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Since we're out of town for the holidays this year, we didn't get a Christmas tree. I absolutely love the smell of a fresh Christmas tree in the house, it's just more fun when you're there on Christmas morning to enjoy it. So this year, in place of a Christmas tree we have a Christmas pole.
One night while the kids were sleeping, Patrick and I strung lights around the pillar in our entryway. Haley was so excited to see the lights when she woke up the next day. She ran out and yelled, "Mommy and Daddy, it's CHRISTMAS!"
My daughter is obsessed with everything Christmas related this year, probably because she's finally old enough to understand that this time of the year is special. She doesn't quite understand what "Christmas" is yet, she just thinks that anything having to do with lights or snowflakes or Santa is called "Christmas." We're working educating her about what Christmas is actually about, but for now it's just cute to see her get so excited about lights and decorations.
As for Connor, he keeps trying to eat the lights. At this age, everything is food.
Merry Christmas everyone! I will be MIA for the next 10 days or so while I enjoy some much-needed family time. I hope everyone has a blessed holiday and a happy New Year!
Friday, December 23, 2011
Oh Christmas pole, oh Christmas pole
Posted by Jen @ My Own Road at 8:00 AM 2 comments Links to this post
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Gifts that can be made in an hour or less
It's crunch time! I can't believe Christmas is 4 days away. If you're like me, you've probably procrastinated a little bit.
Here's a roundup of some quick and easy tutorials that are mostly upcycled from things you probably already have on hand, and can be made in an hour or less.
Here's a roundup of some quick and easy tutorials that are mostly upcycled from things you probably already have on hand, and can be made in an hour or less.
Click on the pictures below to be taken to the full tutorial.
Posted by Jen @ My Own Road at 10:43 AM 2 comments Links to this post
Monday, December 19, 2011
Easy DIY gifts for the holidays
Need some ideas for a few last minute (and inexpensive) handmade gifts that you can whip up this weekend? Here are a few of my favorites from around blogland:
Magnetic paper dolls at Make it and Love it
Flower hairpins at Craftstylish
Cute and easy headband (made from a sleeve!) at Maybe Matilda
Honey almond oatmeal soap bars from Just Deanna
Photo tile coasters from Oopsey Daisy
Ball jar sewing kit at Frugalicious Me
Bubble magnets at My Own Road
Magnetic paper dolls at Make it and Love it
For even more ideas, check out my board full of gift ideas and giftwrap on Pinterest. You can also see all of my boards and follow me HERE.
Happy (handmade) Holidays!
Posted by Jen @ My Own Road at 8:00 AM 2 comments Links to this post
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Printable nativity
See the details for my Christmas mantel HERE
In the 3 1/2 years we've been married, my husband and I have yet to gather a large quantity of Christmas decorations. What we do have is a small box full of donated ornaments from our family members and a few small things I managed to find at after Christmas sales.
Lame, I know.
This year since we're going to be out of town for Christmas, I wanted to get a little more festive and that included wanting to put up a nativity. Problem: we have no nativity in our small box of ornaments. Solution: make a printable one!
Want to make the easiest nativity you've ever made?
I simply went to Fontspace.com and did a search for "nativity fonts." I found the SL Christmas Silhouettes font that I absolutely loved, then downloaded and opened Photoshop (you can also use Word if you don't have Photoshop.) Typing in the letter C gave me my nativity scene, then the letter U gave me the star. From there, all I had to do was print it up and frame it.
There are other pictures you could use instead. The other great part about using a font like this one is if you have a Silhouette, you could download and cut this font to make cute pictures on canvases, cards, etc!
I included printable nativities below in silver, blue or red. Just right click on the image and save to your computer, then print out the size you want. (All printables are for personal use only!)
Check out my sidebar to see where I link up each week!
Posted by Jen @ My Own Road at 8:00 AM 1 comments Links to this post
Labels: Christmas, home decor, printable, Tutorial
Thursday, December 15, 2011
DIY hurricane vase
Isn't the Dollar Store a wonderful place? It's full of tons of cheap goodies just waiting to be improved on.
Plus, I can walk in there and buy a whole basket of stuff without making a dent in my budget. You just have to get a little creative sometimes.
Take these vases and martini glasses for example. Pretty blah. But with a little glue and spray paint, they make a great addition to my holiday mantel!
- Vase (found at the Dollar Store)
- Martini glass (found at the Dollar Store)
- Krylon metallic spray paint
- E600 adhesive
- Filler
In a well-ventilated area (outdoors preferably) apply several coats of metallic paint to your martini glasses.
Make sure you actually pay attention to directions and don't spray too close or turn your glass over before the paint is drying or you'll end up with some drippage like I did...oops.
Step 2: Apply your adhesive.
After you've been a good girl and followed the drying rules for the spray paint, apply some of your adhesive to the bottom of your vase and glue to the bottom of your martini glass, making the part of the martini glass where you would drink from the base of your hurricane vase. Hopefully I didn't confuse you too much there.
Let your glue dry, and how you have some adorable hurricane vases!
Fill with any filler you like (I chose a pack of assorted small Christmas ornaments) and decorate away! I also decided to tie some ribbon on mine to make them even more festive.
These make great decorations year-round.
Check out my sidebar to see where I link up each week!
Posted by Jen @ My Own Road at 8:00 AM 3 comments Links to this post
Labels: Christmas, Crafts, home decor, no-sew project, Tutorial
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
"Let it Snow" framed wall art
I got a couple of pictures from a friend for free, but it wasn't the pictures I was interested in, it was the frames. (Though I'm sure you'll agree the pictures are just lovely ;) I had a vision for some cute framed wall art for Christmas, so I got to work dismantling them.
- Frame
- Spray paint
- Contact paper
- Foam snowflake
- Ribbon
- Tape or hot glue
First I removed the glass and backing and laid the frame out in the yard for several of coats of white spray paint. On a side note, if it's windy outside, just say no to spray painting. Just don't. Step away.
After the frame was painted, I used my Silhouette to cut out "let it snw" from white contact paper (and yes, I know I'm missing the 'o', you'll see where that went next!) If you don't have a craft cutter, just use Word to create your wording and then trace it onto the back of some contact paper (make sure you flip your letters!) and cut out. After cutting, I just peeled the backing off and stuck the letters to the wall.
For the O, I wanted to substitute a snowflake and hang it from ribbon, so I used a foam snowflake that I bought in a pack Wal-Mart and some red sparkly ribbon. I just cut the ribbon long enough to hang from the top of the frame down to the wording and used tape to attach it.
Then I put it all together!
It really makes a great focal point for my Christmas mantel. I can't wait to come up with some ideas to reuse my frame after Christmas is over!
Check out my sidebar to see where I link up each week!
Posted by Jen @ My Own Road at 8:00 AM 17 comments Links to this post
Labels: Christmas, Holidays, home decor, no-sew project, Tutorial
Monday, December 12, 2011
DIY tree form and garland Christmas trees
I wanted to decorate my mantel this year, but (as you have all figured out by now) I'm a cheap-o. As in, I won't pay the $2.50 for a styrofoam tree form kind of cheap-o. I mean, all my money is going toward Rapunzel and Disney princess merchandise, so I can't really afford styrofoam tree forms.
At least that's what I tell myself. It sounds way better than "cheap-o." (Husband if you're reading this, you can thank me later for saving us $2.50. You're welcome.)
So I decided to make my own tree form because I have lots of these:
Here's what you need to make your own cardboard garland trees and be a cheap-o too!
- Cardboard cereal box (for the biggest tree template, you'll need a large cereal box (think Frosted Mini Wheats)
- Hot glue
- Scissors
- 9+ feet of gift wrap garland
- Free downloadable tree forms with 3 sizes HERE
First, cut out one side of your cereal box. If you're making the large tree form, make sure you don't cut the sides of your cereal box out (found that out the hard way :)
Next, print out and trace my tree form template onto the unprinted side of your cardboard and cut out.
To make the form, you'll need to gently ease your cardboard into a tree shape. Start on one side and gently roll your cardboard (don't fold or bend) until it's all curvy-like.
Pinch the tip of your tree form and secure with hot glue (make sure the tab portion of your tree form is on the inside.) Continue gluing along the tab until the tree is secure.
Ta-dah! Tree!
Now make a forest of them.
Now that you have your tree form, there are a ton of decorative Christmas trees that you could make with your tree form, but I included a tutorial for a simple garland tree below.
Step 2: Attach garland.
I found some cute garland used for wrapping gifts in the Christmas section and decided to make some festive garland trees with my new tree forms. First, put a dab of hot glue on the bottom of your tree form and attach the end of your gift wrap garland.
Continue twisting your garland around the tree, adding dabs of hot glue as you go to secure your garland.
When you reach the tip of your tree form, leave an extra 1/2 inch of garland and tuck the end into the hole of your tree form.
Merry Christmas, enjoy your $2.50 savings ;)
Check out my sidebar to see where I link up each week!
Posted by Jen @ My Own Road at 11:07 AM 27 comments Links to this post
Labels: Christmas, Crafts, Holidays, home decor, no-sew project, quick, Tutorial
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The Wine development release 1.5.19 is now available. What's new in this release (see below for details): - Performance improvements in the DIB engine. - More fleshed out XML-lite implementation. - Some more C++ runtime functions. - Various bug fixes. The source is available from the following locations: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/wine/wine-1.5.19.tar.bz2 http://mirrors.ibiblio.org/wine/source/1.5/wine-1.5.19.tar.bz2
For the complete list of bug fixes follow this link:

