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Sunday, 12 January 2014 06:15 PM EST
NUEVA ITALIA, Mexico — Gunfire erupted Sunday in western Mexico as hundreds of vigilantes pressed their fight over territory with a drug cartel, and Mexico's top security officials prepared to make yet another effort to try to stop the violence.
Members of so-called self-defense groups entered the town of Nueva Italia on a campaign they say is designed to liberate towns from the control of the Knights Templar cartel.
Opponents and critics say the vigilantes are backed by a rival cartel, something the groups vehemently deny.
Michoacan state Gov. Fausto Vallejo gave a brief statement Sunday saying he has formally asked the federal government for more help to quell the violence, and announced a meeting on Monday in the state capital to lay out a strategy to reclaim the peace.
Hundreds of vigilantes arrived in Nueva Italia late Sunday morning in a caravan of large trucks, surrounding the City Hall and disarming local police. An Associated Press journalist on the scene witnessed citizens initially welcoming them.
But firefights broke out almost immediately in and around the center square. Only one injury was reported by mid-day.
Gunfire could be heard around the city as the Mexican military stayed outside, guarding the road into town.
There were no federal police or uniformed authorities inside the town, though violence between vigilantes and alleged cartel members has racked Michoacan for almost a year, and President Enrique Pena Nieto's government already has sent thousands of units to the state.
Vallejo said he formally asked Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong on Friday for more federal forces, "given insufficient state and municipal police."
The self-defense groups claim that local and state police are in the employ of the Knights Templar.
Violence in the state has flared in the last several days as vigilantes have been on a march, taking over the towns of Paracuaro and Antunez and advancing toward the farming hub of Apatzingan, said to be the cartel's central command.
The federal government has said the civilian groups are operating on the margins of the law, and they carry high-caliber weapons that Mexico only allows for military use. But government forces have not moved against them and in some cases appear to be working in concert with them.
Rumors circulate that some self-defense groups have been infiltrated by the New Generation cartel, which is reportedly fighting a turf war with the Knights Templar in the rich farming state that is a major exporter of limes, avocados and mangos.
Some in the region say members of the Knights Templar have also tried to use self-defense groups as cover for illegal activities.
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The city of the "corsairs", a coastal capital and the jewel of the Emerald Coast, Saint-Malo has always been the scene of great adventures throughout its long history.
Boasting a superb location in Brittany, on the northern tip of the l'Ille-et-Vilaine, on the border with Normandy and just a stone's throw from Mont Saint-Michel, Saint-Malo is also the gateway to the Channel Islands and the south coast of England.
A place of history and legends, and the birthplace of illustrious historical characters, the town has, despite its occasionally somber past, managed to preserve its authentic atmosphere, characterised by ramparts, cobbled streets and old stone buildings.
Proud of its rich history, this renowned coastal resort is a resolutely modern town which is always looking towards the future.
Not to be missed:
- A tour of the ramparts
- Saint-Vincent cathedral
- Le Grand Bé
- Le Petit Bé
- Fort National

subset: commoncrawl


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The Gregory Drift Winter Pack that is.
Designed with a narrow profile and constructed with abrasion and puncture resistant fabrics this pack is great for those winter adventures. With enough space to carry a shovel and probe, this pack, with its ski carry system, allows you to stow your skis vertically or diagonally with its non-slip, fastening attachment points.
So get out into the backcountry and don't be caught without your Drift.
–MPGear tested, mother approved.
-Tested during the filming of Tokyo Drift (well, it could've been).
–Zach in a drift.


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Welcome to the Kumoricon Forums! Remember: Have fun! – Forum code of conduct.
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Kumori girl, where have you gone? Oh no! Kumori's 2006 mascot is missing! Find her!DRAW HER!Send your rendition of Kumori girl to:firstname.lastname@example.com Please export you file to jpeg form. Enteries must be received by April 14th 2006Voting for Kumoricon's 2006 masot will be at the April 15th meeting for all to enjoy!
Yes Neolucky we got your entry and it is cute but remember we have to vote on all the entrys at the general meeting. We will let you know ASAP after the meeting who is Kumori-girl.
So do we draw anygirl? Or the mascot used in the past?Can someone give me some past pictures of her so I know what I'm drawing?
Is there anything we need to know about size or dimensions? (Sorry if it's a redundant quetion, I don't usually frequent these forums.)
Question-Is a vote for one version also a vote for another? In other words, if a chibi wins, does that also mean the adult version wins, since we need both versions for the official mascot? The site allows you to vote for one or the other in cases where a person submitted separate pictures.(We're planning on using the chibi on minor's badges and the adult on non-minor's badges, so we need both.)


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"Papa says, 'If you see it in the Sun, it's so.'"
Do we stand as witnesses to the end of newspapers in America?
It's been a grand history. Newspapering gave us great leaders like Benjamin Franklin. Newspapering gave us wars, like the Spanish-American War. Newspapering gave us Charlie Brown, Ann Landers, the Yellow Kid, Jim Murray, Red Smith, Thomas Nast (and Santa Claus), the Federalist Papers, and coupons to save money on laundry soap.
It's been a curious history, too. An 1897 editorial vouching for Santa Claus rates as the most popular editorial of all time, according to the Newseum in Washington, D.C.
In autumn, 1897, 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon of 115 West 59th Street in New York, wrote to the New York Sun with this simple question:
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?"
In the age of Yellow Journalism, the fiercely competitive Sun's editors turned the letter to Francis Pharcellus. He responded to little Virginia on September 21, 1897:
"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."
Church's brother, William Conant Church, owned and published the newspaper. Both had followed their father into the news business. They co-founded The Army-Navy Journal in 1863, and went on to a series of journalistic collaborations. Francis was 58 years old when he answered Virginia's letter. (He died at age 67, in 1906.)
The New York Sun held down the conservative corner in New York journalism at the time, versus the New York Times and the New York Herald-Tribune. But it also had an interesting history, to a blogger intrigued by hoaxes. In 1835 the paper published a series of six newspaper stories falsely attributed to Sir John Herschel, a well-known astronomer, claiming to describe a civilization on the Moon — the Great Moon Hoax. The discovery was credited to a new, very powerful telescope.
In 1844 the paper published a hoax written by Edgar Allen Poe, the Balloon Hoax. Under a pseudonym, Poe wrote that a gas balloon had crossed the Atlantic in three days.
The Sun also featured outstanding reporting. A 1947 and 1948 series about crime on the docks of New York City won a Pulitzer Prize for writer Malcolm Johnson. That series inspired Elia Kazan's 1954 movie On the Waterfront starring Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden and Lee J. Cobb.
The New York Sun ceased publication in 1950.
For all of its history, the Sun and the Churches are most remembered for that defense of belief in Santa Claus.
Virginia O'Hanlon grew up, graduated from Hunter College, got a masters at Columbia, and earned a Ph.D. from Fordham. She taught in the New York City Public School system, from which she retired in 1959. She died in 1971.
Birth of tradition
Columbia University was Church's alma mater, as well as O'Hanlon's. Her letter and his response get a reading each year at the Yule Log Ceremony at Columbia College, along with the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas." Animated, live-acting, and other television productions have been mounted in 1974, 1991, and 2009.
Is there a Santa Claus? Did Church write a credible defense? The text of the letter and answer, below the fold.
From the Newseum, the text of Virginia's letter, and Francis Pharcellus Church's answer:
DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.


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We create our own joy.
Come roll around with me
in the grass til our
clothes are stained.
Til the clouds turn violet.
Let's eat ice cream under
the stars and hold each other
until the restlessness dissipates.
Tonight let's not battle the hardwood floors,
the laundry chute, or the dishes.
Let's defy gravity, monotony,
the drudgery of life.
Throw away the map.
Let's find another way.
Eat the wild berries.
Live on the breeze.
Amp up the brightness of
the moon.
Who cares if the universe
Let's create a language
that fits us, in a land
of pine cones and sage.
Red dress on the ground
where desire stays.
Nouns infused with passion
tongue, earlobes, necks..
Shuttering hands, quivering bodies.
The sentences of ourselves.
Infinitives, unearthing new verbs
and their allure.
Upgrading our love
to a window seat in first
Rethinking how.
Reordering now.
-Tosha Michelle


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The qualified mortgage definition that's linked to the ability-to-repay rule doesn't kill lending outside the QM definition, but it does create a no-risk, no-reward type of mortgage environment, says James Frischling, president of NewOak Capital.
Frischling says the new lending rules help originators remove litigation risk if they stay within the confines of QM when issuing a loan, but the sweet spot financially is still outside QM in the non-QM segment.
"Lending is a function of risk and reward," Frischling wrote Monday. "The new rules will help standardize parts of the mortgage market and that's a good thing, but the opportunity to operate outside qualified mortgages will create opportunities for capital providers to pursue greater returns. No risk, no reward."
Even credit unions are seeing the market in terms of a trade-off – if you want safety, you stay inside QM, if you want to grab larger returns in the form of higher rates – non-QM may be the way to go.
But before signing off on non-QM, the credit union market is facing a bit of uncertainty, prompting leaders in the segment to offer assurances to the industry. The National Credit Union Administration, which charters and supervises federal credit unions, issued a statement to the industry saying non QM lending "can be an effective member service if conducted safely and soundly."
Furthermore, NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz advised credit unions that issuing non-QM loans alone will not lead to extra scrutiny.
She wrote the agency "will not subject a mortgage to safety-and-soundness criticism solely because of the loan's status as a QM or non-QM."
However, she added, "credit unions choosing to make non-QMs will need to take into account the potential new market and legal risks."
NCUA examiners will be watching for credit risk, liquidity metrics and concentration when it comes to loans.
The Credit Union National Association even urged NCUA examiners not to discourage non-QM loans when the mortgages meet applicable regulatory standards.


