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© Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, NC 27109
336.758.5000 | Contact Us | Emergency
Zotero is a powerful open-source citations manager and research tool that integrates directly into the Firefox, Chrome or Safari web browser. Participants will learn how to install and start using Zotero to cite sources and create bibliographies in a matter of minutes. This workshop includes capturing citations from the ZSR Library catalog and databases, storing your collections online with a Zotero cloud account and outputting content in a variety of citation styles. Please bring your laptop to this hands-on session! A connection to the WFU Wi-Fi network is required for this class, and you will need Microsoft Word to use the "Cite while you Write" features of Zotero.


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The Women's Chamber Choir of Hope College will perform its fall concert with 12th Street Harmony and Luminescence on Monday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The group will be performing "Psalm Settings," by Ruth Watson Henderson, with Sarah Southard, instructor of oboe at Hope; "Ascribe to the Lord," by Rosephanye Powell; "Faith is the bird," text by Rabindranath Tagore and music by Elizabeth Alexander; "Ave Maria," by Poulenc; and "Blessings," by Katie Moran Bart.
Also during the concert, the group will sing a set of lullabies from around the world. The pieces are meant to say something about life's ups and downs: a sick mother working hard for little pay, a realization that not every baby is fortunate enough to have a mother to rock him or her, and an intuition that mothers feel.
The concert will feature number of soloists from within the choir, as well as a guest vocalist, sophomore Katrina Baker of Hudsonville.
Hope staff member Lannette Zylman-Tenhave will be performing the piano accompaniment.
The choir will be joined by Hope's close-harmony groups, Luminescence (women) and 12th Street Harmony (men).
The Women's Chamber Choir, established in 2001, is an auditioned group of 20-25 Hope students, directed by Jennifer Wolfe, assistant professor of music.
St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church is located at 195 W. 13th St., on the corner of 13th Street and Maple Avenue.

subset: commoncrawl


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About E-news
The Bayer Center's E-news, including TechNotes and Community Happenings, is emailed monthly to subscribers. It includes the latest scoop on what's new at the Bayer Center, nonprofit management articles and news from the local nonprofit community.
About Community Happenings
Community Happenings is provided as a service to the Greater Pittsburgh area nonprofit community. Inclusion of an event or announcement in this listing does not imply endorsement of the sponsoring organization or of the posted activity.
Information about upcoming events is published as submitted. While the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management makes every effort to ensure accuracy, no responsibility is accepted for any errors or ommissions or results of any actions based upon this information. If you have any questions regarding a particular event, please contact the event sponsor.
Use our online BCNM Enews Event Submission Form if you would like to submit a nonprofit event or announcement for an upcoming E-news issue.


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It is crucial for African organisations and governments to understand the dynamic and significant role that information and communication technologies play in enhancing competitiveness...
12 Jun 2019
Just what is the fourth industrial revolution? No really, what is it all about beyond the hype and jargon?
Garth Williams 11 Mar 2019
The global biometrics market is growing rapidly. In fact, research indicates that the global market is growing a compounded growth rate of 22.9%...
Pine Pienaar 15 Jan 2019
The final two sessions of the 2020 track of AfricaCom - focused on how the 'smart feature phone' will revolutionise the digital landscape in Africa and what will happen when 1bn Africans are connected to the internet...
Leigh Andrews 19 Nov 2018
We stand at the precipice of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which promises to be the most globally impactful revolution to date...
8 Oct 2018
Digital business transformation is upon us. Enterprises, small and large, have recognised the power of tech to transform their ability to deliver value. But where do we go from here?
Evan-Lee Courie 17 Sep 2018
Economic recovery in Nigeria and South Africa, two of Africa's biggest markets for smartphones, is expected to have a positive impact on consumer confidence and sales...
14 Mar 2018
By supplying Cairo International Airport with automated document readers, Gemalto is enabling faster border crossings for millions of travellers while ensuring rigorous security checking...
13 Feb 2018
Apple laid claim to the future of the smartphone on Tuesday, 12 September 2017, with a 10th anniversary iPhone X, touting the device as the next generation of mobile computing...
13 Sep 2017
Allied Electronics Corporation's (Altron) subsidiary' Altech' is to dispose of its 8.6% stake in Liquid Telecommunications Holdings' the company said.
16 Jan 2014
Economies in sub-Saharan Africa will ride out the bumpy global recovery in the next few years to post growth rates not seen outside Asia, the IMF said in its latest economic forecasts Tuesday (16 April).
17 Apr 2013
Although Africa made huge strides in increasing human development in the past decade, gains could - with hundreds of millions of people being pushed into extreme poverty - easily be reversed should "significant progress" not be made in halting global warming.
Schalk Mouton 20 Mar 2013
PARIS, FRANCE / DARMSTADT, GERMANY: The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) has launched its 2012 Mobile News Grants and Training Scheme, providing newspaper companies in Sub-Saharan Africa an opportunity to develop or expand their mobile platforms.
13 Mar 2012


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Multicoloured Maestro...Custom made to your size with 90+ colour options Order samples @
- New
There are literally thousand upon thousands of design and colour options at your fingertips
There are literally thousand upon thousands of design and colour options at your fingertips
(£126.00 per square metre to customise this rug)
Our rugs are hand-made using high grade wool, there's over 90 standard colourways for you to tailor the look and finished.
Custom made rugs to the size you want, lengths up to 600cm and widths up to 400cm… and even larger if required.
Our online design software is so simple to use, click to see how you can use on your desktop or phone to colour, style and price your rug.
Fusion rugs offer a contemporary styling, primarily coloured in red, blue and ochre yellow with over 90 colour combinations. This is a bespoke rug made to your required size in any length between 120cm to 600cm and any length between 60cm and 400cm in width, you can also add your own splash of colour from our colour bank of over 90 colours to make your purchase truly unique. The new rug will be hand tufted using 100% wool and delivered to your door in around 6 weeks. Our online custom design app allows you to size and price the rug while giving the option to colourise your desired accent colour into the finished design. Once you have priced the finished rug and are happy with the overall look of the designs and colours, you can order samples to confirm the colour and quality we are offering.
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2: Click or Tap the 'Color' icon, select your colour, then click "Change product
3: Once you are happy with the size, colour and price of the rug click 'Add to cart'


text: « back to directory print Joy Kanwar Assistant Professor of Legal Writing 250 Joralemon Street Brooklyn, NY 11201 (718) 780-7585 | Email Areas of Expertise Legal WritingTorts Education B.A., New CollegeJ.D., Vermont Law SchoolM.S.E.L, Vermont Law School Biography Courses Noteworthy Joy Kanwar teaches legal writing courses at Brooklyn Law School. She joined the faculty in 2008 from private practice, where she was a senior staff associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Her areas of practice included complex mass torts and insurance litigation, general litigation, products liability, securities litigation,general torts and contract law. She previously was a legal information analyst at Lawnavigator.com. In law school, she was editor of Res Communes, Vermont Law School's environmental law journal; and she won best paper in the J.B. Chase Writing Competition for a note that was published in the Vermont Law Review. Related Links: Faculty News Curriculum