subset: commoncrawl


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NKorea Missile Test Spurs Action Calls
NKorea Missile Test Spurs Action Calls
WASHINGTON (AP) -- North Korea's first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, demonstrating a dangerous new reach for weapons it hopes to top with nuclear warheads one day, is spurring U.S. demands for "global action" to counter the threat.
U.S. officials confirmed Tuesday their belief that North Korea's latest missile launch was indeed an ICBM and joined South Korea and Japan in requesting an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, scheduled Wednesday afternoon. Previously, North Korea had demonstrated missiles of short and medium range but never one able to get to the United States.
In a show of force directly responding to North Korea's provocation, U.S. and South Korean soldiers fired "deep strike" precision missiles into South Korean territorial waters on Tuesday, U.S. military officials in Seoul said. The missile firings demonstrated U.S.-South Korean solidarity, the U.S. Eighth Army said in a statement.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson vowed "stronger measures to hold the DPRK accountable," using an acronym for the isolated nation's formal name, and said: "Global action is required to stop a global threat." Any country helping North Korea militarily or economically, taking in its guest workers or falling short on Security Council resolutions, he said, "is aiding and abetting a dangerous regime."
Tillerson's statement, issued Tuesday evening as most Americans were celebrating the Fourth of July holiday, notably did not mention China, whose help the Trump administration has been aggressively seeking to press Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons program.
In recent days, as the North has continued to test missiles in defiance of global pressure, President Donald Trump has started voicing doubt that Beijing is up to the task. His administration has taken a number of steps against China's interests that have suggested its patience has run short.
Tillerson's comments were the first public confirmation by the United States that the missile was indeed an ICBM, constituting a major technological advancement for the North and its most successful missile test yet.
The prime danger from the U.S. viewpoint is the prospect of North Korea pairing a nuclear warhead with an ICBM. The latest US intelligence assessment is that the North probably does not yet have that capability — putting a small-enough nuclear warhead atop an ICBM.
Initial U.S. military assessments had been that it was an intermediate-range missile. NORAD, or the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said the missile did not pose a threat to North America.
Trump, in his initial response to the launch on Monday evening, urged China on Twitter to "put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!" But he also said it was "hard to believe" that South Korea and Japan, the two U.S. treaty allies most at risk from North Korea, would "put up with this much longer."
The U.S. mission to the United Nations said that U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley had requested that the Security Council meet urgently along with the U.N. envoys from Japan and South Korea. The 3 p.m. meeting Wednesday was to be held "in the open chamber," rather than behind closed doors.
The launch was not wholly unexpected. Daniel Coats, director of national intelligence, testified to Congress in May that the U.S. anticipated an ICBM test before the end of this year.
The Pentagon has spent tens of billions of dollars developing a missile defense system tailored to the North Korean ambition of attaining the eventual capability to attack the U.S. with a nuclear-armed missile. On May 30 the Pentagon successfully shot down a mock warhead designed to replicate the North Korean threat.
Pentagon spokeswoman Dana W. White said the U.S.-South Korea missile exercise Tuesday was meant to show "our precision fire capability.
"We remain prepared to defend ourselves and our allies and to use the full range of capabilities at our disposal against the growing threat from North Korea," she said in a statement. "The United States seeks only the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Our commitment to the defense of our allies, the Republic of Korea and Japan, in the face of these threats, remains ironclad."
Since he entered the White House, Trump has talked about confronting Pyongyang and pushing China to increase pressure on the North, but neither strategy has produced fast results. The White House has been threatening to move forward on its own, though administration officials have not settled on next steps.
Patrick Cronin, an Asia expert with the Center for a New American Security, said Trump was probably "coming to the point of no return" with North Korea, adding that the upshot could be diplomatic overtures or military action.
"We either go to the diplomatic table with Kim Jong Un or we do take some course of action," Cronin said. "In all probability we do both."
Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday, discussing North Korea and its nuclear program with both leaders. He will meet them both this week at the Group of 20 meeting in Germany, as well as have his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump and Xi emerged from their first meeting — in April at the U.S. president's Florida estate — seemingly as fast friends. But China has long resisted intensifying economic pressure on neighboring North Korea, in part out of fear of the instability that could mount on its doorstep, and Trump has not found a way to break through Beijing's old habits.


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Sure, we all know the Golden Globes is the freewheeling, prom-style get together of the awards season where celebrities eat, drink and get more merry than any other of the major ceremonies. It's the Prince Harry to the Academy Awards' Prince William, if you will.
But do you actually know who the Hollywood Foreign Press Association - the group behind those golden orbs handed out each January - actually are? Thought not. Let's take a look back and see where it all began ...
U.S. & World
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has its origins in the early 1940s as America was being drawn into World War II. Audiences looking for a diversion from the doom and gloom of the then modern times sought escape at the cinema, demanding more and more entertainment product from Hollywood.
Amid the global tension, a handful of Los Angeles-based foreign journalists banded together to share information and contacts as they covered the U.S. entertainment industry in the overseas press. Throughout the remainder of the war the group saw its numbers grow and informal gatherings were first held in private Hollywood homes before moving to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel as the location for meetings.
The mission of the HFPA is:
To establish favorable relations and cultural ties between foreign countries and the United States of America by the dissemination of information concerning the American culture and traditions as depicted in motion pictures and television through news media in various foreign countries ...
To recognize outstanding achievements by conferring annual Awards of Merit, serving as a constant incentive within the entertainment industry, both domestic and foreign, and to focus wide public attention upon the best in motion pictures and television ...
To contribute to other nonprofit organizations connected with the entertainment industry and involved in educational, cultural, and humanitarian activities ...
To promote interest in the study of the arts, including the development of talent in the entertainment field through scholarships given to major learning institutions.
Early Awards
The first Golden Globe Awards ceremony was held at 20th Century Fox in 1944. "The Song of Bernadette" won best picture, Jennifer Jones won best actress for her performance in that movie, and Paul Lukas won best actor for "Watch on the Rhine." The physical awards back then existed in the form of scrolls.
Advent of the Statue
1945 saw the arrival of the now famous statue which was created following a design contest. Marina Cisternas, president of the group in 1945-46, presented the concept of a golden globe encircled with a strip of motion picture film, and mounted on a pedestal.
Landmark Moments
In 1951 the association decided to divide the best film, actor and actress nominees into two categories — drama, and musical or comedy — so that no genre would be left out.
In 1952, the HFPA created the Cecil B. DeMille Award to recognize "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field." The award's first recipient was DeMille himself. Jodie Foster will receive the award at next year's ceremony.
Television categories were included in 1955 with the honorees for Best Television Show being "Lucy & Desi," "Dinah Shore," "The American Comedy" and "Davy Crockett."
Miss/Mr. Golden Globe
The 50 year tradition - which involves assisting during the awards ceremony - traditionally goes to the son or daughter of a Tinseltown celebrity. Francesca Eastwood (daughter of six-time Globe winner, Clint, and actress Frances Fisher) will take on the honor for the 2013 ceremony. Her sister Kathryn was a previous Miss Golden Globe, in 2005. Other celebrity offspring who have taken on the role include Linda Evans, Anne Archer, Melanie Griffith, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rumer Willis.
Modern Times
Today, the Golden Globes recognize achievements in 25 categories; 14 in motion pictures and 11 in television.
In January 2013 the HFPA will celebrate its 70th anniversary in Hollywood with members representing some 55 countries with a combined readership of more than 250 million.
Amy Poehler and Tina Fey have been tapped to host the ceremony which will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 13 and will be televised live on NBC.


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Indian journalist shot and killed in Chhattisgarh state
New York, January 28, 2011--Police in
News reports quoted Rajput's family saying the journalist had received death threats from a health worker after publishing a story two weeks before his death about a man developing an eye infection following an operation. A note threatening to kill him if he did not stop writing was found near his body, the reports said.
The English-language Indian Express daily said police suspected the threats might be a cover for a murder by Maoist insurgents. Violence between the insurgents, government security forces, and state-supported vigilantes has escalated in recent years in the area.
"Authorities in Chhattisgarh must take seriously the possibility that Umesh Rajput was targeted for his work as a journalist," said
In early December 2010, local media reported explicit death threats to three journalists based in the southern district of Dantewada in Chhattisgarh state. The threats appeared to come from a vigilante group fighting the long-running Maoist insurgency in the area. Rajput was not one of the journalists mentioned in the threats.


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While we were in El Salvador we ate breakfast a couple times at a restaurant in Metrocentro called San Martin's. One day I ordered something called "El Desayuno Universitario" (The University Student Breakfast). It was made of humble ingredients – french bread, cheese, beans, and a fresh salsa. I loved it.
Since coming back to the United States, I make this often – though usually for lunch or dinner. The entire family loves it, it's affordable, healthy and easy to make. Here's my version!
El Desayuno Universitario (The University Student Breakfast)
French bread or bolillos sliced in half
Frijoles Molidos (refried beans)
Mozzarella cheese cut in slices or shredded
1. Optional: Spread the bread with butter and pre-toast it on a comal.
2. Place bread slices on an ungreased baking sheet.
3. Spoon frijoles molidos onto the bread and spread to the edges with the back of the spoon.
4. Top each piece of bread with cheese.
5. Bake in the oven at 350 F until cheese is melted and bread is slightly toasted.
Optional: Put under a broiler to brown the cheese.
Serve with chunky-style salsa to spoon on top. I like to dice tomatoes with fresh basil and then add a little bit of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
Sometimes I combine diced tomato and chopped cilantro to make a quick fresh salsa. You can also add diced fresh onion, green bell pepper or your favorite fresh chile pepper, such as jalapeño or poblano.
Note: You can use fresh Parmesan cheese in place of Mozzarella if you prefer. (I like Mozzarella better, but Carlos likes Parmesan.)


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Check out the latest RPG news | Podcasts | Twitch Streams
She's been at a conference on teaching students with autism for the past two days. I'm... wondering if she got a tip there that you should make it clear when you're expressing an opinion around autistic individuals, or something. And was addressing me like that because she thinks I have Asperger's.Or she was just drunk, whatever.
I work as a reference assistant at a library, and today I was assisting a 14 year old girl with getting music on her iPod. Her friend came up to her while I was helping out this girl, and the friend asks her, "Is that your dad?" I turned 24 yesterday.The answer is no, I'm not her father.


