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Dr Vankateshwara straightened his tie as he analysed his overall appearance in the mirror for the last time before the interview, a form fitted crisp suit with an ironed shirt, blue tie, tailor-made pants and formal shoes, clean-shaven face accompanied by salt and pepper hair gave an impression of intellectual superiority. For he was intelligent enough to earn two doctorates at a comparatively young age but smart enough to know that none of that mattered unless he looked smart before the camera. Then he reached for his spectacle from the bedside table, put it on and pushed it higher by its nose bridge.
"Come on, you have faced worse." He said to his reflection staring back at him as he exhaled deeply. Then, he confidently walked towards his study where the reporter was waiting. His past experiences have made him better prepared for today, at least that's what he thought. Nevertheless, he was confident that this was his day and he was ready to amaze the world with his achievement. As he grabbed the doorknob to his study, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves and put on a vibrant smile before pushing the door open.
"Hello Dr Venkatesh, it's a pleasure to meet you again," Susan Phillip greeted with a smile.
"Oh, the pleasure is all mine Susan, sorry to keep you waiting," Venkatesh replied with an enthusiastic grin, perhaps a little too enthusiastic. He had chosen the study as the location of the interview because of its décor. The extensive collection of books it held on topics like robotics, A.I and psychology and an antique oak table topped with red velvet gave the impression of a well-read gentleman.
Susan however, got an immediate impression of a nervous wreck who was trying to overcompensate for his lack of self-confidence, someone who didn't want to be argued with and wanted his words to carry weight. She had chewed and spat such elites in the past without giving a second thought; she wasn't going to make an exception today.
Venkatesh sat in his chair across the table, just opposite to Ms Phillips, a prime position that instigates arguments. The cameraman and the sound guy got busy with their final preparations, clipped on a collar mike on Dr Venkateshwara's suit. The wise doctor sat there patiently, his arms resting on the armrest of his chair, gauging the predator-like instinct in the reporter's eye. "Not today," he thought to himself as a smug smile formed on his lips.
"So, we record in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" Susan ended the countdown with her first question
"Dr Venkatesh, you understand that we serve to the average everyday folks and not academicians, so why did you choose us for this exclusive interview?"
"You see Ms Susan, our research has the potential to affect the lives of everyone on this planet in the future, so it is only justified that I explain it to ordinary everyday people as best as I can because after all knowledge is meant to be shared" Venkatesh replied with a smile.
"Before we go into a more technical aspect of it, will you kindly illustrate why do we need a conscious A.I? I mean when we already have quite advanced A.I capable of replacing factory workers in the industries, what is the necessity of a self-conscious robot apart from a novelty?" Susan asked with a pretence of innocence.
"You see, even though we have the necessary A.I capability to free people from their mundane, repetitive jobs so that they can invest their time elsewhere." Vankatesh began tactfully. " We are still not able to exploit the full capability of A.I since a robot can be only as useful as it is intelligent. Being self-consciousness will not only help a robot do its job well but also guide him to choose an objective without human interference, and above all; by replicating consciousness in a machine, we will understand our conscience better."
"So according to my research, there have been many projects in the past by various scientists who have attempted to replicate the consciousness of the human mind inside a computer, many have succeeded in different aspects, how is your work different from them?" Susan inquired.
"Subtly, you see we have built upon their work; the problem was the previous attempts were made to have a self-conscience A.I without a self. All the millions of lines of codes governing the mind of the machines were written by humans, we attempt to change that." Venkatesh explained.
"Dr Vankateshwar, are you saying that your experimental A.I will be able to program and reprogramme itself ?" Her eyes were shining with a strange light of impatience as if she was just waiting for Venkatesh to step into the trap, he sensed it, but lying wasn't an option, a self-adapting and reprogramming A.I was too big of an achievement in his career to hide for fear of a pesky reporter.
"You see Ms Susan, for an A.I to be actually conscious, it has to adapt to new situations which are far from ideal, not only will it need to learn new skills but also acquire new ways of interacting with different circumstances and people. As these situations can be drastically different, hence one's set of rules may not successfully apply to the other and hence, fluidity is a must. We, humans, do it all the time, depending on where we are, with whom we are, we reprogram our behaviour and even our thoughts because we are conscious of our surroundings and always reacting and adapting to it. These are essential for any conscious being." Venkatesh emphasised with occasional nods.
"Do you intend this A.I of yours to interact with people like your previous experiment, 'Project Turing'?" A malicious smile was sitting on her lips; she had attacked him where it hurts.The pangs of pain that Venkatesh felt were barely hidden from the camera as Venkatesh suddenly flinched in his chair, for Project Turing was his failure, but so what? Who doesn't fall, who doesn't fail? Success comes to those who dare to get up and run again, and that's exactly what Venkatesh was going to do. He exhaled deeply to calm himself before answering.
"Project Turing is in the past, and it would be better if we let it be, as for your question, No! We are not going to repeat the same mistake twice, this time the human interaction will be limited and carefully monitored. The A.I will initially interact with only me and the team of mine and slowly will its social circle grow as we see fit."
"Ah! So you will parent the A.I, overcompensating for something Dr Vankateshwara?" She remarked with a sly smile. "Anyway my question is, what if this A.I outsmarts you to escape its limited social freedom? I am sure your brainchild will be a smart one and what if it escapes your guidance before it is ready, what mayhem can an angry teenage young robot not cause, I wonder?"
"Another reference to angry teenagers, is she deliberately trying to bring up the Turing A.I or am I just imagining stuff?" Venkatesh contemplated while he took a quick glance at the cameraman and then looked back at Susan. " Ms Susan, you make it sound like I am trying to adopt our new project." he burst into a mock laughter. "I personally never thought of it this way, but you see, this one is programmed like an infant, even though it has the resources to perform vast calculations, but it is limited because it has not been programmed to do more than what an infant does, in fact, less. With time it will learn new things including locomotion and language, and at this initial stage it will program itself the way we want it to because it has been programmed to trust people based on their interaction with it, so yes; it is pretty much like nurturing a child…" Susan interrupted before Venkatesh could finish.
"And you believe you will be able to be a good parent to the most 'potentially dangerous' child on the planet, and that too without any prior experience."
"Nobody understands this most 'potentially useful' child better than us." Venkatesh defended.
" Is it programmed with the three laws of robotics ?" Susan inquired.
"Oh! You mean Asimov three laws? Not entirely, it is programmed to follow only the first and the last law, nobody can have free will until they are free to disobey orders, can they?" Venkatesh asked rhetorically.
"So you plan to create a robot that can learn like a human, is exponentially faster at learning than almost every Human, can reprogram itself as it sees fit and does not need to listen to human. Dr Vamkateshwara, do you not think that this is a pretty dangerous combination and the only thing we hope will prevent it from going rogue and turning into 'Skynet' are your parenting skills? A man who has never fathered a child before?" Susan Jibed and her comment had served its desired purpose, Venkatesh was silent. The way she had put it made his work seemed like a recipe for disaster. How could he possibly provide an answer that could satisfy her and her paranoid dim-witted patrons, he had to think of something smart and quickly for he knew that the greatest of scientific advancement could be sabotaged by public opinion. No wonder he was cursing the moment he agreed to this stupid idea of an exclusive interview with Susan Philip, the most sensational and hence popular news anchor he had known. He was a scientist, Not a P.R agent and no amount of practice interview and rehearsals in front of the mirror could have prepared him for this moment. But his intellectual pride was too much for him to admit it. He leaned back in his chair, turned it at a slight angle away from her as he interlocked his fingers.
"I see your points are fear-driven, and even though there is a small possibility that it can come true but trust me, we can pull the 'plug' off anytime we want, in fact, the project will be self-terminated if one of the team doesn't regularly check in on it." Venkatesh continued with genuine humility "And yes it is true that the A.I is capable of immeasurable destruction like a human being, but as long as a scholarly team of PhDs are there to guide its limitless potential, you can sleep easy that it won't be corrupted by bigotry, hatred or hypocrisy. Yes, I admit that certain dangers are there and that would be enough to make us cautious of the future development of our project." Venkatesh assured with a slight bow of his head.
"So you admit that your project is dangerous and…" Venkatesh interfered before she could complete "Ms Susan, do you have to be repetitive and redundant, please move on to your next question, I am a busy man."
Susan stared blankly at the doctor with an ajar mouth for a while. Then, after regaining her composure, she spoke. "No, Dr Venkateshwara, I think that would be all, thank you for your time, the interview will be on tonight's prime time," Susan announced in a formal tone and signed her team for a wrap-up. When the collar mike was taken off Venkatesh, Susan leaned forward against the table.
"Dr Venkatesh, I am not against scientific progress, but you must learn that you have a greater responsibility than the blind pursuit of knowledge and its consequences on the lives of others."
Venkatesh was sitting in a restaurant a few blocks away from his lab; he planned to buy lunch for his core team who were busy running final diagnostic check-ups before activating the A.I, while he was waiting for the order to arrive his mind was pondering about what Susan said to him. As a scientist, he always thought that it was not just his job but his responsibility to pursue knowledge. To venture into the unknown so that the Human knowledge could be advanced. He always treated films about robot apocalypse as a product of the fear of the human mind of the unknown, what if the fear wasn't baseless? Like many another philosopher, he considered non-aggression as a trait of a more enlightened mind, what if aggression was the key to survival, wouldn't then a superior intelligence choose to be aggressive for a better chance of survival? He would have kept pondering such questions had his trail of thought not been derailed by the vibrating cell phone in his pocket, The name displayed of Dr Anna Ainsworth.
Dr Ainsworth was a developmental Psychologist and specialised in child psychoanalysis. She met Venkatesh at a seminar about the psychology of consciousness and the recent development in the field a few years back.Venkatesh, realising her expertise about the working and development of a child's mind and admiring her tall, slender figure and curly red hair couldn't help but to ask her out on a date and ask her in on his research. She agreed to one of his proposition, and they have been working together ever since. Venkatesh considered himself fortunate to have found a good friend and a priceless asset as her, Not that he wasn't looking for more, but he was satisfied with what he had.
He picked up the phone to be asked by Shen in his best bugs bunny impression "Whats up Doc? You bringing me a carrot cake?" Shen Jiamo, like the other two of the team, was a doctorate of none and the only philosophy that he could relate to was the polar opposite of what Venkatesh's father used to tell him while growing up "high living, Simple thinking." Now of course, for Shen, a high life meant a life high on calories, Venkatesh always found himself to be a little envious of Shen, no matter how much or what he ate, it seemed he was incapable of gaining weight. Now before anyone assumes Shen to be a stereotypical Asian comic relief of the team (which they won't be entirely wrong to assume.), it will be beneficial to note that he was a brilliant engineer with masters in Mechatronics. Shen was the one who created the robotic shell for Dr Venkatesh's A.I so that it could process the world as a human would. Even though he was less qualified than the other two, he considered his contribution to the secret Chinese space project enough to compensate for that, which of course he had no proof of considering the secret nature of the project.
"Today is not your birthday Shen, as far as I remember," Venkatesh remarked with deadpan humour. "Why are you calling from Anna's phone?"
"Because he discharged his own while building himself a virtual empire." Came the voice of Anna, the phone was of course on speaker. "When will you be coming? we need to run a final check on the learning and adapting algorithm."
"Pretty soon. I will be on my way as soon as I pick up the order" Said Venkatesh while checking his watch.
"What are you bringing Doc?" Shen asked curiously.
"Something edible and in generous quantity for the three of us, I assume that would be adequate info for you." Venkatesh teased.
"Aye Aye captain! By the way, what do you want to set the response for Fat, alcohol, salt and sugar in the spectral analyser, and what magnitude?" Shen inquired.
"Set it positive 60% for sugar, 30 for salt, maybe 5 to 10 for fat, make it 5, and set Alcohol to negative 30%." Instructed Venkatesh as Shen jotted down the parameters.
"No, set it to positive 50 for fat, Venkatesh just because you are on a diet doesn't mean it can't enjoy occasional ice-creams and Chips, humans love the taste of fat and have been eating it since prehistory. It's sugar that you should keep a watch out for." Anna warned him.
"Very well, pamper the A.I all you want, 50% it is," Venkatesh affirmed.
"You don't want the A.I to enjoy some vintage Kentucky bourbon on a rainy night by the fireplace Doc?" Shen asked with a melodramatic sorrowful voice.
"Mr Shen, have you been drinking since you were 5?" Venkatesh asked with annoyance.
"I wish my old man had allowed, what a splendid childhood it would have been." Shen retorted. " But as you say, boss. Come quick and bring the food quicker, bye!"
"Oh wait! How was the interview with Susan Phillip, When are they gonna broadcast it?" Anna asked enthusiastically.
"I don't think they will; they can't show manslaughter on news network, can they?" Shen commented with a pretence of disappointment before Venkatesh could reply.
"It was nothing of that sort Shen, we were both mature adults, behaving professionally and discussing the experiment," Venkatesh explained in a calm, diplomatic voice.
" Ya, she screwed you like a pro, didn't she?" Anna jibed, and Shen burst into a fit of laughter.
" I knew an exclusive with Susan Phillip was a terrible idea." Venkatesh let out a sigh " Curses be in the moment when I agreed to it and on the person who suggested it."
"Told you not to go drinking with the chairman!" Anna exclaimed triumphantly. "See you later professor."
" Ok Bye! The order is ready, got to go." Venkatesh replied in a hurry.
"See your Doc," said Shen quickly before Venkatesh disconnected. Then he went to the receptionist where the order was waiting at the table, paid for it. Put the phone in his pocket, left out of the door and then suddenly recalled that he forgot to pick up the order, he hurriedly went back to pick it up beamed a silly smile at the receptionist and headed towards his bicycle.
Venkatesh and Shen were busy with the final preparations before activating the A.I. Shen was running simulations for the tactile response of the Androids artificial skin whereas Venkatesh was debugging the last few hundred lines of the code when Anna walked into the lab with a large box of piping hot pizza.
The lab was a spacious one cluttered with all sort of machines, from 3D printers to CNC Lathe and Miller while on the opposite end laid the computers where Shen had designed the robotic shell, Venkatesh was sitting on the other end of the Lab on his System. Near about the Centre of the Lab was a plastic Chair on which the lifeless Android was placed with a placid expression, It's Fibre skeleton and actuators were covered by a grey coloured artificial skin with an embedded grid of shiny silvery piezo-electric wires. Only its face and hands were covered with synthetic human-like silicone skin as Venkatesh considered functionality and economic feasibility more important than vanity. Its head was bald and so was its face, lacking any facial hair excluding the fake eyelashes. Its face was modelled after a 3D composite image of the faces of its three creators, one of whom had left his station and rushed towards the pizza as soon as it's delicious cheesy aroma reached him.
"You should have seen his interview" Anna suggested to Shen while looking at Venkatesh. "It wasn't as bad as the doctor made it out to be, I would say he managed it well… Watch out, Shen! Thin crust!" Even before Shen could realise, a significant portion of cheese and toppings had slipped off the pointy edge of the slice which he was holding at the crust and fell on the floor.
"wastage of perfectly good pizza, that's an omen from the gods". Shen warned sarcastically, "and I have decided it. I am not putting 'worked with Dr Venkatesh Iyer' on my resume. Period." Shen commented as he chewed on the remaining toppings and cheese on his decimated slice.
"If you guys are done, could you please put on the eyebrows and hair on it Anna, and finish with your simulations if you don't want to sleep in this lab Shen." Instructed Venkatesh from the far end of the lab.
"Who doesn't cheer up in the presence of pizza?" Shen asked with his mouth full.
" You know who." Anna rolled her eyes toward Vankatesh as both went to finish off their respective tasks.
About an hour later, all three of them were standing close together in front of the Android and looking at it.
"Do you guys think it will be the right time, or should we wait until the morning?" Venkatesh looked at them nervously.
"Doc, the simulations are perfect, and unless you doubt your coding skills, I guess it is ready to rise up and shine; or kill, depending on your codes." Shen shrugged.
"Are we going to refer to the A.I as "it"? I think it deserves a name" Anna declared.
"What do you mean?" Venkatesh's eyes narrowed in surprise. "it already has a name, the name of our project, Artificial Intelligent Simulation of Human Awareness and Conscious, A.I.S.H.A.C for short."
"Seriously Doc!" Exclaimed Shen. "How big of a nerd do you have to be to name an android as an acronym?"
" What? it makes perfect sense, A.I.S.H.A.C is our project, this is our project, and hence this is A.I.S.H.A.C." Venkatesh explained while pointing at the android.
"Isaac! That's what it should be, Isaac!" Suggested Anna snapping her fingers.
"Cool, Isaac as in Isaac Newton and Isaac Asimov, Nerdy enough for the Doc, Sciency enough for the droid," Shen affirmed while fist bumping Anna.
"Yes! Isaac is a good name…" Venkatesh was interrupted before he could finish
"And there for it be the name of the A.I." declared Anna " uh, uh uh, no if, no buts" she shut Venkatesh before he could raise an objection.
"Fine! But are you guys sure we should wake him up just now, I mean…" Vankatesh was interrupted again by Anna before he could finish.
"Look at him! The able doctor is as nervous as a first-time father" Anna mocked while pinching both of Venkatesh's cheeks. "That's so cute."
"It's nothing like that." Said vankatesh trying to brush off his awkwardness. " I just think we should double check the codes one last time."
"Doc, you have already triple checked and debugged the codes, go ahead man! We trust you, tap it." Encouraged Shen.
Venkatesh looked at Anna for her opinion, she nodded.
"Very well" Venkatesh took out his tablet, unlocked the screen. "Here goes my life's work." he taped the 'Activate' button. The screen began to show the transfer of last few gigabytes of codes, the transfer was comparatively fast due to the photon based transfer of data that was trademarked under the name Li-Fi. But to them, it appeared to have taken an eternity to reach 99%, and when it did, the tablet screen locked itself and went black. All three of them stared at the Android and were impatiently waiting for the bootup process to finish. There was a death-like silence in the lab in which Venkatesh could almost hear his own heart racing. The calmness of their surrounding was in stark contrast to the storm raging in each mind and in this moment of palpable tension, Issac woke up.
First, the android raised its head and then slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Venkatesh's blue shirt; then he moved his head further up to look at Venkatesh's face. He blinked for the first time, then he moved his gaze onto Shen on the right and then Anna on the left. All three of them hunched over staring at him while Anna's arms shot up in the air.
"It's alive! It's alive!" Anna announced triumphantly, shooting her arms in the air.
Venkatesh squatted down, eye level to Issac and smiled, Issac's stare was fixed on him, then Venkatesh lifted his right hand and forwarded his open palm towards Issac. Issac gaze quickly shifted to Venkatesh's hand, and he jerked back his upper body abruptly, Venkatesh drew his hand back quickly and looked into Issac's eyes.
"It's ok; we are not going to harm you, It's okay". Venkatesh slowly moved his hand towards Issac again. This time, however, Issac didn't move back, he kept his gaze on Venkatesh, and the Doctor slowly moved his hand closer to Issac's silicon cheeks and stroked them lightly, Issac's eye closed and a smile slowly formed on his lips.
"Is he smiling? Oh, look! He is smiling." Anna stared at Isaac with widened and moist eyes.
"Yes, his tactile feedback is working, the smile is an automated reaction.." This time it was Shen who interrupted Him.
"Don't spoil this moment Doc, I know what is happening, and it is still wonderful" replied Shen with a broad smile on his face.
"I know. It surely is" Vankatesh kept stroking Issac's cheeks lovingly, and a smile crept from Venkatesh's lips to his eyes which were staring back into Issac's. Then all of a sudden Anna rose an alarm.
" Why isn't Isaac crying? You programmed it like a child, so it should cry. Shouldn't it?" Anna asked worriedly.
"Relax Anna!" Venkatesh replied calmly as he turned his head towards Anna and then back to Issac. "He is smart, he knows that all our attention is focused on him and he doesn't need to do anything to attract it." Venkatesh gently pinched Isaac's cheek. "Don't you? smart little boy."
"Uh, Doc! I have a question, how do you know Isaac is a 'he'? I mean I didn't design any specific parts for him so…" Shen enquired with a shrug of his shoulders while shaking his head. Venkatesh's eyes opened wide as he turned towards Anna.
"I don't, in fact, the only reason I have been referring Issac as a male is because his name is Isaac."
"Don't look at me!" Anna exclaimed crossing her arms. " The only reason I called him Isaac was because it sounded similar to A.I.S.H.A.C and was a better name than that."
"Okay, Nothing to panic!" Venkatesh breathed out heavily. "We will let Isaac figure out with time which gender does he or she want to identify with when he is capable of processing what genders are, till then we go about calling him Isaac until Isaac want's to get his name changed. Cool?" Venkatesh suggested, gesturing with open palms.
"Wow!, I wish parents in your country were as liberal with their kids as you are." Shen mocked.
"He is not my kid" Venkatesh reminded. "He is an expensive research project, our research project."
"And that reminds me where will Issac stay tonight?" Anna asked, "Surely we can't leave him in this lab, can we?"
"Of course not!" Venkatesh's jaws dropped. " He is programmed with the psychology of a child; he will cry himself to failure if he finds none to keep him company." Just as Venkatesh had finished and even before he could take a breath, he heard a faint noise of crying. Turning back they saw Issac was crying even though his eyes were dry. What they didn't notice was in between their discussion about Issac's sex and his nightly accommodation, they had turned their attention completely away from Issac for quite a while. Issac processed this by the direction they were looking at and the angle of their body, and this was enough to get him to respond like a human baby would in such situation. His weeps were slowly getting louder until it got their attention back. Yes, Venkatesh's codes were running smoothly, and he was glad about it. But right now Vankatesh had to go down on his knees to pacify Issac.
"It's ok! I wasn't annoyed at you, It was Shen and Anna who got me distracted, You have our full attention now." Venkatesh kept on pacifying Issac as Anna and Shen were giggling behind.
When his crying had stopped, Vankatesh got up and told Shen to keep Isaac busy while he was going to to have a drink by the water cooler. He called Anna along with him. Isaac had almost begun to cry a second time seeing Anna and Venkatesh leave, but Shen managed to get his attention focused on himself while they were gone.
"I guess I should take Issac with me tonight" Venkatesh suggested on the way to the water cooler, "That way I will be able to see if he is malfunctioning in any way."
"Ya, like you have any idea how a baby functions that you will know if he is 'malfunctioning'." Anna quipped Venkatesh sarcastically.
"Why does everyone have to bring up my lack of parenting experience in this?" Venkatesh argued. "He is a scientific experiment, I know science, I have written his codes, I know what to expect of him."
" Yes you have written his codes, but you have written them so that he acts like a baby and learn from his experience, didn't you?" Anna asked rhetorically. "And now he is experiencing and adapting to be something different from what you created but he is still a child, and I know his mind because that's what I do."
"I don't doubt your qualifications, but he is not a human kid, You expertise in Human psychology, I know about Artificial intelligence." Venkatesh explained while taking a sip of the cold water " What if you get him home and he starts to behave abnormally, different from an ordinary child like he did when he didn't cry."
"you programmed it to act like a child, and then develop its own conscious with time, don't you think it will be a problem if it does not act like an average child at this early stage?" Anna asked with concern. "Maybe we should both be together with Isaac tonight, I mean we each have very valid reasons to be with him."
Venkatesh almost coughed up the entire gulp of water he had taken because of the shock. Anna quickly moved out of the way to dodge the spillage and began stroking Venkatesh on the back to relax his coughing.
"As in we be together in one house?" Vankatesh asked after the cough subsided. "are you sure?"
" hold on to your horses Doctor." Anna said teasingly as they started to walk back towards the lab " You and Isaac will be in one bed, and I will be on the couch."
"Why? Shouldn't you be on the bed and I on the sofa?" Venkatesh asked.
" Oh! That's because in case your programming malfunctions, I don't wanna risk my life." Anna raised her hands in mock deniability.
"Very well, I never thought that I would ever get to ask you this." Venkatesh said coyishly "Your place or mine?"
"Don't you think we should also ask Shen if we are going to have a…" Anna had stopped mid-sentence, surprised by what she saw up ahead when she opened the lab's door to enter. In front of her was Isaac sitting on his chair but clutching the armrest firmly, looking keenly at Shen who was sitting opposite him on a similar chair in the exact same pose. At this moment Venkatesh who was walking just a few paces behind looked through the ajar door, and his jaws dropped. Shen was slowly and steadily pushing on the armrest and getting up, Issac was mirroring him exactly without any sense of fear or hesitation but keen focus until both Shen and Isaac were facing each other and standing straight up. Vankatesh was admiring the tall and lean-built of the humanoid which had never looked more fantastic till now. Within an hour of his birth. Isaac was on his feet.
Anna ran in and hugged Shen; Then she quickly turned to Issac with an ecstatic smile. Isaac smiled back too, First at her and then he turned his head to look at Venkatesh walking in with wide strides as if all the exhaustion of the long day had washed off him. He congratulated Shen and pat his back, then turning at Issac took a good look at his creation as he beamed in admiration.
" How did you know, how did you ask him to follow you?" Venkatesh demanded, shaking Shen with excitement and urgency.
"I didn't!" Shen explained. "After both of you had left he was almost brought back to tears. I tried to console him by baby talking to him, but he kept looking at the door as if he wanted to follow you. I thought why not try and see if Isaac could walk, but for that, first he had to get up, and since he is programmed like a kid, I thought the best way to teach him was to show him.
So, I bought this chair." Shen pointed at the chair right behind him where he was sitting. "Sat on it got up and moved towards the door. This caught his attention. I repeated this once more and to my amazement, he was pushing on the floor hard enough to lift his body up in the air. Unfortunately not hard enough to stand up and hence he fell back into the chair. Fearing that he will push too hard and topple over, I sat back on my chair with his focus on me." Shen began to demonstrate by sitting back in his chair. "Then I gripped the armrest rigidly and slowly pushed until I was on my feet and then I straightened up. Isaac followed the exact movements, and here he is, standing right in front of you.Now we know that the servos are running fine and my simulations were correct."
"I never doubted them," Venkatesh defended.
"Yes you did, or why else would you make me run them twice." Shen retorted "Is it because you can't bear my absence from the lab Doc? Awww."
"Get a room you two, would you?" Anna mocked them. "Focus on the rising star now. Do you think we can teach Isaac to walk now? I mean right now."
"I don't see why we can't," Venkatesh assured with confidence.
"One little thing that I wanted to ask Doc?" Shen enquired "How is Isaac able to 'focus' I mean it is quite evident that Isaac is fond of you so why would he focus his attention on me when you guys were at the door?"
"That's how I programmed him. Although he gets data from all of his sensors which will be at least in gigabytes, and that's a conservative estimate, but he can choose to process some of that data on a priority basis whereas the other data does get stored for background processing." He Looked at Anna and continued "Isn't that how you said the focus, conscious and subconscious mind work?"
"That's the leading theory," Anna confirmed. "But let us concentrate on the task at hand. Who is going to teach Isaac to take his first step?"


