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The Role of Politics
I would like to start by referring to Samuel Huntington's well-known, even notorious, thesis on the 'Clash of Civilizations'. According to Huntington, civilisations are more or less enclosed entities based on specific values. For instance, what he calls 'Western civilisation' – encompassing North America and large parts of Europe – is based on Christian values, whereas Islamic civilisation, not surprisingly, epitomises Islamic values.
Even many who are opposed to this global map often subscribe to its main contours. They then often articulate a concept of justice using its key terms, leading to the assumption that there is something like a 'Western' or 'European' concept of justice, and an 'Islamic' concept of justice, and that those two concepts are essentially opposed.
What is missing in this 'Huntingtonian' view of justice is an account of history and politics. By history, I mean the experience that society, social orders, convictions and values – including the meaning of justice – can and do change over time. They are not fixed, eternal entities. By politics, I mean the awareness that human beings bear a fundamental responsibility for shaping the social order, for debating the terms on which to organise their co-existence, and for creating and improving a 'just society'.
What I want to propose in today's discussion is: let's take politics into account! Otherwise debates about different cultures, and culturally different norms or concepts, are in danger of becoming abstract and indeed, ideological.
An important point flows from this approach. If we accept that the meaning of justice is indeed a matter for political debate and controversy, we lose the possibility of taking the meaning of a just social order for granted. Thus, we can no longer refer to something like 'natural justice' as an eternal human nature (as used to be the case in the European 'natural law' tradition). Nor can we directly invoke religious authority to define clearly what a just order is supposed to be.
My point is not that religion has nothing to say in questions of social justice. Rather, my claim is that an immediate reference to religious authority, to divine commandments, to divine law, cannot replace an open political debate. Divine orders, after all, are put forward and take shape in diverse human interpretations. When we leave human interpretation out of consideration, we actually destroy the space for politics, for pluralism, for political debate, ending up with some sort of religious authoritarianism.
What are the consequences of my emphasis on politics? Does it mean that everything is debatable – that anything goes? Does it lead to complete relativism in the understanding of social justice? Indeed, modern democratic societies have often been described in such negative terms – of relativism, scepticism, and the loss of values. There may be some truth in that; but it is definitely not the full picture. For, in losing the possibility of a natural or divine order of justice, we have gained an increased awareness of human responsibility. Hence, respect for human responsibility has more and more become the core principle of modern democracy.
Respect, more precisely, is due to every human as a responsible agent. This gives a clue to understanding the modern interpretation of human dignity. Human dignity is an old idea. It can be found in the Bible and the Koran. But what is new is that the respect due to the dignity of all human beings is supposed to manifest itself politically in terms of human rights: enforceable rights to which every human being is equally entitled. Respect for human dignity is the fundamental normative principle on which all possible orders of justice are based. In all the controversies over what social justice might mean, the basic requirement of respecting human responsibility is always presupposed.
I don't say that democratic societies actually live up to this standard. There is no reason for complacency or smug self-sufficiency. But we can see that the demand for respect actually pervades all parts of our societies, and that it has, for example, changed the function of married life, so that the modern concept of marriage is of a respectful partnership. This shows the impact of the idea of the respect for human responsibility as, in fact, a new understanding of an old idea: the idea of human dignity.
What, then, is the role of religion – of Christianity and Islam – in all this? Religious traditions have incorporated a deep yearning for social justice that can inspire the debates of today. Religious traditions also embrace the idea of human dignity; in the biblical idea of the creation of all human beings in the image of God, or the Koranic idea of all human beings as called upon to act as khalifa (God's deputies on Earth, as some translate this concept).
In practice, of course, religious communities have not always supported democracy and human rights. My own church, the Roman Catholic Church, was long opposed to human rights in general and religious liberty in particular. In official documents of the nineteenth century, religious liberty was condemned as leading to everything from indifference over questions of religious truth, to an erosion of authority and even the destruction of the moral fabric of society. It was only in the 1960s that the Catholic Church officially endorsed human rights and religious liberty. This shows that religious communities are part of society and have to undergo the same learning processes that society as a whole has to tackle.
In the case of Islam, many Muslims have found ways to reconcile the requirements of religion with a commitment to democracy and human rights. The fact that such a reconciliation is, thus, a reality as well as a possibility alone counters Huntington's thesis that democracy and human rights are essentially and exclusively a heritage of the West. But on the other hand, Muslim reformers emphasise that there are many serious questions that have not yet been solved satisfactorily.
These questions include whether and how the Islamic sharia and the modern programme of human rights fit together, and how equal rights for women and men can be fostered, within the framework of Islamic thinking. Does religious liberty encompass the right also to change one's religion and to convert from Islam to another religion? There has been debate on these questions between Muslims themselves, as well as between Muslims and non-Muslims.
I hope this discussion gives us the opportunity to tackle the question of how to cope with the pluralism of different concepts, on the basis of mutual respect. Let me conclude these initial remarks by saying that there is no clear idea of social justice in Europe – but there are some basic requirements that allow us to cope with the pluralism of various ideas of what social justice is. Human rights epitomise these basic, normative principles.


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British singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel talks about his new album "New Blood," a continuation of his last project of solely orchestral covers of other artists' songs, which included music written by David Bowie, Arcade Fire, Radiohead, Regina Spektor, among others. Peter shares his passion for human rights activism and talks about revisiting his old work in this new album.
Your WITNESS gala is this time of year. What about WITNESS means so much to you?
WITNESS was started years ago as a way to get video cameras out into the world to document human rights and I think the technology boom and things like cell phones with video have truly changed the world. You can now instantly see what's happening in the world and recent current events show the reality of some of these human rights violations. But I think WITNESS also stands for a belief that people today can use technology to make the world a better place and make the world what they want it to be.
Why "New Blood" now?
Well, it fell out of the back of this other project I did called "Scratch My Back," which was a songwriter exchange idea where I did other artists' songs with an orchestra. When we took that project out on the road for a tour, I realized that I needed more material to create a longer show, so we started looking at some of my songs and I got really excited where that was going. So, we grabbed the orchestra and they were playing it really well since they had been playing it live on tour and we decided to record it for an album.
What kind of emotions got stirred up revisiting your own work through the lenses of age, experience and reflection?
It sounds like a very reflective process, but I'm not sure that it was. I think it was more stripping away some of the grooves on which the songs had been written, which meant that they could fly again in some ways as unformed material--and, I really loved the way they were evolving. I think by removing the crutches of the rock band--drum kit, electric bass and guitars--it gave a platform for this thing to fly and these newer forms of the songs evolved.
What was the most fun dimension of working with an orchestra? What surprised you most about the orchestra collaboration?
I think to stand up live and have fifty or so musicians, really good musicians, surrounding you is pretty exciting. It was a little scary at first, as well, but it gave me a sense of nakedness in one part because the songs and lyrics and melodies felt very exposed. But in another way, there was a sort of freedom for them to become something else, so I think it was that "liveness" of the whole experience. With a rock band, you usually play live but there's some element that is pre-recorded with pro-tools. And in this case, everything that you hear on the album is being played at that moment by the orchestra.
What do you hope listeners will get from "New Blood"?
New Blood.
"New Blood" is available now.

subset: commoncrawl


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Just imagine... paddling your own canoe or kayak down a cypress lined waterway, past heron, egrets, turtles, deer and all manner of birds and four-legged wildlife. Jungle and swamp appear on both sides - but it's not scary, it's exciting! Part way through your Cypress Canopy trip you hear the sound of rushing water. Are you brave enough to run Masten Dam?
Break free from the hustle and bustle of daily life and come to the Loxahatchee River - the first nationally recognized Wild and Scenic River in the state. Located near Jupiter and Hobe Sound on Florida's east coast, you'll find our 8.5 mile waterway a paddler's and nature lover's paradise.
If you are new to canoes and kayaks, don't worry. It's fun for all ages and no prior experience is necessary. We cater to beginners as well as providing gear for more adventurous souls looking for longer trips. Canoe Rentals offers high quality, safe and reliable equipment including Ocean Kayak and Old Town Canoe brand boats. All equipment that is necessary for your trip is provided including life vests, paddles, a whistle and map.
Rather pedal than paddle? We have some amazing trail rides at the Park. Come on out for the day, bring lunch and we'll provide the bikes. Our Sun Beach Cruisers are easy to pedal and will take you around the park in comfort and style.
Canoe Rentals is open year-round, five days a week, Thursday to Sunday and Monday. No trips on Tuesday or Wednesday.
To experience incredible paddling not far from Florida's major cities on the east coast, give us a call at 561-746-7053. We're only a few miles away, but worlds apart.
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Found 11 resultsAuthor Title [ Type] Year
Filters: Author is Davis, Kenneth J. [Clear All Filters]
Journal Article
Albedo estimates for land surface models and support for a new paradigm based on foliage nitrogen concentration. Global Change Biology. 16:696–710.. 2010.
A continuous measure of gross primary production for the conterminous United States derived from MODIS and AmeriFlux data. Remote Sensing of Environment. 114:576-591.. 2010.
Data-driven diagnostics of terrestrial carbon dynamics over North America. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 197:142-157.. 2014.
Estimating nocturnal ecosystem respiration from the vertical turbulent flux and change in storage of CO2. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 149:1919-1930.. 2009.
Evaluation of continental carbon cycle simulations with North American flux tower observations. Ecological Monographs. 83(4):531-556.. 2013.
The imprint of surface fluxes and transport on variations in total column carbon dioxide. Biogeosciences. 9(3):875-891.. 2012.
A model-data comparison of gross primary productivity: Results from the North American Carbon Program site synthesis. Journal of Geophysical Research. 117(G3). 2012.
The MODIS (Collection V005) BRDF/albedo product: Assessment of spatial representativeness over forested landscapes. Remote Sensing of Environment. 113:2476-2498.. 2009.
North American Carbon Program (NACP) regional interim synthesis: Terrestrial biospheric model intercomparison. Ecological Modelling. 232:144-157.. 2012.
North America's net terrestrial CO2 exchange with the atmosphere 1990–2009. Biogeosciences. 12(2):399-414.. 2015.
Thermal optimality of net ecosystem exchange of carbon dioxide and underlying mechanisms. New Phytologist. 194(3):775-783.. 2012.