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I did not eat turkey on thanksgiving, did you? We are not planning to on Christmas either, unless it is a free range(organic)one from a reputable free range farm. With the recent news on another huge expansion of Huntingburg-based Farbest Food Inc. turkey processor, southwestern Indiana, it reminded me of POW.... Protect Our Woods alert several years ago about the issue then of local turkey CAFO expansion and the negatory effects on air, water, soil quality. Read it here on newest expansion, and also the alert issued years ago by POW.
Here it is, several years later, and Farbest is expanding again with no laws in state to check this detrimental over- expansion. Read about it here on Blue Avocado
Views: 544
And what is this 'great plan' John???.......pray tell us, please.
They have a great plan in process
What do they do with the feathers?!
I have a brother that worked at Maple Leaf Farms, large duck processor, and they sold the down to down comforter industries.
Turkey, chicken feathers are turned into.........feather meal, that's right, feathers are turned into a food additive for turkeys, chickens, ruminants. Some are also turned into fertilizer.
Unprocessed feathers are high in CP, but are highly indigestible. The primary protein that is found associated with feathers is keratin, which contains a high amounts of cystine (approximately 10%) the cross-linking of cystine is why the CP fraction of feathers is highly indigestible. When moist heat is applied at elevated temperatures the cross linkages between the cystine's are cleaved and the CP becomes readily digestible. Normally feathers are processed by cooking them in a pressurized chamber at 30 to 45 pounds/square/inch for 30 to 60 minutes and the resultant CP digestibility will be in excess of 75 % and normally runs between 80 to 85 %. After cooking the resultant meal is dried and ground. It has been observed that feather meal is unpalatable in some feeding applications, which seems to be truer in applications with monogastric than with ruminant.
So, we have been eating feathers also it seems, it is obvious, whatever turkey, chickens, ruminants, that we consume; eat, we eat.
It all comes down again to these huge meat processors squeezing every dollar they can get out of by-products, including feathers, knowing that feather meal, fertilizer: is now a previously unrecognized route for reentry into the food supply of multiple pharmaceuticals, and personal care products (PPCPs).......who woulda thunk....feathers.
Antimicrobials used in poultry production have the potential to bioaccumulate in poultry feathers but available data are scarce. Following poultry slaughter, feathers are converted by rendering into feather meal and sold as fertilizer and animal feed, thereby providing a potential pathway for reentry of drugs into the human food supply. We analyzed feather meal (n = 12 samples) for 59 pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) using EPA method 1694 employing liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). All samples tested positive and six classes of antimicrobials were detected, with a range of two to ten antimicrobials per sample. Caffeine and acetaminophen were detected in 10 of 12 samples. A number of PPCPs were determined to be heat labile during laboratory simulation of the rendering process. Growth of wild-type E. coli in MacConkey agar was inhibited by sterilized feather meal (p = 0.01) and by the antimicrobial enrofloxacin (p < 0.0001) at levels found in feather meal. Growth of a drug-resistant E. coli strain was not inhibited by sterilized feather meal or enrofloxacin. This is the first study to detect antimicrobial residues in feather meal. Initial results suggest that more studies are needed to better understand potential risks posed to consumers by drug residues in feather meal.
White slime????......never heard of that one!
Lean Finely Textured Beef
|Mechanically Separated Meat
|Advanced Meat Recovery
|What does it look like?
|What else is it called?
"Pink slime," coined by former USDA microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein in 2002.
"White slime," in the popular press.
|What is it?
Processed beef trimmings and recovered materials from meat carcasses, like fat and connective tissue.
A "paste-like and batter-like meat product" made from mechanically removing meat from animal bones.
Pieces of meat that have been scraped, shaved, or pressed off the bone by special machinery.
|How is it made?
Trimmings are heated to 100°F and spun inside a centrifuge to separate the meat from the fat. After the fat is removed, the remaining beef bits are treated with ammonia hydroxide to kill bacteria such as E. coli or salmonella. They are then ground up, frozen into blocks and added to other beef products.
Carcasses are forced through "a sieve or similar device under high pressure to separate bone fro... The remaining fragments (the USDA limits how many bits of bone are acceptable) are ground up into a paste and added to other processed meats.
Without grinding, crushing or pulverizing the bone itself, a machine removes edible tissue from beef and pork bones. If the resulting bits have more than 150 mg of calcium per 100 grams (indicating the presence of bones) they must be labeled "mechanically separated" meat.
|Where is it found? burgers meatloaf bologna hot dogs taco filling meatballs
|How is it labeled?
Some companies may soon include "lean finely textured beef" on their product labels, and Congress recently introduced a bill to require labeling. Right now the USDA does not require any disclosure, because the product is considered the same as beef.
Manufacturers must always label "mechanically separated" pork, chicken or turkey on the ingredients list. According to the American Meat Institute, the product is no longer typically used in chicken nuggets (McDonald's has repeatedly claimed that its chicken nuggets only contain chicken breast meat).
Is labeled the same way as any other meat – such as "beef" or "ground pork."
|Health concerns?
Trimmings are typically collected from more bacteria-prone parts of the cow, but treatment with ammonia is supposed to kill pathogens. In 2009 some beef products tested positive for E. coli and salmonella, but the USDA says it has modified inspection processes since then to address safety concerns. The USDA continues to "affirm the safety of Lean Finely Textured Beef product for all con...
Mechanically separated beef was prohibited for use as human food in 2004 due to concerns that spinal tissue (potentially carrying mad cow disease) could get mixed into the meat. Mechanically separated poultry and pork are still allowed.
The USDA requires that the spinal cord be removed before processing the neck bones and backbones, so that pieces do not get mixed into the meat.
Sources: USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, The American Meat Institute
Uh oh......What's even grosser than pink slime?
New slaughterhouse rules. While Vilsack and his food-safety lieutenant shuck and jive for an ailing meat industry titan, their agency is proposing a radical overhaul to the way poultry slaughterhouses are inspected—one that will significantly benefit the industry while potentially increasing the risk to consumers from antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In the nation's industrial-scale poultry slaughterhouses, a USDA inspector currently looks at each bird emerging from the kill line for obvious defects. Any bird that's obviously flawed gets pulled, but it's only humanly possible for an inspector to check out 35 birds per minute—one every 1.7 seconds. That has been a limiting factor in the speed at which "kill lines" can operate.
Under the proposed new system, those USDA inspectors would be sent packing, and employees of the slaughterhouse would take over the job. To check up on them, the USDA "samples between 20 to 80 birds per slaughter line during an eight-hour shift to check for defects missed by company employees," FWW reports. But here's the catch: The new rules would likely allow the line speed to ramp up to "upwards of 200 birds per minute"—or 3 per second. So the USDA would now be inspecting a tiny fraction of the birds that end up on people's plates.
Company employees miss many defects in poultry carcasses. The inspection category that had the highest error rate was 'Other Consumer Protection 4' for dressing defects such as feathers, lungs, oil glands, trachea and bile still on the carcass. The average error rate for this category in the chicken slaughter facilities was 64 percent and 87 percent in turkey slaughter facilities. In one turkey slaughter facility, nearly 100 percent of samples found this category of defect.
It gets worse.....
Knew something was just not right with the ground beef, turkey many years ago from Krogers, etc. Just the consistentcy was off, really pasty, horrible taste. Stopped buying it. Of course most are looking for the cheapest cuts, or ground, fast food, and CONVENIENCE. I can remember the days when there was an actual butcher at Krogers, etc., the meat dept' smelled like, well.....meat, and the trimmings, bones went to the dogs. If we can just buck the status quo in Fort Wayne to allow us to raise backyard chickens.....maybe even a turkey, and only deal with the local butchers.
MST not qualified as meat, but being consumed as such by the uninformed. Mechanically separated turkey (MST) is a low-cost material currently used in cured products such as hot dogs and bologna at levels approaching 50% of the product weight. Mechanically separated turkey is typically prepared from necks, backs or frames that are passed through a sieve under high pressure and turned into a paste. (5). Burnt flavors and residual bone fragments in MST have been reduced to negligible levels through the use of temperature control and improved sieving during recovery of mechanically separated turkey from necks and frames.
Ok, ok this is what Snopes has to say about 'pink slime' Rumor? Confusion? Of course this info is supplied by the USDA, and the American Meat Institute


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- Learn more about the Mormon Channel on Roku.
What is Roku?
Roku is a small, set-top box that connects your TV to the Internet. The Roku box allows you to access a wide variety of entertainment that typically isn't available through cable or broadcast television. Available channels like Netflix, Hulu+, Amazon, Pandora, and even the Church's own Mormon Channel provide quick and easy access to video content for playback on your TV.
What's available on the Roku Mormon Channel?
Currently a wide selection of on-demand Church content is available on the Roku Mormon Channel, including Mormon Messages, full-length films, past general conferences, children's scripture stories, Mormon Messages for youth, and all the series from Mormon Channel radio. The Roku Mormon Channel also offers live streaming of broadcasts like general conference and CES devotionals, as well as live coverage of events like the Pioneer Day celebration in Salt Lake City.
How can I add the Mormon Channel to my Roku box?
The Mormon Channel can be added to your Roku box through the Roku Channel Store on your box or through your home computer.
On your Roku box:
Enter the Roku Channel Store and navigate to Religion & Spirituality. Select Mormon Channel to add to your channel lineup.
On your home computer:
Sign in to Roku.com using your personal account.* Then click on the following link: Add Mormon Channel. This will automatically add the Mormon Channel to your existing channel lineup. (*If you don't have a Roku account, sign up now. It's quick, free, and easy.)
What is the difference between the three types of Roku boxes?
Each Roku box has different features to best suit individual customer needs. See a description of each box's features.
What type of TV and Internet connection do I need to run a Roku?
Some Roku players have both HDMI and composite connections (note: Roku3 and the Streaming Stick are HDMI only), they can connect to both high definition (up to 1080p) and standard definition TVs. See a description of each box's features. They also connect to the Internet via Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi. For best results, a broadband connection is recommended.
Where can I get a Roku box?
Roku boxes are currently sold online at Roku and Amazon. Certain models are also available in stores like Best Buy, Walmart, and Radio Shack.