text: International organization of theoretical biologists? Dear Colleague: We have been running a small Canadian Society Theoretical Biology (CSTB) for the past decade which has been attracting 1/3 international memberships. We charge only Can$25/yr for membership. We are at a critical juncture, needing new people to take active participation. With the cost of international travel and the lure of specialty conferences, it is difficult for us to get together physically. Yet there is a need for developing an intellectual community of like-minded scientists. Theoretical biologists are in a difficult position right now, perhaps analogous to theoretical physicists before quantum mechanics. There is great potential; we know the experimentalists need us; but in general they don't know that, and we have no niche. We think it is time to rethink whether the CSTB should continue to identify itself as a Canadian organisation, or whether we should become more explicitly international. It seems that our common bond is not Canadian residency, but rather a common international interest in theoretical biology and a desire to communicate. The services we have been able to offer to our members include a Newsletter, reduced rate subscriptions to the Journal of Biological Systems, and an Email network. We need to redefine our role, keeping in mind that there already exist several other organisations with overlapping interests, such as the SMB (Society for Mathematical Biology). The distinction between theoretical biology and mathematical biology is discussed in: Gordon, R. (1993). Careers in theoretical biology. Carolina Tips 56(3), 9-11. which might be a good point for beginning our deliberations. If you would like a copy of this just send a request to Dick Gordon at GordonR at cc.UManitoba.ca You are all encouraged to contribute to our discussion, whether or not you are a member of CSTB at the present time. Please send your comments to CSTB at biome.bio.ns.ca so that we can continue this discussion. To join, send the message subscribe cstb to Majordomo at biome.bio.ns.ca Dick Gordon, CSTB President Department of Radiology, University of Manitoba Room ON104, Health Sciences Centre, 820 Sherbrook Street Winnipeg, MB R3A 1R9 Canada Phone: (204) 787-1076, Fax: (204) 783-8565, E-mail: GordonR at cc.UManitoba.ca Bill Silvert, CSTB Secretary/Treasurer Habitat Ecology Division (HED), Bedford Inst. of Oceanography P. O. Box 1006, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, CANADA B2Y 4A2. Tel. (902)426-1577 InterNet Address: silvert at biome.bio.ns.ca Fax (902)426-2256 HED runs a WWW server at URL=http://biome.bio.dfo.ca


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Courland or Kurlandboth: kûr´lănd, Ger. ko͞or´länt [key], Latvian Kurzeme, historic region and former duchy, in Latvia, between the Baltic Sea and the Western Dvina River. It is an agricultural and wooded lowland. Jelgava (Ger. Mitau), the historic capital, and Liepaja (Ger. Libau) and Ventspils (Ger. Windau), the Baltic seaports, are the chief cities. The early Baltic tribes—Letts and Kurs—who inhabited the region were subjected in the 13th cent. by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword. In 1561 the order disbanded and its grand master became the first duke of Courland, under Polish suzerainty. In the Northern War (1700–1721), it was taken (1701) by Charles XII of Sweden. Empress Anna, who was, by marriage, duchess of Courland before her accession in Russia, forced (1737), the nobles of Courland to elect her favorite, Ernst Johann von Biron, their duke. Russian influence became paramount, and with the third partition of Poland (1795) the duchy passed to Russia. In 1918, Courland was incorporated into Latvia, except for a strip of the southern coast that went to Lithuania.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: CIS and Baltic Physical Geography


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Here are the most recent meetings for the Village of Tivoli.
Village of Tivoli meetings are also broadcast every Friday at 7am, 12:00pm, and 8:00pm on Time Warner channel 23 and HERE on pandatv23.org.
Produce your own show!
PANDA now provides the technology to produce programs in our Tivoli Studio. If you are a constituent in our five municipalities and would like to produce a studio show, please call PANDA at (845) 757-2632 for more information.


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10 female leaders from the IT customer and vendor sides will be honored for their contributions to Cloud and convergence technology by the Cloud Network of Women (CloudNOW) later this month.
The non-profit CloudNOW consortium's 4th annual awards recognize female-led teams that have used technology to solve real-world business problems, contributed to society and/or advanced technology.
This year's Top Women in Cloud awards go to:
- Adi Israel, TBM Consultant, Kaiser Permanente
- Ann Wallace, Solutions Architect, Nike
- Cornelia Davis, Director Platform Engineering, Pivotal
- Diane Mueller, Director of Community Development OpenShift, Red Hat
- Jamie Miller, CIO, General Electric
- Julie Iannelli, Director of Engineering, Calgary Scientific
- Liz Centoni, VP GM, SP Access, Cisco
- Mandy Storbakken, Principal Technologist, Medtronic
- Michelle Zatlyn, Co-Founder and Head of User Experience, CloudFlare
- Tana Jackson, Vice President Engineering, SOASTA
They've been invited to present at CloudNOW's event on September 24 in Menlo Park, where a grand winner will be crowned.
Other items on the agenda include a discussion with Isis Wegner, founder of the #ILookLikeAnEngineer movement, and presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to supply chain company Jabil's Joanne Moretti.


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Message to Viva!: The Problem is Not Religious Slaughter
Dear Colleagues:
I am always saddened when an issue comes up in the news and animal advocates pass up the chance to educate the public about veganism because they want to jump on the new welfarist bandwagon and make people feel better about animal exploitation instead.
The British newspaper, The Mail on Sunday, ran a story today in which it reports that a great deal of the meat served in Britain is halal, or slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law. Halal is similar to Jewish ritual slaughter, kashrut and involves making a deep cut on the animal's neck, severing the jugular veins and carotid arteries of both sides but leaving the spinal cord intact. Animals slaughtered in this way are not stunned and halal and kosher slaughter have been criticized as being cruel and as causing more pain and suffering than the stunning method of slaughter, which is supposed to render the animal unconscious before the actual killing occurs.
Many people in the U.K. are upset to think that the meat they are eating came from animals who were not killed "humanely."
I would suggest that no animal consumed by anyone in Britain or anywhere else on the planet was treated and killed in a manner that could be called "humane" without making an obscene misuse of that word.
So the story afforded animal advocates the opportunity to explain to a concerned public that there is no such thing as "humanely" produced meat; that all meat—and all animal products—come from nonhuman animals who have been tortured under the very best of conditions. And we cannot justify killing animals under any circumstance when the only justification we have is that they taste good.
Did animal advocates seize the opportunity?
Instead, they characterized the issue as one involving a practice of a particular religion. For example, Viva!, was quoted in the article:
Other practices which may be undertaken for religious reasons, such as polygamy or the stoning of adulterers, are not permitted in the UK.
Religious freedom does not override other moral considerations and the suffering caused by this form of slaughter is so severe that it cannot be allowed to prevent action to be taken. Consumers can do their bit by boycotting places that persist in selling meat from unstunned animals.
I find it terribly sad that Viva! chose to characterize this as an issue of a Muslim practice concerning how animals are slaughtered rather than that they are slaughtered at all. Unfortunately, Muslims do not have a monopoly on mistreating animals and Viva!'s comments encourage Islamophobia, which is already rampant in the U.K. and U.S. And, as mentioned above, Jews use a similar method of slaughter and the stunning method that everyone thinks is so much better than what either the Muslims or Jews use is also really quite horrible.
It is nothing more than sheer fantasy to believe that there is any significant difference between halal meat and "humane" meat. It all involves torture and death. It is simply dishonest to perpetuate the idea that we can simultaneously regard animals as members of the moral community but can continue to eat them and products made from them.
Everyone who consumes animals is, I am afraid, in the same boat as it were. There is no special boat designated only for Muslims or Jews. By criticizing halal or kashrut, we pretend that there is a morally significant difference and that those who eat meat from stunned animals are morally superior because they care more about animal welfare. We once again participate in the favorite new welfarist activity of trying to make people feel good about animal exploitation as long as it is done "humanely" and with regard for "animal welfare."
I should say that much of the meat sold in the United States, particularly in the Northeast, is kosher slaughtered so the same issue exists on this side of the Atlantic as well.
In any event, the solution is not to ensure that you buy meat from stunned animals or boycott places that sell halal or kosher meat.
The solution is to ask yourself: if I care about this issue; if I object to torture and needless killing, why am I eating any meat or any animal products?
The response is either to acknowledge that you do not really care, or to start thinking seriously about going vegan.
It is a shame that groups like Viva! persist in insisting that veganism is too daunting for the average person to understand. It is not, and this patronizing position becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and facilitates the characterization of veganism as "extreme."
What is difficult to understand is how a social movement that supposedly objects to animal exploitation can refuse to promote veganism as a moral baseline and is instead content to promote "happy" meat and animal products over those produced on factory farms or to perpetuate the idea that there is a meaningful moral distinction between flesh and other animal products.
If you are not vegan, go vegan. It is very easy, better for health and for the planet. And, most important, it's the morally right and just thing to do.
The World is Vegan! If you want it.
Gary L. Francione
©2010 Gary L. Francione


text:
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Soft and adorable
Comfy and smooth to wear.
Inner/upper materials: Cotton and Cotton fabric
Gender: Baby girls
Pattern type: Polka dot
Item type: First walker
It is good for all occasions and seasons
Not satisfied you can return within 30 days.
100% money back guarantee.
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Zorn, Anders Leonhard
Zorn, Anders Leonhard än´dərs lā´o͞onärd sôrn [key], 1860–1920, Swedish painter, etcher, and sculptor. Zorn's early and phenomenal popularity was sustained throughout his career as a portrait painter of eminent persons in all fields. He was admired for the charm and freshness of his work, which also included genre and landscape subjects. He traveled throughout Europe and in 1903 visited the United States but he always returned to his native Mora, Sweden. Zorn's works are in many European and American collections; his Mora (Worcester, Mass., Art Mus.) is a fine example. Since his death, his virtuoso etching style has been esteemed more than his work in oils.
See studies by K. Asplund (1921) and E. M. Lang (1923).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: European Art, 1600 to the Present: Biographies


