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Volcanoes reveal the cooling of Mars
The mantle of Mars is possibly cooling by 30-40°C every billion years. Based on satellite observations of the composition of the planet's volcanic rocks, researchers from CNRS and the Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse reached this conclusion after reconstructing for the first time the thermal evolution of the planet over the past 4 billion years. These values indicate that cooling is slower than on Earth (70-100°C per billion years) and highlight the specific nature of our planet, where thermal evolution is affected by plate tectonics. These findings are published in the journal Nature (advanced online publication of 6 April 2011).
The history of water and of climate evolution on Mars has received considerable attention over the past few decades. However, the evolution of a planet needs to be considered in its entirety. This requires an understanding of the thermal and dynamic evolution of the planetary interior in relation to volcanic or tectonic activity. The formation of volcanoes results from the partial melting of mantle rocks (1), the upwelling of these magmatic liquids, and their eruption at the surface. The composition of magmatic liquids is controlled by the depth (pressure) and temperature at which melting takes place. For instance, terrestrial rocks of Archaean age (around 3 billion years ago) suggest that the Earth's mantle was hotter at that time than it is today. This link between magma chemistry and melting conditions was utilized for Mars by researchers at the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (CNRS/Université Paul Sabatier), at the Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées.
The Gamma Ray Spectrometer on board the US Mars Odyssey mission has produced maps of the abundance of several chemical elements on the surface of Mars. The researchers focused mainly on silicon, iron and thorium, which are especially sensitive to melting conditions. The abundance of these three elements in twelve Martian volcanic provinces makes up a remarkable record of melting processes within the mantle over the past four billion years.
The researchers showed that variations in iron, silicon and thorium in volcanic rocks are evidence of a fall in the temperature of the mantle over time, of thickening of the lithosphere at the base of which melting takes place, and of magma being produced at increasingly great depth.
These results make it possible to precisely reconstruct the thermal evolution of Mars, which appears to have cooled down more slowly (30-40°C per billion years) than Earth (70-100°C per billion years). The reason for this probably lies in the absence of plate tectonics on Mars. This study also sheds light on the diversity of scenarios of planetary evolution and makes it possible to understand why a planet's volcanic activity eventually ceases (when the magma is no longer able to pass through the lithosphere that has become too thick). These results provide a new framework within which to tackle numerous questions such as the reasons for the shutdown of Mars' internal magnetic field 4 billion years ago, the origin of crust of over 4 billion years, and the connections between volcanism and the evolution of the physical and chemical parameters of the Martian atmosphere.
[1] Partial melting takes place inside the mantle, at a depth where the right temperature and pressure conditions for melting are met. This depth corresponds to the base of the lithosphere (which consists of the crust and the upper mantle).
Thermal history of Mars inferred from orbital geochemistry of volcanic provinces. D. Baratoux, M.J. Toplis, M. Monnereau, O. Gasnault. Nature, 6 avril 2011.
Chercheurs CNRS l David Baratoux l T 05 61 33 29 20 / 06 80 65 51 29 l email@example.com
Presse CNRS l T 01 44 96 51 51 l firstname.lastname@example.com


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We've team up with Chris Robinson (chrisrobinson.co.uk), local Plymouth Historian to bring you an accurate account of the history here on the Plymouth Hoe.
The Plymouth Hoe
Plymouth Hoe, one of the finest public open spaces that any city could hope to boast; commands spectacular views that are little changed from the time Drake played bowls here, waiting for the Armada, through when Pilgrim Fathers bade farewell to their homeland, to the time tens of thousands assembled here to welcome Francis Chichester back from his historic solo round the world trip.
Even the Hoe itself (the name means 'high ridge') has changed little in over 100 years. Laid out as a park in the 1880's, it was during that decade that Smeaton's Tower was reconstructed here; that the Drake and Armada memorials were unveiled and Plymouth Pier was built.
Apart from colonnaded Belvedere, which was created in 1891, the gradual improvement of the bathing facilities between 1912 and 1935, and the opening of the Dome in 1988, there have been very few major changes.
- Smeaton's Tower It was erected on the Eddystone Reef 1756-59, Replaced by Douglass's Lighthouse in the 1880s after the rocks upon which Smeaton's Tower were deemed to be unsafe. Work on re-erecting the original on a new plinth on the Hoe began in October 1882. Between 1860 and 1895 and then again in 1937 through to decimalisation, a depiction of the lighthouse appeared on the back of the English Penny.
- Octagonal Look Out This was built sometime around 1870 for the benefit of shipping firms, who, in the days before radio communications, could watch from here for mail steamers making their way towards the Sound. Arrangements could then be made as soon as possible for tenders to be made ready to meet the boats and whisk the postbags and important passengers onto waiting trains in Millbay.
- Plymouth Dome Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II was the first official visitor here in 1988, when Plymouth celebrated the 400th anniversary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada. However the building was not opened to the public for another few months. It closed almost 20 years later.
- Tinside Pool Improved swimming facilities were created here in several stages between 1913 and 1935, culminating with the opening of the Hoe Lido here on 2nd October 1935. It's apparently called Tinside because earlier, impromptu changing facilities were in a corrugated iron hut. There was also a wooden shack used for changing on the western side of the rocks and this was known as Shacky Pool.
- Colonnaded Belvedere Located on this site of the old bull-ring, and above it, the camera obscura … and at the head of what is the site of Plymouth Pier (which pre-dated it) the Belvedere was completed in 1891 towards the end of a decade that saw massive changes on the Hoe as it was transformed from farmland with grazing cows and sheep, to an attractive landscaped garden area.
- Waterfront Restaurant In 1967 this was the home of the Royal Western Yacht Club and as such it was where Sir Francis Chichester first stood on terra firma at the end of his epic solo circumnavigation of the globe, the first ever to be completed by a lone sailor.
- Grand Hotel It was from the balcony of the Grand Hotel that eighty-year-old Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone addressed an estimated crowd of 100,000 in 1889 – the hotel then was just ten years old. Built by John Pethick, who also provided the base for the relocation of Smeaton's Tower, it recently endured a major fire and is now being redeveloped as apartments.
- Viking Stone Commemorating the 1,000th anniversary of the last Viking raid up the Tamar, this stone was presented to the City by representatives of five Scandinavian countries to demonstrate the friendship and good faith that now exist between England and Scandinavia. The Rhune –stone itself was made by Danish sculptor Magnuss Krugh Anderssen and was unveiled in the presence of the Lord Mayor of Plymouth and Magnuss Magnusson who delivered a speech on the story of the Vikings in Britain.
- Astor House No.3 Elliot Terrace. Lady Astor had come to Plymouth in 1908 with her husband Waldorf to fight what would be an unsuccessful by-election. In 1910 however he was successful and sat as MP until the death of his father, Lord Astor, in 1919. Waldorf tried to relinquish the hereditary title to no avail and so Lady Nancy Astor stood in his place and become the first woman to take her seat in Parliament. During the Second World War the couple, who conferred numerous buildings and bequests upon Plymouth, also served the city as Lord and Lady Mayoress.
- Sensory Garden A relatively new addition to the attractions on the Hoe is the 'Sensory Garden' just in from the top of Lockyer Street. Designed with the blind in mind, it features a wide variety of planting and fragrances.
- Hoe Bowling Club Despite the tradition linking Plymouth Hoe with Drake's celebrated, pre-Armada game of bowls on 19th July 1588, the city was slow to spawn formal bowling clubs. The Hoe Club was opened here in 1908, five years after the formation of the English Bowling Association.
- The War Memorials There are many war memorials on the Hoe, the most impressive being the First and Second World War Naval Memorial. The original WWI obelisk has identical counterparts in Portsmouth and Chatham, although Sir Edward Maufe's WWII extension, while similar to the Portsmouth memorial, accommodates the natural slope.
- Cross on the Hoe Set into the ground this modest memorial is so discreet that it is easy to miss but the event in commemorates was witnessed by some 10,000 servicemen and thousands more local civilians. After numerous poorly paid and hungry naval personnel had been executed at Plymouth Dock, three Irish marines (two Catholic and one Protestant), were executed here for mutiny on 6th July 1797. A fourth was spared and given 1,000 lashes instead.
- Norrington's Fountain A representation of Rebecca of the well, given by Charles Norrington, a former Mayor of Plymouth, in memory of his wife, the fountain, unveiled in 1881, was intended to provide a source of drinking water for boys and girls playing on the Hoe.
- Boer War Memorial Made of red and green Swedish granite and honouring those who lost their lives in the war in South Africa at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
- Royal Citadel Built on the Hoe in the late 1660s on the orders of Charles II straight after the Restoration of the Monarchy and following in the wake of Plymouth's successful resistance to the three-year Royalist Siege of the town in the Civil War.
- Hoe Café & Garden Built as a part of the general landscaping of the Hoe Park in the 1980's, the former caretaker's lodge now serves as a bar/restaurant. Sitting alongside it are the small but delightful formal gardens famously painted by the celebrated English artist Stanley Spencer in 1955 – the city fathers had hoped for something that better reflected its rise from the ashes.
- Drake's Statue Unveiled on the Hoe on 14th February 1884, it was one of the first man-made additions to the attractions of the Hoe Park. The day was observed as a general holiday across the Three Towns and an estimated crowd of 20,000 (including 3,000 schoolchildren) flocked to the Hoe. A replica of the celebrated Boehm statue in Tavistock which stands closer to Drake's birthplace, it is not thought to be a good likeness of the great seafarer.
- Armada Way Armada Way was created as a walkway from the railway station to the Hoe and was a key part of the post-war Plan for Plymouth, drawn up by Sir Patrick Abercrombie and Plymouth's city engineer James Paton Watson. A beacon was set up and lit in 1988 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the sighting of the Spanish Armada.
- Hoe Shelter Moving to Plymouth in the sixties, to run a guest house with her husband John, Beryl Cook (1926-2008) immortalised many aspects of life on Plymouth Hoe as she saw it. From ample-figured gathers at Tinside, through large ladies playing bowls on the Hoe, to sailors flirting with girls in the shadow of Smeaton's Tower, her humorous images captured the spirit of the area, while the paintings themselves made the Hoe landlady internationally famous.
Historic Photos of the Plymouth Hoe
Kindly provided by the South West Image Bank Archive. These photos date from 1890s – 1960s
[nggallery id=1]