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No, it's not called "The Sony DS," although technically that's exactly what the Sony Tablet P is. A dual-screen, portable Sony system that plays PlayStation games (keep reading), that just happens to run Android.
Dual screens on a tablet is a pretty exciting concept, but does having two screens improve or hinder the tablet experience?
Editors note: As of June 2012 the Sony Tablet P is upgradeable to Android 4.0. For details on the advantages Android 4.0 offers over Honeycomb, check the Android 4.0 section of the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime review.
The first thing you'll notice about the Sony Tablet P is the dual-screen, hinge-based design that allows the tablet to be closed up, like a clam shell.
The second thing is that, once folded, the tablet looks not unlike a large eyeglasses case that will likely fit into most large pockets.
|Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus
|Toshiba Thrive 7-inch
|Sony Tablet P
|Weight in pounds
|Width in inches (landscape)
|Height in inches
|6.2 (Closed: 3.3)
|Depth in inches
|0.75 (Closed: 0.9)
|Side bezel width in inches (landscape)
Tablets with pointy corners are something of a pet peeve of mine. There's nothing that ruins potential comfort like pointy plastic corners digging into your palms, and that's exactly the type of experience the Tablet P delivers. With the top screen rotated to an almost-laptop-like 90 degrees, the "pointy plastic things are causing me discomfort" effect is lessened, but you'd better have hobbit-size hands if you hope to get any typing or navigation done from this position.
The tablet's top half continues to rotate back another 90 degrees until the 5.5-inch screens align perfectly with each other. This creates a nearly complete, square screen shape that spans 7 inches diagonally. I say "nearly" since there's about a third of an inch of dead space between the screens, making full-screen viewing of games, movies, and pretty much any app not optimized for dual-screen playback a less-than-seamless experience.
On the right edge of the bottom section are the power button, power adapter jack, Micro-USB port, and volume rocker. Having all four features jammed onto a 3-inch space feels a bit cramped; both the power button and volume rocker are embedded in the tablet a bit too deeply and prove difficult to press at times. Especially if your fingers are as large as mine.
Embedded in the top section's top-right bezel is a 0.3-megapixel camera, and almost directly opposite it on the back, about an inch lower, is a 5-megapixel camera. Both cameras are well-placed and thankfully fail at attracting unwanted thumbs into their respective frames.
On the front edge of the bottom section, almost hidden in the right corner, lies the headphone jack. On the back, near the dual hinges, you'll find two small black buttons. When pressed simultaneously, these unlock the bottom plate, revealing the removable battery and microSD slot. The expansion slot supports cards of up to 32GB, and although I would have preferred the memory expansion to be more easily accessible, the option to remove and possibly replace the battery is an appreciated bonus.
Software features
The Tablet P ships with Honeycomb 3.2.1 and according to Sony and Verizon is "Ice Cream Sandwich-ready," but no update is officially planned as of yet. While the Honeycomb OS displays over both screens, some apps like the Google Play store (formerly the Android Market) will, annoyingly, only display in the top screen. With other apps, like Marvel Comics, you're either reading about Captain America's latest adventure on a small 5.5-inch screen or awkwardly stretched over both screens, with a long black bar separating the top of a single panel from the rest of the panel.
The same problem holds for Android games and most movie players I tried. While they can be played or watched on the small 5.5-inch screen, taking them full-screen makes them look a lot less impressive as they stretch to fit into a completely square aspect ratio. The disruptive black bar halving the image doesn't help much.
Fortunately, the Sony-made movie player, music app, and photo app make good use of the dual screens by keeping controls and output separate and not allowing full-screen playback. Apps like the browser, however, which spreads over both screens, unfortunately will not autorotate when the tablet is turned upside down or sideways.
The Tablet P includes limited PlayStation Store support, with access to a scant few PS1 games. Games like Crash Bandicoot are well-implemented on the platform, placing most of the virtual control pad controls on the bottom screen with the actual game up top.


text:
Bumper regulations in the USA have ruined many a car, but which one got the worst treatment? Post what you think are the worst federal bumpers of all time, whether it's because they ruined what was a very pretty car outside of North America, or maybe they just look bad by themselves.
Here are a few examples I could think of (i think the Khamsin got treated the worst):


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Tent site
Bed Description
The farm ranges in elevation from 4200 feet at the top of the mountain down to 3400 feet in our picturesque valley.
Bed Amenities
- BAD Cell Reception
- 200 Acres For Privacy
- Horseback Riding on Site
- Miles of Hiking Trails
- Fishing
- Lake Swimming
- Majestic Mountain Views
- Internet At STABLES
- Library in the FORT
- Large Rock Fireplace FORT
- Meeting Facility in FORT
- Cell Reception BAD
- Non-Smoking Room
- Fax
- Free Calls at STABLES
- Credit Cards Accepted
- Extended Stay
- Horse Farm
- Free Parking
- Late Arrival
- Non Smoking
- BBQ Grill
- Picnic Area
- Horse Riding
- Kids Activities
- Games
- Meeting Room
Terms & Conditions
Arrowmont Stables & Cabins
CANCELLATION POLICY: Two weeks or more is needed for cancellation notice and is required for a refund, less a $40 credit card processing fee. For less than 2 weeks' notice, the full payment is required. There are no refunds for changes, early departures or late arrivals with less than two weeks notice. We recommend you purchase Trip Insurance to avoid any possible problems.
Cancellations must be made by writing an email to email@example.com or send a fax to (828) 743-3753. You may call to inquire about a cancellation, but we do need it in writing. Plus, if you used an online travel site to book, you will need to contact that agency and first cancel your reservation through them. They do not allow us to do that. We do not accept cancellations by phone.
OCCUPANCY: King Vacation cabin standard occupancy is a maximum of 6 people. Queen Vacation cabin standard occupancy is a maximum of 4 people. Efficiency unit occupancy is a maximum of 2 people. These are No Smoking units.
CHECK IN: You may check-in between 4 PM and 6 PM, Monday through Saturday. There are no Sunday check-ins.
LATE ARRIVAL: If you are arriving after 6 PM, please call and we will make arrangements for you to gain entrance to your cabin.
CHECK OUT: Check-out is at 11 AM except on Sunday. Sundays have a late check-out of 3 PM.
DEPOSIT: First night's rate is charged on your credit card for your deposit.
TAXES: There are state and local taxes required. North Carolina Sales Tax is 6.75% and Jackson Co. Travel & Tourism Tax is 4%.
PAYMENT: You may use Visa, Mastercard, Discover or American Express to secure your reservation and pay your deposit. Upon arrival, you may pay the balance due with cash or credit cards.
SECURITY DEPOSIT: A $150 security deposit is required in addition to the cabin deposit. The security deposit is refunded if your cabin is left in good shape. Please help keep our rates down by making sure you wash your dishes/pots-pans before leaving. If our staff is required to clean your kitchen after you leave, a $50 cleaning fee is charged. Dishes/pots need to be washed to avoid kitchen cleaning fee.
NO SHOW: The Full cabin/room charge for the full reservation period plus any applicable taxes is charged.
PETS: We love animals. But we are just too small to set aside a Vacation Cabin just for pets. If a pet is found in your cabin, the minimum charge starts at $200 for your pet plus $100 extra for fumigating the unit. This will be charged to your credit card.


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Flint Hills Gold sees steady sales
Staff writer
Many retail businesses, local and nationwide, reported less than stellar sales to close out 2012, but Beverly Schor and Sandy Loveless at Flint Hills Gold in Marion did not see that trend come to fruition.
"Christmas was our busiest time of the year, like always," Schor said. "But honestly, there hasn't been much change from year to year; our business has been rock steady."
As a business that has thrived on jewelry design and reconstruction for 27 years, Schor said that Flint Hills Gold served people from all 50 states, even Alaska, in the past year and had many projects in progress for local and out-of-state customers.
"People like coming to us here in Marion," she said. "We're small; we are trustworthy. We do all our own work here and do not send jewelry out for repairs through the mail. We have years of experience and really enjoy what we do."
Schor, the owner, and Loveless, bench jeweler, specialize in creating jewelry to meet customer specification.
"I love it when someone comes in and doesn't know what they want," Loveless said. "They might have a special stone they want to use or an idea of what the person they are gifting likes. A lot of time I will just start sketching while they talk and together we will come up with an idea that they love."
Schor said something they were seeing more and more of was the use of generational rings for weddings.
"We've always reset rings on request, but it seems like there is more emphasis lately on resetting grandmother's jewelry and passing it on, particularly for weddings," she said. "We are doing a lot with the old filigree style. We really enjoy working with that."
Loveless explained that filigree-style jewelry was essentially lace covered with gold.
Schor said customers brought in many types of precious stones for them to work with, including tourmalines, amethysts, emeralds, and diamonds. Schor said she set several black diamonds in the year just past, in addition to the traditional clear gemstones.
"Red diamonds are very rare and we rarely see those, but the chocolate, black, blue, and yellow, those have been around for a long time," she said. "We design with all of those."
Schor and Loveless utilize hundreds of wax patterns to stimulate customer ideas, and then work closely with them through a step-by-step process that involves making a mold, burning out wax filling, polishing, setting stones, and creating a final product.
"The very best part is when you hand them the finished piece," Schor said. "People are just so appreciative, and it is always exciting to see how it all comes out."
In addition to making jewelry to specification, Schor said customers come to Flint Hills Gold for jewelry and eyeglasses repairs. Once there, customers, find
enticing displays of silver, gold, and turquoise pieces.
"I have an acquaintance who used to live in Marion and now she lives in Santa Fe, N.M.," Schor said. "She supplies us with original Navajo Indian turquoise pieces that are just very attractive."
Included in the southwest-influenced jewelry tray displayed at the store are several charite purple gemstones. Also displayed, among other things in the store cases, are strings of freshwater pearls, birthstone pendants, and silver rhinos — a tribute to hope for the future, prosperity, and strong leadership in Marion.
"There is always something interesting going on here. We love to work with our customers," Schor said. "I guess it is what keeps us going strong after 27 years."
Last modified Jan. 10, 2013


