story to evoke the right ambience. At least there I was on known territory!
As Jeanne began to blossom and a new man- actually men! – appeared on the scene, I felt the need for different inspiration and listened to a Rod Stewart album. I know, I know! A bit off piste, perhaps, but it was fun and sexy and that's what I, or rather Jeanne, needed. The album was If We Fall In Love Tonight. The title says it all, but there were particular tracks that, ahem, helped with certain scenes, such as Tonight's the Night and Sometimes When We Touch. Rod's gravelly voice provided, I have to say, both a distracting but complementary background to the writing.
We all respond to music in one way or another. Memories, both good and bad, are triggered by hearing even just a few bars of a tune that resonated with us at one time. Perhaps we take it for granted that it's there, in the background of our lives, not always listening. But I'm convinced we would miss it if it was no longer there in our world and we have the composers, lyricists and artists to thank for offering us such a rich choice for our inspiration and comfort. Like books, music enriches our lives and I wouldn't be without it.
Anne Allen lives by the sea in Devon, UK, having finally settled down; perhaps. She spent many years working as a psychotherapist but knew the 'creative' in her had to escape one day. In the past two years she has published two novels, Dangerous Waters and Finding Mother; her third book, Guernsey Retreat, is due out later in 2014. Her genre is romance/mystery and romance/family drama and Dangerous Waters won Silver in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards 2012. Her website is www.anneallen.co.uk and she can be found on Twitter as @AnneAllen21.
Adele, Anne Allen, authors, Chris Rea, contemporary fiction, Dangerous Waters, Denis Quinn, Desert Island Discs, drama, entertainment, family drama, Finding Mother, grief, Guernsey, Guernsey Retreat, hypnosis, hypnotherapy, Johann Pachelbel, loss, Medwyn Goodall, Michael Jackson, music for writers, music for writing, My Memories of a Future Life, Mystery, Nail Your Novel, Nina Simone, Philip Chapman, playlist for writers, Rod Stewart, romance, romantic mystery, Roz Morris, Terry Oldfield, The Undercover Soundtrack, tragedy, undercover soundtrack, Wings of the Morning, Wishing Shelf Book Awards 2012, Women Writers, Women's fiction, writers, writing, writing from grief, writing from loss, writing to music
- The Undercover Soundtrack is a series where writers - and occasionally other arty folk - reveal how music shapes their work.
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What is The Undercover Soundtrack?Sleeve notes here
For the soundtrack of My Memories of a Future Life, you'll need Chopin's Sonata in B Minor, Rachmaninov preludes, lashings of Grieg's piano concerto in A minor and The Clash's Rock the Kasbah (they go together well).
You'll also need Samuel Barber's Dover Beach on piano, although that doesn't actually exist so do the best you can.
And the novel's undercover pieces. You can find them here
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Alien hand syndrome: The feeling that one's hand is possessed by a force outside of one's control. The syndrome typically arises after trauma to the brain, after brain surgery or after a stroke or an infection of the brain. A person with the alien hand syndrome can feel sensation in the affected hand but thinks that the hand is not part of their body and that they have no control over its movement, that it belongs to an alien.
Different types of brain injuries cause different subtypes of alien hand syndrome. For example, take an injury to the corpus callosum (the area of the brain which connects the two cerebral hemispheres, the two halves of the brain). Such an injury in a right-handed person can give rise to purposeful movements of the left hand, while injury to the brain's frontal lobe of the brain can trigger grasping and other purposeful movements in the dominant right hand. More complex hand movements such as unbuttoning or tearing of clothes are usually associated with brain tumors, aneurysms or strokes.
There is currently no treatment for alien hand syndrome. All a patient can do to control the problem is to keep the hand busy by having it hold an object.
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Answers on A Postcard :
A No Brainer :
A no brainer is something that requires little mental effort or intelligence to perform or understand.
An Old Flame :
An old flame is a person that somebody has had an emotional, usually passionate, relationship with, who is still looked on fondly and with affection.
An Ounce of Prevention is Worth A Pound of Cure. :
It is better to try avoiding problems in the first place rather than trying to fixing them once they arise.
Answers on A Postcard :
This idiom can be used to suggest that the answer to something is very obvious or that the person would really like to hear what people think.
Ants in Your Pants :
If someone has ants in their pants, they are agitated or excited about something and can't keep them still.
Any Port in A Storm :
This means that in an emergency any solution will do even one that would normally be unacceptable.
Any Tom, Dick or Harry :
It something could be done by any Tom, Dick or Harry, it could be done by absolutely anyone.
A-One or A-1 :
First class, very good, top ranking
A Penny for Your Thoughts :
This idiom is used as a way of asking someone what they are thinking about.
A Penny Saved is A Penny Earned. :
This means that we should not spend or waste money, but try to save it.
A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words. :
A picture can often get a message across much better than the best verbal description.
A Poor Man's…:
Something or someone that can be compared to something or someone else, but is not as good is a poor man's version.
Answers on A Postcard
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Friday, June 3, 2011
Happy Friday everyone! Sorry I've been out of the loop for the past few days… hubs and I have been enjoying our vacation up in Washington, D.C. (re-caps to come!). Hope you all survived your work weeks! It's time for cocktail Friday with the hubs: bring on the weekend!
Happy Friday again, friends. So we're up here in Washington DC on vacation and apparently we brought the hot weather from south Florida with us. The past couple of days have been crazy hot (in the mid 90's). Now Florida may be hot and sunny for most of the year but we have that Atlantic breeze that keeps us a little cool. We felt like we were walking around our nations Capital with a hair dryer in front of us the whole time!
Well, you know what makes the blistering heat bearable? A frozen drink. I know, I know; last time when I wrote about the peach Bellini, I looked down my nose as I stated that mixed drinks and frozen drinks are not created equal. You know what, I was right. A good stiff drink will NOT keep you from melting into a puddle on a smoking hot day.
I found out that my grandma (who is not a fan of alcoholic beverages) loves the same frozen drink as my wife; the world famous Pina Colada. It is the quintessential hot weather drink. This sweet, fruity icy pleasure will keep you cool and if you have enough, will give you reason to attempt a perfect cannonball into the pool.
So grab your SPF, a beach towel, and a pitcher of these and and you'll have no shoes, no shirt, and no problem!
Cheers & Happy Summer!
-The Hubs
Pina Colada
15 oz can of Cream of Coconut Milk (we used Coco Lopez)
15 oz Pineapple Juice
1 1/2 cups light rum, divided
2/3 cup coconut rum, divided (like Malibu)
10-12 cups ice, divided
Pineapple wedges for garnish (optional)
In a small pitcher or large pyrex measuring cup, mix together the cream of coconut and the pineapple juice (Tip: use your coconut can to measure an estimated 15 oz of the pineapple juice).
In a blender, combine half (15 ounces) of the pineapple & coconut mixture, half of the rum (3/4 cup), half of the coconut rum (1/3 cup), and half of the ice (start with 5 cups). Blend until combined adding ice until desired consistency (we added the sixth cup). This will make 4 servings.
Repeat with the remaining ingredients to complete all 8 beverages. You have to blend in two batches unless you have a GIANT blender!


