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This summer, Executive Director Kemi Ilesanmi interviewed Bridget Bartolini (CC Fellow '13, Commissioned Artist '14) and Cynthia Tobar (CC Fellow '16) about their respective ventures into the field of oral history. During their engaging conversation, Bridget and Cynthia discussed the power of oral history in community work and Bridget discussed the inception of her community engagement project, Five Boro Story Project, and its recent program "Bushwick Love Letter", a collaboration with Cynthia's "Cities for People, Not for Profit" oral history project.
Kemi: What brought each of you to oral history and storytelling?
Cynthia: I fell in love with oral history because I wanted to seek out a documentation process that was not so top-down but more egalitarian in approach, more accessible to people. Oral history provides a gathering space for folks to learn from one another, to thrive, to gather, to listen. And you need to learn how to listen in order to be an effective agent for social change. Oral history prompts you to do that, and I instantly fell in love with it. I got into oral history around 2010, and it's such a supportive community because people share knowledge. I was working at the Graduate Center at the time so I knew a lot of public history folks, and I was going to Columbia University Oral History public seminars, and folks were sharing their information with me. And when people come to me and ask me for resources, I'm always sharing with them. It's very communal.
K: And what about you, Bridget?
Bridget: I got into oral history maybe in the past two years. I got my Masters in Community Education in 2012. I first thought of the Five Boro Story Project as a community education project, and started producing community events that bring New Yorkers together through sharing personal stories about our neighborhoods. And then when I got the Create Change Fellowship with The Laundromat Project, it was there where I learned about socially engaged art, and I was like, "oh my god, there is a term for what I'm doing!" It felt really great to know that there is this framework, and what I'd already been doing kind of intuitively fits into it. And similarly to how I discovered I was doing socially engaged art, I then discovered I'm doing oral history. Some of our grants that we got, like from Citizens Committee for New York City, put us in the oral history category. And I realized I should learn more about this field. So now I've joined the Oral History Masters Program at Columbia.
(A photo of a story circle at a past event)
K: You're both native New Yorkers, and stories are captured in place––like the places we live. How do you think about storytelling, oral history, public history, and community education, in relationship to the way the city has shifted?
C: I think for me with oral history and entering communities, it was always much less about telling people "this is how it ought to be." Even with oral history sometimes I feel uncomfortable with it because it seems so academic and formal, when it should be more about giving others a sense of agency. I talk with everybody, and I love getting to know my neighbors, and I love my street. And I began telling more people about what I'm doing, and they get excited, and they want to take part in it; it helps build this level of empathy.
B: I think a really wonderful thing about storytelling and oral history is that everyone has a story to tell, and you are the expert of your own life. It can be a really affirming experience––being listened to, and being heard. With the Five Boro Story Project, most of the featured artists are not professional storytellers, but community members where this is their first time on stage talking in front of a bunch of people. I think for a lot of storytellers, it is a really empowering experience getting to do that.
K: I've gotten to attend a couple of them and loved the experience of listening. What do people say to you afterwards about their experience of telling their stories? What's their journey in telling that story?
B: You know, everyone's different. We definitely get a lot of good feedback. Each event is focused on a specific neighborhood, and the people who I invite to be storytellers are people who are really connected and really love their neighborhoods. I feel like a lot of people make friends through participating in the events. A LP person who [has been] a featured storyteller is Yvette Ramirez (former Program Coordinator). She told a story last summer about growing up in Astoria, and she said it was a powerful experience. I don't remember her exact words, but she felt nervous about telling her story publicly, and during the event she felt genuinely surrounded by neighbors, and then felt proud of herself that she had done it.
C: It takes courage.
B: Yeah, it does.
K: In academia, oral histories might be kept behind a locked door. One of the things I love about Five Boro Story Project is that the whole idea of "public-ness" is built into it. How you think about issues of access and permanence.
B: When I started the Five Boro Story Project, I was not thinking about documentation or archiving and I quickly realized how important that was. Not coming from an oral history background, but rather, community education, I wanted to produce public programs that bring people together. It was like, you have to be there, physically, to experience it. So we do a lot of story circles and smaller workshops where we don't record anything, but for every event that has performances by featured artists, we record it, and we have a YouTube channel!
(Photo from "South Bronx Love Letter")
K: Can you share a little bit about the process and values that you bring to curating who is on stage?
B: That has changed too as the Five Boro Story Project has evolved over these five years since I've been doing it. In the beginning, I had more people who were semi-professional storytellers, poets, musicians who have pieces inspired by their neighborhoods. I guess as I kept producing events, I realized the value that these storytelling programs have in potentially assisting community organizing by amplifying work that activists and organizers are doing in their neighborhoods. So, I've been having more people who are doing really important work in their neighborhoods who I want to help get the word out and help them connect to more people. But definitely, always from the beginning, I was really conscious of having diversity in people's backgrounds and ages, and I really like having grandmas who are just great storytellers but not normally in these kind of settings. We've had 19-year-olds and 91-year-olds telling stories at the events. And definitely, whatever neighborhood it's in, [I try] to get people who, I think, agree on some political level, but who also have different perspectives on the neighborhoods.
(a photo of Fran Goldin (91 years old) telling a story at a past Five Boro Story Project event)
K: Who shows up?
B: Oh, all different kinds of people. Partnerships are such a big part of the Five Boro Story Project, because obviously, I'm going into a bunch of different neighborhoods that are not my own, so having partners who are deeply rooted in the neighborhood is really important. Partners help involve more local people in the events.
K: To continue with this idea around partnerships, Cynthia,you have partnered with Make the Road New York and Welfare Rights Initiative (WRI). Also, your website describes you as an activist scholar. How do you relate to this word "activism" and how does that inform who you partner with and to what end?
C: It's sort of like trying to be involved with documenting what activists actually do, so people feel inherently less scared about being involved, or understand what it actually is. We're addressing a need, a need for you to be civically involved, which everyone is being sort of discouraged to do. We don't even receive a civics education in public schools anymore. It's not even a mandated subject. And so when you talk about what activism really is, it's sort of this proactive way of being informed, and being an agent of change in your neighborhood. And when you talk about it that way, activism seems a lot less scary and divisive, and much more inclusive.
I come from a long line of family members who are very opinionated and very involved in our communities, because we have to. But that's sort of like a value that's nurtured, right? That's something that you grow up with, but if that's not nurtured in you, if that's sort of knocked out of you, then you don't question it; you just take it as is. Which is why I'm so fascinated with documenting activism, because these folks, they manifest courage. Because it takes a lot of courage for you to step out there and say this isn't OK. Because from a very young age, you're taught to shut up and listen, be respectful, be respectful to agents of authority. But what if that agent of authority is not acting on behalf of your own interest? They're policing your community; they're making assumptions. You know, you feel that it's just not right. It's OK to speak up, and that ability, needs to be encouraged.
K: Bridget, you've worked with a number of LP artists, including Cynthia, Priscilla [Stadler], Ro [Gorrido], and Betty [Yu]. I would love to hear more about your LP collaborations in particular?
B: I love collaborating with LP folks because I feel like we have this shared understanding and shared values. That's one of the things that I like about The Laundromat Project too, is that it does tend to attract a higher-than-normal concentration of native New Yorkers, which I think is probably because it's so much about love and neighborliness, and people who really care about and love their neighborhoods. I've met so many great, wonderful, creative, inspirational, and brilliant people through The [LP]. When I meet them, I'm adding them to my mental list of [storytellers].
K: How did the Bushwick Love Letter happen?
(photo from "Bushwick Love Letter")
B: Well, I was talking to Josh Carrera, who is also a mutual friend of Cynthia's, who she interviewed for Cities for People Not for Profit, her oral history project about gentrification and housing activism in Bushwick. Josh works with Mayday Space, a wonderful movement space that Cynthia and I have both volunteered with. We wanted to do something to support the struggle around gentrification and displacement happening in Bushwick. I was like, yes, Bushwick Love Letter. And then, I contacted Cynthia.
(A photo of Bridget, Josh Carrera, Cynthia and story-circle narrators at one of the Bushwick Love Letter events)
C: So that's how that happened, and that has been super fun. It's just great, and it happened in a really auspicious time because of everything that's going on with the re-zoning at the moment, and so it's a really–– I mean, when is it ever not a topic of conversation––but particularly now is a pivotal year, and it's so important for people to be informed about these decisions. Whether or not it will be something that will move along the lines of what would satisfy the community has yet to be seen. But the fact that it's provided a platform so people can actually get activated and know about it is important. It's also introducing the community to many people who are passionate and love Bushwick, but have different perspectives of how to deal with this problem. You deal with problems by coming together and listening to one another, and the storytelling aspect has been so super helpful for that.
(Storyteller Darren Mack at "Bushwick Love Letter")
B: Yeah, storytelling is really great for that. Like, with Bushwick Love Letter, we are working with people from different groups where there's some tensions between these groups, and it was important to us to bring them in the same space despite those, or especially because of those differences and tensions.
K: I love that. What are you guys excited about that you're working on besides the Bushwick Love Letter?
C: Well, I'm trying to reel Bridget in for this event that I'm planning for next year at Bronx Community College talking about community and storytelling, along the lines of the Hall of Fame for Great Americans. We're planning "Reclaiming the Hall: Empowering Community Voices at the Hall of Fame" where we're going to bring in various players and community organizations, and I would love to have Five Boro Story Project also involved. It's going to be a community art event centered around the Hall of Fame, and what makes a great American. It's the first Hall of Fame in the country which no one knows about. I would love people to learn more about it, and not just from the controversial context that we had, like, these troublesome monuments, but then, again, it's sort of like embracing the troublesome past but then thinking about it as a springboard to create something different.
B: For me, this fall, I'm going to be taking a little break, because I'm starting the Oral History masters. I'm super excited about that. In Summer 2019 the Five Boro Story Project will do a "Jamaica Love Letter" series in Queens.
K: A very quick question – how did you meet?
C: We met through More Art, and then that relationship was bolstered by The LP, because [Bridget] had been in The LP, and I was at The LP the same year.


