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Female wrestling superstar Ritu Phogat is the latest to join the prestigious Evolve Fight Team. She is widely considered one of the greatest wrestlers in the world and has already begun training in mixed martial arts.
Her credentials are about as impressive as you'll find from any newcomer to the sport. Comparably, she just might be the female version of Henry Cejudo, Daniel Cormier, or even former ONE Welterweight World Champion Ben Askren.
Who is Ritu Phogat? Let's dive in and check out 10 things you should know about this budding star.
1) Age
At just 24 years old, Phogat is breaking into mixed martial arts at an age that will still provide her time for growth. She is physically mature enough to compete at a high level and should hit her athletic prime over the next few years.
If all goes well, that could coincide with the maturation of her complete combat toolbox. If that happens, Phogat will be among the most dangerous and intimidating fighters in women's mixed martial arts.
2) Her Father Is Mahavir Singh Phogat
Wrestling is in Phogat's blood. Her dad is Mahavir Singh Phogat, a well-known Indian wrestling coach. Mahavir is such a well-known and respected figure in India, that he has been the subject of a biographical film and book. The Hindi biographical film "Dangal", the highest grossing Indian movie of all time, is based on his life. In 2016, he was awarded the Dronacharya Award, India's top sports coaching award.
He has trained his children, niece, and others who have gone on to be standout performers in wrestling.
3) Started Wrestling Training
Training in wrestling began at an early age for Phogat.
By the age of eight, she was already learning grappling from her father. This early indoctrination to the sport and her natural athleticism prepared her for excellence in this base discipline.
Most will tell you, wrestling is the most practical and useful base for a mixed martial artist, and few have a better wrestling foundation. Phogat comes from a family of wrestlers. It's what they are known for in India.
4) Left Conventional School To Focus On Wrestling
In her teenage years, Phogat began taking her wrestling career even more seriously. So much so, she dropped out of school in the 10th grade in an effort to focus on her wrestling full time.
She was still able to complete studies away from conventional school, but this allowed her to eat, sleep, and breathe wrestling on an even more regular basis. She has always displayed the necessary commitment to become a champion, and her potential to become even greater is unfathomable.
5) She Had a Big 2016
The accolades for Phogat have been rolling in for years. The year 2016 was especially big for Phogat.
She won her second straight National Wrestling Championship. Phogat's dominance on the mats got the attention of mixed martial arts promotions, but she hadn't quite completed all of the goals she had in mind.
Later that year, she won the gold medal in the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship in Singapore. That proved to be a precursor for a career based in Singapore as a professional mixed martial artist.
6) Pro Wrestling League
To close out 2016, Phogat became the most expensive female wrestler at the Pro Wrestling League auction. The Jaipur Ninjas bid ₹36 lakh INR to add Phogat to their squad. In the PWL, rosters are established by auction, and team owners will bid on wrestlers based on their grappling prowess. For Phogat to draw such a hefty bid, is an indication of how highly-regarded she is an athlete.
7) History For India at the World U-23 Wrestling Championship
Phogat competed in Bydgoszcz, Poland at the World U-23 Wrestling Championship and made history for her country. She medaled, capturing her country's first silver in the event. Her triumphant performance could serve to inspire other Indian women to follow in her footsteps and compete at a high level in future international wrestling events.
8) Her Sisters and Cousin are Wrestling Champions Too
Wrestling with the Phogats is truly a family affair. Her sisters Geeta and Babita, as well as cousin Vinesh Phogat, are all accomplished wrestlers. In fact, all of them are gold medalists at the Commonwealth Games.
Sangeeta Phogat, Ritu's younger sister, is also an international level wrestler. Perhaps we will see another of the Phogat clan join Ritu and as she assimilates into the mixed martial arts ranks. Perhaps it can happen with ONE Championship. Evolve Fight Team brother-sister combo Christian and Angela Lee are already excelling as siblings in the promotion.
9) She Already Has A Huge Following on Instagram
Popularity is no issue for Phogat. She is one of the most well-known and beloved athletes in her country. Phogat already has 194,000++ followers on Instagram, and her fun-loving attitude is a perfect and endearing contrast to her dominance on the mat. She is hoping that those skills and the success will translate over to mixed martial arts.
10) Training With Evolve MMA in Singapore
Ritu is taking her mixed martial arts training as seriously as she did her wrestling. She is training under the World Champions at Evolve MMA in Singapore. At Evolve, Phogat will be paired with top-notch trainers and she'll get elite-level instruction and experience. When she hits the cage, she should be prepared to tangle with the world's best.


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The key E3 2014 hours and planned times for game discussion will be something both those attending the event, and those watching online would want to be ready for to get news on the most important games. The E3 2014 show schedule is broken down into 3 days, with 2 stages, and a live E3 cam.
You can see the 2014 E3 day one schedule below with details for both Samsung Stage and GameSpot Stage. This includes an unannounced game to be discussed first at noon on the Samsung Stage, while Heavy Bullets is on the other stage.
As you can see above, day one will be packed with details on games like Sunset Overdrive, Battlefield Hardline, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Drive Club, The Witcher 3, Killer Instinct: Season 2, and more much. Each day ends with a wrap up show recapping all the events that day.
You can see full E3 schedule information for day 2 and 3 on GameSpot, which includes the show times and schedule by hour for each day. The following days will bring many title announcements and insight on the likes of Forza Horizon 2, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Far Cry 4, and more.
What games are you looking forward to hearing more about at E3? Take a look at the full 3 day schedule and game times to be prepared, or download the official app.
*Identifying Monetised Links - outgoing links that we monetise are marked with an '*' symbol.

subset: commoncrawl


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Red Wines
Red wines of the AOC of Patrimonio
Niellucciu is the endemic grape of the red wine of the Patrimonio appellation.
The AOC of Patrimonio produces on average 15 000hl per year, 50% of it is the red wine.
A red wine with a pretty ruby color. Rich reds, well structured, spicy with a fruity aroma, which keep between 6 and 7 years.
The red wine of Patrimonio is produced in different municipalities of the Nebbiu region: St. Florent, Oletta, Santo-Pietro-di-Tenda, Poggio Oletta, Farinole, Barbaggio.
This red wine can only be produced from a main varietal: Niellucciu.
Nevertheless complementary grape varieties can be used.
Granite soils, limestone sand, silico-clay, a Mediterranean climate are assets that benefits its soil.
This wine goes well with game, poultry, red meat and must be served at a temperature of 16 ° C.
The red wine of Patrimonio holds the French label AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) but also the European label AOP (Appellation d'Origine Protégée).
Cuvée Felice Orenga red...€22.50
Dry Red Wine
GRAPE: 100% Niellucciu
SOIL: Clay-limestone with round pebbles
VENDANGES: manual and mechanical
VINIFICATION: 100% destemming and crushing -
Vatting 25 to 30 days - Fermentation temperatures between 27 and 30 ° C - Reassembly and / or regular taps - Raised in stainless steel vats, for 12 to 18 months -
Light bonding if necessary.
TASTING NOTES: a deep ruby color, an intense cherry, blackberry and myrtle nose, with scents of maquis, a warm mouth of red fruits and spices, well integrated tannins
with silky and menthol notes that emphasize a beautiful freshness . Its complexity and its beautiful balance, make it a very pleasant meal wine.
Wine " Mlle D " Red AOP...€15.00
An almost sensual red, beautiful expression of the terroir of Patrimonio
Clay Limestone Soil
Average age of vines; 30 years
Manual harvest
Non yeast, unfiltered, unglued
Medium duration macerations with regular tastings and pumping over
Short breeding (no wood)
Centu Chjave plot n ° 398 Municipality of Barbaggio
100% Niellucciu
To be paired with cheeses from the region or with a slightly raised beef tartare.
Red wine Centu Chjave...€23.00
An almost sensual red, beautiful expression of the terroir of Patrimonio
Clay Limestone Soil
Average age of vines; 30 years
Manual harvest
Non yeast, unfiltered, unglued
Medium duration macerations with regular tastings and pumping over
Short breeding (no wood)
Centu Chjave plot n ° 398 Municipality of Barbaggio
100% Niellucciu
To be paired with cheeses from the region or with a slightly raised beef tartare.
Cuvée red wine Serge...€14.50
Red Cuvée 2015 75cl
Red wine Domaine U murtone€18.80
Grapes: 90% Niellucciu 10% Grenache
Manual harvest
Inox cuvaison 3 weeks
Pairing: game / cheese
Cuvée Domaine Montemagni...€14.90
Grape variety: 90% Niellucciu and
10% Grenache
Average age of vines: 20 years
Cultivated area: 10 ha
Vinification: 3 weeks maceration
Degree: 13.4%
Aging: stainless steel tank 18 months
Organoleptic appreciation of our oenologist:
Ruby color. Notes of scrub scents and jammy red fruits, cassis. Dense palate and silky tannins.
Conditioning: 75cl
Cuvée Prestige du Menhir...€19.20
Varietal: 90% Niellucciu and 10% Grenache
Average age of the vines: 30 years
Cultivated area: 3 ha
Yield: 30 hl / ha
Harvest: Manual
Vinification: Cold pre-fermentation maceration and 4 weeks maceration
Aging: stainless steel tank, 18 months
Organoleptic appreciation of our oenologist: Dark garnet color, structured mouth of a beautiful length
Conditioning: 75cl
Food pairing: cold cuts and red meat
Serving temperature: 19 °
Cuvée Louis red wine...€29.10
Varietal: 100% Niellucciu
Red color
Average age of the vines: 60 years
Cultivated area: 1 ha
Vinification: maceration of 3 weeks.
Degree: 14%
Breeding: Half-oak, 18 months
Organoleptic appreciation of our oenologist:
Garnet and brilliant. Round and rich nose on red fruits
stewed and spicy.
Conditioning: 75 cl
Food pairing: Game, charcuterie
Operating temperature: 19 ° C
Cuvée Andria red wine...€32.90
Red color
Varietal: 100% Niellucciu
Average age of vines: 40 years
Cultivated area: 1 ha
Vinification: maceration of 4 weeks.
Degree: 14%
Maturing: Chestnut and oak flakes of 1 and 2 wines for an average duration of 18 months.
Organoleptic appreciation:
Purple dress with coppery reflections. Aromatic nose on herbs, thyme, rosemary, stewed black fruits, chestnuts and vanilla.
Conditioning: 75 cl
Food pairing: Charcuterie, game ..
Operating temperature: 19 ° C
Red wine millesime 2016...€14.30
AOC Patimonio red vintage 2016 75 cl
Vieille Vigne red wine Clos...€23.60
100% Niellucciu
Color: Purple red dress.
Nose: Its bouquet is very typical Niellucciu, with aromas of red fruits.
Palate: The palate is robust and dense, with notes of cassis and liquorice, the tannins are silky.
Mets-Vin Pairing: Perfect pairing with braised meats, game and mature cheeses.
Potential of guard: 10 years minimum.
Clos Santini red wine AOC€14.50
Cuvée Classique Supérieure - Red
90% Niellucciu (San giovese), 10% Grenache
Color: Pretty ruby color.
Nose: Black berries (blackberries, blackcurrant).
Palate: structured and fruity.
Food-wine pairing: goes well with starters, red meats and cheeses.
Potential of guard: 5 years minimum
Gritole red wine Clos Marfisi€18.00
Gritole 2017
100% Niellucciu 25 years old.
Stemming, maceration of 10 days.
12 months aging in concrete tanks
Carco red wine...€23.90
Informations of the cuvée:
Red color
Name of the cuvée: Carco Rouge
Vintage: 2016
Domain: Antoine-Marie Arena
Appellation: Patrimonio AOP
Grapes: 100% Niellucciu
Capacity: 75 cl bottle
Patrimonio AOC red wine...€16.50
Grapes: Niellucciu
Soils: clay / limestone
Manual harvest
Organic natural wines
24 months of aging in stainless steel tanks
Food pairing: grilled meat / sausages
Cuvée Clothilde Aligria€18.00