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Japan's Dilemma Over Iran Sanctions
If the U.S. wants to isolate the Islamic Republic, it will need Tokyo's help. But are they able to give it?
- Security Council Showdown on Syria
- Cuba's First Party Conference
- What's Next For Egypt's Secularists?
- Taliban Talks, a Balancing Act
Cutting off Iranian oil imports has put Tokyo in a difficult position. The United States and its European allies have already agreed to up the ante on sanctions against Iran, but the domestic costs that Japan has to bear in order to cooperate are higher.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's government has indicated its desire to cooperate, and last December the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced new restrictions on the operations of 106 entities as well as one individual with potential links to proliferation-sensitive activities in Iran. But the real effort now is to reduce Japan's oil imports from Tehran, and to negotiate an exemption from more stringent restrictions on Japanese banks included in the new U.S. sanctions law.
Rebalancing Japan's energy supply is even more delicate at the moment, as most of the nations' nuclear power plants remain offline. Efforts to compensate by increasing access to overseas sources of supply, including oil and LNG imports, have ensured Japan's national power supply since the disasters of March 11 last year. The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan estimated an additional twenty-nine million kiloliters of demand for crude and heavy oil since 2010, and an added cost of 3.3 trillion yen, or $43.2 billion, for imports of fossil fuel for thermal plants. Thus, suddenly imposing more severe oil import restrictions would be difficult and expensive at a time when the economy is fragile.
Japan has been decreasing its reliance on Iranian oil steadily since the 2006 sanctions took effect. Since 2007, Japan has reduced its imports from Tehran by roughly 40 percent, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Roughly 500 barrels per day of Iranian crude oil imports have dwindled to 316 barrels per day over this period. That works out to be an 11 percent annual rate of reduction, which by 2010 had brought Japan down to the third largest importer from Iran after the European Union and China. In contrast, South Korea's crude oil imports from Iran increased by 20 percent in 2011, and China's imports rose by 30 percent.
Tokyo now must accelerate this rate of reduction to satisfy U.S. legal requirements and the rising political interest of the U.S. Congress. Japan has already promised to do so, but what remains to be negotiated is the speed of those reductions. Officials from the Japanese government are expected to visit Washington, DC, on Thursday to discuss how much faster Japan must cut its imports.
Part of that answer depends on alternate suppliers. Japan has already diversified its sources considerably. In 2010, Iran accounted for only 9.6 percent of Japan's oil imports, with Saudi Arabia (28.8 percent), the UAE (20.4 percent), and Qatar (11.8 percent) taking a leading role as Japan's crude oil suppliers. The continued cooperation of alternative crude oil suppliers, of course, will be critical to sustaining Tokyo's ability to meet its energy needs and find alternative source of supply. Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba's visit to the region from January 5 to 12 demonstrates how keenly Tokyo depends on their willingness to continue upping their production.
Two additional challenges are also in the mix for Tokyo. The first is the financing of oil imports from Iran. Annually, Japan's oil trade with Iran runs around one trillion yen, or $13.1 billion. On January 19 the Nikkei Shimbun reported that 80 to 90 percent of those transactions are done by the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, and the remainder by the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. An exemption of Japan's banks from immediate affect of the new sanctions law, therefore, would allow Tokyo to manage the risk involved for two leading financial institutions as it moves forward in reducing its Iranian oil imports.
Beyond these specific calculations on the new sanctions, the deeper challenge for Japanese policymakers is the domestic politics of the sanctions debate itself. The growing perception in Japan is that cooperation in the sanctions effort against Iran only benefits other economic competitors, most notably China. In 2006, the Japanese government at the urging of the Bush administration ended its petroleum development project at Azadegan, seen to be one of the most promising untapped oil fields in Iran. Almost immediately thereafter the Chinese government concluded a deal with Tehran to take over the development project, ensuring that Beijing would have preferential access to the long-term oil stream that would result.
Today too most Japanese watch Chinese efforts to ensure its oil supply in Iran as well as efforts to negotiate preferential treatment from other alternative suppliers, and see direct competition to Japanese interests. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao's visit to the capitals of Saudi Arabia and the UAE on the heels of Foreign Minister Gemba upped the ante, and resulted in a deal with Saudi Arabia for development access to the Manifa oil field. Within Japan, while the government does its best to cooperate with Washington on the most recent round of sanctions, critics charge that China seems to be--yet again--eating into Japan's energy supply streams (at much lower cost, by the way) and getting immediate gains from Japan's decisions. It doesn't help that South Korea remains cautious about cutting its imports from Iran, and that India has flat out refused to curtail its Iranian oil purchases. South Korean president Lee Myung-bak's upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia and the UAE reveals the heated competition for crude oil among Asia's leading economies.
Over the last several years, Tokyo has become one of Washington's closest allies in the effort to gain international support for the sanctioning of Iran's nuclear program, both through the United Nations and now with the United States and the EU. Yet we should remember that Japan has much at stake, especially this year. Ensuring that Tokyo can manage a reduction in its imports is one important piece of the puzzle. Allowing a graceful exit for its banks, already significantly engaged in cooperating with existing sanctions and major financial partners in the U.S. domestic market, is an important step in ensuring continued Japanese cooperation over time. At all costs, U.S. policymakers must ensure that Tokyo's cooperation in nuclear nonproliferation efforts in Iran does not exact a higher economic or political cost than Beijing, Seoul, or Delhi's lack of cooperation.
This article originally appeared at CFR.org, an Atlantic partner site.


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President Barack Obama is seeking to refocus a nervous nation's attention on those killed and gravely wounded in what he called an "act of terror" at the Boston Marathon.
Americans also will be looking to the president to offer reassurances about the nation's safety as investigators scramble to answer key questions about an attack with origins that are yet unknown.
The president was to speak Thursday at an interfaith service in Boston honoring the three people killed and 170 injured when a pair of bombs ripped through the crowd gathered Monday afternoon near the finish line of the famous race. Investigators have an image of a potential suspect, though much about what happened remains a mystery, keeping tensions high in Boston and elsewhere around the country.
Compounding the nation's jitters were letters sent to Washington officials that contained suspicious substances, including ones addressed to Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., that showed traces of poisonous ricin in initial tests. The letters evoked eerie parallels to the anthrax attacks that followed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
It's against that backdrop that Obama and his wife, Michelle, are heading to Boston for the "Healing Our City" service. He may also meet with some of those injured, as well as the first responders who rushed toward the blast to help the scores of runners and spectators.
"We send our support and encouragement to people who never expected that they'd need it — the wounded civilians who are just beginning what will be, I'm sure for some of them, a long road to recovery," Obama said Wednesday in a likely preview of his remarks at the service.
The president has stepped into this role as the nation's consoler in chief many times before in his presidency, most recently in December after the massacre of 20 first-graders and six educators at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. Before that, there were the deadly shootings in Aurora, Colo., Tucson, Ariz., and Fort Hood, Texas, as well as the natural disasters that tore apart towns and neighborhoods in Missouri and the New York-New Jersey area.
This time, Obama must confront the unique challenges of a terror attack that inevitably revived memories of 9/11. As he did in a statement from the White House on Tuesday, the president was expected to urge the public to remain vigilant, while declaring that "the American people refuse to be terrorized."


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Virginia O'Hanlon was 8-years-old when she gained a measure of fame that would last her lifetime.
Shortly after her birthday in July 1897, young Virginia wrote to the New York Sun, posing the timeless question: "Is there a Santa Claus?"
It took several weeks, but her innocent letter gave rise to the most famous editorial in American journalism. The Sun answered Virginia's query on September 21, 1897, in an essay destined to become a classic.
The essay was assigned an inconspicuous place in the Sun, appearing in the third of three columns of editorials beneath the headline, "Is There A Santa Claus?"
Its most memorable passage sought to reassure Virginia–and, as it turned out, generations of youngsters since then.
"Yes, Virginia," it declared, "there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias."
The editorial closed with further reassurance:
"No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."
As I note in my 2006 book, a year-study titled The Year That Defined American Journalism: 1897 and the Clash of Paradigms, Virginia O'Hanlon as an adult embraced the recognition and modest fame that came with her part in inspiring "Is There A Santa Claus?" (She once said in jest that she was "anonymous from January to November.")
The editorial, she told an interviewer in 1959, when she was 67, "gave me a special place in life I didn't deserve. It also made me try to live up to the philosophy of the editorial and to try to make glad the heart of childhood."
She occasionally read the editorial at Christmas programs, as she did in 1933 and 1937 at Hunter College, her alma mater. Virginia earned a bachelor's degree there in 1910 and a master's degree two years later at Columbia University.
She was a teacher in the New York City schools, and became a principal at a school for handicapped children after earning a doctorate from Fordham University in 1935.
At her retirement in 1959, the New York Times observed that Virginia was "one of those rare persons whose given name alone has instant meaning for millions."
In December 1960, Virginia went on the Perry Como Show and said she had lived "a wonderfully full life." She told Como in a brief interview that her letter to the Sun had been "answered for me thousands of times."
She was married for a time to Edward Douglas by whom she had a daughter, Laura Temple. For two years in the 1930s, Temple worked in the advertising office of the Sun.
"They all knew who I was," she was quoted years as saying about the Sun staff. "And we all had the same feeling about the editorial that my mother had—that it was a classic."
Virginia O'Hanlon Douglas was 81 when she died at a nursing home in upstate New York.
Her death in May 1971 was reported on the front page of the New York Times beneath the headline:
"Virginia O'Hanlon, Santa's friend, dies."
She was buried in North Chatham, New York.
At the approach of Christmas in recent years, the North Chatham Historical Society has conducted a reading at Virginia's gravesite of the letter that brought her fame and of the editorial that it inspired.
Recent and related:
- At Christmas: The remarkable trajectory of an 1897 editorial
- 'Yes, Virginia,' on CBS: No classic
- The myths of 'Yes, Virginia'
- More myths of 'Yes, Virginia'
- On media myths and the 'golden age' fallacy
- 'Follow the tenspot'
- Media myths, the 'junk food of journalism'
- Sniffing out media myths
- In myth, a truism: Hearst's vow 'will forever live on'
- 'Getting It Wrong' launched at Newseum