subset: commoncrawl


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There are so many beautiful images out there aren't there? Between blogs, Pinterest, and Instagram ( which I am too lazy to try to get into), we are bombarded by inspiration from other people's life. Or is it really?
I read one of my daily blogs this am and she admitted she wished her life looked like the images she posted for the day. What's funny is that her life DOES look like those images, at least to those of us not living it.
So that, my friends, is the "danger" of beautiful images. We are indeed inspired by beauty, so that is the good side. But the down side is that we can also turn on our present lives because it doesn't always look like a fabulous image snapped in 10 seconds. And that is where we are no longer inspired by beauty but are jealous of it.
Have a fabulous day!


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To improve service to underserved areas through Los Angeles, Metro has launched a new pilot Mobile Customer Center.
The MCC is a logo-wrapped van that provides a variety of transit services to the community such as intake of Reduced Fare applications (including photo taking for seniors), issuance of temporary Reduced Fare cards to qualified Reduced Fare applicants, and TAP fare media sales.
The MCC is currently scheduled to be tested at Senior Centers and Community Centers, with further expansion to other locations in the future.


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To understand Fidel one must look at the living conditions before and after he came to power in Cuba. In pre-revolutionary Cuba poverty, hunger, and illiteracy were the norm. The island was under control of the brutal, U.S. backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. There were as many as 11,500 women resorting to sex work in Havana just to survive. The entire island was essentially run by various mafia families who often bribed government officials to turn the other cheek at rampant crime and illegal activity- even worse still there were strong links between organized crime families and Batista's regime. Gambling and Sex Work were the major tourist industries in pre-industrial Cuba. It was widely considered the Las Vegas of the Caribbean. On top of all this was crippling poverty that was systematically maintained by U.S. imperialist policies.
John F. Kennedy even admitted this saying,
"At the beginning of 1959 United States companies owned about 40 percent of the Cuban sugar lands—almost all the cattle ranches—90 percent of the mines and mineral concessions—80 percent of the utilities—practically all the oil industry—and supplied two-thirds of Cuba's imports."
Earlier he is even quoted condemning US support of the Batista regime saying,
"Fulgencio Batista murdered 20,000 Cubans in seven years … and he turned Democratic Cuba into a complete police state—destroying every individual liberty. Yet our aid to his regime, and the ineptness of our policies, enabled Batista to invoke the name of the United States in support of his reign of terror. Administration spokesmen publicly praised Batista—hailed him as a staunch ally and a good friend—at a time when Batista was murdering thousands, destroying the last vestiges of freedom, and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the Cuban people, and we failed to press for free elections."
Once the revolution took over he cautiously praised it saying,
"I believe that there is no country in the world including any and all the countries under colonial domination, where economic colonization, humiliation and exploitation were worse than in Cuba, in part owing to my country's policies during the Batista regime. I approved the proclamation which Fidel Castro made in the Sierra Maestra, when he justifiably called for justice and especially yearned to rid Cuba of corruption. I will even go further: to some extent it is as though Batista was the incarnation of a number of sins on the part of the United States. Now we shall have to pay for those sins. In the matter of the Batista regime, I am in agreement with the first Cuban revolutionaries. That is perfectly clear."
Before the revolution Fidel looked to his countries people in despair, their suffering systematically created and maintained by US imperialistic policies which were brutally enforced by their puppet dictator. Fidel's response to this was just. After a failed coup Fidel was arrested and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment where he and his comrades founded the "26th of July" revolutionary movement. He was let out of prison by Batista due to public outcry and in order to maintain a good image among the people. After several violent protests Batista ordered a crackdown on dissent. Because of this Fidel and Raul left for Mexico to evade arrest. This is where he met Ernesto Che Guevara.
Little over a year later Fidel, Raul, Che, and a total of 81 armed revolutionaries set sail from Mexico to Cuba aboard the infamous Granma vessel. The small group of revolutionaries would later grow to the thousands. Over the next three years the revolutionaries waged relentless guerrilla warfare against the Batista regime. Fidel was widely seen by the people as both a liberator and a hero. The government responded in this time to the revolutionaries with mass arrests, torture and extrajudicial killings. Thousands of innocent people were killed by the Batista regime in this time. When Fidel initially took to power those who killed and tortured innocents in that time were killed. As Fidel himself said, "We are not executing innocent people or political opponents. We are executing murderers and they deserve it." Of course there are those who condemn Che and Fidel for killing people, but tell me, in what revolution has there not been killings? If we held George Washington to the same standard we could say that he too was a murderer. By the time Fidel took power, Batista had already fled with a whopping $300,000,000 US dollars.
After establishing a provisional government Fidel worked tirelessly to begin construction of a new socialist state. He first passed the "First agrarian reform law" which limited the amount of land one could own, forbade foreigners from owning land and entitled 200,000 peasants for the first time to the land they worked. Fidel's focus was on social programs- even at the temporary expense of the economy. In the first 30 months of his coming to power more classrooms opened than in the previous 30 years. Health care was nationalized and expanded, this included Universal vaccination of all children which led to a massive decline in infant mortality. In his first 6 months over 600 miles of road were constructed while another 300 million was spent on water and sanitation projects to provide the people with clean running water and sewage systems. In an effort to abolish homelessness over 800 houses per month were built for the first few years of his rule, along with the construction of day-care and elderly centers.
The workers, peasants and students which made up the majority of the population were almost unanimously in support of Castro while the upper classes and capitalists were typically very cautious of his reign, causing many to flee to America once they realized that he was a socialist. Castro was not popular among the capitalist class, they felt that Castro had stolen from them in giving the peasants the land they tilled day and night. As a result many Cuban-Americans and their descendants, particularly in Florida but also all over America are bitter towards Castro and towards Socialist Cuba. The CIA in particular had already begun recruiting exiles and mafia members to overthrow Castro's regime at this time. President Eisenhower agreed to overthrow the government and an economic blockade was issued which still exists to cripple Cuba's economy to this day. In retaliation all privately run US businesses were seized by the state and nationalized.Before 1959 the official literacy rate for Cuba was between 60% and 76%. Fidel issued a massive year long literacy campaign which was considered to be a massive success, by 1986 literacy was at around 100%, actually higher then that of the US. Infant mortality is still even lower than it is the US today.
There was of course the failed bay of pigs invasion, among others in which the CIA attempted to overthrow and kill Castro. In total Castro survived 638 CIA assassination attempts, breaking a world record. The CIA was so desperate as to create the infamous CIA 'Operation Northwoods' in which the US planned a series of homeland terrorist attacks in order to blame Cuba and provoke war, but luckily never enacted by President Kennedy. The US was desperate to destroy Cuba by any means necessary. As a result the political climate inside Cuba is tense. While a majority no doubt supported and continue to support Castro, the CIA was and continues to attempt to infiltrate the country and turn the people against Fidel. Even recently it was revealed that the US government created ZunZuneo, a social media app similar to Twitter used by Cuban citizens which was used to attempt to radicalize the Cuban people against the government. While I am critical of Castro's use of political repression, it is partially justified given the United State's countless attempts at turning the Cuban people against the government by any means necessary. In essence it is a problem created largely by external pressure on account of the US government which continues to inspire the people to counter-revolution. If the US is truly so critical as to criticize them for human rights violations it would agree to back down and mind its own damned business- to lift the blockade and agree to never interfere with matters of the Cuban government ever again. Only then could Cuba cautiously lift the veil of political repression away confident that the US wasn't going to use it to attempt once again to destroy Socialist Cuba from the inside.
Despite US economic blockades Cuba flourished under the rule of Castro. The lives of Cubans as well as those of the poor and oppressed all over the world were greatly improved thanks to Fidel. Cuba's medical services are largely considered to be world-renowned in their innovation and openness to treat people from all over the world. Thanks to Fidel over 10 million people in Latin America and all over the world now have the ability to read and write. Cuba was always willing to offer military assistance to countries in their various liberation struggles. South Africa's liberation was aided by Cuban troops, a military move so vital that the use of nuclear weapons was considered. Fidel Castro made many mistakes as I will be one of the first to admit- as I am very critical of how authoritative his regime was in not allowing any real political dissent outside of the election room. HOWEVER Cuba made enormous progress under his rule. Most of the people would still be illiterate, hungry and without access to basic medical care without him. He made mistakes sure but his achievements FAR outweigh his mistakes. I have no doubt that if Cuba didn't have it's revolution it would be 10x worse off than it is now. I am VERY critical of 20th century communism (Marxism-Leninism) for it's typically authoritarian nature, however it's success in transforming the most backward countries in the world into world superpowers is undeniable- and in Cuba particular it is worthy of critical but nonetheless full hearted praise. Though Fidel is dead he will continue to live on in the hearts of those who wish to make the world a better place. Hasta Siempre, Comandante
"Condemn me, it does not matter. History will absolve me" -Fidel Castro