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Bob Dylan was at the Worker's Gymnasium in Beijing on April 6th, but there was a ton of controversy relating to his concerts in China. Dylan recently came out with a scathing statement denying that there was any censorship of his songs or lyrics during his performances.
Posted in: Censorship, Culture, Domestic Politics, U.S. Relations
Tags: Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan in China


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Terani Couture Cocktail 2011C2005
- Brand: Terani Cocktail
- Style #: 2011C2005 - Quick Delivery*Quick Delivery*
- Availability: In Stock
- $792
TERANI COUTURE was established in the year of 1990 in New York City. TERANI COUTURE is a world-renowned designer of special occasion evening and formal wear fundamental for any glamorous occasion. We are one of the top designer manufactures in women's apparel. Our dresses range in a variety of collections such as Prom, Homecoming, Evening, Cocktail, Pageants, Mother of the Bride, and Suits. TERANI COUTURE dresses are inspired by other top designers around the world. TERANI COUTURE's original designs are constructed from the hottest, happening trends seen in today's fashion market and presented on the runways of New York, Los Angeles, and Milan Fashion Week. We use high quality materials, fabric, and detailing on all our dresses to produce the finest styles around. It is important to us to stay on top, so we seek to carry new trends and designs inspired from around the world. We are a couture line because our designers use exclusive designs ranging from fantastic prints to only the finest fabrics around. TERANI COUTURE's design team intricately formulates elegance and class to perfect any woman's special occasion. Our dresses carry Lustrous Silks, Chiffons, Charmeuse, and Foulard graciously embellish form fitting and flowing silhouettes that will turn any head. We put a touch of elegance in each of our collections, because we want you to look stunning at any occasion. TERANI COUTURE can be we worn at any occasion, from prom to weddings events. Have a pageant competition coming up? No problem, we carry a phenomenal pageant line that will blow your contestants away. Many pageants choose to represent TERANI COUTURE when it comes to competing.
Terani Couture Short Cocktail Dress
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Story by
Paul Sawers
Paul Sawers was a reporter with The Next Web in various roles from May 2011 to November 2014. Follow Paul on Twitter: @psawers or check h Paul Sawers was a reporter with The Next Web in various roles from May 2011 to November 2014. Follow Paul on Twitter: @psawers or check him out on Google+.
The anti-SOPA movement has been gaining momentum in recent months, and The White House has now officially responded to two petitions – Stop the E-PARASITE Act online petition and Veto the SOPA bill and other future bills that threaten to diminish the free flow of information, which it is required to do if it receives 25,000 signatures within 30 days of the petition being initiated.
We the People is a section of The White House's website, which launched in September last year, giving an easy way for voters to petition the administration's policy experts.
Victoria Espinel (Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at Office of Management and Budget), Aneesh Chopra (US Chief Technology Officer and Assistant to the President and Associate Director for Technology at the Office of Science and Technology Policy) and Howard Schmidt (Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator for National Security Staff) have officially responded to the petitioning, acknowledging the issue of online piracy, whilst stating that it would oppose anything that would reduce 'freedom of expression', anything that would undermine the 'global Internet'. They say:
"While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet."
The anti-SOPA movement
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a bill that was introduced in the House of Representatives on October 26 last year, by Republican Representative Lamar Smith, and a group of 12 co-sponsors. The bill proposes to extend the power of law enforcement and copyright holders in the US to combat online piracy, and it would essentially allow the US Department of Justice – and copyright-holders – to seek court orders against websites accused of facilitating copyright infringement.
On Christmas Eve, we reported that domain name registrar Go Daddy had lost over 21,000 domains after it announced its support for SOPA, whilst Internet heavyweights such as WordPress has asked its 60m users to help stop SOPA.
The White House's response also says that efforts to fight online piracy "must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small."
The statement also goes on to call on all sides to work together to pass "sound legislation" that provides prosecutors and rights holders new legal tools to combat online piracy originating beyond US borders, before requesting the public's "best ideas" on how to curtail rogue websites that profit from the creative efforts of American artists and rights holders.
Here's The White House's response to the anti-SOPA petitions in full:
"Right now, Congress is debating a few pieces of legislation concerning the very real issue of online piracy, including the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) and the Online Protection and Digital ENforcement Act (OPEN). We want to take this opportunity to tell you what the Administration will support—and what we will not support. Any effective legislation should reflect a wide range of stakeholders, including everyone from content creators to the engineers that build and maintain the infrastructure of the Internet.
While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.
Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small. Across the globe, the openness of the Internet is increasingly central to innovation in business, government, and society and it must be protected. To minimize this risk, new legislation must be narrowly targeted only at sites beyond the reach of current U.S. law, cover activity clearly prohibited under existing U.S. laws, and be effectively tailored, with strong due process and focused on criminal activity. Any provision covering Internet intermediaries such as online advertising networks, payment processors, or search engines must be transparent and designed to prevent overly broad private rights of action that could encourage unjustified litigation that could discourage startup businesses and innovative firms from growing.
We must avoid creating new cybersecurity risks or disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet. Proposed laws must not tamper with the technical architecture of the Internet through manipulation of the Domain Name System (DNS), a foundation of Internet security. Our analysis of the DNS filtering provisions in some proposed legislation suggests that they pose a real risk to cybersecurity and yet leave contraband goods and services accessible online. We must avoid legislation that drives users to dangerous, unreliable DNS servers and puts next-generation security policies, such as the deployment of DNSSEC, at risk.
Let us be clear—online piracy is a real problem that harms the American economy, and threatens jobs for significant numbers of middle class workers and hurts some of our nation's most creative and innovative companies and entrepreneurs. It harms everyone from struggling artists to production crews, and from startup social media companies to large movie studios. While we are strongly committed to the vigorous enforcement of intellectual property rights, existing tools are not strong enough to root out the worst online pirates beyond our borders. That is why the Administration calls on all sides to work together to pass sound legislation this year that provides prosecutors and rights holders new legal tools to combat online piracy originating beyond U.S. borders while staying true to the principles outlined above in this response. We should never let criminals hide behind a hollow embrace of legitimate American values.
This is not just a matter for legislation. We expect and encourage all private parties, including both content creators and Internet platform providers working together, to adopt voluntary measures and best practices to reduce online piracy.
So, rather than just look at how legislation can be stopped, ask yourself: Where do we go from here? Don't limit your opinion to what's the wrong thing to do, ask yourself what's right. Already, many of members of Congress are asking for public input around the issue. We are paying close attention to those opportunities, as well as to public input to the Administration. The organizer of this petition and a random sample of the signers will be invited to a conference call to discuss this issue further with Administration officials and soon after that, we will host an online event to get more input and answer your questions. Details on that will follow in the coming days.
Washington needs to hear your best ideas about how to clamp down on rogue websites and other criminals who make money off the creative efforts of American artists and rights holders. We should all be committed to working with all interested constituencies to develop new legal tools to protect global intellectual property rights without jeopardizing the openness of the Internet. Our hope is that you will bring enthusiasm and know-how to this important challenge.
Moving forward, we will continue to work with Congress on a bipartisan basis on legislation that provides new tools needed in the global fight against piracy and counterfeiting, while vigorously defending an open Internet based on the values of free expression, privacy, security and innovation. Again, thank you for taking the time to participate in this important process. We hope you'll continue to be part of it."
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For such a small island (nearly circular with a 32 mi / 52 km diameter), Kauai features incredible diversity. Containing one of the wettest spots on earth, Mount Wai'ale'ale rises to a height of over 5,000 feet (1,524 m) above sea level and averages about 450 inches (11,430 mm) of rainfall annually.
Only a few miles away, however, on the southern tip of the Garden Isle lies Poi'pu (or "Sunny Poipu," as it is often called), where rain is rarely an issue. Home to famous Poipu Beach, Poipu's semi-arid tropical climate features an almost perfect balance between the rainy northeastern part of the island and the desert-like west side.
In addition to its idyllic weather, Poipu's central location permits easy access to much of the island, including Waimea Canyon. (The northwestern coast of Kauai contains the spectacular Na Pali Coast, which is impassable by car, so driving completely around the island is impossible. From Poipu, however, any place that is accessible by car can normally be reached within 1.5 hours.)
Adventures and activities abound in the Poipu area, so whether its swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, sunbathing, golf, hiking, shopping, dining, or one of many other options you seek, you're sure to find what you're looking for.
If you're the adventurous sort, we can direct you to one of the nearby "hidden" attractions that many visitors never see. Most of Kauai is undeveloped, so there are plenty of these around, and we can help you find your ideal adventure. Secluded beaches, remote waterfalls, wilderness trails — Kauai's got all that plus a lot more, and Sunny Poipu is the perfect home base from which to explore Hawaii's Garden Island.
If it's dining or shopping you desire, Poipu's got that covered too. In fact, Kauai's newest shopping plaza, The Shops at Kukui'ula, is directly across the street from the Kauai Beach Inn. A short stroll will take you to your choice of Merriman's Kaua'i (fine dining), Merriman's Downstairs Cafe (casual open-air café & pub), Tortilla Republic Grill & Margarita Bar, Josselin's Tapas Bar & Grill, Dolphin Sushi & Fish Market, Living Foods Market & Cafe, Dude Dogs, Bubba Burgers, Uncle's Shave Ice & Smoothies, Savage Shrimp, and Lappert's Ice Cream & Coffee. Or relax in your room with a delivery pizza from Pizzetta in Old Koloa Town. Kukui'ula Market just down the road specializes in gluten-free products and baked goods for our guests with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.
A slightly longer walk or a short drive will take you to the Beach House Restaurant, known for it's open air ocean-side dining and sunset views. Other nearby options include Da Crack (Mexican takeout), Brennecke's Beach Broiler & Deli, Kalapaki Joe's Poipu, Keoki's Paradise, Roys Poipu Bar & Grill, Red Salt Restaurant, and too many other's to mention here. Some of these require reservations, which we are always happy to make for you, but please provide us with as much advance notice as possible.
You will also find plenty of gift, apparel, surf, jewelry, and other shops along with numerous galleries, spas, grocery stores, and just about anything else you might need.
Bottom line? Poipu has it all! Come see for yourself what makes Poipu the ultimate Hawaiian vacation destination.
Click Here to Check Pricing & Availability for Any of Our Rooms or Suites
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When Americans voted to renew President Barack Obama's lease on the White House in November 2012, more than 9 million citizens took to Facebook to click the "I'm a Voter" button, showing their online friends that they had cast a ballot.
The social media site plans to offer versions of the feature around the world for a slate of national elections this year, the company said on Monday.
The feature was available for voters in India as the world's largest democracy chose a new prime minister, Narendra Modi, in voting over recent weeks. Over 4 million Indian voters used the "I'm a Voter" button during the country's parliamentary elections, Facebook said.
For Facebook, this is another effort to integrate its services into the everyday life of people around the globe as it seeks to increase its number of users, particularly in emergingmarkets.
The button will appear for voters in next week's European Parliament and Colombian elections, and for citizens in South Korea, Indonesia, Sweden, Scotland, New Zealand, andBrazil later this year. It will also appear again for Americans, during November's midterm congressional elections.
By clicking the button, users broadcast their status as a voter to their network of friends, but do not reveal how their vote was cast.
Previewing the feature's worldwide roll-out, Facebook said it estimates nearly 400 million people will see the message in their news feeds this year - more than one third of its roughly 1.1 billion active users.
A 2012 study in scientific journal Nature found that in the United States' 2010 midterm elections, 340,000 additional citizens voted after seeing that their friends had clicked the button to indicate they had cast a ballot