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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea has reported another high in daily coronavirus increases as health officials face growing pressure to enforce stricter social distancing to slow the spread in the capital area.
The 1,078 cases confirmed by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Wednesday brought the national caseload to 45,442. The death toll was 612 after 25 COVID-19 patients died in the past 48 hours, the two deadliest days since the outbreak began.
The agency said 226 among 11,883 active patients were in serious or critical condition, which was also the most since the start of the pandemic, as fears grow about a possible shortage in hospital capacities.
Senior Health Ministry official Yoon Taeho said authorities were discussing whether to elevate social distancing restrictions to the highest "Tier 3," which could possibly including banning gatherings of more than 10 people, shutting non-essential businesses, and requiring companies to have more employees work from home.
"Tier-3 social distancing is the last and strongest measure that we could take, which would cause widespread damage to the self-employed," he said. "We are hearing the opinions of experts, including those from central government agencies and regional governments ... while deeply reviewing whether to elevate the measures."
More than 770 of the new infections were reported from the Seoul metropolitan area, home to half of the country's 51 million people, where new clusters are popping up from just about everywhere, including churches, hospitals, long-term care facilities, schools, restaurants, army units and prisons.
Infections were also reported in other major cities, including Busan, Daejeon, Ulsan and Daegu.
Critics say the country let its guard down by easing social distancing to the lowest in October out of concerns about sluggish economic growth rates despite warnings of a viral surge during the winter, when people spend longer hours indoors.
The government restored some restrictions over the past weeks, such as shutting down nightclubs, halting in-person school classes and requiring restaurants to provide only deliveries and takeouts after 9 p.m.
Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region:
— Tokyo has reported 678 new cases of the coronavirus, a high for the Japanese capital, as Japan now struggles with another surge in the virus. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government said Wednesday that the new cases bring the prefectural total to 48,668. Infections have been on the rise nationwide. Japan had more than 2,410 cases Tuesday for a national total of 184,042, including 2,688 deaths. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, apparently reluctant to further damage businesses already hit by the pandemic, has been slow to take steps. Last Friday, after repeated calls from experts, Suga finally announced plans to suspend the government's travel promotion campaign nationwide from Dec. 28 to Jan. 11 following a series of media surveys showing a sharp decline in his approval ratings.
— Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, says it will offer free COVID-19 vaccines to its people. President Joko Widodo said Wednesday he has ordered the finance minister to reallocate spending from other matters to fund the free program. A shipment of 1.2 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by China-based biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech arrived in Jakarta on Dec. 6. Another 1.8 million doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive in early January. The government is still waiting for millions of other doses of the Sinovac vaccine to arrive in the form of raw materials that will further processed by state-owned pharmaceutical holding company PT Bio Farma. State-Owned Enterprise Minister Erick Thohir said Indonesia aims to vaccinate 107 million people between the ages of 18 and 59 by the end of next year, despite most other countries starting their vaccination programs with older people. Thohir said those in the 18-59 age group are the most active and therefore are more exposed to the coronavirus. Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto has said the government will wait to vaccinate older people until research and clinical trials show that a vaccine is safe for them.
— Sri Lankan authorities have reopened the island's main fish market, which had been closed for two months. The Central Fish Market, located on the outskirts of the capital, Colombo, was closed in October after 49 traders there tested positive for the coronavirus. Fish sales dropped sharply after the outbreak at the market spread across the island nation. The number of cases centered at the fish market has risen to 26,774. While the fish market resumed operations on Wednesday, authorities said it would be limited to wholesale trade. Sri Lanka has seen a fresh outbreak of the virus since October when two clusters — one centered at a garment factory and the other at the fish market — emerged in Colombo and its suburbs. Another cluster surfaced at crowded prisons last month. So far, there have been 30,459 confirmed cases from the three clusters. Sri Lanka has reported a total of 34,104 cases, including 154 deaths.
Follow AP's coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak


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2014 June, 3rd
Lindeka Qampi sharing her PhotoXP experience to Valerie Thomas
"I am proud of the Aurora visual project. It is a very powerful and strong project, if I were to compare it with previous projects I have co-facilitated before.
For me, photography needs to be included in the school curriculum, especially for those who will never have the opportunity to go to University. Indeed many teenagers are unemployed in the townships, because of their poor results in high school. My daughter is an example of this circumstance.
In the townships, photography is a new concept. What I am doing is giving back what I have learned, to the people – my experience with photography. I don't want to die without sharing what I know.
I was 36 years old when I started photography. It came by accident in my life: we never know our future.
Katlego, a young traditional healer
© Sindisiwe Ncube
The proud lesbian traditional healer
Katlego Mofube is a 22 years old proud lesbian and traditional healer from the middle of Soweto Naledi East. She was born in 1992.
As all the traditional healers, she did not choose to become a Sangoma (traditional healer) but she believes it is a gift from her ancestors. They are the ones who give Sangomas the gift and this is not something you can run away from. If you try, it will haunt you until you die. Therefore, Katlego choose to accept the gift from those that have gone ahead.
The gift came unexpected and she fainted after her name was called by an ancestor. She had always been described as different. She grew up wearing boy's clothes, known as "tomish" (tomboy). Her parents ended up understanding that she was indeed homosexual. She cannot say her parents accepted it but they tolerate it. Her mother is like a sister her because they can talk freely about everything including her girlfriends. Katlego's dad is furniture salesman and sells beds for a living. She is helping him by being a bookkeeper. She is using her gifts to give her father some direction on his business as well. She was never in the closet and she was very free to talk to me.
She is also a very talented soccer player. She played in a team called The Fair Ladies. We used to play together. Her dream is to play one day with the national team, bafana bafana. She is dating a 17 years old girl.
I learnt from this story that your sexuality must not stop you from reaching your goals and dreams.
I am now looking forward my next story, which is about the albino homosexual who married what others would consider a 'normal black' woman.
One of the informal settlement in Soweto
© Thando Methane
Few days after rain and the boys play in dirty water
© Kamogelo Petlele
Public toilets shared by the informal settlement squatters
© Kamogelo Petlele
Public toilets shared by the informal settlement squatters
© Kamogelo Petlele
Miriam cooking meal at home
© Thobekile Zwane
My story is about a Lady called Miriam, aka Kippie.
She was born on the 3rd of November 1964 and she died at the age of 50, on the 4th of May 2014.
The colored lady (one of South African races), and very well known in Kliptown, living with black people in this area, in a very bad situation.
She lived in one room. It was a kitchen, bedroom – her everything. One can see the dangerous stove smoking in the middle of the room. I tried to capture the lady and the smoke, through the keyhole: it shapes like half the picture. We photographed her in April when we met her. She was welcoming to us. We had the intention of meeting her again. Unfortunately we found out she had passed away before we could go back. She was sick and died in May.
She told us she had two children, whom she lived with alone, after her husband left in 2004. He died 6 years ago. He was not taking any medication. Her children were young then. Today the eldest is 17 and the youngest 13. They are both still in school. She found out she was positive for about 10 years. At the bottom of her portrait there is a picture framing four kids. We did not ask who they were. We recognised the two younger ones.
She was not working. She could not take her medication because she could not afford to pay for the transport to go to the clinics where free treatments (ARV) were delivered. Those places were too far and it was too expensive to get there. She was not taking care of herself, of her sickness.
I met with her last born child named Given, when I went back to Kliptown. He was wearing a red T-shirt that day. He was the one who passed the news to us that she was very ill. He is now living with a father he does not know because they had been separated for a long time. He grew up without him. We did a short video of him. He was crying and we ended up all crying. I learnt a lesson that tomorrow is not promised. Do not leave any gap. If there is any thing you have in mind just do it.
The last image of her and her family is that of the lock used to close her shelter after she passed. Those images are like stamps that no one can wipe away. It will always stay there and help the children remember that this person was once alive.
This is the power of images.
The day we went back to Marie's we were told that she died few days before and she was buried on the 3rd May 2014
© Thando Methane
Boy playing with trash
© Thando Methane
Woman performing daily chores…
© Thando Methane
Kids reading in the veranda
© Kamogelo Petlele
Pupils at Aurora Girls High school where the learners are schooling
© Kamogelo Petlele
Angelo is a Grade 12 student at Aurora.
© Kamogelo Petlele
17 years old: Angelo, the teenage mother
I have called my stories "Apartheid then and apartheid now"
My first story is about Angelo. Angelo has experienced so many challenges in her life. She grew up, in an Orange Farm in Soweto, living with her aunt and her aunt's disabled child. She had to live with them because of the poverty in her original home.
One afternoon, while she was feeding the child, he suddenly fainted and could not move. He suddenly passed in her arms. She ran out screaming and calling for help but the baby could not be resuscitated. The aunt got very angry and started to believe that Angelo killed her only child. She sent Angelo back home immediately within a blink of an eye.
To make a living, Angelo's mother was selling chicken heads and feet on the street. She is the main breadwinner. She was already stressed out and struggling to support the whole household. One day, she had to rush to the hospital because Angelo fainted in the classroom. They discovered then that Angelo was pregnant again. The mother called a family meeting and they decided on the route of adoption.
After a few weeks the grandmother who was living with them said otherwise: "children are a blessing" she said "no matter what the circumstances, the child has the right to live with her biological mother". She convinced the whole family including her daughter, Angelo's mother. Angelo's was relieved and thrilled even if she knew nothing about motherhood. Angelo gave birth to a handsome baby boy.
She is now back in school. She found a job and she works in different provinces every weekend and during school vacation, to help contribute to the household. She is struggling with her studies but she is trying to strength her mind. The father of Angelo's child is contributing as he can. They want to get married. But Angelo's mother disagrees with a traditional marriage because then, Angelo will belong to the stepfamily …
When we interviewed her, she reflected on her history. She struggles with the same poverty that her mother faced. She is now doing her grade 12 and she will soon be finishing school.
Big challenges.
Her face tells it all
© Kamogelo Petlele
Wandering puppy in the hood
© Kamogelo Petlele
Oh boy…
© Kamogelo Petlele
Beyond 2010 World Cup, boys playing on goal post
© Kamogelo Petlele
The Making of (…) With Aurora's learners I spent three or four sessions per week since March 2014. For instance on Sunday I was in Soweto at eleven in time to teach and we finished at 5 pm. If we go out on the field, we tend to spend even more time than that. We were in Kliptown for the national election and we managed to get some video of the school as well.
In the photographs and video wanted the students to appear in the background as a symbol of their roots. We have got images at school and the community of Kliptown,which is one of the oldest townships in Soweto. It very much reminds me of my own childhood. We lived in what was more of a squatter camp. There are new RDP houses now. Squatter camps are birthed the idea of RDP houses.
There are so many things happening there and its always interesting to observe the daily happenings and how life unforlds there. You can see happiness. An outsider may think the community is poor but there is happiness and a lot of love there. You can see that people are very creative and use whatever they have creatively. The children make balls from trash, people live together – it all works to starve poverty away.
To face the challenges
For some students, this was the first time to go out explore, as witnesses of their own life. At first they were shocked and overwhelmed because they saw busy streets, trashed toilets, boxes accummulating,etc – the effects of overcrowding.
I took them into their community so that they could come face to face with the realities and challenges being faced day in, day out.
It is not easy to go out and shoot people. Sometimes, you have to face the attitude of the people. I was almost attacked by a guy while I was filming a woman cooking pap.
Most university students do not know how to interact with the world. Those from the townships understand it more. I teach students to appreciate everything. For one to better know themselves, they must accept their situation first. Learning and acceptance are good values to abide by in life. It helps them understand the value of respecting one's body, being careful of the relationships they get into, drinking alcohol, doing drugs or embracing prostitution as a career and ending up raising children alone.
Most of these children grew up witnessing crime and sometimes being caught up in crime. There are different generations to navigate between children of apartheid and born frees, whom they majorly are. Some of what they witness does not make sense to them because they cannot relate to the yesteryear. They are clueless when they see what they see now. They photograph individuals with visible and invisible scars and wounds. That does not take away from the fact that the place is still bustling with energy; you can hear the music of the drums from the church and others have their chairs outside and they are just hanging out.
You can always see the beauty of it.
I want to say to the world:
Poverty still exists. We cannot runaway from that. But from the experience of poverty, comes flexibility to face all challenges. Hope is the key to dignity and happiness,
The JOY is THERE!
I want to continue similar projects with other schools because women are a priority right now.
Related articles
2014 July 12: From Soweto to Paris for the love of photography
2014 July 13: "Give children cameras not candies"


text:
Oklahoma Senate panel OKs 72-hour abortion wait time
Oklahoma would become the fourth state in the country to require women to wait at least 72 hours before receiving an abortion under a bill overwhelmingly approved Monday by a state Senate committee.
Under current Oklahoma law, a doctor is required to provide a patient with numerous details at least 24 hours before the procedure, including the age of the fetus, risks involved and that ultrasound and heart tone monitoring are available. The bill, approved 8-1 by the Committee on Health and Human Services, would increase the wait time to 72 hours.
"In Oklahoma, we have a waiting period for divorce of 10 days. If there are minor children it is 90 days," said Sen. Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City. "We should also take it very seriously when we're talking about the irrevocable decision of abortion."
The bill now heads to the full Senate, where it's likely to pass. It is endorsed by Oklahomans For Life, which pushes anti-abortion measures in the state every year.
Only three other states currently have 72-hour waiting periods: Missouri, South Dakota and Utah, according to the New York-based Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit that supports access to legal abortion. Alabama has a 48-hour waiting period, while Arkansas' Legislature has sent a 48-hour waiting period bill to the governor's desk.
But opponents say the bill is simply another barrier that Oklahoma lawmakers are placing in front of women who are seeking a safe and legal abortion.
"Women are more than capable of making their own decisions regarding their health and this bill does nothing more than erect insulting and demeaning hurdles to obtaining a safe and legal abortion," Amanda Allen, state legislative counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement.
Oklahoma has been sued at least six times since 2010 over various restrictions on abortion and contraception, including two lawsuits that are pending challenging bills approved by the GOP-controlled Legislature last year.
One lawsuit targets a proposed law that restricts the use of abortion-inducing drugs, while a second challenges a bill that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Both have been put on hold by the state Supreme Court while the cases are being considered.
"Politicians in Oklahoma need to get their priorities straight and advance bills that truly support the health, rights, and lives of Oklahoma women - not underhanded political games that make health care impossible to obtain," Allen said.


text:
Jon Pickering
Jon is a Chartered Accountant by background having previously worked in the North West corporate finance teams of both Grant Thornton and Deloitte from 2002, before joining the Manchester office of LDC in 2008.
Jon joined NorthEdge in January 2013 after 5 successful years at LDC. Jon is a partner, sits on Investment Committee and is Head of New business across our three offices. Jon also has responsibility for managing the North West new business team.
Jon has been involved in a number of investments, bolt on acquisitions and exits since he joined NorthEdge and he currently sits on the board of Cloud Technology Solutions.


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Bossier Sheriff's Office detectives are investigating two separate cases of stolen all-terrain vehicles from residences in Princeton and Plain Dealing earlier this month.
One of the ATV's, a yellow Can-am Maverick, was reported stolen on Sept. 5 from Vonda Lane in Plain Dealing (near Chalybeate Springs Road and Highway 157), and valued at $16,900.
The second ATV, an orange 2014 Polaris Razor 900, was stolen Sept. 9 from the 500 block of Bermuda Lane in Princeton, valued at $14,000.
These thefts are part of two different investigations and victims, and detectives are hopeful someone may have information about either of these cases. (An attached flyer has actual photos of the stolen ATV's).
If anyone has any information about the whereabouts of the ATV's or who may have stolen them, please contact Bossier Crime Stoppers with your anonymous tip at (318) 424-4100.


text:
Mattel was on hand to show of some of it's popular properties. There was a something for everyone. Welcome additions this year were some new DC characters like 1969 Classic Batman and some cool new 3 3/4 inch figures of popular movie Superheroes. Let's take a look.
As always, Masters of the Universe had quite the presence there.
DC section had some Batman and Superman 3 3/4" figures of the Keaton Batman and Reeve Superman which should make fans really happy.
Some DC stuff for kids.
One of my favorites is the 1969 Classic Batman figures. I grew up on Batman reruns so having the opportunity to have figures of the series is awesome.
I can't find this Batmobile anywhere.
Even Ken and Barbie can't escape this license.
Epic Creations provides collectors with some prop replicas.
Signature Collection
Hunger Games dolls