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Drug Court Philosophy
The San Mateo County Drug Court addresses the needs of nonviolent, diversion-eligible defendants. This specialized court includes a courtroom-based team approach with a strong judicial leadership role in the processing and treatment of drug cases. By relaxing their traditional adversarial roles, Drug Court officials work as a team. With the Judge acting as team leader, probation officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, jail classification officers, the Bar Association Own Recognizance Program staff and treatment professionals work collaboratively to develop a strategy that is in the best interest of both the defendant and society.
What is Drug Court?
Drug Court offers individuals facing criminal charges for drug use and possession an opportunity to enter into a substance abuse recovery program in lieu of straight jail time.
The requirements of drug court are quite strict. The defendants are frequently drug tested and must attend substance abuse recovery meetings and make court appearances regularly. Defendants must also abide by all other rules and laws.
If the participant successfully completes the conditions set by the drug court judge, they "graduate" from Drug Court, and the original charge may be dismissed, reduced (or set aside), a lesser penalty imposed, or a combination of these.
Why have Drug Court?
An enormous proportion of criminal defendants have a substance abuse problem. Most crimes are either directly or indirectly connected to addiction. People with a substance abuse problem require treatment. Drug Courts offer a way to help a defendant recover from addiction and stop related criminal activity.
» Benefits of Drug Court
Who is involved in Drug Court and what do they do?
- Judge - team leader who is ultimately responsible for making decisions regarding each defendants' participation
- DA - negotiates disposition of criminal charges and defendant's program conditions
- Defendant's Attorney (Private Defender Program or Private Bar member) - works with the defendant to ensure that the defendant understands his/her rights
- Treatment Providers - provide residential and outpatient recovery assistance. Prepare progress reports that are shared with team.
- Probation - supervise probation or diversion conditions and provide regular reports on the progress of the participants
- OR/Jail classification - Determines preliminary eligibility of defendants in custody. Describes the program to potential participants. Initially supervise the participants until they are transferred to Probation for formal supervision.
- Mental health - On occasion, the Access Team from County Mental Health will evaluate participants, especially those on psychotropic medications, in order to assure that they can benefit from the substance abuse recovery programs


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Meat/Produce Trays
Raw Material: Sugarcane-bagasse
Sugarcane is a non-food renewable resource, yielding new harvests annually. Sugarcane-bagasse is the name for the plant fiber that remains after sugar producers process the sugarcane stalk. We take the fiber and mold it into strong and attractive food packaging products. It is certified compostable and biodegradable.
Product Characteristics:
- Water Resistant up to 100C/212F
- Oil Resistant up to 120C/248F
- Microwave and Freezer Safe
Colors Available:


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Be it resolved by the people of the state of Missouri that the Constitution be amended:
One new section, to be known as Section 54 of Article III, is enacted, and Section 39 of Article III of the Constitution of Missouri is amended, to read as follows:
Section 54. (1)
A statute enacted by citizen initiative pursuant to this article shall not be repealed or amended by the general assembly, except by either a two-thirds vote of the members of each house or a vote of the people through a referendum or unless such statute explicitly provides that the general assembly may repeal or amend it by a majority vote of the members of each house.
(2) This section shall apply prospectively to actions of the general assembly relating to statutes enacted by citizen initiative pursuant to this article, whether the initiative statute was enacted before or is enacted after the effective date of this section.
Section 39. The general assembly shall not have the power:
(1) To give or lend or to authorize the giving or lending of the credit of the state in aid or to any person, association, municipal or other corporation;
(2) To pledge the credit of the state for the payment of the liabilities, present or prospective, of any individual, association, municipal or other corporation;
(3) To grant or to authorize any county or municipal authority to grant any extra compensation, fee or allowance to a public officer, agent, servant or contractor after service has been rendered or a contract has been entered into and performed in whole or in part;
(4) To pay or to authorize the payment of any claim against the state or any county or municipal corporation of the state under any agreement or contract made without express authority of law;
(5) To release or extinguish or to authorize the releasing or extinguishing, in whole or in part, without consideration, the indebtedness, liability or obligation of any corporation or individual due this state or any county or municipal corporation;
(6) To make any appropriation of money for the payment, or on account of or in recognition of any claims audited or that may hereafter be audited by virtue of an act entitled "An Act to Audit and Adjust the War Debts of the State," approved March 19, 1874, or any act of a similar nature, until the claim so audited shall have been presented to and paid by the government of the United States to this state;
(7) To act, when convened in extra session by the governor, upon subjects other than those specially designated in the proclamation calling said session or recommended by special message to the general assembly after the convening of an extra session;
(8) To remove the seat of government from the City of Jefferson;
(9) Except as otherwise provided in section 39(b), section 39(c), section 39(e) or section 39(f) of this article, to authorize lotteries or gift enterprises for any purpose, and shall enact laws to prohibit the sale of lottery or gift enterprise tickets, or tickets in any scheme in the nature of a lottery; except that, nothing in this section shall be so construed as to prevent or prohibit citizens of this state from participating in games or contests of skill or chance where no consideration is required to be given for the privilege or opportunity of participating or for receiving the award or prize and the term "lottery or gift enterprise" shall mean only those games or contests whereby money or something of value is exchanged directly for the ticket or chance to participate in the game or contest. The general assembly may, by law, provide standards and conditions to regulate or guarantee the awarding of prizes provided for in such games or contests under the provision of this subdivision;
(10) To impose a use or sales tax upon the use, purchase or acquisition of property paid for out of the funds of any county or other political subdivision[.];
(11) As provided in section 54 of this article, to repeal or amend any statute enacted by citizen initiative pursuant to this article, except by either a two-thirds vote of the members of each house or by a vote of the people through a referendum or unless such statute explicitly provides that the general assembly may repeal or amend it by a majority vote of the members of each house.
sos.mo.gov Internet Privacy Policy Bid Opportunities Proposed Rules Voter ID Missouri State Government Employment Directions Site Map Employee Access
600 West Main Street Jefferson City, MO 65101 Main Office: (573) 751-4936 [email protected] Branch Offices


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Sunway Construction Group Bhd group managing director Liew Kok Wingug环球代理开户(www.ugbet.us)开放环球UG代理登录网址、会员登录网址、环球UG会员注册、环球UG代理开户申请、环球UG电脑客户端、环球UG手机版下载等业务。
KUALA LUMPUR: Sunway Construction Group Bhd's (SunCon), which posted a net profit of RM32.3mil in the second quarter ended June 30 (2Q), has declared a first interim single-tier cash dividend of 3.00 sen per share.
The interim dividend amounted to RM38.68mil would be paid on Sept 29. It represented 57% of the group's profit after tax and minority interests (PATMI) in the first half of 2022.
Its revenue rose 48.7% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM557.9mil in 2Q from RM375.3mil previously.
"The improved financial performance was due to low base and higher revenue from all segments," it said in a statement.,
Group managing director Liew Kok Wing said the group is cautiously optimistic of registering positive growth in 2022 supported by its strong existing outstanding order book.
The group has an outstanding order book of RM4.2bil and an active tender book of RM17.4bil as at June 30.
"The outlook for the construction industry is improving as the economy transitions into the endemic phase. The rollout of mega infrastructure projects augurs well for the construction industry.
"In addition, rapid growth in e-commerce, cloud computing and microchips industries lead to higher demand for semiconductor manufacturing plants and facilities, e-commerce and logistics warehouses and data centres," Liew said.