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I've been wanting to try my hand at making a gluten free steamed bread for quite some time now. Baking buns, biscuits, breads and puddings with steam is a very traditional way of baking that isn't done very commonly here in U.S., with the exception of Boston Brown Bread. But in other cultures, it is a standard, everyday way of preparing baked goods! In India, there is the dhokla, a steamed bread made of besan (chickpea) flour, yogurt, and spices. In Kenya, millet and sorghum are fermented, and then steamed into biscuits. In the UK and Australia, steamed puddings and cakes are common special occasion treats. In China and Japan, rice flour dough is filled with various sweet and savory ingredients, and steamed into little buns and mochi.
Many steamed recipes are naturally free of eggs, gluten, and dairy, due to the traditional cuisine of cultures who steam. A perfect solution for those of us on special diets! Steamed breads don't require added fats or oils, so they are great for people watching their fat intake. Plus, you don't need to use the oven! All you need is boiling water, a large covered pot, a can or baking tin of some kind, and a couple hours to sit back and let your bread steam over a low flame. Simple!
I've been wanting to try out this recipe for dhokla, but I'm in the midst of a detox, and all dairy is out the window for the next month. While I could adapt it to be dairy free, I really crave the tang of goat yogurt with the besan flour. So, February will be dhokla month (if I don't cave and make a dairy free version before then). Instead, I decided to adapt a steamed bread recipe from The Allergy Self-Help Cookbook, by Marjorie Hurt Jones. I would highly recommend this cookbook - not only does it have a wide variety of recipes that are free of all the most common allergens, it also has tons of great, useful information about ingredients, substitutions, basic nutrition, food families, rotary diets, etc etc etc. The recipes are delicious, clever, easy, and don't use lots and lots of crazy, expensive hard-to-find ingredients.
Rather than make the sweet, fruit-studded rice and sunflower seed bread from Marjorie's recipe, I decided to throw in a Danish twist. In my gluten-eating days, I was always a sucker for a dark, heavy rye-based loaf, laced with caraway, dill, or fennel. I can't help it, I'm a Dane through and through. I've been craving the deep taste of a heavy, dark loaf - so, I decided to make a gluten-free, yeast-free steamed version of sigtebrod, a traditional Danish spiced rye bread. To emulate the rich flavor and color of rye, I chose a healthful blend of buckwheat, millet, amaranth, and carob flour. I used a traditional combination of spices from this recipe. To fit my allergies, I omitted the orange zest, but you should use it! Throwing back to Marjorie's recipe, I included ground almonds extra protein, and dark agave nectar replaces the sigtebrod's traditional molasses.
The result? A moist, dense loaf, studded with aromatic seeds, boasting a rich flavor, dark rye-like appearance, and lots of fiber and protein. Plus, a thick slice has as much vitamin C as glass of orange juice, thanks to vitamin C crystals. All in all, this bread packs a nutritious punch in a fun, ridged cylindrical shape. You can even slice it thin.
Steamed Sigtebrod a.k.a. Danish Spiced "Rye" Bread (gluten free, vegan)
1/2 c buckwheat flour
1/4 c + 2 T millet flour
1/4 c amaranth flour
3 T carob powder
1 1/2 t baking powder*
1/2 t fennel seeds
1/2 t caraway seeds
1/2 t anise seeds
1/2 t ground cardamom
optional: 1/2 t orange zest
1/2 c almonds, or other nut
1 1/4 c boiling water or apple juice
1/4 t unbuffered vitamin C crystals** (or 1 T lemon juice or vinegar)
optional: 1 T - 1/4 c agave nectar, depending on your tastes and sugar tolerance
large covered pot or dutch oven
boiling water
1 qt baking mold or empty 1 lb can (bean tins work great!)
tin foil
rubber band/string
metal rack or empty bowl
food processor
- Liberally oil mold/can.
- In large bowl, combine flours, carob, baking soda, salt, and spices.
- In food processor, pulse almonds until finely ground, stirring between pulses. Add boiling water/juice, and process for 20 seconds. Add agave nectar and vitamin C crystals, and process briefly.
- Pour almond mixture into flour, and mix until until evenly moistened and combined. Do not overmix! If too dry, add a little more boiling water.
- Spoon batter into the well-oiled tin/can, leaving 1/2-1 inch between the batter and the edge of the can for bread to expand. Cover top with double layer of foil, creating a slight dome shape, leaving room for the dough to rise, and secure with rubberband/string. I did not do this and mine exploded through the foil!
- Place a wire rack in the large pot, and put the can on the rack. Pour in enough freshly boiled water to come half way up the sides of the can.
- Cover the pot, placing a towel between the pot and cover if necessary to create a tight seal. Place the pot over medium-low heat, and steam for 2 hours. Do not remove the cover while steaming!
- After 2 hours, remove lid, and check if bread is cooked by inserting a toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean, bread is done! If not, re-cover can with foil, steam another 10-15 minutes, and recheck.
- Remove mold/can from pot, remove foil, and let bread cool in the mold/can for 10-15 minutes. Transfer bread to wire rack to finish cooling completely before slicing. Once ready to slice, serrated knife works best!
- HINT: Have a little leftover batter, but not enough to warrant a second can? Blob leftovers onto a greased or parchment lined baking sheet, spread 3/8-1/4 inch thick, and bake 8-10 minutes at 350 F. It makes a tasty flatbread.
Serve bread slices with your favorite nut butters or spreads, use for tiny finger sandwiches, or slice thick and dish up along with a warm cup of soup. Would be delicious served with lox, mustard sauce, and capers. I think it should freeze well, so make a double batch and stash the extra loaf in the freezer for later. Nyde!
Approximate nutritional information:
Per loaf: 975 cal, 36 g fat, 145 g carbs, 22 g fiber, 30 g sugar, 30 g protein, 1,250 mg vitamin C (2083% daily value)
*If allergic to corn, make a baking powder substitute by combining 1 part arrowroot : 1 part baking soda : 1 part cream of tartar. Store in a well sealed glass jar and use in equal amounts to baking powder.
**Unbuffered vitamin C crystals make a great acid substitute for lemon juice or vinegar in recipes. According to The Allergy Self Help Cookbook, use 1/4 t unbuffered vitamin C crystals for each tablespoon on lemon juice. Marjorie suggests using vitamin C crystals equal to half the amount of baking soda. Look for vitamin C crystals, in powder form, in the vitamin department of your local health foods store or on many vitamin retail sites online, like this one.


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StoneMakers has been developing unique method that mimics real stone with the use of concrete for over 25 years. Building a traditional stone wall may take several weeks to complete and can cost a fortune depending on the size and length of the wall. The StoneMakers process includes adding a compound to concrete and gives them the ability to mold it as if it were clay.
A revolutionary way of working with concrete which is...
Homes should be sanctuaries and there is a unique kind of peace that is created when your surrounding perfectly complements your home - Hardscapes can calm you, inspire you, welcome you. A beautifully planned landscape with hardscape features increases the value and adds vibrance, warmth, and charm.
Each of StoneMakers' licensed dealers have been trained and certified to install all custom applications. StoneMakers Dealers are supported by the entire international network and are committed to making your hardscape vision a reality. They have set new standards for exterior home improvement design ideas and innovation. Visit the StoneMakers website to learn more about hardscape design and see for yourself.
Concrete Carving and DesignClinton, NY 13523Phone: (315) 725-5894
As a dealer of StoneMakers, this company has completed training and is licensed to complete StoneMakers projects.