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(HealthDay News) – Flu season descended on the United States early and hard this winter, with significant increases in flu activity observed over the past month, according to an update issued Jan. 4 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the CDC, the proportion of people seeing their health care provider with influenza-like-illness in the U.S. has been elevated for four consecutive weeks, rising from 2.8 to 5.6% during that time period. Influenza-like-illness peaked at 2.2% during the 2011–2012 season.
During Week 52 (Dec. 23–29, 2012), of 9,363 specimens tested and reported by World Health Organization and National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System collaborating laboratories, 31.6% were positive for influenza (up from 29.6 reported last week). The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza was below the epidemic threshold. Two influenza-associated pediatric deaths were reported and were associated with influenza B viruses (total of 18).
"CDC continues to recommend influenza vaccination and antiviral treatment when appropriate at this time," according to a media briefing issued by the agency. "CDC has recommendations on the use of antiviral medications (sold commercially as "Tamiflu" and "Relenza") to treat influenza illness. Antiviral treatment, started as early as possible after becoming ill, is recommended for any patients with confirmed or suspected influenza who are hospitalized, seriously ill, or ill and at high risk of serious influenza-related complications, including young children, people >65 years, people with certain underlying medical conditions, and pregnant women. Treatment should begin as soon as influenza is suspected, regardless of vaccination status or rapid test results and should not be delayed for confirmatory testing."


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I recently told you about some of the commercials I've been making. Here's the first one. It will only run for the next two or three days in the US starting tomorrow. If you have the TV on while you eat your turkey, you'll be hard-pressed to miss.
It was shot by Jeff Preiss of Epoch films, edited by Charlie Johnston at Lost Planet, scored by Mark Isham and produced by Drew Lippman.


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Remember those distortion issues people (like me) were having with the unibody MacBook Pros while using the Mini DisplayPort Dual-Link DVI adapter? We can confirm that they're still there in the new machines.
The discussion thread reports that Apple recommends updating the firmware in the adapter itself to 1.02. Unfortunately you can't update it at home, so you'll have to go to an Apple store to trade it in. Even more unfortunate is the fact that users are saying the 1.02 firmware makes things even WORSE. [Mini DisplayPort coverage on Giz]


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NOTA AICEX: alzi la mano chi non si ricorda del tormentone di qualche mese fa, l'Ice Bucket Challenge. Cerchiamo di capire cosa possiamo imparare da un punto di vista di marketing virale.
Social feeds from across the country are chock-full of videos and photos of Celebrities, Inventors, CEOs, Athletes and Politicians all taking part in the most recent viral sensation : "the Ice Bucket Challenge"…!!
Whether you've laughed at your friend's reaction to the ice cold water or taken the challenge yourself, postings about it are everywhere. This initiative has achieved something that's every marketer's dream: going viral and capturing wide attention across the nation in a month or two..
How did this simple initiative turn into a movement that has scored participation from some of the biggest names in the country, including Bill Gates, Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Zuckerberg, Kobe Bryant, Oprah and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ??
The #IceBucketChallenge, benefits the ALS Association, which is dedicated to raising funds to research a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis as well as caring for those with the disease. It gained steam with the participation of Beverly, Mass.-based Pete Frates, who since 2012 has had the illness (also called Lou Gehrig's disease)...
#StartUps, established firms and marketers of all types can learn from the success of the Ice Bucket Challenge…Those trying to develop a viral campaign can take the following steps :
1. Identify the Goal OR Cause :
The goal of the Ice Bucket Challenge has been to spread awareness and raise funds for #ALSResearch, and its success has exceeded initial expectations. The objective is simple and clear and the challenge doesn't require much effort from participants: going online to donate or pouring a bucket of ice water over the head, or both.
Today's consumers like simplicity and direct messaging. They typically won't take the time to read through an entire article, newsletter or web page to understand a message.Marketers, simplicity is your friend…
2. Make it Fun and Easy :
Few things are funnier than seeing people have ice poured all over them and watching them cringe, scream or freeze in place. The web has been flooded with comical videos and images of those who have accepted the challenge.
People like to laugh, so keep members of your audience entertained with a video or photo that they would enjoy viewing. Keeping things lighthearted lets people connect with an organization on a human level and can encourage further engagement in an authentic way…
3. Add Immediacy :
Those asked to take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge have only 24 hours to do so…If you want an idea to flourish, keep the window of time brief to propel the process forward rapidly…By giving your audience a deadline, the initiative will become a greater priority.
4. Understand the power of Multiplication :
The ALS challenge calls on participants to encourage three additional people to participate, thus creating a multiplier effect…When possible, let consumers involved in an initiative have a chance to engage with their network so as to experience the joy of others joining in. The bonus for a marketer is bringing increased exposure to a company's brand..
5. Share on Many Platforms :
News of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is being shared on many social-media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube…
If you're hoping for an idea or campaign to go viral, make it easy for others to share updates across multiple platforms. Don't give people a reason to not become involved..
6. Give Participants a Chance to feel Good :
Everyone loves to feel a little better about himself (or herself). The Ice Bucket Challenge raises funds for a medical cause, and no matter the size of a donation, participants can feel good because they're helping others in need.
Plus, the challenge gives participants a sense of unity : They are sharing positive feelings and a goal with the rich and famous…!!
Setting up an initiative like this lets participants also allows for an emotional connection with an organization and opens up an opportunity for conversation…!!
AICEX Customer Experience Italian Association


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Mass. treasurer Steven Grossman, Sen. Dan Wolf enter governor's race
Candidates enter 2014 race for governor
Two more candidates are entering the 2014 race for governor.
The head of State Treasurer Steven Grossman's political committee, DJ Napolitano, said Wednesday that Grossman will announce his plans to seek the Democratic nomination for governor at the state party's platform convention in Lowell on Saturday.
The 67-year-old Newton resident is a former head of the Democratic National Committee. He was elected state treasurer in 2010, his first elective office.
State Sen. Dan Wolf, of Harwich, announced his candidacy for governor on Wednesday in a statement and a video posted on his campaign website.
"For the working people of Massachusetts, and our children, the future is uncertain. Despite progress, we still have an economy that is not working for many of us," Wolf said in the video.
"We need an economy not guided by special interests whose short-term goals are holding us back from fulfilling our promise," he said.
The two-term state senator and businessman helped create Cape Air.
Donald Berwick, a pediatrician from Newton and former top health care official in President Barack Obama's administration, and Joseph Avellone, a life sciences company executive and former Wellesley selectmen, previously announced their candidacies for the Democratic nomination for governor.
On the Republican side, the list of potential candidates includes 2010 Republican gubernatorial nominee and former Harvard Pilgrim Health Care CEO Charles Baker and former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown.
Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick is not seeking a third term.


