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|Early Years
In this section I've tried to outline some of the major issues that you and your child will face, not only in the next few years, but throughout your child's life. These issues include: Your child's hand appearance, how your child develops skills with that hand, how your child feels about his hand, and how your child's hand affects you. Be wary of thinking that "now you've got it all figured out" or "now everything is OK", because it will change. You will change, and your child will change; but these issues will still be there. Don't look for a fairy tale ending like "my child was born with a hand anomaly, grew up, was able to do everything perfectly, and lived happily ever after." Aviva Bock, a psychotherapist in Newton, Massachusetts, states that it is essential that parents understand that, when raising a child with a hand anomaly, "These issues become part of the fabric of your life. You will check in with them often. There is no once and for all answer."
How Will My Child Adjust to Having a Hand Anomaly?
Many factors that will help your child adjust well are within your control. These include providing lots of support, helping to create a nurturing and accepting environment, exposing your child to others with hand anomalies (more about support groups below), and having reasonable expectations of yourself and your child. It is important to help the child to develop a strong sense of self esteem and to monitor the child's emotional response to his hand. On the other hand, you can't control your child's basic personality and temperament. If your child has an inquisitive nature, readily takes on new challenges, and perseveres despite setbacks, she will have an easier adjustment. If your child has a defeatist attitude, it will be harder for her. Children with congenital hand anomalies make adjustments over the course of their development, sometimes in phases. A child who is well-adjusted as a preschooler may face greater difficulty as a teenager or vice-versa. Children can be extremely resilient - a term used in the field of psychology to describe how individuals draw upon a source of inner strength to enable them to overcome hard times.
What do Children Think About Their Hands?
What a child eventually thinks about her hand, is most shaped by the reactions and comments of those around her. Since her parents - and everybody else who interacts with her - knows about her hand much earlier than she does, their reactions cannot help but shape her own feelings about her hand. As a sensitive being, your child learns to pick up on subtle things, such as body language, facial expressions, voice intonation, and even emotional responses. In the process, the child slowly internalizes others' reactions.
Children may overhear things that others say about their hand, some true, some untrue. Your youngster may repeat (and believe) what other children, in particular, say. For example, a small child may hear remarks and think that G-d is punishing him or that his fingers magically will grow as he gets older. One mother reported that her three year old girl with a hand anomaly said, "Mommy, don't hold that hand. It doesn't have any fingers." This comment may have resulted from an unkind remark. Sometimes children try to hide their hand to avoid bringing attention to themselves after hearing criticism or teasing.
If your child says these things to you, or tries to hide her hand, or if you overhear her saying such things to others, it is important to work with your child to dispel such myths. Sometimes it may be necessary to speak to the parents of one of your child's peers to inform them of the things their child is saying about your child's hand. Just remember, when you talk to another parent, that most children are not intentionally malicious; that for many young children, reality and fantasy are indistinguishable.
What Will & Won't My Child Be Able to Do?
Though your baby is only 2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months, or 2 years old, you may be wondering what life will be like for your child with one or even two anomalous hands, or without any hands at all. I encourage you to write your questions down, no matter how trivial they may seem to be. Parents' worries about what their child may be unable to do generally fall that into three broad categories: functioning in the world, social/leisure activities, and rites of passage. Let's explore each of these.
Functioning in the world. How will my child tie his own shoes? How will she zip her jacket? Will he ever be able to open a bottle of soda? Will she be able to drive a car? Parents fear that their child will never be independent, needing to rely on the good of others to manage. My mother told me that whenever it rained, she always felt sad as she envisioned me - as a child and then later as an adult - trying to hold an umbrella with my "normal" hand while carrying a school bag or groceries with my anomalous hand. One parent spent the first day of his child's life practicing tying a shoe with one hand to convince himself that his child would be able to do this someday.
Social/leisure activities. Frequently, what saddens parents is that their child may not be able to participate in the activities that brought them joy, helped shape their character, or created life-long friendships. Playing a musical instrument, joining the cheerleading squad, or participating in a sport would fall into this category.
Rites of passage. Will my daughter be able to climb the monkey bars at the playground? Will my son be able to go fishing with his grandfather? Will either get asked to the prom? How will they wear a wedding ring?
Children with hand and arm anomalies mostly lead "normal" lives, and they do many of these things. Obviously, the degree of the impairment of the hand or arm will affect what and how much your child is able to do, but so are his level of determination and the extent to which you modify things for him. There are no universals here, since there is such range in the type of anomalies that children have. For some, tying their shoe laces will be very difficult, but not for others; the same holds true for manipulating scissors and opening jars. Most children will have some difficulty with holding the monkey bars at the playground and grasping handle bars on a tricycle.
A Few More Things to Consider:
Whose Agenda?
Watch for things that you may be pushing your child to do - things that may be reflecting your agenda - not your child's wishes. Your child will want to please you and prove that he is worthy of your love by doing these things.
Tools to Succeed
If your child is going to attempt something, give her the proper tools to succeed. Work with her to solve problems creatively; since life will never be tailor made for her, this is an important life skill. Get a sewing machine or find someone who can alter clothes and sports items. Find ways to adapt equipment to your child's needs, rather than expecting her to find ways to adapt her limb use to an inappropriate piece of equipment.
Your Child Doesn't Have to be a Hero
Teach your child that it is OK if he can't succeed at everything. If your child comes home crying because he can't climb the monkey bars, you can respond in one of two ways. You can tell the child that he can 'do anything' and have a prosthesis made to help him grasp the monkey bars (as one family did). Or you can point out that many other children can't climb the monkey bars - and that's OK. Then point out the many things that your child CAN do. Which approach will lead your child to develop a healthier attitude towards life?
© 2004. Laura Faye Clubok, MS, OTR/L, On The Other Hand Therapy.
Site by Deb's Webs


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Tuxedo Night is a night hosted by Barney and Ted in Definitions.
Although it is made out to be a regular occurence, it has only been seen once. Marshall has expressed disappointment that Barney and Ted haven't ever invited him to Tuxedo Night before, and even went so far as to have his own Tuxedo Night without telling Barney and Ted, to let them know how bad it feels to not be invited.
|Friends & Family
|Robin Scherbatsky • Marshall Eriksen • Lily Aldrin • Barney Stinson • Alfred Mosby • Virginia Mosby • Heather Mosby • Stacy • Ted's kids • Tracy McConnell
|MacLaren's Pub • The Apartment • Wesleyan University • Gazzola's • Ted's house • Goliath National Bank • New GNB Headquarters • Ted's Architecture Class • Ted's Second apartment • Puzzles
|Yellow Umbrella • The Threeway Belt • Blue French Horn • Sensory Deprivator 5000 • Naked Lady Noise • Tuxedo Night • Tantrum • TurTurkeyKey • Intervention banner • Doctor X • Red Cowboy Boots • The Swords • Five Words • Mock Salutes • Classic Shmosby
|Future Ted
|Future Ted's euphemisms
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.

