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Lousiana's Delhi Charter School Violates Title IX: Tell Them to Stop Targetting Pregnant Students
Yesterday morning, I learned about Delhi Charter School's unethical and illegal school policy. The school has required teen girls to take pregnancy tests at the discretion of school officials. If a girl refused, she would be sent home from school. If her test came back positive, she would be sent home from school. Sound fair to you?
UPDATE Thursday, August 9, 2:11PM: In the face of major backlash, the school has decided to reverse its discriminatory policy.
Yesterday morning, I learned about Delhi Charter School's unethical and illegal school policy. The school has required teen girls to take pregnancy tests at the discretion of school officials. If a girl refused, she would be sent home from school. If her test came back positive, she would be sent home from school. Sound fair to you?
Sign a petition demanding that the school eliminate mandatory pregnancy tests and commit to giving pregnant students the same education, in the same place and at the same time, as all other students.
Not only is this policy unfair, it is illegal! Forcing a girl to take a pregnancy test is illegal. Sending a girl home from school for refusing is illegal. Sending a girl home for being pregnant is illegal. Women should never feel like they can lose their right to an education just for being a woman. This policy is discriminatory and unconstitutional.
Being in high school is tough as it is. Imagine being accused of being pregnant and forced to take a pregnancy test. As a former teen parent, I know this is unethical and just so wrong in so many ways. It has been 40 years since Title IX became a law and promised equal opportunities for boys and girls, but Delhi Charter School has demonstrated their lack of respect for our progression.
A school is intended to educate youth and provide them with a safe place to learn. What the Delhi school is teaching is to pass judgment, discriminate, and violate laws that don't coincide with your personal beliefs. While boys are rightfully acquiring an education at Delhi, girls are pushed out and forced to face devastating consequences. Are the boys at Delhi Charter School having their rights stripped away for potentially being fathers? Are the boys at Delhi Charter School being pushed out for fathering children? Sadly, Delhi has exhibited disturbingly obvious sexism against women.
As a young parent, I can assure you that this ridiculous policy is no solution to any possible problem. When I was just 17 years old, school staff made it almost impossible for me to be in school and enjoy it. They made my life much harder than it had to be. Being an honor roll student with future goals, I knew I could not succeed in such a negative environment. If I didn't have another option, I would have dropped out of school. Fortunately, I transferred myself to a public school that offered more support and even designated a person to be my coach and advocate. Not only did I graduate, I did it on time and maintained great grades in my honors classes throughout the year. But believe me when I say I had to stand up to staff on a daily basis to ensure I would graduate.
I am ashamed to see our educators making such poor decisions. Teen parents are capable of being wonderful students and amazing parents. Our lives are tough as it is. We don't need others making it even harder for us to acquire our basic rights. Yesterday, I started my first petition against school officials. Please sign my petition and help me convince the Delhi Charter School to immediately drop their policy AND acknowledge that their policy is a violation of a woman's rights.


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Madison Pettis, better known as the voice of Adyson on Disney's Phineas and Ferb is taking part in a very special charity just in time for the holidays.
She's involved with the Celebrity Slipper Fairy Challenge sponsored by
Dearfoams. Dearfoams is donating slippers to various USO bases across the
country on her behalf. Check out this video to find out more from Madison and
check out slipperfairy.com for more info!
Will you turn into a slipper fairy over the holidays? Tell us in the comments section below!

subset: commoncrawl


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Space and dialogism
|Thursday, 04 April 2019 - Thursday, 04 April 2019
|South West Engineering Building
Braamfontein Campus East
Seminar Room, Humanities Graduate Centre
|Start time:
Centre for Indian Studies invites you to this lecture as part of the 3rd Thinking from the Global South Distinguished Lectures.
Archives typically do not mention contiguous literary subjects working in different traditions and languages, promoting a view of separate life-worlds despite noticing "curious" similarities. A spatial approach that actively looks for the "multiplicity of stories and trajectories" (Massey) and is attentive to the dialogism of utterances (Bakhtin), by contrast, can go a long way into explaining the utterances themselves and who they are in silent dialogue with. This lecture will present two case studies from North India: the "silent dialogue" between Sufis and Sants (devotional poet saints), and an anthology of modern writing on the city of Allahabad.Add event to calendar


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Following the success of the inaugural Australia and New Zealand Festival of Literature and Arts in 2014, the ANZ Fest gang return to London later this month. This year's line-up is bigger and better than 2014, and the film strand is no exception. Boosted by the recruitment of Film Coordinator Neil Mitchell, it too has expanded in both scope and volume, with this year's festival serving up a veritable feast of Antipodean films, old and new, playing across two weekends at Hackney Picturehouse (HPH) and the Strand campus of King's College London (KCL).
A World First
Often billed as the world's first feature-length dramatic film, much of The Story of the Kelly Gang (d. Tait, 1906) [30 May – 4pm – KCL] has been lost to the ravages to time. To celebrate the film's centenary, however, Australia's National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) pieced together the remaining fragments from collections and archives (and rubbish dumps!) in Australia and Britain.
Those seventeen or so minutes (plus additional stills and contextual information) will be screened at a very special ANZ Fest event, followed by an extended discussion with Angus Forbes, the grandson of Charles Tait, who is often credited as the film's director. To discuss the film's production, exhibition, disappearance and rediscovery, Forbes will be joined on stage by Dr Ian Henderson, director of the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies and Stephen Morgan (that'll be me!), PhD candidate at King's College London.
The Last New Wave/s
A firmly established classic and a (somewhat) neglected masterpiece constitute ANZ Fest's mini-tribute to one of Australia's finest filmmakers, Peter Weir. Celebrating its 40th birthday in 2015, Weir's breakthrough classic Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) [31 May – 5:45pm – KCL] – the hauntingly picturesque mystery of disappearing schoolgirls set on St Valentine's Day 1900 – is shown here in an anniversary screening authorised by Weir himself. Another masterwork of the Australian film renaissance, released two years after Picnic, The Last Wave (1977) [24 May – 4pm – HPH] sees Weir turn his attention to a contemporary mystery, as a Sydney lawyer is drawn deeper and deeper into a labyrinth of indigenous mysticism and apocalyptic visions.
Looking back at New Zealand's own post-1970 film renaissance, ANZ Fest will also screen Geoff Murphy's anarchic road movie classic, Goodbye Pork Pie (1981) [24 May – 1pm – HPH], one of the first Kiwi features to get a UK-wide release in the early 1980s.
Antipodean Stories
Recently released in the UK by Soda Pictures, the epic Rob Connolly-produced portmanteau film The Turning (d. Various, 2013) [29 May – 5:45pm – KCL], brings seventeen filmmakers – experienced hands and newcomers alike – together to adapt a collection of loosely connected short stories by Tim Winton. With on-screen appearances from Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, David Wenham, Rose Byrne and many more, and segments directed by the likes of Warwick Thornton, Justin Kurzel, Mia Wasikowska and Shaun Gladwell.
Also released in Britain last year, breathtaking skateboarding/brotherhood documentary All This Mayhem (d. Martin, 2013) [23 May – 1pm – HPH] relates the meteoric rise and tragic fall of Tas and Ben Pappas, the Melbourne brothers who escaped the city's rough western suburbs to rank amongst the best skateboarders in the world. This screening of one of the standout documentaries from 2014 also features a Skype Q&A with Tas Pappas.
Meanwhile, commemorating the centenary of ANZAC involvement in the First World War, The Waler: Australia's Great War Horse (d. Vines, 2015) [31 May – 1:30pm – KCL] shows that there was far more to equine involvement in the Allied effort than the war horse of Michael Morpurgo's book (or the subsequent stage and feature film productions). Over 130,000 Australian horses served during the Great War, and this documentary traces their origins, their feats and what became of the 50,000 or so that survived the battlefields.
From the past to the very present, and a last minute confirmation in Frackman (d. Todd/Stack, 2015) [30 May – 6:30pm – KCL], an observational documentary – and antipodean companion to Josh Fox's fracking expose Gasland (2010) – which follows the story of pig-farmer and accidental activist Dayne 'Frackman' Pratzky, as he fights multinational corporations seeking a quick buck in the global race for coal seam gas.
Tales of Aotearoa
Stories from indigenous Australia will feature prominently elsewhere in Britain in the coming months, allowing ANZ Fest to focus on tales of Maori life from across the pond. Hard-hitting family drama Once Were Warriors (d. Tamahori, 1994) [30 May – 1:30pm – KCL] is already a well established Kiwi classic, as is New Zealand's highest grossing hit, 1980s-set comedy Boy (d. Waititi, 2010) [31 May – 3:45pm – KCL] takes a rather more lighthearted approach to growing up Maori. New Zealand also had a relatively healthy share of its homegrown box office in 2014, and ANZ Fest will show the second and third highest grossing Kiwi films of last year, the Cliff Curtis-starring chess and anti-violence drama The Dark Horse (d. Robertson, 2014) [23 May – 4pm – HPH], and pre-Euro blood and thunder actioner The Dead Lands (d. Fraser, 2014) [30 May – 3:45pm – KCL].
Tickets for the 2015 Australia and New Zealand Festival of Literature and Arts are on sale now. The core festival runs from 28-31 May at King's College London, with satellite events across London from May 17, including a weekend of film screenings at Hackney Picturehouse on 23-24 May.