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Interesting stuff even though I will most likely never teach in China.
English Teacher
I teach 25 classes a week in 2 public schools in China. Most of my students are in middle school, but I have at least one of each grade from 2 to 6, also. I have not seen much information on this kind of teaching on any of the "interwebs" The threads I found here on this topic are old and closed.
I'm starting this thread because in hopes it will attract some others who have done this kind of work and might have advice to pass on. I'm certainly glad to share what I have learned in the course of *almost* a full academic year. Unfortunately, I still have more questions than answers. In this kind of setting, one doesn't often get a chance to talk to one's predecessor. People's contracts end and they leave the country. I haven't had the benefit of talking with any teachers who have taught middle school. I've learned a little more from current and former primary school teachers.
I'm in the northeast of China -- Liaoning Province. I think what is true for the public schools here is true in many other regions, but I'm sure things vary a lot across this huge country.
Here are some of the features of (my) public school teaching that set it apart from private classroom ESL teaching:
- Class sizes vary from about 20 to 60 students. 35 to 40 is about standard. Some public schools send 2 classes at a time for lessons with the foreign teacher. I have a group of 85 in this category.
- Desks and chairs are generally arranged in single or double rows. Alternate seating arrangements are not generally an option, as there is no classroom dedicated English teaching.
- A native Chinese speaking assistant provided by my employer (a private language school) accompanies me to each class. Assistants, exclusively young women at my school, are chosen mostly on their ability to speak and understand spoken English. They are expected to translate the foreign teacher's instructions, and to assist in maintaining discipline in the classroom. A good assistant is essential to the foreign teacher's success, I believe.
- Communication with students' *other* English teachers -- the Chinese teachers -- is either very limited or non-existent. The majority of Chinese English teachers I have met have been friendly and charming, but few of them can converse in English.
- Students are not tested or graded on their participation or performance in my classes. (Students know this.) Foreign teachers are not expected to give written exercises or tests in class. My language school would not permit me to make the hundreds of photocopies required, even if I wanted to mark such a high number of papers.
- The vast majority of Chinese students I have encountered are friendly and at least moderately cooperative. Many of them view foreigners as minor celebrities. I prefer to concentrate on these students rather than the small number who go out of their way to show me their contempt and disrespect.
Thanks if you've stayed with me this far. If this post draws any comments or questions, I'll add more about specific classroom issues and some of the ways I have found of coping with the challenges.
Interesting stuff even though I will most likely never teach in China.
An informative post - especially as I am hoping to go to China sometime in the future.
I hope you don't mind if I ask a few questions. May I ask how you ended up in Liaoning Province? Did you reply to a job advert on a website? Was this your first TEFL job?
When you're teaching the larger classes, what sort of approach do you take? How do you handle the mechanics of teaching 85? I have never taught a class of larger than 25, so am interested to know how you handle the practicalities.
My main reason for being there is to teach listening and speaking. I often begin a lesson by doing a walkabout and asking a question based on the week's lesson. I had this group of 85 today, and the question was "Do you have a hobby?" I will raise my hand to indicate I want volunteers to answer my question, and I will generally get a few. I try not to go to the same few every week. Then I ask a followup question using the target language, and I coach them to respond using that as well. This stage generally lasts about 5 minutes. It can last longer if I have to beg for responses
This activity obviously leaves 84 kids silent while one speaks, but I accept that as inevitable. At least they can all listen. It's also my warmer, and by walking up the aisles in the small auditorium where I see this group, I clearly establish the fact that I'm there and that class is in session. I think it also humanizes me more than if I remained at the front during the entire lesson. This applies to all the large classes, I think. Kids who sit at the back can see me up close too.
The core activity in all the middle school classes is oral reading. I will introduce a reading text (a short dialogue, usually), pre-teaching vocabulary and pronunciation as I would with any size group. I then read the text and have them repeat in chorus. Then we move to individuals reading the dialogue while I stand within earshot and prompt or offer corrections.
A lot depends on the good will of the class. If they are wound up, it can be difficult to do any individual reading (or much of anything at all). However, as I do teach pronunciation, I think it's necessary to hear individuals read so I can spot check the particular points we've been working on, do corrections, and decide if more full class work is required. Also, the chance of reading for Lao Shi (the teacher) is something that motivates some of these kids -- even the 16 year olds.
One thing is certain -- I can't shout over them. I don't even attempt it. I will occasionally thump a desk or podium to remind them that they need to tone things down.
I accept a certain amount of background noise, and I try to compensate by getting close to whoever is speaking. Frequent shushing and pleas for quiet are part of every class. My assistant patrols the rows constantly and tries to quietly put an end to conversations.
The most fun they have, and the hardest work for me is the word game that ends every class. I enjoy playing Hangman or Change One Letter with the group, and they really get into the competition. Hearing and understanding the words coming out of their mouths when I'm anchored at the blackboard is a struggle. I'm sure most of them think I'm quite deaf.
I have only rarely done group activities with these 35+ classes. It's very difficult with the seating arrangements and actual participation is very low. If I make groups small enough to work well, I have more groups than I have time for at the "report back" stage. Classes are 40 or 45 minutes only. So, I work at the extremes most of the time -- full class or one or two at a time.
It's very teacher-centric and not at all the kind of thing I learned when I did my CELTA. It's just what I've arrived at through trial and error.
I'm here to tap into the knowledge in this forum and to try to improve upon what I do. I value input from experienced teachers most of all.
hey bro, i see you are kind of enthusiatic to your job. Only your mind tells you this for sure. If you need a change, you could reach me through this number, 0086-15045285545.
Harbin, Heilongjiang province. Awaits more hints.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Wee Reads
Hosted by: Westland Area Library
The event will start on: Jan 16, 2013 11:30 AM
And will end on: Jan 16, 2013 12:30 PM
Location: Westland Area Library
Address: 4740 W. Broad Street Columbus, OH 43228
This is a special storytime for the youngest children. First, we will share short, interactive books, rhymes and songs. Then, babies will have time to play with blocks, balls, and other toys. Parents and caregivers should be prepared to be actively involved and have an exciting time. Program will last approximately 20 minutes with social and playtime afterwards. No registration required. Ages newborn through 24 months.
Westland Area Library
Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.
September 16 & 30
February 13 & 27