subset: commoncrawl


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Woody Crops 2018 - International Short Rotation Woody Crops Conference
Rhinelander, WI, USA
July 23-26, 2018
This conference, organized by the Northern Research Station of the US Forest Service, was a joint meeting of the Poplar and Willow Council of Canada, Short Rotation Woody Crops Operations Working Group of the USA, IUFRO Working Party 2.08.04 (Physiology and Genetics of Poplar and Willow), IUFRO Working Party 1.03.00 (Short Rotation Forestry), International Energy Agency Bioenergy Agreement Task 43 (Biomass Feedstocks for Energy Markets) and the International Poplar Commission Environmental and Ecosystems Services Working Party. Close to 50 people from 14 States of the USA, 3 Provinces of Canada and 5 other countries participated in two days of technical presentations (29 oral and 8 posters). Abstracts of accepted presentations (including posters) have been published in the conference Proceedings in a special issue of the online open access journal Forests. The special issue also contains peer-reviewed papers related to conference presentations and other related topics. Many participants also took part in a 2-day pre-conference field tour in northern Minnesota and/or a 3-day post-conference field tour in eastern Wisconsin.
Illustrated News Item on the conference
Conference Proceedings (includes abstracts of all oral and poster presentations)
Special issue of Forests journal with conference-related papers
11th North American Forest Ecology Workshop
'Sustaining forests: from restoration to conservation'
Edmonton, AB
June 19-22, 2017
The workshop, a biennial conference of forest ecologists, scientists, forest land managers and academics, was hosted by the University of Alberta. More than 200 people participated in 3 days of technical presentations and a full day of field visits. Many of the 170 oral presentations and 33 posters concerned the ecology and management of poplars, including aspen. Conference organizers plan to publish some of the papers in the peer-reviewed journal Forest Ecology and Management. The Poplar and Willow Council of Canada held its annual business meeting during the conference.
News item on workshop and PWCC AGM
Guide for field tour to Al-Pac
Abstracts of presentations: nafew.org/2017-agenda/
25th Session of the International Poplar Commission (IPC) of FAO
'Poplars and other fast-growing trees - renewable resources for future green economies'
Berlin, Germany
September 13-16, 2016
This major international event of the International Poplar Commission (IPC), a statutory subsidiary body of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN, was hosted by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. It included 4 days of plenary and concurrent technical presentations and posters, as well as 3 consecutive one-day pre-conference field tours and 2 different 4-day post-conference field tours. The Session was attended by more than 200 participants from 37 countries, including 7 from Canada. Barb Thomas, past chair of the Poplar and Willow Council of Canada was re-elected to the IPC Executive Committee for a 4-year term.
News item on IPC Session - Photo Gallery
Article by Cees van Oosten on Post-Conference tour to Sweden
FAO site for IPC Session: www.fao.org/forestry/ipc2016/en/
2016 Poplar and Willow Council of Canada Annual Meeting
Regina, Saskatchewan
July 19-20, 2016
A small but interesting event was organized and hosted by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in Regina in conjunction with the annual business meeting of the PWCC. Twelve participants from six Canadian Provinces took part in the two-day gathering which had the general theme of 'Exploiting poplar and willow genetics for environmental applications.' On the first day, there were a total of eight oral and poster technical presentations ranging from reflections on poplar breeding at Indian Head to exploiting the genetic resources for Populus trichocarpa and P. balsamifera. On the second day participants traveled to Indian Head for a series of field visits on the Indian Head Research Farm of AAFC and nearby area.
Short illustrated news item on the meeting. Complete illustrated article. Technical presentations (PDF format). Photo gallery.
2015 Poplar and Willow Council of Canada Annual Meeting
Abitibi-Témiscamingue region, Quebec
September 15-18, 2015
Hosted and organized by the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) at UQAT's Lac-Duparquet Forest Research Station, this small-scale but very successful event brought together 17 participants from 4 different countries for 3 days of technical presentations and field tours in the boreal forest of northwest Quebec. The focus was on poplar and willow management in natural settings, and site reclamation with poplar and willow, with 10 oral presentations, visits to several hybrid poplar plantation trials and to revegetation trials of gold mine waste rock piles and tailing pond berms. Participants included the two 2015 winners of the PWCC/UBC Student Travel Awards who presented papers on their work.
Short illustrated news item on the meeting. Complete illustrated article. Photo gallery. On UQAT website: Abstracts and presentations.
6th International Poplar Symposium - IPS VI
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC
July 20-23, 2014. (Post-symposium field tours July 24-28.)
The Symposium included three days of oral and poster presentations, followed by a full day of field visits to poplar plantations and natural ecosystems in the Lower Fraser Valley. An additional three-day field tour to the Okanagan Valley in the south-central interior of British Columbia added the possibility of visits to poplar plantations irrigated by landfill leachate or municipal wastewater, as well as aspen-based industry, conifer tree improvement trials and operations, and a nut tree farm.
Available on the Poplar and Willow Council website: presentations, news item, photo gallery
Short Rotation Woody Crops Operations Working Group meeting
Seattle, WA, USA
July 17-19, 2014
The meeting included a day and a half of techical sessions on the theme of "Woody Crops: Production alternatives for multiple uses", as well as a half day to visit a demonstration site of poplars for biofuels near Seattle. A 2-day pre-conference tour provided an opportunity to visit GreenWood Resources plantings in the Boardman, OR area.
For information about the meeting, including abstracts of presentations: www.woodycrops.org/UpcomingMeetings/
International Poplar Commission (IPC) Working Party 6 'Environmental Applications' Workshop
Gisborne, New Zealand
March 10-12, 2014
The workshop was hosted by Plant and Food Research and the New Zealand Poplar and Willow Research Trust. It included a full day of technical presentations on the theme of 'Erosion control: the role of poplars and willows in holding slopes' followed by two days of field visits illustrating the use of poplars and willows to control soil erosion in the pastoral hill country of the northeast coast of the North Island of New Zealand. Three members of the Poplar and Willow Council participated in the workshop.
Illustrated article in Poplar Council newsletter.
13th Biennial North American Agroforestry Conference (NAAC) including Poplar Council annual meeting
Charlottetown, PEI
June 19-21, 2013. (Pre-conference tour June 18, starting in Fredericton, NB.)
The conference included a day and a half of invited and volunteer oral and poster presentations, as well as a full day of field visits on sites across Prince Edward Island. An optional pre-conference tour also showed agroforestry trials and activities in New Brunswick. The Poplar Council of Canada held its annual meeting in conjunction with the conference.
Photo gallery, illustrated article in Poplar Council newsletter.
International Poplar Commission 24th Session
"Improving Lives with Poplars and Willows"
Dehradun, India
29 October - 2 November 2012
This major international event of the International Poplar Commission (IPC), a statutory technical body of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN was hosted by the Indian Council for Forestry Research and Education and the Forest Research Institute. It included 4 days of plenary and concurrent technical presentations and posters, as well as a 2-day pre-conference field tour and a 4-day post-conference field tour. The Session was attended by more than 200 participants from 22 countries, including 6 from Canada. Poplar Council chair Barb Thomas was elected to the IPC Executive Committee.
News item on IPC Session : Photo gallery
FAO site for IPC Session: www.fao.org/forestry/ipc2012/en
Poplar Council of Canada Genetics Workshop and Annual Business Meeting
21-23 August 2012
Organized by the Genetics Working Group of the Poplar Council and the Direction de la recherche forestière, Ministère des Ressource naturelles et de la Faune du Québec, this event included a 1-day workshop meeting in Ste-Foy focussed on genetics and breeding (followed by the Poplar Council of Canada Annual Business Meeting of members) and 2 days of fieldtours to the Rimouski and Saguenay areas. The workshop was attended by 21 people, of whom about 15 also participated in the fieldtour.
Workshop report : Workshop presentations: Photo gallery
Poplar Council of Canada Conference & Annual Meeting
'Poplars and Willows on the Prairies: Traditional Practices meet Innovative Applications'
Edmonton, Alberta
18-22 September, 2011
Post-conference field tour to Fort McMurray Oil Sands
23-24 September, 2011
A joint event of the Poplar Council of Canada, International Poplar Commission 'Environmental Applications' Working Party (WP6) and the Poplar Council of the United States. The program included technical presentations, discussion and several days of field visits.
Conference presentations (including posters) - available in PDF format.
View photos from field tours in our Photo Gallery.


text: Both our dogs love these things! ( and Lucky is old ... she picky about about everything ). We stuff em with peanut butter or other treats and this will keep even our puppy entertained for a long awhile, and she's a bit crazy. Perfect for rainy days when I just can't take her out for her 4 or 5 mile walk ..in fact i kind of save them just for that or I have to deal with the sad eyes and the begging at the door all day lol