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October 20, 2005
Mr. James P. Dvorak, Jr.
Re: TEOCO Corporation Request for No-Action Relief
Dear Mr. Dvorak:
In your letter dated October 20, 2005, on behalf of TEOCO Corporation ("TEOCO"), you seek assurances that the staff of the Division of Market Regulation ("Staff") will not recommend enforcement action to the Commission under Section 15(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Act") if TEOCO implements the stock sale and repurchase program described in your letter ("Plan") without either TEOCO or the directors and employees who administer the Plan registering as broker-dealers in accordance with Section 15(b) of the Act.
Based on the facts and representations set forth in your letter, the Staff will not recommend enforcement action to the Commission if TEOCO and its employees and directors carry out the Plan as described without registering as broker-dealers. In particular, we note that TEOCO stock is not registered under Section 12 of the Exchange Act, that there is no public trading market for the stock, and that the Plan is designed to qualify as a "compensatory benefit plan" within the meaning of Rule 701 under the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act"). The staff position is limited to enforcement action under Section 15 only and does not purport to express any legal conclusions with respect to the applicability of the statutory or regulatory provisions of the federal securities laws, including the applicability of Securities Act Rule 701. Moreover, this response is based upon the representations you have made in your letter, and any different facts or conditions may require a different response.
Brian A. Bussey
Incoming Letter:
The Incoming Letter is in Acrobat format.


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!! History Commons Alert, Exciting News
This is a scalable context timeline. It contains events related to the event March 1995-February 1996: Hijacker Jarrah Living in New York or Lebanon?. You can narrow or broaden the context of this timeline by adjusting the zoom level. The lower the scale, the more relevant the items on average will be, while the higher the scale, the less relevant the items, on average, will be.
Ziad Jarrah gets down on the dancefloor. [Source: Jarrah family]A man named "Ziad Jarrah" rents an apartment in Brooklyn, New York. [Longman, 2002, pp. 90] The landlords later identify his photograph as being that of the 9/11 hijacker. A Brooklyn apartment lease bears Ziad Jarrah's name. [Boston Globe, 9/25/2001] The Los Angeles Times reports: "Another man named Ihassan Jarrah lived with Ziad, drove a livery cab and paid the 800-dollar monthly rent. The men were quiet, well-mannered, said hello and good-bye. Ziad Jarrah carried a camera and told his landlords that he was a photographer. He would disappear for a few days on occasion, then reappear. Sometimes a woman who appeared to be a prostitute arrived with one of the men. 'Me and my brother used to crack jokes that they were terrorists,' said Jason Matos, a construction worker who lived in a basement there, and whose mother owned the house." However, another Ziad Jarrah is still in his home country of Lebanon at this time. He is studying in a Catholic school in Beirut, and is in frequent contact with the rest of his family. His parents drive him home to be with the family nearly every weekend, and they are in frequent contact by telephone as well. [Los Angeles Times, 10/23/2001] Not until April 1996 does this Ziad Jarrah leave Lebanon for the first time to study in Germany. [Boston Globe, 9/25/2001] His family later believes that the New York lease proves that there were two "Ziad Jarrahs." [CNN, 9/18/2001] Evidence seems to indicate Jarrah is also in two places at the same time from November 2000 to January 2001 (see Late November 2000-January 30, 2001).
Entity Tags: Ihassan Jarrah, Ziad Jarrah
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline
Future 9/11 hijacker pilot Ziad Jarrah is briefly detained and questioned at the Dubai airport (see January 30-31, 2000), and some reports will suggest this is because he is already on a US watch list. It is not known when he may have been put on a watch list or why. The only information about this will come from conflicting accounts as to why Jarrah is stopped and questioned by immigration officials for several hours in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on January 30. Did the US Tell the UAE to Stop Jarrah? - According to one version, UAE officials claim Jarrah is stopped based on a tip-off from the US. A UAE source will tell author Jane Corbin: "It was at the request of the Americans and it was specifically because of Jarrah's links with Islamic extremists, his contacts with terrorist organizations. That was the extent of what we were told." [Corbin, 2003] In 2002, CNN will also report that Jarrah is stopped because he is on a US watch list. It claims this is sourced not only from UAE sources, but from other governments in the Middle East and Europe. However, US officials will claim no such tip-off was ever given. [CNN, 8/1/2002] Passport and Religious Material Version - Other versions of the story will claim that Jarrah first raises suspicion because of an overlay of the Koran in his passport and because he is carrying religious tapes and books. This is what the 9/11 Commission will claim. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 496] Other accounts, such as one in Vanity Fair in late 2004, will support this version. [Vanity Fair, 11/2004] UAE Has Existing Program to Track Militants for the CIA - There may be a middle version of sorts, that Jarrah may be stopped because the CIA wants people with a profile just like his to be stopped. According to CNN: "The questioning of Jarrah in Dubai fits the pattern of a CIA operation described to CNN by UAE and European sources. Those sources say that in 1999, the CIA began an operation to track suspected al-Qaeda operatives, as they transited there. One of those sources provided [a] drawing showing the airport layout and describes how people wanted for questioning were intercepted, most often at a transit desk. As was the case with Ziad Jarrah, CNN sources say UAE officials were, often, told in advance by American officials who was coming in and whom they wanted questioned." [CNN, 8/1/2002] It will also be reported that in the summer of 1999, the CIA asked immigration officials all over the region to question anyone who may have been returning from training camps in Afghanistan, and Jarrah fits that profile (see Summer 1999). [Vanity Fair, 11/2004]
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, United Arab Emirates, 9/11 Commission, Ziad Jarrah
Ziad Jarrah, with dark blue shirt and sunglasses, leaning against an airplane. He is surrounded by his fellow flight school students. [Source: History Channel]9/11 hijacker Ziad Jarrah attends the Florida Flight Training Center (FFTC) in Venice, Florida, where he takes lessons in a Cessna 152. According to the FBI, he finishes his training there in December 2000. [Der Spiegel, 2002, pp. 12; US Congress, 9/26/2002] The school's owner, Arne Kruithof, later says Jarrah is enrolled there until January 15, 2001. [Longman, 2002, pp. 91] The 9/11 Commission says he studies there until January 31, 2001. [9/11 Commission, 8/21/2004, pp. 12 ] However, these latter two accounts conflict with other reports, according to which Jarrah is elsewhere at the same time (see Late November 2000-January 30, 2001). According to the 9/11 Commission, in early August, just weeks after commencing training, Jarrah gains a single-engine private pilot certificate. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 224] However, Arne Kruithof says that although Jarrah eventually receives his private pilot license and instrument rating, he does not do so while at FFTC. Kruithof later claims that Jarrah becomes an "average" pilot, saying, "We had to do more to get him ready than others. His flight skills seemed to be a little bit out there." [Longman, 2002, pp. 91] At the same time as Jarrah is in Venice, Mohamed Atta and Marwan Alshehhi attend Huffman Aviation, which is just up the road from FFTC. [Associated Press, 9/9/2002; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 224] Yet no reports describe him ever meeting them while they are so near to each other. Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who shared an apartment in Hamburg with Mohamed Atta (see November 1, 1998-February 2001), is supposed to join Jarrah at FFTC, wiring the school a $2,200 deposit in August 2000, but is repeatedly unable to obtain the necessary US visa (see May 17, 2000-May 2001). [US Congress, 9/26/2002; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 225]
Entity Tags: Florida Flight Training Center, Ziad Jarrah
Two images of Ziad Jarrah. The photo on the right is from the wreckage of Flight 93.
[Source: FBI]There is some evidence indicating hijacker pilot Ziad Jarrah transits Dubai on January 30, 2001 after spending two months in Afghanistan (see January 30, 2001). [South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 12/13/2001; CNN, 8/1/2002] However, the Florida Flight Training Center, where Jarrah has been studying for the previous six months, later says he is in school there until January 15, 2001. His family later reports he arrives in Lebanon to visit them on January 26, five days before he supposedly passes through Dubai. His father had just undergone open-heart surgery, and Jarrah visits him every day in the hospital until after January 30. Pointing out this incident, his uncle Jamal Jarrah later asks, "How could he be in two places at one time?" [Longman, 2002, pp. 101-02] Other accounts place Jarrah in Dubai one year earlier, not in 2001 (see January 30, 2000). If the 2001 version is correct, this is not the only example of Jarrah being in two places at the same time—there is also evidence he was in different places at once from March 1995-February 1996 (see March 1995-February 1996). Additionally, records seem to indicate that Jarrah flies out of the US on December 26, 2000, and then again on December 28, 2000 (see December 26-28, 2000), and then twice on the same day on July 25, 2001 (see July 25, 2001).
Entity Tags: Florida Flight Training Center, Jamal Jarrah, Ziad Jarrah
Ziad Jarrah using a flight simulator in January 2001. [Source: Los Angeles Times]From December 15-18, 2000, 9/11 hijacker Ziad Jarrah attends Aeroservice Aviation in Miami, Florida where he takes lessons in Boeing 727 and 737 simulators. Around this same time, Mohamed Atta and Marwan Alshehhi take lessons in a 727 simulator, but at a different Florida center (see December 29-31, 2000). After returning to the US from a visit home to Beirut, Jarrah again attends Aeroservice Aviation on January 8, 2001. His girlfriend Aysel Senguen is with him for a ten-day stay at the time, accompanies him to the flight training session, and photographs him in the simulator. [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 10/10/2001; US Congress, 9/26/2002; Los Angeles Times, 1/27/2003; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 227] However, some accounts conflict with him being in Florida on this second occasion (see Late November 2000-January 30, 2001 and January 30, 2001). [South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 12/13/2001; CNN, 8/1/2002]
Entity Tags: Ziad Jarrah, Aeroservice Aviation
Records indicate future 9/11 hijacker Ziad Jarrah flies from Miami, Florida, to Beirut on December 26, 2000, but then also flies from Tampa, Florida, to Dusseldorf, Germany, on December 28, 2000. The first trip has stops in Munich, Germany, and Istanbul, Turkey. The second flight has stops in Fort Myers, Florida, and Frankfurt, Germany. This is according to a 2002 FBI document about the 9/11 attacks. The document contains an analyst note pointing out that records show Jarrah left the US these two times, but doesn't attempt to explain the discrepancy except to comment that one or the other flight may be right. Jarrah apparently returns to the US on January 5, 2001, after visiting family in Lebanon. [Federal Bureau of Investigation, 4/19/2002] Additionally, around this time, there are claims that Jarrah is both training in Afghanistan and visiting family in Lebanon. One uncle of his will later ask, "How could he be in two places at one time?" (See Late November 2000-January 30, 2001). Jarrah also seems to leave the US twice in a short time period on one other occasion (see July 25, 2001).
Entity Tags: Ziad Jarrah, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Future 9/11 hijacker pilot Ziad Jarrah is questioned at Dubai airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over suspected radical Islamist links in January of 2000 or 2001. Initial accounts will place the stop in 2001, after Jarrah has received flight training in the US. [South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 12/13/2001; CNN, 8/1/2002; Corbin, 2003] However, other accounts will place it a year earlier (see January 30, 2000 and January 30-31, 2000). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 496; Vanity Fair, 11/2004; McDermott, 2005, pp. 186-7; Chicago Tribune, 9/28/2005] In the 2001 version, Jarrah has already started flight training and has a US visa, whereas in the 2000 version he merely tells UAE officials of his plans to get a US visa and receive flight training there. [Corbin, 2003; History Channel, 2004] There is evidence to suggest Jarrah is not in Dubai on January 30, 2001 (see Late November 2000-January 30, 2001). In addition, there is evidence to suggest Jarrah was in Afghanistan in January 2000 (see January 18, 2000). After 9/11, there will be a prolonged debate about the details of Jarrah's questioning in Dubai (see December 14, 2001-September 28, 2005).
Entity Tags: Ziad Jarrah, United Arab Emirates, Central Intelligence Agency
Future 9/11 hijacker Ziad Jarrah seems to leave the US twice on the same day. According to a 2002 FBI document about the 9/11 attacks, Jarrah takes a KLM flight from Atlanta, Georgia, to Amsterdam, Netherlands. But the same document says he also takes a Continental flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Dusseldorf, Germany. The FBI document contains a note from an analyst that merely comments this is "conflicting information." [Federal Bureau of Investigation, 4/19/2002] Jarrah seems to leave the US twice in a short time period on one other occasion (see December 26-28, 2000).
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You will discover a land were movie magic comes to life. You'll find yourself stepping back in time to the glamour of Hollywood's Golden Age. This attraction also offers an entertaining look at top television shows and movies, where you can find yourself on center stage. There are eight different sections to this park attraction: Animation Courtyard, Echo Lake, Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood Boulevard, Pixar Place, Streets of America, Commissary Lane, and Mickey Avenue. You may even spot your favorite super hero!
While the area where you'll find Disney's Hollywood Studios offers great views, hotels such as the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites and Four Points by Sheraton offer great features and amenities. Other hotels near Walt Disney World that are more affordable include Baymont Inn & Suites Orlando and the Super 8 Orlando International. You can often find vacation packages that include park entrance fees and hotel accommodations.
The obvious benefit of staying in hotels or resorts near Hollywood Studios is the ease with which you can visit the park. Families with children will especially like this. These hotels also often cater to the younger set. Many of these hotels offer great views of Disney World, including the evening firework displays. On the other hand, travelers who are looking for fewer people or peace and quiet, may find these hotels less to their liking.
Disney's Hollywood Studios is just one of the many attractions of Walt Disney World. The hours for Hollywood Studio run from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. There are several different ticket options for Disney World. One of the best choices is the Park Hopper, where you will have same-day entrance to all four of the theme parks: Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Magic Kingdom.
© 2019 Hipmunk® and Concur® Hipmunk® are trademarks of Hipmunk, Inc. and Concur Technologies, Inc.
© 2019 Hipmunk® and Concur® Hipmunk® are trademarks of Hipmunk, Inc. and Concur Technologies, Inc.