text:
Hi there. I hope you're all well.
I have a frustrating problem with the Wi-Fi on my laptop at the moment.
This is driving me up the wall.
The Wi-Fi keeps dropping connection.
It will work for a while then drop out (it often shows good/full signal strength too
when this is happening).
My phone is not having these dropouts nor is my main PC or my flatmates PC either.
The only change I've made is the following - Location.
I normally use my laptop on my knees on my chair or bed and I usually use my desktop PC
at my desk (which has a raised shelf for my monitor and the PC case is 2ft away on
a trolly/shelf).
The laptop is now sitting where the monitor is usually situated, on the shelf.
The PC and monitor are sitting to the left of the laptop. The PC case is a big metal
jobbie (I thought the metal case might be causing interfeerence).
I'm beggining to think it might be the inbuilt Wi-Fi card in the laptop. However
My machine is only almost 2yrs old (but seriously, its brand spanking new. It's only
had around 2-3 months use maximum. Like I say I normally prefer to use my desktop).
I do have the Wi-Fi turned on all the time when using the laptop (as I'm mostly going
to be online). I was also considering that the inbuilt card might be overheating,
but I always use a fan-based cooling pad underneath the laptop.
I also have a couple of USB Wi-fi dongles that I could test instead of the inbulit
Wi-fi cards, to see if the drop outs still occour.
Relevant info
Laptop = Medion Akoya E7214 (MD 98360)
Wi-Fi chipset =
Realtek RTL8191SE Wireless lan 802.11n PCI-E NIC
Atheros AR8131 PCI-E Gigabit ethernet controller (NDIS 6.20)
ISP = Virgin media
Modem = Virgin superhub (in bridged mode at the moment)
Router = Linksys WRT54GC
Any help would be greatfull appreciated.