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Story highlights
- Study: Users begin to leave online video after two seconds if it doesn't load
- After that, an average of 5.8% of them leave the video per second
- Study is from University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Akamai Technologies
- Researchers looked at the habits of 6.7 million unique video viewers
Two seconds.
That's when Internet users start ditching online videos if they're not loading properly, according to a new study from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Akamai Technologies.
By the 10-second mark, if the video still hasn't loaded, about 40% of Web users will have abandoned it, according to data presented in the study. On average, for every second that the video doesn't start playing after the two-second mark, there's a 5.8% increase in the rate at which the video viewers bail.
The findings vary depending on the video. "Viewers are less tolerant to startup delay for a short video such as a news clip than a long video such an hour-long TV episode," the authors say. But, in general, the findings seem to confirm a truism in the twitchy world of the Internet: Online users don't like to wait.
"The study ... contains no startling surprises -- most of us probably suspected that people give up on watching videos that don't load," Jeff John Roberts writes on the site GigaOm. "But it does provide useful empirical evidence for companies who must decide how to invest architecture to support their video platforms."
Some technology bloggers were surprised people didn't click away from glitchy videos faster. And previous reports, including one from the New York Times, suggest Web users are even more impatient when it comes to text-based Web pages.
The Times in February cited Harry Shum, from Microsoft, as saying that people will go to a website less frequently if it loads 250 milliseconds slower than a competitor's. As this graphic highlights, that's faster than the blink of an eye.
"Every millisecond matters," a Google engineer told the paper.
The UMass-Amherst paper was based on data collected from 6.7 million unique video viewers over a 10-day period, according to the report. The test subjects played a total of 23 million video views. The study finds video quality has a potentially longtime impact on a website's popularity. A "viewer who experienced failure" is about 2% less likely to come back to that same site that week, compared to a person whose videos loaded smoothly.
Finally, the video-loading game seems to be one of expectations. People who are trying to watch videos on a mobile phone are likely to be a bit more patient than those on desktop computers with high-speed connections. It's easy to see how that would be the case. Think back to the hee-hawing days of dial-up Internet and remember how long you used to wait for a single photo to load on a super-slow Internet connection.
In part because of this, Dante D'Orazio writes for The Verge that efforts to make online video load faster and faster may amount to an "unwinnable battle."
"There may very well be a point when we'll no longer notice," he writes, "but for now, it seems that you can never have enough speed."
Hate online wait times? Have thoughts on the report? Take two seconds and let us know what you think of all this in the comments section.


text: Here you can do an advanced search for objects based on their relationship to a given person/institution, a place or time. If you enter a term into the search bars, a list of possible terms from our database will be shown. Choose one by clicking on it. Entering information into more than one field lets you close in the search more. You can also define the kind of object or the kind of relationship, between for example object and event etc., you are looking for. Searching an object by its inventory number is possible using a separate slot.


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Nintendo announced today that its next iOS app will bring the iconic Super Mario to Apple mobile devices.
Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, who helped create Mario, joined Apple CEO Tim Cook on stage at the company's iPhone 7 unveiling event today in San Francisco to offer a sneak preview of the iOS version of Super Mario Run.
It's a simple game: Mario automatically runs to the right, and your goal is to make him hurdle enemies and small gaps in course. You do that by tapping — the longer you tap, the higher Mario jumps and the higher your score. The game's ultimate goal is to get to the flagpole at the end of the course before time runs out.


text:
A Digest of Hong Kong Criminal Case Law
Government Press, 1973 - Criminal law
From inside the book
30 pages matching Cr.App.R in this book
Where's the rest of this book?
Results 1-3 of 30
What people are saying - Write a review
We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
Digested Cases para
Words and Phrases para 1011
Index of Words and Phrases para 1104
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
25 Full Court accused person admissible admitted alleged Amendment appeal against conviction appeal against sentence Appeal dismissed appellant was convicted appellant's appellate court Attorney certiorari Chan charge Cheung circumstances committed considered counsel Cr.App.R Crim Criminal Procedure Ordinance cross-examination Crown dangerous drugs deceased decision defendant detention disqualification District Court evidence fact fit for unlawful going equipped grievous bodily harm ground Held hire or reward Hong Kong imprisonment instrument fit intent jury Kowloon Motor Bus learned magistrate loitering loitering with intent magistrate's Magistrates Ordinance manslaughter matter months motor vehicle murder nolle prosequi offensive weapon passengers pleaded guilty police officer possession previous convictions proceedings prosecution provisions provocation public light bus question record referred registration regulation respondent Review of Sentences Road Traffic Ordinance robbery Rules second appellant statement Summary Offences trial judge ultra vires unlawful purpose Vehicles Insurance verdict voir dire voluntary witness Wong words


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I have been keeping the garden organic so far. (Although I didn't use "organic seeds." I'm not really even sure how seeds could be organic, but maybe that just illustrates my ignorance.) We weren't able to use our compost to fertilize the garden this year because it hasn't decomposed enough yet. I may need to get some of those compost-activating bugs or something. I did get some interesting pest-control products though, including this product that's made from concentrated garlic. You basically just dilute it with water and spray it on your plants. I am not sure how well it's working. I probably need to do a second application. I also ordered some fertilizing worm tea recently. I love that name. Basically it's worm castings (poop) in liquid form that you can pour in your plants instead of using Miracle Grow. I will use it on my potted herbs, some shrubs that need some help in the front yard and possible the tomatoes, which have been looking a little yellow lately.
Overall, the garden has been growing nicely, as I said. So far we have harvested a few green beans, a couple of tomatoes and a very nice yellow squash. All were delicious (although you'll have to take Dakota's word about the tomatoes). I'll keep you posted on how the radishes, peppers and carrots turn out. We may even be able to do a whole second planting after the tomatoes and squash are done producing. That's one of the many benefits of living in sunny Southern California. It's easy to live off the land around here. Hee hee.


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The DX 351-CT ceiling fastening system allows the installation of ceiling wires and clips. The product features a slim, compact design for accessibility to tight areas as well as a coaxial trigger that allows users to keep working on the move. Pre-mounted fasteners enable setting in a wide range of materials. In addition, the product's integrated modular pole allows users to make fastenings into ceilings of various heights from a standing position.
For more information, visit www.hilti.com.
Hide comments


text:
"Framed Memories" - Digital Wallart - A home is filled with memories. With a frame you can give them eternal life. Why not put your own photos or postcards into the frames and create your own unique and personalised wallpaper.
This Digital Wall Art comes in 4 easy to apply panels (each panel is 45cm wide x 265cm high). This design is repeatable.
This Wall Art can also be re-scaled or coloured to your exact specification. Contact Sales Team for further information.
Please Note: Please allow up to 14 working days for delivery.