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Election Year : The following opinion is offered in the public interest. -Eds
"On almost every measure we provide a more extensive range of services for less money." –Sue Bidrose
### ODT Online Sat, 30 Jan 2016
Dunedin rates value defended
By Vaughan Elder
Dunedin ratepayers are getting some of the best value for money in New Zealand, Dunedin City Council chief executive Sue Bidrose says. In response to questions from Cr Mike Lord during this week's draft annual plan deliberations, chief executive Dr Bidrose said its residential rates – which in the 2015-16 year averaged $1996 per household – were in the lowest quarter in New Zealand and "certainly" the lowest among large cities.
Read more
█ ODT: Mayor defends rates increase
█ At Tuesday's pre-Draft Annual Plan meeting Cr Hilary Calvert put a direct question – on the public's behalf – to the group manager water and waste services about the mudtanks at South Dunedin, referring to these as "the hippopotamus in the room" (or some other water-based mammal)…. The question was circumnavigated and passed to the new group manager transport who similarly went sailing. Link
█ Delta in 2015 paid DCC a dividend of $2.5M. Without this in future years there will be significant rate rises each year. –Christchurch Driver Link
One for SB, Dave, Councillors and Staff…
shimmers, lightness, fairy-like proportion, ratings, foils to decorum, tens, the completely ethereal
EllieGouldingVEVO Published on Dec 9, 2015
Ellie Goulding – Army (Live from the Victoria's Secret 2015 Fashion Show)
From the new album DELIRIUM [latest release]
When I'm with you, I'm standing with an army….
[We're required to be wowed.]
Related Posts and Comments:
29.1.16 Delta #EpicFail —Yaldhurst Subdivision ● Some forensics
28.1.16 New Zealand local government T-shirt #haze #corruption
25.1.16 DCC: South Dunedin Integrated Catchment Management Plan (ICMP)
21.1.16 Delta #EpicFail —Yaldhurst Subdivision
● 21.1.16 DCC LTAP 2016/17 budget discussion #ultrahelpfulhints
19.1.16 Listener 23.1.16 (letter): South Dunedin #Jun2015flood
16.1.16 NZ Listener 16.1.16 (letter): South Dunedin #Jun2015flood
12.1.16 Stone the freaking crows #SurfsUp #SeawallNightmares #Dunedin
11.1.16 Un hôtel. Dunedin.
10.1.16 Infrastructure 'open to facile misinterpretation'…. or local ignore
8.1.16 Jafas, come hither…. it's alright here if warped
5.1.16 Hammered from all sides #fixit [dunedinflood Jun2015]
15.12.15 Noble property subdivision aka Yaldhurst Village | Mortgagee Tender
21.9.15 DCC: Not shite (?) hitting the fan but DVL
20.7.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA #LGOIMA
1.4.15 Christchurch subdivisions: Heat gone?
24.3.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA
23.3.15 Noble property subdivision: "Denials suggest that we have not learned."
17.3.15 DCC —Delta, Jacks Point Luggate II…. Noble property subdivision
Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
hoopla words….
TheWeekndVEVO Published on Dec 9, 2015
The Weeknd – Can't Feel My Face (Live From The Victoria's Secret 2015 Fashion Show)
TheWeekndVEVO Published on Dec 9, 2015
The Weeknd – In The Night (Live From The Victoria's Secret 2015 Fashion Show)
last word (valediction)
EllieGouldingVEVO Published on Dec 9, 2015
Love Me Like You Do – From "Fifty Shades Of Grey" (Live From The Victoria's Secret 2015 Fashion Show)
From the new album DELIRIUM
Yeah, I'll let you set the pace 'cause I'm not thinking straight


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Hockey | Playing catch-up, part I
Posted by: Feldman
Amazing what can pile up when you're on vacation for a bit (Phersy should know what this feels like, since he's always on a vacation).
Here are a few notes to toss out there for now, and I'll have a post on the Lourdes boys hockey team's summer practices a little later tonight. I went over and talked to coach Josh Spaniol during their final week of summer workouts in late July. I didn't get around to posting anything, as I was waiting to hear how a couple of their players did in Junior tryout camps (not that any of them anticipated leaving high school, but I was waiting to see how they fared at those camps).
So, for some notes:
• Former Rochester Century standout d-man Connor Faupelwill play for Neepawa of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League this coming season. It's a nice move for Faupel, who passed up his senior season at Century to play for the Russell Stover midget program in Kansas City. I'll put in a call to Faupel tonight and hopefully find out more about his decision.
From what I'm told, he had the chance to go to three or four other places, including another team in the MJHL (which is a Tier II league in Canada), and to Helena, which won the USA Hockey Junior A, Tier III, national championship here in Rochester back in April. Faupel leaves for Neepawa on Tuesday. Neepawa is about 45 miles northeast of Brandon, Manitoba, or about 130 miles west of Winnipeg.
• Former Rochester Mayo forward Charlie Thauwald has become the most recent Rochester native to commit to a Division I hockey program. Thauwald made it official with Minnesota State, Mankato, last week. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Thauwald could make an immediate physical impact for the Mavericks. He'll be the biggest player on the team (along with LaCrescent's Eriah Hayes, who goes 6-4, 210) and the second member of his family to play D-I hockey (his brother, Scott, played at Colorado College and now plays professionally in Australia).
Charlie left Mayo before his senior season to play with Chicago of the USHL. After suffering an injury there, he played part of the 2009-10 season with Owatonna of the NAHL. Last season, he was a key member of the Fairbanks Ice Dogs' run to the NAHL (Robertson Cup) championship, along with Lourdes grads Tyler Voigtand Pete Spratte.
• The University of Maine has posted its men's hockey roster , and former Mayo defenseman Bill Normanwill wear No. 12 for the Black Bears. Norman is listed at 5-feet-9, 160 pounds, so he'll have to use his speed and hockey sense — like he did at Mayo last season — to have an impact in Hockey East this year. The closest Maine comes to Minnesota this season is a two-game series at North Dakota, Oct. 14 and 15.
• Another former Century standout, goalie Alex Kangas, is officially a free agent. He wasn't signed by the team that drafted him — Winnipeg (actually drafted by Atlanta, of course, in 2006) — by Monday, so he's free to sign with another NHL team, or go overseas, if he chooses.
• Rochester native Colin Stuartre-signed with the Buffalo Sabres organization last month. Stuart reportedly signed a one-year, two-way deal, which will pay him $525,000 if he sticks in the NHL, or less if he plays with Buffalo's AHL affiliate in Portland, Maine. Stuart had 16 goals and 28 assists in 72 regular season games with Portland last season. He added three goals and four assists in 12 playoff games. He also played in three games for the Sabres, with no points and two penalty minutes.
• As Phersy noted in a previous post, the Rochester Ice Hawks are holding their final tryout camp this weekend, beginning tomorrow (Friday) and running through Sunday. They jump right into training camp on Monday.


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The long term unemployed in the U.S are having an easier time finding jobs, while the chronic problem of long-term joblessness may disappear in the months ahead, according to a study released Monday from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
The jobless rate in the U.S. is currently at 7.9 percent, with some 12.3 million people out of work, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Of that, some 4.7 million are considered long term unemployed — meaning they have been jobless for 27 weeks or more.
(Read More: What the Jobs Report Means for Bonds)
Using BLS numbers, the report stated that in December 2012, the share of workers who were jobless six months or longer dipped below 40 percent for the first time since late 2009. The portion of unemployed Americans out of work for 99 weeks or longer fell to 11.2 percent in January — the lowest level in two years.
"This is a trend for the long term," said Rob Valleta, research adviser to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and author of the report.
"The number of long-term unemployed finding jobs has risen over the years and assuming job growth continues, this trend will keep going," Valleta said. "They are still struggling for sure but the long-term picture is getting better for them."
"One of the reasons the long-term unemployed numbers are going down is that more short-term unemployed are finding work," said Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody's. "That just means there's fewer people having to face long term unemployment because they're finding jobs faster."
Zandi pointed to several key job markets that have picked up in the last two years and are putting more people on payrolls.
"Manufacturing, transportation, retail, as well as hotel and leisure have all seen upticks in job growth and more people are taking those jobs," Zandi said.