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The Turtle on the Fence Post
"Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly. What more can the king's successor do than what has already been done?" Ecclesiastes 2:12
I'm sure Solomon felt pressure from both sides on the issue of kingly succession. On the one hand his father was David, who quite frankly was a better man than he would ever be-even though Solomon was technically a greater king. Matthew 1:1 called the Lord Jesus Christ the "son of David," not the "son of Solomon," though that title is also correct. Solomon lived and reigned in the shadow of his father, and I am sure he knew that no matter what he did, he could never eclipse his father's place in the hearts of his people.
Then there was the matter of his successor. Transferring power is always a tricky business, but Solomon didn't help himself by all the foreign wives he married and the consequent introduction of idolatry into Israel. First Kings 11 plainly says that God used the rebellion of Jeroboam to wrest the kingdom from Solomon's hands in judgment for Solomon's sins in the latter years of his reign. Solomon evidently knew nothing about God's decision. He died thinking that Rehoboam his son would rule the whole nation as he had done. However, his son proved to be too proud to listen to wise counsel and levied a severe tax on the people. The northern ten tribes revolted. That left the tribes of Benjamin and Judah-a tiny remnant of Solomon's vast empire.
In the end Solomon was not as great as his father but much greater than his son. His reign would be remembered as Israel's Golden Age-a time when the borders of the nation reached their zenith. With much pride Solomon asked in Ecclesiastes 2:12: "What more can the king's successor do than what has already been done?" But Solomon was wrong. He could not outstrip King David as a military leader or as a poet.
Perhaps the lesson here has something to do with the dangers of pride. It is no surprise that the ancient church fathers listed pride as the first of the Seven Deadly Sins. First because it destroys more people than any other sin; because it comes in unawares and does so much damage; and also because religious people are so susceptible. Pride, remember, was the sin that caused Satan to fall from heaven.
In his office, noted author Alex Haley had a painting of a turtle on top of a fence post. When people asked him why he had the painting, he replied that it reminded him of a great truth: Whenever you see a turtle on a fence post, you know he didn't get there by himself. Somebody had to put him there.
The next time you are feeling a little puffed up about all the great things you have done, and you are about to break your arm patting yourself on the back, remember the turtle on the fence post. You didn't crawl to the top by yourself. Somebody had to put you there.
Eternal Father, help me live so that those who come after me won't be ashamed to follow in my steps. Amen.
This is 1 of 100 daily devotionals called Something New Under the Sun.

subset: commoncrawl


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In addition to reopening of Slovenia's embassy, which was closed in 2013 as part of general austerity policies, President Pahor will sign several agreements with Iran during his visit to Tehran, Slovenian Deputy Foreign Minister Darja Bavdaz Kuret said at a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, held in Tehran on Wednesday.
The two sides also discussed the latest regional and international developments, with Foreign Minister Zarif calling for the expansion of relations and closer interaction between Tehran and Ljubljana.
In March 2013, in response to the difficult financial and economic situation in Slovenia, the European country's government decided to shrink its diplomatic network as part of general austerity policies.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani recently called for attempts to enhance relations between Tehran and Ljubljana in light of the removal of anti-Iran sanctions under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a nuclear deal between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).


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Last year, Randall Terry hit upon the idea of running for president in order to exploit a loophole that would allow him to air graphic anti-abortion ads on television.
Today, he announced that his first campaign ad would begin airing in Iowa, though it is mostly just a standard political ad:
Barack Hussein Obama is the worst President in our history.
He's at war with our founding principles of life and liberty.
His bailout of Wall Street, and socialist agenda have enslaved our children to debt…to China.
His addiction to Arab oil funds Islamic terrorists, while he leaves billions of barrels untouched in ANWR.
He chose a government shutdown, paid our soldiers late, rather than defund Planned Parenthood.
He cast aside the Defense of Marriage Act.
And is guilty of the slaughter of unborn babies – defying the Commandments of God.
Who will stop this madman? The establishment? John Boehner? Mitt Romney?
I'm asking for your vote in the Iowa Caucus against Obama. I can defeat him here…if YOU put principle ahead of party; life and liberty, ahead of comfort…and slavery.
I'm Randall Terry, and I approve this message.
But, true to his main goal, his campaign website does contain several "prototype" ads featuring graphic images that likely intends to run in the future.


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As injuries stacked up and the next big game always seemed just around the corner, Alyssa Thomas was a rock for the Maryland women's basketball team last season.
The 6-foot-2 forward averaged 18.8 points and 10.3 rebounds per game as a junior and was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year for the second straight year.
But in two games against Connecticut — this year's defending national champion and the Terps' opponent Friday at Comcast Center — Thomas was neutralized by the Huskies.
"I didn't feel the pressure last year," she said. "I think I just tried to force a lot and I didn't let the game come to me."
Thomas was held to 13 points in a 76-50 Sweet 16 loss that ended the Terps' season, after scoring 29 and 28 points in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament.
In the Terps' earlier meeting with the Huskies, a 63-48 loss on Dec. 3, Thomas was held to six points on 2-for-12 shooting.
The lesson was clear: If the Terps are to contend against UConn, they're going to need more options to take the focus off their star senior.
"We do have an inside-outside game and we do have guard play now," Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. "We can really get entries into the post and go outside, so it should free [Thomas] up."
The problems of the past have become a strength for the Terps, which is why Frese is about as confident as anyone can be when going against top-ranked UConn.
Guards Laurin Mincy and Brene Moseley, who missed the UConn games with season-ending ACL injuries last year, are back. Senior center Essence Townsend also tore hers in an exhibition game last season, but now is healthy.
Adding to the team's improved depth are three freshmen who have already produced valuable minutes. Freshman center Brionna Jones, an Aberdeen graduate, contributed eight points and eight rebounds off the bench in the season-opening, 78-70 win over South Florida. First-year guards Lexie Brown and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough had 11 and 12 points, respectively.
In that game, Thomas only played 10 minutes due to foul trouble, but the freshmen more than made up for her absence.
"They were the difference," Frese said. "Those three stepped up and made a huge difference on the road."
Even with the heightened pressure of a marquee matchup at home, Frese had no doubt that the freshmen would also be playing critical minutes against the Huskies.
"All of them are going to play," she said.
That's a relief to Mincy, who said that many of Maryland's difficulties against UConn were due to exhaustion and a threadbare bench. In the second loss, the Terps' two backups who played went 0-for-7 shooting, while the Huskies received 25 points off the bench.
"Last year, a lot of our starters got tired. We didn't have that extra step," Mincy said. "With our depth, we have a lot of numbers. If someone gets tired, we have the next person who can come in and fill their spot."
After being bottled up against the Huskies, there was a question as to whether Thomas would prepare differently this time around. Mincy said she hadn't noticed a difference though, in practice or mindset.
"Alyssa is a competitor," Mincy said. "Not a lot has changed for her."
Maryland's two calling cards — consistent rebounding and an up-tempo offense — will continue to be the focus even though a fast pace might also benefit UConn, which has used a pressure defense and fast-break attack to win seven NCAA championships since 2000.
Still, Frese said she will need to strike a balance while managing her team's natural inclination to run.
"I think it's a blend," Frese said. "It's finding that pace of up and down, as well as when you need to really slow things down and get really good possessions."
Thomas said that the team has been preparing for this matchup ever since the Sweet 16 loss. They watched UConn's 76-57 win over Stanford Monday for tips on how to pressure the Huskies and they plan on taking advantage of more stringent NCAA hand-check rules to get to the foul line.
Though Thomas said she was approaching it "like every other night," she admitted that additions to the team would help in this game against UConn.
"Our depth is going to be a huge factor for us," Thomas said. "We can play five guards or go big. I'm excited this year knowing that our depth will play to our benefit."