text:
It's coming up to that time of year once more. Games are running out, permutations are being permutated, bottoms are beginning to squeak.
The question on everyone's lips ( well, Simon's actually) is, who will fill the Play-Off places in the Conference ?
For those of you not acquainted with the lower echelons of English Professional Football ( or Soccer, if you really must), The Conference is the fifth tier of English football and the pinnacle of non-League. Each year, the winners gain automatic promotion to the promised land of the Football League with those finishing second to fifth playing-off for the right to join them.
All of which gives me the perfect opportunity to forsake my old habits and bring my SQL bang up-to-date.
The (league) Table
Often, I'll find myself trying to get details of the latest record in a table, using the synthetic key :
SELECT some_data FROM some_table WHERE id = ( SELECT MAX(id) FROM some_table) /
Top of the pile or RANK and file
Obviously, that's all well and good when you're dealing with a unique value, but what happens in the hurly burly of the league run-in ….let's start with some test data :
CREATE TABLE league_table ( team VARCHAR2(30), played NUMBER(2), goal_diff NUMBER(3), points NUMBER(3)) / DECLARE PROCEDURE ins( p_team VARCHAR2, p_pld NUMBER, p_gd NUMBER, p_pts NUMBER) IS BEGIN INSERT INTO league_table( team, played, goal_diff, points) VALUES( p_team, p_pld, p_gd, p_pts); END ins; BEGIN ins('HISTON', 38, -32, 27); ins('EASTBOURNE B', 39, -35, 29); ins('FOREST GREEN', 40, -21, 38); ins('HAYES', 40, -30, 39); ins('ALTRINCHAM', 40, -35, 40); ins('SOUTHPORT', 39, -8, 41); ins('TAMWORTH', 40, -16, 43); ins('BARROW', 39, -12, 43); ins('CAMBRIDGE', 40, -7, 44); ins('GATESHEAD', 37,3,49); ins('MANSFIELD', 36,3,49); ins('KETTERING', 40,-7,50); ins('BATH CITY', 38,-2,52); ins('RUSHDEN', 38,7,53); ins('GRIMSBY', 38,9,53); ins('NEWPORT', 39,5,54); ins('DARLINGTON', 37,15,55); ins('YORK', 38,5,61); ins('FLEETWOOD', 40,16,63); ins('KIDDERMINSTER', 39, 15, 65); ins('WREXHAM', 40,14,70); ins('LUTON', 37, 36, 70); ins('WIMBLEDON', 40, 27, 74); ins('CRAWLEY', 38, 50, 87); END; /
And now, let's see whose top…
SELECT team, played, points, goal_diff FROM league_table t1 WHERE t1.points = ( SELECT MAX(t2.points) FROM league_table t2) /
OK, at the moment, we'll only get one record back ( Crawley are running away with the league this year), but let's indulge Simon's fantasy for a moment ( no, not that one !) :
UPDATE league_table SET points = 87 WHERE team = 'LUTON' /
Now when we re-run the query we get :
Now, in the olden days, you'd have to try something like this to get the correct order ( when teams are level on points, the one with the highest goal difference is top) :
SELECT team, played, points, goal_diff FROM ( SELECT team, played, points, goal_diff FROM league_table ORDER BY points DESC, goal_diff DESC) WHERE rownum = 1 /
Not exactly a thrilling prospect. You need to make sure that the rownum reference happens outside of the sub-query as otherwise, the rownum will get applied before the sort and who knows what result you'll get. Instead, let's try that swanky new RANK analytical function :
SELECT team, played, points, goal_diff FROM ( SELECT team, played, points, goal_diff, RANK() OVER (ORDER BY points desc, goal_diff DESC) as position FROM league_ table ) WHERE position = 1 /
OK, you're thinking, it all looks very flash, but what's wrong with sticking with good old rownum ?
Well, to answer that one, we need to shatter Simon's illusions once more and look at the grim reality of who is actually in the play-offs. Having rolled back our update, Luton are now back on 70 points. Now, let's see if we can persuade rownum to tell us who is in the play-off picture…
SELECT team, played, points, goal_diff FROM ( SELECT team, played, points, goal_diff FROM league_table ORDER BY points DESC, goal_diff DESC) WHERE rownum BETWEEN 2 AND 5 / no rows selected
Er…apparently rownum hasn't kept up-to-date with the comparatively modern concept of play-offs in the Conference.
In order to calm Simon's nerves a little, I think we need to go back to RANK :
SELECT team, played, points, goal_diff FROM ( SELECT team, played, points, goal_diff, RANK() OVER( ORDER BY points DESC, goal_diff DESC) as position FROM league_table) WHERE position BETWEEN 2 AND 5 / TEAM PLAYED POINTS GOAL_DIFF -------------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- WIMBLEDON 40 74 27 LUTON 37 70 36 WREXHAM 40 70 14 KIDDERMINSTER 39 65 15
We'll they're not top, but at least Luton look fairly solid for a play-off place.


text:
Monday, November 17, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
How the Singaporeans renewed my faith in people.
As you can see from the bunting above, "Muallaf" opens in Singapore in about 11 days' time. Faced with a distribution budget of miniscule proportions, Thomas Chia, the director of Lighthouse Pictures, has been working 24/7 to spread the news about our little film.
If you're on facebook, just type "Muallaf" in the search box, and it'll take you to this page. Through this, the ever resourceful Thomas Chia sent out an appeal for help to distribute "Muallaf" flyers.
Personally, I thought it was a shot in the dark. But boy, was I wrong.
Regular Singaporean folks -- students, lecturers, restaurant owners, cybercafe owners, website holders, members of film societies -- have come forward, asking for 50 to 200 flyers per person, which they volunteered to distribute.
Dear kind Singaporeans, you know who you are. And I can't thank you enough for your willingness to support our film, just out of the kindness of your heart.
Now, I have no idea how "Muallaf" will do at the box office. After all, it is only playing at The Picturehouse.
But you Singaporeans have done something worth much more than ticket sales. You have refreshed my faith in Mankind.
Thank you and God bless.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
He plays a crucial role in "Talentime".
His name is Howard Hon Kahoe. I liked his name so much that his character in the film is actually called Kahoe.
Acting alongside Mahesh Jugal Kishore and the now 16 years old Mohd Syafie Naswip, Kahoe is among the most arresting looking actors I've ever employed in any of my films.
As we lined up the three boys to take a photo for our records, Jit Murad cast a disdainful glance at me and said, "You've sold out and turned into a lookist!"
"That can't be entirely true, Jit," I replied casually, "or I wouldn't have hired you."
Sunday, November 09, 2008
"Artists today think of everything they do as a work of art. It is important to forget about what you are doing - then a work of art may happen."
The quote and paintings above were by Andrew Wyeth, an early 20th century American painter.
I was introduced to his work by my partner and soulmate Ali Mohammed, the Chairman Meritus of Leo Burnett Advertising, the agency I work for.
No person alive has been as encouraging of my work, both as an advertising writer and a filmmaker, as much as Ali. We've worked with each other for 25 years. More than a mentor, Ali is the older brother I never had.
I remember well the severe criticism I received after making my first feature-length film "Rabun":
"Your work is nothing more than television drama," said a bedraggled looking old film graduate once.
"Before coming to watch 'Rabun', I expected a tsunami movie experience. But it turns out that this amateurish piece of work is just a ripple," said a drama lecturer from a local institution.
"Yasmin is trapped in her own dreamworld of ideals," said many on Kakiseni and some local papers.
Ali, on the other hand, said, "You are expressing a feeling, Min. A totally personal feeling which you want to share with people. By looking at your work, I get a privileged glimpse into what dwells in your heart. And that is enough for me. Some people will want to put you down and engage themselves in extensive debate about what is 'wrong' or 'right' in what they refer to as 'art'. But my advice is for you to push on. Sooner or later, inshaallah, if you remain honest with your films, more and more people will come up to you and confess how your work has affected their personal lives and their feelings."
"I get letters from people about my work. The thing that pleases me most is that my work touches their feelings. In fact, they don't talk about the paintings. They end up telling me the story of their life or how their father died." - Andrew Wyeth
The reason I'm writing this is not to boast some sort of comeuppance to my detractors in the past. I don't even consider myself an artist, let alone one whose work comes anywhere near as good as Andrew Wyeth's. But I feel this is something I need to say to new, struggling filmmakers out there who, despite their best intentions, often find their work spat at by naysayers.
If you're honest with your work, feel free to come back to this posting to read what dear Ali said to me, all those years ago.
Follow your inner instincts. Because, as Mr.Wyeth himself once said, "If you clean it up, get analytical, all the subtle joy and emotion you felt in the first place goes flying out the window."
Today, after making about 50 television commercials and six feature-length films, after winning 11 international awards, I often feel like I don't know the first thing about filmmaking. But I know this much:
If your intentions are pure, if you apply your craft with a view to observe humanity and, ultimately, God himself, very often something powerful will surface. And the next thing you know, hordes of strangers from all around the world are stepping forward to tell you "the story of their life or how their father died."


text: I am available by phone, text, e-mail, or facebook. Reach out to me any time and I will always try my best to get back to you within 24 hours. We can either directly ship your order to you or I can order it and deliver it directly to you, whichever is more convenient. You can place your order directly on the website or call me if you need any help or guidance.