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In a perfect world, state mandates for the District Attorney's Office would come with full state funding; there would be a big enough budget to offer competitive salaries, and on the whole, the 7th Judicial District's prosecutors would have an easier time discharging their duty.
But it's not a perfect world. The 7th Judicial District is cash-strapped. This does not mean the office won't prosecute a case because of its budget — far from it — but it does affect resources, including the ability to attract and retain attorneys and staffers.
"We're experiencing an historic spike in major case filings," District Attorney Dan Hotsenpiller said. "It is impossible to overstate the impact this increase in major case filings is having on our office."
Montrose, which has the biggest population among the six counties comprising the 7th Judicial District, was this summer on track for a 35-percent increase in felony case filings this year, compared with last — and 2016 saw a 25-percent increase in such filings when compared with 2015.
Filings in Delta County are also up dramatically over last year.
Remaining counties in the 7th Judicial District — San Miguel, Gunnison, Hinsdale and Ouray — haven't shown the same level of increase, but there have been significant cases filed.
In San Miguel County, Hotsenpiller is prosecuting five people suspected of involvement in the deaths of two children; two defendants are charged with first-degree murder.
Adding to the major caseload, the DA is also faced with the retrial of a Delta County man for murder and as well is prosecuting two more recent murder cases in Montrose County.
Meanwhile, Hotsenpiller lost an investigator, who returned to law enforcement for greater pay; was unable to recruit "an outstanding" bilingual candidate for victim services — who found greater pay at the Delta County Sheriff's Office — and a legal services staffer, who also found a better paying job elsewhere.
On the day he spoke to the Montrose Daily Press, Hotsenpiller and his office were bidding farewell to Lane Thomasson, the deputy district attorney who had been training to work sexual assault cases. The plan was for her to transition in that role, freeing up the current sex crimes prosecutor, Seth Ryan, to work other major cases. Thomasson was hired as assistant Montrose County attorney.
"Historically and continually, we do not pay our people comparable salaries. It's impacting our office," Hotsenpiller said. "The baseline is, we don't have sufficient resources to meet the needs we currently have… We have to get help as it is."
The numbers bear out the DA's salary worries.
The chief investigator spot pays $11,000 less than the state average, according to a salary comparison Hotsenpiller provided. The assistant district attorney's salary is the second-lowest in the state for such a position. Of all positions, only the entry-level pay in legal services is at the state average — but the staffers there are not "entry level." They have more than 132 years of combined legal services experience.
Even local law enforcement, county agencies and local courts pay better, Hotsenpiller said, "outbidding" him for candidates.
The state funds a portion of Hotsenpiller's salary.
Grant funding pays for the bulk of crime victim services and half the salary for the sex crimes prosecutor position, but although cases are going up, grant funding has remained constant over the past number of years.
Counties within the 7th Judicial District also fund the DA's Office each year; funding from the counties accounts for more than 80 percent of the office's revenue.
For 2018, Hotsenpiller has requested more than $2.22 million, total, in funding from Montrose, Ouray, San Miguel, Delta, Gunnison and Hinsdale counties, up over the 2017 counties' contribution of $2.07 million.
County allocations are based on population and adjusted yearly.
Montrose County was asked for the largest contribution — $903,593. Delta County, as the next most populous, has been asked for $665,454, followed by a request for $385,321 from Gunnison County; $175,822 from San Miguel County; $104,603 from Ouray County and $17,805 from Hinsdale County.
Although the total amount represents about a 7.3-percent increase over 2017, the actual amount of new money requested is about 4.4 percent — because of savings carried over.
"We have proven we can continue effective work, even when we're under capacity," Hotsenpiller said.
"We've been meeting the need even when we don't have the baseline we need, and we've proven we're efficient stewards of county funds. We continue to drive down our operating expenses."
The office's penny penny pinching was by design: it is putting aside carry-over money to help offset major case expenses in 2018.
"We have purposefully saved some money to help pay for the costs associated with the Norwood (San Miguel County) homicide case, the (Nathan) Yager (Delta County) homicide case and our other major cases. We're planning ahead. We're making sure we have the capacity to prosecute those cases," Hotsenpiller said.
The DA was not referring to actual case costs, which don't necessarily come from his budget, but from mandated state cost funding. Hotsenpiller stressed he does not base his prosecutorial decisions on money.
"That's not how it works," he said.
But the mandated cost funding doesn't pay for all expenses associated with a case.
Hotsenpiller has a standing agreement with the Colorado Attorney General's Office for use of a deputy special prosecutor in major cases, and as well as secured a commitment for assistance from the AG's major crimes unit with respect to the Norwood homicides.
While Hotsenpiller is not on the hook for these experts' salaries, he is responsible for travel, food, lodging and other expenses. He is for this reason trying to set aside carry-over money for 2018.
To calculate what he would need, Hotsenpiller used expenses he had incurred while serving as special prosecutor on a murder case — and retrial — in the 6th Judicial District.
He said his office continues to make do with less by creating a vacancy in its legal services division and reducing operating expenses for 2018, on top of 2017's reductions.
The office also has an attorney working on fellowship through next August, whose salary is paid through the Colorado District Attorneys Council.
Hotsenpiller said he hopes he won't be penalized for saving money.
"We trust that the counties aren't going to punish us for saving money — by not recognizing that the percentage increase looks a lot higher than it really is, because of our carry-over. We trust they are going to continue encourage us to find savings and efficiently utilize taxpayer dollars."
Counties have to approve their budgets by Dec. 15.
Katharhynn Heidelberg is an award-winning journalist and the senior writer for the Montrose Daily Press. Follow her on Twitter at @kathMDP.
Montrose Daily Press | November 29, 2017
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Holiday Inn Wilsonville, Wilsonville
Holiday Inn Wilsonville25425 Sw 95 Th Ave
At the Holiday Inn Wilsonville we cater to both the business and vacation traveler. We are pleased to announce we are under new ownership, and expansive plans are in the works for a total renovation of our hotel including many upgrades. We now have new beds and a new wireless internet system and have begun our all new business and fitness centers, we are now 100% smoke free. Many more exciting changes are on the way. Our hotel is centrally located between Portland and Salem, Oregon®s largest city and state capitol and just 27 miles from Portland International Airport. We offer 170 indoor accessed spacious guest rooms with a full array of added amenities including in-room Coffee makers, hair dryers, ironing boards, make-up mirrors, oversized work desks, data ports, and available room service. Please check our website at www.holidayinnwilsonville.com for further updates®.See you soon This hotel is committed to providing accessible facilities under the American Disabilities Act. If your accessibility needs are not met, please contact the Hotel Manager on Duty. Should you require additional information regarding accessible facilities for guests with disabilities, please call 1-800-Holiday (U.S. and Canada) or contact the hotel directly. For the hearing impaired, TDD service is available at 1-800-238-5544 within the U.S. and Canada.


text:
Treasury seeks House nod to increase budget
What you need to know:
The Treasury on Tuesday sought MPs' approval to increase spending by 2.8 per cent to Sh3.13 trillion in its 2019/20 budget, a parliamentary document showed.
The ministry wants Sh85.5 billion for development projects and an additional Sh6.5 billion for counties in a review of the budget that will reduce recurrent expenditure by Sh5.6 billion.
Unpaid standard gauge railway (SGR) bills, universal healthcare plans and construction of Kenya's first double-decker road have forced the Treasury to review and increase the budget for the year starting July by Sh86 billion.
The Treasury on Tuesday sought MPs' approval to increase spending by 2.8 per cent to Sh3.13 trillion in its 2019/20 budget, a parliamentary document showed.
The ministry wants Sh85.5 billion for development projects and an additional Sh6.5 billion for counties in a review of the budget that will reduce recurrent expenditure by Sh5.6 billion.
The cuts on recurrent expenditure follow an order from the Treasury for ministries to slash budgets for lavish travel, advertising and training, which the State said were examples of wasteful spending.
"The recurrent expenditure decreased by 0.5 per cent while development expenditure has increased by 12.2 per cent. This is within the 10 per cent threshold specified in the Constitution," acting Treasury CS Ukur Yatani said in a statement to Parliament.
The review of the budget comes in a period when the Kenya Revenue Authority has missed tax targets in a business environment plagued by job cuts and reduced corporate profits.
Mr Yatani said Kenya experienced tax shortfalls of Sh60.2 billion in the three months to September and internal revenues from items such as fines, payments for passports and marriage fees was below target by Sh24.4 billion.
The Treasury raised development spending through a mini-budget in what is aimed at spurring economic growth and jobs creation.
Projects to benefit from the budget increase include the SGR, roads, power plants and electricity transmission as well as Big Four projects that seek to boost manufacturing, food and nutrition security, affordable housing and universal health coverage.
The government remains the biggest buyer of goods and services and increased project spending has an effect on economic growth, which is projected to be six per cent this year.
This has the effect of putting money in private hands through demand for raw materials, which ultimately creates new jobs and sales for corporate Kenya.
The Treasury is seeking Sh16.7 billion for the Mombasa-Nairobi SGR line, which was completed and launched in June 2017 given the revenues generated from the line are inadequate for maintenance and payment of management fees to the Chinese firm operating the passenger and cargo business on the track.
About Sh7.3 billion has been allocated for the government share of the Sh59 billion required for the construction of Kenya's first double-decker road set to link the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to the Nairobi-Nakuru highway.
The Sh59 billion project would be financed under the public-private partnership (PPP). The China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) is the investor and will recover its share of investment by charging fees for use of the road.
Power transmission and distribution, including unpaid bills for the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, will take up Sh7.9 billion.
Universal health coverage — which will see the state provide subsidised health services — will be allocated an additional Sh21.9 billion, a pointer of the state's intention to scale the up the service beyond the four counties.
The Big Four projects comprising universal healthcare, food security, manufacturing and affordable housing will get Sh11.8 billion more.
Counties allocation has been increased by Sh6.5 billion to Sh316.5 billion from Sh310 billion, which had been rejected by the governors.


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An Alco Update
By Mike Stella
I find it very hard to believe that it was in May of 2004 that my e*Train article on Lionel Alco's appeared.
While I had a pretty complete collection, there is always a variation or two that seems impossible to acquire. But as the years pass, several factors have come into play.
First, we are all getting older and railroad yards full of toy trains are coming on the market. The Internet auctions have almost doubled the number of Lionel items for sale in the past two years! Items generally considered "rare" are popping up time and time again.
Second, after 35 years of collecting Lionel, there just isn't that many items I want to add to my collection. So when a piece does show up, I can pay more to acquire it then I normally would and still be happy that I obtained it.
I think I am down to less than ten things I really would like to add to my collection before I give this all up.
The #231 Rock Island Alco missing the Red Stripe goes along nicely with the #231 that ONLY has the Red Stripe and the normal production #231 completely decorated.
This should be the last Alco I add BUT there was always the desire to own a dozen yellow #2023's!!!