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Minor Accidents Can Result In Major Personal Injuries
When seemingly minor accidents occur, our first temptation may be to shrug off the potential for serious personal injuries, or downplay the degree of damage we suffered. Unfortunately, the fact is that it may take weeks or even months to determine the full extent of your injuries, and failing to take the appropriate steps early on could cost you in terms of medical expenses and lost income at a later date.
'Minor' Accidents and Injuries
Accidental injuries are a common occurrence, affecting people of all ages and from all walks of life. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 30 million people seek hospital emergency room care each year in the United States as a result of these injuries, while nearly 70 million end up getting treatment in their doctor's offices.
Injuries can occur at home, work, or school, as well as in the course of traveling from one destination to another. Common causes include:
- Motor vehicle 'fender benders' and other traffic related accidents;
- Injuries in public places, such as slips, trips, and falls or getting struck by or against objects;
- Recreational or sports related activities;
- Dog bites and other types of animal attacks;
- Acts of assault or bullying;
- Due to product or manufacturing defects.
When what seems to be a relatively mild or minor injury does occur, many of us fail to give thought to the potential long term damages it could cause. Any time you are involved in an accident, regardless of the severity or the immediate symptoms you suffer, you should always seek medical care immediately.
Minor Accidents Can Result In Major Damages
In the immediate aftermath of even a minor accident, the sense of shock or embarrassment at being the center of attention can cause you to downplay the situation and any potential injuries you may have suffered. Unfortunately, it may be hours, days, or even weeks after before any symptoms of your injury appear. Common types of injuries suffered in minor accidents which can end up having long term impacts include:
- Muscle and tendon sprains and strains;
- Bone bruising and fractures;
- Abdominal injuries;
- Cuts and lacerations;
- Back and neck injuries;
- Head injuries, such as concussions and traumatic brain injury
According to estimates from the National Safety Council (NSC), otherwise 'minor' injuries can end up costing anywhere between $10,000 and $200,000 in current or future medical expenses, as well as in lost wages.
Reach Out to Us Today for Help
When any kind of accident or injury occurs, be sure and notify security or local law enforcement, as well as the property owner or management. Before making any statements to insurance companies or accepting any settlements, contact the Law Firm of William E. Raikes III first. We can arrange a free consultation with our experienced Fort Pierce personal injury attorney to help ensure your rights and interests are protected. Get the professional legal guidance you need in these situations, and call or contact us online today to see how we can assist you.


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Monday, February 14, 2011
Radiohead - The King of Limbs
So Saturday, February 19th 2011 it is official new Radiohead album "The King of Limbs" will be here. This is just like Radiohead to just pop up and say oh yeah we have a new record out in 5 days. Everyone knew that they were to have a release in 2011 and we all kept waiting to here what the album would be titled and when the release day would be - but Whoa this is just typical Radiohead doing their thing and not giving into any of the record label games.
They announced the news on their official website, www.radiohead.com early today (February 14). It is available to order online at www.Thekingoflimbs.com.
The record will be available as a download from Saturday, then released physically on May 9 as what the band are billing as a 'newspaper album'.
The 'newspaper album' package will contain 'The King Of Limbs' on CD, two 10-inch vinyl records and artwork sheets. Those who buy the set will also receive the album as a download on Saturday. $48 is the price of the whole package if you buy it on Saturday or $9 just for the MP3 version. Looks like no buy at your own price this time around. It has been fun seeing how Radiohead market their albums lately. They can basically do whatever they please when it comes to this since they are the biggest band in the world. I think with The King of Limbs it is no different - They will push their product just by word of mouth and put up huge sales.
The album will be the band's first since 2007's 'In Rainbows', which they released as a pay-what-you-like download.
The name of the new album relates to an oak tree in Wiltshire's Savernake Forest, thought to be around 1,000 years old. The forest lies around three miles away from Tottenham House, a listed country house where Radiohead recorded part of 'In Rainbows'.
The tree is a pollarded oak, referring to an ancient technique for harvesting timber for fencing and firewood. The phrase also appears in the 23rd chapter of the Qu'ran.
1 comment:
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In one of the most unusually difficult market conditions to call, many investors who have sought safety and reliability in traditional stores of value such as gold bullion have been sorely disappointed by recent bearish trading activity. Even more disconcerting is the rise of the U.S. dollar. With gold's nemesis, the so-called "greenback," leading the charge, it logically suggests the illogical: the Federal Reserve has successfully printed its way out of the worst financial crisis in modernity. Have fundamentals become so disjointed that they can no longer be trusted?
The oft-cited and equally hated phrase in Wall Street during the prior year was "good news is bad news and bad news is good news." Simply put, investment managers were waiting for news items, often with pessimistic implications, to incentivize the Fed chairman at the time, Ben Bernanke, to continue unleashing the torrent of monetary surplus under the quantitative easing initiative. With the economic maestro openly flirting with the idea of reigning in the bond and asset purchases by the world's biggest central bank, there were (reasonable) fears that the punch bowl would soon be taken away from the U.S. equities market.
Such a potential move was especially disconcerting for gold and resource investors. A tapering of QE would correlate with higher interest rates as the supply of bonds available to the public would abruptly increase. This shift in supply demand dynamics would also increase the valuation of the U.S. dollar as currency is taken out of the market due to the selling of the bonds. The one over-riding factor that kept the monetary spigot running for so long was the labor market, which had suffered tremendously under the weight of the 2008 financial crisis, and various data engineering by government agencies had to be implemented in order make employment statistics look somewhat respectable.
While employment and related wage growth data failed to meet benchmark targets, it was clear that Bernanke's Fed would stay the course. But over the years, it was also quite lucid that job trends from a nominal basis were improving, and so, the seemingly indefinite reality crashed back hard into its eponymous paradigm. The chairman was replaced by a hand-picked successor in Janet Yellen, who ushered in an ambience of marked restraint.
The main fallacy, however, is the belief that the underlying economy is strong enough to survive without the spigot. Bernanke may be the most popular figure to employ artificial means to reinvigorate a fundamentally sick financial system, but he is not the first. Several policymakers in years past have attempted a "trade-off" of economic growth in exchange for higher inflation, noting groundbreaking research by A.W. Phillips that confirmed that inflation rate and unemployment are negatively correlated. In the short-term, an economy can be "shocked" into improvement via monetary policies but in the long run, documented failures have indicated that employment trends eventually finds its natural equilibrium.
When that equilibrium swing will occur is anyone's guess, although historical data suggests that economic undertones can be manipulated successfully for no longer than five or six years. While the current presidential administration may be basking in the glow of improving job statistics, the reality is that this growth has been unnaturally shifted due to unprecedented financial engineering. The economic provenance tells us that we're nearing the point when the markets must return to normalcy.
Should that time come, the market could correct violently to the upside.


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An entire Miami-Dade Police squad in Kendall has been disciplined — several of the officers, fired … after what CBS Miami reports is one of the worst dereliction of duty cases in the department's history.
One officer, Dario Socarras, was filmed drinking coffee for nine minutes while allegedly ignoring emergency dispatch orders on a call for an unconscious 5-month-old baby, Local10 reports.
His supervisor, Sgt. Jennifer Gonzalez, was sitting at the cafe with Socarras ..and was also recorded shopping while on duty at stores like Target and Lowes, brushing off work to rendezvous with her boyfriend, and visiting her parents in Cutler Ridge when she should have been on the job, according to CBS.
Socarras was also filmed twice kissing and spending time with a girlfriend in the parking lot of the Dadeland mall, allegedly while ignoring calls for armed robbery and burglary…..forcing officers from other units to respond from greater distances.
The squad was surveilled by Internal Affairs investigators, who used video cameras and GPS vehicle trackers to document what members were doing while they should have been responding to calls.
"We're talking about falsification of records, we're talking about stealing time that doesn't belong to you, because they are supposed to be available for service or duty and they're not," said former Miami Police Chief Ken Harms.
Altogether, five officers and Sgt. Gonzalez were allegedly caught ignoring dispatch calls, according to media reports. NBC6 confirms Socarras, Gonzalez, and Officer Jose Huerta have been fired, according to MDPD internal affairs documents, and others have been disciplined.