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Create your profile and meet other EUMANS, take part in conversations, preparation of initiatives, and coordination of new actions. You can also discuss EUMANS Statute and have your say in the creation of the paneuropean Movement of popular initiative. If you register on EUMANS Agorà you can also receive all the updates about upcoming meetings, the calendar of initiatives, and other updates on our actions.
EU CAN DO IT: health, social and economic crisis coordination
EU CAN DO IT was a comprehensive package of proposals to manage the COVID emergency and social, economic and climate crisis with a coordinated European effort presented through an official Petition to the European Parliament. Whilst it started very well with the public hearing, it got bounced to different committees and then got stuck. The Petition was supported by 8,000 people and over 50 organisations across Europe. Now, we feel it is important to reach out to all those who signed it, and involve others, to invest in following-up to the Eu Can Do It petition by updating its demands and objectives
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Angelina Jolie has a new tattoo, but she claims it's "just for Brad." My neighbor, Helen Peters, supermarket tabloid aficionado/conspiracy theorist, finds all of this fascinating and has written in to share her thoughts on the matter.
Ok, so, let me just start by saying I was already having a bad enough day because I had taken Albert—that's my dog—out to poop on the same part of the yard he always poops on—okay, admittedly close to the mailboxes—and Alice Fishby from 18B, you know, the one with the green car and the unfortunate haircut, she came over and started screaming and I mean SCREAMING about this poop, like I wasn't gonna pick it up. Don't I always pick it up? I always pick it up. Even that time when Albert had the runs from that rawhide that Judy gave him for Christmas! I was down on my knees scooping that crap—excuse my language—into a Stop & Stop bag so I could throw it away, you know, properly dispose of it like the responsible citizen that everyone—except for Alice Fishby, apparently—knows that I am.
So anyway, I'm in a mood. Albert's upset, you know, he hates yelling, and when you yell at dog after he poops it's like yelling a child for pooping his diaper and we all know what happens to those children, right? They grow up and kill people and become spies and drug addicts and God knows what else because some stupid person yelled at them for you know, letting nature take its course. What is the matter with people? It's just poop! And I picked it up! You know? God forbid Alice Fishby have to walk the five feet from her house to the mailbox and encounter nature along the way. You know what she should encounter? 20 minutes and a box of Clairol. She has more roots than a maple tree if you ask me but you know, to each his own, God loves us all the same.
So, anyway, after this all happened, poor Albert shaking like a leaf, I get my mail and I see in one of my magazines, you know how I love my magazines, that Miss Angelina Jolie—I call her Miss because she's not married but I guess I mean maybe she prefers Ms.? Is that the thing? I don't know. You could call me Captain Foolface if it meant I got to sleep next to Brad Pitt every night good Lord get out of here, right?! My God, what a beautiful man.
Ok, so she has these tattoos, right? She's one of those tattoo people? Not for me, I have to say, I don't think Albert would like it, you know change does not come easily to him, he's a very sensitive dog, but I digress—she has a new tattoo, okay? And get this. GET THIS! It's on her inner thigh, which, ah-cha-cha, right? And she won't tell anyone what it says, because it's "just for Brad." Well! How juicy is that little tidbit? Now I called my friend Barbara and I said, "Have you heard about this new tattoo? Just for Brad." And she said, "I bet it says, F U, Jennifer Anistons." Can you imagine? Poor Jennifer Anistons! She's such a pretty girl, isn't she? She really wants a baby, they say, and you know if I ever met her I'd tell her she could have my son, Kevin, because Lord knows he's no use to me. No, no. I don't mean that. Kevin is a, you know, he's a free spirit. He's on his own path. With my money. Ha! Kids! You gotta love 'em. I mean, you really do. It's kind of the law. No, I'm kidding again! You know what? Kevin should marry Jennifer Anistons! She'd set him straight. And my grandchildren would have gorgeous hair which would really stick it to Alice Fishby.
Anyway, this tattoo is a really big deal. If I had Brad Pitt wrapped around my finger and other body parts I won't talk about because I'm a lady, I'd probably have it say something like, I Love Brad, or Brad's Girl. Something nice. I don't think it's necessary to bring up Jennifer Anistons. You know? Have some class. Don't bring up old water from the well. Tastes bad for everyone. My friend Barbara says she'd write Open For Business! Can you imagine!? She's a riot, Barbara. I can't believe the things that come out of her mouth.
The point I'm trying to make here, and I do have one, I know I ramble but it's only because I get so excited and then with the whole Albert thing I was just so worked up that day so I have all kinds of emotions to share but you know, it's good, to talk about things, and get it out so that it becomes water under the bridge and tomorrow's just a new day, right? What was I saying? Oh! I have a point, yes! My point is that I think whatever this tattoo says is pretty darn important, because it could really be the turning point for Angelina and Brad and maybe even Jennifer Anistons, and you know, I like to mind my own business, but I don't think I'm going to get much sleep until I find out what it says. Because I care about these people, you know? I really do. I wish them the best. And in return all I ask is that they give me all their secrets. I think that's fair.
Albert has to go again and it's getting dark, so I think we'll go drop a poo right by Alice Fishby's car and just leave it there for her to step in. No! I'm kidding. You know I always pick it up. Always!
Your friend and neighbor,
Helen Peters
Angelina Jolie Says Her New Tattoo Is "For Brad" [MTV]


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Though the indoor winter track season is in full swing on both sides of the pond, the spring marathon majors in Boston and London have already begun to loom on the horizon. Even with the monster storm tracking toward New England and scheduled to dump as much as two feet of snow on the area tomorrow through Saturday, the mud and scuttling clouds of April – conditions well recognized in both Boston and London – still beckon off in the soon-to-be whited out distance.
While training for the marathons continues in deep sequestration at camps across the American west and along East Africa's Great Rift Valley, we can begin to see the training sweats being stripped off as schedules get set for the tune up races heralding marathon season. Yesterday, the RAK Half-Marathon field was released. Headed by 2010 champion Geoffrey Mutai, the marathon list leader in both 2011 & 2012, the RAK Half has swiftly become the world's deepest and fastest half marathon. Its list of champions is a true who's who of this running generation, and features several Virgin London Marathon contenders going head up on February 15th.
Yet one man who will not be in the UAE next weekend is the 2008-2009 RAK Half champion and course record holder Patrick Makau of Kenya (58:52), who is also the marathon world record holder. Makau will instead tune up for the London Marathon one month from now thousands of miles away on the island of Oahu at the Hapalua Half Marathon, the second-year sister event of the Honolulu Marathon.
With men like 2011 Boston & New York, and 2012 Berlin champ Geoffrey Mutai, 2011 London winner Emmanuel (not related) Mutai, and 2012 Chicago runner-up Feyisa Lelisa of Ethiopia matching up in the UAE before going double the distance in London April 21st, it may seem an odd selection for Makau to go solo at a low-key race in Hawaii. But according to Makau's manager Zane Branson, Makau is more than comfortable with his choice.
"I spoke to Patrick about Hapalua just after Christmas," Branson wrote in an e-mail response to my query. "And I told him that Jim and Jon (Barahal and Cross, Honolulu Marathon heads) were interested to invite him back to Honolulu (Makau rabbited the first eight miles of the 2011 Honolulu Marathon while on vacation following his 2:03:38 marathon world record in Berlin.)
"I suggested that he might want to think about it for a week or two," continued Branson, "with my only concern being the distance of the travel six weeks before London. Patrick called me saying that he would really like to run the Hapaula, and he said he felt six weeks before London was fine for him. I inquired again if he was sure, and he told me that the timing of Hapalua suits him.
"I mentioned to Jon and Jim that in the past couple of years Patrick has wanted a "test" race before his marathons but he doesn't ease down for the race, nor does he come prepared to run really fast. He is very calculating over his marathon preparations, but he likes his test race more as a mental break from his 'sleep-run-eat-sleep' that is his complete daily routine in the months before a marathon. I am with him now in Kenya and he is really happy about the trip. This was 100% his decision."
A member of the Kamba tribe (like seven-time Honolul Marathon champion Jimmy Muindi and past Honolulu favs Cosmas Ndeti and the late Benson Masya), Makau has always been more of a loner. He trains in Ngong outside Nairobi with a small cadre of lesser known sparring partners, rather than up in the higher altitude of Eldoret or Iten where the majority of the Kenyan big guns load up.
At the March 10th Hapalua (Hawaiian word meaning "Half") Makau will race against seven-time Honolulu Marathon champion Jimmy Muindi, and 60:09 half-marathoner and 2:06:34 marathon man Nicholas Manza who ran 4th at the 2012 Berlin Marathon. However, the signature competition of the Hapalua is The Chase: Team Hawaii vs. The World elites. In this format the best runners in Hawaii, both professionals and amateur, are given a designated head start over the three Kenyans. The time differential for 2013 has yet to be determined, but in 2012 the Hawaii women received an 18-minute lead, while the Hawaii men representing Team Hawaii got a 9- minute advantage lead.
At the finish last year in Kapiolani Park Thomas Puzey of Oahu was first to the line in 1:10:24. With the nine minute head start, his adjusted time was 1:01:24, earning him the $5000 first prize purse. Dany Malley a college student was second in 1:10:38. picking up $2500, while third place and $1000 went to the first woman Bree Wee, a professional triathlete from the Big Island who ran 1:21:05. Her time adjusted to 1:03:05. Kenya's Jimmy Muindi completed the course in 1:05:18, which only brought him home in ninth place.
Though Patrick Makau has a half-marathon PR of 58:52, the course record from the RAK Half in 2009, his only half-marathon in 2012 was run in France at the Granollers Half Marathon in February. There he produced a 62:40 performance. That led him to the London Marathon last April, the final selection race for the Kenyan Olympic team. Thinking he had already been named to the team, Makau pulled out of the marathon after 11 miles with a minor hamstring problem, not wanting to jeopardize inflicting more damage before the Games.
Turns out the politics of the situation were cloudy at best, and Makau (along with Boston and New York City Marathon course record holder Geoffrey Mutai) remained at home wondering how they might have fared against London gold medalist Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda, and fellow Kenyans Abel Kirui, the double World Champion, and Wilson Kipsang the 2012 Virgin London Marathon winner who took the silver and bronze.
Come March 10th at the Hapalua Makau will be looking for a time in or around 63:00 as prepping marathoners have shown that sub-60:00 or low 60:00s tune ups do not translate well into fast marathons. The Hapalua may well be a gamble, but according to the Daily Nation, Makau is preparing for nothing less than a full-out assault on his 2011 world marathon record in London towne. You can bet it won't be a chase there as he takes on the real iron of the marathon world.
How would you like to say you raced the marathon world record holder over the half-marathon? It's an out-and-back course at The Hapalua. Watch him fly as you give chase. Sign up here.