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The Washington Post reported this week that a coalition of over 150 social justice and public interest groups has come together to call for job creation and investment in opportunity, including for the country's hardest hit communities. They'll launch their call in a march on Washington October 2, 2010. It's the right call at the right time.
With 15 million Americans out of work, and tens of millions more underemployed or living paycheck to paycheck, restoring economic security through job creation has to be America's top priority. And given that unemployment among African Americans and Latinos is hovering around 15%, there must be attention to ensuring equal opportunity and an economy that works for all of our nation's communities.
There is broad economic consensus that the Recovery Act and related initiatives have brought us back from the brink of another Great Depression. But the scope of the problem we face requires additional, more focused solutions. Many of those solutions are readily at hand, like the Local Jobs for America Act, which would create 1 million jobs this year, including in communities with the highest levels of joblessness.
The voices in Congress who have halted investment in jobs, as well as in unemployment benefits and support to struggling states, have focused on the deficit. That concern is real, but misplaced. Economists across the ideological spectrum agree that we should prioritize public investment in job creation today, while putting in place a longer-term strategy for debt reduction. Indeed, putting Americans back to work is crucial to the economic growth and revenue we'll need to close the deficit.
As thousands of Americans prepare to march for jobs and opportunity on October 2nd, they have our national interest, our shared values, and the spirit of American ingenuity and problem solving on their side. Let's hope the White House and congressional leadership are there with them as well.


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I decided to write to the Singapore Police Force and the Singapore Zoo to find out the answer.
Relevant information from their replies are provided here:
"Generally, the police will respond to incident of snake when there is an immediate threat to life and property at public areas. For incident of snake found in private compound, the police will normally advise the complainant to call a pest control agency who can provide value-added services to discourage snakes presence. However, our officers will first assess the situation based on the degree of threat to life and property before they respond to incident of snake found in private compound. As it is impossible to identify all snakes, the officers are briefed on the common poisonous and non-poisonous snakes; python and cobra. All our officers have been briefed on how to use a snake catching device, and they are expected to handle any case of snake sighting when called upon. Every Police Division is equipped with the device and it is available for use to the officers. No special single Unit is tasked with catching snakes. All snakes are caught alive. Police hand over the live snakes to AVA or Zoo."
"Snakes that are brought in by the public or the police are usually released to the wild. The practice and appropriate release location would be done in close partnership with the National Parks Board. Also, for certain snakes, we would absorb them in our collection for display and breeding purposes."
In my opinion


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Each application will be considered on its own merits and within the context of the properly involved and its surroundings. However, the Commission is likely to look unfavorably on:
Demolition (purposefully or through neglect)
Removing Original Features (doors and windows)
Installing Plastic Illuminated Signs
Installing a Satellite (TV) Dish or Tall Antenna in a Visible Location
Any changes that requires a building permit requires approval from the Historic Preservation Commission. Within the Historic District, a building permit may be issued only after the proposed project has been approved by the Historic Preservation Commission.
While ordinary maintenance does not require approval, you will need to seek approval for any changes to the exterior of the building. Seemingly unimportant changes, like adding a chain link fence or enclosing a porch, can have a dramatic effect on the visual character of the District. The following is a list of changes that should be brought before the Commission:
adding a dormer or bay window creating parking
installing storm windows demolition
paint color selection and placement relocation
erecting a sign
Before going ahead with a project it is always best to check with the Community Development Director or his/her designee to see if approval is necessary.


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WASHINGTON – The rough justice dispensed by the White House and Senate Democrats during the standoff impasse has further soured key House Republicans on passing immigration legislation.
Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), who earlier this year had been working with lawmakers from both parties to write an immigration bill, said that President Obama's refusal to negotiate with House Speaker John Boehner over funding the government and increasing the country's borrowing limit made him unwilling to enter into talks over immigration.
"After the way the president acted over the last two or three weeks where he would refuse to talk to the speaker of the House … they're not going to get immigration reform. It's done," Labrador said, walking off the House floor Wednesday night after voting against the measure to open the government and increase the debt limit.
FULL COVERAGE: The U.S. government shutdown
President Obama said Thursday morning that with the shutdown fight over, he wants Congress to get a bill to his desk that will fix the immigration system. "Let's get this done," Obama said.
The Senate passed a broad immigration overhaul bill in June with the votes of every Democrat in the chamber and 15 of its Republicans. But Boehner has refused to bring the bill to a vote on the House floor because it is unlikely to receive the support of the majority of GOP House members.
House Republicans have long said they want to pass a series of bills that overhaul different parts of the immigration system. The House Judiciary Committee has held hearings this year on increasing the number of visas given to high-tech workers, ratcheting up requirements for employers to check the immigration status of new hires, and allowing immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to apply for legal status, among other measures.
PHOTOS: The debate over immigration reform
But none of them have been brought to the floor for a vote.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) has been working with a handful of fellow Republicans to craft a bill that would increase border security and clear a way for immigrants in the country illegally to apply for legal status. He said that this bill has a chance of passing the House, if it is included in a raft of bills that fix different parts of the immigration system.
"There's a lot of folks here who have been working and feel cautiously optimistic," Diaz-Balart said of the immigration effort in the House, after Wednesday night's vote to end the budget impasse.
"I wouldn't be spending this much time, this much effort, if I didn't think we had a chance to get it done," Diaz-Balart said.
Ohio Republican Steve Stivers said he would normally be open to finding a way forward on overhauling the immigration system, but the most recent standoff has made him wary of the Senate Democrats and Obama's willingness to enter into a give and take.
"I'm a guy who is pretty reasonable on that issue, and I think we can find common ground. But they didn't try to find common ground here," Stivers said after Wednesday's House vote on the debt limit. "And it doesn't bode well for whatever the next chapter is, unfortunately," Strivers said.
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Twitter: @ByBrianBennett


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April 15, 2012 at 2pm to June 3, 2012 at 4pm – Riverhaven Homestead This fun workshop series will focus on the many activities necessary for living off the land in harmony with nature. Topics will include: growing your own food year-round, raising animals for meat an… Organized by Chris Wolf and Krista Rome | Type: workshop, series
May 25, 2012 from 5pm to 7:30pm – SPARK (formerly known as Radio Museum) Ever feel overwhelmed? Depressed about peak oil? Worried about the economy? HEY! You must be wigging out! If so, dont' miss the WIGOUT! This is a celebration of silliness, fun, the opportunity t… Organized by Kate and Alice Clark | Type: fun-raiser
© 2019 Created by David MacLeod. Powered by


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Taking Time to Live Well
We celebrate slowing down, enjoying what you have, making the most of where you live, enjoying the company of of friends and family, and feeding them well. We like to grow some of our own vegetables, visit local markets, rummage for vintage finds, and decorate our home with the plunder. We love being outdoors and enjoy the satisfaction that comes with a job well done.


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BALTIMORE – UMBC rallied from an 18-point second half deficit to take a late lead, but visiting Binghamton won a tight 72-70 decision at the RAC Arena in the Retrievers' final regular season home game of the campaign.
UMBC freshman guard Rodney Elliott (Baltimore, Md./John Carroll) led UMBC with 19 points, while Bearcat counterpart Yosef Yacob countered with a game-high 20 points for his side.
The Retrievers dropped their third straight in league play and slipped to 9-19 overall and 5-10 in league play. Binghamton won for the third time in their last four outings and improved to 7-20, 4-10.
UMBC trailed, 60-42, with 10:40 remaining, but made an 13-0 surge to climb to within 60-53 on a Joey Getz (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Wood) jumper at the 6:48 mark.
Binghamton maintained a six-point advantage at 66-60 on two free throws by Marlon Beck with 3:44 remaining. But Elliott hit a trey on the next possession, then stole the ball and fed senior guard Quentin Jones (Baltimore, Md./Mount St. Joseph), who drained a trey to knot the score at 66-all with 2:50 left and send the arena into a frenzy.
UMBC would take the lead, but suffered self-inflicted wounds in the process. They got back-to-back stops, but Plummer and Jones would both hit just one-of-two free throws to give the hosts a one possession lead at 68-66 with 1:42 remaining.
Elliott was whistled for a foul on the next possession, and Beck drained two free throws to knot the score at 68-all. Then, after a missed Plummer jumper, Binghamton sophomore guard Jordan Reed grabbed the rebound and went coast-to-coast to put the visitors ahead, 70-68, with 57 seconds remaining.
Elliott would misfire in an attempt to tie the game with 42 seconds remaining and Jones fouled Yosef, who hit one-of-two from the line. The Retriever freshman countered with a driving layup with 13 seconds left to cut the gap to 71-70, and Binghamton guard Karon Waller converted one of two free throws to set up the game's dramatic conclusion.
Plummer got an open look from the right wing, but his trey with five seconds remaining was a bit strong. Getz corralled the rebound, but his fade-away just before the horn fell short.
The Retrievers had two more field goals (24-22) and one more trey (7-6) than Binghamton, but were hurt at the free throw line, where the Bearcats missed just seven of 29 attempts (75.9%) and the hosts misfired nine times on 24 tries (62.5%).
Plummer added 12 points and freshman wing Charles Taylor, Jr. (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook) added 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
Four Bearcats scored in double figures and Binghamton outrebounded UMBC, 32-24.
UMBC concludes the regular season at Hartford on March 2.
Notes: Plummer became the ninth player in school history to reach the 1,300-point plateau (1,308)… Elliott became the third freshman in UMBC's Division I history to reach the 400-point mark (412) in a season… UMBC finished the home schedule at 8-5.