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text:
When Carla and Paul Yambert moved into their solar- and
wood-heated, earth-bermed eco-friendly home in mid-1979, they regarded
the event as yet another part of a lifestyle that has
— through the years — increasingly translated
the couple's eco-philosophy into actual
living in accord with nature.
The Yamberts have always been lovers of the outdoors
(Paul's an environmental studies professor at Southern
Illinois University), and they raised their family in the
woodsy setting of Shawnee National Forest, which runs
across Illinois's southern tip. Though the couple found the
locale to be ideal, their original dwelling was fairly
conventional … so — when the youngest child left
home — the senior Yamberts began building the
smaller, tighter, more ecologically sound, and more
self-sufficient nest they'd been planning for years.
Perhaps the most fascinating (and instructive) feature of
the Yamberts' new home is the manner in which it combines a
variety of existing technologies and materials to
provide both efficiency and comfort. Nestled into a
south-facing hillside for natural insulation, the house
also makes good use of passive solar techniques, relying
— for storage — upon the thermal mass supplied
by a huge stone fireplace that's heated on the outside by
the sun and on the inside by wood.
The extensive insulation, a solar greenhouse, two heat-lock
vestibules, and — of course — the earth
sheltering help the sun-wood combination provide
all the building's space heating. And other
systems — including a cistern and a composting toilet
— allow the couple to further reduce the burden they
place upon nature.
Now that the house and its occupants have completed a
year-long "shakedown cruise", Paul and I — I'm a
university colleague with a long-term solar infatuation of
my own — both feel compelled to share the story of
this success with MOTHER EARTH NEWS' readers. What's more, since we
can take advantage of 20/20 hindsight, we'll pass on a few
suggestions and cautions to help other folks who
might embark upon similar projects.
Quality Construction
The rectangular house — which has a shed-style roof
— is a sturdy structure containing 1,360 square feet
of floor space including the loft. Its quality of
construction far exceeds that of today's average frame
building: Consider, for example, that the exterior walls
were built from 2 X 6 lumber on 16-inch centers . . . or
that the main floor is slate (a material which doubles as a
second heat sink) . . . and that rough-sawed cedar siding
is used extensively inside and out.
The way in which the building is insulated also sets it
apart from most conventional structures. Part of the
dwelling's insulation is natural: On the north (uphill)
side, the house is set into the earth nearly to its roof
line. The side walls, however, are made of concrete blocks
filled with vermiculite, which are — in turn —
backed with two inches of polyurethane on the outside and
two inches of fiberglass on the inside for a total
R-value of about 24. Furthermore, the wooden walls have six
inches of fiberglass and the ceiling has 12 inches of batt
(with even thicker insulation in the critical
heat-retention area above the fireplace).
The Yamberts employed a conventional builder to undertake
what they considered to be the basic elements of the home's
construction, but wound up doing much of the work
themselves anyway. Looking back, they realize that the
preconceptions held by the average contractor can be of
significant disadvantage to folks who are trying to build
in a more ecologically sound fashion. As Paul aptly put it,
"The professional isn't sure whether your variations on
standard techniques are the result of cleverness or
stupidity, so he or she tries to change them back to comply
with the rules of normal procedure … and then —
to avoid embarrassing you — doesn't tell you what was
Such an incident almost occurred during construction of the
Yamberts' bathroom. Because standard building practice is
to put the toilet between the bathtub and the sink, the
contractor took it upon himself to change the locations
that the couple had specified for the water supply,
and for the "stool's" vent pipes. However, the
composting toilet needed to be placed directly
over the huge decomposition unit that had already been
built under the house. (And for that matter, a
"fermenting potty" doesn't require any water supply lines
to begin with!)
Fortunately, the owners caught the mistake in time to
correct it, but they found it necessary to keep a constant
eye on the builder to avoid having their
innovations replaced by the exact outmoded
procedures they were trying to get away from!
Energy Center
The fireplace's huge column of rock — located in the
middle of the structure — is the main component of
the home's heating system. Outside air, for combustion, is
drawn into the unit through ducts in the floor, and the
firebox is equipped with glass doors and a special thermal
grate — a Martin Octotherm — which pumps the
warmed air back into the room.
Additionally, the heat that rises through the large flue is
captured and piped down into a 2 1/2-foot-deep rock storage
area located beneath the building's six-inch concrete
foundation. A six-inch-diameter pipe transmits the air in
the flue, and four-inch ducts carry the warmth to the
stones beneath the floor.
At present the system is operated by means of a 1/24-HP
blower, but the Yamberts have discovered that their system
is both undersized and underpowered. "We didn't adequately
estimate how buoyant the hot air would be … how
much it would resist being pulled down," Paul says.
Consequently, the owner/designer now recommends that anyone
duplicating the idea use 12-inch pipe in the flue, six-inch
ducts in the floor, and a 1/2-HP fan.
The Yamberts realized, from the beginning, that their
fireplace wouldn't be quite as efficient as a
stove, but they wanted to be able to sit before the open
hearth. Now, however, Paul concedes that a fireplace
insert may be added soon. It's not that the system
has failed to keep them warm, but that he feels he had
to cut too much wood to maintain a comfortable temperature
during 1979-1980's mild winter.
Of course, in addition to providing a cheery blaze in the
main room, the fireplace furnishes ample heat to its
"Blazing Showers" water warmer (which the couple read about
in MOTHER EARTH NEWS). During the wood-heating months, the
setup has proved itself more than capable of supplying all
the household's hot water needs, and the backup electric
unit seldom comes into play. (In fact, since they recently
installed a pair of Solarcraft solar collectors for summer
water heating, the Yamberts believe that they could get
along entirely without the watt-powered standby.)
The south wall of the home is made up of an expanse of
double-insulated glass which allows the winter sun to shine
deep into the house and bake into the stone fireplace. Paul
and Carla got a bargain on their glazing by locating
factory-sealed double panes without any casements,
and building their own frames. If he had to do it again,
though, Paul says he'd probably go against conventional
wisdom and use single pane glass backed up by heavy
insulating curtains . . . simply to save more money.
The home's location (and the placement of its porch and
eaves) was planned to capture the winter sun and
reject the summer rays. Specifically, the Yamberts
designed their structure to take full advantage of solar
heat from one week before the fall equinox to one
week after the spring equinox. The eaves provide midday
shading when the summer sun is high, and the entrance
vestibule (east) and the greenhouse (west) were positioned
to protrude from the front of the building for extended
early morning and late afternoon sunshine control.
And, in day-to-day use, the siting of the structure has
been even more effective than Paul and Carla had expected.
In fact, last winter they were surprised to find
that they were often getting more solar heat than they
needed. So, halfway through the cold season, they installed
reflective Mylar-faced fiberglass shades which can be
pulled down to regulate the amount of light entering the
With the sun warming the outside of the rock and the fire
heating it inside, the thermal storage of the fireplace
"core" kept the interior of the Yamberts' home cozy
throughout the winter last year despite
temperatures that nudged zero on occasion. (Of course, the
home's heat-lock entries also helped to keep the structure
from losing BTU, and the greenhouse did its part by
capturing some additional solar warmth on its own.)
Water and Sewage
Paul and Carla were particularly concerned — while
planning their home — with the problems involved in
gathering and disposing of water. Rather than go to the
expense of drilling a well, they opted for a cistern …
which is fed by the entire expanse of the structure's roof.
And the system has provided the couple with plenty of
domestic water … largely because their Clivus Multrum
composting toilet greatly reduces their demand for the
precious liquid.
The local health inspector agreed to the installation of
the toilet, but initially demanded that a septic system be
installed to treat the "gray water" from the bathroom and
kitchen despite the fact that all solid garbage would
go into the composter. The Yamberts talked with the
official for several months (during which time "the man
educated himself," as Paul puts it) and eventually got him
to agree to a gray-water system consisting of two 50-foot
lengths of drainage pipe, surrounded above and below by a
foot of gravel and covered by topsoil. The ditches —
dug ten feet apart — have proved more than adequate
for returning soapy liquid to its pure state, and have done
so at low cost and with minimal impact on the environment.
The Right Price
Paul and Carla have spent an estimated $38,000 on their
home to date. Now most conventional contractors would say
that a house of such quality just can't be constructed for
$28 per square foot. But the Yamberts have not only built
their home for just that cost, but also realize a
significant saving each time their utility bills arrive!
Such expenses, throughout the year, average between $20 and
$25 per month. And that price includes the cost of
operating the backup water heater, a clothes washer and
dryer, a refrigerator, a range, lights (mostly
fluorescent), assorted small appliances, and the water pump
for their cistern.
Though the Yamberts are obviously not displeased with the
economic benefits provided by their new home, they
still like to touch back on their philosophical
intentions behind the project. The couple often talk about
adapting to nature, rather than forcing the environment to
bend to their whims.
Sure, they could have made the house easier to
live in: Each day they open and close shades in cycle with
the sun, and chopping and toting wood are regular
chores. But, by constructing their house without a backup
heating system, the two people have intentionally tied
themselves intimately to nature. "That underlying
philosophy is very important to us," says Paul. "We want to
make our own bargain with the environment , our own
private arrangement."