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There are many, many things that can go wrong as you lay thousands of miles of fiber optic cable along the ocean's floor. Earthquakes can rip things up, as can fishing hooks. But now we know of a new threat: Shark attacks.
According to Network World, Google Product Manager Dan Belcher told folks at a Google marketing event in Boston last week that Google ensures its cable is sheathed in a Kevlar-like protective coating to keep the sharks from chomping through the line. Turns out this is standard operating procedure among undersea cable-layers, who must take a number of steps to keep aquatic life from harming (or being harmed by) data cables.
We asked Google about this, and if they have any idea why sharks would want to eat fiber optic cables, but they had nothing to say. But apparently it's a thing, as you can see in the video below.
As Google expands its online empire, undersea cables are becoming an increasingly important part of the plan. The company has invested in two major undersea cables connecting the western US to Asia, and a third cable that extends Google's network within Asia. That's where the big data bottleneck is these days, and a lack of fiber connectivity can push up market prices for moving data between the two continents. That is unless, like Google, you have access to your very own cables.
We've long known squirrels are a major problem to anyone laying cable, but according to a report by the International Cable Protection Committee cable bites---by sharks and other fish---remain a surprisingly persistent problem. In the 1980s, a deep-ocean fiber-optic cable was cut four times. Researchers blame crocodile sharks for those attacks after finding teeth in the cable.
The cable protection folks really have no idea why sharks bite cables either, although some suggest it may be due to "electro magnetic fields from a suspended cable strumming in currents," they say in their report.
>If you had just a piece of plastic out there shaped like a cable, there's a good chance they'd bite that too.
Sharks, like other animals, can detect magnetic fields -- and they have miniature volt sensors in their mouths that they use to detect prey and mates. But there's a simpler explanation, says Chris Lowe, the professor who runs California State University, Long Beach's, Shark Lab. They may simply be curious. "If you had just a piece of plastic out there shaped like a cable, there's a good chance they'd bite that too." But even an exploratory nibble is enough to cause some serious trouble. "Just a little bite is enough to get through the jacket, damage the fibers and then you're screwed," Lowe says.
More recently, Level 3 Communications technicians did come across a three foot long shark in a trench near its fiber cable---two miles inland---in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Maybe it was looking for a bite.


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Farrowing Heat Lamp Fixture
Retrolite has combined their unique heat lamp fixture with a 175-watt SPL heat lamp from Osram-Sylvania that offers a dedicated heat output designed to evenly cover the floor area. The lamp features an adjustable hanger attached to a 9-ft. power cord for easy mounting and height adjustment. The screw shell and center contact of the lamp holder are nickel-plated to prevent bonding to the heat lamp screw base. The lamp holder is also fully enclosed to protect against breakage and water penetration and is backed by a three-year warranty.
(Circle Reply Card No. 101)
New Label Claims Approved
Pfizer Animal Health recently received approval from the USDA for two new label claims for FluSure and the FluSure combination products. The products include an efficacy claim that FluSure vaccination reduces viral shedding and a claim that FluSure can be safely administered to pregnant sows and gilts. Two challenge studies and three field safety studies were conducted with the bivalent (H1N1, H3N2) swine flu vaccine. The vaccine used in each study was a full combination product, FluSure/Respi-Sure-ONE/ER Bac Plus. Full results from all studies are available from the company.
(Circle Reply Card No. 102)
Growth Management System
Osborne Industries Inc. introduces the Weight Watcher Growth Management System, a tool for achieving accurate phase feeding, reducing weight variation in grow-finish pigs and minimizing sort loss. The Weight Watcher system uses the natural movement of pigs from water to feed to automatically divide pigs as they pass through an automated sort scale. Animals are sorted into two feeding groups based on an automatically measured median weight, which is adjusted daily as the pigs grow.
(Circle Reply Card No. 103)
Baby Pig Feeding System
The SOWEENA baby pig feeding system from Merrick's Inc. is designed to deliver milk supplement or milk replacer to pigs in farrowing crates when sows cannot produce enough milk, or for orphaned pigs. The system provides a constant source of supplemental milk, water or electrolytes and is easy to clean. The system is designed for an almost unlimited number of crates or feeding stations to be connected to the central tank.
(Circle Reply Card No. 104)
Sperm Cell Calculator
Sperm Vision brings digital image technology into the laboratory by linking microscopic digital photography to computer-automated sperm cell analysis. The results are accurate calculation of sperm cell concentration and motility. Sperm Vision with Viability takes advantage of a red/green staining technique. Viable cells are those with intact membranes and stain green. Cells with a break in the membrane stain red. The computer counts cells according to color and expresses the results as percent viability.
(Circle Reply Card No. 105)
Liquid Manure Spreader
Unverferth Manufacturing Company Inc. has added the model 6600 to its line of Better-Bilt liquid manure spreaders. The new spreader is available in both vacuum and slurry models and features a 6,600-gal. capacity and a tri-axle, 6-wheel, steerable undercarriage for enhanced operator control and convenience. Four-wheel, hydraulic-actuated disk brakes and independent hydraulic suspension are standard for greater transport safety. The operating height of the lead axle is hydraulically controlled for easy load-weight distribution. The tank is constructed of ¼ in.-thick steel with overlapping seams for added strength and covered with a tough, high-quality urethane finish that resists corrosion. Three, 3/16 in.-thick baffles keep the load stable.
(Circle Reply Card No. 106)
Side-Discharge Spreader
Kuhn Knight Inc. introduces the model 8110 ProTwin Slinger. In manure applications, the ProTwin can spread solids, semi-solids, slurry or gutter manure with ease. In bedding applications, the ProTwin has free-swinging, forged-steel hammers that evenly distribute all types of bedding, including composted manure, or any free-flowing material. ProTwin Slinger sizes range from 1,000 to 4,000 gal.
(Circle Reply Card No. 107)
Recordkeeping Software
FeedTrac is a Windows-based recordkeeping program for nursery and grow-finish operations from Hubbard Feeds Inc. The program allows producers to evaluate production and economic performance parameters over a specified period of time, as well as manage inventory and ingredient usage. Additional features include ability to track pig transfers, marketings, mortalities, feed deliveries, feed budgeting vs. actual consumption, production expenses, benchmarking and seasonal trends. The software also includes group summary reports and performance comparisons by producer, site, barn and group, complete with over 350 performance-graphing options.
(Circle Reply Card No. 108)