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It is now 8 years since you wrote this post. I wonder how different it would look if you wrote it today. just curious.It would indeed look somewhat different. In part, this is due to my own development, and in part, due to knowledge gained over the past eight years.
So, here is a do-over of that old post.
Towards the end of parashat Vayishlach, the Torah lists Esav's descendants. Afterwards, it lists the kings of Edom. The pasuk states (Bereishit 36:31):
|31. And these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the children of Israel:
|לא. וְאֵלֶּה הַמְּלָכִים אֲשֶׁר מָלְכוּ בְּאֶרֶץ אֱדוֹם לִפְנֵי מְלָךְ מֶלֶךְ לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל:
Then, in the pesukim which follow, a list of eight kings are given. Now, one can make a number of points regarding this:
- In terms of a start-time for these kings: Esav was Yaakov's uncle, and even with his many children, there would not be a "king", a מלך, within Edom for some number of generations.
- In terms of an end-time for these kings: If Moshe is writing it, then all these kings should occur before Moshe's death. The total span would then be about 250 years (210 in Egypt and 40 years in the wilderness), but again, there should be a good amount of time before the first king of Edom. Consider that from Yaakov to Moshe is 4 generations, rather than 8 -- Moshe ben Amram ben Kehat ben Levi.
- The pasuk refers to לִפְנֵי מְלָךְ מֶלֶךְ לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, which implies that this was authored after there was some Israelite king, which would be quite some time after the Israelites entered the land of Israel.
Different meforshim offer different answers. But one could readily answer that (a) a מלך was more of a mayoral role, of a town or city, such that they could quickly have kings; (b) that the Edomites seem to take multiple wives and concubines, and so have explosive population growth, and may absorb other groups into themselves as well; (c) that 400+ years in Egypt might be arguable; (d) that these eight kings may have each been old, and no king is a direct descendant of the previous, such that one did not need to wait for a full generation before the next king; and (e) that either Moshe is a 'king', or else the pasuk is stressing that the people of Israel had not yet even developed enough to have a king, rather that the pasuk referring to knowledge of a specific king.
Thus, it is eminently resolvable, if one desires to resolve it.
Here is what Ibn Ezra writes:
[לו, לא]
ואלה המלכים -יש אומרים:
כי בדרך נבואה נכתבה זאת הפרשה.
ויצחקי אמר בספרו:
כי בימי יהושפט נכתבה זאת הפרשה.ופירוש הדורות כרצונו הכי קרא שמו יצחק כל השומע יצחק לו.
כי אמר:
כי הדד הוא הדד האדומי,ואמר:
כי מהיטבאל אחות תחפנחס.וחלילה חלילה שהדבר כמו שדבר על ימי יהושפט וספרו ראוי להישרף, ולמה תמה על שמנה מלכים שמלכו שהם רבים.
והנה מלכי ישראל כפלים במספר. ושני אלה המלכים קרובים לשני מלכי ישראל. גם מלכי יהודה רבים הם ממלכי אדום עד ימי משה, והאמת שפירוש לפני מלך מלך על משה מלך ישראל, וכן כתוב: ויהי בישורון מלך.
"And these are the kings: Some say that this segment was written via prophecy {J: such that these kings, or some of them, actually ruled after Moshe's death; or at least, that one could refer to the existence of future kings of Israel}.
And Yitzchaki said in his book, that this segment was written in the days of Yehoshafat, and he explained the generations as he wished. Is his name called Yitzchak? All who hear laugh at him. {J: A rewording of a pasuk into an insult.} For he said that Hadad {the 4th king here in Vayishlach; this is probably a typo for Hadar, the eighth king} is Hadad the Edomite {an adversary of Shlomo Hamelech -- see 1 Kings 11:14. He was the survivor of the royal house of Edom, where everyone else was wiped out by King Yoash}. And he said מְהֵיטַבְאֵל {the wife of the eighth king in Vayishlach, Hadar} was the sister of Tachpanches {given by Pharaoh to Hadad, king of Edom, not Hadar, king of Edom, as a wife, in I Kings 11:20}.
And forfend, forfend, that the matter is as he said, regarding the days of Yehoshafat. And his book is worthy of burning.
And why be confounded about the eight kings, that they are many? Behold, the kings of Israel were double in number, and the years of these kings approach the days of the kings of Israel. Also, the kings of Yehuda were greater that the kings of Edom until the days of Moshe. And the truth is that the meaning of לִפְנֵי מְלָךְ מֶלֶךְ refers to Moshe king of Israel. And so is written, 'and there was in Yeshurun a king."I interjected this idea in curly brackets above, but I will repeat it here. I think there is a slight typographical error in Ibn Ezra, and where he says הדד, he means הדר. There were two kings of Edom in the list in Vayishlach with similar names. The fourth king was Hadad and the eighth king is Hadar. The eighth king, Hadar, is described as marrying Mehatavel:
וַיָּמָת, בַּעַל חָנָן בֶּן-עַכְבּוֹר, וַיִּמְלֹךְ תַּחְתָּיו הֲדַר, וְשֵׁם עִירוֹ פָּעוּ; וְשֵׁם אִשְׁתּוֹ מְהֵיטַבְאֵל בַּת-מַטְרֵד, בַּת מֵי זָהָב.
Yitzchaki equates this last king of the list, Hadar with a resh, with a king of Edom mentioned in I Kings 11, Hadad with a daled. That fellow was contemporary to King David and King Shlomo. I assume Yitzchaki would argue that the resh and daled was a transcription error. And if this is written referring to these early days, before kings of Israel, then it must be a generation or two in. Or maybe there were some calculations involved.
Back in 2003, I wondered what was bothering Ibn Ezra so much about Yitzchaki? After all, it seems that Ibn Ezra is willing to say that certain pesukim were later interpolations by another editor. The last eight, or rather twelve, psukim of the Torah, Ibn Ezra says were written after Moshe's death. In this, he follows a Tanna cited in the gemara, that Yehoshua wrote those pesukim. But, Ibn Ezra extends it to other pesukim in the Torah as well. Here is an excerpt from the end of my 2003 post:
One thing is clear. Ibn Ezra considers Yitzchaki to be saying kefira, and [Yitzchaki's] sefer worthy of being burnt, but [Ibn Ezra] does not consider his own sefer to be so. Ibn Ezra does, however, make his comments on Devarim 1:2 intentionally obtuse, perhaps because it is not for public consumption by the masses. He considers Yitzchaki to be kfira, I think, because 1) This is a long section of Torah, and not just a quick editorial comment, with details of what happened in many generations up to Yehoshafat, and this type of information should not make it into Bereishit. 2) The idea of things being added to the Torah as late as Yehoshafat was unpalatable. Besides for these two issues which make Yitzchaki kefira, we can see that Ibn Ezra thinks that Yitzchaki's arguments necessitating a late date are silly, and the associations with these late kings and sisters of kings based on common names is also silly.Since then, I've learnt a bit more about Yitzchaki and Ibn Ezra's reaction to him.
As I discussed in this February 2010 post, in parshat Yitro, in Shemot 19:12:
|יב וְהִגְבַּלְתָּ אֶת-הָעָם סָבִיב לֵאמֹר, הִשָּׁמְרוּ לָכֶם עֲלוֹת בָּהָר וּנְגֹעַ בְּקָצֵהוּ: כָּל-הַנֹּגֵעַ בָּהָר, מוֹת יוּמָת.
|12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying: Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it; whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death;
And Ibn Ezra says:
[יט, יב]
והגבלת -שים גבול בהר. ע"כ כמוהו הגבל את ההר וקדשתו לשום גבול בהר. והארכתי כל כך בעבור שאמר המשוגע שהפך בספרו דברי אלוהים חיים, אמר: כי רצה משה לומר הגבל את העם. ויצא מפיו ההר במקום העם.
Thus, after explaining the true meaning of the pasuk, he writes that
"I have gone on at length so much because of how the meshuga overturned in his book the words of the Living God. He said that Moshe wished to say 'Hagbel et haAm', and it came out of his mouth [a bit later, in Shemot 19:23] with the word haHar in place of haAm."Continuing now by quoting my 2010 post:
In sefer Tzachot, after showing that several close words have similar meanings, Ibn Ezra argues against Lower Biblical criticism -- that is, emending of texts to make them more "correct". Apparently, this "Yitzchaki" was a grammarian who wrote a book claiming that more than 100 words needed to be switched (ha'am / hahar was one of them). Here are the beginning of his words on the matter. Read inside -- it is interesting.Here is the relevant selection from Tzachot:
It is no longer so astonishing to me that Ibn Ezra would criticize Yitzchaki, even as Ibn Ezra lived in a glass house. Yitzchaki was not just suggesting, in this one place, a way of understanding peshat in the pesukim. He was not simply persuaded to suggest that a few running pesukim were authored at a later date.
Rather, it seems that Yitzchaki was arguing against the integrity of the text of the Chumash. He was engaging in Lower Biblical Criticism, by asserting that the text was riddled with typographical errors. (Indeed, Hadar / Hadad now makes sense.) He suggested that Moshe misspoke. I am not certain that Yitzchaki was engaging in Higher Biblical Criticism, by suggesting a late editor / author only for this one section. Quite possibly, Yitzchaki was suggesting late authorship, in the days of Yehoshafat, for the entirety of sefer Bereshit, or all of Torah.
Ibn Ezra could then have been reacting to the entirety of the endeavor, and the author's specific aims.
I am not the only one who was confounded by the seeming contradiction of Ibn Ezra's sod and his criticism of Yitzchaki. Take this excerpt from a comment as an example:
Ibn Ezra to Genesis 36:31 condemns as heretical the assertion that Genesis 36:31-39 were written by a post-Mosaic prophet, contrary to the teaching of the talmudic sages. [See 36:32 where Ibn Ezra affirms "ki lo yipol midivrei Rabboteinu zal artzah".] Yet, in Deut. 34:1, Ibn Ezra has no problem explicitly declaring that he thinks Joshua wrote 34:1-4 in just the same manner that Joshua wrote 34:5-12. This is an astonishing contradiction within the Ibn Ezra. [See R. Yehudah Nachshoni in his Hagut Bifarashi'yot Hatorah - of which Artscroll has a fine English translation - in which he, with all due respect, completely misses this point. R. Nachshoni writes "it is true that Ibn Ezra expands the idea from 8 to 12 verses, but what difference does this make in the basic idea that a number of verses were written by Yehoshua?" R. Nachshoni is oblivious to the fact that Ibn Ezra has already ruled in Genesis 36:1 that it is heresy to contract the talmudic ascription of Mosaic authorship to the Pentateuch, an account that leaves no more than room for the final eight verses to have been written by Joshua.]This then led the author of that comment to badly kvetch a Sifrei to support twelve psukim rather than eight, but no more. But besides the two suggestions I made in 2003, we now see that there is much greater cause for Ibn Ezra to blast Yitzchaki and his work, as the work was an assault on the authorship and integrity of the Torah text.
I'll end by noting that when Ibn Ezra says sod, (IMHO) he is protecting himself while making a controversial statement. But the ambiguity can lead to reinterpretation, especially by those who do not like the sod. See this post at Curious Jew, and see here on parshablog.