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UN-Leashing the Power of Women (REPORT)
(HN, March 2, 2012) -- This week, the 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women opened on Monday at United Nations Headquarters in New York. It's special focus? The development of `Rural Women'.
For the next two weeks, leaders - men and women alike - are meeting to focus on women's visibility, contributions, and empowerment, in poverty and hunger eradication, development, climate change adaptation, conflict resolution, gender inequality, technology and energy access, and ending female genital mutilation and sex slavery.
The session, led by Chile's former President and UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet, is also preparing the agenda for the UN Rio+20 Conference that Brazil will host in June. The Commission was established by ECOSOC resolution 11, June 21, 1946; just a year after the signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco in 1945. Of the 160 signatories, only 4 were women - Minerva Bernardino (Dominican Republic), Virginia Gildersleeve (United States), Bertha Lutz (Brazil) and Wu Yi-Fang (China).
The Commission's mandate was expanded in 1987 to include the functions of promoting the objectives of equality, development and peace at the national, sub regional, regional and global levels. Following the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, the General Assembly mandated the Commission to integrate into its program a follow-up process to the Conference, regularly reviewing the critical areas of concern in the Beijing Platform for Action and to develop its catalytic role in mainstreaming a gender perspective in United Nations activities.
45 member states of the UN serve as members of the Commission at any one time. The Commission consists of one representative from each country elected by the Council on the basis of equitable geographical distribution: 13 members from Africa; 11 from Asia; 9 from Latin America and Caribbean; 8 from Western Europe and other States and 4 from Eastern Europe. Members are elected for a period of 4 years. (SEE BELOW FOR FULL LIST)
In her opening speech to delegates, UN Deputy Secretary General Aisha-Rose Migiro welcomed attendees from around the world which included government officials, rural women, representatives of the UN and civil society; the media and the private sector to review progress, share experiences, good practices, analyze gaps and agree on actions to empower rural women.
Migiro, called for `systematic and comprehensive strategies' to empower women and girls in rural areas as `key agents of change' by maximizing their `potential to combat extreme poverty and hunger for themselves'. "If rural women had equal access to productive resources", she said, "Agricultural yields would rise and hunger would decline".
Further, "They are leaders, producers, entrepreneurs and service providers, and their contributions are vital to the well-being of families, communities and economies, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals".
World population demographics put the number of women and men in the world as roughly equal (with men just slightly ahead by a few hundred million). The idea is that women are becoming the most effective catalysts of sustainable development, and they must be supported.
Michelle Bachelet, the Executive Director of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), said empowering women, "Requires a transformation in the way governments devise budgets and make and enforce laws, policies and land rights; including trade and agricultural policies, and how businesses invest and operate. Private sector partnerships are crucial", she said.
"Let us be clear. This is not just hurting the women. It is hurting all of us", said Bachelet. "It's a matter of human rights, equality and justice on behalf of women.
According to a UN Women's report released last week, rural women and girls comprise 1 in 4 people worldwide and they constitute a large share of the agricultural workforce.
The gathering squarely noted that not only do women face gender inequality - despite progress; they also face blowback from Mother Nature too. How to bring women online while also creating sustainable solutions is a major focus of the conference.
Some 86% of the global rural population of both genders derives a livelihood from agriculture, with an estimated 1.3 billion people engaged in small scale farming or working as `landless laborers'. Increasingly, almost 70% of agriculture laborers are women, producing the majority of global food grown; while playing key roles in rural economic activities, such as planting crops, saving seeds and selling their produce. Not to mention, performing virtually 100% of household labor.
In South Sudan, women farmers are working with a host of civil society groups like the U.N.'s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Norwegian People's Aid, Catholic Relief Services and Concern Worldwide, organizing themselves to engage in climate-resilient crop production and sustainable pursuits like goat rearing and bee keeping. The women grow food drought-tolerant crops such as cereals, legumes, sorghum, bulrush or pearl millet and vegetables in order to improve their children's overall nutrition and bring in a small, market-based income.
In Mexico, rural women have organized themselves to struggle against financial and environmental crises. In many cases, local NGOs have assisted in this process by building formal structures and developing capacities. 39% of Mexican households are rural.
But still, generally worldwide, women continue to face lower mobility, less access to training, market information, and financial resources.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, rural women can tap just 5% of the services and facilities including bank credits, public services, welfare, employment and the market; a mere 3% of the $7.5bn in official allocations for rural advancement and agriculture between 2008-2009 were assigned to gender equity. Additionally, rural women constitute one-fourth of the world's population and while women have equal property ownership rights in 115 countries and have equal inheritance rights in 93, gender disparities in land holdings persist worldwide."
The conference platform posits that if rural women had equal access to productive tools such as seeds, tools, and fertilizer; and laws were loosened - agricultural yields would rise by up to 4% and there would be 100 million to 150 million fewer hungry people worldwide.
Mobile is Key
Mobile phones are changing lives and strengthening economic enterprises, providing information about credit, markets, weather updates, transportation or health services - changing the way rural women and men obtain services and conduct business.
In a recent global survey, 93% of women reported feeling safer because of their mobile phone, 85% reported feeling more independent, and 41% reported having increased income and professional opportunities.
Sisters Doing it For Themselves
Women on the ground in the global South aren't waiting. They are already busy deploying a combination of indigenous techniques and adaptive agricultural methods to stave off the impacts of climate change, and in June on the eve of the Rio+20 Summit, UN Women will join the Government of Brazil in convening a high-level meeting on women and sustainable development.
It All Starts With Education
"Women make up more than two-thirds of the world's 796 million illiterate people," the UN said and, "Just 39% of rural girls attend secondary school". Far fewer than rural boys (45%), urban girls (59%) and urban boys (60%). A lack of a high school education can mean poverty and even earlier death, and even a lack of local schools is a reason fewer girls attend high school.
"Data from 68 countries indicates that a woman's education is a key factor in determining a child's survival," according to UN statistics. "Every additional year of primary school increases girls' eventual wages by 10–20 percent. It also encourages them to marry later and have fewer children, and leaves them less vulnerable to violence."
If Women Ruled The World There Would Be No War
In a study of 24 major peace processes since 1992, UN Women found that women composed only 2.5% of peace signatories, 3.2% of mediators, 5.5% of witnesses and 7.6% of negotiators.
War is always most devastating to women and children who are often the victims of rape, abuse, and sexual slavery during and after conflict. But when women's interests are not represented at the negotiation tables, in the post-resolution restructuring process, or in the governance bodies established after the war, the interests of children and families are almost always omitted from discussions. The UN recognized this 12 years ago when it voted to "ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels; urging governments to `adopt a `gender perspective'".
For instance, in Egypt, rural women are receiving identity cards so they can obtain social services, and are able to vote and can have a say in shaping the future of their country. In India, more than a million women are now members of local village councils. This has changed their lives for the better, and also the lives around them.
From Costa Rica to Rwanda, where quotas have been used, more women are in positions of decision-making. They are using their voices to secure land rights, to understand political processes, to engage with governance and policy issues, to tackle domestic violence, to improve healthcare and employment, and to demand accountability.
But in other parts of the world, a recent study which covered 17 countries in Asia and the Pacific showed that the proportion of elected representatives in rural councils who are women ranged only from 0.6 percent to 37%.
In her speech UN Women's Bachelet pointed the finger at her own organization, the UN too, saying, "Here in the United Nations, we must lead by example. From 2007 through 2010, the UN experienced an unprecedented increase in women at the most senior levels - from 17% to 29% at the Under-Secretary-General level, and from 20% to 25% at the Secretariat at the Assistant Secretary General level".
Last December the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling on Member States to take concrete steps to increase the political participation and leadership of women, including the follow through on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the International Labor Organization conventions, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Beijing Platform for Action, and the report on the Social Protection Floor, that UN Women launched last year.
Still, despite all the progress of the global women's empowerment movement, many conference speakers have lamented the need to `reality-check' the situation by reminding delegates that currently in the world: "925 million people were chronically hungry, of whom 60 percent were women. Moreover, 884 million people in the world lack access to potable drinking water; 2.6 billion people do not have access to sufficient sanitation facilities; and 1 billion people do not have adequate access to roads and transportation systems."
What future will we leave our children?
The African Women's Decade (2010-2020) is a bold political initiative that aims to put women at the centre of development on the continent. Launched in Nairobi, Kenya, in October 2010, with roots traceable to the UN First World Conference on Women, held in Mexico City in 1975. However, the disheartening reality is that very few women in Africa actually know about the Women's Decade and the policies set out to be implemented during this decade.
What's clear from this 56th Conference on Women is that women worldwide want change, they want to have their voice be heard, and they are impatient for equality and solutions to their own problems. Out of sheer survival, many women are taking circumstance into their own hands and making progress despite the world.
Because these life situations, cannot stand: In Afghanistan - 87% of women are illiterate; in Pakistan 90% of women face domestic violence and more than 1,000 women and girls are victims of honor killings every year according to the Human Rights Commission. In the DRC 420,000 women are raped every year; while in India, 100 million people, mostly woman and girls are victims of traffickers.
Before they go though from UN Headquarters next week, the commission will agree on urgent actions needed to make a real difference in the lives of millions of rural women by making recommendations for other policy forums, such as the Rio+20 and, they will celebrate International Women's Day on March 8th. A celebration indeed.
Full List of Current UN Women's Commission Members:
Argentina, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Central African Republic, China, Colombia, Comoros, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Guinea, Haiti, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Liberia, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mongolia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Philippines, South Korea, Russia, Rwanda, Senegal, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Thailand, US, Uruguay, Zimbabwe.
---- HUMNEWS (c) 2012