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8cmx 7cm
Transparent coloured rainbow heart, so pretty.
Made by the talented Nat from Northern Sky Design in the North East
Northern Sky Glass Rainbow Hanging Heart
Delivery weight 200g Delivery £3.95/ Customer collection FREE
Up to 1kg order: total post & packaging £3.95
Up to 2kg order: total post & packaging £4.95
Over 2kg order: total post & packaging £5.95
Please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com for deliveries outside of the UK, so that we can provide you with a quotation for the postage.
It is our aim to dispatch all orders within 5 working days from the original order date. If for any reason this is not possible, we will email to notify you.
It is essential that the address you give to us is correct. If it is incorrect we cannot be liable for the loss or additional postage costs. If you have placed an order and wish to amend the address please email us on email@example.com as soon as possible and we will do our best to change it.


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Porn addiction comedy 'Don Jon' a fun romp with a dose of social realism
Jon Martello's relentless libido has a comic math to it.
At the club, Jon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his pals rate girls on a scale of one to "a dime." He keeps a weekly tally of both his conquests and his far more numerous - and to him more rewarding - porn-aided masturbations. And being a good Catholic boy, every Sunday, he counts up his sins and receives back from the priest his neat sum of Our Fathers and Hail Marys. (He recites them while working out.)
His life is a circle of replenishing lust, a ritual of superficial pleasure that adds up to robotic emptiness. Some like it hot; Jon ("Don," as in Don Juan, to his friends) needs it hot. Even his most attractive catches leave him unsatisfied, and he sneaks out of bed to his laptop. Real sex doesn't measure up to the fantasy of online pornography that lets him "lose himself."
But "Don Jon," the writing-directing debut of Gordon-Levitt, equals something quite substantial: a speedy little comedy about not just sex addiction but modern lives wasted on shallow gratification. There are other contemporary cravings, too: A big-screen TV dominates family meals at his parents' house (Tony Danza and Glenne Headly shouting back-and-forth like a sitcom couple), where Jon's younger sister (Brie Larson) pecks away at her smartphone.
Jon's compulsive routine (echoing the "gym-tan-laundry" of "the Situation" from "The Jersey Shore," a clear inspiration) is broken when he meets Barbara Sugarman (Scarlett Johansson, in full sex bomb). She requires the "long game" of dating and family-meeting before sleeping with Jon, but he judges her worth it. Their first date is a sparring match of Jersey accents, a dueling "Saturday Night Live" sketch.
When their relationship hits a roadblock (it involves both his porn addiction and, miraculously, Swiffer sweepers), Jon finds himself drawn to an older, less glamorous woman from his night class (Julianne Moore), who epitomizes everything Barbara isn't: unaffectedness over thick makeup; humor over self-seriousness; love over lust.
Until Moore fully enters the film, "Don Jon" is little more than a cartoon, albeit an entertaining one, constantly flashing the pornographic images that roil Jon's mind. Though the point is that Jon is a living cliche, it means the journey here is merely the awakening of a mannequin. (No offense intended to 1987's "Mannequin.")
But as an argument for life, itself, and all its pains and passions, you could hardly do better than Moore. For an actress of great naturalism, it's one of her most suited roles.
There's a growing output of movies to take up sex addiction and its digital stimulation, including Steve McQueen's grim but remarkable "Shame" and the recent, uneven "Thanks for Sharing." "Don Jon" is a lark, but an enjoyable one with a full-hearted finale, and it further reveals the considerable talents of Gordon-Levitt.
With Jerry Lewis eyebrows and boundless energy, he has already showed his varied skills in "50/50," "Looper" and, not least of all, as a manic host on the aforementioned "SNL." That he can also, in his first time out, make a modern parable about a New Jersey lothario with a little Catholic satire thrown in, suggests his range is greater still.
"Don Jon," a Relativity Media release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for "strong graphic sexual material and dialogue throughout, nudity, language and some drug use." Running time: 90 minutes.


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13in/13out+40 compact cascadable multiswitch for distribution of satellite signals from 3 satellite positions (12 polarities) to 40 users.
Terrestrial band is switchable between active and passive mode by rotary switch.
The multiswitch is DC supplied from external power supply via 2.1 DC socket. This power is passed also to all satellite inputs. DC path is provided on terrestrial trunk line.
Sales department:
Tel.: +420 376 323 813
Technical support:
Need more options? Proceed to Contact page


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FBI Teaches Zionist Lies To It's Agents About Muslims!
The FBI has publicly declared that its counterterrorism training seminars linking "mainstream" Muslims to terrorists was a "one time only" affair that began and ended in April 2011. But two months later, the Bureau employee who delivered those controversial briefings gave a similar lecture to a gathering of dozens of law enforcement officials at an FBI-sponsored public-private partnership in New York City.
And during that June presentation, the FBI's William Gawthrop told his audience that the fight against al-Qaida is a "waste," compared to the threat presented by the ideology of Islam itself.
"At the operational level, you have groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaida. Like teeth in a shark, it is irrelevant if you take one group out," Gawthrop said during his lecture to the New York Metro Infragard at the World Financial Center in downtown Manhattan.
This June 8 lecture is controversial in a different way. In Gawthrop's worldview, the struggle against al-Qaida is really just an afterthought in a broader war. The group that knocked down the World Trade Center and rammed a jet into the Pentagon is a mere distraction. These are the professional assessments of a representative from the nation's top domestic counterterrorism agency — a man considered so expert in understanding militant strategy that the FBI had him training agents on the subject.
"We waste a lot of analytic effort talking about the type of weapon, the timing, the tactics. All of that is irrelevant … if you have an Islamic motivation for actions," Gawthrop said. Even taking down hostile states like Iran is futile, since "there are still internal forces that will seek to exert Islamic rule again."
The best strategy for undermining militants, Gawthrop suggested, is to go after Islam itself. To undermine the validity of key Islamic scriptures and key Muslim leaders.
"If you remember Star Wars, that ventilation shaft that goes down to into the depths of the Death Star, they shot a torpedo down there. That's a critical vulnerability," Gawthrop told his audience. Then he waved a laser pointer at his projected PowerPoint slide, calling attention to the words "Holy Texts" and "Clerics."
"We should be looking at, should be aiming at, these," Gawthrop said.
Outside counterterrorists disagree — strongly — with Gawthrop's take. "This is mind-numbingly stupid and dangerous," says Aki Peritz, a former intelligence analyst at the National Counterterrorism Center, now with the Third Way think-tank in Washington. "If we were to follow his idea to a logical extension, that means we have individuals in every single government agency, at top levels, from CIA to the Defense Department to members of Congress, that are part of this cabal to destroy Western civilization. If you truly believe that, then this is McCarthyism on steroids."
Gawthrop delivered the presentation at the New York City chapter of Infragard. Infragard is a public-private partnership between the FBI and the private sector with chapters around the country "dedicated to sharing information and intelligence to prevent hostile acts against the United States."
The president and CEO of New York Metro Infragard, Joseph Concannon, told Danger Room that Gawthrop spoke in front of "60, 70 people," mostly from law enforcement. Concannon says an organization affiliated with Gawthrop, the American Military University, recommended the analyst to New York Metro Infragard after vouching for his expertise.
"We actually thought Bill had a very good presentation," Concannon said. "We gained a better understanding of the constraints put on [Muslims] in cooperating with law enforcement by some of the rules and policies they have in place."
Videos of the presentation, publicly posted to YouTube, were made private immediately after Danger Room contacted the FBI and New York Metro Infragard, one of a series of partnerships between the FBI and the private sector "dedicated to sharing information and intelligence to prevent hostile acts against the United States." However, Wired's video team was able to recovered one of the clips before it vanished completely from public sight. While the video recovery effort progressed on Friday, the FBI amended its press release, noting that Gawthrop continued to "provid[e] training on behalf of the FBI" until "August, 2011."
At the start of his lecture, Gawthrop told his audience that he was speaking in his capacity as a private citizen, not as an FBI analyst. His lecture featured an army.mil e-mail address, not one from the FBI. Gawthrop also said that he was discussing Islam and the Prophet Mohammed "as an ideology, not as a religion," in order to stay in-bounds of the First Amendment.
Gawthrop compared that Islamic "ideology" and its adherents to a "paper with iron filings on the top," brought into contact with a "very powerful magnet," which moves the iron filings back and forth. The iron filings "for the purposes of this discussion" are Muslims.
"We are not discussing Muslims. What we are interested in is the magnetic force, the radiating force of the ideology," Gawthrop said. "That it animates these iron filings, or these people, is one thing. But we are not talking about the goodness or the badness of the iron filings. We are only interested in the force that this ideology exerts on its surroundings. That force is also exerted against you."
Of course, the idea that Gawthrop can separate a devotee's "relationship to his Diety" and his relationship to other men is laughable. The Koran, like the Old and New Testaments, has strict ethical guidelines about how people should treat one another; those ethics are considered, in all three Abrahamic faiths, to come directly from God.
In earlier forums, Gawthrop made no such distinction. Before he joined the Bureau, Gawthrop told the website WorldNetDaily that the Prophet "Muhammad's mindset is a source for terrorism" and decried Washington's "political taboo of linking Islamic violence to the religion of Islam."
Nevertheless, in June, Gawthrop instructed his audience that the contents of the Koran and the other Islamic holy texts are best understood as only "17 percent religious." The other 83 percent comprises Islamic law and other means of governing the relationship "between Islam and the non-Islamic world." And that 83 percent amounts to an "expansive doctrine with a single agenda: world imperium. Controlling the world."
This was not the only presentation Gawthrop gave in New York. Concannon introduced Gawthrop's Infragard talk by explaining that Rick Powers, "a former chief of operations for NYPD, had a meeting a short while ago, for some security directors and other personnel in the city. And it was an hour-long presentation by a gentleman by the name of Bill Gawthrop…. And the feedback that we heard from everybody … was that it was an actually outstanding presentation, why wasn't it longer?"
In a statement issued to reporters Thursday, the FBI said very delicately that "this particular training segment" occurred "one time only, at Quantico and was quickly discontinued." That might be literally true — for the briefings that Gawthrop delivered to FBI counterterrorism agents at Quantico.
But that doesn't mean that Gawthrop's presentation was a one-off. The Infragard briefing proves Gawthrop presented his material to at least one FBI-affiliated security organization afterward. And previous Bureau training materials claimed that Islam "transforms [a] country's culture into 7th-century Arabian ways."
Not surprisingly, perhaps, Gawthrop believes that turning to the U.S. Muslim community for help in rooting out Islamic radicals is a waste of time.
"If we were going back to the 1940s, this would be like the Army and Navy asking Japanese-Americans to participate in the intelligence and operations paths trying to understand the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. That didn't happen," he told his audience in a second presentation, the video of which could not be recovered.
It's another odd message for an FBI counterterrorism analyst to send. The publicly stated position of the Bureau is that the relations with American Muslims are at the heart of the FBI's strategy to disrupt terror networks. As Bureau director Robert Mueller said in April, "every one of our 56 field offices and the leadership of those offices have had outreach to the Muslim community… We need the support of that community."
What's more, counterterrorism officials from the White House on down — like their predecessors in the Bush administration — insist that the number-one terrorist threat the U.S. faces comes from al-Qaida. Yet Gawthrop, who sees an undifferentiated Islamic menace, has no problem teaching FBI affiliates in law enforcement that not only is al-Qaida irrelevant, it's no different from Hamas and Hezbollah, groups with vastly different goals and vastly less American blood on their hands.
For those reasons, among others, outside counterterrorism experts believe Gawthrop's message is harmful to those people who are actually trying to stop militants — instead of going around lecturing about them.
"Clearly, al-Qaida and its affiliates remain the most dangerous terrorist threat facing America," said Rick "Ozzie" Nelson, a former National Counterterrorism Center official who now studies counterterrorism at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Combating al-Qaida and its toxic narrative — which claims the U.S. and the West are at war with Islam — must remain the primary focus of U.S. counterterrorism efforts. Any rhetoric that potentially fuels this false narrative only serves to counteract efforts to undermine the group's appeal. Inappropriately enlarging the characterization of the threat to include all of Islam may inadvertently increase al-Qaida's ideological resonance and could facilitate recruitment of would-be terrorists."
"The single worst thing we've done since 9/11, the one thing that's harmed us the most in interrogations, is these types of stereotypes," said Matthew Alexander, the pseudonymous former senior military interrogator who helped take down the leader al-Qaida in Iraq. "It's harmed us more than anything else, because we end up skipping the first step of any interrogation, which is analysis."
"Gawthrop's talk is a total nightmare," added Jarret Brachman, who closely monitors online Islamist radicalization. "This kind of vitriolic snake oil is not only wrong but it serves to inflame the relations between Muslims and law enforcement, making both communities more suspicious of one another's real intentions. Gawthrop and others ironically undermine years of my own work to convince online Islamists that the kind of training being provided to the U.S. government is objective and not against Islam. Gawthrop's approach to training is indefensible and makes my job trying to simmer a bunch of online hotheads down a lot harder."
See Also at the following link:
FBI Teaches Agents: 'Mainstream' Muslims Are 'Violent, Radical'
Senators Blast FBI Terror-Training 'Lies'
FBI 'Islam 101′ Guide Depicted Muslims as 7th-Century Simpletons
After Oslo, Group Accuses Thousands of Being Homegrown Terrorists