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Egypt's Transitional GovernmentA Setback for Human Rights
After the overthrow of Mohammed Morsi, the transitional government under President Adly Mansour declared a state of emergency that was supposed to remain in force until at least mid-September. It gave the police and army wide-ranging powers to arrest civilians at any time and censor the media, allegedly in the interests of national security.
This is nothing new in Egypt. Over the past 30 years, until the overthrow of Mubarak in 2011, the country was continuously governed under a state of emergency. The Cairo branch of the human rights organisation Human Rights Watch views this development as a fatal setback. "Security forces will read it as a licence for additional reckless and unlawful use of force, particularly given the long history of abuses carried out under states of emergency in Egypt," wrote the organisation in its most recent report on the situation in Egypt.
It is likely that the attempted assassination of Egyptian Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim last week will serve as a pretext for prolonging the state of emergency beyond September.
The resurgence of a despised police unit
Not only is Mohammed Ibrahim seen as one of the people who was principally responsible for the ruthless methods employed by the security forces in dispersing the Muslim Brotherhood sit-in on 14 August in Cairo, he also officially reinstated the despised Mabahith Amn ad-Dawla, a special police unit that was nominally disbanded after the overthrow of Mubarak. That being said, there is a considerable measure of doubt as to whether or not it ever truly ceased to exist.
Whatever the case, the official reinstatement of this feared security unit is a step back to the Mubarak era under the guise of rescuing the nation. It should be kept in mind that police brutality was one of the main factors leading to the emergence of the protest movement in 2011.
Egyptian human rights activists see the fundamental problem with the security forces – whether under the Islamist President Morsi or under the new transitional government – as the "lack of real accountability of those in authority". Nine leading human rights organisations, including the Cairo Institute for Human Rights and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, have issued a joint declaration sharply condemning the bloody actions of the security forces.
Exacerbation of political ills
"The Egyptian security forces' recurrent use of excessive, lethal violence in the face of political protest will only exacerbate the political ills that led Egyptian society to rebel against the policies of Mubarak, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the Muslim Brotherhood," reads the statement.
The perpetrators of this violence need not fear ever being tried in court. To date only mild prison sentences have been handed down to low-ranking police officials for the violence of 2011 – and only in exceptional cases at that. However, those actually pulling the strings in the background have always gone unpunished.
Gamal Eid, lawyer and director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), which was established in 2004, is seen as the initiator of the declaration. Eid is known to be impartial, as he constantly denounced the wrongdoings of both the military and the Muslim Brotherhood. He sees both parties in the conflict as being caught up in a vicious circle in which each uses the other as a scapegoat to justify its own violent actions.
"Until now," says Eid, "the Islamists have been providing the military with the justification to use violence against them. They have to stop inciting violence in Cairo, in Sinai, or wherever."
He has been demanding more transparency and co-operation from the authorities in clarifying the violent incidents that have occurred since the overthrow of Morsi, resulting in more than a thousand deaths and countless injuries. ANHRI is also very concerned that the transitional government is drafting new laws that will "impose arbitrary restrictions on the opposition" under the smokescreen of its fight against terrorism.
Heba Morayef from Human Rights Watch in Cairo says that it is not right to speak of systematic violence among members of the Muslim Brotherhood. She says that it has only been a "tiny minority" of Islamists who have behaved violently during the demonstrations following the coup in July. In her view, the reaction of the state authorities has been "completely disproportionate." She says that the state has a duty to arrest perpetrators of violence, but not to put their lives at risk.
Show trials and lengthy prison sentences
Some 2,000 Morsi supporters have been arrested; some have been mistreated. Together with the former president, the entire leadership of the Freedom and Justice Party now sits in prison awaiting trial. Politically motivated show trials are to be expected. Already last week, a court condemned a group of 64 Islamists to long prison terms.
In the context of the impending constitutional reform, there have been discussions about including in Article 6 a ban on political parties that are based on religion. This would, in effect, impose a constitutional ban on the Muslim Brotherhood engaging in political organisation.
Freedom of the press and freedom of expression have also been drastically curtailed: journalists and media sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood have been intimidated; television stations controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists have been shut down; the Brotherhood itself is facing a possible ban.
Reporting on human rights violations under the transitional government is being intentionally hampered. ANHRI has been working on behalf of critical journalists who have been arrested on flimsy grounds. During the violent clearing of the pro-Morsi protest camps on 14 August, four journalists were killed. The perpetrators have yet to be identified.
Under President Morsi, the Islamic press vilified its political opponents as infidels. Things have since changed. Now, any kind of opposition protest is flatly dismissed as "national treason", a charge that is levelled at anyone who still dares to criticise the military and the transitional government.
Claudia Mende
© Qantara.de 2013
Translated from the German by John Bergeron
Editor: Aingeal Flanagan/Qantara.de
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Inner Circle / Israel Vibration / The Mighty Diamonds / DJ Carter Van Pelt
8.19.2012 | 3:00 pm – 7:00 pm | Central Park | Directions to Event >
Celebrate Jamaica's 50th anniversary of independence with this day of Jamaican reggae music.
To anyone who's familiar with Inner Circle, the GRAMMY® winning band's 20-year-plus history in reggae has had a long string of successes. Inner Circle's special brand of pop-oriented Jamaican beats and energy-filled live performances have allowed the band to transcend the traditional reggae niche and enjoy widespread crossover appeal. From the launch of their first album in 1978 entitled, Everything Is Great, to the launch of the album, Bad Boys which became an international hit featuring the title track as well as the dance party favorite "Sweat," Inner Circle's brand of unforgettable hooks and island beats has kept the band a mainstay in the reggae world.
The story of reggae group Israel Vibration's success starts out with their humble beginnings as children battling polio in a Jamaican rehabilitation center. Cecil Spence (Skelly) and Lascelle Bulgin (Wiss) bonded through music while in the clinic and quickly became friends. As the duo got older, they found the faith of Rastafari and created songs which expressed their spiritual beliefs. Since then, the duo's music has been spellbinding audiences for over two decades with their mix of traditional roots reggae and deeply spiritual messages such as the critically acclaimed album, On The Rock and its follow-up Free To Move, which reached number one on the CMJ New World charts.
The Mighty Diamonds are the most consistent and long-running reggae trio in Jamaican musical history. For over forty years the group has been entertaining and educating the world with their conscious lyrics, soulful harmonies and polished performances that led them to become known as the reggae group with the Motown sound. Their debut album Right Time, has become a reggae classic while the single, "Pass the Kutchie" from the album Changes, became an international hit and has since been covered by reggae group, Musical Youth whose version "Pass the Dutchie" also garnered fame globally. With over forty albums released, the group remains a favorite of the dance hall crowd, roots and progressive audiences.
Head DJ of Eastern Standard Time on WKCR 89.9 FM in New York City, DJ Carter Van Pelt is a true student of Jamaican music of every era, from ska to dancehall. He'll celebrate Jamaica's 50th Anniversary with far-ranging selections covering every era. His WKCR program has earned a worldwide reputation for bringing artists to the studio for historic interviews, augmented with deep cuts, all played from vinyl. Van Pelt is the founder/producer of the popular Coney Island Reggae Soundsystem Series, held each summer on the iconic Coney Island Boardwalk. He also hosts a program on the Internet station Radio Lily.
Event Website: http://innercircle-reggae.com
Inner Circle Official Youtube Channel: http://youtube.com/BadBoysofReggae
Inner Circle Official Twitter: http://twitter.com/BadBoysofReggae
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Laparoscopic surgical removal of the gallbladder in pediatric patients is safe
A recent study conducted by Mayo Clinic researchers recommends laparoscopic cholecystectomies (surgical removal of the gallbladder) for pediatric patients suffering from gallstones and other gallbladder diseases. This study was published in Surgical Laparoscopy Endoscopy & Percutaneous Techniques.
A cholecystectomy is a surgical procedure performed to remove the gallbladder, a pear-shaped organ located below the liver on the upper right side of the abdomen. The gallbladder is responsible for collecting and storing bile, which is a fluid secreted by the liver. During a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, four incisions are made in the abdomen. Then, a small video camera and other special tools are used to remove the gallbladder.
"Cholelithiasis and other gallbladder diseases requiring cholecystectomies are less common in children compared to adults," says Michael B. Ishitani, M.D., lead author of the study. "Recently, however, rising rates of obesity in the pediatric population have led to an increase of gallstones found in children. Therefore, it was important for us to review the current clinical practices to ensure that pediatric patients are being treated properly."
The study analyzed 202 cases of laparoscopic cholecystectomy performed on children below 18 years of age between the years 1990 and 2010. Researchers found that no common bile duct injuries were reported in the study group. In the follow–up, only 9 percent of patients still had some abdominal pain without associated gallbladder disease or gallstones. Therefore, the study concluded that laparoscopic cholecystectomies are safe procedures to perform on pediatric patients.
"We are refining our surgical techniques and are now performing all pediatric laparoscopic cholecystectomies using a small incision through the belly button. However, further studies are required to elucidate which pediatric patients will benefit the most from gallbladder removal," explains Dr. Ishitani.