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No reviews yet, be the first to add a review.
Since 2005 U7BUY has been the market leader in selling online gold and coins, they were also one of the first to trade in FIFA Coins. We manually tested the website of U7BUY to buy FIFA 20 Coins and can guarantee that the coins get delivered quickly and safely. The prices on the U7BUY website are one of the most competitive prices in the whole market, often even the cheapest available.
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There is 24/7 customer support available on U7BUY. The support speaks good English and solves almost every issue in a few minutes. U7BUY is a great website to buy gold and coins for other websites such as Madden, elsewhere, etc.


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New York, NY (PRWEB) December 01, 2013
Ticket Down announces that George Balanchine's The Nutcracker is being performed live at the David H. Koch Theatre in New York City during December, 2013. A Christmas celebration would not be complete without the magic and fantasy of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker. This holiday season, share the magic of this well-loved and timeless classic with the people you hold dear to your hearts.
Additionally, Nutcracker tickets for performances in Houston at the Brown Theatre at Wortham Center, Washington DC at Warner Theatre, Boston at Boston Opera House, Atlanta at Fabulous Fox Theatre, Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Keller Auditorium in Portland, Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, Auditorium Theatre in Chicago and Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth are also available.
Performed by the New York City Ballet, The Nutcracker lures children and adults alike into the enchanting kingdom of the Sugarplum Fairy to the accompaniment of Peter Tschaikovsky's soaring musical score. The Nutcracker was first performed by the New York City Ballet in February 1954, choreographed by its founder George Balanchine, who once played the role of the prince in the Russian production. Since then it has become a yearly holiday tradition with the ballet company staging 47 performances each year at the David H. Koch Theatre.
Every year, 90 dancers, 62 musicians, 32 stagehands and two casts of 50 students from the School of American Ballet come together to create a captivating performance with grand set designs and stunning costumes based on the original work of famous stage designers Barbara Karinska and Rouben Ter-Arutunian.
Elaborate visual elements sweep the audience into fantasy, beginning with the snowstorm that sweeps a group of ballerinas onto the stage. Balanchine's choreography sets the stage for all these with truly magnificent routines that can only leave the audience in awe of the performance.
The Nutcracker is based on Alexandre Dumas, père version of 1816 tale of The Nutcracker and The Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffman. Originally a tale intended for adults, Alexandre Dumas, père created his own version to make it more suitable for children. It was later made into a ballet by Marius Petipa of the Russian Imperial Ballet who commissioned Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky to create the musical score and his assistant Lev Ivanov to develop the choreography. The Nutcracker was first performed as a ballet in December 1892 at St. Petersburg, Russia.
The story is about a young girl who is gifted with a nutcracker on Christmas Eve and is later swept into a dream to the Land of Toys where the Nutcracker battles with and slays the Mouse King, after which the Nutcracker becomes a Prince. The young girl and the Prince are then taken to the Land of Sweets where the Sugarplum Fairy resides and treats them to a plethora of sweets and entertainment. The story ends with the young girl and the Prince bidding the Sugarplum fairy goodbye.
Re-live the magic of the Nutcracker this Christmas by seeing it again. You can reserve your tickets now and avoid missing the 2013 run of this ballet classic.
Ticket Down has cheap George Balanchine's The Nutcracker Tickets and discounted tickets for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular at the Radio City Music Hall. Remember to add their special customer appreciation promo code NUTCRACKER for added savings.
Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/12/prweb11382220.htm.
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A bulk of my writing on the blog in 2014 was dedicated to recounting or posting matters related to my next book, Egalitarian Moments. This reflected that most of time that involved writing in general--especially once we subtract writing slides and notes for the two courses that I had to prepare last fall ("Ethics and Social Issues" and "Topics in European Philosophy")--was dedicated to the book as well. I wrote almost all of Part II and the conclusion to the book last year. As a consequence, I rarely found the time to jot down other stray or incomplete thoughts on the blog. I also neglected to mention a few things that I wrote in 2013 that were published in 2014:
- Two entries for The Meillassoux Dictionary, edited by Peter Gratton and Paul J. Ennis. Those entries are for Descartes and Fichte.
- A chapter for The Palgrave Handbook of German Idealism, edited by Matthew C. Altman. To be more specific, the chapter, "The 'Keystone' of the System: Schelling's Philosophy of Art," is a concise account of what I've argued are the three fundamental features of Schelling's philosophy of art, as elaborated in Freedom and Nature in Schelling's Philosophy of Art.
- A talk at Saint Paul University here in Ottawa where I will be defending something called "curmudgeonly humanism." That term seems to be the only way I could figure out to describe the work of Kurt Vonnegut, so it shouldn't then be a surprise that the talk is about Vonnegut and Sartre. Concerning the latter, I've adopted the term humanism to oppose to a set of assumptions about political agency made by the New Atheists and the field of 'political theology.' (A belated Google search reveals that the term "curmudgeonly humanism" has been kicking around the internet--13 hits--but no one claims it as a developed philosophical position). It looks like this discussion might form the basis of my next book.
- A paper about Schelling, anthropocentrism, and speciesism, for a book on German idealism edited by Joseph Carew. More details on this project will be forthcoming.
- This isn't exactly a project, but I've also decided to write at least one scholarly book review in 2015 as well.