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National view: Untrending Palin
The latest trend in the media world is "trending." That is, monitoring what people are buzzing about and directing coverage accordingly. Just as the unspoken sometimes reveals more than the spoken, what's not trending suggests more than what's tr...
The latest trend in the media world is "trending." That is, monitoring what people are buzzing about and directing coverage accordingly.
Just as the unspoken sometimes reveals more than the spoken, what's not trending suggests more than what's trending. In all the many thousands of words written in the immediate aftermath of the Republican debate in Iowa, two words were scarce: Sarah Palin.
But she wasn't even in Iowa during the debate, you say. Correct. Her "bus tour," idling since its last attempt to seize national attention, wasn't due to arrive in Iowa until Friday. Then again, Texas Gov. Rick Perry wasn't in Iowa either and his name was everywhere. Some political observers even dubbed him winner of the debate in absentia.
This isn't to say Palin doesn't still have a loyal following. According to a recent survey by RealClearPolitics, which averages the results of several national polls, Palin ranked third behind Perry in second place and Mitt Romney in first. Palin barely edged out Michele Bachmann in fourth place by just two-tenths of a point. It (BEG ITAL)is(END ITAL) to say, however, that she was not then on the minds of many Americans.
Despite her persistence as a hypothetical presidential contender in polls, could it be that Sarah Palin's moment is up? Has she (finally) exploited "McCain's Folly" to the extent possible?
Palin may still have a "fire in my belly," as she recently told Fox's Greta Van Susteren, but does America still have an appetite for Palin's brand of politicking? Her months-long tease about whether she'll run for president may be a savvy move if you're selling books and cutting TV deals, but it's not much in the way of leadership.
Eventually, when a tease goes on too long, fascination morphs into boredom. Or anger. The authenticity that Palin displayed in her early days as mayor of Wasilla and governor of Alaska has lost is luster from overexposure. Authenticity becomes inauthentic once it is commodified and packaged as a marketing strategy.
There has never been any debate about Palin's considerable star power. Full of personality and chutzpah, she gets credit for putting relative unknowns on the political map and for raising mountains of cash with a wink and the sort of fiery rhetoric that gets blood rushing to the amygdala. (That's the section of the brain that relates to pleasure and pain for those of you who leapt to the wrong body part, if the right conclusion.)
But star power isn't enough, as we're witnessing in real time. President Obama beat the stars when he rose from community organizer and state senator to become U.S. senator before running for president. The tides haven't risen as hoped, but the walls do seem to be tumbling down. With dismal news from London's riots to wildly fluctuating global markets, this is no time for unserious, self-infatuated (maybe, winky) candidates.
While serious candidates were prepping for the hard work of a presidential debate, Palin was announcing her intention to pop over to Iowa in her "One Nation Tour." In an email to her fans, she wrote: "The heartland is perfect territory for more of the One Nation Tour as we put forth efforts to revitalize the fundamental restoration of America by highlighting our nation's heart, history, and founding principles." (Homeland Security reportedly has sought help from idle bloggers fluent in Palinspeak to translate the meaning of this sentence.)
Good luck with that. Palin's governing theory reads like a copy editor's game where you stitch together random phrases to create something like sense. Her sashay into Iowa, meanwhile -- showing up basically to show up -- is testament to her inability to resist the spotlight. Or perhaps it is the flame.
Time will tell, but what recent history already confirms is that Palin isn't a serious person. If she had been serious about running for president, she would have completed her term as governor. Or, having left office, she would have spent her time hitting the books and filling in knowledge gaps so painfully exposed during the 2008 election.
Instead, she hit the road in a series of moneymaking, self-promoting stunts and has succeeded in achieving the true American dream: fame and fortune. Good for her. But all those people who have written checks and invested good faith in their chosen one will be justified in feeling played like any other heartbroken victim of a terrible flirt.
Kathleen Parker's email address is kathleenparker(at)washpost.com.


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Contribution to visualization and web development
WEDODATA is a data visualization agency based in Paris specialized in print infographics, web and mobile applications with a strong data input. At WEDODATA, journalists, graphic designers and web developers work as a team to deliver the most creative and accurate visualizations to their clients such as OECD, FranceTV, Radio France or French WIPO branch. WEDODATA assisted the Carbon Atlas team in the design (conception and development) of the Outreach and Emissions applications.
Karen Bastien : Director
Brice Terdjman : Responsible of Outreach application
Vincent Le Jeune : Development of Emission application
Anthony Vessière : Development of Emission application
Website : http://wedodata.fr/
ClimMod Engineering
CLIMMOD is a scientific engineering company involved in the field of numerical modeling and simulation for climate and environment. The team consists of engineers with extensive research experience in the development and validation of scientific software. CLIMMOD was responsible for development and integration of the web platform for the Global Carbon Atlas.
- Contact information: Dr. Jacques Zegbeu POUSSI, C.E.O. firstname.lastname@example.com
Website : www.climmod.com