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OK Play Master Seat Chair - Yellow
MRP inclusive of taxes.
Subcribe to back in stock notification
A solid colored chair to accommodate a single child of age groups of 2 years & above. Get this chair with high backrest from the house of OK Play for your kids. It is made form high quality, non-toxic and durable plastic with no sharp edges. It is weather resistant and water proof. The chair is useful for indoor and outdoor picnics.
Product Features -
- A cute chair for the cuties. An ideal and comfortable seating option for kids. Available in attractive colors.
- With no sharp edges and kids friendly material.
- LDP & DDP plastic granules, which are further roto molded to form plastic in different shapes.
- These high grade plastic components are non-toxic, anti static, fire retardant and the colors are U.V. stabilized.
- Light weight and easy to carry, It's a must have for your young ones.
Recommended Age - 2 to 4 years
Dimensions(cm) - 28 x 29 x 46
Weight(kg) - 3.4
Disclaimer: The product is non-returnable/exchangeable. E-mail us on firstname.lastname@example.com in case of Damages/Defects/Missing parts.
Shipped by: Quriosity Learning Private Limited, The Mom Store, 1,2 and 3rd Floor, Sy.No 3/1, Yamalur Village, Varthur Hobli, Bengaluru East, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560037
We deliver across India in both Prepaid and COD mode.
All orders (except Pre-Orders) are dispatched within 24 hours and delivery takes 6-10 business days.
For International Orders- We accept Prepaid International Orders.
For Express Orders- We offer 48 hour Express delivery (on business days only) for urgent orders across India with an additional charge of Rs. 200. Orders placed before 6 PM IST will be shipped the same day and orders placed after that will be shipped the next business day.
Returnable or Exchangeable Products: Women's Apparel, Kid's Apparel, Bags, Nursing Pillows, Baby Gear, Baby Essentials and Apparels
Non-Returnable- Cloth Diapers, Kids Mask, Adult Mask, Maternity Lingerie, Soul Slings, Joie, Mastela, Skip Hop, B.Box, Zolii, Happy Threads Products
You can return products within 7 days after delivery (where return is available). Please follow these steps to raise the request:
- Create a "Return Request" under "Orders" in the Main Menu of the website.
- It will direct you to enter your Order Number and Email Id
- Follow the screens that come up and place the return request for the items in the order you wish to return
- Please upload images of the product to be returned while processing the return. In case, upload option doesn't work you can email the images to firstname.lastname@example.com with your "Order No." in subject
- Once submitted, our team will review and approve your request within 48 hours
- We will schedule the pickup for the same
- Merchandise from all brands except The Mom Store is not available for return and exchange
You can exchange products within 7 days after delivery. Once your return parcel is received via reverse pick-up and inspected by our quality control team, an email will be sent to you to confirm the receipt of the returned item and the exchange product requested by customer will be sent out. The customer can also opt for a store credit to utilize for purchase.
NOTE : Exchange is allowed once per order, on the exchanged order refund shall not be applicable if customer wants to return Exchanged item. Store credit will be issued in such cases.
Please follow these steps to raise the request:


text:
Movado.com EXCLUSIVE. Movado has partnered with renowned Cuban-American artist Carmen Herrera to create our newest Artists Series. This exquisite collection consists of five styles, each a limited edition of only 100 pieces.
Inspired by Herrera's Night Forest, this dynamic design features a sculptural dial with a green base and a deep blue top layer to echo the original's design. This watch plays with form, converting the rectangular canvas into a round dial, then extending it outward onto the leather strap and mirroring the hues in the double keepers. The attention to detail is exquisite, with our logo etched on the reverse of the crystal, to not interrupt the artwork, along with custom-cut hands and glossy stainless steel hardware.
A portion of proceeds from this artist series collection will be donated to Public Art Fund.


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The Situation of Morality
Posted by The Situationist Staff on August 11, 2010
Selin Kesebir and Jonathan Haidt recnetly posted their terrific chapter, "Morality" (from Handbook of Social Psychology, 5th ed., 2010) (January 10, 2010) on SSRN. Here's the abstract.
* * *
This chapter assesses the state of the art in moral psychology from a social-psychological perspective. We begin with the story of the "great narrowing" — the historical process in which morality got reduced from virtue-based conceptions of the good person down to quandaries about what people should do. We argue for a return to a broader conception of the moral domain that better accommodates the diverse and often group-focused moralities found around the world. Our review of the empirical research is organized under three principles: 1) Intuitive primacy (but not dictatorship); 2) Moral thinking is for social doing; and 3) Morality binds and builds. We argue that kin selection and reciprocal altruism are just two of many evolutionary processes that shaped human morality. We show how a broader and more group-focused conception of morality fits with emerging ideas about multi-level selection, and with new discoveries about the rapid pace of genetic evolution and the importance of intergroup competition during the last 10,000 years. We close by applying this broader moral perspective to religion and politics.
* * *
You can download the chapter for free here. To review a sample of related Situationist posts, see "The Affective Situation of Ethics and Mediation," "The Situation of Legal Ethics," "Blind to our Situational Blindness," "Mood and Moral Judgment," "Law, Psychology & Morality – Abstract," "The Motivated Situation of Morality," and "Moral Psychology Primer."
2 Responses to "The Situation of Morality"
August 11, 2010 at 4:07 pm
[…] as prominent psychologist Marc Hauser takes leave from Harvard A chapter from Haidt's book at The Situation of Morality (The Situationist) […]
March 5, 2015 at 10:53 pm
[…] The Situation of Morality […]


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Raising hopes that California's severe drought could end with a series of soaking storms next winter, federal scientists on Thursday announced there is now a 2-in-3 chance of an El Niño climate pattern developing in the Pacific Ocean by the end of this year.
"We're seeing a pretty strong tilt toward El Niño," said Michelle L'Heureux, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center in College Park, Md.
But what could end one extreme could begin another: Researchers are particularly intrigued by an enormous mass of warm water flowing through the Pacific that has been linked to heavy winter downpours and flooding in the past.
On Thursday, NOAA meteorologists increased the likelihood of El Niño conditions to 66 percent by November — up from 52 percent last month, based on computer models and measurements from buoys, satellites and other equipment.
During El Niño events, water temperatures in the Pacific near the equator are warmer than normal at the surface. The warmer the water, the greater likelihood of wet winters in California.
Although researchers cautioned there's no guarantee that next winter will be more rainy than normal, scientists point to the emerging water mass near the equator, known as a Kelvin wave, that is as large as the United States and is slowly moving from Indonesia toward South America, with subsurface temperatures up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than historic averages. Such waves, named after Lord Kelvin, the 19th-century Irish physicist who discovered them, are only a few inches high and are often linked to the start of El Niño winters because their warm undersea waters can bubble up to the surface, affecting the weather.
"Considering the desperate situation we are in here in the American West, wouldn't it be sweet if the great wet hope came riding over the horizon on these Kelvin waves?" said Bill Patzert, a research scientist and oceanographer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
The Kelvin wave now in the central Pacific is larger and warmer than any since records were first kept 35 years ago — even exceeding the Kelvin wave of 1997-98. That winter was the last major El Niño event, when rainfall across California was double the historic average, rivers flooded and mudslides closed highways. Seeing similar conditions shaping up, even early in the year, is attracting scientists' attention.
"This is really one of those unusual situations," said Daniel Swain, a Stanford University doctoral candidate in the Department of Environmental Earth System Science who is tracking the trend on his blog, weatherwest.com. "We think there's an enhanced risk of a strong El Niño event. Certainly no guarantees, but this isn't something we see every year or even every decade."
California suffered through the driest year in its recorded history in 2013. And this rainy season is the third in a row with below-average precipitation.
Although there were decent rainstorms in February and March, California is still under a state-designated drought emergency. Precipitation totals this season are still below half of the historic average in most major cities, including San Jose at 44 percent, Oakland at 49 percent, Los Angeles at 43 percent and Fresno at 40 pecent. The fire risk this summer will be extreme.
Equally ominous, the Sierra Nevada snowpack, a key source of water for farms and cities, is only 33 percent of the historic average. And California's major reservoirs, including Shasta, Oroville and Folsom, although boosted a little by the spring rains, are still only half full heading into the dry summer months. Many communities have already put in place summer conservation rules to save dwindling supplies.
NOAA scientists say the trend toward El Niño conditions also includes a shift in the Pacific trade winds. Winds that normally blow east-to-west are dying down. And winds that blow the other way and bring tropical weather, are cropping up. However, those conditions could still change, scientists say.
"The question of whether you'll get more rainfall and how much you'll get is very much an open question," L'Heureux said. "Right now the trend is more encouraging for rainfall in California than it has been in the past several years, but there's no guarantee."
One thing is clear: Not all El Niño years are created equal.
Since 1951, there have been five winters with strong El Niño conditions. In four of them, rainfall between the Bay Area and Bakersfield was at least 40 percent more than normal. Some of California's wettest winters occurred during those winters, including 1982-83, when mudslides killed 10 people along Santa Cruz County's Love Creek and San Jose's Coyote Creek burst its banks, flooding Alviso under 8 feet of water.
In more moderate El Niño years, when ocean waters are only slightly warmer than normal, rainfall sometimes is above average, but just as often it's below average. For example, during a moderate El Niño in 2002, Northern California rainfall was just 3 percent more than normal. And in a similarly moderate El Niño in 1986, rainfall was just 60 percent of normal.
Scientists now are closely watching the Pacific and will know with more certainty in two or three months what the winter should bring. For now, all the trend lines are showing a greater likelihood of a wet winter than a dry one, particularly with the massive Kelvin wave still moving.
"Don't hyperventilate yet," Patzert said. "It's a little too early to say the drought will be over, but this Kelvin wave is no dud. This is a stud."
Paul Rogers covers resources and environmental issues. Contact him at 408-920-5045. Follow him at Twitter.com/PaulRogersSJMN.