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Jam: A cure for what ails the gardener
[media-credit name="Dana Coffield" align="alignright" width="150″][/media-credit]
Aside from the comforting hum of cicadas out in the cottonwood trees, the uninvited insect communities congregating in my yard this year are have been a borderline buzz kill. Earwigs have laid waste to the zinnias and are swarming the just-emerged corn. Yellow jackets, wasps and hornets are harassing the beehive. And there is only so much progress two chickens can do to defend against rapidly advancing army of grasshoppers and slugs.
I was this-close to being swept up in cloud of bug-darkened gloom when I noticed shiny clusters of chokecherries spilling over my neighbor Craig's fence. I watched the crop for days before screwing up enough courage to knock on the door and ask if he had plans for the crop. "Chokecherries? Take all you want," he said. "I haven't eaten chokecherries since I was a kid in Michigan."
[media-credit name="Dana Coffield" align="alignleft" width="150″][/media-credit]
His blessing to pick was a gift that stirred up memories of my own as I stood in the high-noon heat plucking the perfect purple berries for jam. I thought of picking chokecherries with my grandmother up in Estes Park, replicating for her the many trips to harvest in Spearfish Canyon of South Dakota with her sisters and my mother and aunts.
I thought of standing on a roadside near the Boulder County Jail, hoping I wouldn't be hit by a car as I poached from a long-untended hedge. I thought about poring through my uncle's living barn with my cousin one droughty year, wishing that we'd made it out to the bushes before the desperate birds. But mostly I thought
about jam, magenta and tart, eaten hot from the spoon, smeared on biscuits or melting into the grid of a homemade waffle.
[media-credit name="Dana Coffield(The Denver Post)" align="alignright" width="150″][/media-credit]
Never mind the blast-furnace temperatures outdoors; I was compelled to fire up the burners and the dishwasher. I spent the day – the whole day — standing over the stove, stirring the pots and ladling molten syrup into hot jars, and listening for the reassuring ping that signals the cooled jam had sealed up right. Those jewel-toned jars preserve for tomorrow, or the dark of winter, the deep and complex flavors of summer and memory.


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Photo of Lauren Tomkinson courtesy Harvard Athletic Communications.
HANOVER, N.H. – Sophomore Jenn VanderMuelen netted three goals for the Harvard women's lacrosse team Friday as the Crimson fell, 14-7, at Dartmouth in the final game of the regular season.
The Big Green (10-3, 6-1 Ivy League) got out to an early 1-0 lead 68 seconds into the game and pushed that to 2-0 with a goal from Hana Bowers eight minutes in. Harvard (9-5, 5-2 Ivy League) lit up the scoreboard for the first time at the 19:55 mark with a goal from Jess Halpern. After falling behind 7-2 with six minutes left before halftime, the Crimson got two quick goals within 57 seconds of each other, the first from Melanie Baskind and the second from Petropulos, both unassisted shots in traffic from right in front of the goal. Dartmouth would add one more goal to hold an 8-4 advantage at halftime.
Harvard came out firing in the second half, cutting the Big Green's lead to three with VanderMeulen's second goal of the game 1:35 into the second frame. Dartmouth would answer, however, with five straight goals, including two within 16 seconds of each other, pushing its lead to 13-5 within the first 15 minutes of the final half. VanderMeulen would cap off her hat trick with the final goal of the game, a shot from center with 4:30 to play.
A total of five Harvard players got into the scoring action. The team grabbed 14 ground balls, led by Mariah Pewarski's four pick ups. Dartmouth would finish with three players notching a hat trick, led by Greta Meyer's four scores and two assists. Courtney Bennett also had two assists to go along with her three goals for five points in the game for the Big Green.
The Crimson outshot Dartmouth in the game, 30-26, but Big Green goalkeeper Kriste Giovanniello made 13 saves while 10 of Harvard's shots went wide or hit the post. The Crimson went 1-for-7 on free position shots and were called for 28 fouls compared to Dartmouth's 17 whistled infractions.
Harvard and Dartmouth will face each other again in next week's Ivy League Tournament, hosted in Philadelphia by Penn. Dartmouth will be the No. 2 seed and Harvard will be the No. 3 seed in the semifinal matchup set for May 6.


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Afterlife the Game
Afterlife the Tabletop Sci-fi Wargame
Afterlife tells the story of society torn apart by civil war after the collapse of the Unity Council; a monolithic global governing body created almost two hundred years previously to lead humanity toward a bright and peaceful future.
After decades of brutal oppression by its ruling elites, the Unity Council's authority collapsed in the face of a popular uprising and the secession of dozens of major corporations to form the new Pan Continental Republic.
Now the planet burns. Sprawling hyper-cities, built for a world of prosperity, have become lethal war zones. Corporations, emergent governments, resistance movements and criminal elements engage in an escalating conflict for power, wealth or simply survival.
Earth is a battlefield. What will you fight for?
Tell me more
Afterlife is our Sci-Fi skirmish game system, supported by an expanding range of extremely high quality resin miniatures.
Volume I: The SHARDS of Liberty, is the first installment of the game, introducing the 2 main powers and their high-tech weaponary.
Read more about Volume I here.
The key features are:
- Near future dystopian Sci-Fi wargame.
- Fast paced alternate activation mechanic keeps both players involved.
- Core rules are compact and easy to learn.
- Cinematic, exciting game-play.
- High quality, finely detailed 28mm resin miniatures.
What are the rules?
The rules for Afterlife are available as free PDF downloads:
Afterlife Main Game Rules (PDF, 8.3MB)
Character Rules & Profiles (PDF, 3.66MB)
You can buy a high quality printed copy in the Rules, Counters and Dice section or with any Starter Set at a discounted Price.
An Important note on SCALE
The various phrases used widely to describe scale (eg 28mm, Heroic, true scale) can be confusing and inaccurate. An average human figure in AFTERLIFE, standing upright, is 30mm tall to the top of their head (It varies, as people in real life do!). The proportions of Head, limbs and weapons are exaggerated slightly (often called Heroic scaling) but not to the same extent as many popular miniature ranges.
If you are planning to use AFTERLIFE miniatures alongside miniatures from other manufacturers, and you are unsure if the scales will fit, feel free to email us for advice, or purchase a small number of miniatures and make your own judgement.
AFTERLIFE Miniatures are typically made of between 2 and 4 separate resin components and are supplied with a plastic base. The figures will require a small amount of preparation and assembly with superglue, they are not toys and not suitable for under 14's but are generally user friendly and suitable for gamers who do not have prior experience with resin kits.


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SEFFNER, Fla. (AP) — A huge sinkhole about 30 feet across opened up under a man's bedroom and swallowed him, taking all of the furniture too.
Jeff Bush, 37, was feared dead after the floor gave way Thursday night. As he screamed for help, his brother Jeremy Bush jumped into the hole to try to help, but couldn't see him and had to be rescued himself. With the earth still crumbling, a sheriff's deputy reached out his hand and pulled Jeremy Bush, 36, to safety.
"The floor was still giving in and the dirt was still going down, but I didn't care. I wanted to save my brother," Jeremy Bush said through tears Friday as he stood in a neighbor's yard. "But I just couldn't do nothing."
The only thing sticking out of the hole was a small corner of a bed's box spring. Cables from a television led down into the hole, but the TV set, along with a dresser, was nowhere to be seen.
Officials lowered equipment into the sinkhole but didn't see any sign of life.
Jeremy Bush said it took him only seconds to get to his brother's room about 11 p.m. Thursday. He had just knocked on his brother's bedroom door, telling him they weren't working Friday. The brothers were employed by the Transportation Department and picked up trash along interstates and roads.
"I went in my bedroom, heard a loud crash, ran in that direction," he said. "I was getting ready to run into the room and I almost fell into the hole. I jumped into the hole and started digging for me. I started screaming for him."
Engineers worked to determine the size of the sinkhole. At the surface, officials estimated it was about 30 feet across. Below the surface, officials believed it was 100 feet wide.
The state is especially prone to sinkholes because underneath the ground is limestone, a porous rock that easily dissolves in water, sometimes forming a hole in the earth.
From the outside of the small, sky blue house, nothing appeared wrong. There wear no cracks and the only sign something was amiss was the yellow caution tape circling the house.
There were six people at the home when it collapsed, including Jeremy Bush's wife and his 2-year-old daughter.
"It was something you would see in a movie. You wouldn't, in your wildest dreams, you wouldn't think anything like that could happen, especially here," he said.
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Deputy Douglas Duvall rescued Jeremy Bush.
"I reached down and was able to actually able to get him by his hand and pull him out of the hole. The hole was collapsing. At that time, we left the house," Duvall said.
Sheriff's office spokesman Larry McKinnon said authorities asked sinkhole and engineering experts to help with the recovery effort, and they were using equipment to see if the ground can support the weight of heavy machinery that was needed.
"We put engineering equipment into the sinkhole and didn't see anything compatible with life," Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico said. "The entire house is on the sinkhole."
Neighbors on both sides of the home have been evacuated.
Follow Lush at www.twitter.com/tamaralush