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Yes, you can juice fresh mint leaves in a juice extractor. Mint and lime add a bright flavor to this kale and parsnip drink. Head here for more kale juice recipes we love »
Note: This recipe yields about 1 pint of juice, enough for two 1-cup servings. You can double the recipe, but juice is best served immediately and will lost flavor and color with time. Store leftover juice in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 day. In our testing, it took about 1 1/2 pounds of kale to produce 1 cup of juice. Results may vary based on kale and on juicer. This recipe calls for lots of mint, so it's better to look for mint in bunches rather than individual clamshell containers.
Recipe Facts
- 1 cup (8 ounces) freshly squeezed kale juice, from about 1 1/2 pounds kale
- 1/2 cup (4 ounces) parsnip juice, from about 4 peeled parsnips
- 1/2 cup (4 ounces) fresh apple juice, from 4 large (or up to 8 small) green apples
- 4 teaspoons juice from 1 lime (more or less to taste)
- 1/4 cup (2 ounces) mint juice, from about 12 ounces mint leaves (about 2 large bunches)
- Garnish: mint sprig and lime wedge
Mix kale juice, parsnip juice, apple juice, lime juice, and mint juice well. Serve on ice with mint and lime wedge garnish.
Special equipment


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Weariness takes its toll on and off court for Braves
I can't think of a better word to describe the state of Bradley Braves basketball right now. It covers everyone with a stake in the program: the players and coaches, the administration, the institution and, yes, the fans. No matter who you are, no matter what you think of the events that have unfolded since early Saturday morning, if you care at all for BU, you are worn out.
Physically. Mentally. Emotionally.
That pretty much sums up the injury- and suspension- and eventually foul-thinned Braves during the last 10 minutes of their 71-60 loss to Southern Illinois on Tuesday night at Carver Arena. Though not for lack of effort, their defense lagged, their decision-making sagged, and their shots went awry, as their tanks went dry.
That's all you really need to know about the game, which was probably the least important thing to happen around here the past four days. The big question has nothing to do with where the loss to SIU drives Bradley in terms of seeding for the Missouri Valley tournament next week; nothing to do with how the Braves might regroup for their final regular-season game this weekend at Creighton. None of that matters.
The big question, of course, is this: Will suspended senior co-captain Daniel Ruffin play again?
The answer, though, is not important as it relates to Bradley's chances to win without him. Not at all.
The answer is important because of its impact on the female student who has accused him of trying to choke her during an encounter early Saturday. The answer is important because of what it means to the remainder of Ruffin's BU playing career, for he might not be guilty of the misdemeanor domestic battery charge leveled against him.
The answer is important because of what that decision will say about the university and the ideals for which it stands.
Four days now, the community has been awaiting the answer.
Impatience and fatigue grow with every minute that passes.
But this is no time for impatience. The issues and ideals and reputations and lives at stake are too vital for a rush to judgment.
And yet, there is no denying the urgency for Ruffin. He missed one game while sitting in the Peoria County Jail. He missed a second Tuesday, due to the 'indefinite suspension' imposed within hours of his arrest. One regular-season game remains on the schedule, and after that, each subsequent game could be the last.
Allowing the legal system to play out is not an option. By the time Ruffin's preliminary hearing is held March 18, the season could be over.
You can say, well, that's tough. Basketball is only a game. Even if he's innocent of the charge, he made himself vulnerable with some questionable lifestyle choices. If the consequences are losing the opportunity to finish his college career in uniform, so be it.
You can say all of that. But then, it's not your life.
I'm not going to render a verdict on Ruffin's guilt or innocence. I wasn't there, and neither were you. We have police reports, a couple of terse newspaper interviews with the alleged victim, a statement given police by the one known eyewitness. We have not heard from Ruffin, whose statement to police was redacted from the report given the Journal Star.
There is likely far more we don't know.
Only four days have passed. Not much time for anyone — coaches and administrators included — to gather all the information necessary to make a good decision.
'It's a tedious process that takes time,' Bradley coach Jim Les said Tuesday. 'We owe it to everyone involved that we are very thorough. That being said, when it's done, it will be done, but it will be done the right way.'
University president Joanne Glasser has said repeatedly during her six months on the job that the integrity of the institution is paramount.
You can be certain she does not want Bradley to be viewed as a place where domestic violence, or underage drinking, or any other of the social ills that plague American campuses, are taken lightly. And you can be confident that, while she is an enthusiastic fan of BU's sports teams, she will not allow the quest for victories on the courts and fields to be the school's moral compass.
Those are components of integrity.
But so are compassion and fairness.
During Senior Night ceremonies, pregame Tuesday, Glasser met Ruffin in the middle of the court and embraced him. There was nothing phony about what thousands of fans saw there, but know this: She would treat the alleged victim in this case in the same manner, because in the eyes of this university president, they are both her children.
I don't know what Glasser will ultimately decide. But I am certain of one thing. She will do what she believes is right and just and maintains the highest standard of integrity.
KIRK WESSLER is Journal Star executive sports editor/columnist. Contact him at (309) 686-3216 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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(CNN) -- The Utah Department of Workforce Services said Friday it has identified at least two employees believed to be involved in creating a list containing the personal information of a purported 1,300 alleged illegal immigrants.
"At this point we don't think it was a very large conspiracy. We think it was two, maybe. We have suspicion of a couple of more people, a very small group," said Kristen Cox, the executive director of the Department of Workforce Services.
"Release of such private, sensitive information is deplorable," Gov. Gary Herbert said in a news release. "We immediately took action to discover the origins of this list, and I'm pleased with the hard work of the Department of Workforce Services. When someone does business with the state of Utah, they deserve to know that their private information will be kept private."
Herbert told CNN's John King on Friday night that the 1,300 people have Hispanic names and not all of them are in the state illegally.
The two employees have been placed on administrative leave pending completion of the full investigation and other employees may be identified as the review continues, the news release said. The Utah attorney general's office will review data from the investigation for possible further action.
"The people we've identified certainly have some strong political opinions and seem to be frustrated with some of the issues around immigration," Cox said. "Regardless of what their frustration is, they work for the Department of Workforce Services and for state government. They understand what the rules are. They understand the protocols. And if they want to go rogue, they need to quit the department. I think it's immense hypocrisy to take someone to task for being illegal and doing so by breaking the law."
The state focused on the Utah Department of Workforce Services, Herbert's office said Thursday, because all of the information on the 29-page list -- including contact information, Social Security numbers and pregnancy due dates -- is contained within that agency's database. Information from the investigation may be turned over to state prosecutors, a statement from the office said.
The list was anonymously distributed to media and government offices across the state, CNN affiliate KSTU-TV reported. An accompanying letter from "Concerned Citizens of the United States" insisted that those on the list should be deported immediately.
Thursday, a group of Latino activists told reporters that the list had sparked widespread fear.
"Our community is very concerned, very worried about it," said Tony Yapias with Proyecto Latino de Utah. "I would say they have been terrorized, many of them. People are just afraid of what's happening."
Those named on the list are even more frightened, said Jesus Ramos with the Utah Coalition of La Raza.
"For these 1,300 people, unfortunately that fear has escalated," he said. "There's an arrest warrant out, essentially. That fear never goes away."
Herbert said Friday, "Some are scared and apprehensive. I understand that. I expect that comes with the status of being illegal. If I was in the country illegally, I would probably have fear and apprehension, too."
Utah Minuteman Project co-chairman Eli Cawley told CNN affiliate KSL-TV that he had some concerns about privacy and how the names were procured, but he would have released a similar list if he could have.
"If it were a reliable list and it had come from a source that was acknowledged and vetted, then yes, I would absolutely support something like that," he said.
But Herbert said Friday the information shouldn't have gone out to anyone, even the government agency charged with enforcing immigration law.
"It's a violation of federal law to take this information and give it to ICE, whether it's out there or not," the governor said, referring to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
"If we have laws on the books, they need to be enforced and we're enforcing it here on this breach of the law as it appears on disclosing confidential information," Herbert said. "But I also believe the issue at hand, the underlying issue of illegal immigration, is something that needs to be addressed also. We know the frustration of the people out there because of the inaction of the federal government, in particular, in enforcing the law."
Herbert has plans to bring together a "spectrum" of viewpoints, some "diametrically opposed," for a roundtable discussion on immigration reform in Utah on Tuesday.
"We see what's happened in Arizona. So Utah, like other states right now, are saying if the federal government is not going to do something, we will take steps to do something ourselves within the parameters of the law. It may mean creating new law," he said.


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The Italian L10N team has not been very active nor growing in recent years. In particular, we pretty much failed at attracting new members in our team, with the result that untranslated files are piling up and manpower is scarce.
Following a suggestion of our uber-active Francesca, we decided to try a new move to invert the trend: organizing brief weekly online sprints open to everybody, where graybeard translators will help newcomers getting to grips on Debian L10N infrastructure while collaboratively working on yet-untranslated targets.
Last week, we tried our first and very introductory sprint, with a preliminary meeting on IRC to give instructions and setup ad-hoc pads. As a result, we ended with linux-2.6 po-debconf and a web-page completely translated and proofread by almost fifteen people in just a couple a hours. The key point however is that the majority of participants were fresh L10N-newbies, which we hope will join us permanently very soon after this first contact.
Encouraged by the initial positive result, we already announced our next sprint for Thursday 11th, which will be focused on package descriptions translation (preceded by a crash course on DDTSS, its related web interface).
We hope that even more users will join us this time, and encourage other "stalled" translation teams in experimenting a similar approach to revive activity and encourage participation.