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An increase in the minimum wage of construction workers and an attractive benefits' package will attract applicants to enter the country's construction industry.
This is a recommendation from the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP).
In addition to the increased minimum wage, ALU-TUCP Spokesperson Alan Tanjusay also calls for the provision of better facilities and clean barracks for the construction workers.
This was in response to President Rodrigo Duterte's statement that there is a shortage of construction workers in the country which, according to him, caused the delay of several projects under the 'Build, Build, Build' infrastructure initiative of the government. Those who should be working in the construction industry goes out of the country to work as overseas Filipino workers.
The President urged the skilled Filipino workers abroad to return to the country and participate in the massive infrastructure development efforts of the administration.
More than 200K job vacancies
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) also confirmed the President's statement stating that there more than 200,000 vacancies in the construction sector which needs to be filled.
Among the vacancies are for the jobs of leadman, foreman, riggers, masons, steel men, carpenters, plumbers, scaffolders, surveyors, and spotters.
Hydraulic operators, sheet filling operators, vibro machine operators, and heavy equipment mechanics operators are also currently in-demand.
On the other hand, Director Dominique Tutay of the DOLE-Bureau of Local Employment said that the salaries of the construction workers already went up in 2016 based on the study conducted by Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
She said that their wages already went up as high as P1,500 and as low as P450 in 2016 and might have already gone up again, at this time.
Meanwhile, Senator Joel Villanueva challenged claims of lack of construction workers in the country, saying that the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) has already produced 234,534 graduates in construction and other related fields.


text:
In 1616, a very odd little book was published in what is today Germany. Its narrator, Christian Rosencreutz, told the tale of his bizarre and otherworldly foray into a secret society. It featured angels, automata, and ancient, arcane wisdom. Some readers viewed it as a religious allegory, some as an alchemical one. Some—in light of two manifestos published in the years preceding it—thought this book a revelation of a true secret society: the Rosicrucian order, a group of hermetic, Christian alchemists that were poised to change the world. Not, perhaps, features we'd associate with modern science fiction.
Author John Crowley, however, is reclaiming The Chemical Wedding. Alchemy, he argues in his introduction to Small Beer Press' new edition, "had the same fascination for readers of the [Renaissance] as the scientific possibilities of classic SF did in its last-century heyday." No matter its associations today—with the occult, Nicholas Flamel, or Fullmetal Alchemist—alchemy was once a cutting-edge science, one that well-respected men like Isaac Newton and Giordano Bruno thought would heal society's political and religious rifts. Crowley's new edition of the alchemical Wedding attempts to resituate it in these terms. Published during the year of the book's 400th anniversary, with Gorey-like illustrations by Theo Fadel, The Chemical Wedding is living and breathing yet again, reopening a bizarre and understudied chapter in European history.
The plot of The Chemical Wedding is less interesting than its history or its detail. In it, Christian Rosencreutz is invited by a king and queen to a mysterious castle full of magic and wonders, to witness a royal wedding. He and the other invitees undergo a series of trials to prove their purity and righteousness, from being literally weighed by their embodiment of each of the seven deadly sins, to their alchemical prowess and curiosity. The book is divided into seven days (always a telling number), though as Crowley points out, there is in fact an eighth, incomplete day at the end of the book. Perhaps the most fascinating scenes in the book involve Christian sneaking away on his own, exploring the castle's many libraries and oddities (only later does he find out that what he's done is forbidden, and that he'll be punished). The ending, though abrupt, is a happy one. Christian returns home and, presumably, spreads the good news of the Rosicrucian brotherhood by writing The Chemical Wedding (the actual author of the book, it was later revealed, was Lutheran pastor and mystic Johann Valentin Andreae).
Originally released on the eve of the Thirty Years' War, The Chemical Wedding is garishly optimistic in hindsight. It promises religious and political harmony, and a rebirth in scientific progress that will rattle society to its very core. Dame Frances Yates, in her groundbreaking history The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, even argues that the royal wedding that Christian witnesses is a symbolic retelling of that of Frederick V, Elector Palatine of Bohemia, and Princess Elizabeth Stuart of England. This marriage, when it took place in 1612, was looked upon as a meeting of worlds and a reconciliation of difference; a new Europe was on the horizon. Science (alchemy) and the arts flourished, and the couple was loved very briefly by their people, until war erased the optimism that the union and The Chemical Wedding both symbolized.
John Crowley's ambition in re-configuring Andreae's forgotten book is laudable, and Fadel's whimsical, dark illustrations add still more modern elements to the new edition. Re-imagining the text as science fiction is an exercise that makes outdated science feel alive and relevant, where it's so often presented as stale and superstitious. I quibble, slightly, with the designation of The Chemical Wedding as a novel. Its fictional and romantic nature is all but uncontestable. However, the fact that so many readers took Andreae's story as true (if not in event, than in allegorical content) says something about its context, its intent, and about the reverence its original audience had towards the written word. Despite its bizarre imagery and symbolism, it bears more resemblance to John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress than it does to any contemporary novels. Andreae did dismiss his own work later in life, but whether that is due to his youth and inexperience, or the book's whimsical content is unknown and unknowable.
Whether you consider The Chemical Wedding a religious text, a morality tale, or a work of science fiction, however, the fact that it remains so rich in interpretations is one of its greatest strengths. It's a read that is simultaneously dry and bizarre, but it's anything but tiresome. Its original uncanniness is only heightened by Crowley's new edition, and the specificity of its historical moment made more familiar.
The Chemical Wedding is available from Small Beer Press.
Emily Nordling is a library assistant and perpetual student in Chicago, IL.


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Fresh from telling his radio audience that they cannot vote for Hillary Clinton because "women should not be entrusted with high political office," Bryan Fischer declared yesterday that Clinton cannot be allowed to become president because she is driven by the "spirit of the Antichrist."
Just like President Obama, Fischer explained, Clinton is "an enemy of religious liberty" who is driven by a "profound anti-Christ impulse."
"The same spirit that will one day animate the Antichrist is the same spirit that is at work in Hillary Clinton," he said. "She opposes Christ, she opposes biblical Christianity, she's hostile to it, she seeks to repress it, she seeks to punish it and she seeks to stifle it. That is the spirit of the Antichrist and it is at work in Hillary Clinton."
"Ladies and gentlemen, hear me when I say this," Fischer continued, "Hillary Clinton is motivated by the spirit of the Antichrist because she is against Christ, she is against Christianity, she is against the free exercise of the Christian faith, she doesn't want the Christian faith to be a part of the public square, to influence public policy in any way, she is against everything that Christianity stands for. She is for same-sex marriage, she is for the promotion of homosexuality, she is against the sanctity of human life, she is against religious liberty … She is an opponent of all that is good and right and noble."


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A Simple Simple Short Shot
A Quick Look at Record Album design -- Alex Steinweiss
Incredibly, album art took over 40 years to show up
"It was ridiculous that beautiful music was in an empty piece of cardboard." - Alex Steinweiss
Now famed designer, Alex Steinweiss started out in Brooklyn where he earned a scholarship to the Parsons School of Design. After graduating he made posters with/for Austrian designer Joseph Binder, before taking a job at Columbia as their advertising manager. In 1939 he realized that the plain brown, tan or green paper 'lacked sales appeal' and added a simple marquee design to a collection of songs by Rodgers and Hart. The album sales jumped 900% immediately and album art was cemented in the world of recorded music.
It seems incredible that something so intrinsic to the way we enjoy music took so long to develop; album art is still on our iPod, Spotify, Tidal and Google Play, it's enlarged and hung on our walls or printed proudly on t-shirts. It seems obvious now, but at the time it was a revelation. Advertisers must continue to look past the traditional, the typical and the conventional to find new ways to cut through the clutter - to find the blank slates that are staring us in the face.
To see more of his work, go to: www.alexsteinweiss.com


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Sky Transport Solutions will make it quick and simple to obtain your Georgia IRP apportioned plate(s), saving you both time and money. Getting Georgia IRP Plates is hassle free when you work with Sky Transport Solutions.
You will also need the following supporting documents:

Georgia IRP Plates

Let the knowledgeable staff at Sky Transport Solutions get your Gerogia IRP plates. We have gotten GA IRP Plates for thousands of truckers just like you, form owner operators to trucking companies and fleets.
According to Department of Rvenue Georgia:
The International Registration Plan (IRP) is a special plan or a reciprocity agreement between member states and member jurisdictions for registering vehicles that must travel in 2 or more member-states with one member state, the member state where the vehicle is based. A jurisdiction may be a state or a Canadian province. The base member state issues 1 apportioned license plate and cab card for each vehicle.
There are penalties and fines for lapse of insurance coverage, registration suspension, and reinstatement processes.