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Followers of self-styled godman Nithyananda Swami have filed a complaint in a local court against a former devotee, who shot the alleged footage showing him in a compromising position with an actress, seeking immediate action against him.
Failing to get their FIR registered, a follower along with a lawyer and a supporter proceeded to Magistrate Court in Ramanagara, on Saturday and filed a private complaint against Lenin, the followers said in a press release here.
The court has taken cognizance of the complaint and called for a sworn-in statement to be made by September four, the release said.
The followers alleged that they had tried to file an FIR against Lenin Karuppan but police refused to register it. A similar attempt to approach the office of the Superintendent of Police also met with the same result, the release said.
The followers alleged that Lenin had continued to abuse Nithyananda and the organisation in public and private forums accusing him of sexual misconduct.
Nithyananda was embroiled in a controversy after a purported video footage showing him in a compromising position with a Tamil actress was aired on some local TV channels in March. Cases of rape and other offences were registered against him in Tamil Nadu and transferred to Karnataka.
Latest Comments
Submitted by sugumaran on Sun, 29/08/2010 - 8:19pm.
It is appalling on part of Nityananda and his supporters yearning to file a complaint against Lenin. On the other hand Lenin has only done a world of good by revealing the fake godman and police did the right by not filing the FIR against Lenin. It is high time Nityananda and his people realise that by trying to retaliate against Lenin they are showing they have not advanced an inch in spirituality. It is nothing short of politics. Disgrace! Deception!
Submitted by NTR on Sun, 29/08/2010 - 7:03pm.
Submitted by euphony on Sun, 29/08/2010 - 6:06pm.
These devotees have no shame.
# RE: Nityananda supporters file complaint against Lenin Karuppan — 2010-08-30
# RE: Nityananda supporters file complaint against Lenin Karuppan — 2010-08-30
Very Bad News||||||||||| |||||||
not good for our Indian Society,
not good for our Indian Society,
0 # mangalore — 2010-08-30
just wear the orange colour dhothi and a nama ,you can do whatever you want.No problem.This our india.We have to eradicate supertition and search for one god .then only blind followers will be decreased.he is enjoying financially and sexually.politicians hands are on his head
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------# RE: Nityananda supporters file complaint against Lenin Karuppan — 2010-08-30
People are blindly supporting this crooks and paying lot of money for nothing. Tragedy for the people who believe him. Still he is enjoying with his illgotton bounties and politicians like yeddi and acharya are supporting him blindly, how sad????
: Arun
On: 26 Aug 2010 2:09 pm
Who are these "followers" or "devotees" ???? Basically,those who have no other source of income/job and need to hang around a fake swami to find a livelihood.Isn't this guy already exposed well enough? Thanks to Mr.Lenin Kurupp for that!
Any body who has a little common sense will not even like to utter the so called lawless idiot Nityanandha's name who is a disgrace to Hinduism. I wonder how much these so called devotees are paid by this man to bring back his fame. People should stop blindly following and pouring money to any one who wears a saffron cloth, does some basic yoga, give basic Bhagavad Gita lessons.Reply | Report abuse
This country can not be changed. The corruption and infidelity is in the blood and DNA of Indians. I can say only one thing- Nityananda is a filthy /nasty pigsty !!!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------By: Dasrath
On: 29 Aug 2010 01:21 am
Sarath, you are right that each relegion has its own issues. But that does not mean that Sex Manian Nitya can do anything, get away and still be called a Paramahamsa... he should be called ParamaSexa. We as true Hindus should teach this guy not to play with peoples faith.


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Man survives car-under-lorry crash
The driver of a car has walked away with just minor injuries after his vehicle became trapped under the side of a lorry on a motorway.
Ambulance crews were called to reports of a lorry on top of a car near to junction 10a on the northbound carriageway of the M6 at around 7.40pm on Monday, West Midlands Ambulance Service said.
Crews found the silver Vauxhall Astra wedged under the side of a lorry.
Witnesses reported that the car had been dragged a short distance along the motorway.
A West Midlands Ambulance spokesman said: "Thankfully, despite the damage, the driver of the car, a man estimated to be in his 20s, was able to get out relatively easily.
"The man was checked over at the scene by the doctor. Amazingly, it appears as though he has suffered only minor abdominal injuries.
"However, as a precaution, he was taken by ambulance to the Major Trauma Centre at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.
"The lorry driver was uninjured, though shaken, by the incident."
PA Media


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what about you guys? what's on your reading list? What are you listening to? What are you watching? What are you looking forward to? Tell me everything!
Loving: This entire Taylor Swift-Tom Hiddleston-Kim Kardashian-Kanye West-Calvin Harris mess an saga. I like Taylor's music. I like the Kardashian's show. I like Kanye's insanity. I like Tom Hiddleston's hotness. I like Calvin Harris's abs. But really. I love everyone in this crazy insane melodrama and I can't believe the intense mess this has become. It's sheer entertainment and an amazing to see it unfold many more layers and craziness. This can't be real life but it is.
Reading: Bumble/Tinder profiles (or not reading some of them). I succumbed and re-installed the app and though it's been off to a slow start, I'm actually pretty detached about it. I'm not constantly swiping or obsessing over what to say or not say or what their profiles say or not say. I've been flaked on, ignored and i've been chatted up too but I guess my fasting from it the past couple of months has given me a sort of healthier detachment. Which I like. I shall keep you posted on any non-developments.
Watching: UnReal is back in my life and so are my summer shows (like Suits). But really. I don't know how UnReal does it but Shiri and Constance Zimmer are just GODDESSES. QUEENS. This show. is. Life. I need ten seasons, webisodes, everything. I need fic. Also, I'm actually sort of enjoying Brain Dead mainly because Aaron Tveit even if the plot is slightly weird.
Listening to: And because of this entire mayhem, I've listened to way too much This is what You Came For complete with surprise back story of the lyrics. But really, I feel for Calvin Harris. Whether he's evil or in cahoots or whatever, I feel TayVin was real and is the only true victim of all of this. So let's give him more money by listening to this song.
Working on: Completing 365 miles this year (587.5 KM). Damn Mark Zuckerberg and his crazy challenge and my procrastinating it till June but I'm hoping I near the goal. I know I should just pro-rate it given I started in June but I know I can do this. Sure, I'll have to kill myself every day till the end of the year but let's at least aim to reach it? I'm hoping. I don't like running by the way.
Anticipating: My family is coming over this week which makes me both very exciting and exhausted at the thought but I'm so happy I get to hang out with my parents and little sister before she leaves us for the US. And my brother's getting married!!! _lexizzle and Ashna have been together 6 years now and I can't believe this is happening. First wedding in the family! I'm going to have a 4th sister! What?! It hasn't settled yet.


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Embrey Partners has completed its purchase of 3.9 acres north of the new Nashville Sounds ballpark that will eventually be the new home for a 306-unit multifamily building.
The San Antonio-based company bought the property from the Metropolitan Sports Authority for $3.45 million.
Construction should begin soon at the site between 4th and 5th avenues north and Jackson and Jefferson streets. The apartment community will be called The Carillon.
Embrey Builders, an affiliate of Embrey Partners, will handle the construction. Embrey Management Services will manage the development.
"We are thrilled to close on this property and begin construction on an urban infill project that is as meaningful to us as it is to the city of Nashville," said Robert Hunt, Embrey's executive vice president-development.
The First Tennessee Park ballpark should open in the spring.
Getahn Ward, email@example.com


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WHO NEEDS PHOTOSHOP WHEN MOTHER NATURE CAN BE THIS CREATIVE? These 15 Clouds Really Exist in Nature!
Posted on Feb 18, 2016
These clouds aren't a precursor to alien invasion – they're a completely natural occurrence, believe it or not!
1. Fallstreak Hole
Nope, the sky isn't caving in – some of the clouds' water droplets freeze into ice crystals and fall below the clouds. Funny thing is that Fallstreak Hole can spread up to dozens of miles!