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The ASHA CE Registry is a service maintaining a permanent, cumulative transcript of your ASHA Continuing Education Units (ASHA CEUs) awarded by the ASHA Continuing Education Board (CEB). The ASHA CE Registry is open to ASHA/NSSLHA members and non-members who meet eligibility criteria. To learn more about eligibility requirements, go to Who is eligible to Earn ASHA CEUs section of the CE FAQs.
The ASHA CE Registry:
Why should I use the ASHA CE Registry?
The ASHA CE Registry is a convenient, low cost, and safe way to keep track of courses taken through ASHA Approved CE Providers. ASHA CE Registry transcripts are accepted by all of the state licensing agencies and using the ASHA CE Registry provides a worry free way to document hours required to maintain ASHA Certification. For every year you pay the ASHA CE Registry fee, you may request an official transcript. We issue official transcripts to you, regulatory boards, employers or anyone else you designate.
Can I keep track of my CEUs on my own?
You can keep your own record of CE attendance. However, our ASHA-approved CE Providers do not award ASHA CEUs. ASHA CEUs are only awarded through the ASHA CE Registry. ASHA CE will not be able to verify your attendance in CE courses if you do not use the CE Registry. We advise you to check with your state licensing board to see what documentation they require for re-licensing or audit before making this decision.
You are not required to use the ASHA CE Registry for CCC renewal, although you may find it a convenient, no-hassle approach. Please visit the CCC Maintenance pages or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com for more information.
There are eligibility requirements to earn ASHA CEUs. You do not need to be an ASHA member or CCC holder to earn ASHA CEUS and use the ASHA CE Registry, however you must meet at least one of the eligibility criteria to earn ASHA CEUs. Also, note that many ASHA-approved CE Providers set course prerequisites. If you meet the course's prerequisites, you may earn ASHA CEUs and use the ASHA CE Registry if you are eligible.
How do I sign up for the ASHA CEU Registry and how much does it cost?
There are three ways to sign up:
Phone: 800-498-2071
Mail: mail in your subscription form [PDF] with payment
Dues invoice:"Optional programs" on your dues invoice
Cost: As of 2018 the Annual Registry fee: $28/members $38/non-members
Pro-rating is not available. You receive one free transcript per Registry payment, sent at your request. Additional transcript: $15/member, $20/non-member.
You were sent a bill/invoice because you submitted an ASHA CEU Participant Form (bubble sheet) at a course or one of our ASHA CE Providers submitted one on your behalf. When you submit an ASHA CEU Participant Form, we presume you are interested in and eligible to earn ASHA CEUs and use the CE Registry. You may sign up for the Registry or cancel the invoice by calling 800-498-2071. If you decide to cancel the invoice, the ASHA CEUs will not be awarded and will be permanently deleted from your records.
How do I order my official transcript?
You can call in your transcript request (800-498-2071) or order online.
How does ASHA know I attended a course?
When you attend a course offering ASHA CEUs, before you leave, fill out and submit the ASHA CEU Participation Form or provide your information electronically per the Provider's instructions. The ASHA-approved CE Provider sends your information to us within 45 days of the course's end date. The Continuing Education Board awards you ASHA CEUs through the CE Registry. The Registry staff sends your transcript at your request.
How soon will a course be on my transcript?
ASHA CE Providers have up to 45 days from the course's end date to send your ASHA CEU Participant Form to us. Once here, processing time usually takes one week. During periods of heavy volume, processing time may be longer.
How can I add coursework to my transcript?
Course is coming up/not offering ASHA CEUs: Independent Study is the process you would use.
Course already took place/didn't offer ASHA CEUs: We cannot add credit to your ASHA CEU transcript retroactively. If you are interested in using non-ASHA CEU coursework to keep your CCC current, please visit the CCC Maintenance pages for more information.
Didn't submit your participant information at course: If your information and request to earn ASHA CEUs was not submitted at the time of the course, please contact the course provider as soon as possible.
What if a course is missing from my transcript?
Did the course offer ASHA CEUs? We cannot process non-ASHA CEU activities. Some promotional materials state that a course is suitable for SLPs and/or Audiologists. This does not mean it offered ASHA CEUs.
Have you allowed for processing time? ASHA CE Providers have up to 45 days from the course's end date to send your ASHA CEU Participant Form to us. Once here, processing time can take up to four (4) weeks during our busy times.
Contact the ASHA Approved CE Provider—Ask the Provider if your information for the course was submitted to the ASHA CE Registry.
If you qualified for and requested ASHA CEUs at the time of the course but the Provider didn't submit your information to the ASHA CE Registry, the Provider will work with the ASHA CE Registry to add the course to your transcript.
If the Provider does not have record of your completion of the course or documentation of your request to earn ASHA CEUs (e.g., completion of an ASHA CEU Participant form), you'll need to contact the ASHA CE Registry directly to appeal to have the course added to your ASHA CE Registry Transcript.
Remember, individuals who want to earn ASHA CEUs must complete the ASHA CEU Participant form at the end of the course. Alternatively, when completing an online course you must carefully follow the ASHA Approved CE Provider's instructions in order to be awarded ASHA CEUs. ASHA CEUs cannot be awarded retroactively.
When appealing, you'll be asked to explain circumstances that prevented you from either completing the ASHA CEU Participant form or following the Provider's instructions for earning ASHA CEUs.
Can I view my transcript online?
Yes, ASHA members and eligible participants of the ASHA CE Registry can access their Registry transcript information online. Individuals may view courses on their transcript including many course details like how many ASHA CEUs they have earned, and more, by going to:


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Saturday, May 19
10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church - Franklin
Barr Conference Room
101 Legends Club Lane
(near the intersection of Franklin Road & Mack Hatcher Parkway)
After months of planning, it's finally here, our service project sewing day! We need all hands on deck, so please be sure to join us for what will be a fun day. Volunteers are needed. If you know anyone who would be willing to come out and join us for the day, we would love to have them. Sewing skills not necessary.
We will be documenting the day for a feature in an upcoming issue of Generation Q Magazine, so come prepared to have your photo taken. This is a great opportunity for our guild and the organizations we support with our service projects!
Thanks to the incredibly generous donation from Ann Kelle Designs, The Quilting Squares and individual members, we have very few fabric needs. We do need quilting cotton prints suitable for baby boys, and we will always take other cotton fabric donations as well. There is still a need for fiberfill. In order to maintain a consistency with the finished pillows, and provide for easier storage, please only purchase 5 pound boxes of Morning Glory Premium Polyester Fiberfill (available here). Please note that all donated items must be in new, unwashed condition from a smoke-free environment.
If you are planning to join us, we need to know in advance. Please be so kind as to complete the form below. If it isn't working for you, or if it isn't visible, you can also access it here.


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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Very ill patients who prefer to die at home are more likely to do so if they get frequent visits from hospice nurses and doctors, according to a new report.
The findings highlight the importance of hospices, which provide specialized care to very sick or terminally ill patients and offer them the opportunity to remain at home if they want to.
"Frankly, it's one of the things hospices offer that hospitals can't," said Dr. David Casarett, chief medical officer at the Penn-Wissahickon Hospice at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
"People want to be home," he told Reuters Health. "That's where they feel comfortable and it's a matter of dignity."
In the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Casarett and his colleagues write that the majority of cancer patients die in a hospital even though most would prefer to do so at home.
"Most people now have an option, so it's really important for people to achieve that option," said Donna Wilson, a professor at the University of Alberta in Canada, who was not involved with the new study.
More and more people in developed countries are dying at home compared with in the 1990s and 2000s, when the rate of dying in hospitals peaked among terminally ill patients, said Wilson.
She told Reuters Health that, at least in Canada, people moved away from dying at hospitals partly because they were afraid of the aggressive tests and treatments. At the same time, the availability of hospice and pain management services increased.
"A study like this can really be very helpful to waking people up to what we should do," said Wilson, who added that there will be more dramatic shifts in home deaths as baby boomers continue to age.
"I think people want to spend time at home and we need a health care system that allows them to do it," added Casarett.
To see what factors were linked to a person's chance of dying at home, Casarett and his colleagues looked at information collected between October 2008 and June 2011 for cancer patients in hospices in Florida, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
From the patients' medical records, the researchers knew where more than 5,800 of them wanted to die. About three-quarters wanted to die at home, whereas the rest typically preferred to die at a nursing home, a hospice unit or a hospital.
Of the people who started care at home and said they wanted to die there, 1,735, or 55 percent, did so.
The researchers found three factors that were tied to people's chance of dying at home. Specifically, married people and those who had made their preference clear in advance directives were more likely to die at home. The same was true for people who had daily visits from the hospice for the first four days of their care.
The results don't necessarily prove that frequent visits by themselves up the chances of dying according to one's preferences, but the researchers felt that was likely.
"The main finding for us was the issue of being able to show that more visits really do help," said Casarett. "It's not really rocket science - it's common sense in a way. But, from a policy perspective, it's important."
That's because they help hospices that struggle for funding make their case.
The researchers caution, however, that some of the patients in the study may have changed their mind on where they wanted to die after they were asked at the beginning of their hospice care.
Hospice care varies in price, but may be covered by Medicare, Medicaid and private insurances.
SOURCE: bit.ly/N3tjY4 Journal of Clinical Oncology, online June 25, 2012.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


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The manufacturer will install 55 of its low-wind N117/2400 turbine on wind farms being developed by WPD Group, PNE Wind and Boreas Energie among others.
Due to the terms of the contracts, Nordex was unable to reveal project specifics. However, it said it will install and connect all of the new wind farms by the end of the year.
Nordex will also install four of its medium-wind N117/3000 turbines on the Sehestedt wind farm being developed by Denker and Wulf in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. On top of this there were sales for two more N117/3000s to an unnamed developer.
The German manufacturer moved into the top ten largest turbine manufacturers last year, according to consultants BTM, thanks in part to a strong showing from the N117/2400.