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The governments of the two West African countries could do more to enhance women's participation in tourism...
By Albert N. Kimbu, Ewoenam A. Afenyo-Agbe, Issahaku Adam 25 Oct 2019
The International Air Transport Association has welcomed the European Commission's evaluation of the Airport Charges Directive which highlights the need to further strengthen the Directive to protect consumers...
17 Jul 2019
Babies are normally vaccinated against measles at 12 months old. But doctors are now suggesting having the shot as early as six months might be worthwhile for youngsters traveling overseas.
Nicholas Wood, Alexis Pillsbury and Jean Li-Kim-Moy 28 Jun 2019
As on 1 June 2018, Travelport will be implementing a new booking code for non-binary gender airline passengers. The new code offers the option to choose "X", rather than "M" or "F"...
31 May 2019
The future of tourism depends on ensuring visitors do not wear out their welcome. Giving locals more of a say in tourism can help ensure they share in the benefits and minimise the costs...
Freya Higgins-Desbiolles 24 May 2019
TPConnects SaaS-based solution addresses the current problem of 99% of the travel agents lacking their own digital assets...
2 May 2019
The Radisson Hotel Group has signed an agreement with Groupe Talys, for three hotels to enter Madagascar, namely the Radisson Blu Hotel Antananarivo Waterfront, Radisson Hotel Antananarivo Waterfront and Radisson Serviced Apartments Antananarivo City Centre...
30 Apr 2019
Last summer, the aviation industry set a new record, with over 200,000 aircraft taking to the skies every day. In a competitive marketplace, airlines are looking for the right technology that enables them to deliver memorable experiences for their customers...
26 Apr 2019
In the fourth quarter of 2018, the approval rate rose by 5.1% bringing MENA's rate just 3% behind the rest of the world. Due to the high transaction value in the travel industry, card approval rates have seen a slower growth rate than other industries...
Fundisiwe Maseko 25 Apr 2019
To many, arenas are the place to go to see your favourite band or sporting team play. However, increasingly arenas are becoming the 'hidden gem' of the business events world...
25 Apr 2019
"Forbes Travel Guide has been verifying luxury for more than 60 years, and we look forward to sharing the finest properties in the region with consumers."
24 Apr 2019


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ABBYY CardHolder by ABBYY
by via_web on
December 14, 2011
Filed under App DB, Business, Productivity, iPhone Apps
ABBYY CardHolder – an electronic business card holder, which allows you to store and use important contact data without cluttering the address book of your iPhone.
∙ Save business cards in the internal storage with searching, sorting and grouping features;
∙ Archive and restore all data from stored business cards both on your iPhone and your computer;
∙ Automatically recognizes information on the business card: name, company, phones, etc.;
∙ Social Network Search: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter instantly!
∙ Address search in Maps.
∙ Recognizes business cards in 21 languages, including multilingual cards.
YouTube Promo Video:
Developer Website: http://www.abbyy.com


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Job Summary This position provides comprehensive care coordination for patients as assigned. This position assesses the patients plan of care and develops, implements, monitors and documents the utilization of resources and progress of the patient through their care, facilitating options and services to meet the patients health care needs. The intensity of care coordination provided is situational and appropriate based on patient need and payer requirements. This position is accountable for the quality of clinical services delivered by both them and others and identifies/resolves barriers which may hinder effective patient care.
Essential Functions
Minimum Qualifications Requires masters degree in social work or related field or equivalent experience. Requires a proficiency level typically achieved with 5 years clinical experience and as required by state law, a licensure in at least one of the following categories: social work, professional counseling or marriage and family. (Certification requires two years post graduate experience in a mental health setting or equivalent combination of education and documented supervised clinical experience.) Positions providing direct services to substance abuse program patients must also possess board licensure in addictions as required by state. Must have a working knowledge of care management, hospital and community resources. Must demonstrate critical thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, effective communication skills, and time management skills. Must demonstrate ability to work effectively in an interdisciplinary team format. Employees working at Banner Behavioral Health Hospital must possess an Arizona Fingerprint Clearance Card at the time of hire and maintain the card for the duration of their employment. Preferred Qualifications Additional related education and/or experience preferred.


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A New York Animal Hospital | Seaport Animal Hospital
Your Veterinarian in New York, NY
After 30 fabulous years in lower Manhattan, the Tribeca Soho Animal Hospital and its affiliates in Battery Park City and the West Village have expanded into the Seaport and Financial District neighborhoods. At the Seaport Animal Hospital we seek to continue our tradition of building long term relationships with our clients and thus a cumulative knowledge of their animal companions, especially regarding their individual healthcare needs. We build these relationships by offering:
- The best in veterinary medical practices
- Internship-trained veterinarians and licensed veterinary technicians
- Preventative care examinations and blood testing
- Annual vaccinations and parasite prevention
- Full diagnostic evaluation of all medical issues
- In-house laboratory and radiography
- Ultrasonography and echocardiography
- Dental prophylaxis
- Spay and neuter procedures
- Emergency services during business hours
- Referral services for specialist care
- Veterinary acupuncture
- Nutritional consultation to determine the best diet for your dog or cat
- Experienced and dedicated staff
- A high level of client service, including convenient hours and scheduling
- Electronic medical records
- Assistance with pet insurance claims
- USDA accredited veterinarians, able to prepare International Health Certifications for our clients travelling abroad with their pets
- Thorough and timely communications with owners to help them make informed pet healthcare decisions
It is by practicing these principles that we strive to be thought of first and foremost when the medical needs of a beloved companion become a family concern.
Seaport Animal Hospital is one of the four Downtown Veterinary Medical Hospitals, all conveniently located in downtown Manhattan. If it is ever more convenient to visit one of our other locations, your pet's complete medical record will already be there and is immediately accessible by our professional staff.
Oral & Dental Care
There are many ways to help maintain a healthy mouth for your pet, find out more about our services, which include teeth cleaning and polishing, tooth extractions and more.Read More >
Refer a Friend!
The highest compliment you can pay us is to recommend us to your family and friends! In return, we would like to say thank you by crediting your account $25 each time a new family member or friend brings their pet in for the first time. Read More >
Routine Check-Ups
Wellness exams are a simple and effective way of monitoring your pet's health. Early detection and correction of medical problems will help to ensure that your pet will love a long, healthy and active life. Read More >