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Hey guys , im new to this so im just making some pages to see if i get replies ect.
Ok so im jusy wondering if you'd like to answer a few questions
1.Whats your favourite Gta and why? 2.Ps3 or Xbox 3.Have you ever been in hysterics becuase of something that got said on a Gta radio
--Gta's-Bitch 01:18, 13 April 2009 (UTC)
My favorite is a three way tie with Grand Theft Auto III - GTA: Vice City - Grand Theft Auto IV. Ps2 - XBOX 360. I thought the Al Queso terrorist thing on WKTT was hilarious and Lazlow on GTA III is pretty funny too.
PackieVercetti 2:34, 6 June 2009


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Our volume UPS discounts are passed-on directly to you for the lowest possible shipping rates.
10" Duct Coupling used to join two pieces of Flex Duct Together made of Galvanized Sheet Metal
Galvanized Metal 30 gauge material For ease of joining two pieces of flex ducting together.
Sizes range from 4" to 24" diameter.


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We have two important questions for you: 1) Are you going to be in Las Vegas for UFC 100 this weekend? and 2) Do you like to party? If you answered yes on both accounts, allow us to make a suggestion. This Friday night Cage Potato will be co-hosting a pre-UFC 100 party with Fight! Magazine at Tryst nightclub inside The Wynn. Attendees will include MMA stars galore, the Fight Mag boys, a strong Cage Potato contingent, and probably a bunch of those chicks Chuck Liddell used to always end up in pictures with. If that sounds like the kind of thing you want to be a part of, then come join us.
The party starts at 10 p.m., and as you'll probably recall from our last co-hosted party, that means we'll be there at 9:50 with Joe Stevenson, waiting for the bar to start serving. You can call the number on the flyer up there for reservations, or just swing on by and take your chances. Trust us, you're not going to want to miss this.


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WILMINGTON, Mass. — Through July's development camp and today's first rookie practice at Ristuccia Arena, Bruins prospects Yury Alexandrov has shown an ability to change the spelling of his first name and understand gestures to make up for his lack of a grasp on English.
One thing he hasn't lacked, however, is the ability to get his stick on the puck when protecting his own end.
"I think that the one thing that Yury has, and I noticed at development camp also, is that he's got a very good stick, he's got a very active stick," said Providence coach Rob Murray, who figures to benefit from Alexandrov's presence in North America this winter. "When we were doing 1-on-1 drills in July, really the only guy that Tyler [Seguin] didn't have any success against was Yury, and I think it was just because of his active stick and his ability to use it well.
"And that's something that's going to be an asset to his game, obviously. He's not necessarily the biggest guy physically, but obviously if you can defuse a play prior to the guy getting to you, then you don't have to use your body. That's one thing that I really noticed with him. I'm excited to be here and I'm glad that he made the decision to come and play for us."
Providence skills coach Victor Teleguine is Russian and will be able to help with communication. The Bruins' training staff will aid the 22-year-old in his efforts to bulk up from 185 pounds. But, as he continued to show again today, Alexandrov doesn't have to worry too much about improving his anticipation and ability to get in the passing lanes.


text:
White Blazer Fashion Trend
7 Days, 7 Ways: Let These Stars Show You to Wear a Winter-White Blazer
7 Days, 7 Ways: Let These Stars Show You to Wear a Winter-White Blazer
Just because it's not scorching hot doesn't mean you have to shun your white pieces. We especially don't want you to shy away from your gorgeous white blazers. They're such an easy way to inject a major dose of chic into any of your looks, as any of these seven celebrity looks can demonstrate. With ease, each of these style-setters has incorporated a white topper into her look and inspires us to do the same. If you're looking for a dressy way to rock your white jacket, then look to Anja Rubik and Taraji P. Henson, while Gemma Arterton's and Kim Kardashian's outfits provide a more laid-back vibe. Whatever the occasion, it's very possible that a white blazer could get you stylishly through an entire week — here's the proof. Step inside for a closer look and a little styling know-how from some very well-dressed celebs.