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Daniel Brown's Record Setting 47 Points Carries USA Juniors To 87-84 Win Over Lithuania
July 15, 2003
THESSALONIKI, Greece - In a game of a lifetime, Daniel 'Dee' Brown (Illinois/Maywood, Ill.) poured in a USA Junior World Championship record 47 points, including 19 of his team's 21 fourth quarter points, as the USA remained undefeated and improved to 5-0 after fighting back from 14 points down to post a heart stopping 87-84 victory over Lithuania (3-2) Tuesday afternoon.
UCLA's Ryan Hollins started for the third straight game and in 28 minutes, responded with 11 points (5-10, 0-0, 1-2), a team-high nine rebounds (7-2), one assist and two blocked shots. In five games (three starts), Hollins is averaging 18.8 minutes, 7.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.0 blocked shots and shooting 53.8 (14-26) from the field and 62.5 (10-16) from the foul line.
The win improved the USA to 2-0 in quarterfinals play and leaves it on top of the Group G standings. However, the United States needs a victory in Wednesday's final quarterfinals game against Australia (4-1, 1-1 in quarterfinals play) to insure it advances to the medal round semifinals. Australia in quarterfinals play earlier today recorded a narrow 83-82 victory over Puerto Rico (2-3, 0-2 in quarterfinals play).
'That was a great international basketball game. Lithuania was definitely ready to play. We were lucky to win the game because I don't think we were ready to play and 'Dee' Brown saved us,' stated Ernie Kent, the USA mentor. 'I can't say enough about 'Dee' Brown. Anybody that can knock down nine threes and all of them big threes, that tells me a lot about his character and type of player he is. We called a ton of plays for him down the stretch that gave him an opportunity to make buckets because he was the only one that was really shooting it very well from the perimeter.'
Daniel Brown was unstoppable, making 18-of-29 shots overall, including 9-of-15 from 3-point, and 2-for-2 from the foul line. Additionally, the 6'1' guard added four rebounds, six assists and six steals in 37 minutes of action.
Daniel Brown's 47 points surpassed Kenny Walker's previous USA high scoring record of 33 points, he also established USA records for most field goals made and attempted, and most 3-pointers made and attempted.
But even more impressive was the fact that Brown single-handily won the United States a crucial game. In the fourth quarter alone, he tallied 19 of the USA's 21 points, sinking 8-of-9 shots, including all five 3-pointers.
The game was deadlocked 64 all entering the fourth quarter. After Paul Davis (Michigan State/Rochester, Mich.) scored the USA's only points not from 'Dee' Brown with 6:56 left, the U.S. was holding a 71-68 lead. Lithuania's Linas Kleiza, who finished with 28 points and will be playing at the University of Missouri next season, scored eight straight points during a 10-2 offensive run that saw Lithuania surge ahead 78-74 with 4:50 to go.
Trailing 81-78 with 2:15 remaining, 'Dee' Brown hit his seventh 3-pointer of the game to even the score at 81-81. Lithuania's Kleiza missed a three and Daniel Brown came away with the rebound. On the other end, he again found the range from three to lift the U.S. ahead 84-81 with 1:27 left to play, then following another miss by Lithuania, did it again, sinking another 3-pointer to push the U.S. advantage to 87-81 with 48 seconds showing.
Lithuania made it tight when Arturas Jomantas made a three and his only shot in the game with 35.4 seconds left to close the deficit to 87-84. The U.S., turned the ball over, but Lithuania had difficulty getting anyone open and Gediminas Maceina launched a would be game tying 3-pointer that was well off the mark. De'Angelo Alexander (Oklahoma/Midwest City, Okla.) grabbed the rebound with 2.1 second to play and was immediately fouled. Lithuania however, was not yet in the bonus and when the USA in bounded the ball to Dee Brown, time expired and the USA had the win.
The USA fell into early foul trouble and struggled with its shooting in the opening quarter, and quickly found itself chasing Lithuania. With the U.S., shooting just 4-of-16 (25.0 percent) over the first 10 minutes, Lithuania made 10 of its first 16 shots and sprinted away from the USA with a 14-4 run midway through the opening stanza to expand its lead to 22-9.
Holding a 29-17 lead at the end of one, Lithuania pushed out to a 31-17 lead and with 6:25 to go in the quarter the lead was 12, 36-24. Switching to a zone defense, the U.S. began to find its rhythm. Behind a defense that allowed Lithuania just two field goals for the remaining 6:25, the Americans slowly fought back into the game.
'When we switched up and went zone (in the second quarter), I think that really caught them by surprise. We were able to still pressure their shots, and we got them to stand around. I thought they were really punishing us inside with No. 11 (Linas Kleiza). With the zone it took away their inside game and put them on the perimeter. We got them to miss and once they started to miss it allowed us to use our strength which is our quickness in transition,' remarked Kent on the game's swinging point.
Sparking the USA was Daniel Brown. With Daniel Brown contributing 13 points while Davis added five, the Americans closed out the rest of the first half with a 19-4 run, and after Daniel Brown connected on a 3-pointer with 1:16 left before half, the USA had its first lead of the game, 43-40. The USA improved its shooting, making 11-of-23 in the second period, and pressured Lithuania with its zone defense into a dooming 4-for-17 from the field, while forcing nine turnovers.
Lithuania outscored the United States 13-4 over the first 4:13 of the third quarter and again moved ahead 53-47. After the U.S. countered with a 15-2 run, with Daniel Brown accounting for eight points and Davis five, the U.S. had its biggest lead of the game, 62-55. Lithuania roared back once more and scored the third quarter's final seven points to deadlock the contest and set the stage for the down-to-the-wire finish.
While Daniel Brown carried the bulk of the USA offense, Davis finished with 13 points and Hollins (UCLA/Pasadena, Calif.) added 11 points and a team best nine rebounds. With neither team shooting better than 46 percent for the game, foul shooting may have been the difference. The U.S. made 12-of-13 free throws, setting another U.S. game record for highest percentage with its 92.3 accuracy, while Lithuania made just 15-of-24 charity tries.
In Tuesday's other Group G game, Australia (4-1) got back on the winning track after pulling out an 83-82 victory over Puerto Rico, while in Group H, Croatia bettered Slovenia 113-103. In the consolation bracket, Argentina knocked off Iran 94-62, Venezuela defeated China 76-58, and South Korea outscored Angola 101-78. The evening's final games to be played feature 4-0 Greece taking on Turkey (3-1) and Nigeria meeting Malaysia in the consolation round.
The 7th Annual FIBA Men's Junior World Championship is being held July 10-20 in Thessaloniki, Greece. Featuring 16 junior national teams that qualified last summer, eligibility for the 2003 USA Basketball Men's Junior World Championship Team is limited to any male athlete who is a U.S. citizen and 19-years-old or younger (born on or before Jan. 1, 1984). The USA team finalists were selected by the USA Basketball Men's Collegiate Committee. The official 12-member USA junior team was finalized during the team's June 24-July 6 training camp in Dallas.
2003 FIBA Men's Junior World Championship Schedule/Results
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|2- 1
|South Korea
|Puerto Rico
|1- 2
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|3- 0
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TODAY | 5:00pm PTLive
TODAY | 7:00pm PTLive
Pac-12 PlaylistTODAY | 9:00pm PTLive


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Interview with Roddy Bray about Nelson Mandela [audio]
A brief overview of the life of Nelson Mandela by Roddy Bray. Listen to the audio using the link above, and read the transcription below.
Travelling through the Transkei in January 2010 we headed, like pilgrims seeking inspiration, to Qunu, the remote district where Nelson Mandela grew up and to which he has retired. We chatted to a guide at the Mandela centre, and the kids slid down the granite rock where Nelson once played . Reflecting on his life I recorded this talk, the script and photos are below.
This is the Qunu district of the Transkei, a remote region of rural life in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. These are the hills where Nelson Mandela grew up, and this is where he retired. He was born in 1918 at Mvezo, 20 miles south of here. His father, Henry Mandela, was a chief, and an advisor to the Regent of the Thembu people, but after a dispute with the colonial magistrate the family fled Mvezo empty handed and became refugees here at Qunu. As a boy Nelson learned to herd cattle across these hills. He also played at stick fighting with the other boys, and was careful never to humiliate those he defeated.
Henry Mandela died when Nelson was only nine, another experience of loss and separation that would become so familiar during his life. He was taken in by the Regent, Jongintaba, and he grew up in the royal court, quietly listening to political debates, learning a tradition in which discussion continues until unity is achieved. Nelson also learned of the colonial conquest fifty years before, and the long resistance to white rule made by leaders like Makhana, who was imprisoned on Robben Island.
Nelson was sent to Methodist missionary schools. Here he had a fine education, and learned Christian values such as forgiveness. The Regent tried to force Nelson into an arranged marriage, and he ran away to Johannesburg. He found work as a security guard, but set his heart on being a lawyer. He graduated in law from the University of the Witwatersrand and opened the first black law practise in South Africa.
As a lawyer he was a people's champion, defending victims of the new apartheid system, which discriminated against black people. He was asked to lead boycotts and speak at rallies and became a popular political leader. His message was simple: non-racialism, equal rights and democracy. In 1956 he was put on trial for 'treason' but after five years defending his cause he Repressive laws forced Mandela into hiding in the early 1960s. Despairing of peaceful protest he led a campaign to commit limited acts of sabotage.
After a year on the run he was finally arrested and sentenced to hard labour for life on Robben Island.He would remain in prison for the rest of his 40s, 50s and 60s, and was only freed at the age of 72. He was cut off from his young family and political work, confined to a tiny bare cell. Robben Island was designed to break the spirit of political leaders. The guards were the hardest racists. The prisoners had little protection from them, nor the cold stone floor on which they slept. Each day, they dug with shovels in the harsh brightness of a lime quarry watched by guards with weapons. They were subjected to petty rules, cruelties and restrictions, to torment them and cauterise hope.
Mandela suffered deeply, but in prison he determined to be free in spirit and he constantly measured his dignity. He practised self-control, politeness, sincerity, humility and generosity. He gave leadership to the other prisoners; he emphasised education, each man helping another to further his studies. He led debates. And he kept up the struggle. He organised protests to demand better conditions. He set about winning over the guards, the hardest of opponents. He learned Afrikaans and Afrikaner history. In their own language, with reference to their own culture, Mandela reasoned with them. He sought to understand their hidden fears and learned how to persuade them. Many guards softened, and they were replaced regularly. In jail Mandela developed deep spiritual resources and powerful diplomatic skills.
When he was released in 1990, he was ready to become a towering statesman. Mandela was not a revolutionary bent upon seizing power, his ambition was higher, to convince all South Africans to embrace reconciliation, fairness and learn to live in harmony. He led South Africa from a nightmare of hatred and violence to a liberal democracy he called 'the rainbow nation'. The transformation was widely described as a miracle.
For the first time in history an oppressive minority government gave up power voluntarily, in exchange for Mandela's vision of reconciliation. Mandela was elected South Africa's first black president in 1994, with 66% of the vote. Two years later his values were enshrined in a highly praised constitution. His Presidency was characterised by nation building and peace efforts around the world. And unlike dictators and so many populists, he left office after only one term. He showed no love of power, only a fearless commitment to the most noble of values, which he had treasured even in the most terrible of times.
Related articles include Roddy Bray's article on 'South Africa' and 'The Struggle Against Apartheid' by Robin Binckes.
Author: Roddy Bray
Published Date: 01 May 2010
Location: Southern Africa, Worldwide | South Africa
Themes: the past | 1945 - 1990, 1990 - present, biography, inspiring


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Test your CCNA skills as you prepare for the CCNA Routing and Switching exams
To achieve CCNA Routing and Switching certification, you'll need to demonstrate a solid understanding of IP data networks, LAN switching technologies, IP addressing and routing technologies, network device security, WAN technologies, and more. Now you can test the effectiveness of your study for the CCNA Routing and Switching exams. 1,001 CCNA Routing and Switching Practice Questions For Dummies covers all the core categories of the exams and helps you thoroughly prepare with 1,001 practice questions.
Each chapter covers a single topic and opens with a quick summary of the type of questions you'll encounter, as well as what to watch out for during the test. Best of all, you'll receive a redeemable code to access all 1,001 practice questions online, free, for one year!
Practice, then practice some more with 1,001 CCNA Routing and Switching Practice Questions For Dummies.