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Unless you're someone who relishes the prospect of U.S.-Iran conflict, President Barack Obama's speech to the United Nations General Assembly yesterday didn't disappoint. Recognizing the opportunity presented by the new Iranian president, the speech marked a return to the conciliation of Obama's first term, only this time backed up by several years' worth of economic sanctions.
While it's easy to dismiss Obama's reiteration of America's commitment to the United Nations at the top of the speech as the usual internationalist boilerplate, the importance of robust American participation in multilateral institutions is something that has underpinned his administration's approach to foreign policy. (For a wide-angle view of the speech, read John Judis's excellent take.) It's this approach—pursuing U.S. goals within a broader multilateral framework—that has facilitated the ongoing international effort to pressure and cajole Iran to address concerns over its nuclear program.
Notably, the speech left out the usual "all options on the table" talk that actually serves to diminish, rather than strengthen, the threat of force. A country that keeps an aircraft carrier parked in the Persian Gulf doesn't have to remind anyone of its options.
Obama acknowledged the history of tension between the United States and Iran, including the U.S.'s role in toppling the government of democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953, which continues to color Iranian views of U.S. intentions. "I don't believe this difficult history can be overcome overnight—the suspicions run too deep," he said. "But I do believe that if we can resolve the issue of Iran's nuclear program, that can serve as a major step down a long road towards a different relationship, one based on mutual interests and mutual respect."
As for Iranian President Hassan Rohani, while he couldn't help but benefit from comparisons to his predecessor, 9/11-truther and Holocaust denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, his speech was a bit of a let down. After several weeks of conciliatory statements and gestures, Rohani delivered a frank, sometimes rambling assertion of Iran's own interests and rights. It was an important reminder that negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 (the countries with permanent membership on the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany) will not be easy. Still, even if Rohani's outreach didn't match Obama's, the speech contained an important message that Rohani's government stands to address the international community's concerns over its nuclear program and to engage constructively over other regional issues, particularly Syria. The real work will begin when the foreign ministers sit down together later this week.
In as much as he meant it to be heard in Iran as well as New York, Rohani's speech was also a reminder that he has his own hawkish domestic politics to deal with. And he understands that Obama has the same problem.
"I listened carefully to the statement made by President Obama today at the General Assembly," Rohani said. "Commensurate with the political will of the leadership in the United States and hoping that they will refrain from following the short-sighted interest of warmongering pressure groups, we can arrive at a framework to manage our differences." Basically, Rohani's message to Obama was, "You try to handle your hard-liners, I'll try to handle mine, and let's see if we can get something done."
"The speech seemed designed to create some breathing space for Rouhani with potential hard-line spoilers back in Iran without doing huge damage to the prospects for improving relations with Washington," said Colin Kahl, a former deputy assistant secretary of Defense for the Middle East. "But while Rohani may have thread that needle intellectually, the actual words will be spliced and used against him by hawks and skeptics in the United States and elsewhere, and there was no game-changing turn of phrase." The speech wasn't a disaster, Kahl said, "but given raised expectations, the combination of a lukewarm speech and the Iranians 'rejecting' an 'encounter' with Obama will provide some ammunition for folks rooting for diplomacy to fail."
Those folks have been out in force over the past weeks and have been helpfully clear about how inconvenient it is to have to contend with an Iranian leader who isn't a raving lunatic. "I miss [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad," Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen told The Hill earlier this week. "He was so 'what you see is what you get.'"
Some have sought to torpedo Obama's diplomacy by raising the bar unrealistically high. A group of Republican senators sent the president a letter insisting that Iran must be denied the right to domestic uranium enrichment—broadly understood as a nonstarter for any realistic agreement—and throwing a demand for political reform into the mix. Rather than pause to explore the possibilities of Rohani's offer, the senators write, "now is the time to increase pressure and stand with the Iranian people," as if standing with the Iranian people could be accomplished by rejecting the diplomatic initiatives of the man they just elected, and over the presumed preferences of Iran's own supreme leader.
Then there's Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who from the moment Rohani was elected has insisted that Iran's new president is "a wolf in sheep's clothing." The usual groups have followed Netanyahu's lead in making that case in the U.S.
It's interesting how closely these sentiments resemble those of Iran's own hard-liners when Obama was elected. Shortly after the 2008 election, an editorial in Iran's hard-line Keyhan newspaper, essentially the mouthpiece of Iran's supreme leader, warned that, despite his stated desire for better relations, the new American president was "a hawk in dove's clothing."
"Obama's election victory in 2008 was a huge disappointment for Iran's hard-liners," says Meir Javedanfar, an Iran analyst and lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel. Many Iranian hard-liners believe that the U.S.'s real goal is, and has always been, the destruction of the Islamic Republic, and would "prefer to have a U.S. president who threatens war, not peace," Javedanfar says. "The arrival of Obama brought with it the dangers of rapprochement, which is why Keyhan tried to discredit Obama from the very beginning by saying that he was no different than Bush."
Observing the hubbub over a possible handshake between Rohani and Obama, which ended up not happening, former Bush administration Middle East policy hand Michael Doran, one of the Obama administration's fiercest Twitter critics, scoffed, "For the greatest power on Earth, a democracy, to run panting after a two-bit terrorist state is an unseemly spectacle." While this is obviously a tendentious rendering, it's quite useful for what it reveals about the hawkish mind-set: In seeking an un-hostile encounter with Rohani, Obama failed to uphold American pride. One can easily imagine the Farsi version of this coming out of the Revolutionary Guard headquarters: For a great historic power such as Iran to run panting after the Great Satan is humiliating for us.
To be clear, no one is claiming that Rohani is some sort of magical peacenik Santa Claus. He's a member of the Iranian revolutionary elite—indeed, that's precisely why he is now able to operate with the supreme leader's support. Nor is anyone insisting that the web of sanctions currently in place should be unwound simply because Rohani has a grandfatherly smile. But, at the very least, it should be obvious that now isn't the moment to pile on new sanctions. And it's hard to think of a worse idea than for Congress to pass a resolution authorizing military force against Iran, as Senator Lindsey Graham has said he's preparing to do, right at the moment that Iran's president is engaged in the most sustained outreach to the United States since the revolution.
A key divide right now is between those who recognize that Iran has politics, and those who don't. For those who don't, and who believe that Iran's government is unified and undifferentiated in its villainy, and that any appearance of disagreement is simply projected onto Iran by naïve Westerners, nothing the U.S. does or doesn't do really matters.
But others recognize that, even if the range of views within the regime is small, and has grown smaller over recent years, there is still some measure of disagreement over the value of rapprochement with the United States and that Iran's supreme leader has, against his own inclinations and suspicions, given Rohani some room to run.
Is Rohani serious, or is it all a trick? In the end, there's only one way to find out: Talk. As Rohani himself has made clear, his time is limited. He has his own skeptics to contend with, and just like Obama's, they're waiting to pounce if he doesn't deliver on his promises.