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Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Turfway Fall Meet Shows Slight Gain On-Track
FLORENCE, Ky., Oct. 3, 2011 – Turfway Park ended its 2011 fall meet with a slight increase in on-track handle and a small decline in all-sources wagering on its live races.
On-track play on Turfway's live races totaled $1,640,490, up 0.4 percent over the 2010 fall meet. Handle from all sources on the track's live races was $27,172,667, down 3.9 percent.
"Given national declines in August of nearly 12 percent, holding our own for this meet feels like a win," said Turfway president and CEO Robert N. Elliston. "Clearly, if you put a great product in front of the betting public, like Kentucky Cup, they will respond."
Turfway presented live racing 16 days this fall, identical to the 2010 fall meet schedule. Purses averaged $139,419 daily, up 28 percent over last year. Field size declined from 9.8 starters per race last fall to 8.4 this fall. The track ran 162 races this meet, two more than last fall.
Apprentice jockey Roberto Morales earned the first riding title of his nascent career, winning with 32 of his 121 mounts. Morales, 21, is a 2011 graduate of Escuela Vocacional Hipica at El Commandante racetrack in his native Puerto Rico and earned his first win in the United States at Gulfstream Park in April. He was the leading apprentice at the Ellis Park meet and second among all riders at the Henderson, Ky., track.
Victor Lebron finished second in the rider standings with 20 wins from 79 mounts. Apprentice Alejandro Contreras was third with 13 wins from 90 mounts.
Mike Maker saddled 12 winners from 28 starters to lead the trainer standings for the third straight meet and bring his career total at Turfway to eight titles. Maker enjoyed a spectacular run at the WinStar Kentucky Cup Day of Champions, saddling five winners on the day, a track record for single-day wins by a trainer. Three of the wins came in Kentucky Cup races: the Distorted Humor Kentucky Cup Distaff (G3) with La Gran Bailadora; the Speightstown Kentucky Cup Sprint (G3) with Matthewsburg; and the Bluegrass Cat Kentucky Cup Juvenile with his rising stable star, Hansen.
Larry Holt finished second among trainers with five winners from 18 starters. Eight trainers tied for third place with three winners each.
Three owners finished in a tie for the meet's leading owner honors. Finishing with three winners each were Kendall Hansen, owner of the eponymous Bluegrass Cat Kentucky Cup Juvenile winner; Ken and Sarah Ramsey, who earned their ninth title at the Florence track; and Dawn Martin. Hansen was a perfect three-for-three during the meet, the Ramseys sent out 10 starters, and Martin started 8 runners.
Live racing returns to Turfway for the holiday meet beginning Dec. 1.
Read more articles in the Turfway category.


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Additional information on Undergraduate degree requirements can be obtained by contacting specific departments or by contacting the Dean of the appropriate college — Arts & Sciences, Engineering or Management.
|Arts & Sciences
|5 Year Engineering
|Minimum # of Course Credits
|Minimum Cumulative GPA
|Minimum Cumulative GPA in Major
major only)
Undergraduate students can check their degree progress online using their Academic Progress Report which is also available via the BANNER Web area in myBucknell.
The progress report includes:
Degree Audit Summary
This is a break out of the credits earned by the student. The "Total credits applied to degree" line provides the total credits applied to the degree requirements. Minimum and Current GPA information is also provided. Current GPA is the cumulative GPA for the student. Engineering students will also have Engineering GPA information.
Area Requirement Summary
This area provides a "quick look" opportunity regarding areas which the student has not yet satisfied.
Area Requirement Details
Detailed degree requirements are found within this section. Please note the legend information at the end of the report. It provides an explanation regarding the abbreviations used. Note that an asterisk "*" is used to denote requirements that have not yet been satisfied.
If you have questions regarding undergraduate degree requirements you should contact your academic adviser.
You many now apply to graduate using the Banner Student Self Service Graduation Application. Get instructions for how to Apply to Graduate in BANNER Web.
The following links are virtual breadcrumbs marking the 27 most recent pages you have visited in Bucknell.edu. If you want to remember a specific page forever click the pin in the top right corner and we will be sure not to replace it. Close this message.


text:
Boston, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - The Baltimore Orioles built a big lead early and held on to post a 7-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox on an emotionally charged Patriots' Day at Fenway Park.
Last year, the holiday was marred by a pair of bombs going off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
The Red Sox, who held an impassioned ceremony dedicated to those impacted by the tragedy prior to Sunday night's game, nearly erased a sizeable deficit for the second straight day.
However, Baltimore, powered by a six-run third inning, was able to salvage a split of this four-game set.
"They always push, they always battle and we expect that from them," said Orioles first baseman Chris Davis about the Red Sox. "I was just proud of the way we hung in there and got the (win)."
Boston, which fought back from being down 5-0 on Sunday, got three runs off Orioles starter Wei-Yin Chen (3-1) in the fifth and continued to chip away against the Baltimore bullpen.
David Ross and Mike Napoli sandwiched solo home runs in the seventh and eighth innings around a Ryan Flaherty RBI single to close the gap to 7-5, and the Red Sox had the bases loaded in the ninth.
Brock Holt hit a one-out single, Dustin Pedroia doubled high off the Green Monster and David Ortiz drew an intentional walk from closer Tommy Hunter. Holt was credited with an infield hit despite a wide throw by second baseman Steve Lombardozzi.
Napoli, who delivered the winning hit in the ninth a year ago on Patriots' Day, then plated a run with a groundout before Mike Carp grounded out to first, giving Hunter his fifth save of the season.
"We did a great job of coming back, but the six-run deficit in that third inning proved the difference," said Red Sox manager John Farrell.
The Orioles chased Boston starter Clay Buchholz (0-2) with a flurry of hits during their highly productive inning.
Buchholz surrendered five consecutive singles to Lombardozzi, David Lough, Nick Markakis, Nelson Cruz and Davis -- the latter three each producing a run -- before recording an out in the third. A fourth run came home when Adam Jones grounded into a fielder's choice. Steve Clevenger followed with an RBI double and scored on Jonathan Schoop's single to make it 6-0.
Burke Badenhop relieved Buchholz, who didn't allow a hit over the first two innings, and induced the first of his three consecutive inning-ending double plays.
The Red Sox broke through against Chen in the fifth. For the second straight frame, they had their first two men reach base. Xander Bogaerts, who was caught between second and third on a baserunning mistake to end the eighth, walked and Daniel Nava followed with an infield single.
Jackie Bradley, Jr. put Boston on the board with a ground-rule double, Holt lofted a sacrifice fly and Pedroia ripped a run-scoring double down the left- field line.
Game Notes
Davis was 1-for-2 with an RBI and two walks. He has reached base safely in 17 straight games, tying a career high ... Nine of Cruz's 13 RBI this season have come against Boston ... Chen gave up four hits, walked three and struck out five in his five innings of work ... Buchholz entered play with a 4-1 record and a 1.74 ERA in his career at Fenway against the Orioles ... Boston was 2- for-10 with runners in scoring position.


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Don't punish the poor for someone else's political games
You may have heard that last weekend Vice Presidential nominee and Congressman Paul Ryan decided to take time out of his busy schedule to take his family to the Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society's soup kitchen in the key swing state of Ohio. The candidate and his family washing dishes in the kitchen was a great photo-op, but as the media quickly figured out, that's really all it was.
News quickly broke that the photo was staged [1], and early reports said the dishes Ryan washed weren't even dirty. St. Vincent de Paul Society president Brian J. Antal quickly spoke out [2], saying he hadn't invited Ryan and that had he been consulted he would have turned down the request of Ryan's campaign to shoot the photo. Antal said he'd do the same if a Democrat showed up, since he didn't want the charity to be caught in the middle of a political battle.
Antal also cleared up some details with the Washington Post [3]: The dishes were dirty after all, but a Ryan staffer had come by earlier to ask a soup kitchen volunteer to put aside a few dirty dishes for the photo shoot. By the time Ryan himself arrived, the Post reports: "the food had already been served, the patrons had left, and the hall had been cleaned." The Ryan family's visit lasted 10-15 minutes, just enough time for photographers to get some good shots of them "serving the poor." (None of whom were present at the time, of course, but that's a minor detail.)
In politics, this kind of behavior is to be expected. We're in the last month of a heated presidential race and both sides are willing to do whatever they can to get ahead. Ryan is just doing what any candidate would do, so I see no reason to get outraged over his staged photo.
But others have gotten upset about it, namely the donors that support the small Catholic charity that served as a set for Ryan's campaign trick. Just as Antal feared, the St. Vincent de Paul Society has been caught in the middle of the political battle. Though he can't disclose actual figures, Antal says his charity is losing big money over the incident. "It appears to be a substantial amount," he told the Huffington Post [4]. "You can rest assured there has been a substantial backlash."
Now that is a reason to get upset. Antal also points out that he draws no salary for his work with St. Vincent de Paul, nor do any of the other volunteers. The loss in donations means the only people who will suffer are those who rely on the soup kitchen for a warm meal.
You may not agree with Ryan's politics, or with the soup kitchen volunteers who let him come in and have his photo taken. But the way to get back at them isn't to make sure that more people will have to go hungry.


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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is announcing the creation of two Pentagon-led institutes, using public and private resources, to boost advanced manufacturing, help create jobs and perhaps build the next "Iron Man."
One center will be in Obama's hometown of Chicago, concentrating on high-tech digital manufacturing and design.
The other will be located in Canton, Mich., near Detroit, and specialize in light metal manufacturing.
Obama says the hubs will keep America at the cutting edge of technology and innovation. He says that will help ensure the steady creation of good-paying jobs in advanced manufacturing that will help expand the middle class.
The institutes fulfill a 2013 promise by Obama to create three manufacturing hubs with a federal infusion of $200 million.
The third hub is an Energy Department-led project in Raleigh, N.C.