text:
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text:
Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP)
Issued by Offensive Security
An OSCP is able to research a network, identify vulnerabilities and successfully execute attacks. This often includes modifying exploit code with the goal to compromise systems and gain administrative access. An OSCP can identify existing vulnerabilities and execute organized attacks in a controlled and focused manner, write simple Bash or Python scripts, perform network pivoting and data ex-filtration, and compromise poorly written PHP web applications.Additional Details


text:
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette and Planned Parenthood Action Fund president Cecile Richards are to be among the featured RV passengers in this weekend's metropolitan-area "Women Decide 2012" tour of cities that will include campaign stops in Broomfield, Louisville, Boulder and Longmont.
Joining Denver Democrat DeGette and Richards on the tour, organized by the Colorado staff of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign organization, are to be Latina activist Cecilia Munoz and Obama for America national political director Katherine Archuleta.
Saturday's Women Decide 2012 events are to include: 1 p.m. at the Obama campaign field office at 6821 W. 120th Ave., Broomfield; 4 p.m. at the campaign's Louisville field office, 1110 S. Boulder Road; and 5:15 p.m. in Room 242 of the Hellems Building on the University of Colorado's Boulder campus.
Sunday's tour is to include a 10 a.m. stop at the Obama campaign's Longmont field office, 1811 Hover St., Unit G. After that, the RV tour is to visit Obama field offices in Loveland, Fort Collins, Thornton and Commerce City.
"Women will be a deciding factor in this election," Obama's Colorado campaign staff said in a news release. "That's why we're seeing Colorado's mothers, daughters, wives, sisters and friends coming together to do whtever it takes to re-elect President Obama to make sure we continue to strengthen the middle class and keep America moving forward."


text:
The Judicial Division is responsible for a number of activities within the Utah County Sheriff's Office. Most of which are closely related to the Judiciary process and are assigned to various sections within the Judicial division. These sections are briefly outlined below.
This section is primarily responsible for providing court security for the various Fourth District Courts and the Utah County Justice Court.
The Warrant Section is responsible for locating and arresting persons for whom arrest warrants have been issued. In addition, this unit coordinates with jurisdiction in other states to arrange for the return of persons wanted in Utah County who have been arrested in the other states.
The responsibility of the Civil Section is to serve civil process within Utah County. This includes the delivery of garnishments, divorce papers, subpoenas, notices of lawsuits, protection orders, stalking orders, tax warrants, evictions and other legal papers. The Civil Section also performs all Sheriff's sales of real estate and real property.


text:
How to use Active Admin gem in rails?
Active Admin is a framework for creating administration style interfaces. In this blog, I have shared how can you use active admin gem in rails easily.
First and foremost, active admin is released as a Ruby Gem. This gem needs to be installed within a Ruby on Rails 3 application.
image source :activeadmin.info
Steps to install and use active admin gem in your ruby on rails application
Step -1
To install, simply add the following to your gemfile:
# Gemfile
gem 'activeadmin'
Step -2
If you are using Rails 3.1, you must also include a beta version of MetaSearch and sass-rails:
# Gemfile in Rails >= 3.1
gem 'activeadmin'
gem 'sass-rails'
gem "meta_search", '>= 1.1.0.pre'
Step -3
After updating your bundle, run the installer
$> rails generate active_admin:install
This installer creates an initializer used for configuring defaults used by Active Admin as well as a new folder at app/admin to put all your admin configurations.
Step -4
Migrate your database and start the server using these commands:
$> rake db:migrate
$> rails server
Step -5
Visit http://localhost:3000/admin and log in using:
User: [email protected]com
Password: password
If you have any further doubts, drop us an email at [email protected] and we'll get back to you with the best possible solution. Infigic is a Ruby on Rails Development Company and we are always there to solve your queries.


text:
Tiger blood devotees in Detroit ended their Saturday night by cutting out of Sheen's show early and demanding refunds, but that didn't stop Sheen from receiving a standing ovation in Chicago the night after.
Charlie Sheen's "Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat Is Not an Option" tour opened in Detroit on Saturday night to a less than stellar review. But it's not a complete downward spiral of goddesses, warlocks, and novelty T-shirts.
Sheen tweaked his act for his Chicago audience, this time skipping the opening act and addressing the audience with a letter, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. "I am a veteran of a disturbing odyssey that had me question the very nature of my soul…I am speaking, of course, about last night in Detroit."
The tour's opening night in Detroit had started innocently enough, with many fans sporting homemade gear and quoting one of the actor's many eccentric catch-phrases. "You cannot walk through the crowd without hearing someone say 'Winning!'" Entertainment Weekly live-blogged from the theater.
Sheen took the stage in Detroit to a standing ovation, according to Entertainment Weekly, calling himself "a giant and leaky bag of mayhem." The rest of Sheen's show in Detroit didn't seem to be what the crowd expected. CNN said Sheen showed clips of movies with no context, and continually insulted audience members and the Motor City itself.
When cheers turned to boos, Sheen retorted, "I already got your money, dude!" That didn't sit well with the audience members, and they began leaving, The Detroit Free Press reported. Sheen himself vacated the stage before his show was slated to be over.
In Chicago, Sheen's reception was slightly better. The Sun-Times reported that most audience members were "satisfied if not exactly enthusiastic."
Chicago movie critic Richard Roeper tweeted from the audience, "Whatever you're doing right now, including sleeping, it's probably more engaging than this," the Daily News reported.
Sheen's "Torpedo of Truth" tour continues in 18 more cities, making stops in New York, Atlantic City Dallas, and San Francisco.
Selected Reading: Entertainment Weekly, Chicago Sun-Times, CNN, NYDN


text:
Dempster to sit out entire 2014 season
MESA, Ariz. -- When James Russell was a rookie reliever in Cubs camp, his locker was one of the wobbly extras in the middle of the room near the showers at Fitch Park. Ryan Dempster was at that time a starter for Chicago.
"I was terrified," Russell said about being in his first big league camp. "The first person who actually came up to say something to me was 'Demp.' He said, 'Hey man, there's an open locker next to me. Why don't you get out of that rollaway locker and come put your stuff in here?' I wasn't going to do it.
"The next day I come in, and all my stuff's right next to him," Russell said. "The stuff he does for young guys and the team is amazing."
On Sunday, Dempster said he would not pitch in 2014 because of health reasons. One of the most popular players in the game, the right-hander, who played for the Cubs from 2004-12, will be missed.
"He's one of the more standup guys in baseball," Russell said. "Him and [Alfonso] Soriano were two of the coolest personalities you could ever meet."
The Cubs players learned of Dempster's decision during their morning stretch.
"Me and Jeff [Samardzija] were really, really surprised," Russell said. "Just to even think of him not taking the ball [is tough]. He's one of the guys who no matter what, if he's hurting, he's out there grinding and trying to do what he can do to help the team."
If this is the end of his career, Dempster, who did not rule out a 2015 return, finished on a high note, winning the World Series with the Red Sox. Russell most recently communicated with Dempster in October, when he sent a congratulatory text.
In nine seasons with the Cubs, Dempster was 67-66 with a 3.74 ERA and 87 saves. He signed after undergoing Tommy John surgery and took over as closer from 2005-07 before returning to the rotation. In '06, he led the National League in games finished.
But it was Dempster's sense of humor and personality that endeared him. He would always invite players to his house, even if it was just to play video games. Dempster organized a Cubs "American Idol" competition one spring in which Russell took part.
After one season, Dempster took Russell and Andrew Cashner to the United Center in Chicago to watch the Blackhawks practice. Then they got a tour of the locker room and were allowed to suit up and skate.
"They let us go out and raise hell on the ice," Russell said. "I'm sure Ryan is the only one who could get that worked out."
Whether Dempster, 36, returns is up to him.
"You know he's doing it for the best interests of his career," Russell said of the decision. "I'd love to see him come back and play. He's still got plenty of years on his arm. It's sad to see that happen to a guy who is so well respected around baseball, and especially as well respected as he is in the city of Chicago and the guys in the locker room."


text:
Simon Cowell is showing his humble side, admitting to a British tabloid he was "cocky" and "smug" in predicting his shows, like "The X Factor," would have huge ratings in 2011.
"We all got a bit smug last year, I certainly got a bit too cocky. I ended 2010 on a real high," he told the UK's The Sun newspaper.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Scenes From 'The X Factor': Season 1 — The Auditions
U.S. & World
The reality television judge and producer said the success in 2010 of the UK version of "The X Factor" led him to having higher hopes for his other projects – including, originally predicting the inaugural season of the show stateside would score 20 million viewers.
"I did get too arrogant, everyone does. When you have a very good year like I did in 2010 you get a bit cocky. You think you are great, then you get a bit of a smack," he said.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Reality Stars In Their Swimsuits
"We went into 2011 thinking, 'It's all going to be easy' and of course it wasn't. It was a massive wake-up call," he added. "You're in the hands of the public and it's very unpredictable."
"The X Factor's" moderate ratings stateside, which brought in between 8-12.5 million viewers an episode, was one of the things that brought Simon back to earth.
"Last year was the year my ego was put in check, yes. It wasn't a terrible year, but 2010 was spectacular," he said.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: The Verdict Is In! Judges Of Reality Television
Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Anything But Dreadful! Hot Shots Of Simon Cowell!
PLAY IT NOW: Simon Cowell: Howard Stern 'Doesn't Come 'Cheap' For 'America's Got Talent'
PLAY IT NOW: Has Simon Cowell Had Plastic Surgery?
More from Access: [ Simon Cowell 'The X Factor' News ]


text:
HTC in a Long, Dark Tunnel With a Small Flashlight
For HTC's leadership, the excuses for the company's current predicament are many and varied. At various times over the past year, they've volunteered that HTC "lacks … strategic direction or sense of urgency"; conceded that it "hasn't done enough on the marketing front"; complained that "competitors .. leverage their scale, brand awareness and big marketing budget to do things which HTC could not do"; and, even more tellingly, admitted that at times it has "simply dropped the ball on products."
Those are not unreasonable excuses. But the frequency with which they're being issued is, and that makes it tough to trust claims that HTC is emerging from a tailspin that's well over a year long now. Certainly no one takes it as writ when CEO Peter Chou says, "The worst for HTC has probably passed; 2013 will not be too bad."
Particularly after Monday, when HTC reported a net profit that declined for the fifth consecutive quarter, dropping to its lowest level since 2006. Add to that a new IDC study that says that HTC's global smartphone market share slipped to 4 percent in the third quarter of 2012 from 10.3 percent the year prior, and Chou's reassurances begin to sound pretty empty. HTC is in a tough spot these days. Quarter by quarter, it's slipping deeper into the mud, and its days of being the largest Android handset provider in the U.S. — or anywhere, for that matter — seem unlikely to return anytime soon.
HTC is beset on all sides. It's being pummeled at the market's high end by Apple and Samsung, while manufacturers like ZTE kick it in the knees at the low end. And its big bets to put forth a flagship device for two different mobile operating systems — Android and Windows Phone — haven't quite panned out. Samsung has Android locked up, and while there's still room to throw a few elbows in the Windows Phone market, Nokia has its flag firmly planted there.
HTC's task, then, is to differentiate itself enough from those rivals to gain traction in the high-end market, while scrapping with second-tier players like ZTE, Huawei and Lenovo that are challenging it in Asia and other emerging markets. And to do that, it cannot "drop the ball" anymore. It must introduce innovative devices, competitive with those of its rivals and market the hell out of them, marketing-budget constraints be damned.