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Teachable Facebook Pixel Purchase Conversion Value Variable
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Teachable allows users and learners to create filters. These filters can be used to identify sales or marketing opportunities. For example, you can search for learners in the US and create offers for them. You can also set unique permissions for your users so that they can manage content. This feature is only available for Teachable Business Plan customers.
There are several different plans available. The free plan lets you publish unlimited courses. It also lets you offer unlimited coaching services. You don't have to host your materials on your own website, as they are all stored in the Teachable cloud. However, if you do want to set up a website, you can connect it to your Teachable account. It is essential to monitor the progress of your courses to make sure they're delivering the results you're looking for.
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Teachable offers a drag-and-drop editor that makes it easy to create beautiful courses. You can add lectures, sections, and customize the course outline. You can also embed media using the rich text editor. You can also choose from several course design templates that you can edit according to your needs.
Teachable is a great platform for both new and experienced teachers. It can integrate with existing websites and accepts payments via PayPal. Teachable allows you to create your own website. It is an excellent option for anyone looking to create online courses and earn additional income. It is also great for those who have extensive knowledge or who want to share it with the world.


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Golf American Style
Herbert V. Kohler Jr. wants to make a point. In a private dining room, over consommé and wild mushrooms, Kohler bends toward his listener and puts his hand on the table. With the pinkie finger of his right hand, he touches the pinkie finger of his listener.
"I let Pete have a pretty free reign, but I want to know everything about what he is doing," says Kohler, sotto voce. "Pete has this earthy artistic aspect to him and he knows a lot about the game of golf, how it is played at a championship level. The combination is just what I wanted. And when you look around at what he's done here, I think you'll agree there is a lot of art in his work. It goes right to the heart of our business. There's a lot of artistic expression in what we do here. There's even some of mine."
With that, Herbert V. Kohler Jr. sits back in his chair. He assumes a posture that is imperious, if unintentionally so. His throaty baritone looses an easy chuckle. He adjusts the lapels of his shiny gray suit (geez, Herb, is that sharkskin?) and takes a swipe at his leonine silver-and-black beard. Herbert V. Kohler Jr. can make any chair seem like a throne. He can make any visitor seem welcome within his empire. It's the laugh, and the pinkie finger, you see. It's the reaching out, the need to connect, the common in the uncommon man.
Given what he has achieved with the company his grandfather founded and his father nurtured, there is nothing to suggest that Herbert V. Kohler Jr. could ever be called a common man. The Kohler Co., in the planned community that Herbert Jr.'s grandfather founded an hour north of Milwaukee, is one of the largest privately held companies in the United States. Think Kohler, think commodes, sinks, showers. But that is not all. There is the furniture side of the business, Baker and McGuire. There is the general plumbing side of the business, Kallista Plumbing. There is the kitchen side of the business, Canac Kitchens. There is the engines, generators and electrical side of the business, Kohler Power Systems. There is a mirrored cabinet business, a stone and tile business, and 16 other companies on four other continents.
And over the last 20 years Herb Kohler has nurtured -- no make that willed -- a hospitality business, called The Kohler Hospitality and Real Estate Group. It includes one of America's finest hotels. It includes four of America's finest golf courses designed by one of the most accomplished and controversial golf architects, Pete Dye Jr. It's all right there in Kohler, Wisconsin, a few metal woods from the commode factory.
Herb Kohler has made his family namesake town a golf destination. He's made it one of the finest golf destinations in the world. It is so good that the United States Golf Association held its Women's Open Golf Championship at Kohler's Blackwolf Run in 1998. It's so good that the Professional Golfers' Association of America will hold its PGA Championship, one of golf's four majors, at Kohler's Whistling Straits in 2004. It's so good that Kohler's four courses -- the River Course and the Meadow Valleys Course at Blackwolf Run, and the Straits Course and the recently opened Irish Course at Whistling Straits -- total more than 100,000 rounds a year at greens fees of $148 or more. In Wisconsin, for crying out loud. In a state heretofore known for the Green Bay Packers, beer, cheese and bratwurst. In a state that is known for Kohler.
John Michael Kohler, a native of Austria, bought the Sheboygan Union Iron and Steel Foundry in 1873. Ten years later, he used a horse trough to make the Kohler Co.'s first bathtub. He founded the planned community of Kohler just west of Sheboygan and as part of it he constructed, in 1918, the American Club, a dormitory to house the immigrant skilled workers and artisans he needed to create an industrial company dedicated to quality and artistic design. Kohler, his son Herbert V. Kohler, and his son Herbert Jr. would have no way of knowing that the American Club would sow the seeds of great golf in the American Midwest. It happened because the grandson didn't want to tear down the American Club. He didn't want to believe three different feasibility studies that said that converting the old dormitory into a destination hotel would be unprofitable. He wanted to hold on to his family's past and make something out of it for the future.
"Everything we have done at the Kohler Company we have done for a business reason," says Kohler. "But pursuit of excellence, of quality in our product, has always been the driving force. We have been very successful in conducting our business this way. When it came to the American Club, I felt that if we continued to commit ourselves to excellence and quality, that it would succeed as sort of a weekend retreat where we would have high-quality rooms, high-quality restaurants and high-quality service."
The old brick dormitory was redone in the Kohler image, fitted with Kohler products and staffed with employees who would fulfill the Kohler concept of high-quality service. That was 20 years ago, and the people keep coming and coming, 90 percent of capacity on a year-round basis. The old dormitory has been expanded, and there are regular customers who come back and change rooms every night just so that they can experience different forms of luxurious Kohler bathroom fixtures. The steady customers got Herb Kohler into golf.
Now Kohler is a golfer himself, a gritty 18-handicapper. He'll grind out every shot in a $2 Nassau against his second wife, Natalie Black. He'll grind out every shot against his friendly foes of the Gnarly Balls Gang, a group of players from within and without the Kohler Co. who compete on a yearly basis for the coveted trophy, a pair of rusted steel balls connected by a rusted old chain to a piece of driftwood. But it was not the fantasy of a rich hacker that drove Kohler to create his golf fief. "Our customers kept asking us disturbing questions: 'Why do we have to go to someone else's facility to play golf, why don't you have a high-class golf course of your own?'" says Kohler, his voice at once thick with authority and rich with sincerity.
Driven by the need to satisfy his customers, Kohler embarked on developing golf courses only a mile from the plant, sumptuous property of meadows and valleys, hills and dales, through which runs the Sheboygan River, a property that would be called Blackwolf Run after a Winnebago Indian chief. To design what would become two courses, he interviewed America's best and most well-known architects, including Jack Nicklaus and Tom Fazio. In the end, he selected Pete Dye. "Even though he -- quote -- manufactured courses -- unquote -- the end product of his designs were quite natural," says Kohler. "He had a reputation for designing championship courses and he was controversial. I wanted a championship course. Pete's reputation would draw attention right away. Plus, I wanted someone who would be devoting significant time, and Pete was a hands-on guy. I liked the fact that he would climb on a bulldozer and do his own shaping. He had this artistic flair to him. He didn't design on paper, he designed in his head and with his eye."
The artistic nature of Dye, the artistic nature of golf and the artistic nature of Kohler Co. strike a perfectly harmonious note at the golf courses. John Kohler, as inspiration for his employees, borrowed a line from an English arts critic for the company motto: "Life without labor is guilt; life without art is brutality." Plenty of labor, plenty of art went into the making of Black Run and Whistling Straits.
"Call it what you want, but I design courses by the eye," says Dye, whose formal drawing of a golf hole is likely to be little more than a sketch on a cocktail napkin. "I sure enjoy working for Mr. Kohler, but you sure do work. Herb is the hardest-working man around and he has his opinions about things. We've had our disagreements but he has a pretty good eye for things himself and he learns all he can about something."
The first 18 holes of Blackwolf Run were constructed in the mid 1980s, and opened in 1988. While the endeavor was the beginning of what would become a close friendship between Dye and Kohler, it was almost the end. Kohler often made visits to the site in his old Jaguar XJ6, which had become so beat up from traveling over the rough ground that it had holes in the floorboards. Late one day, after a particularly long meeting, Kohler drove the Jag across the site to look at where the 17th hole was going. Then he saw smoke, and then he started to burn.
Dye had wanted Kohler to make a decision on some large trees near the site of the proposed 17th green. "He called me up and said that we needed to make a decision that day on some 70-year-old elms," recalls Kohler. "He was insistent that the decision be made that day. I said I would be there at noon. I couldn't make it. Then I said I would be there by five. I couldn't make it then, either. I left the office at 6:20. When I got there I saw six enormous piles of logs, all burning, and not a human in sight. I went and found a security person on the site and he said that Mr. Dye had left. I called Pete in Indianapolis. I said a lot of people would like to have their names on this course. I said, 'Unless you come back and discuss how we are going to make decisions about it, your name won't be on it.'" Dye flew right back to Sheboygan, an agreement was reached on the decision-making process, and a long, close friendship began.
"Today we are best friends," says Kohler, who takes Dye on the company plane for golf trips around the world. "He's a Renaissance man. He has a remarkable imagination and a sensitivity to the land. I don't think that what he has done here could ever be better. And we've had a ball doing it."
A third nine was added to Blackwolf Run in 1989 and a fourth nine in 1990, at which time the holes were reorganized into the River Course and the Meadow Valleys Course. The Sheboygan River, which winds for seven miles through the River Course, plays a major role in the course's strategy. On many a tee, it's just as tempting to go fishing for the abundant trout and salmon as it is to play golf. A smaller stream, Weeden's Creek, cuts through the Meadow Valleys Course. The courses come together at the end, each sharing an enormous 23,000-square-foot 18th green that sits above the river and in front of the elegant clubhouse constructed of stone and lodge-pole pine logs.
From the beginning Blackwolf Run was a success. Combining high-quality golf with the American Club hotel made Kohler, Wisconsin, one of the most unlikely golf destinations in the United States. Like The Lodge at Pebble Beach, the American Club made golf at Kohler a luxurious package. The Immigrant Restaurant & Winery is the hotel's most ambitious restaurant. The Wisconsin Room, the original dormitory cafeteria, is both opulent and historic, and a great place for breakfast. The Horse & Plow is a casual sports pub restaurant, with tabletops constructed of the boards used in the American Club's original bowling alleys. The package was so successful that Herb Kohler wanted to build another course, one that would reflect the values of seaside links golf. He didn't have the sea nearby, but he did have Lake Michigan.
On his trips to Great Britain to play golf, Kohler fell in love with links golf. "The dunes over there, whether they are natural or even man-made, influence everything," says Kohler. "The dunes are always surprising. The really great courses over there, the land is dominant to the designer. The grass they play from is fescue grass. [Those courses] really are the greatest experiences in golf. I was bound and determined to have a sand-and-fescue golf course."
In 1965, his father had given away just such land owned by the company along Lake Michigan to the state of Wisconsin for a park, a gesture that the younger Kohler would later regret. "If I had tried to give away land like that today, I would have been put in chains," says Kohler, rolling his eyes. "We had this incredible strip of land along the lake and we just gave it away. We still have dune land, but it's not big enough to build a golf course on. So we had to find land to do it."
Just north of Kohler was a former military base, Camp Hudson. Its principal attribute was that it had Lake Michigan as its eastern boundary. What it didn't have were sand dunes. What Herb Kohler wanted was sand dunes. What he wanted was a seaside links. He had the cash to manufacture one, he had the architect to create one. "It was Herb's idea to make this a links course," says Dye. "We had to find a way to do it, since this wasn't links-type land. It was by the water, but that was it."
With a substantial budget with which to work, Dye started mining sand nearby. He brought in more than 13,000 truckloads of sand, which he pushed around to create dune land where none had existed. The final creation, and it is a creation, is partly links and partly parkland, but the overwhelming characteristic is Lake Michigan itself, which does its duty as an ocean rather well. The Straits Course at Whistling Straits is well disguised as a seaside links, and the best time to play it is on a gray day with fog streaming off the lake and one of the course's well-schooled caddies by your side. The fog brings the lake and sky together, and if the wind gets up there is every reason to believe that you are playing on the European side of the Atlantic.
What Dye wrought is one of the most exquisite, and excruciating, golf courses in the world. Make no mistake: The Straits is one difficult golf course. From the back tees it measures 7,288 yards with a course rating of 76.7 and a slope rating of 151. The back tees as measured on the card aren't even the true back tees for many of the holes. "We have so many tees that aren't even played that I guess the course could be upwards of 7,800 yards," says general manager and director of golf Steve Friedlander. "We stopped counting when we got to 700 sand traps. Needless to say, when the PGA comes here I think the pros will find the course pretty challenging. It won't be like any of the courses they usually play on here."
Eight of the holes play along the Lake Michigan shoreline, including all four par-3 holes. The wind can howl here (hence the name) and can be counted on as a constant influence. Kohler and his cronies in the Gnarly Balls Gang play here all year long, at least in the absence of snow. "As long as the temperature is at least thirty-two-and-a-half degrees, we're out there," says Kohler. "We play from September through May on the downside of the weather. We have guys with single-digit handicaps and guys like me who are an 18. I've won the thing three times. I love playing in it. It's a test of endurance as much as it is your golf game."
For the average player on the Straits Course, playing the proper tee is critical. When in doubt, always play the course shorter. From the middle tees, it plays around 6,500 yards and can be quite manageable. But as you move farther back, the forced carries get longer and longer, and the approach shots, especially to the ledged greens above Lake Michigan, become more terrorizing. You can easily become overwhelmed, and what should be an overwhelming aesthetic experience can be a traumatic one.
The new Irish Course at Whistling Straits sits next to, and inland from, the Straits Course. It has much more the feel of a heathland course and plays up against classic Wisconsin farmland. Dye has built a classic, if controversial, hole on the Irish Course, one that can be found on links courses but seldom found in America. The hole, No. 13, is a par 3 with a blind tee shot. The green, as big as a standard urban housing plot, is not visible from the tee, and there are some nasty pot bunkers around it. It's the sort of thing that Dye likes to do, like his island green on the 17th hole at the TPC at Sawgrass in Ponte Verdra Beach, Florida, where the Players Championship is held.
The clubhouse at Whistling Straits is meant to suggest an old Irish clubhouse. Kohler not only influenced the concept of the clubhouse, he influenced its construction with a novel idea. The stones used to build it had a polished side that was meant to be the exterior surface. But Kohler thought the rough side would give the structure the instant appearance of age. He had the workers reverse the stones. It's the sort of thing that Herb Kohler can do, being the owner of all he surveys.
Though golf was a departure from the Kohler Co.'s usual businesses, it fit right in from the beginning. "We have always been about gracious living," says Kohler. "Golf fits in that category. It is the mission of this company to enhance the gracious living of its customers. It is something that we must do, must always do, to be successful. I wanted these golf courses to have the character, the substance, to be a gracious part of the golf experience. This I think we have achieved."
The man pursues everything with a passion. One of America's wealthiest individuals, he is fond of saying that there is little passion in a buck, but a lot of passion in the pursuit of dreams. If he can't find a passion for something, he doesn't do it. He's passionate about his company. He's passionate about his family. He's passionate about raising Morgan horses, and has a whole stable of them in Lexington, Kentucky. He is passionate about golf. Golf in Kohler, Wisconsin, is about passion every bit as much as it is at Pebble Beach or St. Andrews. For Herbert V. Kohler Jr. it couldn't be any other way.
A frequent contributor to Cigar Aficionado, Jeff Williams writes about golf for Newsday.