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Charities prepare for surge in those seeking help
The West Australian Council of Social Service says local charities are bracing for a surge in demand from families whose welfare payments have been reduced.
Single parents, whose youngest child is aged eight or more, are being moved onto the Newstart Allowance from this week.
The council's director of social policy Chris Twomey says under the new arrangements, they will receive up to $110 less each week.
He says about 8,000 families are affected in WA and charitable organisations are preparing for the fallout.
"There's two things we're expecting to see," he said.
"One is the immediate impact as the families struggle to get by on significantly less amounts of money.
"But a few months down the track many of them will have exhausted all of the networks and family and support they can call on, and that's when we may see them coming back and needing help and support to get by."
He says WA families will do it particularly tough thanks to the state's high rental rates.
"The charities and emergency relief organisations in WA are extremely concerned," he said.
"So certainly they've been getting ready for a spike in demand as a lot of families who are already close to the poverty line find themselves pushed below it and really struggle to get by."
WACOSS is calling on the Federal Government to move single parents back onto the original payment and increase Newstart by $50 a week.


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CHICAGO — Chicago children returned to school on Wednesday after teachers ended a seven-day strike that disrupted the daily routines of thousands of families and made the city a flashpoint in the debate over union rights and efforts to overhaul the nation's public school system.
Jayton Howard, a 16-year-old student on the South Side, summed up his feelings — and those of many others — in a word: "Great."
Union delegates voted overwhelmingly Tuesday night to suspend the walkout after discussing a proposed contract settlement with those in charge of the nation's third-largest school district. They said the contract wasn't perfect, but that it included enough concessions on proposed new teacher evaluations, recall rights for laid-off teachers and classroom conditions to return to work pending a vote by its more than 26,000 teachers and support staffers in coming weeks.
It was also a relief to parents. The strike stranded roughly 350,000 students and left many parents scrambling to arrange alternative care for their children even though the district kept more than 140 schools open for several hours a day for meals and activities.
Some parents expressed hope Wednesday that the tentative contract agreement would benefit students in a district grappling with high dropout rates and poor performance.
"They'll win from the strike," said Leslie Sabbs-Kizer, referring to her children as she walked them to a South Side elementary school.
Her son, 8-year-old Nkai Melton, said he was psyched for another reason: "Going on the playground."
For parent Erica Weiss, an end to the strike meant she wouldn't have to take her 6-year-old daughter to work.
"I am elated. I couldn't be happier," said Weiss, who had to leave work in the middle of the day to pick up her daughter from one of the schools that stayed open and then bring her back to her finance job downtown. "I have no one else to watch her. ... I can't even imagine the people who could have possibly even lost their jobs over having to stay home with their kids because they have no alternate care. It just put everyone in a pickle."
Wilonda Cannon, a single mother raising her four children in North Lawndale, a poor West Side neighbourhood beset by gang shootings, said she was relieved that her two youngest were returning to class after spending the last seven weekdays with their grandfather.
She said she hoped the agreement was the beginning of something new for Chicago's public school system, which has long struggled with high drop-out rates and low test scores. It will take months if not years before parents and teachers will see whether the changes and contract provisions pay off for students.
"I don't know all the ins and outs (of the contract negotiations) ... but it does seem as though it's a step in the right direction," Cannon said.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel — who filed a lawsuit this week to try to force teachers back to work — called the settlement "an honest compromise."
Union leaders pointed to concessions by the city on how closely teacher evaluations will be tied to student test scores and to better opportunities for teachers to retain their jobs if schools are closed by budget cuts.
"We said that we couldn't solve all the problems of the world with one contract, and it was time to end the strike," said Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis.
With an average salary of $76,000, Chicago teachers are already among the highest-paid in the nation. The district's final proposal included an average 7 percent raise over three years, with additional raises for experience and education.
But the evaluations and job security measures stirred the most intense debate. The union said the evaluation system relied too heavily on test scores and did not take into account outside factors that affect student performance such as poverty, violence and homelessness.
The union also pushed to give laid-off teachers first dibs on open jobs anywhere in the district. The district said that could prevent principals from hiring the teachers they thought most appropriate for the position. The tentative settlement proposed giving laid-off teachers first shot at schools that absorbed their former students and filling half of district openings from a pool of laid-off teachers.
Susan Hickey, a school social worker, said she is eager to learn how the students she counsels fared over the summer.
"How are they? Are they OK?" she said. "I'm glad to be back for all kinds of reasons."
Associated Press writer Jason Keyser contributed to this story.


text:
I've seen the shuttle pulling a Moonraker with NASA's modified 747 mothership before—like in this spectacular zenithal shot of Endeavour—but it never ceases to amaze me to see the two of them taking off.
This is Atlantis returning home from California after mission STS-125—the riskiest ever—where astronauts played Katamari Damacy, fixed Hubble, and made astronomers and space aficionados everywhere smile again.
It just seems impossible that the 747 can lift that gigantic spacecraft. The trip from Edwards Air Force Base back to Florida will require several stopovers for refueling, taking at least two days of rain-free weather travel to reach its final destination.


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Not just Maybe
From HaskellWiki
Revision as of 19:54, 6 February 2009 by Henk-Jan van Tuyl (talk | contribs) (Added a link to the Web Archive)
Note: Many now consider the fail method of Monad to be a failure, as it defaults to throwing an exception. Modern Haskell style tends towards using total functions wherever possible, and this idiom has come increasingly to be frowned upon.
A more recent page than the wikisnapshot can be found in the Web Archive: [1]


text:
Insignia Ship Overview
Cruise Line: Oceania Cruises
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Iowa's Bald Eagles have returned!
Declared our national bird in 1789, the bald eagle was on the brink of extinction during the 20th century, until measures were taken to save it.
This 2nd edition of The Return of Iowa's Bald Eagles chronicles this conservation success story with new facts and anecdotes. New nesting charts and statistics are included, and wintering charts and statistics are current through 2013.
Additionally, this book has been enriched with over 70 new action photos, and 6 new and amazing photo-sequences that showcase Iowa's bald eagles twisting, turning, diving, and catching fish.
These spectacular color photographs — among the most incredible photographs ever taken in Iowa and the US — have captured the power, grace, and majesty of the bald eagle as it returned to prominence here in Iowa.
Proudly written, printed and published in Iowa. Published by Iowan Books.