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H.S. FOOTBALL: Chambersburg deals with distractions to win 1st game of the season
CHAMBERSBURG >> Distractions surrounded the Chambersburg football team heading into Friday night's game with Mifflin County.
For starters, the Trojans' head coach, Mark Saunders, resigned that morning, and on top of that, it was Homecoming week.
But Chambersburg put everything behind it and played its most impressive game of the season in a 28-7 Mid Penn Commonwealth win.
"The motto of tonight was to just focus on the next play," Chambersburg interim head coach Scott Mitchell said. "We had plenty of distractions tonight, but we battled through a lot of adversity and just kept fighting."
The Trojans (1-5, 1-2 MPC) battled through plenty of adversity on the field, too. On their first drive of the game, they drove down the field on just five plays, and Darius Johnson scored from 10 yards out to give Chambersburg a 6-0 lead.
But for the rest of the first half, the Trojans struggled with turnovers. In the two drives following the touchdown, Chambersburg fumbled twice, and after Carter Edmonson put the Trojans up 13-0 with a 10-yard touchdown run, they threw an interception and had a field goal blocked at the halftime whistle.
Said Johnson, who finished with 81 rushing yards and another 31 receiving, "You're never going to have a perfect game, but it's how you bounce back from those mistakes that matter. We put ourselves in a hole a couple times, but each time we made plays to get out of it."
On their first drive of the third quarter, the Huskies (0-6, 0-3 MPC) were forced to punt, but Chambersburg fumbled the ball and Mifflin County recovered at the Trojan 41. Five plays later, quarterback Isaac Maclay punched it in from six yards out to put the Huskies down only 13-7.
But Chambersburg answered right back. Led by the rushing attack, the Trojans drove down the field, and Edmonson made it 21-7 with a nine-yard score. They then put the game away on a 17-yard run by Warren Lee early in the fourth quarter.
"It's just like a broken record," Mifflin County coach Brent Hartman said. "We go out and we work hard every day, but sometimes hard work isn't enough. I thought we had a chance to win this game, but we just didn't perform."
Edmonson finished with 10 carries for 96 yards, and Lee had 17 carries for 111 yards. Overall, the Trojans had 45 carries for 304 yards.
Lee said, "The offensive line made things happen tonight. They made some big holes for us, and we just hit them and made plays."
"This win feels great," offensive and defensive lineman Kelton Chastulik said, "Offensively, we just wanted to come out and play the way we knew how. We knew we had the potential, but tonight we wanted to show it."
Chambersburg's defense took care of the rest. The Trojans totaled four interceptions and held Mifflin County to just 155 yards, including just 73 yards rushing on 33 carries.
"I'm very proud of this team tonight," Mitchell said. "We saw what we were capable of tonight; now we just need to be consistent with it."
Chambersburg 28
Mifflin County 7
Mifflin County0070—7Chambersburg6787—28
First Quarter
Ch — Darius Johnson 10 run (Nazeer Taylor kick blocked), 10:06
Second Quarter
Ch — Carter Edmondson 10 run (Taylor kick), 3:56
Third Quarter
MC — Isaac Maclay 6 run (Davis Wagner kick), 5:59
Ch — Edmondson 9 run (Warren Lee pass from Kaden Hoover), 3:06
Fourth Quarter
Ch — Lee 17 run (Taylor kick), 9:24
MCChbgFirst downs1014Rushes-yards33-7345-304Passing8-22-43-7-1Passing yards8290Total yards155394Punts4-25.51-39Fumbles-lost0-03-3Penalties-yards4-266-51
Individual statistics
Rushing — MC, Malik Sechler 9-29, Drew Williams 3-21, Maclay 16-15, Cole Baker 2-6, Nathan Earnest 1-4, Nic Copenhaver 2-(-2). Chbg, Lee 17-111, Edmondson 10-96, Johnson 9-81, Brandon Miller 2-10, Kammeron Green 3-4, Hoover 1-4, Hunter Leedy 3-(-2).
Passing — MC, Maclay 5-15-2-44, Williams 3-7-2-38. Chbg, Hoover 3-7-1-90, Leedy 0-2.
Receiving — MF, Sechler 4-55, Nicholas Poche 2-16, Nathan Bargo 2-11. Chbg, Sam Blevins 1-40, Johnson 1-31, Griffin Leedy 1-19.
Interceptions — MC, Drew Williams. Chbg, Lee, Austin Kopp, Jack Kunkleman, Spencer Seaman.
Missed field goal — Chbg, Taylor (18, blocked).


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BOI Application Form 2021 for Recruitment of various posts is available on website of Bank of India. Application form of BOI Recruitment can be filled and submitted by eligible candidates. More than two weeks time is available to apply online. Candidates can pay the requisite application fee online through using only Master/ Visa Debit or Credit cards or Internet Banking. Applicants can download Admit Card of BOI Recruitment 2021.
Bank of India Application Form 2021
|Specialist Officers
|Commencement of on-line registration of application
|April 20, 2017
|April 26, 2017
|End of form submission
|May 05, 2017
|May 12, 2017
|End of editing application form
|May 05, 2017
|May 12, 2017
|End of facility to print application Form
|May 20, 2017
|May 27,2017
Apply Online
Steps to apply
- Enter name, mobile number, and email ID to register.
- Then proceed to fill up the form and pay fees.
|BOI Application Form Fee for Officer & SO
|Rs 100
|General and others
|Rs 100
Note – Bank Transaction charges for Online Payment of application fees/intimation charges will have to be borne by the candidate.
All necessary documents required to be referred to fill the form should be kept handy in order to avoid mistakes in BOI Recruitment 2021 Application Form.
BOI Application Form 2021 – Instructions to note before applying
Keep in mind the following guidelines before you start to apply online for Bank of India Recruitment 2021.
- Scan photograph and signature and save in same computer from which you will apply online. Ensure that both the photograph and signature adhere to the required specifications as given under Guideline for photograph and signature scan and upload.
- Have a valid personal email ID and mobile no. Keep them active till the completion of this Recruitment Process. Bank may send call letters for the Interview etc. through the registered e-mail ID. In case a candidate does not have a valid personal e-mail ID, he/she should create his/her new e-mail ID and mobile no. before applying on-line and must maintain that email account and mobile number.
How to apply for Bank of India Recruitment 2021 ?
Candidates to go to the Bank's website http://www.bankofindia.co.in and click on the 'CAREER' and then click on the link "Recruitment of General Banking Officers. This will open a new window in this window click on "APPLY ONLINE". Click on "APPLY ONLINE" which will open a new screen.
Or, skip the above two steps and directly click on the apply online link given above.
Step 1 – Register to apply online
To register application, choose the tab "Click here for New Registration" and enter Name, Contact details and Email-id. A Provisional Registration Number and Password will be generated by the system and displayed on the screen. Candidate should note down the Provisional Registration Number and Password. An Email & SMS indicating the Provisional Registration number and Password will also be sent.
Step 2 – Enter details in the application form
In case the candidate is unable to complete the application form in one go, he / she can save the data already entered by choosing "SAVE AND NEXT" tab. Prior to submission of the online application candidates are advised to use the "SAVE AND NEXT" facility to verify the details in the online application form and modify the same if required. Visually Impaired candidates should fill the application form carefully and verify/ get the details verified to ensure that the same are correct prior to final submission.
Candidates are advised to carefully fill and verify the details filled in the online application themselves as no change will be possible/ entertained after clicking the FINAL SUBMIT BUTTON.
The Name of the candidate or his /her Father/ Husband etc. should be spelt correctly in the application as it appears in the Certificates/ Mark sheets. Any change/alteration found may disqualify the candidature.
Validate your details and Save your application by clicking the 'Validate your details' and 'Save and Next' button.
Step 3 – Upload photograph and signature
Candidates can proceed to upload Photo and Signature as per the specifications given in the Guidelines for Scanning and Upload of Photograph and Signature.
Candidates can proceed to fill other details of the Application Form.
Step 4 – Preview filled in BOI application form
Click on the Preview Tab to preview and verify the entire application form before FINAL SUBMIT.
Modify details, if required, and click on 'FINAL SUBMIT' ONLY after verifying and ensuring that the photograph, signature uploaded and other details filled by you are correct.
Step 5 – Pay application fee
Click on 'Payment' Tab and proceed for payment.
BOI Application Form 2021 – Instructions for paying application fees
The application form is integrated with the payment gateway and the payment process can be completed by following the instructions.
- The payment can be made by using only Master/ Visa Debit or Credit cards or Internet Banking.
- After submitting your payment information in the online application form, PLEASE WAIT FOR THE INTIMATION FROM THE SERVER. DO NOT PRESS BACK OR REFRESH BUTTON IN ORDER TO AVOID DOUBLE CHARGE
- On successful completion of the transaction, an e-Receipt will be generated.
- Non-generation of E-Receipt indicates PAYMENT FAILURE. On failure of payment, Candidates are advised to login again using their Provisional Registration Number and Password and repeat the process of payment.
- Candidates are required to take a printout of the e-Receipt and online Application Form. Please note that if the same cannot be generated online transaction may not have been successful.
- For Credit Card users: All charges are listed in Indian Rupee. If you use a non-Indian credit card, your bank will convert to your local currency based on prevailing exchange rates.
- To ensure the security of your data, please close the browser window once your transaction is completed.
Bank of India Recruitment 2021 Application Form – FAQs
1. What should I do if there is lot of delay in accessing the page?
Speed for Registration of On-Line Application on Internet, is based on various factors like Internet Speed, large number of applicants trying to register the application at the same time etc. Therefore if you are not able to get the pages for registration immediately, please retry after a gap of 15 minutes or during off-peak hours during the night.
2. How do I know that my application is registered?
Successful Registration is indicated by the Page displayed after clicking the Submit Button indicating the generated "REGISTRATION NO." and "PASSWORD". Please note down the same carefully and preserve it. If you do not preserve it, you will not be able to Re-Print the Application and download the Call Letter.
3. I did not receive the email intimation for registration of my application?
"REGISTRATION NO." and "PASSWORD" are also sent by auto-response Confirmation emails. Delivery of these emails purely depends upon the correctness of E-Mail ID provided, Policy of your E-Mail Service Provider to accept and Divert such emails under Bulk or Spam Mails or bounce back such mails without accepting it due to heavy number of emails generated by our Applications. In case of Govt./official /company Email Ids, delivery is controlled by your Company Policies. Therefore, please do not expect replies from us, if you do not receive such confirmation / auto-response Emails.
4. How do I re-confirm that my application is saved?
In case of doubt about the successful Registration, candidates are advised to visit the Page for Re-Print of Application, generate the Printout and preserve the soft copy and hard copy (printout) of the Application.
5. I got Blank / Zero Registration No. after submission of application on-line?
In rare cases Candidates may get Zero (0) Registration No. with valid Password. Candidates are advised to Re-Register the Application and check the Printout through Re-Print Application.
6. After filling up the complete form, I got Blank Screen / Internet got disconnected / My PC closed / hanged / shutdown. Is my application saved / registered?
Please refer to Point No.4. If you do not get the application printout through Re-Print option, your application is not saved. Please re-apply.
7. I did not receive the acknowledgement / reply to my email communication?
"Reply to" Email Id for the Application is created for the convenience of the Candidates for genuine communications. Please do not use this address to send back the emails for "Acknowledgment", "Vacation Mail", "Friendship Offers", "Sales Offers" etc. Our Email Server is configured to delete such emails automatically.
8. What details should I retain while replying to auto-response emails?
While writing back by replying the confirmation emails for genuine problem, please retain the text containing "REGISTRATION NO." and "PASSWORD" details on the email.
9. What details should I provide while writing for the problem?
Please do not forget to provide following details while writing to us: (1) REGISTRATION NO. (2) MOBILE NO. (3) DATE OF BIRTH & (4) FULL NAME as entered in application. In case of application failure or any error message, we would like to have the screenshot of the error in JPG, GIF format or as MS Word file. Additionally, you may provide the PC Details including the Operating System (like Windows XP, Vista, Linux etc.) & Internet Browser & version (like Internet Explorer 6.0, Mozilla 3.0, Firefox 3.5 etc.) used.
10. I want to change / correct the details I entered in the Application?
Prior to submission of the online application, please choose the 'EDIT' option to correct the details. Please remember to take fresh print out after modifying any details. Candidate should note that the data entered in Basic Info cannot be modified.
In case you face any difficulty in online registration or if you haven't received auto response mail within 24 hours, inform at [email protected] giving following specific details to enable us to provide quick resolution of the error encountered by you – (a) Registration Number (b) Name of the Bank (c) Name of the Post applied for (d) Your Email Id (f) Your contact telephone number (preferably your Mobile no ) (g) Your Operating System Windows XP SP2 or Linux ( with Version number) (h) Browser with its version number (i) Whether java script is enabled (j) Copy of Exact Text of error message you encounter.
Please make one more attempt from any other PC with either Internet Explorer (5.5 or above), Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or above, Google chrome 2.0 or Opera 7.0 above. with java script enabled before filing the report with our help desk."
Official website of Bank of India is www.bankofindia.co.in.
This page is being updated with details of Bank of India Recruitment 2017.
If you have any queries regarding Bank of India Application Form 2017 please ask in comments below.