text:
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text:
- Arithmetic Operations
- Assign Expression
- Comparison Expression
- Conditional Expression
- Exception Expression
- Iteration Expression
- Jump Expression
- Logical Expression
- Member Expression
- Operators Expression
Expression Tree Tutorial LessThanOrEqual Expression
You can build an expression tree which contains a "less than" numeric comparison using
Expression.LessThanOrEqual method. For example, you have the following code.
bool value = 31 <= 31; Console.WriteLine(value);
Here is the code that is required to build the same functionality using expression tree.
Expression expr = Expression.LessThanOrEqual( Expression.Constant(31), Expression.Constant(31) ); Console.WriteLine(Expression.Lambda<Func<bool>>(expr).Compile()());
Prime Library


text:
Hindu Family Uses Charitable Insurance to Help Monks, Magazine and Orphans
Mrunal, Padmaja, and their daughter, Pooja Patel, are studying daily Master course lessons from Gurudeva's Trilogy: Dancing with Siva, Living with Siva and Merging with Siva. The family explains that in the last two years of learning something new everyday through the lessons has changed their lives.
"It has given us clarity on our goal in life and the tools we need to live a more balanced, joyous and fulfilling life," Mrunal Patel said. "We were introduced to Gurudeva's teachings and Kauai Aadheenam when we came across a copy of Hinduism Today at a friend's home."
The Patels have named the Kauai Aadheenam Monastic Endowment, the Hinduism Today Production Fund and the Hindu Orphanage Endowment fund as beneficiaries of a charitable life insurance policy. The Hindu Heritage Endowment manages all three funds.
"I read about the use of insurance to support a charity in the Monastery newsletter." Mrunal Patel said. "We looked at a lot of different options, and because of our age, it made sense to fund our bequest with life insurance."
At the death of the surviving spouse, 60% of the policy's proceeds will go to support the Kauai Aadheenam Monastic Endowment, which offsets expenses directly incurred by the monks and supports their travel, study, training and major medical expenses.
"We have tremendous respect for what monks do everyday, and the sacrifices they have made in their lives for the upliftment of humanity," Mrunal explained. "Donating to the temples comes naturally to most of us, but we must remember the monks and priests who maintain the strong vibrations at the temple by their daily pujas and rituals. We have to take care of them so they can continue preserving and passing down our religion to the next generation."
The Hinduism Today Production fund will receive 20% of the proceeds. The Patel's admire the magazine's broad interest in Hinduism worldwide and how it is the only Hindu magazine that does not propagate any one denomination.
The remaining 20% will support HHE's Hindu Orphanage Endowment Fund, allowing the Patels to help orphaned Hindu children around the world.
The Patels are members of a growing Hindu community that began arriving in West Texas almost 30 years ago. The new arrivals formed the Hindu Association of West Texas in 1983. They bought a home and converted it to a temple. The home now serves as a quarter for a Hindu priest who performs daily puja in the 8,000 square foot temple built two years ago.
"Most of the people who have come here were like me, raised in India," Mrunal explained. "But our kids need to have their culture passed on to them in order for Hinduism to survive into the next generation. The role of the Monastery has been vital in preparing religious educational materials and books for children."
Of his family's use of life insurance to support Hindu causes in the future, he added: "We can all do something through our estates to support the charities of our choice. The sooner we start, the better the return, just like any other investment."


text:
Birmingham to bet $30K in incentives on heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder's next fight
The WBC heavyweight champion will be taking on another fight in his home boxing ring.
For the third time, Deontay Wilder will defend his title against on July 16 against Chris Arreola at Legacy Arena in Birmingham.
This could be a huge win for Wilder and the Magic City.
"I think with Deontay coming back and fighting in Birmingham will do good for the city," Larry Swanson said. "I think the city needs the vibe, the live-mint of the city, we need it here in Birmingham."
An even bigger win, Birmingham will once again get international exposure and attract thousands to the Uptown District.
That's why Mayor William Bell wants to bet $30,000 through incentives on Wilder's fight. So far, councilmen Jonathan Austin and William Parker are backing Bell.
"It's an incentive to bring-in tourist from all over the country and all over the world," Parker said. "We expect more fights to come to Birmingham and more people can spend hotel overnight stays."
"For the city to invest, it's not a lot just a little and for the city to gain much back I think that's very important," Swanson said.
Birmingham earned $3.5 million from previous Wilder fights here in the Magic City. Leaders hope to get lucky again next month.


text:
Flyers Notebook: Mason continues stellar play
PHILADELPHIA – Calm as can be, Flyers goalie Steve Mason sprawled out and saved his teammates' bacon once again.
Scott Hartnell was in the penalty box for the second time in his first 37 seconds on the ice and Ryan Callahan was itching to give his team the lead with a power-play goal. Mason threw a glove out and stoned the Rangers' captain.
He doesn't even remember the save, perhaps the most stunning of his 33. He and goalie coach Jeff Reese call those "reaction saves," stops that are purely desperate when a goalie is out of position.
"Any time you're down and out, there's that second effort that you work on in practice, trying to make the saves that you shouldn't make," Mason said. "Every now and then, they come into the actual game."
That kept the game scoreless at the time and when the Rangers were trying desperately to tie the game in the waning minutes of the third period, Mason was there again with the answers.
"He was huge," Wayne Simmonds said. "Time and time again this season, he's made some huge saves to allow us to stay in games and to win games. He's gonna keep doing the same for us. We have faith in him down the stretch, for sure."
For a goalie in Philadelphia, being between the pipes for a playoff stretch is not an enviable position. Just ask Michael Leighton, Marty Biron, Antero Niittymäki, Robert Esche, Roman Cechmanek, Jeff Hackett…
You get the picture.
There have been a slew of people in the Flyers' organization trying to make sure Mason isn't the next name on that list. The star of the support staff is the last heralded Flyers goalie – assistant GM Ron Hextall.
"After some tough games, he's come down and given me the pat on the back or the kick in the ass that you sometimes need," Mason said. "When you have guys that have played in the NHL, like Reeser and Hexy, and even Bernie [Parent] for that matter, that are there to bounce things off of, those are the guys that, when we're going into the stretch run, that I can lean on."
There isn't pressure from within the organization to make Mason the next Parent, not even after signing a three-year, $12.3 million extension in mid-January.
Instead of putting all that weight on Mason's shoulders, they're trying to give him the support of a goalie like Parent was. Saturday, that meant a big goal by Simmonds to win the game and take some pressure off Mason at the other end of the ice.
"This is a great game to come out on top of," Mason said. "At the end of the day we still have another game tomorrow to get prepared for, so we'll put this one right behind us."
Special teams key
The mantra goes "special teams win in the playoffs," and the Flyers were tested early Saturday.
They had to kill back-to-back penalties in the first five minutes and, although the Rangers scored on a second-period man advantage, those early kills helped the Flyers to a win. They scored the game's first goal shortly after killing the Hartnell penalties.
"That's huge," Vinny Lecavalier said. "Right after we killed those two off, it seemed like everybody came out. It's really important. You want to get that first goal. We got that."
Later in the game, it was Simmonds' power-play tally that won it. He now has a four-game point streak and made good on what the Flyers have been stressing.
"We stress it all the time and I think our special teams have been good," coach Craig Berube said. "Our power play needs to get better at home, scored a big goal tonight but I think our penalty kill has been pretty consistent all year and our power play is great on the road."
Empty netters
Ray Emery is still dealing with a lower-body injury and won't travel to Washington as the Flyers face the Capitals. Cal Heeter, called up from the AHL Adirondack Phantoms, is expected to back up Mason. … With a win over Boston Saturday, the Capitals kept pace and are one point behind the third-place Flyers in the Metropolitan Division.
Reach Dave Isaac at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Follow him on Twitter @davegisaac.