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In the April issue, I described four ecosystem functions: water cycle, mineral cycle, energy flow and biological succession. Our grazing management can have a profound effect on these functions, with the results either improving or diminishing the land's health and productivity.
None of us want to harm the land we manage; however, too often, we manage without understanding the consequences of our decisions. It's commonly believed that stocking rate can cure all grazing problems, and while it is important, there are other considerations that are more important. After all, when stocking rate is reduced (even significantly) in season-long grazing, overgrazing and over-resting will occur side by side in the same pasture.
In grazing management, I first think about "time and timing." Time deals with how long the livestock stay in a pasture and, more importantly, how long the pasture will rest or recover before the livestock return. Timing addresses when (at what time in relationship to plant growth and recovery) you will be in a pasture.
In my long career, I've worked with irrigated pastures and sub-irrigated meadows, ranges receiving 12-20 in. of annual precipitation, and ranges receiving 7-11 in. of rainfall. Using the same principles and understanding of ecology and plant growth, the elements of time and timing are applied very differently in each of these circumstances.
After nearly 30 years of practicing planned, time-controlled grazing, I've learned we never do it perfectly; however, grazing and land health (ecosystem functions) are much better when we manage our grazing with time control. Ideal time control would not allow the same plant to be bitten twice in the same graze period. It would also allow adequate recovery of plants before the pasture is grazed again.
Since "ideal" is usually impossible, I much prefer to ensure adequate recovery of the entire pasture before returning, to protect plants from a second bite in the same graze period.
Most of the good grazing managers I know developed their system of pastures or paddocks somewhat slowly over time. In most situations, 10 or more paddocks/herd are needed to keep plants from being bitten a second time in the graze period, while still allowing enough time out of the paddock for good recovery. However, 20 or more paddocks/herd are even better. You don't have to do this all at once.
Recovery time
Adequate recovery time can be debated. However, I find that more recovery time is needed than I originally thought, especially in low or moderate and erratic rainfall areas. In most rangeland areas, 80% or more of the feed is grown in 60 days or less. This means that grazing must be very carefully managed during those 60 days, though this doesn't imply that care isn't needed the rest of the year as well. And, the feed produced in those 60 days needs to be budgeted over the rest of the year.
In low-rainfall areas, I've been using more than a year recovery. In typical years, a year's recovery might be enough. However, I don't want to graze at the same time in the following year. In areas of moderate rainfall and a mix of warm- and cool-season grasses, I might take a very quick grazeout of each paddock early in the growing season – not taking nearly all that is produced.
However, cattle almost seem to prefer annual grasses and forbs (weeds) at this time of year, and it can almost be free feed. I would then follow with either one or two times in each paddock until next year's green-up. On irrigated pastures, my tendency is to be quite intensive and leave a good residual for photosynthesis to continue, then return before seed set or bloom.
Since livestock need to be somewhere 365 days of the year – and I prefer to have them grazing – livestock will be grazing some plants in their very early growth stage when they are very vulnerable. Therefore, I want to change timing during the growing season.
I don't want to graze the pasture at the same plant growth stage in successive years. In fact, I'd like several years to pass before using the pasture at the same time again.
Stock density, not to be confused with stocking rate, is another powerful tool that can be used to improve distribution of animals, dung and urine. As stock density increases, grazing becomes more uniform. Meanwhile, the delivery and placement of supplements in the pasture can also create a herd or trampling effect. This can "wake up" ground by the trampling of old, dead and ungrazed plant material into the soil, thus improving the water and mineral cycle and allowing new and existing plants to flourish.
It's good to wear your nutritionist hat when deciding how much supplement to take to the pasture. But, once in the pasture, wear the range manager hat and decide where the supplement can be placed for the most good for the range. If livestock are going to follow you excitedly, make good use of the trampling effect.
Time control and stock density require herding or fencing. Most will elect to fence. Simple electric fencing will work very well in most situations. However, before any fencing is done, a complete ranch plan should be made with provisions for adequate stock water and future paddock divisions.
In my experience, stock water amount and placement has been inadequate for good grazing. Be prepared to develop stock water before fencing; and, remember, it is much better to overdesign and have too much water, than to have too little. You need to anticipate an increase in stocking rate as your grazing practices improve.
I could talk of other range management tools such as fire, chemical treatments of weeds and brush, mechanical methods of brush reduction or new seedings, etc. However, I've focused on time control and stock density because they're inextricably linked and must be continually managed.
You can't work on one of these powerful tools without the other. By properly using these two tools, along with some trampling or herd effect, you can reduce, or even stop, overgrazing and over-resting of plants. You can improve each of the ecological functions and the productivity of your land. In all of my years of ranching, this has been the most exciting and rewarding factor.
Two points to close on:
• In almost all situations of which I'm aware, you can add considerably more carrying capacity with fence, water development and good grazing than by spending the same amount of money for more ground. In many cases, the water development will pay without the fencing. However, the fencing allows the benefits of time control in all of its dimensions along with the many benefits of stock density.
• There are very good short-courses that teach good grazing far more effectively than I can in a few short articles. Don't try to teach yourself. Often, those who try to improve grazing management without good training fall into the trap of a fixed-time rotation – staying the same number of days in each pasture or paddock and having the same recovery period regardless of the time of year or weather differences. In too many cases, this results in controlled overgrazing. Find a good grazing practitioner, watch, listen carefully and learn. Or, go to a good grazing school. Better yet, do both.
Burke Teichert, consultant on strategic planning for ranches, is retired as vice president and general manager of Deseret. He can be reached at [email protected]