text:
Saturday, August 11, 2007
David Shayler and the Holy Grail
Monty Python fans will no doubt become aware, at least subliminally, that David makes the following claims in the interview
- he is definitely not Jesus
(though apparently some people did confuse him for Jesus in Judea 2,000 years ago)
- but he is King Arthur
Ringing any bells?
Shayler delivers a truly inspirational mix of discussion concerning matters of life and death that many of us are seriously concerned about, skillfully blended with a Messiah complex that would have made Colonel Kurtz blush and assertions that he is the reincarnation of a fictional(ised) English king and a splash of a homage to Graham Chapman
The second time I Iistened to this interview through I actually started to get quite annoyed
I take my Python very seriously
As a fellow member of the Conspiraloon™ Alliance has already said...
"Imagine if Shayler were still under the control of the secret services? Imagine the damage he could have done rather than the good work he continues to do?"
40 comments:
- Merkin said...
I don't know if it is a comment on society or on my state of mind, but I can't work out if he really is just a nut-job or a 5th columnist.
Maybe I have been spending too much time in virtual world, recently.
- 11 August 2007 at 22:36
- Stef said...
It's certainly tricky
of course, there is a third possible, if somewhat highly unlikely and potentially epoch shattering, answer...
/ starts chanting
- 11 August 2007 at 23:21
- Merkin said...
Or, in the paraphrased words of the immortal Szwagier 'Now is the time to hoist the skull and crossbones and become a pirate'
- 11 August 2007 at 23:37
- Shutter said...
There is an excellent and chilling book by Vincent Bugliosi, called "Helter Skelter" about the Manson Murders - Sharon tate etc.,
Manson had this totally insane yet remarkably coherent philosophy based on the Beatles White Album about the Blacks taking over white California (Black record comes out of white sleeve) ....
They tried to kill people with LSD as well ... seriously crazy.
Seeing the charming but slim, petite interviewer on More 4 news and the bulky and evidently loopy Shayler waving his arms about one might reasonable have had concerns for her safety.
Mind you the many friends I have who tell me they work for the Secret Serrvices all seem to exhibit similiar behaviour patterns - let's start with Tony Blair, Geoff (There ARE WMD in Iraq) Hoon, Sir Trevor Macdonald ..
- 12 August 2007 at 00:01
I notice that David Shayler next to the blobfish complement each other well.
- 12 August 2007 at 15:43
- Stef said...
/ captures screenshot for posterity
- 12 August 2007 at 15:46
- Stef said...
feeling a smidge guilty though
DS might genuinely believe what he is saying in which case I shouldn't be taking the piss out of him, even gently
one thing I am sure of is that his continued association with more earthly, tangible issues whilst in his current state of consciousness ain't go to help present the case for why some of us have very serious doubts about 7/7, 9/11 and all the rest
- 12 August 2007 at 15:54
- Merkin said...
First time I saw the term Conspiraloons was just over a year ago, on the Graun.
I was accused by someone on the thread of being such a deluded theorist.
It is interesting that, now, most of the thread appears to have been wiped by the 'thought police'.
One of the main contributers was an interesting case - she had claimed to be an independent MI5/6 researcher with extensive contacts and access to MI5/6 personnel and offices.
I got involved in a long session with her during which it became apparent that she was 'not the full shilling'.
This was confirmed by the author, Holly Finch, who claimed that she had been virtually stalked by said contributer.
I am now starting to wonder if there was something else afoot.
- 12 August 2007 at 16:49
- Stef said...
Anything to do with this person?
Please don't say yes
There has been much on-line distraction from the key issues around 7/7 due to a range of motivations. Some potentially spooky others almost certainly lot
- 12 August 2007 at 17:15
- Merkin said...
Yes, thatz the one.
- 12 August 2007 at 17:24
- Stef said...
/ slaps forehead
- 12 August 2007 at 17:29
- Stef said...
/ sighs
- 12 August 2007 at 17:30
- Merkin said...
Having had a look at the Graun thread again, I see how quickly the thread 'appears' to have been pulled when, in fact, the last comment from JLA was about ONE WEEK after the thread started (if I remember correctly, and I think I do) as opposed to 3 days.
- 12 August 2007 at 18:14
- Stef said...
there's a fair bit of that that goes on over there
- 12 August 2007 at 18:32
- lwtc247 said...
I texted David asking him to give his input to the last thread. No reply as yet I see. I've still not seen it (will do later today. Here's the possibilities:
1) Actual reality. He really is King Arthur
2) Genuine belief, but misguided
3) He has tapped some largely unknown energy, in some way relating to KA, making him think he is KA.
4) He's been taking drugs
5) He's mentally unstable (possibly in combination with item 4 above)
6) He's a saboteur.
There may be more but I think it's pretty comprehensive.
I cant rule out 1-3 because each and everyone of us is more ignorant than we are informed, but comparatively speaking, its not likely at all, is it? Really! {Merlin's of the world, Lancelot's and Sir Percival's: that a rhetorical question)
4) Is possible but I don't think a man of his age would delve into drugs, especially when he realises the stakes of the 'truth' information he's been trying to get across in recent years. Although people do go off the rails at times and he's had his fair share of societal pressure.
5) Maybe.
6) Possible but the option I'd least like to consider, because I have respect for him in blowing the whistle on the UK govt about its assassination attempt on Gaddafi and for bringing 9-11 and 7-7 questions to more people than would have been the case otherwise.
But from my readings of covert operations over the years I cannot discount this as being possible. But the suddenness of all this and that he has managed to get onto the MSM make me suspicious. Whatever is the actual case, the rest of the non- 'new age spiritualists' have already learned to cope with red herrings, non-sequiturs and ad hominem's quite well. David's unusual claims are relatively trivial I feel. There are far more effective ways 'they' could bring down those who believe the govt is telling lies.
Overall, I actually think option 6) is the least likely. But we'll see.
As for DI, I am confident he is not mentally ill. Either he's sincere in his beliefs, or he's on a {growingly successful} campaign of revenge to screw society for laughing at him all those years ago.
- 13 August 2007 at 03:55
- Stef said...
7) Somebody is fucking with his head
and I wouldn't be so quick to discount #4 as being a major contributory factor - there's something distinctly shroomy/ psychotropic about this business
and yes, DI is far from insane
- 13 August 2007 at 04:26
I'm listening to it now. I believe he's completely sincere.
100% Wrong, but sincere.
He's interpreted some experience wrongly and imported previous information from David Icke into those feelings.
It's well natured I believe, like Icke, but wrong.
I notice the Mayan "2012" date again. Infinite/unconditional love is the new religion. Icke is anti-religion, DS is pro christianity. Two bases covered.
Imagine a world with no religion and then one day someone says "I believe in God" Imagine the reaction. OK David S, fair enough. You are free to believe what you want but sorry, not that this will bother you, but I'm not signing up mate.
I find it really interesting however the outporing of anger towards men like DS and DI from the general public. Words expressed in public that are more hostile than those in relation to killer Tony bLiars slaughter of over 1,000,000 Iraqi people.
I'll respect his opinion or I'd be a hypocrit. Hope its not infectious! :s
- lw
- 13 August 2007 at 06:00
These neoMayans are letting dreams shape their reality.
I think 9-11 (which missed the 2000 doomsday) and 2012 has awakened the doomsday complex within some.
- lw
- 13 August 2007 at 06:24
- Stef said...
There's no way any of us can be sure about what's going on in DS' head. What I am sure of is that he is pitching his latest message no differently to the way he pitched 9/11 and 7/7. Shayler claiming to be the Messiah sounds exactly the same as Shayler claiming 9/11 to be an inside job. This will turn people away. Most people have neither the time, experience nor inclination to try and pick out what is fact and what is fantasy. Whether he is consciously doing it or not Shayler is crapping in the pool
And what DS is doing with these New Agey themes is no different to what he has done with 'truth' movements. He is repackaging other people's work and ideas without adding any value - be it new research or original thinking. Virtually everything he has come out with recently is indistinguishable from the kind of stuff David Icke, Michael Tsarion, Jordan Maxwell and many others have been peddling for some time. Probably the most pernicious element of their 'teachings' being this 2012 thing and how people of conscience essentially need do nothing to challenge what is going on in the world and simply hang around and wait for time to pass and for the universe to change
What with the passive New Age crap, the neutering of the controlled established Left and people being jerked off with the climate change thing there isn't much room left for the kind of political activism that I personally would like to see - in that respect I see the reborn Shayler as being, by accident or by design, part of a much wider malaise
- 13 August 2007 at 09:55
You know these people who claim to be reincarned spirits and so on. Why don't they ever say In my past life, 1812, I was Ms. Jane Smith from No 42 Heath Lane, Middlesborough?
- lw
- 13 August 2007 at 10:16
- Merkin said...
'You know these people who claim to be reincarned spirits and so on. Why don't they ever say In my past life, 1812, I was Ms. Jane Smith from No 42 Heath Lane, Middlesborough?'
That's because, in my past life, 1812, I was Ms. Jane Smith from No 42 Heath Lane, Middlesborough.
- 13 August 2007 at 15:59
I'm not going to be polite here,everyone seems to be full of sympathy for the pie munching twat.Not me.If I ever see him at the riverside stadium,I'll nail him to the goalpost.Well..I would if I could actually afford a ticket to get in.Why does he have to be a fucking boro fan..and if hes responsible for our miraculous euro run,what happened in the final?too busy nailing mary magdalen?
whenever fuckface has editorial control over what spews out of his trap,he goes off on a cringe inducing rant about holograms missiles and no fucking planes.He's a liability.If hes fucked his head with jimson weed or whatever,he needs to be ranting at a fucking shrink ina rubber room,not derailing other peoples hard work.what has he got to do with crop circles?I know that colin andrews(andrew collins?) the croppy guy tells a tale of the CIA trying to bribe him into dismissing crop circles as man made hoaxes;maybe theres something about this years artwork that the evil rich dont want us plebs talking about.I know theres some geezer whos allegedly made a free energy device based on crop circle designs (google crop circle ship).
The other dodgy fucker,Anne Machon,has been touting limited hangouts in the Mail.Apparently,the secret service is strapped for cash,thats why terrorism happens.Maybe they shouldn't have spent so much cash arming the IRA,or dressing SAS cunts as arabs and giving them cars full of bombs to drive around.How did she get to be a brass in the truth movement?Isn't she secretary of some uk 911 outfit?sack the lying twunt.run them both out of town.
Meh..theres a few personal insults in there that I probably won't be proud about later(thought better of it and edited the worst out).But fuck it.I'm sick of "truthers" spewing bullshit.These two lying bastards aren't to be trusted.who needs enemies with friends like these?
Rick Siegel,of 911eyewitness fame has put out a challenge to all the bigwigs of the truth movement..take a lie detector test..weed out the liars and agents.Funnily enough,no one has taken him up on it.
BTW-thats not a blobfish-its my right eyeball.If any of your friends tell you their kid has picked up a dose of conjunctivitis,run away.
BTW2-theres no Heath lane in Boro.If there ever was a heath around here,it was turned into a slag heap/toxic dump long ago.
- 13 August 2007 at 19:25
- Kier said...
There are some intriguing insights from David's ex-landlady to be found here. (Posting under the username B)She recounts in detail a conversation she had with him at the weekend.
- 13 August 2007 at 19:27
- Kier said...
I like this bit, btw...
B: "But I am supporting you, I'm helping put food on your table and a roof over your head!"
DS: "Well, so you should, it's up to my followers to keep me in a state of bliss so that I can carry out my mission."
- 13 August 2007 at 19:32
- lwtc247 said...
Re: Heath lane in Boro. Dun forget, this is 1812 were talking about. Your A-Z aint that old!
Ask Merkin, he seems in on the know.
- 13 August 2007 at 20:56
- Stef said...
Fun Facts™ #427
Dave's website is apparently hosted by Alex Jones' operation...
small world...
- 13 August 2007 at 21:53
- Merkin said...
No problems, lwtc247, however, I have to wait to Saturday which is mushy picking day.
(I do have first refusal on a couple of 'poison frogs', but I may have misheard and thought it was a message about my ex-girlfriend.)
- 13 August 2007 at 22:04
Wurth u luek screee"
- 13 August 2007 at 22:46
- Merkin said...
Well, anonymous, all yez can do is accept the slings and arrows of outrageous whatever and hope that Yorrick is a good sort.
I have not been to a single football match in the past 20 years, yet I still know who has won the league in a number of countries.
My students, when I was working abroad, were well into The Matrix as a way of life.
Tough shit, my epistemology is of the walks, talks, quacks type.
- 14 August 2007 at 00:34
I've been racked with guilt all night.I was way too strong earlier.Sorry bout that.I don't know what the hells going on anymore.If Davey boys ill or in a strange place,then safe journey home fella.Thanks for the euro run.
You may well be right about Heath Lane.My local history is admittedly shakey..1812 Boro was probably a small network of villages, with a smithy and a smelter on the hills like the settlers game.
- 14 August 2007 at 02:15
- Stef said...
I was way too strong earlier
It was funny though
and DS did mention at one point (I think) that he is but one of TWO Messiahs
Can't wait to find out who the other one is supposed to be
- 14 August 2007 at 02:51
hmm..skunk,Playstation,messiah complex,way too much free time..
maybe he'll turn up at a UFO convention with a kind of bastardised PS2 chip and blue tooth modem crudely wired into a jackplug socket drilled into his 'third eye',and start beaming text/video messages mentally to everyone in the room with a mobile phone, and then spread like a virus from those phones connected to the web until hes gained control of billions of computers,and uses their collective brain power to smash pentagon/cia/fbi/vatican/whoever security codes in seconds flat,flooding the whole internet with top secret classified info and the truth sets the common man free.we hang the tyrants who have brutally perverted our technological/spiritual/political evolution.We all build crop circle ships,and "explore space together"
(I really miss bill hicks)
then again,..maybe he's that artificial hive brain DARPA bio-god-machine from "They Want Your Soul"
nice god/evil god,only time will tell
- 14 August 2007 at 06:23
actually,I misunderstood you didnt I.theres another celebrity meltdown coming..interesting.
you have a habit of snapping pics of curious signs and leaflets-do you remember seeing the little white photocopies of maitreya around the brixton area 15ish years ago?Vivid memory for me,for some unknown reason.
- 14 August 2007 at 06:44
For something completely different along the 'isn't the MSM crap line' ...
Isn't the MSM crap. Just been looking at the Mortgage Lender Implodometer where there's the repeating comment of ... 'not yet reported in the MSM'.
- 14 August 2007 at 10:15
- lwtc247 said...
LOL at the good comments on these threads.
- ooooh, my first tinyurl :)
Thanks Anonymous @ 10:46 for that article. I've just ganderd it. The point is very made well, and I know it was meant to stop people saying "BUT", but, (sorry) Fetzer is a philosopher of Science as the article makes clear. Isn't the way he's not discounting what he would call 'possibilities', simply his training by profession? I'm not a 'beamer' myself, but IMO, I think Fetzer and others desire to pursue these things may actually be positive in the long run, because the greater the research they conduct, IF THE PREMISE IS FALSE, (as I believe it is) then their research will surely ultimately show that to be the case. And I believe that training sees them as being pragmatic enough to welcome any result and learn from it as any investigator should. That line of enquiry would surely be stone cold dead after that. It is unrealistic to expect homogeneity on 9-11 or 7-7 truth simply because there are unknowns in the equation. Diversity is the direct result, and until those unknowns are addressed, diversity is assured.
We have less evidence that Shayler still works for Mi5 than those who support the "no planes" theory have. I am not a "no-planer at WTC", but I can see that they believe they are in possession of what seems like scientific indications that no-planes is a possibility. Personally, I believe there is far stronger lines of enquiry and evidence treading a much more conventional path, but if we all adopted a single line on this, then if 'they' found one error in our logic (which is highly likely given that we would at least have to lean heavily on an unknown) then by the same token. the whole truth movement would be come crashing down in a similar manner we are worried it will do over Shaylers work now.
I think there is strength in diversity. Skeptics minds realize NO-ONE has the full picture. Skeptics are smart enough to pick their own bones which have they most meat on, and can anyone show me a persons lifetime of work that doesn't contain some crap {in retrospect} at some point? What kind of feeble minds would accept what we say if they can't see any possible daft thing a proponent of 9-11 may hold dear? (please excuse any 'arrogance' at the word we here. I hope its context is understood)
And Huffschmidt is even criticized like Fetzer. Huffschmidt who was one of the first to PACK his video's full of factual evidence. Huffschmidt was undoubtedly a 'gateway-er' It's the infighting that is detracting from 9-11 and 7-7 'truth' (which remember none of us actually has, these issues are nobody's baby). We should push our own individual beliefs on 9-11 and 7-7 as hard as we can - put gripes between others aside, and if we realize were barking up the wrong 'truth' tree, we need the balls to change track.
While sometimes I think that people are sensible enough to realize, that 'if David's going down this road, then so what, I can still resolve the issies', I sometimes think other times that in many respects, many people can't/won't think about serious issues, in no small part thanks to the MSM, that they just might dismiss the totality of what David says. 'Tis us strange humans my friend.
I'll stop before I start too obviously repeating. I'm exhaused my words on this.
- 14 August 2007 at 12:57
- Wolfie said...
- 14 August 2007 at 13:17
- Stef said...
thanks muchly, a stellar find...
- 14 August 2007 at 14:54
- Stef said...
@stevew: yes, I do remember seeing maitreya plastered around the place years ago but I can't remember if it was Brixton specific and, sadly, no photos
and if there is much Buddhist influence in Brixton these days I'm hard put to see it
- 14 August 2007 at 18:13
- Stef said...
@Kier; If accurate, that's a killer quote and pretty much seals my own personal opinion about what's going on
'It's good to be the King...'
- 14 August 2007 at 19:34
- Rory Winter said...
Merkin said: "I don't know if it is a comment on society or on my state of mind, but I can't work out if he really is just a nut-job or a 5th columnist."
Maybe his role is to discredit groups like the 911 Truth Movement by behaving like a nut and smearing the entire Movement by assiciation?
- 18 August 2007 at 21:12