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Australia set for Olympic swim trials as 'perverts' row makes waves
Issued on: Modified:
Sydney (AFP) –
Australia dives into do-or-die Olympic swimming trials at Adelaide on Saturday with question marks swirling around the form of some top names and shock waves reverberating over the withdrawal of dual silver-medallist Maddie Groves.
Swimming has long been the medal-winning backbone of the country, which claimed 10 in the pool at the 2016 Games in Rio, matching its feat from London four years earlier.
But those performances were down on the 20 won at Beijing in 2008 and hopes are high the team can edge back towards those lofty heights in Japan next month.
One swimmer who will not be competing is Groves, a two-time silver medallist at Rio, who pulled out this week blaming "misogynistic perverts in sport and their boot lickers".
The target of her comments was not clear and Swimming Australia said it had not received any official complaints.
"We haven't been able to talk to her directly and go through her concerns to find out what's going on," SA president Kieren Perkins said Friday.
As for matters in the pool, SA has set the bar high at the six-day trials -- to qualify, athletes must match or better the time needed to make the final at the 2019 world championships.
Head coach Rohan Taylor said he had been impressed so far.
"The past 12 months and the lead up to the Australian swimming trials has no doubt been a challenging time for our swimmers and coaches, but I'm proud of the way they have learnt to adapt and gain yet another level of resilience," he said.
"What is most pleasing, is that even though the athletes have had to overcome these hurdles along the way, we've seen solid performances and times at recent events."
After months of gruelling work, with swimmers tapered and so much on the line, world records could tumble, with teenager Kaylee McKeown at the forefront.
She swam the second-fastest women's 100-metre backstroke ever (57.63 seconds) last month to narrowly miss American rival Regan Smith's world record.
She will be eyeing a new mark on Sunday and will also contest the 200m back, having recently set the fourth quickest time in history.
The 19-year-old also owns the world's best time this season in the 200m individual medley.
Versatile Emma McKeon, who won four medals in Rio, is another in form, boasting the year's fastest women's 100m freestyle time as she prepares for battle with sprint queen Cate Campbell, who is gunning for a fourth Olympics.
But some big names have their work cut out, notably defending Olympic 400m champion Mack Horton.
He was 35th in the 200m at the national championships in April and pulled out of the 400m, with rising stars Elijah Winnington and Thomas Neill -- as well as proven distance ace Jack McLoughlin -- snapping at his heels.
"It's not really reflective of what I can do in training," Horton, who will swim the 400m on Saturday, insisted recently.
Women's world 400m freestyle champion Ariarne Titmus, who is eying a Tokyo showdown with American great Katie Ledecky, will be in action Sunday as she looks to prove she is fully recovered from a shoulder injury. Titmus will also swim the 200m and 800m.
Defending Olympic 100m freestyle champion Kyle Chalmers swims his pet race on Tuesday, while former pop star Cody Simpson -- who once dated Miley Cyrus -- will also be in action.
But the 24-year-old, a talented junior swimmer who returned to the sport in 2019, would have to shatter his personal best by a wide margin in the 100m butterfly to make the plane to Japan.


text:
Acidity regulators increase the acidity of a foodstuff or are used to improve the organoleptic quality of a product by imparting it with an acid flavour. They are often organic acids such as ascorbic, citric, or acetic acids. Acidity regulators also include phosphates and phosphoric acid.
In vegetable tins, acidity regulators allow to decrease the heat treatment for fragile vegetables such as salsify, by lowering the pH.
They are also used in fruit pastes, confectioneries and jams.
This section was written with the help of SYNPA.


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Syrian War Victims Are Being 'Recycled' and Al Quds Hospital Was Never Bombed?
The idea that victims of mass tragedies are "recycled" is a common theme among conspiracy theorists, but there are international reports and footage of the Al Quds Hospital attack.
- Published
On 10 December 2016, Eva Bartlett — an activist and blogger who openly says she is biased in favor of the Syrian regime — was featured in a circulating YouTube video that says she is "schooling" a "mainstream media" reporter by making a series of outlandish-sounding claims, including that international media are conspiring to fabricate stories of hospital bombings and that anti-government activists are "recycling" victims to cast the Syrian military in a negative light. (She also refers to all factions fighting President Bashar al Assad's forces as terrorists.)
Bartlett has a statement on her own web site that says she supports the current Syrian regime. (It reads: "I support Syria against a 'civil' war that is funded, armed and planned by the western powers and their regional allies with a view to wiping out all resistance to imperialism in the Middle East…").
In the video, Bartlett was speaking at a pro-Syrian government event on 9 December 2016 at the United Nations, where she was billed as an "independent Canadian journalist." (She is also a contributor at RT, a news site funded by the Russian government.) When a Norwegian reporter from the newspaper Aftenposten questioned her statements that the Syrian people overwhelmingly back Assad and that the media has conspired to lie to the world about him, she said she knows Syrians back Assad, because the majority voted for him in the 2014 election.
Voting in that election only took place in government-held territories and while Assad won 88.7 percent of the vote, the country's constitutional court reportedly put turnout at 73 percent. Bartlett also claimed that the New York Times has the same end goal as outlets such as Democracy Now!, and that goal is ousting Assad.
Bartlett went on to claim that Al Quds Hospital, which was bombed in April 2016, was never actually bombed, and that victims of Assad's forces are being falsified by the group known as the White Helmets, a search-and-rescue organization in rebel territories. She said:
The White Helmets purport to be neutral yet they can be found carrying guns and standing on the dead bodies of Syrian soldiers, and their video footage actually contains children that have been recycled in different reports. You can find a girl named Aya who turns up in month, say, August, and she turns up the next month, in two different locations. So they are not credible.
The claim can be seen here, starting at the 3-minute mark:
It is unclear exactly whom Bartlett is referring to, but in October 2016 wrenching footage of a little girl named Aya made its way around the news media. Aya can be seen with blood streaming down her face, calling for her father in Arabic, as medical personnel attend to her:
According to news reports, Aya was later reunited with her family. A group described by English-language media as an opposition activist group, Talbiseh Media Centre, reported Aya's home collapsed after being struck by a rocket, but her family, although wounded, survived.
Another girl, also named Aya, was identified in a 27 June 2016 story posted by the United Nations Refugee Agency. A third little girl named Aya was featured in a 2013 story posted by UNICEF. All three are distinctly different children, which is clear by their appearances and descriptions. Despite Bartlett's claims, the existence of multiple children named "Aya" does not indicate the "recycling" of victims or prove that accounts of violence against Syrian civilians by their government are falsified. It attests only to the popularity of the given name Aya among Syrian families.
In another statement gleaned from Russian officials, Bartlett claims that Al Quds Hospital was never bombed:
Other points about Aleppo are, hospitals in Aleppo have been attacked. I'm sure you've heard in the media that hospitals have been attacked. Well this media is referring to the pockets of Aleppo that were occupied by terrorists and they have manufactured stories, and I can give you a precise account. In April of this year [2016] there was a hospital called the Al Quds Hospital which in a concerted effort, all media said was attacked and targeted and badly damaged by either the Syrians or the Russians. In fact the Russians had satellite imagery showing that this hospital was in the same shape it was in, in October 2015. No difference. Therefore it was not attacked. Months later, the Guardian, which is a prominent British newspaper actually said that the Al Quds hospital that it had alleged months prior to the attack and destroyed, was treating victims of so-called chemical weapons attacks. So even the media that is lying is inconsistent in their lies.
The medical charity, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders), which has supported Al Quds since 2012, confirmed in a 29 April 2016 statement that the hospital had, in fact, been bombed. From an MSF report on the incident:
On 27 April 2016, amidst the Syrian government-led coalition's offensive on East Aleppo, Basel Aslan (Al Quds) hospital was attacked and severely damaged by two airstrikes. According to interviews with staff present at Al Quds hospital during the attack, at exactly 9.37pm, a building across from the hospital, identified as Ain Jalout school, was struck by an airstrike. Following the first strike, Al Quds medical staff retrieved the wounded to transfer them to the hospital for medical care. Soon after, the Al Quds staff residence, located a few buildings down from the hospital, was hit by a second strike.
The attack killed dozens and caused an international outcry, and there is footage from the aftermath of the incident. Bartlett's comment about Al Quds can be heard just after the 18:30 minute mark:
The Guardian did print a Reuters report on 10 August 2016 about people being treated Al Quds Hospital for chemical gas poisoning. However, that does not prove the hospital was not bombed, only that the hospital started operating again after the attack. A 4 May 2016 statement by MSF says just that, noting the hospital would reopen two weeks after the bombing.
Bartlett's claim that the child victim Aya, is "recycled" is the same type of charge levied by conspiracy theorists at parents of children who were killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre. It is a claim also promoted by David Icke, who is best known for believing the world is controlled by Martian lizard people.
Bartlett did not return our request for clarification sent via social media and an e-mail address provided on her web site.


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Acoustica Mixcraft Pro Studio free download with keygen
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text: Hi ALL. Are there users of TradeSim on this forum? I looking for solution of my problem about use MetaStock System Tester Stops in the TradeSim. Would you be so kind to show an example of code for the Trailing Stop with 20 % of profit risk and âExit at StopPriceâ. Also I want to know: can I create an indicator for applied to a chart it will take a snapshot of all of the trades corresponding to the Pyramidding, Entry and Exit triggers and then write the information out to a trade database not for long OR short triggers, but for long AND short triggers??? How to write this for multiple security using the MetaStock Explorer? And thirdly, for ignore or enter the trade I use a simple filter. It is result of division Percent Gain by Total Trades(from Summary Report in MS). What can I coded this filter in The Explorer for automatically include( in Trade Database Manager and Trade Log) a trades with this ratio greater than 1, and for automatically exclude trades with my ratio less than 1??? Thanks in advance.