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Dan Garrett blinked his eyes, wondering why he couldn't see. He felt around, realized he was pinned under something. He thought back to the last thing he could remember.
He had joined an expedition mounted by his friend, and former student, Ted Kord. The goal was to find Ted's Uncle Jarvis and discover what was going on. Ted believed his uncle was building robots to attack the main land from Pago Island.
Jarvis Kord had assembled an army of mechanical men. Dan remembered activating his scarab to transform into the Blue Beetle. He had been winning, and then an explosion smashed him. He had the satisfaction that Jarvis would not hurt anyone else after that.
Things had gone black after that.
Ted must have thought he was dead. His friend wouldn't have left otherwise. Maybe this was the afterlife. He imagined Anubis weighing the scales of his heart to enter the underworld.
The archaeologist pushed, trying to get his arms out of being pinned down. The armor of his costume rubbed against his skin. He still had a chance with the strength he deprived from the beetle.
Garrett remembered finding the thing in a tomb of a forgotten king. It had spoken to him, asking him to be its champion. He had agreed, taking on the name of a hero who had operated during the war. His father had told him of the Blue Beetle many times.
Dan called lightning into being and blasted the material pinning him down. He realized it was the remains of Jarvis Kord's lab. He wondered how long he had been asleep. Ted might be lying close by, hurt by the explosion he had tried to block.
Dan's lightning blast gouged a depression in the pinning rock and wood. He fired again, hoping to drill through to the surface. The mass shifted, telling him that he had picked the right direction to start blasting.
Dan smiled. He had enough room to move his arms, to apply his strength. He would be out of this pit soon.
Dan pushed against the crater he had dug to get him some room. The supernatural strength he possessed allowed him to keep pressing, splitting the tons of weight trying to hold him down. The Beetle sat up, then made his way to his feet, until he was standing in the hole he created. He kept pushing until he had to stretch to push against the coffin lid.
Then he activated his flight to keep pushing upward.
The rock would bend to his will, and he would return to the world.


text:
Beware!I ordered the complete kit version on 10/25/10. It never arrived nor did they reply to my Emails. As soon as I filed a Paypal dispute on 11/16/10 they refunded most - $1.99 USD short - of my money.CR
They're quite useful for auto purposes, I managed to sort my injector timing with one
What's your opinion on the PC-based ones, I mean the inexpensive kind, not the multi-thousand dollar rigs
I don't have a scope, and even have been thinking about checking the forums and google for any particularly good microcontroller-based projects. Seems a natural, so I have always assumed there would be a thousand poor implementations, but few halfway decent ones.
That being said, I've even been tossing around the idea of a basic logic analyzer/oscilloscope design that uses Arduino (easy enough, plenty of inputs, fairly fast) with the TVout library. I don't know about others, but that lib provides a very low cost, high-complexity display option that most of us have already.. many of my current projects use TVout because portable NTSC displays are readily had from broken portable dvd players, if not the good ole family tv. I would love to be able to flash the boarduino with software making it a logic analyzer/scope when I needed it, and then reflash the chip for other purposes after I was done with the need. No need to dedicate hardware, except for the amplifier circuitry and such. Given the settle time of the a/d and all that, I suppose it might not be fast enough for fast signals, but audio and logic ranges ought to be well within sampling range.


text:
The VATSIM Pilot Ratings Scheme was introduced in 2010. The scheme has several goals: -
- To promote activity to train VATSIM pilots at all stages of experience using third party resources such as Cix VFR Club who are qualified and monitored by VATSIM. The list of tasks to be done to qualify for a VATSIM pilot rating are detailed by VATSIM but the Club has been allowed to build it's own methods and procedures for delivering ratings.
- It aims to provide pilots with recognition for having achieved demonstrated success in online flying at several levels and with a consistent worldwide standard for each rating.
- Although global in scope the scheme fully recognises regional and local variance from ICAO standards. The Club, being a VFR Club based in the United Kingdom will deliver its training and tests using the rules which apply in the United Kingdom.
On the left is our ATO Certificate. Click image to view a larger copy. Click this link to download as a pdf.
N.B. It must be emphasised that this scheme is not compulsory. many pilots will choose not to gain these ratings, and that is, and always will be, acceptable to VATSIM, as declared by the Founders in 2009.


text:
Your gateway to a successful ICO
Apply for an express project reviewGet first consultation Download One Pager
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Partner at Hax Ventures (Singaporean fund and accelerator). Head of Innovation Sub-committee at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russian Federation. Founder and CEO of MOST Marketing — leading Russian consultancy group (marketing, investments, GR). Mentor at Skolkovo Foundation — the main innovation hub Russia. Guided several recent successful ICOs
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Business Development consultant with the international experience, Advisor, international events coordinator and entrepreneur
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Marketing professional, founder of Runway Media marketing agency. Strongly experienced in digital marketing and business development for world-known high-technology brands and global crypto and fin-tech startups. ICO/STO marketing advisor.
Founder and technical leader of several high-tech projects. Master of Computer Science (MIPT), more than 15 years experience in IT sphere. Expert in blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. Provided technical guidance to the several projects with recent successful ICOs.
Priority Token Asia, Partner
Eldwin is a serial entrepreneur with business interest across various industries. He founded EMVertex in 2007 and the company and its subsidiaries now provide consulting services, investment, financing, bank brokerage and ICO advisory. In the ICO space, Eldwin advised various companies on their token economy and successfully assisted them in their fund raising.
PTKorea Managing Director
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Business development and Finance specialist with over 10 years experience across global brands and start-ups in the IT and finance sectors. Deep understanding of the blockchain and crypto fields with focus on providing new clients with specifically tailored and flexible support solutions for your ICO project.
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Business consultant and entrepreneur with 10+ years of experience in strategy and operations consulting in various industries. Since 2017 - project manager and whitepaper writer for launching of an ICO process for our clients. Have had exposure to ICO projects in finance, telecom, drones and AR/VR.
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Country Representative Malaysia
PT Managing Director (Latin America)
PT Managing Director (UK)
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Our advisers can help with a review of a project's materials as well as some additional services and connections they possess
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Executive Vice Chairman of HKIBFA
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Serial ICO entrepreneur and investor. Ex-VP of Skolkovo Foundation. Former executive of Rosatom, Sibur, Transmashholding and Aton Investment Company.
Serial ICO entrepreneur and investor. CEO of FINiK Ltd. Organizer of blockchain meetups.
Co-founder and CEO of DI Group (managing company for Creopop, Lepa, Football School Junior and other projects). CEO of HaxVentures (VC + accelerator in hardware and IoT in Singapore, Israel, and Russia).
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We offer direct support from our event-manager and/or investors relation manager on selected events. Contact us to arrange a meeting at one of the upcoming events.
Priority Token is always on a search to find the new blockchain unicorns. We are looking for companies and startups in need of financial backing to take part in our June Asian Tour. The Tour is aimed at gathering all the most perspective ICO/STO/IEO projects together and introducing them to the Asian investors.Read more
Priority Token is always on a search to find the new blockchain unicorns. We are looking for companies and startups in need of financial backing to take part in our June Asian Tour. The Tour is aimed at gathering all the most perspective ICO/STO/IEO projects together and introducing them to the Asian investors.Read more
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July 24, 2018
Telegram is a popular messaging platform progressively gaining the attention of marketers, during the past years. And it's an awesome marketing tool – learning how to use Telegram for Content Promotion…
In 2018, ICOs raised nearly $8 billion. But as many know too well, the ICO wave has since come crashing down. ICOs now raise about 58 times less than they did just a little more than one year ago.
IEO presents a wonderful opportunity for startups to raise funds transparently, securely and quickly. To capture this opportunity, should engage the right IEO marketing company to assist with token preparation,…
Initial exchange offerings are big business: according to Inwara, IEO projects raised a cool $1.625 billion in the first half of 2019. H2 has continued that trend, with the leading exchange launchpads…
In the early days of crypto, listing a coin on an exchange was not that hard. These days, the majority of global crypto exchanges are evolving quite quickly, as they grow savvier in terms of regulations.…
At the most basic level, Security Token Offerings (STO) are relatively similar to Initial Coin Offerings. Basically, an investor is issued with a token that represents their investment. But, in an STO,…
The ICO market seems to be on the decline, with IEOs gradually taking its place, as projects enjoy the benefits of the latter. In this article, we talk about how the global crypto exchanges are choosing…
The emergence of the initial exchange offering has been welcomed with open arms by those in the world of digital currencies. They offer a more affordable and reliable method for projects to raise funds.…
An initial exchange offering or IEO is a crowdfunding strategy that provides an alternative to the already well-known initial coin offerings (ICOs). In an IEO, the tokens are administered by a cryptocurrency…
STOs have completely changed the game by fixing all the problems with ICOs, in addition to offering even more flexibility. The tremendous experience accumulated by investors during the ICO boom made everyone…
We welcome you as a Priority Token Franchisee if:


text:
C. M. Gleason
printed copy
C. M. Gleason
With the Confederate Army firing on Fort Sumter, the Civil War has begun—and an invasion of Washington, DC, from Secessionist Virginia seems imminent. As the population evacuates, the President is in desperate need of men to defend the capital.
Lincoln's trusted aide, Adam Speed Quinn, and Quinn's old friend from the Bloody Kansas conflict, Senator Jim Lane, hastily assemble a motley crew of just over a hundred men and garrison them in the East Room at the White House itself. Dubbed the Frontier Guard, these rough-and-tumble patriots steel themselves for the inevitable attack.
But even as dawn breaks with no Rebel strike, a single act of violence intrudes within the White House. One of the Frontier Guard lies dead in the oval library, throat slit ear to ear. There is a murderer among them.
Lincoln promptly assigns Quinn to deal with the matter, who is in turn aided by journalist Sophie Gates and Dr. George Hilton. And to Quinn's chagrin, the Southern belle Constance Lemagne insists on being involved in the investigation as well. But when Dr. Hilton examines the body, he makes a startling discovery that overturns all Quinn's assumptions about the murder. With his president at grave risk from without and within, Quinn must act quickly to catch the White House killer . . .
Praise For The Previous Works Of C. M. Gleason
"Exhilarating . . . Sure to please." —The New York Times Sunday Book Review
"Wonderfully witty . . . deliciously dark and delightfully entertaining." —The Chicago Tribune
"Sophisticated, sexy, surprising . . . This book grabs you and holds you tight till the very last page!" —#1 New York Times bestselling author J. R. Ward
"Gleason's novel is a well-oiled machine . . . the authentic historical framework . . . the compelling personalities."—School Library Journal
"Witty, intriguing, and addictive." —Publishers Weekly
"Phenomenal storytelling." —RT Book Reviews
Based on 0 reviews


text:
|Curtis Feeny
Managing Director, Voyager Capital
Mr. Feeny has been a Managing Director of Voyager Capital, a venture capital firm, since January 2000. Mr. Feeny has invested in enterprise software, data center systems, wireless infrastructure and Smart Grid technologies, and represents Voyager on the boards of several of its privately held portfolio companies. He also has expertise in SaaS, open source, and capital efficient software companies. In 2001, Curtis was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Board of Directors of the Presidio Trust, where he served until 2006. From 1992 through 1999, Mr. Feeny served as Executive Vice President of Stanford Management Co., which manages the Stanford University endowment, during which time the endowment's assets under management grew from $1.5 billion to $9.0 billion. He was responsible for investing and managing real estate and other asset classes including private equity and venture capital.


text:
Here's a shot of a couple of the workers militia for A Very British Civil War (figures by Musketeer Miniatures) that I varnished this afternoon. I think they've turned out alright! I hope you like them too.
This one's my favourite. He looks like a typical northerner with that trendy moustache. I particularly like how his shirt and tie turned out.


text:
In May of 2012 Kate donned this teal Jenny Packham gown for a pre-Olympic concert held at Royal Albert Hall. (For my original post on that gown, see here.)
She chose to accessorise her custom designer gown with an up-do that showed off her minimal jewelry, namely a set of pavé drop earrings.
While the exact brand of the earrings remains unknown, the eagle eyed jewelry spotter over at DianasJewels.net determined that due to their construction they were most definitely costume jewelry.
|Image via StyleBistro.
Here are a few more angles and close-ups. I'm glad Kate wore her hair up for a change instead of down which tends to cover her jewelry and thus negate the whole purpose of wearing any!
A pair of pavé drops aren't too difficult to come across but I stumbled upon this version by Charming Charlie.
This pair retails for approximately $15 USD.
|Charming Charlie - "Twinkling Lights" pavé drops.
For you non-earring wearers or those who like their jewelry in sets, it also comes as a necklace pendant for approximately $10 USD.
|Charming Charlie - pavé drop pendant necklace.


text:
Marriage between closely related cousins is a heavy taboo in many cultures and its critics often cite the higher risk of genetic diseases associated with inbreeding. That risk is certainly apparent for very close relatives, but a new study from Iceland shows that very distant relatives don't have it easy either. In the long run, they have just as few children and grandchildren as closely related ones.
Shuffling the genetic deck
Sex chromosomes aside, every person has two copies of each gene, one inherited from their father and one by their mother. Not every gene will be in correct working order, but there's a good chance that a faulty copy will be offset by a functional one from the other parent.
However, if two parents are closely related, there's a higher-than-average chance that they will already share some of the same genes and a similarly increased chance that their child will receive two defective copies. That can be very bad news indeed and in cases where important genes are affected, the results can include miscarriage, birth defects or early death.
Sex, then, is a shuffling of their genetic deck and theoretically the more closely related the partners are, the greater the chance that their child will be dealt a dud hand. And yet, some studies have found that some closely related couples actually do better than distant relatives in terms of the number of children they manage to raise. This trend is certainly unexpected and the big question is whether it is the result of biology or money.
Wealth or genes
In societies where close relatives marry, these unions tend to happen at a relatively early age and they provide avenues for families to retain wealth and land within bloodlines. These related couples enjoy the health benefits enjoyed by the rich as well as more time in which to raise a larger family. Together, these two effects could more than make up for any disadvantages wrought by their genes.
Earlier studies have done little to clear the confusion. They have mostly been conducted in parts of the world like India, Pakistan and the Middle East where marriage between close relatives is relatively frequent, but which are also home to enormous gulfs between the richest and poorest members of society. With demographics like these, sorting out the relative contribution of socioeconomics and biology is difficult.
To do that, what you need is a country with a small population where couples are reasonably closely related and with a very shallow gradient between rich and poor. Ideally, you'd also want this country to have excellent family records dating back several years. In short, you'd want to base your study in a country almost exactly like Iceland.
200 years of Iceland
Iceland is home to a tiny population of just over 300,000 people who enjoy a level of social equality that is almost unparalleled elsewhere in the world. Wealth, family size and cultural practices are fairly uniform. The country is also home to uniquely impressive geneaological records that allow today's Icelanders to track their family trees with exacting precision for centuries. These records are supplemented by thorough medical records and thousands of willingly donated genetic samples.
Agnar Helgason from deCODE Genetics, a pharmaceutical company located in Reykjavik, made good use of these records to study over 160,000 Icelandic couples since 1800. At this time, Iceland was still a poor agricultural nation and close-knit rural communities meant that on average, couples were related at the level of third or fourth cousins.
Since then, the country has prospered into a wealthy industrial one and the growing population has shifted to a mainly urban way of life. In doing so, people became more likely to find partners who were more distantly related and by 1965, couples were only related at the level of fifth cousins on average
As expected, Helgarson's study unveiled the dangers of close inbreeding. While the most closely related couples had the highest number of children, many of them failed to live long enough to have children of their own and in the long run these couples had the fewest grandchildren.
But surprisingly, distantly related couples were at a disadvantage too. In fact, Helgarson found that couples related at the level of third cousins eventually fostered the largest families. For example, among women born between 1800 and 1824, those partnered with men who were third cousins had an average of 4 children and 9 grandchildren, while those partnered with a distant eighth cousin had just 3 children and 7 grandchildren. For starting large families, very distant relatives were just as poor prospects as very close ones.
Over the 200 years included in the study, Iceland has seen a steep decline in both fertility and relatedness between couples. And despite all that, for every 25-year period the Helgarson looked at, the same pattern held – couples who were moderately closely related ended up with the largest number of descendants.
These remarkably consistent results have convinced Helgarson that the counterintuitive effect must have some biological foundation. Its exact nature will have to wait for another study and for now, we are left only with speculation.
It could be that a child's immune system may be more compatible with its mother's if its father is reasonably closely related to her. Alternatively, a union between distant relatives could serve to splinter groups of beneficial genes that have evolved in close association with each other.
The study's implications for societal taboos against marriages between close cousins is open for debate. Certainly, it doesn't mean that singletons should be sifting through their phone books on the hunt for attractive third cousins. However, the relatively poor reproductive success of distant relatives has the potential to explain the massive decline in fertility in many countries the world over.
In the time that Iceland has gone from rural agriculture to urban industry, its population growth has slowed and its fertility rates have declined, a trend shared by a slew of other nations. Helgarson suggests that this could, at least in part, be due to people finding ever more distantly related partners.
Image: Wedding photo by Claude Renault
Reference: Helgason, A., Palsson, S., Guthbjartsson, D.F., Kristjansson, t., Stefansson, K. (2008). An Association Between the Kinship and Fertility of Human Couples. Science, 319(5864), 813-816. DOI: 10.1126/science.1150232
Filed under: Culture, Genetics, Health & Medicine, Science & society, Sex | Tagged: cousins, fertility, inbreeding, kinship, marriage, relatedness, science |