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Mickey Edwards, U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma, 1977-1993, will speak at a President's Associates dinner at the University of Oklahoma on Wednesday, November 20. Prior to dinner, Edwards will meet with OU students for an informal discussion.
Edwards, who served Oklahoma's fifth congressional district as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 16 years and taught at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs for five years. In addition, he serves as vice president of the Aspen Institute and director of the Institute's Aspen-Rodel Fellowships in Public Leadership program. He was recently elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
During his time in Washington, D.C., Edwards was a senior member of the House Republican leadership as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, a member of both the House Appropriations and Budget committees and a ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Foreign Operations.
After leaving Congress, Edwards taught government and public policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government for 11 years before moving to Princeton in 2004. He also has taught at Harvard Law School and as a visiting professor at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute.
Edwards has been a regular columnist for a number of newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner and the Boston Globe, as well as broadcasting weekly political commentary on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."
His articles also appeared frequently in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Examiner, the Miami Herald, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Boston Herald, the Tulsa World and other major newspapers, as well as in such publications as the National Interest, the Public Interest and Policy Review. He is a frequent guest on programs ranging from CNN, PBS NewsHour, Charlie Rose and Moyers & Company, among others.
Edwards is the author of two recent books: the recently published The Parties Versus the People: How to Turn Republicans and Democrats into Americans and the earlier Reclaiming Conservatism: How a Great American Political Movement Got Lost – And How It Can Find Its Way Back. He has also co-authored a book and contributed chapters to several more.
In addition, Edwards has chaired task forces on foreign policy for The Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations, and is a director of several organizations in the fields of public policy and foreign affairs, including the Constitution Project. He also has been an adviser to the State Department.
Edwards earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from OU in 1958 and a Juris Doctor from Oklahoma City University's School of Law in 1969.
Limited seating is available by reservation for OU students, faculty and staff, with overflow seating available to the public. For reservations, more information and accommodations on the basis of disability, please call OU Public Affairs at (405) 325-3784 or email firstname.lastname@example.com.