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Meeting Wireless Demand Are You Prepared?
Demand for wireless access is expected to soar this year and beyond. Analysts have predicted an increase of 300% in wireless demand in your organization. The question is are you ready for it?
Expanding Your Coverage
Your locations more than likely have some wireless coverage, but they will have a hard time keeping up to the number of devices attempting to connect to them.
Increasing the number of access points and turning the power down on some of the existing access points will provide better overall coverage and also satisfy the new demand. You also need to make sure you design your wireless network for the device types it will service. Wireless VOIP phones have a different coverage model than laptops. They need more access points at less power so they can roam without dropping the call.
If you only have a dozen or so devices two access points should be able to provide adequate coverage for a 1500 to 2000 square foot building.
Access Point Placement
You want to make sure you place your access points carefully. You do not want to mount them on structural metal; it can cause issues with the signal. You also want to make sure that you check the construction of your walls. Some buildings have sand in the walls, which can decrease signal and require additional access points.
Also make sure you leave some extra cable so if you need to move the access point, you can.
Wireless is much less secure than a wired network. Anyone with a device can find your network and attempt to break in. For you private wireless network, use WPA2 Enterprise security. This will require a username and password and not a key that is easily guessed. It also rotates the wireless keys providing another level of security.
At the least, you should not use WEP as it can be cracked in less than 1 hour in a heavily utilized network.
Wireless Controller
If you are going to be deploying a bunch of access points, you should consider using a wireless controller. This will help you make mass changes and also give you the ability to easily add and remove access points. You also have a central location to look for wireless issues if any are reported.
Final Thought
If you have not deployed wireless yet, chances are you will be in the next 12 months. Make sure you take time to understand your requirements so you can size your wireless deployment appropriately. Otherwise you will have coverage issues and unhappy users and unneeded expense.


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No health card means no family doctor for many homeless people
For every year a person is homeless, the odds of them having a family doctor drop by 9 per cent, according to a report by St. Michael's Hospital and Street Health.
One of the key barriers to having a family doctor is the lack of a health card, often because it has been lost or stolen, the report found.
The report, published today in the journal Open Medicine, www.openmedicine.ca/article/view/368/407, is an analysis of data collected for The Street Health Report 2007, a survey of the health status and needs of homeless people in downtown Toronto. That report found that only 43 per cent of homeless people have a family doctor, compared to 88 per cent for the overall Toronto population.
The authors included Stephen Hwang, a physician-researcher at the Centre for Research on Inner City Health at St. Michael's, and Laura Cowan, executive-director of the Street Health Community Nursing Foundation.
"We know that access to primary care through a family physician is important for everyone's health," said Dr. Hwang. "It's even more important for people who are homeless and ill and who may end up using emergency rooms and hospitals if they don't receive good primary care."
The analysis found homeless people were more likely to have a family doctor if they were gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender; possessed a health card; or had a chronic medical condition such as diabetes, HIV/AIDS or high blood pressure.
It found that 34 per cent of homeless people did not have a health card, which serves as proof of health insurance in Ontario. Of those, almost half (48 per cent) said they had lost their cards and 18 per cent said the cards had been stolen.
"Our findings point to the ongoing need to help secure and maintain health cards for homeless people, for example by offering programs at homeless service agencies to assist with the replacement and storage of health cards and other forms of identification such as birth certificates and driver's licenses," the report said,
"Additional mechanisms to improve access to primary care in this population include increasing the provision of drop-in clinics and community health centres that use alternative physicians billing systems and do not require patients to present their health card."
Street Health was the first agency in Canada, and remains the only one in Toronto, to offer secure document storage for about 550 homeless people. Its ID Safe program both stores documents such as health cards, passports and driver's licenses in a fireproof filing cabinet and provides a mailing address and other assistance for homeless people trying to replace lost or stolen documents.
The Coordinated Access to Care for the Homeless (CATCH) program was also created last September to help homeless people who have unmet complex health care needs to access health resources in the community. The program, which is a partnership between St. Michael's Hospital physicians, Toronto North Support Services and Toronto Central Community Care Access Centre, has connected more than 160 people to health care.
Explore further


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SheKnows climbed a beanstalk all the way to London to catch up with the cast and director of Jack the Giant Slayer. Find out what they had to say about shooting at a real royal palace, battling hundreds of giants, and the power of fairy tales.
Nicholas Hoult plays the title role in Jack the Giant Slayer, but his Jack does more than combat a single, towering oaf in this new version of Jack and the Beanstalk.
"In the original fairy tale, there's only one giant. In this one, there's a whole gang of them. Lots of them, there's one with two heads and they talk and they communicate and they're scary," Hoult told us when we sat down to chat about the film.
When he's not slaying giants with two heads, Jack is trying to earn the love of the beautiful and brave Princess Isabelle, played by the lovely British actress Eleanor Tomlinson. But this princess is no damsel in distress, considering she wears battle armor in the film.
"[Isabelle]'s not your average princess," Tomlinson said. "She is searching for an adventure. She doesn't want to be just married off and used as a piece on a chessboard. She wants to make a mark as her own person and that's what's fascinating about her."
Jack the Giant Slayer movie review: Not-so-jolly giant >>
Watch our interview with Nicholas Hoult and Eleanor Tomlinson
Two of the other films' stars, Ewan McGregor and Stanley Tucci, also sat down with us to chat about fairy tales.
"They're still very important," McGregor said. "We still read fairy tales to our children. The stories somehow are timeless."
Tucci agreed, adding that one of the reasons they're so popular in movies right now is because, "Now we can do things cinematically that we were never able to do before. And we can really bring things to life in a way that was never possible, so you can see giants and they really look incredibly real."
Watch our interview with Ewan McGregor & Stanley Tucci
Director Bryan Singer, who's best known for directing Valkyrie with Tom Cruise and X Men: First Class with Jennifer Lawrence, had his own take on fairy tales at the cinema.
"I think they're sort of cautionary tales," Singer told us. "The way they're told makes them very accessible for children. They tell a morality tale, each one is different." He gave us some examples, "Don't take apples from strangers, be careful if you're climbing up a beanstalk if you don't know where it's going to end up, that kind of thing."
Watch our interview with director Bryan Singer
Be sure to catch Jack the Giant Slayer in theaters March 1!


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We all know how difficult it can be to play through some games let alone compete against others. Pokémon is one of those games that takes strategy to a whole new level. Players struggle finding the right balance of a team. Even though they're just sprites on a screen, there's a tremendous amount of chemistry that goes into battling. Game Freak specifically designs Pokémon to be used under certain roles whether it be defensive tanks or speedy sweepers. That variety gets mixed in with different types, items and abilities to create millions of possibilities. Then, the TCG opportunities are even more infinite. There are trainer cards and multiple differences between species which adds even more millions of varieties.
At the 2014 World Championships there could only be one winner in each age bracket. For those brave and determined competitors, the road to the finals put their critical thinking to the ultimate test. It takes a truly devoted fan to strive for the goal of being on top of the world. The 2014 World Championships brought together Pokémaniacs from all over the globe where they could laugh, play and trade together. They created new friendships and rekindled old ones. It is a truly magical experience that no one thought these little pocket-sized monsters could have an effect this great on fans of all ages and walks of life. Game Freak, the Pokémon Company International and Nintendo thanks all who had a hand in this franchises' success with a special tribute video of the event.