text:
The second Ubuntu Hardware Summit (UHS) took place on Friday 24th September in Taipei. The event, on a bigger scale to that of 2009, was more popular this year, being over subscribed and attracting almost 200 individuals from the Taiwanese ODM and OEM community.
After the inaugural 45 minute keynote from Matt Zimmerman, CTO of Canonical, there was plenty to discuss and take in before the break-out sessions. The Tracks on the day ranged from enabling hardware, the state of multitouch, dualboot and the Ubuntu Client Roadmap. This is now a must-attend annual event to really continue to push Ubuntu as THE Operating System of choice to millions.
Presentation slides from the day will be live at www.ubuntu.com/uhs2010 on 30th September, and video footage of each presentation will be available to download from 5th October.Read more


text:
Mary Doyle
Associate Chief Information Officer
Manage health care data more quickly
Community Care Behavioral Health Organization has reduced the time it takes to process data by two-thirds, despite the volume of data increasing by 50 percent a year. With the SAS® Data Integration platform, Community Care is better able to provide cost-effective services for its 1 million members while meeting regulatory obligations.
Pittsburgh-based Community Care manages behavioral health coverage for Pennsylvania Medicaid, Medicare and commercial members. It has been honored for ethical practices in patient care by the American Association of Community Psychiatrists. The organization prides itself on paying particular attention to coordinating care with medical insurers and social service agencies, as behavioral health often affects physical illness and vice versa.
For many years, Community Care used an outside vendor to assist with data processing, but felt going forward it needed to bring the process in-house and blend the data with additional sources to help truly coordinate care. "Our goal is to have one source for all our data reporting," says Mary Doyle, Associate Chief Information Officer.
Community Care's data vendor encouraged the organization to look at SAS. Community Care's IT department was not a SAS shop and was not familiar with the scope of SAS products. The organization invited SAS and another vendor to demonstrate their products. SAS was the unanimous choice – even among the technical staff that had reservations about SAS. "We were sold on the data quality/data cleansing aspects," Doyle said.
... we were able to apply SAS best practices in our data warehouse work, thus reducing the trial and error ...
Mary Doyle
"The pure nature of the data integration studio in terms of point and click versus some of the maintenance of the competitors – SAS is just so much more straightforward," Doyle said.
Community Care manages data obtained from claims processing, internal clinical transactions, member eligibility, and financial and pharmaceutical data.
Community Care now has the option to run reports weekly instead of monthly, and the run times have dropped dramatically. Programming is much simpler, Doyle says. Shortening processing time is incredibly important, because the company's claims record is 60 gigabytes and is expected to grow by another 30 to 40 gigabytes in the next year. It also stores and reports on 15 gigabytes of authorization data.
Being able to run reports more frequently allows the organization to make better data-driven decisions. "That's something our CEO is really focused on," she says.
For instance, the company can now measure clinical interventions. Does a patient released from the hospital need six follow-up services to maintain the discharge plan, or is eight the preferred number? More importantly, can the staff quickly see which members aren't following post-hospitalization protocols?
"Being able to flag records is so much easier," Doyle says.
The speed and ease also gives Doyle more time to provide customized reports for individual departments.
The organization has also engaged in joint projects with an affiliated physical health insurance plan responsible for serving Pennsylvania residents enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid. The goal is to understand how physical diseases affect behavioral health and vice versa and to use data to help the consumer with all aspects of their health care. Once insurers understand the use patterns, they can team with medical personnel to come up with methods to address the problems. "We've actually been able to move our side of this analysis much quicker using SAS as an analytical tool," Doyle says. "We're looking at being able to structure some data to help answer public health-sector questions."
She says the organization plans to add a predictive analytics component..
The company used SAS Consulting services to get SAS Data Integration up and running quickly.
"The decision to implement SAS strategies in building our warehouse had a direct impact upon its success. By partnering with SAS, we were able to apply SAS best practices in our data warehouse work, thus reducing the trial and error that we might have otherwise endured. We had a wonderful experience," Doyle said.
"I've worked with a lot of different consultants before, and I have to say this is the first one that came in under budget. I thought the folks we worked with were very practical. They were respectful of the fact that we had a very limited number of hours to work with and everything we asked for was given. Working with SAS has been exceptional."
Needed to bring its data warehouse in-house, work with multiple sources of data and produce reports quickly.
Slashed processing time by two-thirds and can make better data-driven decisions.