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A cricketer jailed for raping a sleeping woman in his teammate's bedroom has lost his Court of Appeal bid to have his conviction overturned.
Alex Hepburn, 24, was jailed for five years in April last year for the attack, which took place at a flat in Worcester in 2017 during the first night of a sexual conquest competition he helped set up on a WhatsApp group.
A jury had found Hepburn guilty of oral rape at a retrial that same month, but cleared him of a further count of rape relating to the same victim.
At the trial, the Australian-born former Worcestershire all-rounder was said by the prosecution to have been "fired up" by the contest to sleep with the most women, before carrying out the rape at his flat in Portland Street, Worcester, on April 1 2017.
Hepburn challenged his conviction at the Court of Appeal earlier this month.
But, in a judgment handed down on Tuesday, three senior judges, including the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett, dismissed his appeal, saying: "The conviction is not unsafe."
Many of the messages related to a game between Hepburn and a number of others to gain sexual encounters, the court was told.
Hepburn's barrister, David Emanuel QC, said: "The idea propagated by the Crown, that he was so desperate to win the game this year that he would ignore true consent if he had to, is just not supported by anything in the messages or by the fact of the game itself."
Mr Emanuel told the judges: "I accept it would be different if there was talk of sex against will, or trickery to gain a point, or taking a chance, but there's nothing like that in the messages.
"They are too far removed as to be able to be to do with the facts of the alleged offence."
Miranda Moore QC, representing the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), argued that it was right that these WhatsApp messages were heard at the trial.
She told the court that "this wasn't a bit of boyish banter at a point in time" but a "deep-seated and long-running game between a number of professional sportsmen".
Jailing Hepburn at Hereford Crown Court on April 30 last year, Judge Jim Tindal told the cricketer he and a former teammate, Joe Clarke, had agreed to a "pathetic sexist game to collect as many sexual encounters as possible", following a similar stunt the previous year.
In remarks about the WhatsApp chat group, the judge said: "You probably thought it was laddish behaviour at the time.
"In truth it was foul sexism."


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U.S. Senate Democrats ready debt limit bill, Boehner wants talks
By Richard Cowan and Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democrats plan to introduce a bill this week to raise the government's borrowing authority by enough to last through 2014 in an effort to avoid a fiscal default that could hav...
By Richard Cowan and Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democrats plan to introduce a bill this week to raise the government's borrowing authority by enough to last through 2014 in an effort to avoid a fiscal default that could have a disastrous economic impact.
The measure, which must be discussed among Senate Democrats at a luncheon meeting on Tuesday, would not contain any of the deficit reductions that Republicans have demanded, a Senate Democratic aide said.
Both sides are searching for a way to resolve a fiscal standoff that has shut down the federal government for eight days, with a critical date for raising the country's $16.7 trillion borrowing limit approaching in nine days.
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, renewed his call for deficit-reduction talks with President Barack Obama, saying he was not "drawing any lines in the sand."
"It's time for us to sit down and have a conversation," Boehner told reporters after meeting with Republican House members. "There are no boundaries here. There's nothing on the table, there is nothing off the table."
Republicans emerged from the House meeting saying they would insist upon deficit-reduction talks with Obama as a condition for raising the federal debt limit.
A senior House aide said Republicans are considering legislation to create a new panel to find deficit reductions similar to a failed 2011 "supercommittee" of Republicans and Democrats from the House and Senate that was asked to find trillions of new budget savings.
House Democrats, speaking to reporters, said they would reject the creation of such a panel. They want the government to reopen and the debt limit raised before entering any deficit-reduction negotiations.
The chief economist at the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday a default by the United States would likely lead to a recession, dramatic cuts in government spending, and a "a lot of financial turmoil."
"I think what could be said is if there was a problem lifting the debt ceiling, it could well be that what is now a recovery would turn into a recession or even worse," IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard said.
The Senate Democratic aide said Democrats were hopeful they could get the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural hurdles in the 100-member Senate and pass a debt ceiling bill with no strings attached.
The measure would likely run into opposition from Senate Republicans such as Ted Cruz of Texas, who has been leading the drive to make delaying Obama's healthcare law a condition for raising the debt ceiling.
Considering the procedural roadblocks it could face, aides said they need to begin work on the legislation well before October 17, when Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has said the government will run out of borrowing authority.
Obama and his fellow Democrats have stepped up their criticism of Boehner for refusing to schedule a House vote on a separate unencumbered measure to fund the government and end the shutdown. They believe it would pass with most Democrats in the House voting for it along with a handful of Republicans. Boehner said Sunday that it would fail.
(Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Vicki Allen)


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Investing involves risks, including loss of principal.
The Funds' investment adviser is Vident Advisory, LLC. The Funds' sub-adviser is Vident Investment Advisory (VIA). Vident Financial owns the indexes that underlie the Funds. The Vident Funds are distributed by ALPS Distributors, LLC. ALPS is not affiliated with Vident Financial, Vident Advisory or VIA.


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The month of July is generally calm. Regular classes are not in session on campuses, researchers are on vacation or at conferences, thus it is to be expected that RePEc sees little new material or traffic. We counted 674,639 File downloads and 2,287,995 abstract views, relatively modest numbers, saw only six new archives: Universidad de los Andes, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (II), Spiru Haret University Brasov, Austrian Academy of Sciences, ETH Zürich (III), German Council for Social and Economic Data. The first added Venezuela to our list of participating countries, which is now at 68.
We still managed to pass a few thresholds:
400000 online articles
12500 listed book chapters
5000 subscribers to NEP-HIS, the largest subscriber base in NEP


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We've had an unbelievable response from our square and rectangle fancy frame cutters and we've seen some AMAZING things done with them from so many people. So we came up with a couple of new shapes that hopefully will inspire as much creativity. Say hello to our new Plaque and Scalloped Oval cutters!
Just as before, we wanted to just come up with a basic shape to use as a canvas, and let the creativity flow from there. Also, people have loved the frame cutters for message cookies! So once again, here are a couple of new shapes to allow you to write just about anything you want – or just decorate them up for whatever occasion you're decorating for.
So here are just a few ideas I came up with (And, ok— Mike helped!) Can I just point out that the Summers family wasn't really established in 2000? My head said "1996" and my hand said "2000". By the time my hand caught up with my brain, it was too late. Does that ever happen to you? But anyway, I digress. I"m so excited to get these cutters out there and see what you uber-creative geniuses come up with!
These cutters are now available on Karen's Cookies if you'd like to try them out! Click here to see them. We have the Plaque in large and small, and the Scalloped Oval in large and small. To save you some money on them we've got a 15% off coupon for you as well! Just type in may2013 in the coupon code box on the shopping cart page and the coupon will be applied.
Ok, so let's give a few of these away shall we?
Reply to this post by the end of the weekend (By end of day Sunday, May 12th) and we'll randomly draw 5 of you to win a complete set of these four new cutters (Plaque in two sizes, and the Scalloped Oval in two sizes).
Since it's Mother's Day weekend, go ahead and tell me what you love about your mom. I'll go first– My mom is my number one fan. She has always encouraged me to grow my talents and go after my dreams, (even if they're a little looney), and she always tells me how proud she is of me even if I don't deserve it. Thank you, Mom. I love you!
Good Luck!


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I feel rather fortunate to have some good friends and connections on Facebook who have a gift for providing interesting status updates or thought-provoking links. It's one of those areas where I find Facebook can really shine as more than just a nice tool to give updates to friends on how you're doing and really become an amazing means of sharing wisdom.
I can almost hear the groans from here at positing Facebook as a portal through which intelligence can be shared… especially since so much of Facebook can degrade into really mindless (but potentially fun) nonsense.
An excellent example is this link my buddy Chris posted a little while ago:
The post is interesting in its own right as it peers into those closing moments of life where people finally let down their guards and get honest with themselves and those around them.
However, this post was especially interesting to me since I've spent the last few days thinking about the same concept in point #1: the importance of living a life true to yourself and your own principles as opposed to constantly striving to only serve the expectations of others. In a way, this is a bit of a link to my previous post because being nice does not mean kowtowing to the interests of others in hopes of winning their approval, especially if you compromise yourself in the process.
It's why I am striving to care just a little bit less every day what others think of me, how they judge me or how my actions can be improperly shaped by opinions or views not my own. This is a tricky process… umm, but I am guessing you knew that. No matter how noble our intentions, it can be hard not to be affected by friend, family and colleagues. Heck, Madison Avenue is none of those things and yet has made a borderline science to influencing consumers into purchasing all manner of goods (whether we need them or not).
I've found a few interesting benefits to this practice. One that jumps most readily to mind is how it affects me giving presentations at work. I've actually enjoyed public speaking to a certain degree anyway… I'm a bit of a ham, when you get right down to my core. But what's made it even better is an attitude of "Let it rip…" In doing so, I find myself less concerned about "Oh my God… but… but… what if I MESS IT ALL UP?!?!?!? THEN WHAT?!?!?!? I will be shunned forever! Looked down upon as a blighted soul not fit for human contact!" You know… or something like that. But that has not been the case – instead, it has given me a renewed kick in the pants. Not bad, right?
But in reality, the most important part is each little step will hopefully bring me that much closer to an aligned sense of living with my own values… and as a person profoundly affected by my own personal values, that is hugely important. If I feel out of whack on this, absolutely nothing feels right.
And it's a process. No one just wakes up one day after a particularly good night's sleep and is just in perfect alignment. It's not something you acquire, set back and think, "Ahh… to live out my days as a consistent human being in all ways possible. Thank goodness for that extra bit of shut-eye. That hit the spot!"
So here's to peering down the slope and taking on the ultimate and most worthwhile challenge: being yourself. Ride hard. Fall a few times. Ride again. It won't be easy, but you will never regret it.