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News in Brief: A National Roundup
N.J. May Return Some Powers to Jersey City
In a move that brings the Jersey City schools a step closer to ending more than a decade of state oversight, New Jersey's commissioner of education has recommended that the local school board be given control over the district budget.
Last summer, having made notable academic strides since being taken over by the state in 1989, the Jersey City school board was given control over curriculum and policy matters as part of a gradual return to self-governance. Commissioner David C. Hespe said last week that because the board had handled that responsibility successfully, it was time to return additional decisionmaking power.
Mr. Hespe also recommended that a 13-member transition team be appointed to draft a plan for the final stages of returning the district to local control, and that the local school board demonstrate its capacity to lead effectively by adopting more-stringent guidelines for ethics and professional responsibility.
In 1989, Jersey City was the first district taken over under a state law allowing seizure of districts that are "academically bankrupt."
—Catherine Gewertz
Harrisburg Sues Over New Law
The Harrisburg, Pa., school board has filed a lawsuit alleging that a new law granting state officials permission to take over the district is unconstitutional.
In the suit filed in Commonwealth Court June 1, the school board asserts that the Educational Empowerment Act, which Gov. Tom Ridge signed into law May 10, singles out the 8,800-student district for takeover in a manner that violates the state constitution.
The measure gave nine other districts three years to improve before they would face takeovers, but directed the mayor of Harrisburg to appoint a new school board for the state's capital city by July 1. Another district, the Chester-Upland schools near Philadelphia, will be operated by a state-appointed board beginning on that date. ("Pa. Targets 11 Districts for Takeover," May 17, 2000.)
State legislators have noted that Harrisburg is one of the few Pennsylvania districts whose scores on state tests have declined in recent years, and they contend its problems are grave enough to require immediate intervention.
But Royce Morris, the Harrisburg school board lawyer, said lawmakers unfairly passed the legislation without consulting with local officials. "It was stealth legislation, sneak legislation," he maintained. "When you single out one district with different treatment, our constitution says that is not permitted."
—Jessica L. Sandham
Ala. County To Bail Out District
The Jefferson County, Ala., commissioners have agreed to help bail out the county school system from its mounting debt with a $40 million bond issue.
Responding to a request from state schools Superintendent Ed Richardson, the county commission approved a preliminary plan last month to assist the district in dealing with a $24 million deficit projected for this school year and nearly $20 million in bank loans. The district's current budget is $255 million. In February, the state took over the 42,000-student system with the aim of resolving its financial difficulties.
Although details of the plan had yet to be worked out, the school board would repay the debt over a 20-year period. The commissioners have indicated that they want to meet regularly with the board and receive periodic reports about the system's finances. The state and the county commission hope to make the plan final this summer.
—Erik W. Robelen
Chicago Retests 49 8th Graders
The entire 8th grade at a Chicago school had to take a standardized test a second time after the district discovered that one or more school employees had cheated by changing answers on every one of the tests.
Blondean Davis, the director of schools and regions for the 430,000-student Chicago school system, said the cheating at Carpenter Elementary School in the northwest part of the city had been uncovered in a routine, random audit of scores on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills.
The scores of the 49 students drew attention because they were one to two years above the level required for promotion to the next grade, Ms. Davis said. There were other irregularities as well, such as evidence that the answers to the last 12 questions on many tests had been erased and identical answers entered.
"We know the tests were tampered with, and we know it wasn't the children that were involved," Ms. Davis said. She declined to reveal the number of employees suspected of cheating, saying only that results of the investigation would not be released until after the June 9 graduation.
All 49 students took the ITBS a second time, and "none of the inflated scores held," Ms. Davis said.
—Catherine Gewertz
Charlotte OKs Assignment Plan
Beginning in the fall of 2001, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., schools will stop using race to determine where students attend school.
The policy adopted earlier this month will let parents choose schools that are close to their homes and could result in a change of schools for up to a third of the district's 101,000 students. It will end student-assignment and busing patterns that the district used to maintain racial balance since being ordered by a federal judge to integrate its schools in 1969.
The new policy complies with a federal court ruling last September that found the district free from the vestiges of segregation and ordered an end to the 30-year-old desegregation plan that had ushered in an era of large-scale mandatory busing around the country.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg's school board is appealing that ruling before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, in Richmond, Va.
—Robert C. Johnston
Pa. School Retains Tax Status
A private Pennsylvania boarding school cannot be stripped of its tax-exempt status as a public charity for not admitting girls, a state court ruled last week.
The case involving the 470-student Hill School in Pottstown was being watched closely as a threat to the tax-exempt status of all single-sex private educational institutions in the state. The 3,200-student Pottstown district petitioned its local tax-assessment board in 1996 to remove the school's tax-exempt status because of the school's admissions policy. The board rejected the challenge, and the district appealed in Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas.
Senior Judge Richard Lowe initially ruled for the district, but reconsidered his decision and upheld the school's status in a June 5 ruling.
Joseph E. Bresnan, a lawyer representing the Pottstown district, said the ruling would be appealed.
—Mark Walsh
Food Vendors Charged in N.Y.C.
Some food suppliers to the New York City schools have been accused of forming a conspiracy that raised prices and charged too much for frozen foods and fresh produce.
The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that 22 individuals and 13 food companies rigged bids to ensure extra-high profits that totaled millions of dollars. Some companies also were accused of inflating prices for the New York agency that provides food to hospitals and jails and to other school districts.
—Alan Richard
Fla. District Raises Teacher Pay
Educators in Pinellas County, Fla., are set to get their first substantial pay raise in about a decade, thanks in large measure to the intense competition for teachers in the Sunshine State.
Under a one-year contract ratified by members of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association last week, teachers will receive an average increase of 7.7 percent. Many of the less experienced teachers in the 109,000-student district will see raises of up to 10 percent. Raises of 4 percent have been more typical since the early 1990s, said Jade Moore, the president of the National Education Association affiliate.
The contract—which includes $1,000 bonuses for newly hired teachers—reflects the increased aggressiveness of Florida districts in vying with other systems for teachers.
Last month, the nearby Hillsborough County schools announced a hike in starting salaries from $27,000 to $30,000. Earlier this year, the Florida legislature allocated $60 million specifically to help schools offer more-attractive compensation packages.
Said Mr. Moore: "The law of supply and demand is kicking in, and when that happens, you will be seeing teachers' salaries increase dramatically over the next five years."
—Jeff Archer
Vol. 19, Issue 40, Page 4Published in Print: June 14, 2000, as News in Brief: A National Roundup
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If you're a Thames Water customer located outside these areas we'll be with you soon, but you can request a meter early by completing this form.


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i am doing b.tech in civil engineering i want to know how to get job in pwd in UTTAR PRADESH?which entrance do i have appear?
i am doing b.tech in civil engineering i want to know how to get job in pwd in UTTAR PRADESH?which entrance do i have appear?
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Great Blue Heron
El Cap
It was a great week of summer weather and I was rising early, driving around the back roads looking for wildlife, trying to catch the light before going in to work. I had discovered a nearby pond that often had waterfowl on it: ducks, cormorants, geese, etc. It was just a big, square, man-made pond that wasn't very picturesque but I could get a clear shot of it from the road. My scouting paid off when I got these mallards drifting in and out of the morning mist just as the sun cleared the banks.
the great blue yonder 3318
Scootching made this shot possible.
It's often the case when I wake in the morning that I'll look out from the bedroom window and see a heron on the pond. And as much as I'd like to go out to shoot I know from multiple past experiences that it's almost impossible to get out there close enough to get a shot without spooking them.
But occasionally there are two herons, which means there's a chance that something interesting can happen between them as they jockey around the pond for territorial position. And while they distract each other there's a chance they might not notice a big guy with a huge lens sneaking towards them.
There wasn't time to change so I just donned my camo hat and went out in my pajamas. I sat on my butt behind the camera and scootched forward along the wet grass whenever they weren't looking. It took me a half an hour to work my way down the exposed hillside to the edge of the pond - a distance of a mere 60 feet.
I finally reached the cover of the tall grass along the pond edge and from that vantage caught this sequence of one heron crossing to get away from the other.
Then again, perhaps it was the pajamas.
herongreat blue heronron pittspondtottenhamontarioflyingwingscompositepanoramapanoranimalwaterwildlifewaterfowlbirdsgreen bluegreygraylong legsfeathersflight patternflight


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Drop all your summer thirst in a long glass of watermelon squash. If you really like squash drinks, make this Watermelon squash at home. This is very easy and ready in 5 min that too with three ingredients. Want to prepare so more delicious squash then pick an extra ripe watermelon, the summer cocktail watermelon squash is a compulsory drink in your freezer.
Health Benefits of Watermelon Squash:
- Watermelon is Hydrated fruit.
- Which is low in calories helps to maintain a diet.
- The watermelon is rich in Citrulline which helps to prevent atherosclerosis.
- For pregnant women it is very useful helps to prevent morning sickness.
Watermelon Squash Recipe
- 5 Mins
- Persons: 2
- Difficulty: Easy
- Ingredients
- Watermelon (Medium size) 1
- Sugar 4 tbsp
- Lemon 1
- Making Procedure
- Firstly chop the watermelon into a small dice cube shape, then remove the seeds.
- Take one large bowl then mix the cubes with sugar and squash the cubes until it turns like watermelon puree
- Then add lemon juice to this puree and stir well for a while with the help of a wooden spatula
- By using lime juice the squash turns into a bit tangy flavor.
- Pour the squash into a serving glass and serve as it is top with ice cubes if you like.
So, friends, this process is quite simple and easy to prepare, right? Why are you waiting for the food court style Watermelon squash recipe is in your hands, explore now! Hope you definitely like the recipe want to share this recipe with your friends use our social media pages and share. Don't forget to subscribe for new recipes.
Watermelon Squash Making Tips:
- Use honey instead of sugar.
- Instead of a wooden spatula, you can also make the watermelon puree with the help of a blender.
- Use Ice cubes for topping (completely dependence) you can skip this step.
- Use a little bit vodka for cocktail flavor.
- For garnish use lemon and watermelon slices.


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Or, more pleasantly-sounding, it's an Andira Inermis, a tree native to the West Indies.
You would know this, because some of the trees at Mongoose Junction are labeled, as part of a project by the Unitarian Universal Fellowship of St. John.
The group spent several months identifying trees around Cruz Bay and has put together a book with maps and pictures to help you identify them.
Check it out, here.
As for the Pig Turd: "This is an inelegant name for an attractive tree that has beautiful purple flowers, but its dried fruits lying on the ground do look remarkably like turds."