text:
|Birth Date:
|June 16, 1990
|Springfield, Ill.
|High School:
AT TECH IN 2010 (SOPHOMORE): Chad appeared in 55 games last season, serving as the team's primary starting shortstop. In 222 at-bats, he logged 70 hits - 13 for extra bases, including four homers - and 39 RBI. He maintained a .315 overall batting average, setting the tone early on in the season with a 7-12 performance over a three-game series against Georgia Southern to kick off the season. Hayes rounded the bases 39 times and also chipped in with six walks and four stolen bases on the season.
AT TECH IN 2009 (FRESHMAN): Chad played 35 games in the infield for Tech as a true freshman, including 30 starts, becoming the starting second baseman about a month into the season…hit .220 on the season with four doubles and 11 RBIs…had seven multi-hit games including a three-hit performance against UT Martin when he had two doubles and two RBIs…Chad also pitched in 10 games for the Golden Eagles, and made two starts on the mound…pitched a complete-game two hit shutout against Covenant in his only win of the season…finished with a 1-1 record and a 7.27 ERA…struck out 15 batters and walked 10 in 26 innings of work.
Lanphier High School: Chad finished his senior
season hitting a school record .519, making him league batting
champion...hit five home runs, four triples and 19 doubles...had 40
RBIs...earned all-conference recognition three times in his
career...Chad also played in a traveling summer baseball league
with the Springfield Statesmen...finished his junior season hitting
.486 with five home runs, five triples, 15 doubles and 36
RBIs...hit .382 his sophomore season with four home runs, four
triples 10 doubles and 28 RBIs.
Personal: Full name is Chad Russell Hayes...son of Russ and the late Vicki Hayes...born June 16, 1990...majoring in business.


text:
ANGOLA — Billy Cannon's family said the former LSU Heisman Trophy winner was hospitalized Tuesday after suffering a stroke.
ANGOLA — Billy Cannon's family said the former LSU Heisman Trophy winner was hospitalized Tuesday after suffering a stroke.
In an emailed statement, the family said Cannon, 75, "is alert and resting."
"He did have a stroke and the doctors will conduct tests to see the extent. They will keep him in ICU tonight and watch him overnight," the statement said. "The family thanks everyone for their prayers and concerns."
Cannon was transported by ambulance from the state penitentiary at Angola at about 12:30 p.m., said Cathy Fontenot, a spokeswoman for the prison.
Cannon has been director of the prison's dental program for about 15 years.
He won the 1959 Heisman Trophy after starring at LSU. He went on to a successful pro career in the American Football League with the Houston Oilers and Oakland Raiders, and after football went to dental school.
In 1983, Cannon was arrested on federal counterfeiting charges. He ultimately pleaded guilty, served half of a five-year sentence and came out broke. Though tarnished for a time, Cannon's reputation has been rebuilt through his work at the penitentiary, where he tries to serve as a positive example for inmates, and through his routine participation in LSU events.


text:
Heartfelt Sentiment
I was on my way into the office this morning when Tycho called me. He told me he would be coming in late today and he asked me to let you all know that his post would also be late. The reason he gave for his tardiness was acceptable so I suggest we all cut him some slack.
Already my head is swelling with the inherent power of this first news post. I should probably end this before I proclaim myself king of webcomics or some shit.
-Gabe out
It looks like Tycho will be out for the day. He's okay but it looks like I have a lot of space to fill here. So here's some stuff.
BlizzCon is at the end of this month. We were invited out along with Kurtz from PvP and Woody from GU comics. From what I understand we'll be there to discuss our adventures with Kurtz on Dark Iron. Blizzard recently started selling some less expensive "exhibit only tickets" for the show. Hit their website for more info.
The final page of our Far Cry Instincts comic is live on the official site. I'd like to thank James Rochelle for his awesome colors on this comic. James is a real pro and it's a treat to see his colors over my work.
Speaking of other people coloring my stuff I have a little sneak peak at what we're doing for Prince of Persia 3. Here's some character art for the Prince and the Dark Prince that I did. This is an eight page story and it will be digitally painted by the very talented Joe Pekar.
Also we'll be making a big announcement regarding Gameskins.com pretty soon. Very exciting stuff.
-Gabe out


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EECS Associate professor of electrical engineering and principal investigator in the Research Laboratory of Electronics, RLE, and the Microsystems Technology Laboratories, MTL, Joel Voldman was awarded the Young Innovator's Award.
EECS Associate professor of electrical engineering and principal investigator in the Research Laboratory of Electronics, RLE, and the Microsystems Technology Laboratories, MTL, Joel Voldman was awarded the Young Innovator's Award -- for exceptional technical advancement and innovation early in his career -- at the 12th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences, MicroTAS, sponsored by the American Chemical Society, ACS. Voldman is the first recipient of this award.
Voldman's research interests focus on microtechnology for cell sorting and stem cell biology, i.e., the application of Bio-MEMS to cellular systems. Using microfabrication technology to illuminate biological systems, Voldman and his group develop technologies that enhance or enable the acquisition of information from cells. Building on various disciplines including electrical engineering, microfabrication, bioengineering, surface science, fluid mechanics, mass transport (and more), Voldman and his colleagues have been recognized for the development of image-based sorting of cells, in which cells can be easily isolated on the basis of the phenotypes as seen by optical microscopy.
Voldman is also noted in the ACS award announcement for the creation of devices that allow stem cells to be patterned on feeder cells, matrigel, or other arbitrary substrates. His team has established microfluidic perfusion to modulate diffusible signaling, which can help researchers understand the self-renewal and differentiation processes of stem cells. They have also studied fusion-mediated reprogramming of stem cells by large-scale microfluidic cell pairing.
Voldman received a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and went on to obtain an M.S. and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at MIT, where he developed bioMEMS for single-cell analysis. After a stint as a postdoctoral associate in George Church's lab at Harvard Medical School, Voldman returned to MIT in 2002 as an assistant professor in the electrical engineering and computer science department. In 2006, he was promoted to associate professor.


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max wrote:thanks andy
I did end up getting a voicemail from Jeff yesterday and I talked to him today. He offered a complementary lesson, which I'll definitely be doing. I may have jumped the gun posting! I sent off my email them on sunday, so I thought I was getting blown off; I didnt realize that they were having mail server problems and a backlog of email. Also, having discussed the options for kites, decided to take the lesson on a switchblade rather than a TD.
So going public should not be your first course of action. Remeber the kiting community is small and we depend on each other. Try to work it out first. If you get totally screwed go public.