text:
Hemolytic anemia is an inadequate amount of red blood cells, caused
by the rapid destruction of red blood cells in the blood or spleen. Symptoms of
hemolytic anemia may include fever, chills, shortness of breath, and a rapid
heart rate.
Infection, some medicines and other substances, and certain
inherited diseases (such as sickle cell disease) can cause hemolytic anemia.
Treatment for hemolytic anemia varies depending on the cause.
Last Revised:
May 29, 2012
Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine & Joseph O'Donnell, MD - Hematology, Oncology
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2012 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.


text:
By COLLEEN LEDDY
I am eating Maddie's crackers.
They are her favorites: Late July brand. "Organic, Classic Rich, Flaky, Buttery Tasting Crackers" it says on the box. Their expense keeps us from buying them except when they're on sale.
I bought the box several months ago in a moment of weakness at the food co-op in Ann Arbor. They weren't on sale, but I missed Maddie and it sounded like she might be coming home. I thought she'd be happy to find them in the house after months of travel.
But then she changed her plans again and they've sat on the shelf, waiting, while she continued her travels in New Zealand.
And then a few weeks ago, she flew to Australia hoping to learn to surf and sail. Several days after landing, she arranged two sailing trips, one for two nights and the other for two weeks, and then planned to head home, probably by Aug. 24.
And then Monday evening came this text:
"Would you be mad if I went back to New Zealand and worked/traveled in the north island?"
She was having some difficulty making flight arrangements for an August 24 departure and the ticket was going to cost way more than she anticipated. I'm not sure why she asked if I'd be mad. It doesn't really matter if I get mad or jump up and down with joy. She's going to do whatever she's going to do, and it's not looking like it's going to involve getting on a plane any time soon.
So, tonight, looking for something to snack on after an uninspiring, weak dinner, I made a bold decision. The heck with saving the crackers for Maddie. Chances are, she won't be home before their "Best by" date of Sept. 13, 2012. I opened the box and lavished them with peanut butter.
I am worn out from worry.
"Survived first night on the water and I love it," she had texted a few days ago.
Oy. I had so hoped she would get seasick and not go on the next arrangement she'd made through a website, sailing with some unknown older man and some other girl.
I kicked myself for not encouraging her to take advantage of an internship she was offered back in April for this summer. An internship on the land, not the sea.
When Maddie took off for New Zealand in January, she had planned to return in May—either to begin an interesting internship in Santa Cruz, or, hopefully, to begin one of several other intern opportunities she was applying for in California.
Before she left, she had to spend a week at the Santa Cruz place, Love Apple Farms, to see if she and they were compatible, and for them to decide if she would be accepted into the Farm Apprenticeship Training Program. The visit would also allow her to see firsthand what it would be like.
It's the kind of program she could probably have done at an organic farm in Michigan. But then she would be in Michigan, not California. And California has the advantage of being California, so when Love Apple says it "integrates the rigors of traditional farming practices with modern organic and biodynamic values and sustainable, high-end farm to table standards," that sounds a lot better than a Michigan farm saying the same thing.
Plus, "With unparalleled attention to detail and devotion to quality, owners Cynthia Sandberg and Daniel Maxfield have elevated Love Apple Farms from a small garden to a widely-renowned farm and agricultural education center"—in California.
"So, what's the story?" I texted her after her visit. "Did you like Love Apple and vice versa?"
"Yeah, I don't know. It was nice, but I won't be super upset if they don't want me," she said.
"Was it the dead-gopher-in-the-compost bit that dampened your enthusiasm?" I asked.
I was referring to a gory detail in an e-mail she had sent while at Love Apple.
"Drank goat milk from a champagne glass 5 minutes after it was milked, shoveled a giant pile of compost, Swiss chard sautéed with garlic on quinoa for lunch, sat in on an aromatherapy class, shoveled and carried some more, farm dinner (I ate soup!) and now I have a 5 minute hot shower...not too bad!
"Oh and I picked up a torn apart gopher doggy poop style and buried it in the compost."
"What?!" I emailed back. "How did it get torn apart? I thought compost isn't supposed to have meat in it..."
"Dog," she said explaining the gopher's demise."
"I don't know...Uncooked rodents are OK?" she surmised about the gopher's final resting place.
Yes, uncooked rodents are OK in compost piles in America. Come back and learn some more, Maddie.


text:
DG Air Freight is specialized in all aspects of safe transport of dangerous goods (ICAO/IATA/IMO/ADR). Moving any hazardous materials, by any mode of transport, requires expert know-how and services to ensure that national and international rules, regulations and requirements are duly met.
DG Air Freight provides professional services for packing, documentation, storage, training, consultancy and logistics of moving dangerous goods, safely and efficiently.
Products related to the shipping of dangerous goods are offered for sale. Transport Security services, certified Security Training programs and an impressive range of dangerous goods software solutions complete DG Air Freight service and product pallet.