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text:
It is time for a makeover around your property Odor Blocking Paint. Here are a few sought after interior remodeling plans from Lois Carter designed to freshen up your home noticeably.
You may start by giving your yard really good gardening. People cherish viewing vegetation, especially in the city spots April 28, 2016 at 10:10 pm. Aside from turning your house exterior appears more attractive, giving your yard greenery like trees and shrubs into your garden helps calming down your house, lowers noise pollution and offers fresher air quality.
Assuming your kitchen has not been redesigned for years, you will certainly benefit from a makeover. In case you have old home appliances Odor Blocking Paint, you need to exchange them with the new ones that are more energy efficient. Most potential home buyers nowadays expect a walk-in pantry, an eating area, and a deep double sink.
Having more space as compared to the average residences will improve your home price. Constructing an attic bedroom, creating functional basement, and setting up wooden deck are a couple of pointers to make additional liveable space 2245.
Interior remodeling Odor Blocking Paint is a smart decision but be sure you choose the right project which gives considerable outcome without creating holes in your bank.


text:
"Let's Go to the Hop"
Season 2, Episode 14
In order to convince high school kids that licking psychoactive toads is not cool, Peter goes undercover at Meg's high school as Lando Griffin. The coolest cat in town rocks classic '50s greaser style, with a black T-shirt, sturdy denim, and a pompadour that would make James Dean blush. In keeping with the look, Lando rocks a baby blue tux to the Winter Ball, complete with rippled sole oxfords. Unfortunately, Lando's dope style can't save him from driving his motorcycle off of Dead Man's Curve.


text:
Love this Product!
I love this thickening shampoo and conditioner. I got a sample of this from an event I attended and almost immediately ordered the full bottles because my hair was instantly thicker after a single use. It's not permanent of course, there were a few days while I was waiting to receive this product that I went back to my old shampoo and had the same thin hair I started with.5


text:
Hundreds of thousands of farm acres in California won't be growing crops for lack of water. This means higher prices for produce and that will affect food banks throughout the state.
The State of California is giving $25 million in extra aid to food banks in 24 counties affected by the drought.
Mike Mallory is with Second Harvest Food Bank which serves the Mother Lode, Stanislaus and San Joaquin Counties. He says the drought is putting increasing numbers of people out of work.
"It's sad but it's going to go up, how much I don't know, but as people relocate and try to find jobs, we're going to see the need go up."
Food banks in California feed 2 to 3 million people a year, and most of the food they provide has to be purchased.
Sue Sigler of the California Association of Food Banks says the food banks expect to be hit with higher costs for fresh produce because of the drought.
"We know that we will be able to get adequate amounts of product but we also know that it's going to be more expensive," Sigler says.
The state aid will be available to food banks in early May.


text:
Ovanligt bra Veckans Peptalk av Olof Röhlander idag. Vilket för mig till tanken om begåvade Lou Reeds bortgång igår… vars texter är poesi.
Utdrag ur Magic and loss – The Summation Lyrics:
They say no one person can do it all
but you want to in your head
But you can't be Shakespeare and you can't be Joyce
so what is left instead
You're stuck with yourself and a rage that can hurt you
you have to start at the beginning again
And just this moment this wonderful fire
started up again
When you pass through humble, when you pass through sickly
when you pass through I'm better than you all
When you pass through anger and self deprecation
and have the strength to acknowledge it all
When the past makes you laugh and you can savor the magic
that let you survive your own war
You find that that fire is passion
and there's a door up ahead not a wall
So, why not take a walk on the wild side…?


text:
The Terrier women's lacrosse team fell 19-4 to Heidelberg University on Tuesday evening.
Heidelberg took control of the game early, scoring their first tally in the opening minute, running out to an 11-0 lead.
The Terriers posted one goal in the first half and three more in the second.
Tayler Hall led the Hiram attack, scoring Hiram's lone goal in the opening half on a free-position tally. She would add two more in the second half, notching her second hat trick in three games.
The remaining goal by the Terriers was tallied by senior Katelyn Slomovitz, who tallied her team-leading 10th of the season.
Defensively, Tia Smith, Hall and Slomovitz all totaled three ground balls. Gillian McMaster totaled 10 saves while facing 29 shots.
Hiram will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they travel to New Concord, Ohio to take on Muskingum University. The matchup with the Muskies is scheduled for 1 p.m.


text:
By Wasiq Ali
The Washington Post of September 25, 2009 carries a news story about the rising anti-Americanism in Pakistan titled Anti-U.S. Wave Imperiling Efforts in Pakistan, Officials Say
As the story points out – "A new wave of anti-American sentiment in Pakistan has slowed the arrival of hundreds of U.S. civilian and military officials charged with implementing assistance programs, undermined cooperation in the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and put American lives at risk, according to officials from both countries."
Those who have leaked the story have deliberately chosen to do so at a time when the Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP) summit is going on.
Stories like these have been leaked by people who think they can harm President Asif Ali Zardari and Ambassador Husain Haqqani. However, what they fail to understand is that President Zardari and Ambassador Haqqani represent Pakistan and that in spreading such stories they are hurting Pakistan.
The international community is on the side of Pakistan and Pakistanis and wants to help them. We need trade, aid and assistance from our allies like the United States. The Kerry-Lugar bill which was just passed has increased American aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion every year for the next five years. This is time to strengthen Pakistan's relations with the United States and not to attack the relationship.
The WP story has an interview with America-hater Shireen Mazari who states "I definitely have concerns about the Americans' intentions here, especially that they would like to get access to our nuclear assets. The U.S. mind-set is suspicious of strong Muslim states, and there is a certain imperial arrogance in their behavior that Pakistanis like me don't like."
The way that Shireen Mazari has given an interview very clearly shows us that it is her lobby and associates who have leaked this story. From their point of view they think they are hurting the PPP-led government and 'scoring points.'
But from the point of view of the average Pakistani they are hurting his livelihood and the future of his children. If more economic assistance and investment comes into the country then there will be more jobs, better schools, improved infrastructure and higher pay.
Instead of attacking people like Ambassador Haqqani as being pro-American we actually owe him a huge thanks for using all the skills at his and his embassy's disposal to improve the US-Pakistan relationship. As the WP story states "At the highest levels, bilateral cooperation is said to be running smoothly. President Obama and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari met Thursday in New York with a gathering of Pakistan's international 'friends.' The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, meets regularly with his Pakistani counterpart, Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani."
However, "just below the top, officials in Islamabad and Washington say, the relationship is fraught with mutual suspicion and is under pressure so extreme that it threatens cooperation against the insurgents."
What this means is that the leaders of both countries realize that it is in their benefit to move ahead, the problems are more at the mid and mid-to-lower level officials. It is interesting that the WP story says that a recent Pew Research Center poll "found considerable support for the "idea" of working with the United States to combat terrorism." This means that the average Pakistani is supportive of American assistance. The problem comes from conspiracy theorists, anti-Americanists like Shireen Mazari and others who want to rile people over issues without realizing that this is going to hurt the country in the long term.
Tags: Gilani, Pakistan, Pakistan-US, US-Pakistan, Zardari


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Daniel Craig returns as James Bond in the 23rd instalment of the 007 series, which had its world premiere in London.
Skyfall is Craig's third outing as the British secret agent. The movie sees Bond's allegiance to M - played by Dame Judi Dench - challenged as her past comes back to haunt her.
After turning down a past offer to play opposite Bond, Javier Bardem appears as the villain. Skyfall's Bond girls include British actress Naomie Harris and her French counterpart Bérénice Marlohe.
The film is directed by Sam Mendes. It is the 23rd in the Bond franchise and the first that the British filmmaker, who won a best director Oscar in 2000 for American Beauty, has been involved with.
The 22 Bond films have to date grossed $5.1 billion at the worldwide box office. The last film, 2008's Quantum of Solace, grossed nearly $600 million globally.
Skyfall, produced by MGM, will be distributed in the UK by Sony Pictures Entertainment and in the United States by Columbia Pictures, both units of Sony Corp.
Skyfall opens in UK theatres on October 26 and in the US on November 9.