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Chocolate has been a long-time favorite of children and adults alike to satisfy a sweet tooth or cure a broken heart.
In the early days chocolate was seen as a mood-enhancing aphrodisiac and symbol of luxury and power only available to the wealthiest of people. Once touted as the "food of Gods" for its myriad of health benefits, this popular comfort food received some bad press due to its high fat content.
Despite the wealth of positive coverage, chocolate has long been suspected of worsening acne and increasing the risk for a host of lifestyle illnesses such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and cancer.
However, not all chocolate is created equally. The sugar and milk infused chocolate most Americans consume today will not be of much help when it comes to improving your health and happiness.
Dark chocolate, with at least 70 percent cocoa, on the other hand, has been scientifically proven to keep your brain sharp, your heart in perfect condition, and your skin shielded from UV-induced damage.
Here are seven science-backed reasons why you should indulge in this bitter and sweet treat more often.
1. Packed with beneficial nutrients
Dark chocolate with a high cocoa percentage is a good source of healthy fats, fiber, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, zinc, among many other beneficial plant nutrients. Though, moderation is key as all these nutrients come with a lot of calories and moderate amounts of sugar too.
2. Antioxidant powerhouse
Cocoa houses an impressive amount of powerful antioxidants such as polyphenols, flavanols, and catechins. In the ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) chart, raw cocoa is at the top of the antioxidant list, among other superfoods such as blueberries, goji berries, and pomegranate seeds.
The ORAC scale was developed to measure the effectiveness of antioxidants to neutralize free radicals that may cause damage to DNA, cells, and tissues.
3. Reduce blood pressure naturally
A 2012 study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that moderate consumption of dark chocolate or raw cocoa powder reduced blood pressure and improved insulin levels and blood flow.
4. Improve cholesterol levels
If you are struggling with elevated cholesterol levels, dark chocolate may become your new best friend. Regular consumption has shown to significantly decrease oxidized LDL (bad) cholesterol while improving HDL (good) cholesterol.
5 May Lower cardiovascular disease risk
High blood pressure, elevated LDL cholesterol, and insulin levels have been linked to cardiovascular diseases. As mentioned above, dark chocolate has a positive effect on all three, thus reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases or death.
One study found that people who ate chocolate five times or more a week had a 57 percent lower risk of developing cardiovascular issues. However, this number is to be taken with a grain of salt as it is based on observational studies and other factors may be at play.
6. Chocolate as a natural sunscreen
Flavanols in dark chocolate may protect against UV-induced damage, improve blood flow to the skin, and increase skin density and hydration.
7. Boost brain health
Lastly, dark chocolate may also boost brain power. It improves blood flow to the brain and has shown to improve memory in elderly people with mental impairment. Cocoa contains caffeine-like substances known to boost short-term brain function.
While the evidence that raw cocoa or dark chocolate can significantly improve your health is definitely out there, remember, that doesn't give you carte blanche to load up on this sweet, bitter treat.
Keep consumption down to a square or two a day and make sure to buy high-quality and organic dark chocolate with at least 70 percent cocoa. The more cocoa, the better as that is where all the amazing benefits are coming from.


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Join Tammy Coron and Tim Mitra on Episode 115, which was recorded on January 09, 2019.
On this episode, they talk with Alisa Stern.
Alisa is an animator, director, and artist. She's also the creator of the popular stop motion web series, Doctor Puppet.
If you like listening to Roundabout: Creative Chaos, and you want to know how you can help support the show, please visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/justwritecode.
Don't forget to stick around for the after show!
We hope you enjoy the show and don't forget to send us your feedback via Twitter, Facebook, or email.
Listen Now
Show Links
- Alisa Stern on Twitter
- Doctor Puppet YouTube Channel
- The Making of the War Doctor
- Doctor Puppet: The Complete Score by Scott Ampleford
- The LEGO Animation Book: Make Your Own LEGO Movies!
Episode 115. Alisa Stern (The Doctor Puppet)


text: LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Mining company Kazakhmys uk:kaz said Thursday that its 2005 net profit rose 24.8% to $550.8 million, or $1.29 a share as revenue rose 106.2% to $2.6 billion. The company said it would pay a final dividend of 36 cents a share following its listing on the U.K. exchange in October. The company said its results were party thanks to strong copper prices, adding that the average copper selling price has increased by 50.1% to $3,794 per tonne. Kazakhmys said it expects copper prices to remain high throughout 2006 and for production in the year to be moderately higher than in 2005.


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No-cost introductory sessions are sometimes available for social groups or on location at your workplace, so please ask!
Integral Healing Sessions:
A "priority based system" means we come together and ask on high for guidance. No two sessions are the same, and may include: Focused breathing and meditations, chakra balancing, past life reading, deep muscle and movement re-education therapies, Meridian Massage and Energy Medicines (EEM, EFT, TFT, etc.), coaching, deep listening, karmic cleansing or "extractions," physical/emotional detoxification (with energy), and, of course, pure, gentle Presence.
You are invited to take part in these life changing gifts:
$210 Full Session ~ approximately 1. 5 hours (and up to 2 hours) – or:
$160 per hour
$90 Intro mini (approx 20 min.)
$80 half hour by phone
Fitness and Nutritional Consultations:
Series of Three 1-Hour Sessions: $360
(sliding scale $220)
Feng Shui consultations: $220 and up
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When you need profound spiritual, emotional, and physical support: Deep karmic cleansing, healing from major illness, accidents, and past trauma:
Three to five day intensives: $2400
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Series of three sessions (approx. 1.25 hours each) : $180
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For appointments and more information, Please call or text Sharie: 978 378 0888
Or Facebook message: Sharie Camren (personal page)


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What would drive a person to make hateful replies to a quirky commercial that's nearly beloved by all?
Perfection, it's a rare concept that we as humanity fail to grasp. We see images of perfection on a day-to-day level, yet we have a disappointed minority that cannot help but to critique and complain. There are people who go out of their own way to besmirch Leonardo Da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa' as an unfinished and dull piece of art. Some consider the written works of William Shakespeare to be droll and a slog to read from your high school Humanities classes. There's also critics who lambasted 1987's 'Robocop' like Water Goodman of the New York Times who was quoted in his Robocop review for saying and I quote: "Whatever may have been in the minds of the writers, Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner, has more trouble emerging from Mr. Verhoeven's sizzling battles than poor Murphy does from his robosuit." Goodman, like so many others, have terrible taste in things that are perfect.
Now we here at Laser Time, we love a couple things: A cold beer on a warm Christmas, refrigerators in both a non-sexual & sexual fashion, and of course Robert Loggia (so much so that Laser Time's 300th episode was all about Loggia). Now to be more specific, Robert Loggia's unforgettable Minute Maid Orange Tangerine commercial, with such memorable catchphrases as "Billy", "yeah", and "Your mother's right". Now before we go to the fireworks factory with this article, let's find out where this video came from.
Now while there have been numerous uploads on YouTube of this iconic commercial over the years with higher and higher quality, the earliest it has ever been uploaded was on June 20th, 2007 from a user named Deadmaker46135, who created their YouTube account on May 31st, 2006, and previously had videos of Les Claypool performances, and last uploaded a few Marilyn Manson videos in 2013. This person's only video that has broken over 100,000 views has been Robert Loggia's Minute Maid Orange Tangerine commercial, no other video has been seen that much, not even this montage to Death Note, part one of two.
Back to the subject at hand, we combine the two facets as presented in order: Criticism and Robert Loggia's Minute Maid Orange Tangerine commercial. Who would be so critical at a commercial from the late 90's, then uploaded in 2007? Answer, some. If you look at the thumbs up/down for the video the ratio currently stands at the time of writing this article, 1879 to 40. There is a 2.1% chance that someone will hate this commercial, that's one in fifty. That's nearly universally beloved. So, now let's figure out why people hate this commercial by sticking my hands into the fecal-stained bovine anus known simply as the YouTube comments section.
Well Mister bskulldragon100, I'm willing to wager dollars to donuts you weren't all Brady Bunch with your family. Maybe you got fussy because you didn't want to eat or drink certain things that your parents presented you. Maybe you should give the kid a break. No kid is perfect; at least this kid didn't set them on fire in their sleep.
…because an ad campaign can be successful with the aid of a celebrity spokesperson? Also, 'teh'? Really?
If only there was a search engine website where you can type in the name of an actor and get a series of websites with answers to this question, but sadly no such thing existed eight years ago. Bing wasn't created years after this response, and would've answered all of Snaggbash2000's yearning questions about Robert Loggia.
Shut up. Shut your damn mouth. The Minute Maid people are competent people, they figured out how to combine orange juice with other juices both in fruit and vegetable variety.
A lot to dissect here. First, this little brat is Billy. Second, Billy needs an outside third party not bound by family ties to sway his opinion on Minute Maid orange tangerine. Third, the attractiveness of a mother does not define their level of tolerance. Are you insinuating that ugly mothers are the only ones that have to deal with that type of insolence? Fourth, waterboarding? You're insisting that cruel and unusual torture method (ripped from the headlines) on Billy is an effective way for him to learn respect? I hope you have kids, and they refuse to have breakfast-based beverages unless swayed by B+ to A- actors… then I hope your reaction will change. Jerk.
If this were a goon in the mob or someone well deserving of a strike to the head like a criminal sure, but you want Robert Loggia to hit a child? What's the matter with you? Also, you're no Josh Gad in the acting department yourself, how many nationally syndicated TV commercials have you been in as a child? If the number is higher than zero then it's most likely a lie.
Let us know what you think about the commercial in the comments below, far far away from the garbage heap that is YouTube comments. Also, give a listen to Loggia Time below!
This article was written by Aaron Chados, you can find him in the Laser Time Facebook Community, or through OkCupid