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Rachel Boone went the route on a five-hitter, and Gianna Bliss drove in two runs as Phoenixville edged Boyertown, 3-2, in Pioneer Athletic Conference softball action Wednesday afternoon.
The Phantoms (4-3, 5-3) took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on sacrifice flies by Bliss and Jamie Deni, then Bliss delivered another sac fly in the third.
Boone took a shutout into the sixth, when the Bears (4-3, 4-3) got a two-run triple by Becky Marburger. But Boone closed it out from there, finishing with two strikeouts and no walks.
Leadoff hitter Michelle Stehman went 2-for-3 with two runs and Bailey Quinn was 2-for-3 for Phoenixville.
Pope John Paul II 5, Upper Perkiomen 3: Alyssa Schwab went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBI to lead the Golden Panthers past the Indians in a PAC-10 contest.
Meghan Kugler was 2-for-4 with a triple and one RBI and also struck out five on a complete game for PJP (2-5, 2-6), which got two doubles from Paige Horgan.
Heather Smith was 3-for-3 with one RBI and Casey Umstead was 2-for-4 with a double for Upper Perkiomen (1-7, 1-8).
Methacton 16, Pottstown 0: Sarah Rambo homered twice and drove in six runs and Jordan Prutzer and Megan Stauffer combined on a no-hitter to help the Warriors dispatch the Trojans in four innings.
Rambo unloaded a grand slam in a seven-run second that put Methacton (5-2, 5-2) up 8-0, then launched a two-run blast in the fourth for the final margin.
Rachael Picozzi homered and drove in three runs and Parente also homered for Methacton.
Pottsgrove 9, Perkiomen Valley 8: Held to a single run through four innings, the Falcons erupted for eight down the stretch to overtake the Vikings in PAC-10 play.
Lexi Kehl drove in four runs on 3-for-5 hitting, and Taylor Dotterer had another two RBI to help Pottsgrove (3-5) erase the initial 6-1 lead PV (4-3) held. Brenna Sermarini had three RBI as one in a trio of multiple-hit performers for the Vikes, who regained an 8-6 lead prior to their guests plating three in the top of the seventh.
Daniel Boone 5, Muhlenberg 0: Bekah Slattery fired a shutout and struck out 17 as the Blazers downed the Muhls in Berks Conference action.
Savannah Toth went 4-for-4 with a double, triple and two RBI for Boone (5-1, 7-2).
Pottstown 12, Pottsgrove 2: The Trojans' offense was in high gear against its neighboring PAC-10 rivals, with every batter either hitting safely, scoring or driving in runs at least once.
Josh Hartman's three-run homer was the biggest of 12 hits Pottstown (6-2) collected in the five-inning affair, ultimately shortened by the mercy rule with a four-run fourth. The hosts also got two hits and two RBI from Jimmy Mullen (triple) and Dylan Vermeesch (double), with Joey Schaaf plating another pair of runs to support winning pitcher Bailey Brown (3-for-4, triple).
Boyertown 9, Pope John Paul II 6: Tony Casper went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI to help the Bears turn away the Golden Panthers.
Chris Reigner was 2-for-2 with one run, Zach Moser was 2-for-3 with two runs and one RBI and Brandon Griesemer drove in two runs for Boyertown (6-2, 6-3), which broke open a 2-0 lead with a five-run sixth and held on.
Mitch Renninger tossed five innings of two-hit shuout ball for the win.
For PJP (2-5, 2-6), Austin Romano went 2-for-4 with a two runs and one RBI and Evan Myers was 2-for-4 with a double and one run.
Methacton 6, Owen J. Roberts 4: Tyler Kirkpatrick went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBI and Austin Bregman was 2-for-3 with a homer, two runs and two RBI to lead the Warriors past the Wildcats.
Calyton Harwick also homered for Methacton (5-3, 6-3).
David Clay and Addison Bliss each went 2-for-3 with one run for OJR (1-8, 1-8), which got two RBI from Dylan Gallagher.
Perkiomen Valley 6, Upper Perkiomen 1: Quinn Kelly tossed six innings of one-hit ball and struck out eight for the Vikings against the Indians.
Donovan Squartino went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI and Jay Jabys was 2-for-4 with a double, two runs and one RBI for PV (4-5, 5-5).
For the Tribe (2-6, 2-7), Mitch Siwy went 2-for-3 with one RBI.
Hill School 11, Peddie School 1: Adam Regensburg went 2-for-4 with a homer, two runs and three RBI as the Blues downed Peddie in a MAPL game halted in the fifth inning by the 10-run rule.
Joey Monzo went 2-for-2 with two RBI, Kyushik Nam was 2-for-3 with three runs for Hill School (1-3, 6-4), which took early command with a five-run first highlighted by Evann Dumont-Lapointe's two-run double. Sam Baughman tossed a three-hitter and didn't allow an earned run.
Daniel Boone 10, Muhlenberg 1: John Reina struck out 13 on a four-hitter and also drove in three runs for the Blazers in the Berks Conference victory over the Muhls.
Leadoff man Pop Lacey was 2-for-3 with three runs, Christian Henderson was 2-for-3 with two runs and Ryan Bologa was 2-for-4 with two RBI and Kyle Geimer was 2-for-3 with two runs and one RBI for Boone (1-5, 2-9).
Perkiomen School 18, Reinaissance Academy 4: Joey Pena homered twice and drove in four runs to power the Panthers to victory in their Tri-County League opener.
Joseph De La Santos and Angel Lopez also went yard for Perkiomen School (1-0, 5-3), which took advantage of 16 walks.
Perkiomen Valley 14, Phoenixville 2: Scoring eight times in the first quarter, the Vikings cruised past the Phantoms in PAC-10 play.
Kris Boyd, who scored two goals and assisted on four others, headed the balanced offense alongside Connor Dee, Shawn Dickey and Sean Tornetta. Mike Filopanti (five saves) and Bryce Womack combined to give PV (4-2) seven stops in goal, with Isaac Levin accounting for all the Phoenixville (1-7) goal production.
Spring-Ford 20, Boyertown 8: Paul Major netted six goals and one assist to lead the Rams past the Bears in PAC-10 action.
Also for Spring-Ford (7-1, 7-2), Zach Hare had two goals and two assists, D.J. Young and Casey Pettine each scored two goals and Alex Marte had one goal and three assists.
For Boyertown (3-4, 3-5), Tyler Fuhrman had four goals and one assists, Brock Johnson had noe goal and two assists and Chris Stutzman had two goals.
Hill School 8, Peddie School 7: Hat tricks by Nate Smith-Ide and Will Schantz were key to the Blues edging Peddie School in Mid-Atlantic Prep League play.
Rounding out the point production for the Hill (4-3) were solo tallies by Pat Carmody (one assist) and Aidan Coll.
Spring-Ford 17, Pottstown 4: Sasha Wozniak's four-goal showing keyed the Rams as they rolled over the Trojans in PAC-10 play.
Katherine Connelly chipped in with a hat trick for Spring-Ford (5-1), which also benefited from the two-goal outputs of Emily Coyne (two assists), Julianna Radzinski, Anna Carlebois and Kira Gensler. Kelsey Shumaker hit the net twice to lead Pottstown (5-2), which got 10-save goaltending from Morgan Wambold.
Methacton 18, Pottsgrove 4: Alexa Maloney's five-goal showing keyed the Warriors as they rolled over the Falcons in PAC-10 play.
Maddie Alderfer, Deb Peifer, Riley McCarthy and Jenna Strizziere chipped in with two-goal showings for Methacton (5-3). For Pottsgrove (1-7), Caitlin Gillette had two goals and Hailey Jacobs 21 saves in the nets.
Owen J. Roberts 18, Upper Perkiomen 10: With Devin Hassinger figuring in on seven of their scoring plays, the Wildcats topped the Indians in PAC-10 play.
Hassinger had a game-high six goals with one assist while teammate Kerry Huzzard hit the net another four times. Molly Minahan, Jordyn Shoemaker (three assists) and Morgan Stone (two assists) had pairs of tallies for OJR (6-2).
Maddie Fox led UP (2-4) with her four-goal showing, Kayla Smith adding a hat trick and one assist.
Archbishop Carroll 17, Boyertown 16: The five-goal showings of Rachel Engler and Haley Wentzel weren't enough to prevent the Bears from coming up short of Archbishop Carroll in non-league play.
Kait DeHaven and Alex O'Herrick each kicked in pairs of goals for Boyertown, with Katie Buckwalter making nine saves in goal.
Hill School 3, George School 2: A sweep of the two doubles matches enabled the Blues to edge George School in their non-league match.
The Hill tandems of Spencer Isen/Humzeh Nasir and Justin Yoo/Tom Burt were extended to three sets by their opponents but came out on top. In singles play, Jake Eckhart took the first singles in straight sets.
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By the time you read this we'll all know who will serve as president of the United States for the next four years.
By the time you read this we'll all know who will serve as president of the United States for the next four years. We'll also notice that our mailboxes will no longer be filled with pictures of candidates for various offices — local, state and national.
I don't know what other people do with this unwanted political mail, but I throw it away. It's a pity, too because those pictures of the candidates are so good. It must have cost a fortune to have all those pictures taken and then to have them made into political flyers. That's one reason why I sometimes feel awful when I tear them up and throw them away. Sometimes those political "families" look as though they belong in film. Nobody has a big nose or a bad complexion. Nobody's fat, or even overweight. Now I know why I never ran for office. I'm all of those things, big nose and all.
Do I sound jealous? That's because I am — not extremely jealous, just wishful jealous. I wish I could look so good. I'm not wishing I'd be running for office, though. I'll leave that to the real politicians who can talk their way through anything. Besides, I'm too gullible to be a politician. If someone told me that I could get the Mississippi River to be diverted to Arizona, I'd probably agree and even try to do it. Hey, folks, y'all don't need that kind of politician, so if I should ever decide to run for office, vote against me, for your own good.
But wait a minute, here. My family might be good looking, but I'd never get everybody in one picture. I noticed on some of those political ads there were the candidate, the spouse, children, in-law children and grandchildren. If I tried to put all members of my family in one picture, as I did once last summer, I'd need bleachers to fit everyone.
Counting all our children, their spouses, all our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, there are more than 80 members in our immediate family, and that is not counting the spouses of those grandchildren who are married. They're as much family as anyone else. Really and truly, the photographer had to place our family members on bleachers to take a family picture. If only they could all vote. But I still would not run for office. Oh, and speaking of family, not all of our family were able to make it for our Crochet family reunion that day, so that bleacher full of people turned out to be only part of our family.
As I was reading the comics recently I saw something that really tickled my funnybone. Although they never mentioned the current political debates, I feel sure that's what they were discussing. One man figured it should be called dodgeball, or liar, liar, pants on fire, or the blame-game, anything but debate!
The "Family Circus," which has always been a favorite of mine, has Dolly saying "Where are the poles, Mommy? I don't see any poles." Children are so innocent.
At one of the jobs I had years ago, I went to vote during my lunch hour. The boss had told us, jokingly I'm sure, that if we didn't vote for "something or other" we'd be fired. Well, I knew I'd vote "for" anyway so off I went to the polls — there were no poles there, either.
Being a rather short person, I didn't even notice the top of the ballot. That was the thing I was supposed to vote "for." I didn't see it so I didn't vote "for" it, either. I went back to the office after lunch and confessed. Just in case he was serious about firing whoever didn't vote "for," I didn't want to carry that guilt around for the rest of my life. But, he was just joking, as I suspected all along.
I can't believe the silly little things we remember after 30 or 40 years. Some people might call them the "good old days." I call them the "I-made-more-than-my-share-of-mistakes-back-then" days. I wonder how many of us would do things differently if we could relive those days. I know I would.
Irene C. Michel, a native of Terrebonne Parish, is a columnist for The Courier and Daily Comet. She can be reached at 876-3252 or email@example.com.