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The boom in telecommunications services and the electronics industry over the past decade has given rise to a concurrent increase in the number of stationary lead-acid battery (SLAB) installations, which provide power for telecommunication distribution centers, UPS systems, and other applications. Along with the proliferation of these units comes tighter scrutiny of safety and environmental hazards associated with battery containment failure. While regulations governing installation and safe operation are in place at local, state, and federal levels, many companies find compliance is complex, frustrating, and expensive — while noncompliance is dangerous, inefficient, and even more expensive.
While batteries are a proven source of clean, efficient power, SLAB installations can pose safety and environmental threats when they spill or leak. Leakage of the lead and sulfuric acid found in SLABs, including flooded-cell and valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) types, might contribute to worker injuries, fire, hydrogen explosions, and groundwater and soil contamination — not to mention the attendant fines, lawsuits and loss of insurance. But proper spill containment is not a requirement for safety and environmental reasons alone. It also is sound business practice.
Yet many facility managers and engineers remain unaware of or are confused by battery safety codes and guidelines. Some opt for makeshift containment solutions, hoping to meet minimum compliance requirements with the minimum amount of money and training. Still others ignore battery containment procedures and regulations altogether.
Today, education on the safety hazards and financial consequences of noncompliance is proving to be an effective tool. Large telecommunication providers have been turning to firms that supply SLAB containment systems for solutions to their compliance issues. And the leaders in standby power system compliance and safety are listening.
Safety and Environmental Laws
Not surprisingly, state and local governments require battery containment compliance. These codes require liquid-tight containment, neutralization, signage, ventilation, personal protection, and eyewash stations in most battery rooms (see Compliance Codes for SLABS, above).
Federal regulations also abound. The EPA enforces the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), which stems from the Resources Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Right to Know Act. The Right to Know Act requires businesses to report the storage of any hazardous materials exceeding 500 lb — including batteries. The RCRA states that any materials exceeding 500 lb (10 lb equals 1 gal of electrolyte) must have liquid-tight, secondary containment systems.
There also is an OSHA regulation, which addresses worker safety issues in the presence of flooded-cell batteries, that requires neutralization, sealed floors, personal protection, and eyewash stations. In addition, recent amendments to Article 64 of the Uniform Fire Code (UFC) have expanded spill containment requirements. The new requirements include VRLA batteries if the minimum electrolyte-capacity thresholds of battery systems are greater than 50 gal and individual jars are greater than 20 gal. In addition, legislation currently under review by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the National Electrical Code (NEC) would further increase the scope of enforcement.
Noncompliance Repercussions
If you think the effects of noncompliance on operations are minimal, think again. The EPA classifies sulfuric acid as extremely hazardous, so grandfather clauses that might otherwise mitigate fines and penalties for noncompliance won't protect older installations. SLAB spills and disasters also are subject to the legal implications of "chain of possession." Under EPA regulations, this means every business involved with the battery — from the manufacturer, to the delivery company, to the installer — is potentially liable if something goes wrong. If leakage requires deployment of an OSHA-ordered HAZMAT team, costly clean-up fees apply and the potential for liability increases sharply. Furthermore, groundwater or soil contamination severely devalues a company's real property.
Failure to comply with state and local regulations can lead to construction and operation delays and exorbitant fines. Local fire departments are known to inflict some of the most drastic penalties for noncompliance. Fire inspectors in parts of California, Washington, New York, and Arizona perform 24-hr, liquid-tight tests, filling containment systems with water for one full day to test for leaks.
Improper Containment
The number of companies aiming for near-100% operation uptime, and the UPS systems they employ to guarantee that, is steadily increasing. Cities are rejuvenating downtown areas by selling and leasing old buildings to telecommunications enterprises, which fill large battery rooms with SLABs. Many of these new companies remain ill informed about intricate compliance codes and battery issues.
That's why changing the "reactive" approach to battery containment and compliance is more critical than ever. This traditional approach generates an ineffective cycle of code regulation and compliance that goes something like this:
Despite safety and monetary risks, a company fails to address secondary battery systems' containment until faced with code inspections. But this plan of action often backfires because, as the rate of containment breaches increases, local authorities step up the frequency of their code inspections. The facility's staff then responds by hastily installing containment systems that meet minimal requirements as inexpensively as possible.
Installation Problems
A careless installation can render a containment solution useless in the case of a spill or leakage. But until recently, no agency existed to guarantee or code-certify battery containment installations. Enviroguard, a Los Angeles-based manufacturer of SLAB containment systems and safety products, found this lack of oversight troubling. In 1998, the vendor toured the country inspecting battery rooms and discovered the majority of companies using SLABs lacked effective, standardized containment facilities and procedures. Many were shoddy at best.
One common installation problem Enviroguard discovered was the improper use of epoxy. Using epoxy effectively is difficult because its application requires seven correctly performed steps. One time, they found epoxy that was literally thrown in the garbage can. Other problems included containment spill trays installed with gaps between seams, liners left unsealed inside the trays, and absorbent pillows placed in trays with spaces between them. Photos 1 and 2 highlight the difference between a proper and improper installation.
Certification Solution
Threats of safety and regulatory backlash have prompted many telecommunications companies to pressure SLAB containment system manufacturers for answers. Motivated by both customer and internal battery containment concerns, Enviroguard consulted a battery industry expert about a certification program. As a result, an organization to develop training and certification of SLAB containment system installers began (see Origins of Certification, on page 16).
Companies participating in the certification program may receive training for personnel or contact certified installers referred through the organization. Certified installations provide certificates for facility personnel to post on-site. This document assures building code inspectors of proper installation and certification.
As the number of facilities using stationary lead-acid batteries continues to increase, the industry will see more monetary and safety problems from improper containment. In the past, many facilities disregarded compliance, either from lack of code knowledge or careless solutions. In today's litigious environment, small and large companies are seeking protection from serious safety problems and liability by requiring certification and battery containment system installation. That makes for a win-win situation for everyone.
Compliance Codes for SLABs
Many local, state, and federal agencies publish codes or standards on battery compliance solutions. For more information, check out A National Resource of Global Standards at www.nssn.org and search by agency or document. The following agencies address stationary lead-acid battery containment:
|American National Standards Institute (www.ansi.org)
|American Society of Safety Engineers (www.asse.org)
|American Society for Testing Materials (www.astm.org)
|Building Officials and Code Administrators International Inc.
|Code of Federal Regulations (www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/index.html)
|Construction Specification Institute (www.csinet.org)
|Factory Mutual Research Corporation (www.factorymutual.com)
|International Conference of Building Officials (www.icbo.org)
|Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (www.ieee.org)
|National Fire Protection Agency (www.nfpa.org)
|Occupational Safety and Health Administration (www.osha.gov)
|Southern Building Code Congress International Inc. (www.sbcci.org)
|Underwriters Laboratory (www.ul.com)
Origins of Certification
Last year, the Electrical Environmental Compliance and Certification Organization (E2 CCO) was established in Boca Raton, Fla. This membership-driven organization offers certification in the stationary battery market and courses in general facility maintenance, telecommunications installation, and UPS switching.
Course curriculum includes lectures, videos, and hands-on training. Those who successfully complete a written exam and hands-on evaluation receive certification for one year, and certifications are renewed annually.
E2 CCO is forming industry-specific advisory boards composed of experienced field personnel and manufacturers. These boards will develop course outlines and procedures for each specialization within the field.
Developed as an independent organization, E2 CCO does not affiliate with or endorse specific products and manufacturing techniques. Its goal is to remain impartial and open to all suggestions and recommendations.


text: Leave a Legacy: Help to Overcome Succession Hiccups March 23, 2012 11:42 PM Tweet TAGS: Marketing, Overseas December 18, 2014 By Kevin Spafford Farm Journal Columnist Email The succession planning process inevitably involves lots of questions. As a result, the Farm Journal Legacy Project team receives a consistent stream of e-mails via the "Ask Kevin" page at www.farmjournallegacyproject.com. Below is a sampling of recent questions from readers. I hope the answers will help you overcome any "hiccups" in your succession planning efforts. My dad's the boss. He wants to be, and I get that. We do what he wants to do when he wants to do it. I get that too. But when it doesn't work out, it's my fault, and I'm supposed to fix it. How can I make things better? One of the biggest challenges is growing the parent/child relationship into a partnership. You and your dad have spent a lifetime as father and son. The transition to a partner relationship can be awkward and intimidating. A capable young person should be perceived as an asset to the operation, yet he or she is sometimes treated like a threat to the "traditional" way of doing things. It's important for that young person to respect what the operation is and how it was built. I suggest you: Empower yourself to act as a farm partner. Allow your dad to adapt to his role as partner (which it sounds like you're doing). Look for gradual improvements as your relationship grows. My parents signed their farm over to all of their children. My father has since passed away. My mother lives on the farm and is entitled to all of the income and rent. My question is, how do we design a workable agreement among all of us kids, keeping in mind that some might want to sell out? The best time to negotiate the operating and buy-sell agreements necessary to effectively manage your business relationships is now, while everyone is happy and willing to work together. An operating agreement will help everyone to agree on decision-making authority, management systems, financial distributions and other obligations and conditions. Including buy-sell provisions in the operating agreement, or writing a separate buy-sell agreement, allows owners to define triggering events and the terms and conditions of a buy or sell transaction. In the right environment, most owners agree to buy-outs over a period of time and under conditions that will not undermine the financial integrity of the farm. Our son intends to own our farm. Would it be advantageous for him to buy a life policy and pay the premiums on his 69-year-old father as a means to provide an offsetting inheritance for his siblings? Using life insurance, a farm family can provide inactive (off-farm) heirs with an equitable cash equivalent of the value left to the active (on-farm) heirs. Life insurance allows for a cash distribution to inactive family members and ensures that active heirs are not inhibited by the needs and wants of off-farm owners. When using life insurance, all parties must consider that the farm might have other debts and obligations—and an operation is always subject to numerous risks. Cash, on the other hand, is relatively simple to manage and, depending on the expected return, one can minimize the investment risks. So, it might not be appropriate for a farmer to match distributions dollar-for-dollar among active and inactive heirs. That's why we say the emphasis is on equitable cash distribution. Back to news