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At the start of the month, I wrote about WWE announcing that there will be a fifty-man Royal Rumble taking place in Saudi Arabia on April 27th. When I wrote the post, I didn't know if the event would air live on the WWE Network, Pay-Per-View or any other form of broadcast platform. Well - I have a few answers now.
Sky Sports has announced that the show will air live on Sky Sports Box Office at 5pm on the day in question.
Apparently, people attempting to cancel their WWE Network subscriptions have been met by the news that it'll air on WWE's streaming service as well.
I'm looking forward to this!


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- This event has passed.
Dutch Bike Ride – Fort Langley
September 29, 2018 @ 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Come and join us for our last bike ride for this season. We are cycling around Fort Langley on Saturday, September 29, 2018. (Although our bike ride was scheduled for this Saturday, the weather forecast is rain and cool so we are postponing the ride to next week when the weather forecast is sunny).
We will meet at 10:00 am in the Parking Lot at Derby Reach Regional Park (Edgewater Bar), and depart by 10:30 am.
The Edgewater Bar parking lot is located on Allard Crescent in Fort Langley.
Lunch will be at Fortitude Restaurant at 190 – 9220 Glover Road, Fort Langley.
Check out the restaurant at fortituderestaurant.com in Fort Langley.
Our bike ride is approximately 28.5 km and we should be done by 3:00 pm.
Please RSVP, if you plan to join the cycling group. Contact Adriana Zylmans by email: azylmans(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)telus.net or calling (604) 278-9667 or cell (604) 816-3243 .
Travel Directions: If you are coming from Vancouver; follow Highway One to exit 58 and continue North on 200 Street. Turn right on 96th Ave. and turn left on 208 St. After about 2 km, the road veers to the right, and turns into Allard Crescent. On your left is Derby Reach Regional Park (Edgewater Bar). We will meet in the far parking lot near the river.
Cycling route directions will be provided on the day of the ride.


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@chazensjezebel reviews…
Director: Greg McLean
Writer: James Gunn
Stars: John Gallagher Jr., Tony Goldwyn, Adria Arjona, John C. McGinley, Sean Gunn
If you work in an office, you're familiar with the occasional notion that you might not get through a day without killing your coworkers. Of course, you'd never really do it (hopefully), but what if you were given a order to do so? That's the basic premise of Greg McLean's new film, The Belko Experiment.
In a rural part of Bogota, Colombia, employees of the Belko Corporation have their morning routines interrupted by an anonymous voice on the intercom instructing them to start killing each other or they will be killed at random. Most brush it off as a prank, but after realizing they've been cut off from the outside, mild panic sets in. However, when the directive is not followed, several of the staff are killed when explosive devices, implanted in their heads by the company, detonate.
Now that everyone knows it's serious, complete hysteria sets in. Some try to devise escape plans, led by level-headed Mike Milch (John Gallagher Jr.) and his office love, Leandre (Adria Arjona), while the boss, Barry Norris (Tony Goldwyn), takes the matter of deciding who is worthy of living into his own hands. Naturally, under the circumstances, human nature kicks in and a survival of the fittest bloodbath ensues. Talk about a bad day at the office.
We don't know much about what the Belko Corp. is or does. They seem almost too good to be true, providing employees with apartments and company cars, as shown in an on-boarding scene at the opening. This is where the implants are first mentioned as tracking devices in the event an employee is kidnapped. Standard operating procedure.
The Belko Experiment will likely twist the nerves of some viewers as it touches on themes of sexism and ageism. Most notably, when Norris is deciding who would live or die, his criteria is based on age and/or familial status. There is also an offer of sexual favors in exchange for life. No elaborations for spoilers sake.
If you're familiar with James Gunn's films, and you should be, you know he imparts a great deal of humor in his scripts, even when the film isn't a comedy, and it's done with skill. The problem here is Belko balances on the line between gross-out comedy and grim tale about corporate power, without putting a toe over far enough on either side to distinguish exactly what it is besides being very bloody and violent.
The actors are all in and deliver solid performances throughout, with Gallagher and Goldwyn leading the pack. Tony Goldwyn, who seems to age like a fine wine, is one of the best bad guys in a long while. The always enjoyable John C. McGinley, as the super creepy Wendall Dukes, is almost worth the price of admission on his own.
In the end, The Belko Experiment isn't anything you haven't seen before, but if you've had a crappy day at work, this might be the best way to vicariously inflict harm on the dick who drank the last of the coffee without making another pot.
Suzanne Bell | Twitter: @chazensjezebel
Images: IMDb


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In the battle of the beauty boxes, the next to arrive was GlossyBox. GlossyBox is a new one for me but I've seen tonnes of you lovely lot rave about how good they are. This month they went with a French Rivera theme, bringing you the essentials for becoming a sophisticated, French beach babe. This box was the cheapest of the bunch at just £8, including delivery, as I got my first box at half price (normally £10 and £3.25 delivery). There were 5 items in the box with 3 of them being full size so we're already off to a good start as that's amazing value to me. The box is super pretty with tissue paper wrapping, very similar to the Look Fantastic box. Let's just jump straight in to where I tell you about what was inside:
Nip+Fab, Glycolic Fix Scrub (RRP £9.95) 50ml sample size
I have of course heard of Nip+Fab before and have tried some of their products but not their Glycolic Fix Scrub. I've tried Glycolic products so I was almost sure it wouldn't irritate my skin, and it didn't! It was surprisingly gentle on my sensitive skin and it didn't make me have a break-out afterwards. The scrub itself is really nice and smooth when you apply it and it has a lovely grape-fruity scent. Products like this I like to use when I don't have any break-outs to prolong having clear skin but I wouldn't recommend using this when you do have irritated skin as it may cause it to worsen. The sample size is only 15ml smaller than the actual size so I was really happy with that for a good product that I'll definitely be using regularly.
Monu Skin, Eye Cool Gel (RRP £24.95) full size
I flipping love an eye cream because I find they seem to be the one piece of skincare, cheap or expensive, that always actually works. This eye gel works fantastically to reduce puffiness and my dark circles, bringing me back from the dead in the mornings. I didn't realise this was a full-size at first because the packing on the little leaflet in the box is different but as long as I'm getting the same amount of product, I'm not too bothered about the bottles appearance.
Novex, Mystic Black Deep Hair Mask (RRP £11.95) 100ml sample size
If you've read some of my previous reviews, you will know that I can never get on with hair masks, there is always something that lets it down. I tried to be optimistic and I'm not sure whether I was just using too little of this product for my thick hair, but it just didn't seem to do anything. It didn't make my hair feel less frizzy or hydrated, it just made it feel un-conditioned. The sample size is a generous amount of product but I just couldn't make it work for my hair. Another hair mask bites the dust.
Wilkinson Sword, Intuition f.a.b Razor (RRP £12) full size
A razor that goes both ways, it blew my mind far more than it should have. I kept forgetting I could use it both ways because it felt so unnatural, but in a good way. It's a very effective razor giving me silky smooth legs in seconds however, I'm used to a razor that has a moisturising panel around it which I felt this was really missing. Apart from that though it really did make shaving a hell of a lot quicker, but you can only really use it on your under-arms and legs, if you know what I'm saying….
Laritzy Cosmetics, Shade Stix (RRP £18) full size
I'm always open to a contour stick from these boxes as it's a product I know I'll actually use. This one from Laritzy has a super smooth formula so it glides on the skin really well and blends effortlessly. It has a great shade so I think it would suit a large range of skin tones too. It's another full size and another product I'll actually continue to use.
This box was SO MUCH better than the Look Fantastic box, it had a couple more high-street names compared, but it also had products in that I'll actually use and that are of great quality. For the price I'd 100% recommend trying out this box compared to the Look Fantastic box. I was really happy with the delivery, it came just a day after the previous one, the packaging is lovely and the products inside (apart from the hair mask) were all pretty great.
Have you tried this month's GlossyBox? If you're wanting to try it out yourself follow this link to try it out and get yourself a nice little discount too!