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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Seattle, WA
Casino cash: $5180
Why Not Renew the Assault Weapons Ban? - A liberal's perspective
Why Not Renew the "Assault Weapons" Ban? Well, I'll Tell You…
Between Two Worlds
It's not easy being a leftist who loves guns. It's like being a Republican who listens to NPR or supports single payer health care. But being a leftist, I get exposed to all the liberal publications and media that invariably call for gun control every time someone does something stupid with one. Being a gun enthusiast, I also get exposed to the political Right's oversimplification of those liberals as somehow lacking moral fiber or true appreciation of freedom. Rather than agreeing with both, I tend to end up arguing with both. It's exhausting to always feel like I'm apologizing for the other "side".
This article takes a point of view, but aims to do so in a way that members of both sides of the political spectrum can understand. I'll try to give some idea as to why we on the political left roll our eyes at the rhetoric of the NRA, and how we in the "gun culture" can possibly defend something called "assault weapons".
We all know the cycle by now: Tragic incident occurs, both sides attempt to use it for their political gain, both sides act shocked that the other would attempt to use it for political gain, insults are flung, statistics are cherry-picked, rinse, repeat.
I began writing this some time after the Aurora massacre, but it was just this morning that news started coming in of the mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. I knew the wave of cries for a renewal of the "assault weapon" and "high capacity" magazine bans hadn't yet faded from Aurora, and that they would be reinforced by this next event, regardless of how relevant either of the topics were to the incident.
So in order to get around to why the assault weapons ban was an utter and absolute failure in its attempt to deter violent crime, I have to start with mass shootings.
Misleading Vividness
I'm just going to submit this uncomfortable truth to both camps up front, with the vain hope that it will not sound callous:
Mass shootings are a tiny, tiny problem. Which isn't to say that they aren't utterly horrifying in more than one way. People's lives are destroyed, both literally and figuratively. What I mean to say is that if we were to prioritize our political attention to topics according to how many lives were at stake, mass shootings wouldn't even be on the radar.
Factoring in the rate of death caused by mass shootings from Columbine to the present (about 210 people in 13 years), it will be more than 300 years until we reach the number of casualties that occur from accidental drownings every single year in this country. In a little more than 150 years from now, we'll approach the number of people who are poisoned to death every single year in this country. Sometime in 2014 we might surpass the number of people struck by lightning every single year in this country.
Which is to say that mass shootings are incredibly rare and don't kill a lot of people when they do happen.
It is tempting to ask why accidental drowning is not 340 times more important a social issue than gun control. Or why poisoning isn't 150 times as pressing a political issue. (If the number of people dying is truly what's important, almost anything would be more pressing.) The problem is not hard to understand though, and rests in a psychological concept known as the "logical fallacy of misleading vividness".
The fallacy of misleading vividness is when the thought, imagery or reality of something is so emotionally potent – positively or negatively – that you begin to overestimate the likelihood and frequency of its occurrence. This is why many people are afraid to fly. They can understand intellectually that crashes almost never happen, and that airplanes are statistically the safest way to travel, but the idea of being torn apart mid-air, or knowing that they're about to die for a full two minutes in freefall, or being dragged under the ocean while stuck inside the cabin is so vivid and disturbing, that they actually experience intense fear about a process that is safer than their drive to the airport.
This is what happens to us collectively as a nation when mass shootings occur. Yes, it is terrible, for both the person who was so disturbed and all the people they harmed. It puts on graphic display the absolute worst aspects of our culture, which is painful to watch.
However, it is also an incredible statistical deviation from the norm, objectively inflicting far less suffering and death than many other ways that people are far more likely to die. This is an important point. When our policy becomes based on emotional content rather than facts, we are heading in the wrong direction.
With that in mind, let's take a look at how things are in the world of guns and how they got to be that way.
Obama & the NRA: Frenemies of the State
All of this was largely the result of a campaign by gun rights advocates like the NRA to convince the country that Obama would be a gun control activist. To be sure, their concerns weren't entirely baseless. In a 2004 NPR interview, then-senator Obama clearly stated that he not only supported the Federal Assault Weapons ban, but that he would "continue to support a ban on concealed carry laws" altogether.[3] The administration reaffirmed its support of the assault weapons ban in 2009.[4]
But, lacking political capital, Obama made no such push for gun control legislation. In fact, quite the opposite. During his first term he signed laws making it legal for people to carry concealed weapons in National Parks and in their checked luggage on Amtrak trains, provided they met their state's requirements to do so. As a result, the Brady Campaign, the leading gun control lobbying group, gave Obama an "F" rating. When the administration was asked about how it would respond to the Aurora shooting, the first words out of spokesman Jay Carney's mouth were, "We plan to uphold the second amendment." When the Sikh shooting happened, his press conference informed people that the President "will continue to instruct his administration to take action towards common-sense measures that protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens but make it harder and harder for those who should not have weapons under existing law to obtain them".
Despite this conspicuously moderate viewpoint, the NRA continues to stoke the flames of fear, promising that once Obama is reelected to a second term, he'll have no reason to hold back on the gun control legislation he's been wanting to implement since 2004. In fact, at a recent CPAC conference in Florida, NRA vice president Wayne LaPierre went so far as to suggest, without offering any evidence, that Obama's failure to act on gun control has been a "massive Obama conspiracy" to postpone his attack on the second amendment until his second term.[5] While I appreciate the NRA's vigilance on an issue I feel strongly about, I can't help but think that it is rants like this that make much of the populace totally unable to identify with the organization.
Meanwhile, the Aurora shooting, like all shootings, has revived the cries for gun control from the political Left. At a loss for somewhere to direct their grief, outrage and sense of justice after such a senseless tragedy, they are again calling for renewal of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994. If a second Obama administration will have the political capital to promote any gun control legislation at all, it will be the renewal of this ban. It will therefore benefit anyone interested in gun politics to review what the assault weapons ban was, what it was not, and how it affected (or failed to affect) the nation.
Creating the Category
The most important question, of course, is: "What exactly is an assault weapon?"
The term was specifically designed to conjure images of military machine guns, but for those totally unfamiliar with firearms, it should be made clear that automatic weapons (those that fire more than one bullet with each pull of the trigger) are already illegal for the average citizen to own. They are heavily regulated by the federal government, registered with the ATF and very difficult to obtain licenses for. Almost no crime is ever committed with them.
So in 1994, legislators were forced to ask themselves, "What exactly will this ban do away with?" The category of "assault weapon" didn't actually exist, and this was an opportunity for gun control advocates to create it, to say exactly what they wanted off the streets.
As it turns out, they were mostly opposed to things they saw in movies. Which is to say that most of the features that now defined "assault weapons" had to do with form and not function, totally sidestepping the issue of violent crime altogether. Three quick examples:
1) Stock Manipulation
This is the Ruger 10/22. It has been in production since 1964 and is one of the most popular rifles in the country.
It is an ideal first rifle, small and manageable, which is why my parents bought one for me in my mid teens. It is well-made, inexpensive and easy to maintain. Its small caliber (.22) means that it is cheap to shoot and has almost no recoil. It can be used for very small game hunting (foxes, rabbits, etc) or varmint control, but is generally a sport (target shooting) gun.
What you see is also an assault weapon.
Not because of anything it actually does, but because of the stock. You might be able to tell that it is hinged, allowing it to fold up against the rest of the gun. This was one feature of an "assault weapon", according to the new law. Another was the grip, which is vertical like a pistol rather than horizontal. A non-"assault" Ruger 10/22 looks like this:
There is not a single difference in the functioning of these two firearms. All the moving parts that make up the actual firing mechanisms are identical. The diminutive size of the ammunition means that it isn't even recommended for self defense purposes. But the ban was far more concerned with the way guns looked than their ability to actually assault anything.
2) Suppressing
Can you tell the difference between these two guns?
The gun on the bottom has a slightly longer barrel, which is threaded to allow a suppressor or other accessory to screw on. This too was now illegal. Suppressors are usually called "silencers" by the general public, though they do no such thing. (That little *ptew* sound you hear in the movies whenever a gun with a "silencer" is fired? It was dreamed up entirely by the film industry.)
As an acquaintance of mine wrote:
In addition to being polite, home defense uses also prevent the temporary and permanent loss of hearing that is sure to occur when firing a pistol indoors, while also reducing recoil and eliminating muzzle flash, which can be temporarily blinding or disorienting.
Modern criminals have never really used suppressors, and its hard to understand where the gun control crowd were getting their ideas about the world if not from bad movies. Did they really think that assassins were creeping around executing people with suppressed pistols? Surely not. Nonetheless, one of the pistols you see above is an "assault weapon", while the other is not.
3) Shrouds
After some hemming and hawing she admitted that she had no idea what her own legislation was referring to, but made a wild guess anyway, and thus another gun-culture joke was born:
For those interested, a barrel shroud is simply a metal cover that prevents the operator of a firearm from burning their hands on a hot barrel.
It would have been interesting to me if Carlson had explained the barrel shroud, and then asked again how cooler barrels contributed to violent crime. It is hard to imagine what her response could possibly have been. But it looks mean, and this was apparently what mattered to whoever actually wrote the legislation.
These are some examples of what the ban in question covered. Perhaps most tellingly, semi-automatic (legal) versions of automatic firearms were banned just because they looked like illegal guns.
When the category of "assault weapon" had finally been conjured into being, all of its included firearms together accounted for less than 2% of violent crime.[6] None of them had any more functionality than a hunting rifle. It couldn't have been clearer that this was a war founded on image rather than reality.
The foreshadowing of just how much it wouldn't accomplish was clear. Years later, a study of the ban's effectiveness by the National Institute of Justice seemed to scratch its head out loud that "[a]lthough the weapons banned by this legislation were used only rarely in gun crimes before the ban, supporters felt that these weapons posed a threat to public safety…"
There was only one banned feature that had anything to do with practical function.
"High Capacity" Magazines
The ban on "large capacity ammunition feeding devices" was the most far reaching aspect of the legislation, as it applied to magazines for all guns, not just guns that were illegal due to other cosmetic features. Again, the question became: "What exactly is a high capacity magazine?" No such thing had been defined, and an arbitrary number of rounds would have to be selected.