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The Saturday Series:
Monumental Gestures in the Public Sphere
With Ralph Pugay, Christopher Michlig,
John Zerzan and Harrell Fletcher
Saturday, March 15, 2014 at 6pm
Portland State University, Shattuck Hall Annex Lecture Hall
1914 SW Park Avenue
Alternating venues, Portland2014: A Biennial of Contemporary Art, will host a series of conversations, performances, screenings and workshops each Saturday during the run of the Biennial, at various sites across the city. All events are free and open to the public. "Monumental Gestures in the Public Sphere" is a conversation about the nature of of public art and social practice held between Ralph Pugay, Christopher Michlig and John Zerzan, as moderated by Harrell Fletcher. This discussion marks the first in the Saturday Series.
Harrell Fletcher is an Associate Professor of Art and Social Practice at Portland State University. Fletcher has produced a variety of socially engaged collaborative and interdisciplinary projects since the early 1990s. His work has been shown at SFMOMA, the de Young Museum, the Berkeley Art Museum, the Wattis Institute, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in the San Francisco Bay Area, The Drawing Center, Socrates Sculpture Park, The Sculpture Center, The Wrong Gallery, Apex Art, and Smackmellon in NYC, DiverseWorks and Aurora Picture show in Houston, TX, PICA in Portland, OR, CoCA and The Seattle Art Museum in Seattle, WA, Signal in Malmo, Sweden, Domain de Kerguehennec in France, The Tate Modern in London, and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. He was a participant in the 2004 Whitney Biennial. From 2002 to 2009 Fletcher co-produced Learning To Love You More, a participatory website with Miranda July.
Born in the Philippines, Ralph Pugay is an artist living and working in Portland. His work has been exhibited at venues including Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond VA), Grounds for Sculpture (Hamilton NJ), Salt Lake Art Center (Salt Lake City UT), The TBA Time-Based Arts Festival (Portland OR), Rocksbox Contemporary Fine Art (Portland OR), Ditch Projects (Springfield OR), Webb Art Gallery, Texas, FFDG (San Francisco, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, Center on Contemporary Art (Seattle WA), New American Paintings Exhibition-in-Print, and Rhode Island School of Design (Providence RI). Writings about his work have been featured in the Wall Street Journal and Beautiful Decay. He is a recipient of grants and awards from institutions such as the Joan Mitchell Foundation, International Sculpture Center, and Regional Arts and Culture Council. Most recently, Pugay received an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Oregon Arts Commission. He earned his MFA in Contemporary Studio Practice from Portland State University in 2010 and was a resident at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2013.
Eugene-based Christopher Michlig is an artist making work in a wide range of media, primarily focusing on the manipulation of public formats of communication to explore, expose and upend the aesthetics of urban space. His work has been exhibited internationally, most recently in one-person exhibitions at Marine Contemporary, Los Angeles; VOLTA 8, Basel, Switzerland; Galleria Giuseppe, Pero, Milan; and devening projects + editions, Chicago. His work has been published and reviewed in a number of publications. Michlig received an MFA in Sculpture from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California, in 2007. He is currently Assistant Professor of art at the University of Oregon.
John Zerzan is an American anarchist and primitivist philosopher and author. His works criticize agricultural civilization as inherently oppressive, and advocate drawing upon the ways of life of hunter-gatherers as an inspiration for what a free society should look like. Some subjects of his criticism include domestication, language, symbolic thought (such as mathematics and art) and the concept of time. His five major books are Elements of Refusal (1988), Future Primitive and Other Essays (1994), Running on Emptiness (2002), Against Civilization: Readings and Reflections (2005), and Twilight of the Machines (2008).
Presented by Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, Portland2014 is a major biennial exhibition celebrating artists who are defining and advancing contemporary art practices. Curated by Los Angeles-based Amanda Hunt, Portland2014 runs from March 8 through April 27, 2014. Exhibition venues include Disjecta's 6,000-square-foot gallery space in North Portland; Upfor Gallery in the Pearl District; White Box, University of Oregon in Portland in Old Town/China Town; and The Best Art Gallery in Portland on Northeast Alberta Street. These more traditional environs will be complemented by a series of public artworks, including billboards and interactive sculpture, and a Saturday Series consisting of public lectures, performance and panels to engage diverse audiences and create new contexts for dialogue throughout the city.
Founded in 2000, Disjecta Contemporary Art Center builds ambitious programs that promote artists and engage communities. These dynamic programs showcase new work and fuel collaborations between artists, curators and viewers that impact and intervene in the larger contemporary arts dialogue. Disjecta exacts equal rigor from local and national artists, while keenly recognizing and supporting the talent of the region.
Curator Amanda Hunt is based in Los Angeles, where she is Curator at Large for LA><ART. She has worked at various galleries and institutions including Whitechapel Gallery, London; Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York; the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Hunt worked on two major arts initiatives in Los Angeles in 2012, including the Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival, co-produced by LA><ART and the Getty Research Institute, and Made in L.A. 2012, the first Los Angeles biennial organized by the Hammer Museum in collaboration with LA><ART. Hunt is a graduate of the Curatorial Practice program at California College of the Arts, San Francisco.