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We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All personnel shall have the opportunity to be considered for employment without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, alienage or citizenship status, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.
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October 30, 2014
The Cyber Bridge to Improved India-U.S. Cooperation
October 29, 2014
Trends in Student Radicalization Across University Campuses in Afghanistan
Brazil President Dilma Rousseff Re-elected
October 28, 2014
Principle, Rigor and Execution Matter in U.S. Foreign Policy
October 27, 2014
Yedizis of Sanjar: Victims of US, Sunni Allies & Gulf Gas pumps
US Stirred –up Muslims Still Carry on Mayhem around the World
When questioned if he had any regrets in supporting Islamic fundamentalism in Afghanistan during 1980s, Zbigniew Brzezinski in a January 1998 interview with Le Nouvel Observateur, Paris, replied, "What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?"." Nonsense--" responded Brzezinski when asked "If Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today." Brzezinski was President Jimmy Carter's National Security Adviser
In 1977, I was somewhat puzzled when a Shah era high-powered Iranian delegation I was associated with left behind a Silver Peacock gift for me at a time when newly rich petro-Arabs gifted themselves and others gold Swiss watches. I had no idea what the Silver Peacock signified .I forgot all about it, but carried it around with me to Africa, Europe, Middle East and Turkey. Now it is with my granddaughter Tara Breuer in Brussels.
When I was posted to Turkey a second time in 1992, I learnt about the religious symbolism of Peacock (Melek Taus ) a figure of utter reverence and worship by a somewhat obscure and not so known religious sect of Yedizis /Yadizis. Although I had travelled extensively in Turkey during my first tenure in 1969- 73, the overall impression given was that Turkey's population was mostly composed of Turks from Central Asia, although when I visited East and South-East Turkey in places like Diyarbakir, Bingol, Lake Van etc it was quite clear that there were other nationalities and sub-nationalities apart from Turks; like Kurds ,Laz ( along east Black Sea coast) , and even miniscule Armenians mostly hidden in north east or in Istanbul and of course the Jews. Not all the inhabitants of Turkey are Sunnis; there are Alevis, Alawites, Suryanis and other ancient Christians. Asia Minor /Anatolia were the crucible of earlier Christianity and a bridge to Europe.
Very little material was available on Turkic Central Asia, which was then part of the Soviet Union. In fact, a prominent Turkish leader, late Col Alp Aslan Turkesh, told me that he met with Turks from Central Asia for the first time only when posted in New Delhi and invited by Indira Gandhi for receptions for delegations from Soviet Union, which invariably had members from Turkic speaking Central Asian republics like Uzbekistan etc. Turks from Turkey and Central Asian Soviet republics could not meet each other because of rigid restrictions. Many Turkic republic Soviet members of delegations or diplomats always replied that they were from Moscow.
However, it must be remembered that in Turkey's population , those who came from Central Asia is no more than 15%, the rest are original inhabitants of Anatolia/Asia Minor and of course the Kurds and others. The Central Asian Turks were very Catholic in their outlook and secular. Most of them are Alevis who are now treated badly by the dominant converted Sunni Turks. Stubborn central Anatolians resisted being converted to Christianity and then Islam and easily hid inside cavernous underground cities and moonscape like chimneys very popular with tourists in Cappadocia .They form the backbone of Islamist Development and Justice Party (AKP), now going astray.
During my 1992-96 tenure, the flow of Turkic people and information from Central Asian republics was much more .Further stay of 2 years as a journalist was helpful. Although there were some limitations, but I was able to visit east and south-east of Turkey and met with Kurds, Alevis, Suryanis and even Yedizis.
On my trip in Turn Abdin , apart from visiting some old Christian monasteries, Armenian and Greek Churches mostly in ruins , places of Suryani worship, I passed by some villages which were mostly inhabited by Yedizis. Thanks to some friends. I even visited a village of Yedizis .I even took some photographs of a Yedizi family members and inquired about their religion and beliefs. I was told that Muslims and others wrongly described Yedizis as devil worshippers. They claimed that Yedizi Arch -angel (Melek Taus) was a reformed devil...When I asked them where the religion had come from; I was told that most probably from India. Probably because of its Indo-Aryan Zoarastrian linkages.
From the top of the city of Mardin I could see miles of the plains of the valley of Euphrates and Tigris spreading towards the Gulf .It was my wish when posted to Amman, Jordan in 1989 that after settling down I would be able to hop over to Baghdad and having visited remains of Mesopotamian civilisation and Holy places like Najaf and Karbala earlier, would be able to visit north Iraq ie ancient Nineveh and Sanjar, the Jerusalem of Yazidis and other ancient spots.
Alas on 2nd August, a frustrated and cornered Saddam Hussain invaded Kuwait and instead, apart from members of Indian Mission and Indians in Iraq and most of the Indians in Kuwait, in all around 140,000 passed through Amman ,by air , by buses , cars and other means .Half of them had to be transported , housed , fed and later half in relief camps and all sent by air flights after fulfilling unnecessary formalities .The worst were the official delegations which made life miserable .They included crude rude , drunken and smuggler members , wanting 24 hours attention and hospitality and making undue and unreasonable demands from a very helpful Jordan administration . I was left to hang dry by the External Affairs ministry and the two governments of VP Singh and PV N Rao.
Watch this space.
Before the explosion in the means of commutation by books, telephones, wireless, air travel, people had curious ideas about each other. During my first tenure in Ankara, even educated Turks still thought that there were large number of Buddhists in India .India was a land of snake charmers and Maharajas .Turks in central Asia were secular and open to all religions ,some even followed Buddhism in Central Asia before they were invaded by Muslim troops and generally forcibly converted to Islam. Sufism, which has emerged from Central Asia and not Arab lands, includes many aspects of Buddhism.
Let us now turn to Yedizis
While the British encouraged Muslims in India and succeeded in creating Pakistan, in Arab countries like Egypt, London crated the Muslim Brotherhood to first counter nationalist parties under King Farouk and later against Col Abdul Gamal Nasser, as did the Israelis Hamas against Arafat .Since 1979 end there has been a continuation of Nexus between, US/UK/Israel-Riyadh/Wahabis-Rawalpindi/Islamabad which has destroyed the peace and prosperity in South West Asia, West Asia and north Africa.
Yedizis are one of the oldest of believers like many others in the region who have and will continue to suffer from terrorist activities led and sponsored by Washington and its allies.
The Yazidi (also Yezidi, Êzidî, Yazdani, ایزدیان, Եզդիներ, Езиды) are a Kurdish-speaking people who adhere to a branch of Persian religions that blends elements of Mithraism, pre-Islamic Mesopotamian/Assyrian religious traditions, Christianity and Islam. In addition to Kurdish, there are significant Yazidi communities who speak Arabic as their native language. Their principal holy site is in Lalish, northeast of Mosul. The Yazidis' own name for themselves is Êzidî or Êzîdî or, in some areas, Dasinî (the latter, strictly speaking, is a tribal name). Some scholars have derived the name Yazidi from Old Iranian yazata (divine being), but most say it is a derivation from Umayyad Caliph Yazid I (Yazid bin Mu'awiya), revered by the Yazidis as an incarnation of the divine figure Sultan Ezi. Yazidis, themselves, believe that their name is derived from the word Yezdan or Êzid "God". The Yazidis' cultural practices are observably in Kurdish, and almost all speak Kurmanjî with the exception of the villages of Bashiqa and Bahazane, where Arabic is spoken. Kurmanjî is the language of almost all the orally transmitted religious traditions of the Yazidis.
The religion of the Yazidis has many influences: Sufi influence and imagery can be seen in their religious vocabulary, especially in the terminology of their esoteric literature, but much of the theology is non-Islamic. Their cosmogonies apparently have many points in common with those of ancient Persian religions. Early writers attempted to describe Yazidi origins, broadly speaking, in terms of Islam, or Persian, or sometimes even pagan religions; however, publications since the 1990s have shown such an approach to be simplistic.
Yazidis have five daily prayers:
Nivêja berîspêdê (the Dawn Prayer), Nivêja rojhilatinê (the Sunrise Prayer), Nivêja nîvro (the Noon Prayer), Nivêja êvarî (the Afternoon Prayer), Nivêja rojavabûnê (the Sunset Prayer). However, most Yedizis observe only two of these, the sunrise and sunset prayers.
Worshipers should turn their face toward the sun, and for the noon prayer, they should face toward Laliş. Such prayer should be accompanied by certain gestures, including kissing the rounded neck (gerîvan) of the sacred shirt (kiras). The daily prayer services must not be performed in the presence of outsiders, and are always performed in the direction of the sun. Wednesday is the holy day, but Saturday is the day of rest. There is also a three-day fast in December
The Yazidi New Year falls in Spring (somewhat later than the Equinox). There is some lamentation by women in the cemeteries, to the accompaniment of the music of the Qewals, but the festival is generally characterized by joyous events: the music of dehol (drum) and zorna (shawm), communal dancing and meals, the decorating of eggs.
Similarly, the village Tawaf, a festival held in the spring in honor of the patron of the local shrine, has secular music, dance and meals in addition to the performance of sacred music. Another important festival is the Tawûsgeran (circulation of the peacock) where Qewals and other religious dignitaries visit Yazidi villages, bringing the senjaq, sacred images of a peacock made from brass symbolising Tawûsê Melek. These are venerated, taxes are collected from the pious, sermons are preached and holy water distributed.
The greatest festival of the year for ordinary Yazidis is the Cejna Cemaiya "Feast of the Assembly" at Lalish, a seven-day occasion. A focus of widespread pilgrimage, this is an important time for social contact and affirmation of identity. The religious center of the event is the belief in an annual gathering of the Heptad in the holy place at this time. Rituals practiced include the sacrifice of a bull at the shrine of Şêx Shams and the practice of sema.
Tomb of Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir (Şêx Adî) in Lalish
The most important ritual is the annual seven-day pilgrimage to the tomb of Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir (Şêx Adî) in Lalish, north of Mosul, Iraq. A sacred microcosm of the world, as it were, it contains not only many shrines dedicated to the koasasa, but a number of other landmarks corresponding to other sites or symbols of significance in other faiths, including Pirra selat "Sat Bridge" and a mountain called Mt. Arafat. The two sacred springs are called Zamzam and Kaniya Sipî"The White Spring".
If possible, Yazidis make at least one pilgrimage to Laliş during their lifetime, and those living in the region try to attend at least once a year for the autumn Feast of the Assembly which is celebrated from 23 Aylūl (September) to 1 Tashrīn (October). During the celebration, Yazidi bathe in the river, wash figures of Tawûsê Melek and light hundreds of lamps in the tombs of Şêx Adî and other saints. They also sacrifice an ox, which is one reason they have been connected to Mithraism, in addition to the presence of the dog and serpent in their iconography. The sacrifice of the ox is meant to declare the arrival of fall and to ask for precipitation during winter in order to bring back life to the Earth in the next spring. Moreover, in astrology, the ox is the symbol of Tashrīn.
Purity and Taboos
The Yazidis' concern with religious purity, and their reluctance to mix elements perceived to be incompatible, is shown in not only their caste system, but also various taboos affecting everyday life. Some of these, such as those on exogamy or on insulting or offending men of religion, are widely respected.
The purity of the four elements Earth, Air, Fire and Water is protected by a number of taboos, e.g. against spitting on earth, water or fire. Some discourage spitting or pouring hot water on the ground because they believe that spirits or souls that may be present would be harmed or offended by such actions if they happen to be hit by the discarded liquid. These may also reflect ancient Iranian preoccupations, as apparently do taboos concerning bodily waste, hair and menstrual blood.
Too much contact with non-Yazidis is also considered polluting. In the past, Yazidis avoided military service which would have led them to live among Muslims, and were forbidden to share such items as cups or razors with outsiders. A resemblance to the external ear may lie behind the taboo against eating head lettuce, whose name koas resembles Yazidi pronunciations of koasasa. Additionally, lettuce grown near Mosul is thought by some Yazidi to be fertilized with human waste, which may contribute to the idea that it is unsuitable for consumption. However, in a BBC interview in April 2010, a senior Yazidi authority stated that ordinary Yazidis may eat what they want, but holy men refrain from certain vegetables (including cabbage) because "they cause gases".Yazidis refrain from wearing the colour blue (or possibly green as stated in Soldier Poet and Rebel by Miles Hudson). The origins of this prohibition are unknown, but may either be because blue represents Noah's flood, or it was possibly the colour worn by a conquering king sometime in the past. Alternatively, the prohibition may arise from their veneration of the Peacock Angel and an unwillingness to usurp His colour.
Children are baptized at birth and circumcision is common but not required. Dead are buried in conical tombs immediately after death and buried with hands crossed.
Yazidi are dominantly monogamous but chiefs may be polygamous, having more than one wife. Yazidi are exclusively endogamous; clans do not intermarry even with other Kurds and accept no converts. They claim they are descended only from Adam and not from Eve.
A severe punishment is expulsion, which is also effectively excommunication because the soul of the exiled is forfeit.
In 2007, an incidence of honour killing—the stoning of Du'a Khalil Aswad—made world headlines.[45]
The tale of the Yazidis' origin found in the Black Book gives them a distinctive ancestry and expresses their feeling of difference from other races. Before the roles of the sexes were determined, Adam and Eve quarreled about which of them provided the creative element in the begetting of children. Each stored their seed in a jar which was then sealed. When Eve's was opened it was full of insects and other unpleasant creatures, but inside Adam's jar was a beautiful boy child. This lovely child, known as son of Jar grew up to marry a houri and became the ancestor of the Yazidis. Therefore, the Yazidi are regarded as descending from Adam alone, while other humans are descendants of both Adam and Eve.
The bulk of the Yazidi population lives in Iraq, where they make up an important Iraqi minority community. Estimates of the size of these communities vary significantly, between 70,000 and 500,000. They are particularly concentrated in northern Iraq in the Nineveh Province. The two biggest communities are in Shekhan, northeast of Mosul, and in Sinjar, at the Syrian border 80 kilometers (50 mi) west of Mosul..
Historically, the Yazidi lived primarily in communities in locales that are in present-day Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, and also had significant numbers in Armenia and Georgia. However, events during many recent decades have resulted in considerable demographic shift in these areas as well as mass emigration. As a result, population estimates are unclear in many regions, and estimates of the size of the total population vary.
During the 20th century, the Shekhan community struggled for dominance with the more conservative Sinjar community. The demographic profile has probably changed considerably since the the Iraq War in 2003 and the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Yazidi in Syria live primarily in two communities, one in the Al-Jazira area and the other in the Kurd-Dagh. Population numbers for the Syrian Yazidi community are unclear. In 1963, the community was estimated at about 10,000, according to the national census, but numbers for 1987 were unavailable. There may be between about 12,000 and 15,000 Yazidi in Syria today, though more than half of the community may have emigrated from Syria since the 1980s. Estimates are further complicated by the arrival of as many as 50,000 Yazidi refugees from Iraq during the Iraq War.
The Turkish Yazidi community declined precipitously during the 20th century. By 1982 it had decreased to about 30,000, and in 2009 there were fewer than 500. Most Turkish Yazidi have emigrated to Europe, particularly Germany; those who remain reside primarily in their former heartland of Tur Abdin.
Population estimates for the communities in Georgia and Armenia vary, but they too have declined severely. In Georgia the community fell from around 30,000 people to fewer than 5,000 during the 1990s. The numbers in Armenia may have been somewhat more stable; there may be around 40,000 Yazidi still in Armenia. Most Georgian and Armenian Yazidi have relocated to Russia, which recorded a population of 31,273 Yazidis in the 2002 census.
This mass emigration has resulted in the establishment of large diaspora communities abroad. The most significant of these is in Germany, which now has a Yazidi community of over 40,000. Most are from Turkey and, more recently, Iraq and live in the western states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. Since 2008 Sweden has seen sizable growth in its Yazidi emigrant community, which had grown to around 4,000 by 2010, and a smaller community exists in the Netherlands. Other diaspora groups live in Belgium, Denmark,France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia; these have a total population of probably less than 5,000.
In August 2007, some 500 Yazidis were killed in a coordinated series of bombings in Qahtaniya that became the deadliest suicide attack since the Iraq War began. In August 2009, at least 20 people were killed and 30 wounded in a double suicide bombing in northern Iraq, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said. Two suicide bombers with explosive vests carried out the attack at a cafe in Sinjar, a town west of Mosul. In Sinjar, many townspeople are members of the Yazidi minority.
The Salafist militant group Islamic State, which considers the Yazidi devil-worshippers, overtook Sinjar in August 2014 following the withdrawal of Peshmerga troops, forcing up to 50,000 Yazidis to flee into the nearby mountainous region. Threatened with death at the hands of militants and faced with starvation in the mountains, their plight received international media coverage, leading American President Obama to authorize humanitarian airdrops of food and water onto Sinjar Mountain and US airstrikes against militants in support of the beleaguered religious minority. The humanitarian assistance began on 7 August 2014.
Savage ISIS Attacks on Yedizis
In the beginning of August , media reported that Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) which had conquered large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria , went after a relatively tiny Yazidi community has been left stranded in Sanjar region of north Iraq amid talk of "genocide" against them. As many as 40,000 civilians, many of whom are Yazidi, were trapped on the barren top of Mount Sinjar, facing a grim choice between engaging the ISIS army and starvation or dehydration if they remain.
"There are children dying on the mountain, on the roads," Marzio Babille, cried the Iraq representative for the United Nations Children's Fund. "There is no water, there is no vegetation; they are completely cut off and surrounded by Islamic State. It's a disaster, a total disaster."Prince Tahseen Said, "the world leader of the Yazidis," and other Yazidi leaders have been left begging for help from world leaders.
"I ask for aid and to lend a hand and help the people of Sinjar areas and its affiliates and villages and complexes which are home to the people of the Yazidi religion. I invite [you] to assume [your] humanitarian and nationalistic responsibilities towards them and help them in their plight and the difficult conditions in which they live today," Said wrote in an appeal to the region's leaders, as well as Europe, the U.N., and the U.S.
In an impassioned speech, Vian Dakheel, a Yazidi member of the Iraqi parliament, took things a step further. Collapsing in tears, she directly said her people were facing "genocide" and would be "butchered" unless ISIS were stopped.
"As we speak there is genocide taking place against the Yazidis," Dakheel said, "My people are being slaughtered!"
The Sinjar section of the Nineveh Province in northern Iraq.There are only perhaps 200,000 to 300,000 Yazidis worldwide, according to the Encyclopedia Iranica, a collaborative academic project based at Columbia University, and they are overwhelmingly concentrated in northern Iraq. Less than 5,000 Yazidis are in the U.S., the encyclopedia said.
This misunderstanding is partially due to the "Malak Ṭāʾus" figure's other name, which is similar to the Koran's word for "Satan," according to LookLex, another encyclopedia focused on the Middle East region.
"The reason for the Yazidis' reputation of being devil worshipers is connected to the other name of Malak Ta'us, Shaytan, the same name as the Koran's for Satan," the encyclopedia said.
These accusations of devil worship, combined with the powder keg of religious tension in the region, have left the small community of Yazidis in a vulnerable position. ISIS has a particularly brutal policy toward such religious minorities, Theodore Karasik, director of research at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis.
"[The militant policy of] either convert or be killed is a very powerful message," Karasik said. "This group is going to be creating more refugee flows as it moves in different directions within the multi-ethnic structure of Iraq."
But persecution of the Yazidis goes back centuries. The Ottoman Empire is said to have slaughtered hundreds of Yazidis. In the modern era, when the nearby Kurds, Sunnis, and Shiites are engaged in violent conflict after the U.S. largely withdrew its military from Iraq, things have only grown worse for the sect.
"Everyone considers us infidels," said Samir Babasheikh, whose father is the Yazidis' spiritual leader. "Sunnis and Shiites are killing each other even though they are both Muslims, so imagine what they will do to us, people from a completely different religion."
RT.com stated that extremists from the Islamic State have killed at least 500 people, including women and children. Some of the victims were buried alive.The killings reported by Iraqi Human Rights Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to Reuters adds to a long list of atrocities...
"We have striking evidence obtained from Yazidis fleeing [their ancient home city of] Sinjar and some who escaped death, and also crime scene images that show indisputably that the gangs of the Islamic State have executed at least 500 Yazidis after seizing Sinjar," Sudani said.
The ISIL militants offer people living in territories they control to either convert to their faith or face death.
Islamic State militants claim the capture, enslavement and sale of thousands of Yazidi women and children had been ordered by God in a magazine purportedly published by the terror group.
The latest issue of Dabiq attempted to justify the militants' snaring of thousands of innocent Yazidis during an assault on the Iraqi city of Sinjar in August.
Explaining why Yazidis have been sold into sex slavery while those from other groups have not, the magazine claims Islamic Sharia law allows the enslavement of innocent 'polytheists and pagans' but not of those the militants regard as simply heretical. Tens of thousands of Yazidis were forced to flee for their lives - many of them into the nearby Sinjar mountains and then into Kurdish-held regions of northern Iraq.
However many were captured by the militants, resulting in the massacre of hundreds of men and the selling into slavery of women and children, after they were first divided up between ISIS fighters