Legislators settled on the number 10 for rifles and pistols, while 5 shells would be the maximum for a shotgun.
The strongest focus by gun control advocates in the wake of various shootings has been a return to these limits on magazine size.[7] (During Carol McCarthy's question-avoidance in the above video, notice that her stump speech is an assertion of the importance of banning high capacity magazines. This has been duplicated on countless news and talk programs, blogs and websites, especially those that lean politically to the Left[8].) The idea is that if mass shooters have larger magazines, they will be able to kill more people before police or an armed citizen can intervene.
Keeping in mind the statistical rarity and relatively tiny death toll of mass shootings to begin with, is this true? Will high capacity bans lower the number of people killed in mass shootings? All we have to do is look at one of the deadliest shootings in the world: the Virginia Tech massacre.
With one pistol of 10-round capacity and one pistol of 15-round capacity, Cho killed more people than anyone has ever killed in a single U.S. shooting incident. He didn't need any massive magazines or custom weapons. The embarrassingly simple reason that magazine size restrictions can't lessen the lethality of mass shooters is that it doesn't matter how many rounds fit in a magazine if a shooter has multiple magazines. When one runs out, they can simply drop it and pop another in, a process which takes five seconds at most. (Less than half a second, if you happen to be this guy.) Cho was able to carry out this massacre because he carried a backpack containing 19 magazines, a fact not well-publicized.
Of course, most semiautomatic pistols hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. In preparation for this article I asked a gun dealer to guess what percentage of new pistols came standard with magazines of more than 10 round capacity. His estimate was 70-75%, and he took model after model out of the display case to illustrate. The most popular (best selling) handgun in the world, the Glock 17, holds 17 rounds of 9mm ammunition. In fact, after looking at all available Glock models, I found that less than half them even had magazines smaller than 10 rounds available at all.
This is the model I own, a Ruger P95. It's a standard sized pistol, small enough for me to regularly carry concealed. It was made to hold 16 rounds, more than either of the standard-sized magazines used by Cho.
My point here is that "high capacity" magazines are not some specialty aftermarket part that criminals obtain shadily over the internet. They were defined arbitrarily into existence, and before the ban were considered standard production to give consumers a decent product. (If you've made the decision to be an armed citizen to defend your self, home or family to begin with, why would you want less capacity than you could practically fit into one mag?)
Bottom line: Whether you have two magazines that hold 15 rounds or three mags that hold 10 rounds, you'll be able to shoot all 30 bullets in less than 45 seconds. This fact, combined with the statistical rarity and low death rate of mass shootings and the statistical prominence of guns used in self defense (2 million times every year) make it difficult for me to justify the criminalization of what has, throughout American history, been considered a perfectly normal capacity – that is, however many rounds fit comfortably inside the firearm.
Remember, the only sensible reason for a capacity ban of any kind is the specific class of crime whose degree of success depends on the 5-10 second difference between having to reload and not having to reload. Mass shootings, it turns out, are the only time this is the case, and only to an incredibly slight degree, as demonstrated by Cho. I have already discussed why I do not believe that mass shootings should guide our policy to begin with.
And yet, I can almost hear the voices I have heard before, asking whether it is realistic to think that people actually defend their homes with "assault rifles" that have "high capacity" magazines…
(The gun used to defend both of these homes was an AR-15, the same gun Holmes used in Auarora, banned for production because there existed models of it elsewhere that were automatic.)
This ban presented gun control legislators with another huge problem, which can't be overstated.
There were about 1.5 million of these "assault weapons" already owned by Americans, and far more high-capacity magazines. In order to actually ban them, the government had to do one of two things:
1) Turn many thousands of law-abiding citizens into felons overnight, even though the guns were legal at the time of purchase or receipt.
2) Demand that the whole country surrender 1.5 million guns and millions of magazines.
Both options were practically and politically impossible, especially the latter. Images of the federal government confiscating and destroying the firearms of veterans, families and law-abiding Americans would not sell to most of the nation, and in some areas, might result in open revolt or civil unrest. It would also ignore a fundamental flaw with gun control legislation in general – that people willing to abide by laws aren't the ones we should be concerned about.
The predicament resulted in what is generally referred to as the "grandfather clause". It essentially meant that all "assault weapons" and "high capacity" magazines manufactured before the ban remained legal to own, sell and use.
To reiterate, millions of these banned firearms and high capacity magazines were legal to own and sell during the ban.
This meant that prices for these firearms and magazines shot up along with demand. Manufacturers had churned out as many soon-to-be-banned items as they could before it went into effect, then sold them at nearly twice what they had originally cost. Individual dealers who had already stocked up made small fortunes. You might even say that the Federal Assault Weapons Ban was the gun salesman of that particular decade.
10 Years Later
How could it have?
The National Institute of Justice found that the ban hadn't reduced gun crime or crime involving "high capacity" magazines, and that the effects of renewing the ban were "likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement." It then added: "Assault weapons were rarely used in gun crimes even before the ban."[9]
The Center for Disease Control released a study of gun control legislation, including the assault weapons ban and found "insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of any of the firearms laws reviewed for preventing violence."[10]
The National Research Council noted that all of the studies they had looked at "did not reveal any clear impacts on gun violence" and noted "due to the fact that the relative rarity with which the banned guns were used in crime before the ban … the maximum potential effect of the ban on gun violence outcomes would be very small…"[11]
Slippery Slope
If there was ever a single quotation that summarized the fears of the gun rights crowd surrounding the "assault weapon" ban, it is this one:
– Washington Post editorial, September 15, 1994
As we have seen, the battles of gun control have been fought, won and lost with definitions. Categories are created, connotations ascribed with the stroke of a pen. The Brady Campaign, the strongest advocate for these bans, has taken this particular work one step farther since Aurora. They have now redefined "mass shootings" to include all drive-bys involving a shot fired toward three or more people, regardless of whether anyone was even actually hurt, leading them to assert that there are "20 mass shootings every year". People who follow the news with some regularity may sense that there is something wrong with this statement, but this sort of redefinition does influence many people who don't have the time or will to investigate such a claim.
It is intentional deceptions like this that have peaceful, gun-loving folks like myself looking over our political shoulders all the time. Add to this the fact that the Brady Campaign strategically changed its name from the more honest designation of "Handgun Control, Inc", and perhaps it's easier for the Left to understand why those of us who believe in the importance of ALL of the items in the Bill of Rights (including firearm ownership) are worried about the progressive nature of these bills.
With intentionally dishonest lobbying groups pushing already-failed legislation while calling it a "stepping stone", we can see the slippery slope right in front of our feet.
And most importantly:
After a decade of failure, why assume that the bans will reduce violent crime THIS time around?
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tldr : It's actually a pretty quick read since it was written well. The guy explains how ridiculous the Assault Weapons ban was, and how a new one would accomplish nothing. The high capacity magazine section is pretty good.
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Quality read but obviously this is best suited to those who are on the fence. One cannot enlighten the unconscious, one challenge of humanity is that once we 'believe' we are right no amount of facts or evidence is allowed to get in our way. To be able to change someone's mind they have to be open to the possibility that they might be wrong.
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Limiting the magazine capacity would lessen the body count of tradegy's like Shady Hook.
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The Trump campaign and Black Lives Matter movement are perfect for each other. Both sides filled with easily led and angry nitwits convinced they are victims~
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Wow, did that guy miss anything?
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Nice long read. Lots of really good points.
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Wow, that was one hell of a post.
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I have no hard on for banning high capacity magazines. No biggie to me.
The NRA and 2nd amendment supports fight isn't with me. If I was wanting to reach the liberals I would try to convince them from a constitutional perspective not that guns are safe.
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Nice article. I've previously made several of the same points.
I assume the usual suspects still won't get it.
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Tight Quarters
There is virtually no way to open and gain access to the wiring inside this LB conduit body. The installer jammed an LB into the corner instead of using a conduit body with a cover on its side, such as an LL or an LR. This lack of access is a violation of Sec. 314.29 of the 2011 NEC. Boxes, handholes, and conduit bodies must be installed so that the wiring inside of them is accessible without having to remove or destroy any part of the building.
Another problem I can point out is the coaxial cables that are tie-wrapped to the outside of the raceways connected to the weatherproof box. This is a violation of 300.11(B) and 820.133(B). Coaxial cables are not permitted to be attached to the exterior of raceways or conduits as a means of support.
Whether proper bonding and grounding techniques were used for the coaxial cable shield is also in doubt. Section 820.100(A)(6) requires the bonding conductor to be protected when exposed to physical damage. As can be seen in the photos, the bonding/grounding conductor for the coaxial cable is just flapping in the breeze — with almost no effort made to protect it.
Invisible Flex
Maybe this wiring installation was intended as a temporary emergency fix, but by the amount of dust on the grill of the fan, I'd say that this has been here for a really long time. The Exception in 590.4(C) does permit single insulated conductors to be used as temporary wiring for emergencies, testing purposes, and for holiday lighting (for a period of 90 days). Once the emergency is over, however, the wiring has to be removed in accordance with 590.3(D) — or it has to be rewired in accordance with the appropriate Articles for the respective wiring methods used. In accordance with 300.3(A) for permanent wiring, single conductors must be installed in a recognized wiring method from Chapter 3.
Also worth pointing out is the yellow twist-on connector that is being used as a disconnecting means for this motor. This is a violation of 430.109. For motors rated 300V or less and 2 hp or less, such as the one in the photo, many different types of disconnecting means are permitted by 430.109(C), including general-use switches, general-use snap switches, and horsepower-rated manual motor controllers. Twist-on wire connectors, however, can never be used as a motor
disconnect. Installing a box cover with a snap switch along with some flexible conduit would go a long way toward making this arrangement Code compliant.