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José Manuel Durão Barroso
President of the European Commission
Remarks by President Barroso on the Commission's proposals for the 2014-2020 Multi-Annual Financial Framework
Press Conference
Brussels, 29 June 2011
Good evening ladies and gentlemen,
The College has adopted today our proposal for a budget for the period 2014 to 2020. And, together with Commissioner Lewandowski, I just came back from the European Parliament where we had the opportunity to make the first presentation to the European Parliament. And now I would like to announce the main political lines.
I know that you are eager to learn the key figures, you find all of them in our document but I think it is important before giving the floor to Commissioner Lewandowski to put some of those proposals in the context, the political context we have discussed today in the Commission.
The European Union has a relatively small budget when we compare it to the overall expenditure made by all our Member States. It is a relatively small budget but we can make a big impact with it. That is what our proposal does. It responds to today's concerns, but also to tomorrow's needs, and focuses on where funding at EU level can provide true added value. In fact, one of the documents that is going to be with the budget is precisely this document "The Added Value of the European Union Budget" showing with concrete examples that many of these developments could not have happened without a European budget. This is an innovative budget. I invite you to look beyond the traditional headings and focus on how throughout the budget we will deliver the Europe 2020 goals that have been collectively defined. That is why we break from the culture of entitlement where some public authorities expect to spend funds just as they wish. Now every request must be clearly linked to the goals and priorities agreed commonly, namely with the Europe 2020 priorities. That is what I call political conditionality. This not just money that has to be spent anyhow, this is money that will be distributed related to very concrete priorities agreed by the member states and the European institutions. And this is the way to achieve a very important goal: that every euro spent can reach various polices. It can at the same time strengthen cohesion; boost energy-efficiency and the fight against climate change, and promote social targets for instance.
That is why I insist that it is important to look at the budget not just in terms of the traditional headings more or less driven by bureaucratic or constituency led considerations, but in terms of functions or goals. One same euro for instance for a program of interconnections in renewables between Germany, Poland and the Baltic countries. It is the same euro that is important for cohesion, territorial and economic cohesion, for energy efficiency, for our agenda to protect the environment, and climate change and many other examples. So this is very important because in times of severe financial constrains we need to make the most out of every euro spent.
We also focus on delivery where it really matters; with a range of measures to strengthen absorption of funding. For example, we propose to allow for a temporary increase in the co-financing rate by 5-10% when a Member State is under a financial assistance programme to help with the fiscal consolidation efforts in these countries either in euro area or outside euro area. This once again is very important because usually people look at the budget in terms of how much is there. But what matter is not really how much is there, is how much is really invested. The absorption capacities are critically important namely in the cohesion countries. We have just discussed the issue of Greece when I made clear that in the fifth year of the implementation of the structural funds only 25 percent, one quarter, has been effectively invested. So what we are now doing is to increase the capacity of the funding to reach their destinations. And once again those who benefit from the European funding is not like some people suggest Brussels. It is money for our regions, for our workers, for all over Europe.
The largest part of this budget will be aimed at getting people into work and growing the economy, tied in with the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. We need to be realistic in the current circumstances, Europe needs investments. This budget if for 2014 onwards so it would be a complete mistake because of the difficulties of the past to sacrifice the future of the European Union. Europe need rigour, at the same time Europe needs growth. And growth to be achieved needs investments and some investment at the European level to compliment what we do in the national level.
We will boost growth and jobs across the EU by linking cohesion policy much more strongly to our Europe 2020 vision. €376 billion will go to economic, social and territorial cohesion funding over the next 7 years. Included in this will be a new Connecting Europe Facility to build the missing links in energy, transport and information technology. With €40 billion, and an extra €10 billion from the Cohesion Fund, we will strengthen the integrity of the internal market, linking the East with the West and the North with the South. It will create real territorial cohesion to the benefit of all. Once again this is the typical example where money spent at the European level avoids duplication, in fact makes economies because when the member states make contradicting investments not using the synergies they will be in fact wasting money and at the same time it is the money spent typically it is needed to be spent in the European level because if not, and I can give many examples to you, it is easier to the member states to build a third highway that they do not really need in their territory than to build a connection to link different regions of Europe. So that is why there is a Pan-European logic and integration logic in the budget we are presenting.
The Connecting Europe Facility offers also opportunities for using innovative financing tools to speed up and secure greater investment than could be achieved only through public funding. That is why the Commission will promote the use of EU project bonds to bring forward the realisation of these important projects. Once again these are projects, for instance in energy and in transport, that are profitable, many of them in the medium or long term. So with the leverage effect of the European Investment Bank we can finance some projects to achieve these agreed goals
We will also boost growth and jobs across the EU by investing more in Europe's brains: €15.2 billion will be invested in education and vocational training, an increase by 68% in this type of expenditure; and €80 billion will be dedicated to research and innovation funding, an increase of 46%. These are areas crucial for Europe's global competitiveness so that we can create the jobs and ideas of tomorrow. I think it is important to be sure that we have more investment in these areas – the areas for increasing our competitiveness, namely in terms of research, science and education and culture.
Secondly, we will also make sure Europe is a safe place.
Safe and healthy food remains a priority with just over €280 billion set aside for the Common Agricultural Policy. Other areas grow while agriculture has not grown but we keep the stability of our support for farmers. That is important because it underpins a true common European policy of strategic importance, where more than 70% of the funding is no longer national and where EU funding makes it less expensive than 27 national agriculture policies. Let's be frank about this. Many people criticize the CAP and certainly the CAP needs reform and has been reformed over time, but there is clear commitment of the Commission to pursue this reform. But think for a while what would have happened if we did not have the CAP, we would have 27 different agricultural policies and I can tell you that Member States would have been spending much more than they have been spending today collectively and most likely they will try to break, they would have been breaking the Internal Market with protectionist measures against the others. And I have seen this, by the way, recently in some areas. So the CAP is indeed a policy that makes economy in terms of what will happen if we have 27 different national agricultural policies. It will be further modernised to deliver food safety and security, to better benefit the small farmer and to protect the environment. There will be the greening of the CAP. 30% of the direct payments will respond to conditionality in terms of greening. It illustrates once again how one euro can and must serve different goals.
A safe environment and tackling climate change will be written into all areas of the budget. The Commission intends to increase the proportion to at least 20%, with contributions from different policy fields subject to impact assessment evidence. So mainstreaming fight against climate change and mainstreaming our environmental concerns. A euro can boost energy-efficiency and the fight against climate change, at the same time it strengthens cohesion, and promotes social targets, and increases employment and indeed competitiveness and innovation in these vital sectors of our economy.
There is also our determination to provide safe borders. It will get a boost with €3 billion, going to amount of €8 billion, an increase of 57% on the current budget set aside to manage our external borders and tackling crime.
Thirdly, our budget will contribute to make Europe count in the world through an increased budget of €70 billion. Shifting alliances and emerging new powers mean that Europe must do more to make its voice count. € 16 billion will be allocated to our neighbourhood policy. And we will deliver on our commitments to help the poorest in the world. The Development and Cooperation Instrument (DCI) will receive €20.6 billion to focus on poverty eradication and to maintain our pledge to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). If we face tough times at the moment, the poorest of the world face the toughest of all times.
Mesdames et Messieurs,
Le principe de solidarité est aussi au cœur de notre proposition. Solidarité avec les Etats membres et les régions les plus pauvres. Solidarité dans la gestion commune de plusieurs défis dont l'immigration. Solidarité en termes de sécurité énergétique. Solidarité enfin avec les peuples des pays tiers les plus pauvres.
Défendre ce principe de solidarité, c'est aussi revenir aux principes fondateurs du projet européen. Ces 30 dernières années, nous avons lentement glissé dans une perception du budget européen où s'opposent des gagnants et des perdants. C'est pour cette raison que notre proposition de budget présente un volet "dépenses" qui est plus que jamais paneuropéen et qui regarde l'Union dans son ensemble. C'est un vrai budget d'intégration. C'est aussi pour cette raison que s'agissant des recettes, nous mettons sur la table des propositions pour assurer de véritables ressources propres pour l'Union européenne. C'est d'ailleurs ce qui est inscrit dans les traités. C'est ce qui est logique de tous les points de vue, notamment du point de vue de la transparence.
Nous proposons un nouveau système de ressources basé sur une taxe sur le secteur financier, sur les transactions financières pour être plus exact, et une nouvelle ressource qui partirait de la TVA actuelle.
Et pour ces mêmes raisons, le temps est venu de reformer le système des rabais et les mécanismes de correction et les corrections des mécanismes de correction où personne ne comprend ce qui se passe. Je crois qu'au monde il y aura peut-être quatre ou cinq personnes qui comprennent notre système de rabais, contre-rabais et correction de rabais. C'est vraiment d'une complexité infinie. Nous allons proposer un système beaucoup plus claire, plus juste, plus transparent. Dans le nouveau système, il n'y a pas de place pour la notion de "juste retour". Solidarité implique que ceux qui sont relativement plus riches et prospères contribuent relativement plus. Mais solidarité implique aussi que des contributions nationales ne peuvent devenir disproportionnées au regard de la richesse relative du pays. Donc on aura un système de correction pour les pays qui seraient forcés à un niveau d'effort disproportionné par rapport à leur prospérité relative.
Je crois que ce que nous proposons aujourd'hui est un budget ambitieux. C'est aussi un budget responsable. Nous avons fait des économies dans certains domaines pour pouvoir dépenser plus sur les priorités du présent et de l'avenir.
Le cadre financier 2007-2013 s'élève à 1.05% du PIB en engagements et à 1% en paiements. Nous reprenons ces chiffres tels quels dans le nouveau cadre financier.
Les chiffres clés sont donc les suivants:
Le Parlement européen, les Etats membres et la Commission doivent maintenant transformer ces propositions en accord. Je m'attends, je suis très sincère comme toujours avec vous, à des débats très difficiles dans les prochains mois, mais je suis convaincu qu'avec un vrai esprit européen de part et d'autre, nous pourrons nous accorder sur un budget ambitieux, qui pourra avoir un impact réel sur la vie des citoyens, qui pourra réaliser les buts que collectivement nous avons défini pour toute notre Europe.
Je vous remercie pour votre attention.
Side Bar


text: WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Total consumer indebtedness dropped $74 billion to $11.31 trillion in the third quarter, a fall of 0.7%, on a decline in mortgage debt and home equity lines of credit, the New York Fed said Tuesday in its quarterly report. Excluding real estate, household debt rose 2.3% to $2.7 trillion on rises in student loans, auto loans and credit-card balances. New foreclosures are returning to their pre-crisis levels, as about 242,000 consumers had a new foreclosure added to their credit report, the lowest in nearly six years. The percent of student loan balances 90 or more days delinquent stood at 11.0%.


text:
Enter one or two lower-case English words to see translations from Google Translate.
Examples: banana the cat she runs
Random words: grandmother will
A few things to keep in mind:
This page was inspired by the etymology maps by Bezbojnicul on reddit. It was built using D3, maps from Natural Earth, and the Google Translate API. Contact James Trimble.


text:
by Kim Eikefet
A Blockade Runner, then an Undertaker and a Ramosian Lieutenant joined forces on Dan's side of the table, and eventually a Lightbringer was summoned as well. David answered by casting a Reveille Squad and a Lightbringer of his own, and his Rebel Recruiters also fetched him a Steadfast Guard and a Thermal Glider. He then started sending the flyers over, and Dan was taken down to ten life.
When the Lightbringer hit the table, Dan chose to Vendetta it before it became active to protect his Undertaker. Unfortunately, that didn't help much. A Rathi Fiend brought him down to seven and Dave down to nine, but the Falcon and the Glider continued to hit him for three every turn. In the end, the Blockade Runner and a couple of other creatures had managed to get David down to five life before Dan, at one life, made a last, all-out attack. Unfortunately, David could block enough creatures to stay alive, and Dan scooped.
Game One Result: Price 1 - O'Mahoney-Schwartz 0
After some minutes of looking through sideboards, David had to play first in the second game. He cast a second turn Agent of Shauku, and a third turn Lightbringer, but then he stalled on three lands for the next two turns. Dan, on the other hand, didn't exactly get out any big threats. He cast a turn three Alabaster Wall, a turn two Soul Charmer and then a turn three Bog Glider. But when he attacked with the Charmer, David's Lightbringer grew big thanks to a Mageta's Boon and the Charmer went to take a nap in the graveyard.
During turn six, David finally drew a fourth land, a second swamp. After attacking and losing his Agent of Shauku to the Bog Glider, he played a Noxious Field and activated it to kill the Glider. With a fifth land the following turns, things started to look better for Dave. Dan's Cho-Arrim Bruiser didn't even get a chance to recover from summoning sickness before it was Sever Souled, but a Fresh Volunteers managed to stay alive.
David then played a Reveille Squad and a Rathi Fiend while the Lightbringer sacrificed itself to take out an Undertaker. Dan on the other hand, managed to get out a Cateran Enforcer, but as David had black creatures, he wasn't able to use it to the full extent.
Things looked good for David when he drew and cast a Cinder Elemental. He also cast a Steadfast Guard while Dan got the Enforcer to hunt down and recruit a Bog Smugglers. But the Smugglers only got to attack once before time was called. David's Fiend also went looking for a friend, and a Misshapen fiend came into play before David started on his first extra turn.
Weirdly enough, David started his first extra turn by sacrificing his Cinder Elemental for seven, putting Dan at two. Dan went searching for a Cateran Kidnappers as well, and sent most of his critters over to try and get in the necessary damage. He didn't though, and suddenly Dave started wondering why he had sacrificed the Cinder Elemental - he had simply forgotten that he was up one to zero at games. Realizing that he didn't have to win the game to win, he safed it and, blocking enough creatures to survive the last attack to win the match 1-0.
Final Result: David Price 1 - Dan O'Mahoney-Schwartz 0
© 1995-2003 Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Wizards is headquartered in Renton, Washington, PO Box 707, Renton, WA 98057.


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IN ITS Jan. 7 editorial "BU biolab's passing grade on risk evaluation should reassure skeptics," the Globe seems to be satisfied with the assurances from National Institutes of Health scientists that the Boston University biolab on Albany Street in the South End does not pose a significant danger to the community. Furthermore, the Globe is much too willing to dismiss the concerns of neighbors, like me, who strongly oppose the plans to permit research on dangerous biological agents.
Although reasonable and sufficient safeguards may be in place to avert an accidental catastrophe, the risk of criminal or terrorist threats was not adequately addressed in the NIH analysis. According to the NIH report, "Malevolent acts were not considered. . . because the potential number of scenarios is limitless and the likelihood of attack is unknowable."
Indeed, no one can say with any degree of certainty whether the proposed research activities will be irresistibly attractive to intruders or insiders wishing to create havoc by releasing pathogens into a highly congested area.
BU scientists may wish to experiment with hazardous biological agents, but they shouldn't experiment with the safety and well-being of the millions who live or work in the surrounding area.