text:
|Cloud, Digital, SaaS, Enterprise 2.0, Enterprise Software, CIO, Social Media, Mobility, Trends, Markets, Thoughts, Technologies, Outsourcing
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Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Will Written Word Go Away - No !!
Smartmobs points to William Crossman, a futurist and an English instructor at Vista Community College in Berkeley, who believes that reading and writing are doomed."The scholar gives the written word until 2050 to become a curiosity of the past. Crossman believes that talking computers, which we already have in a primitive form, will be storing and retrieving information for us rather than paper and text them and getting our information by asking questions rather than by checking our files or libraries. Crossman, unlike others, sees it as a positive. When asked why we would give up what many consider to be culture's shining achievement — literacy and written language — Crossman says it's inevitable — text is merely one stage of our evolution, and it's on the way out.He points to the phonograph, telephone, television, video, movies, and instant and text messaging lingo as proof of our culture's unconscious rebellion against text.He cites statistics that show that IQ scores worldwide are getting higher as literacy rates are plummeting. Children especially just don't want to learn to read and write, and this is not just for the socioeconomic reasons people tend to ascribe to it, he contends.
Category : Emerging Technologies |
|Sadagopan's Weblog on Emerging Technologies, Trends,Thoughts, Ideas & Cyberworld


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Pub crawl organizers should have to obtain a permit for each crawl and reimburse the county for the cost of extra police on the street.
That's what Arlington County Manager Barbara Donnellan is expected to recommend to the County Board at its meeting later this month. Donnellan will recommend that pub crawls be classified as "special events," subject to the county's special events policy, according to county officials.
Arlington's special events policy was last updated in 2012. The policy is designed to ensure that adequate resources are available for special events while allowing the county to recover its support costs.
Classifying pub crawls as a special event is seen as a compromise, somewhere in between the crawl participants who would like the events to continue unabated and residents who see the crawls as a nuisance and would like them curtailed. The events will continue, but in a more regulated environment, provided organizers can afford the extra costs.
"Organizers would have to get a special events permit and would be required to cover the costs of additional police, fire and trash services — above core services — generated by their event," Arlington County spokeswoman Mary Curtius told ARLnow.com. "At this point, the Manager's recommendation does not include any minimum or maximum allowed numbers of pub crawls — the applications will be reviewed as they come in and approved based on the availability of resources."
Donnellan's recommendation is coming less than a month after an attendee at the All American Bar Crawl (photos from the event, above) allegedly stripped naked and led police on a car chase that ended in a crash in Clarendon. In an email to a concerned constituent, County Board Chair Jay Fisette addressed the incident.
"I want you to know that we have no tolerance for this kind of behavior. At the same time I want to stress that this incident was highly unusual," Fisette wrote. "Our top priority is safety. The Board has concerns about the impacts of pub crawls and in April asked the Manager to research options to address these impacts."
Fisette went on to say that pub crawls can be regulated, but not banned.
Clarendon is one of our most vibrant and lively areas. We support the businesses there, and we welcome visitors who patronize our many great restaurants, shops and pubs. We want to keep it a great place to live, visit, dine, work and shop. It's important to know that, under Virginia law, we can't ban pub crawls. We can, however, regulate pub crawls to ensure that they are safe for all and effectively managed. Part of that regulation must include ways that the County can recover some of the costs associated with the stepped-up enforcement activities during the events, and trash and litter cleanup after the events. In the meantime, as part of the FY15 budget, the Board approved one-time funding ($42,000) for overtime costs in the Police department while a longer term strategy is developed to address the increasing frequency and cost associated with pub crawl events.
In addition to the June incident, a bar crawl attendee made the news in March when she allegedly showed up naked at the Arlington Magistrate's Office and demanded that she be allowed to visit her husband, who was arrested earlier that day during a St. Patrick's Day-themed pub crawl.
Both bar crawls were organized by Courthouse-based Project D.C. Events. According to the company, the two events attracted a combined 8,500-9,000 registered attendees.
"It's two incidents out of thousands of people," said Project D.C. Events co-owner Alex Lopez, who also pointed out that neither happened inside a bar. Lopez and fellow co-owner Mike Bramson said they work closely with Arlington County Police and with participating bars to ensure there's plenty of security on hand.
Neither could explain why bar crawls in Arlington have resulted in high-profile incidents and controversy while D.C.-based crawls seem to go off without a hitch.
"We've taken the same steps in D.C. as we do in Arlington," Bramson said.
"You don't hear about bar crawls in D.C. because nothing happens at them," said Lopez. "If you say, 'oh everything was peaceful in the last bar crawl,' well, no one is going to read that."
Bramson and Lopez said they and other bar crawl organizers shouldn't be on the hook for the cost of extra police staffing because the events are already generating thousands in extra tax revenue.
"We're bringing in more money to the county then it's costing them to staff it," Lopez said. "Most bars are making quadruple their sales on that day, which means quadruple the sales tax for Arlington County."
Lopez, however, said he understands, as an Arlington resident, why other residents would want organizers to foot the bill.
"If I was just a citizen… I would think, 'yeah who is paying for these?' Oh the bar promoter should pay for it," he said. "But I don't think people are realizing… how much revenue is coming in to the county from all that sales tax."
Nick Freshman, co-owner of Spider Kelly's in Clarendon, which participated in the June bar crawl, agreed that the crawls are generating substantial added revenue for bars, the county, and even non-participating businesses.
"Our increased sales from these events result in lots of increased County revenue to pay for services," he told ARLnow.com. "I think that the non-participating bars certainly see a rise in revenue as a part of the crawls, and I believe that goes for other businesses in the area as well — CVS, Trader Joe's, banks, etc. That is due simply to the volume of people in the area, and that was true for us before we signed on."
Freshman acknowledged that bar crawls inevitably result in drunken behavior.
"We generally welcome them because it boosts revenue substantially, and it brings new faces to the area," he said. "They bring a lot of headaches, however. We spend a great deal of time and resources making sure everyone in the bar is behaving. There are always some incidents, but when you consider the amount of people coming into the neighborhood for these events, proportionally the incidents are minor."
"I understand the complaints from neighbors and other citizens, and we have been working with them, the County and the organizers to address the issues," Freshman continued. "I know from all my years in the business that no matter what we do prepare, no matter how seriously we take our responsibilities and no matter how diligent we are, somebody will always do something stupid that we can't stop. If that is the case inside the bar where we control the environment, it is certainly true on the street where these incidents seem to take place."
Freshman said he is wary of efforts to make pub crawl organizers or bar owners pay for an added police presence.
"Traditionally, what happens outside has been the responsibility of the County and that relationship has worked well for us and for them," he said. "I don't think that needs to change at this point."
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Vini Franchetti Wine Dinner
Join us as we explore Vini Franchetti & their two sister vineyards Passopisciaro (Sicily) and Vini Franchetti (Tuscany) for our Sicily/Tuscany Wine Dinner!
Sunday, Oct 9 @ 6pm
Special Guest: This wine dinner we will be hosting the wine maker