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Google's Project Glass team has released the Linux-specific source code that ships with the Android-based augmented reality device. The source is available now at code.google.com, and Google said "it should be pushed into git next to all other Android kernel source releases relatively soon."
This doesn't mean all of the source code related to Google Glass has been released. Android code is released in two parts—changes to the Linux kernel are released under the GPLv2 free software license, just as Linux itself is, while most of the code that makes Android recognizable to users is released under the Apache License. With Glass, just the Linux code has been released.
While the public nature of Android source code has allowed forks such as Amazon's Kindle Fire platform, a brand-new glasses platform based on Glass code wouldn't be possible just from the kernel source release. For example, any modifications made to the Android user interface to optimize it for Google Glass wouldn't be part of the kernel code.
It seems likely that Google will also release the rest of the Glass-specific code eventually, particularly since Glass ships with a version of Android. We asked Google today if it plans to release all the Glass code and when, but we haven't heard back yet.
Google's reactions to developers tinkering with Glass should be promising to those hoping Glass will be as open as the rest of Android. Jay Freeman, who developed the Cydia app store for jailbroken iOS devices, reported Friday that he has jailbroken and modified the software on a developer version of Google Glass:
Other developers reported that rooting Google Glass is pretty easy and that Glass ships with the year-old Android 4.0.4, according to a 9to5Google story.
There's been some debate over whether developers actually gained root access to the devices or simply took advantage of a "fastboot OEM unlock" that Google itself provided. "Not to bring anybody down... but seriously... we intentionally left the device unlocked so you guys could hack it and do crazy fun shit with it," Google engineer Stephen Lau wrote. "I mean, FFS, you paid $1500 for it... go to town on it. Show me something cool."
Google Developer Advocate Tim Bray summed it up on Twitter: "Yes, Glass is hackable. Duh."


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This article is more than 1 year old
Angry Romanian hackers deface Telegraph for Top Gear toss
'Gypsies aren't Romanians, morons'
Subdomains maintained by The Daily Telegraph website were defaced by a group of angry Romanian hackers on Thursday.
The two subdomains - shortbreaks.telegraph.co.uk and wine-and-dine.telegraph.co.uk/site/index.php - were sprayed with identical digital graffiti by the hackers from the previously unknown RNS – Romanian National Security group. Sunbelt Software reports that the group appears to be angry at the Telegraph's alleged racism against Romanians, as a translation of the defacement illustrates.
We are sick and tired of seeing how some "garbage" like you try to mock our country. [And try] to create [for us] a completely different picture compared to the real one, and calling us "romanian gypsies" [,] broadcast s****y tv programs like TopGear."
If you had the nerve to angry an entire country, know that we will not stop here! Romania.
Followed by an even clearer statement of indignation, in English
Guess What, Gypsies aren't Romanians, morons.
Both defaced pages play a folk song called The Lonely Shepard by Gheorghe Zamfir and contain links to a Top Gear clip that apparently prompted the outburst. Top Gear presenter James May is a columnist for The Telegraph.
At the time of writing on Thursday afternoon one of the sites remains defaced (shortbreaks.telegraph.co.uk) while the other was cleaned. Chris Boyd of Sunbelt Software said that neither of the attacked domains were high profile or linked to from the paper's front page. It's unclear what attack techniques and vulnerabilities were used to pull off the attack.
The Telegraph has been notified of the hack.
Screenshots of the defacement can be found in a blog post by Sunbelt Software here. ®


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2011 team
Andrew Zhao
Webster, NY
Webster Thomas High School
Grade: Junior
Computer games, reading, programming, overclocking, eating
Science Olympiad, Math League, Orchestra, FBLA, Webster Thomas Physics Team
US Physics Olympiad semi-finalist 2010, AIME 2008-2011, MATHCOUNTS NY state 7th place, ARML upstate NY A team, Science Olympiad NY State 2nd place disease detectives, NY State Regional All State Orchestra 2008-2010, IBM Master the Mainframe Contest part II winner 2011, M3 challenge, RIT High School Programming Competition 2nd place 2010-2011, National Merit qualifier, AP scholar with distinction, Laboratory for Laser Energetics High School Summer Program
From the beginning of my schooling, I have always been very competitive in mathematics. I spent a lot of time studying math and was fairly successful, obtaining a perfect score in the MOEMS contest, 7th place the MATHCOUNTS state competition, and nearly qualifying for the USAMO. Even so, I never enjoyed math or understood its significance very well, seeing it as a collection of poorly conceived word problems involving magically transforming luggage bins and strange tournament rules, as well as cryptic, long formulas with little connection to reality.
I got my first experience in physics when, in my freshman year, my dad brought home the Feynman Lectures on Physics series. The learning curve on Feynman's lectures was a bit too steep for me to read much farther than the first few chapters, but the way that the formulas and concepts were explained from a very fundamental starting point and related to physical situations got me hooked on physics. Not long afterwards, I began to seriously study physics from Halliday Resnick. Though pushing through pages of terse, verbose text filled with calculus was difficult, especially since my knowledge of calculus came exclusively from that same text, when I finished that chapter and its exercises, the subject in question seemed simple, and I would question how I felt such difficulty only a short time earlier. Of course, I would be brought back to reality by the next chapter, where I would be confronted by more pages of confusing calculus and cryptically worded explanations.
In my next year, I took Physics B and Calculus BC. Physics was mostly uneventful, but calculus was one of the most exciting classes that I have taken. Calculus was a fairly simple, but extremely powerful mathematical tool. I spent countless hours integrating volumes and areas just because I could. Though not extremely important to my studies in physics then, calculus became essential in E&M, and when I began to study more advanced textbooks, such as those by A.P. French, and Feynman's lectures.
When January came around, I was ready to take on the F=ma exam. I readied my pens, calculator, and ream of printer paper as I prayed that the computer wouldn't crash while I was taking the test. After 75 minutes, I thought over the train wreck of a test I produced. There was one huge problem that really hurt my score; I squandered most of my time on the elastic collisions before realizing that they had to be solved using a center-of-mass reference frame, a topic covered in depth by my textbook, but skimmed by me because I thought I knew it. Amazingly, my score was good enough to qualify for the semifinal competition. The next few months were marked by a furious rush to learn E&M, while also rigorously reviewing what I already covered. It was not enough that time and I did not pass the semifinal, but I became determined to be ready for anything the coming year. For the next 12 months, I studied hard in the rest of the topics while improving my existing knowledge in mechanics. My hard work paid off and I qualified for the US Physics Team.
Disclaimer: Information in Physics Team profiles is provided by the Team members and is in no way a reflection of AAPT's opinions or views.


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Marijuana businesses raided by federal agents in the Denver, Colo., metro-area on Thursday are being investigated for possible links to Colombian drug cartels, sources told The Denver Post on Friday. The two sources, who have knowledge of the investigation, spoke on condition of anonymity. A
search warrant obtained by The Denver Post
included 10 'target subjects' who were owners of businesses or people connected to marijuana dispensary businesses. Authorities from the U.S. Department of Justice and and Internal Revenue Service raided at least a dozen businesses and two homes throughout the Denver metro area on Thursday, serving search and seizure warrants. Agents, some of them wearing black ski masks, seized boxes of records and piles of medical marijuana. Federal officials wouldn't give specific reasons for the raids, other than to say one of eight federal concerns around marijuana have potentially been violated. Those concerns include trafficking marijuana outside of states where it has been legalized and money laundering. One of the 'target subjects' identified in the search warrant, Denver attorney David Furtado, denies any wrongdoing, according to Furtado's lawyer, Stanley Marks. 'He clearly denies any implication or allegation that he in any way participated in any illegal activity,' Marks said Friday, declining to comment further. Reached Friday, Furtado declined to comment and referred questions to Marks. State business records identify Furtado as a registered agent – a role often filled by lawyers – for a number of a number of businesses related to medical marijuana. Another of the men listed in a search warrant as a target of Thursday's raids is 50-year-old Juan Guardarrama, who pleaded guilty earlier this year in Miami in a racketeering case with connections to Colombian and Cuban gangs, according to court records and published reports. In July 2012,
that Guardarrama – who used the street name Tony Montana, after the character in the movie Scarface – was arrested on charges that he worked with gangs of Colombian and Cuban-born jewel thieves to sell diamonds that had been forcibly stolen from dealers. As part of the investigation, Guardarrama, a Cuban immigrant with deep ties to the Miami area but who was living at the time in Denver, asked an undercover police officer to help him distribute 20 pounds of Colorado-grown marijuana a month in Miami, the Herald reported, citing police records. Guardarrama also asked the undercover officer to have a business partner in Colorado who had 'disrespected' him 'taken out,' the Herald reported. A Colorado official confirmed to the Herald that Guardarrama held a valid medical-marijuana employee license. A spokeswoman for Colorado's Marijuana Enforcement Division could not immediately confirm the information for The Post. As part of a plea deal, Guardarrama was sentenced to 10 years of probation in the Miami case, according to a court record. He also agreed to help authorities with future investigations, the Herald reported. When investigators raided Guardarrama's apartment, they seized $2 million in jewelry and money, according to the Herald. Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367, email@example.com or twitter.com/jpmeyerdpost