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(Reuters) - Facebook's disastrous second-quarter earnings report, which sent the shares of the social network down 32 percent in a week, has attracted some of the top hedge fund stock pickers.
Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global Management took a liking, buying 4.1 million shares in the third quarter, while Philippe Laffont's Coatue Management acquired 1.4 million. Chase Coleman's Tiger Global Management sharply increased its Facebook stake to 11.7 million shares from just 2 million three months earlier and Patrick McCormack's Tiger Consumer Management increased its stake slightly to 1.8 million shares.
Investors have been debating the fair stock market value of Facebook Inc since even before it went public at $38 a share in May, leading to considerable volatility.
In its first few months of trading, the stock dropped to around $30. But the biggest decline started in the middle of the third quarter, on July 26, when Facebook reported a drastic slowdown in revenue growth and failed to offer financial forecasts to quell fears about its ability to boost advertising growth.
The shares plummeted 32 percent over the next week and subsequently dropped to an all-time closing low of $17.73 on September 4.
The share price has since crept higher. On Wednesday, the stock jumped almost 13 percent to close at $22.36 as investors breathed a sigh of relief that expiring trading restrictions on a huge block of shares failed to trigger an immediate wave of insider selling.
Third quarter holdings of Facebook were revealed in quarterly securities filings made by the hedge funds on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Although the filings reflect holdings as of September 30 and might be outdated, many investors look to the portfolios of long-term stock pickers such as Coleman and Halvorsen for guidance.
The well-regarded $10 billion endowment of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology also added a position in Facebook of 411,000 shares in the quarter. The school is located just a few miles away from Harvard University, where Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg famously dropped out in 2004 to found the company.
Another beaten-down tech company also got some hedge fund attention in the third quarter: Yahoo Inc, which nabbed Marissa Mayer to head the company from rival Google Inc.
Coleman's Tiger Global opened a new position of 25 million shares, David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital built a 5 million share new position and Dan Loeb's Third Point, already a major Yahoo investor, raised its stake to 73 million shares from 70.5 million three month earlier. And Boaz Weinstein's Saba Capital Management added call options covering 1 million Yahoo shares during the quarter.
Yahoo shares have gained 14 percent since Mayer was appointed chief executive officer on July 16. On Wednesday, the shares lost 2 cents, or 0.1 percent, to close at $17.83.
Reporting by Aaron Pressman. Additional reporting by Svea Herbst in Boston and Sam Forgione, Manuela Badawy and Katya Wachtel in New York. Editing by Andre Grenon


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