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History of the Ashmolean
The present day Ashmolean
The present Ashmolean was created in 1908 by combining two ancient Oxford institutions: the University Art Collection and the original Ashmolean Museum. The older partner in this merger, the University Art Collection, was based for many years in what is now the Upper Reading Room in the Bodleian Library. The collection began modestly in the 1620s with a handful of portraits and curiosities displayed in a small room on the upper floor. In 1636 and 1657, Archbishop Laud and Ralph Freke added notable collections of coins and medals, later installed in a strong room of their own and now incorporated into the Ashmolean coin collection. The objects of curiosity included Guy Fawkes� lantern and a sword said to have been given by the pope to Henry VIII, both now in the Ashmolean, as well as a number of more exotic items, including Jacob�s Coat of Many Colours, long since lost. However, as there was a museum for curiosities of this kind in the University Anatomy Theatre, objects like this tended to go there or to the Ashmolean, after it opened in 1683, leaving the Bodleian gallery to develop as a museum of art.
Elias Ashmole (1617-92)
In the 1660s and 70s, the collection grew rapidly. It was, at first, a gallery of portraits of distinguished contemporaries but from the mid 1660s, it began to acquire a more historical perspective with the addition of images of people from the past: college founders, scientists, soldiers, monarchs, writers and artists. Several painters donated self-portraits. In the eighteenth century, they added a number of landscapes, historical paintings and scenes from contemporary life. Other donors, former members of the University, added collections of Old Masters so that by the early nineteenth century, it had become an art gallery of general interest and an essential point of call on the tourist map.
John Tradescant the Elder (d.1638)
The public was admitted on payment of a small charge. Catalogues, written by the janitor, were available at the entrance and the paintings were well displayed in a large, panelled gallery. It was only with the gift of a collection of ancient Greek and Roman statuary from the Countess of Pomfret in 1755 that the need for a new art gallery became urgent. The Pomfret statues had formerly belonged to the Earl of Arundel and they joined a group of inscribed marbles from the same source which had been given to the University in 1667. The marble figures were too heavy to place in an upstairs gallery and were installed in a dark ground-floor room in the library quadrangle pending the creation of a new museum. Funds, however, were not forthcoming. In the 1830s, a sum of �1,000, bequeathed by the Revd Francis Randolph in 1797 towards building a museum was added to a much larger sum bequeathed to the University in 1788 by the architect, Sir Robert Taylor, for the purpose of building an institution for teaching modern languages. Because of this, the new building, designed by Charles Robert Cockerell and built on the corner Beaumont Street between 1839 and 1845, combines an art gallery in the western half and an institute for teaching modern languages in the east.
John Tradescant the Younger (1608-62)
When the new museum opened in 1845, the Pomfret sculptures were transferred to galleries on the ground floor and in the basement and paintings from the Bodleian Picture Gallery were hung in a large first floor room. There were fine things among the paintings. Works by Batoni, Reynolds and Van Dyck which were at one time in the Bodleian, still count among the more noteworthy works in the museum. But the average quality was meagre and over the years, the original collection has given way to more important acquisitions. Even before the new museum was finished, a major group of drawings by Raphael and Michelangelo, formerly in the collection of Sir Thomas Lawrence, was purchased by public subscription for the new galleries, establishing, from the start, the importance of the Oxford museum as a centre for the study of Old Master drawings. In 1861, John Ruskin, in an act calculated to emphasise the importance of contemporary art alongside the Old Masters, donated an important group of watercolours by J. M. W. Turner. The collection was further enriched in 1863 by the addition of a collection of prints and drawings which had been bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1834 by the antiquarian, Francis Douce. The new museum also attracted gifts of paintings. In 1851, the Hon. William Thomas Horner Fox-Strangways presented a collection of early Italian paintings which included Uccello�s Hunt in the Forest, one of the museum�s major works of art, and many other works of importance and charm by artists of the 14th and 15th centuries. A fine group of paintings, bronzes prints and drawings was added by Chambers Hall in 1855. These included oil sketches by Rubens, paintings by Canaletto and Guardi and drawings by Claude Lorrain and Leonardo. Finally, in the last major benefaction received by the Galleries before they merged with the Ashmolean, Mrs Martha Combe bequeathed an important group of Pre-Raphaelite paintings which had been collected by herself and her husband, Thomas Combe, printer to the University and a major figure in 19th-century Oxford society.
Old Ashmolean, c.1760
Had Elias Ashmole (1617-92) not stipulated that his collection of curiosities and antiquities should be placed in a custom-built museum, it would have been installed in the Bodleian or in the Anatomy Theatre. In the event, Ashmole�s benefaction was placed inside a small but imposing building adjacent to the Bodleian which opened its doors on 24th May 1683 with much fanfare. The collection presented to the University by Ashmole was in origin already half a century old by this time, having been founded by John Tradescant (d. 1638) and displayed to the public (for a fee) first by him and later by his son John (1608-62) in their house at Lambeth, widely known as �The Ark�. The contents were universal in scope, with man-made and natural specimens from every corner of the known world. By the time it passed to Ashmole by deed of gift, the Tradescants� collection of miscellaneous curiosities had grown in scale and stature to the point where its new owner could present it to the University as a major resource. When it opened in Broad Street under its first curator, Dr Robert Plot, it was designed to be an integrated, three-part institution, comprising the collection itself, a chemistry laboratory for experiments and rooms for undergraduate lectures. From the time of its opening members of the public were admitted to the Ashmolean as they were to the Picture Gallery. This measure was noted with disapproval by one German visitor in 1710 who expressed his surprise at the numbers of �ordinary folk� who were allowed to run free in both institutions.
The Alfred Jewel
In the course of the eighteenth century, the bonds that linked the various elements of the Museum were progressively loosened and the collection of specimens lost a great deal of their academic relevance. Important acquisitions during this time were few with the notable exception of the Alfred Jewel, donated in 1718, mineral specimens and antiquities from the Cornish antiquary, the Revd William Borlase and a collection of ethnographical materials collected on Captain Cook�s Pacific voyage of 1772-5. Meanwhile, the inevitable processes of decay took their toll on the original collection with the result that when John Duncan took office as keeper in 1824, he found that �the skins of animals collected by the Tradescants had fallen into total decay, that cabinets for those objects which were liable to injury from time were wholly wanting, and that the apartment dedicated to the exhibition of them had become much dilapidated�.
The ground floor of the Ashmolean in 1836
Under John Duncan and his brother Philip who succeeded him in the keepership in 1829, the collections were comprehensively redisplayed according to the tenets of �natural theology� with the declared purpose of demonstrating that they were �the media of divine manifestation�. Natural history specimens were acquired in large numbers by the Duncans to illustrate this belief and man-made �curiosities� were relegated to a secondary role. The character of the Museum was established in this way until mid-century when the University established a new Natural History Museum (now the Oxford University Museum of Natural History) at which point all the natural history specimens from the Ashmolean were transferred to the new institution.
Arthur Evans
Having lost what had become the most important element in its collection, the Ashmolean was to find a major new role in the emerging field of archaeology. The first important tranche of material of this kind had been received as early as 1829 when the Douglas collection of Anglo-Saxon antiquities from Kent had been presented by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. In the decades that followed, collections of material from local excavations were added, antiquities from Rome arrived by way of one of the keepers, J. H. Parker, and numerous pieces were purchased in Egypt and the Near East by the Revd Greville Chester.
C D E Fortnum
With the appointment in 1884 of Arthur Evans to the keepership, the Museum was driven ever more energetically in this new direction. Some 2,000 new acquisitions a year from Europe and the East Mediterranean were being made under Evans� regime when the prospect of an even bigger coup presented itself � the acquisition of the collection of classical and Renaissance bronzes and ceramics belonging to C. D. E. Fortnum. The original Ashmolean could not cope with the influx and Evans persuaded the University to build a new structure at the rear of the University Galleries on a site ear-marked for the expansion of the Galleries. The key to this move was a promised donation of �10,000 from Fortnum to fund the new building.
Present Museum, view from St Giles
The transfer of material to the new extension was completed in 1894 and, after co-existing for several years, the two institutions were merged in 1908 to form the present day Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. The founding Departments of the new museum, The Department of Fine Art (since divided into Departments of Eastern and Western Art) and the Department of Antiquities remain relics of its dual origin. In 1922, the coin collection from The Bodleian Library was transferred to the Department of Antiquities and became the basis of a new Department in 1961 with the creation of the Heberden Coin Room. In 1961, the collections of the Indian Institute were amalgamated with the Islamic, Japanese and Chinese materials already in the Ashmolean to form the Department of Eastern Art. The cast collection, which had grown vigorously as an aid to the teaching of classical archaeology, was likewise separated from the Department of Antiquities and installed in a space of its own in 1959. The creation of these Departments brought about a new emphasis on scholarship in these specialised fields and also gave a new impetus to collecting in the different areas of interest covered by the Departments. It is this which accounts for the wealth and variety of the present collections. As a result of the merging of the two very different institutions, the present Ashmolean contains both art and artefacts from across a wide range of cultures: early stringed musical instruments, objects from Minoan Crete, Worcester porcelain, Chinese Shang bronzes, Japanese ceramics, European Paintings and drawings and many other specialist collections.
The Atrium
One consequence of the union of 1908 was to create a vacuum in the centre of the museum administration. This was rectified in 1973 by the creation of a post of Director which has given the Museum a greater sense of unified purpose than was previously the case while the Departmental structure provides an essential basis for the work of scholarship and education which have, since the beginning of this history, justified the existence of a museum at the heart of the University.
Refurbished in 2009, the way that the collections are displayed in the new galleries & enjoyed by the public became the driving force behind a major transformation. The galleries are now interlinked by one theme, Crossing Cultures, Crossing Time. This encourages exploration of new connections between the collections of the Ashmolean. Adding 39 new galleries to the original 1845 Cockerell Building, the Ashmolean's new wing was designed by award-winning architect Rick Mather.
Follow this link to find out more about the Collections and Research at the Ashmolean.
Further reading
- R F Ovenell, The Ashmolean Museum 1683-1894 (1986)
- C H Josten, Elias Ashmole 1617-1692 (1966)
- A MacGregor, Tradescant's Rarities (1983)
- A MacGregor, The Ashmolean Museum: a brief history of the institution and its collections (2001)
- J. Whiteley, �The University Galleries� in The History of the University of Oxford, vol. VI (1997)


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Governments are using the Internet to spy and launch cyberattacks that target critical systems, according to McAfee's cybersecurity report
By Jon Brodkin
Governments and allied groups worldwide are using the Internet to spy and launch cyberattacks on their enemies, targeting critical systems including electricity, air traffic control, financial markets, and government computer networks, according to McAfee's annual report examining global cybersecurity.
This year, China has been accused of launching attacks against the United States, India, Germany and Australia, but the Chinese are not alone: 120 countries including the United States are said to be launching Web espionage operations, according to McAfee's Virtual Criminology Report, issued today and developed with input from NATO, the FBI, the United Kingdom's Serious Organized Crime Agency, and various groups and universities.
"Cyber assaults have become more sophisticated in their nature, designed to specifically slip under the radar of government cyber defenses," McAfee states. "Attacks have progressed from initial curiosity probes to well-funded and well-organized operations for political, military, economic and technical espionage."
One attack against Estonia, allegedly carried out by Russia, disrupted government, news and bank servers for several weeks in April, McAfee notes. In the United States, a Pentagon computer network allegedly was hacked by China-based perpetrators in June, the McAfee report states.
The Internet is simply a great tool for gathering intelligence, both for world powers like the United States and China and small countries with limited resources, says David Marcus, security research and communications manager at McAfee Avert Labs.
He doesn't think cyberattacks will replace conventional warfare, but says they are becoming an important augmentation, with countries using technology to spread disinformation and disrupt communications. He also predicts it will be common for governments to license cybercriminals to attack enemies in a sort of privatized model. "We're already starting to see that with state-sponsored malware," he says. "I only think you're going to start seeing more than that because it's easier to attack government X's database than it is to nuke their troops."
McAfee said its research also found an increasing threat to banking and other online services, and "the emergence of a complex and sophisticated market for malware." Malware today is more complex than ever before, capable of acting as if it were genetically modified. "These 'super-strength' threats are more resilient, are modified over and over again like recombinant DNA," McAfee writes. "Nuwar [Storm Worm] was the first example, and experts say there will be more examples in 2008."
VoIP is a new target of cybercriminals, and such social-networking applications as MySpace and Facebook are sure to be exploited more often, going forward, McAfee says. NATO insiders say many governments are unaware of the Web espionage threats and have left themselves open to cyberattack.
One aspect that might be overlooked is the economy that distributes the tools of cybercrime. Software flaws are sold for as much as $75,000, and criminals can buy custom-written Trojans designed to steal credit card data. Additionally, McAfee says an "underground economy already includes specialized auction sites, product advertising and even support services, but now competition is so fierce that 'customer service' has become a specific selling point."
Network World is an InfoWorld affiliate.