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Full Moon Rising
Thought I would start the week off with something truly awe inspiring. Thanks Tamara for passing this on to me!
The Australian Mark Gee video captured a stunning image of the moon hovering over the viewpoint of Mount Victoria in Wellington (New Zealand). Within days, the video reached 110,000 views and is a rage on the Vimeo website."People met up there that night to get the best view of the moon. To capture the video was necessary to be at about 2.1 miles away, on the other side of town," said Gee in the description of the recording. According to the author, this is material as it was filmed, without there having been any manipulation. "It's something I had long wanted to photograph. Has been much planning and failed attempts," he said.
The video lasts about three minutes and it's amazing.


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Hotshot (UK) (1988) ROM
Amstrad CPC ROMsGenre: ActionSportsPinballBlock-Breaking
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OverviewHotshot is a two-player competitive game that's a cross between Breakout and Pinball, where athletes of the future duel it out with vacuum-powered ball launchers.
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I just read an article about a new program in Ontario aimed at helping high school students decide what they want to do after they graduate. The writer references a census done by the Toronto District School Board that shows 73 percent of its grades 9 to 12 students say they are worried about their future. Some of the causes of students' worries noted in the article are Canada's high youth unemployment rate (nearly double the national average), the cost of post-secondary education and level of debt college and university students graduate with, and lack of labour market information and supports. It is the latter that the new program aims to address.
What really caught my attention, though, was a poll embedded in the article. The question was 'Is kindergarten too early to start discussing a child's career choice?' I had to rub my eyes and reread the question but yes, that's what it said. I then clicked on the 'view results' button and, not surprisingly, 82% of readers who responded to the pool chose 'yes, kindergarten is too early to start discussing a child's career choice' while 18% responded it was not too early. I count myself among the 82% for a number of reasons not the least of which is that four and five-year olds simply do not have the experience or vocabulary to engage in conversations about careers. That being said, exposing children to a variety of careers can be helpful when it comes to those conversations and making decisions later in life. When I was in elementary school, I remember going on field trips to the police station, the symphony, the firefighters' hall, among other places. The people who worked at those places talked to us about their background and day-to-day work and sometimes we were even given some hands-on activities, like sliding down the fire pole. Yipee!
I would support exposing children to careers in this and other ways not just so they can learn there is more out there besides teacher and what mom and dad do, but also to breakdown stereotypes about work that are based on gender, class and other factors (e.g. making sure they hear from both female and male firefighters when they visit the fire hall). However, I can't see how asking very young children to think and talk seriously about their own career can be all that helpful. What probably prompted the writer to include the poll in the article was a comment made by someone who works for the organization that facilitates the new program. Commenting on the cost of the program, which will be about $1,000 per student, she said, "It's better to pay a little up front and know your child is making the right decisions than pay for four years of university and have your child say I'm in the wrong program." What this fails to recognize is: (1) when you ask workers if they are doing what they thought they would be doing when they were 18 the vast majority will say 'no' and (2), as people grow (e.g. experience new things, develop new knowledge and skills) their career aspirations shift. So it is not surprising that many – not all – university students change programs or otherwise alter their career plans during a time of their life when they are doing a lot of discovery learning. As John Krumboltz and Al Levin, authors Luck is no accident (one of my favourite career planning books) write, asking a young person to make a commitment to an occupation they haven't even tried out - and expecting them to stick with their decision - is like asking them to choose their future spouse before the first date!


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Lions 2013: The fall-out from Jonny Wilkinson's Australia opt-out
- From the section Rugby Union
On a day when 37 players were selected for the British and Irish Lions, it might seem strange that so much attention is being focused on one man who missed out.
There will be those who feel that the omission of hooker Rory Best should be a bigger rugby talking point than that of Jonny Wilkinson.
There is also the matter of the surprise inclusions: Matt Stevens, once banned, now retired from England duty; Mako Vunipola, not first choice for England; Sean Maitland, Scotland's Kiwi convert who was on no-one's list at the start of the year.
There are meaty bones to pick over in coach Warren Gatland's squad: the decision to take just two fly-halves, the shortage of genuine inside-centres, selecting in Welshman Sam Warburton a skipper who so recently lost the honour of leading his own country.
Yet, of all those, it was the jilting of Jonny that dominated the news conference afterwards and the headlines that followed.
Except, as Gatland and tour manager Andy Irvine revealed under questioning, it was rather more complicated than it first appeared.
Irvine had read out the selections by position and then alphabetically. When the names of fly-halves Owen Farrell and Jonny Sexton were followed by that of scrum-half Conor Murray, it appeared the 33-year-old had simply been passed over.
Only afterwards did it transpire that, in fact, an initial offer had been made. Before the final selection meeting on Monday afternoon - the seventh discussion the coaching team had sat through - Gatland had phoned Wilkinson and enquired about his availability.
Wilkinson replied that he was committed to his club side Toulon and their attempt to secure a Heineken Cup and Top 14 double. He also flagged up concerns that his long-serving, oft-battered body would struggle to support him through a full tour.
Would Gatland otherwise have picked him? While no direct answer was given, it was clear that the answer would have been 'yes'. A leading British bookmaker is so convinced that it is refunding stakes to those who bet on Wilkinson's selection.
It was also clear that Wilkinson would have gone to Australia in addition to Farrell and Sexton, rather than in place of one of them. All of which raises more intriguing questions.
The two-10s strategy now appears as much a product of Wilkinson's polite rebuff as an overarching policy. Had the two-time tourist agreed to a third Lions tour, Gatland would have instead taken three.
If the management team felt, before that phone call, that three fly-halves might be needed - as many do, considering the dearth of specialist cover - why were two enough a few minutes later?
If hardly a ringing endorsement for the other potential options - Dan Biggar, Rhys Priestland, Greig Laidlaw, James Hook - it is also surely something of a gamble.
Gatland insisted that full-back Stuart Hogg offered additional cover. But Hogg has barely played stand-off since school, let alone in the unfamiliar conditions and brutal intensity of a Lions tour.
It is an interesting - and legitimate - discussion because it could have such a decisive effect on the tour's success. Wilkinson, unlike his old golden-boy contemporary David Beckham, is still operating at the highest level in an entirely competitive manner.
Not for Wilkinson a gentle valedictory tour of his sport's PR-hungry outfits. His time at Toulon, far from being a stroll into the southern French sunset, has reinvigorated body and mind.
In Sunday's victory over Saracens in the Heineken Cup semi-final, he was demonstrably superior to Farrell. With Gatland likely to meet the Wallabies' flair with straight lines and big hits, Wilkinson's game is entirely suited to the challenges ahead.
That Wilkinson turned the chance down, despite calls from the world's best 10 Dan Carter and former South Africa skipper John Smit that he should go, speaks not only of integrity, as Irvine pointed out afterwards, but also of practicality.
Wilkinson may need another operation in the close season to fulfil the additional year to which he has committed with Toulon. Their success this season means he would be unavailable for the two training camps the Lions are holding in Ireland and Wales next month, as well as potentially the first two games of the tour.
He also has little unfinished business with the Lions. Injury may have ruled him out of contention last time around, but he toured in both 2001 (starting all three Tests in tandem with scrum-half Rob Howley) and in 2005, when he appeared at inside-centre in the first Test and 10 in the second, until a stinger injury ended his involvement.
Neither has the door entirely closed. Lions squads mid-tour usually bear the scars of battles won and lost; replacements are summoned, and some become essential elements of the first XV.
There is nothing to suggest that 2013 will be any different. Gatland has said he will not be naming an official reserve list, with all players on tour with their respective countries effectively on stand-by. Wilkinson, if still fit when Toulon's campaign ends, will surely be the first name on his list should Sexton or Farrell be ruled out.
Wilkinson has toured Australia before, both with the Lions and England. He has experience of its unique conditions; then again, he has experience of pretty much everywhere. If ever a man could be relied upon to stand and deliver having just stepped off a 24-hour flight, it is he.
The romantics, at least those with a red rose clutched to their chests, had dreamed of the old warrior once again sealing a wonderful win on Sydney soil, a decade on from his defining moment in that World Cup final's excruciating extra-time.
That sentimental scenario, outlandish already, is now even more unlikely. But it cannot entirely be ruled out.


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While GOProud remains banned from the annual Conservative Political Action Conference organized by the American Conservative Union (ACU), that won't stop one sponsor of CPAC from holding a pro-gay-rights panel during the conference next week.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a free market and limited-government nonprofit focused on economic and environmental policy, will host a panel titled "A Rainbow on the Right: Growing the Coalition, Bringing Tolerance Out of the Closet."
First reported by Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin earlier today, the panel will include GOProud Executive Director Jimmy LaSalvia and Republican consultant Liz Mair, who also serves on GOProud's advisory board. Rubin, along with CEI founder and chairman Fred Smith, National Review's Jonah Goldberg and CNN's Margaret Hoover — a GOProud supporter — will also participate.
According to CEI's communications director, Christine Hall, as a sponsor of CPAC the organization will utilize the option of reserving a room at the hotel where CPAC will be held in order to host the panel.
"I think, like a lot of people, there are many within this organization who were distressed by the decision by some on the ACU board not to have GOProud sponsor the event last year," Hall told Metro Weekly. "We wanted to send a message of inclusion, not just to Jimmy LaSalvia and GOProud, but a broad message that we very much value the diversity of voices."
CEI's decision to host a discussion of gay inclusion in the conservative movement comes after the ACU has faced criticism for not fostering a discussion of inclusion and refusing to invite GOProud, as well as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R).
Although GOProud participated in CPAC in 2010 and 2011, the group for gay conservatives was kicked out of the conference last year after former GOProud board president Chris Barron labeled conservative attorney Cleta Mitchell as a "nasty bigot" and blamed her for the decision by the Heritage Foundation to remove itself from the conference over GOProud's participation. Although Barron apologized, GOProud has not be invited back since.
"I'm grateful to CEI for putting together this important discussion," LaSalvia told Metro Weekly, adding that despite his invitation to participate in CEI's panel, this does not mean GOProud as an organization is back at CPAC.
With the panel scheduled for March 14 at 6 p.m., Hall says reaction from CPAC organizers has been limited. "In terms of their reaction, they haven't said no. They haven't objected," Hall said. "Our event is very much in the spirit of offering our friendship and wanting to include groups like GOProud."
The relationship between CEI and GOProud extends back to 2011, when CEI teamed up with GOProud to throw a party with Andrew Breitbart.
According to LaSalvia, the panel will be an opportunity to discuss a conservative coalition for the future.
"I want to talk about how we can build a new conservative coalition that can win. And that coalition has to include gay conservatives, and it has to recogize that more and more conservatives are coming to support civil marriage for gay couples because of their conservative values," LaSalvia said.
"We need to talk about how conservative principles are good for everybody, including gay people."
CPAC will be held March 14 to 16 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center at National Harbor.
[Photo: Chris Barron (left) and Jimmy LaSalvia (Credit: Todd Franson/Metro Weekly)]


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Mobility - The tipping point for health care reform
The rapid adoption of mobile devices by individual clinicians, care givers and patients is undoubtedly a high level security threat as identified by health technologists. But does it also offer salvation for our ailing health service delivery system?
Could the act of sharing information around the personal health record also evoke a sharing of responsibilities and management as our policy makers wish? If so, would this in turn reduce the cost of delivery, avoidable errors, waiting lists, demand for beds and at the same time deliver the aspirational notion of "clinical excellence" in an interconnected health delivery system?
The explosion in the informal use of health-related services and Apps on mobile devices, as well as the cloud-based information offerings that the mobility fraternity can access, will produce a tipping point in the already changing health service delivery models. This is where the demand for real time information from a critical number of parties, including the patient in any care plan, exceeds the ability or willingness of the custodians of the old centralised systems to respond to the growing expectations. Twenty-six percent of European doctors now use an I-Pad professionally.
The new and rather unique threat for these technological and information custodians is that health care providers and patients are starting to by-pass their systems, procedures and even governance frameworks through the adoption of 3rd party apps which they use to store and share patient data - because they can, because its proven to be of great value to them in the given task and because no other pathway is on offer.
Managing the existing problems of cost, security and compliance is in itself a daunting task, but the real challenge lies in the opportunity to piggy-back off the changing behaviour patterns of mobile users so as to deliver the core policy changes that are required to make heath affordable and even sustainable.
The existing global health trends and relevant government policies can be characterised by a shift towards care in the community and home as well as the greater reliance upon shared responsibility and greater self-management by the patient themselves.
As a critical mass of adoption occurs the overall effects of health consumers and professionals asserting their growing expectations will generate strong demand for clinical evidence-based decision making from the collective experience from the various health systems that are fast becoming interconnected.
Before embarking upon this perilous journey it's essential to have a clear destination endpoint, an agreed journey roadmap with defined way-points, and the ability to measure the value of adoption of the new-found mobility capabilities to each party, including the health of the patient. The initial stages are well understood and include reducing existing costs within the enterprise of managing the devices themselves, linking them securely to the internal networks and then defining the governance framework to enable the first set of identified services to be recommended.
The next set of stages will move into the initial value generation mode of operation by addressing internal efficiency, reducing avoidable errors and enhancing decision making. But the tipping point for verifiable public value occurs when a meaningful contribution to patient health outcomes occurs, particularly with regard to the management of chronic disease in the community.
For example, a recent examination of a health region in Australia illustrated that the adoption of an App that could better manage the annual check-up of the key chronic diseases between the multiple care givers could result in a 30% reduction of hospital admissions and over 20% reduction in duplications of medications, appointments and medical testing to each of the specialists per patient per year.
A recent BBC article highlighted that a driving force for more self-management in health care would come from the workforce as concern is rising about the lost productivity from chronic disease estimated to be £21.5 billion per year. It stated that in the UK only 20% of the workforce are not overweight and without health conditions, ranging from high blood pressure to cancer; another 20% have a weight problem but no health conditions, but six in ten have at least one condition and 16%, almost one in six, have three or more.
The BBC also reported that "the National Health Service in England must end the "hospital-or-bust" attitude to medical care, says the body representing health service trusts. At least one in four patients would be better off being treated by NHS staff at home, figures suggest. 2012 will be a key year for the NHS as it tries to make £20bn in efficiency savings by 2015, according to the head of the NHS Confederation, Mike Farrar." This outcome can not occur without the adoption of mobile devices, the apps for services like mobile monitoring and the linking up on the centralised systems to the third party services.
The only remedy, suggested by Sir Muir Grey (of the NHS), to avoid the inevitable wave of hospital
admissions as these conditions deteriorate is to encourage more self-management and to migrate to an online service oriented delivery model.
In Australia the Federal Government's Personal Health Record will be a catalyst for the next wave of health oriented Apps that enable people within the workforce to play a greater role in managing their heath, and for care givers to deliver more value to the patient. This will provide the missing link as to why all the parties who hold patient information should finally collaborate around the proven technical task of joining up the many systems to produce a single point of truth for us all.
If you are battling with the challenges of cost, control and governance or already embarking upon your own journey then we have three initial offerings designed to speed you on your way to getting more value with less cost in shorter time frames whilst managing risk:
- Video conference to explore some quick wins and report back with recommendations - Charge 1/2 day
- 1/2 day workshop to assess the strategic problems, operational pain and potential value - Charge 1 day
- Identifying your mobility journey road map & detailing the first three stages - Charge 3 days
Examples and pressing issues of interest will be used to illustrate how to generate quick wins and fast track the total journey including how to claw back unnecessary mobile operating costs, gain more control of their day to day use, monitor activity, structure governance models for greater compliance, define principles for greater collaboration and define models for generating more organisational value.


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Business Landlines in Aberdeen
Does your business landline handle incoming calls effectively, economically and please your customers? Most businesses have a landline for credibility and simple communication but how you use it is just as important.
Abica provide tailored advice and telecommunication services to Aberdeen based businesses and throughout Scotland. We look at your current usage, how calls are handled and where improvements can be made. We implement quickly and smoothly before ensuring everyone is fully trained on the system and that your business is able to benefit from it from day one.
Cheaper Calls
- We offer free calls between office sites.
- We are a Mobile Virtual Network Operator and can tailor make mobile tariffs using trusted networks so that calls are free between all of your Abica phones including landline to mobile.
- You don't have to be at the end of a landline contract. We can still reduce your call costs.
- Your real time usage and billing information is available in our client area, My Abica.
Inbound Call Management
- Call Answer
- Call Routing
- Call Hold (with speech and music)
- Call Transfer
- Call Park
- Voicemail
Conference Calls
Aberdeen businesses are often dealing with suppliers across the world. Abica's TeamTalk conference calling solution allows your business to bring together any number of people, face to face without the heavy costs of travel.
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Trunks
Because we are a full telecoms and IT provider, we can also integrate your current Aberdeen landline services with VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) solutions providing cost savings and other business operation features.
If you'd like to know more about updating your business landline, contact us on the form shown or get in touch on 01224 907 488.


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Comfy sneakers is a must for me everytime I go for long walks and strolls. My feet can't bear long walks if my shoes is not comfy enough to hold my feet. I have 2 running shoes from Skechers and Nike that I bought in Australia and I must say that they are comfy when I do my exercise and walking. Now, I want a casual sneakers that I can pair with my shorts and casual pants on the go. Found these Women's Casual Sneakers by World Balance worldbalance.com.ph and thought that they are quite affordable and looks comfy.
Here are my fave and hope to get one soon when I hit the mall. I think I want a white one.