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Transphobic Britain
How, given the history of the black community in Britain after centuries of slavery, do Black people explain the rampant transphobia that they accord black transgender/transsexual people? Indeed, how does anyone who has ever or still suffers oppression, whatever form it takes? These were the question that assailed me for the best part of ten months of living in a predominantly Black and immigrant part of London.
In this area, it seemed factual that a multicultural melting pot is a force for good. The question is, is it? It has existed until now and has continued whether you are made aware of the varying conflicts of raging heterosexualism, homosexist, which is less mentioned for fear of what the so called Gay Mafia might do, and internalised sexism despite all the other worries the impact on us all one way or the other: of racism, homophobia and the plethora of unmentioned isms or phobia beset us in this capitalist world.
Faced with the fact that it is now over thirty years since some of the essays that appeared in Audre Lorde's "Sister Outsider" the theme of Black Women uniting in one voice was been raised consistently and we must continue in this vein. We must raise our voices transgender people or otherwise until oppression is completely vanquished.
As a Black, transsexual woman, a lesbian and a Buddhist, the issue of whether much change has taken place lingers in my mind. Audre Lorde's inspiring words are still with me. Writing in the seventies, she asserted that, "…since you have so completely un-recognised me, perhaps I have been in error concerning you and no longer recognise you." Here, I revisit the same themes predominantly in Britain where the multicultural inner cities are increasingly becoming so fractured due to growing prejudice based on a compulsory heterosexuality.
In this melting pot, multicultural Britain that is, the same evils prevail in a mediocre, glazed over worldview that seems to internally scream for perpetual profit, heteronormativity and all else in its blindness especially if as an individual you question traditional gender.
Suddenly, all the laws of the land fall flat on their faces when even those credited with law enforcement themselves become blasé towards victims reporting hate crimes. Recently for instance, while trying to report a transphobic incident, an insensitive police officer barked, "What's wrong with you?" down the phone at me causing me to quiver fearfully in from of my assailants. The two transphobes that were harassing me fled as soon as they heard I was talking to the Police. One was Black, stereotypical in her language and feisty too. She seemingly untouched in her quest. She brandished her store of denial to ward off any and all accusations. The other was an Asian girl of about seventeen, probably theistic, aggressive in her delivery and somewhat head strong. The gossip was all they seemed to follow me for. They wanted to forcefully share what they viewed as knowledge with me in prepared utterances that suggested: "everyone knows!" "I know," "He's a liar" and things to that end which they denied when questioned about their behaviour. Or the coldly withdrawn of some Hasidic Jewish people out for a walk. They roamed the area with their own brand of exclusionary chides, shoves and in your face overt condescension as they encouraged their children to follow suit right after the dictates of their tradition. Not to mention the East Europeans speaking loudly and laughing more threateningly than empathically only to push children forward to continue the onslaught on the so called, "outsider!" How can such children learn respect in a climate of rank prejudice? Goodness forbid a child voice their own transgender feeling not to mention a specificity for transsexuals at the age of eight. Not to mention Africans too jumping on the age old bandwagon and branding the poor children in their care as, "witches" simply because adults could not understand what the child has presented them with.
So, is this what multicultural Britain has become? A melting pot of media constructed conflicts through stereotypes and sensationalised storylines? Is this anywhere for children to be brought up? Not because of any fault of transsexual people in the area but because of unreason parents and their hatred of individuals they do not understand, I wondered. Deep in my mind I knew this was the only place for transpeople. The idea that we belong elsewhere is and can only be made by the narrow mindset that blames transsexuals/transgender people rather than take responsibility for their own actions and what they introduced their children to by proxy. Transsexuals exist in bodies in the here and now and we will always do. One of the problems with multicultural Britain apart from the assumed "integrated communities" is that there is a sense in which we seem to be doing our host's dirty work for it. Some of this stems from the aftermath of twin incidents of nine, eleven and seven, seven, the second Gulf war, and presently Afghanistan but that hasn't removed a section of the Asian community's fear nor will it stop their young, adult or old intimidating members of the lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and transgender communities (LGBT) and perhaps more so the transgender in my experience in.
However after Audre Lorde we must take our own stands of course reviving her fighting spirit in every one of us today. Outing ourselves is only a starting point and by this I do not mean that we throw caution to the wind in blank free for all disclosures. Rather what I am saying is that we, transgender people especially, should start recognising ourselves as no one else seems capable of fighting our fights for us nor should we expect them to. Daily when we hear disapproving voices our first instinct is to take cover out of the fear of being adversely labelled at our cost, ostracised or opened up to a spectrum of abuses from verbal to violent because of our gender identity. Personally, although I am terrified of the prospect of violence, I will not be quiet in the face of virulent transphobia.
Meanwhile in multicultural Britain as I have said above everyone is complicity in transphobia to some degree. I feel the sooner we nip this in the bud the better. When did our local libraries become havens for transphobic abuse by members of the public, staff or passers through alike? When such abuse takes place is it enough to report such incidents to staff who may be culpable themselves or does one bite the bullet and go straight to the Police? What does one do caught between the hard face of a stranger and the soft smiling yet complicit face of a friend holding court with the same stranger? Or even more so, if one's abuser turns out to be the landlord one is renting a flat from (who wantonly goes about setting off verbal incendiaries of his or her own to make good with other residents)?
So many questions and obviously we get our heads around them just as many answers. However, stating this particular standpoint with my experience I will not play court with a "passing" trans sister whose only reason for befriending me is to forward her own selfish need for approval. From where I stand such invitations in individuals or by the media as we see so often these days is tantamount to making piccaninnies of us all. The misappropriation going around these days suggests that transgenderism is the last play thing for traditional hetero-normative gender but this is not so. Transgenderism is nobody's play thing but one of many challenge it will do us to get used to quickly. Nor do we all fit so narrowly into femme transsexuality as in Hailey on Coronation Street. Our dress code is just as fluid as nature ordains whether we like it or not.
I am transsexual lesbian with no leanings in the heterosexual direction which makes it insulting when men come onto me. I will not accept any such attention because in doing so I with be complicit in their abuse sooner or later and I can do without that. I am grateful that I am happily in a relationship with a lesbian who accepts me as I am but I am cautious there too for obvious reasons that I will explore in a later instalment.
The multicultural face of transphobia is judgemental, self-centre, paranoid and fearful of difference. How can we avoid talking about difference and then hope to rejoice in diversity? Perhaps it is time we realised that a staid old fashioned idea of gender has had its day. Perception like gender is not fixed. Like any other form of bad behaviour perception too is open to change. Without a nudge in the right direction it festers and rots.
In this multicultural ghetto is there really any let up? Children parade the place, raising their voices, adults too; almost seem to be saying, 'get out! You do not belong here, out, out!' in their clamour for their selfish ideas of "normality". Who's paranoid? Over powerful junior managers trying to hold shop at the expense of transgender staff? A bus driver rolling his eyes into an already clogged head of religious fodder? Or the confident transgender person unwilling to be labelled second best. I know who I'd choose.
However immigrants are not alone in this detestable behaviour. Elsewhere Audre Lorde draws our attention to the fact that, "One oppression does not justify another" but this does not stop people for a moment to think. I recall a LGBT youth worker once getting together with a lesbian co-worker to have a laugh. A couple of days afterwards, I wasn't surprised to see his discomfort when asked about his view of transgenderism he frowned spluttering righteous nothings.
In the middle of writing this a European man (most likely, Eastern European refugee, unemployed and illiterate) used his mobile to spread his own particular brand of hatred. 'He is a liar! He doesn't go to work. Man, man, man!" he screamed into his phone. He must have looked a state but whether his opprobrium was projected my way or not he must have depicted a picture of insanity. As far as I was concerned, he couldn't possibly be talking about me. So, I wondered, is he gay or something? Or was that the fear of losing a possible lay? He could easily have been venting at the air! As if I cared.
In the end, one must define oneself and this applies to everyone transgender or otherwise. Audre Lorde again when she led the way, writing, "we welcome women who can meet us, face to face, beyond objectification and beyond guilt" and conversely, everyone, especially for those "friends" who oppressively adlibbed opinionated African Diaspora women out of The Company -"theirs" or what a friend called, "enclaves of oppression" to think about. Audre Lorde couldn't have been more apt in her rallying call. The initiative is ours to take.
Mia Nikasimo © July 2010.
Letter to Mary Daly in Sister Outsider: Essays & Speeches, by Audre Lorde, Crossing Press, Berkeley, 2004, p. 70.
Sexism: An American Disease in Blackface, op. cit; p. 63.
The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism, op. cit; p. 133.
italics are mine.


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Ponte Vedra Inn & Club Awards & Recognition
AAA Five Diamond Award
PVIC is honored to be an AAA Five Diamond Resort for the 18th consecutive year, 2019.
Ponte Vedra Inn & Club is pleased to announce that it was once again recognized as an AAA Five Diamond Resort for 2019. The AAA Five Diamond Award is one of North America's most respected symbols of excellence in the hospitality industry, signifying an exclusive property that showcases unique guest experiences, leading-edge creativity, and highly personalized hospitality. Each year, AAA reviews more than 29,000 hotels. Just 0.4 percent make the AAA Five Diamond list. We are deeply honored!
TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence Hall of Fame
TripAdvisor Hall of Fame proudly recognizes the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club as an esteemed property which has placed a great focus on delivering top-of-the-line service and accommodations to its guests and has strived to set the hospitality standards around the world. Of the total recipients of the 2018 Certificate of Excellence award, only 9% qualified for placement in the Certificate of Excellence Hall of Fame.
5-Star Rated Property
Ponte Vedra Inn & Club is honored to be recognized as a 5-Star Rated property via Expedia, TripAdvisor, Hotels.com, Travelocity, Orbitz and more!
Travel + Leisure's top 500 Hotels in the world
Ponte Vedra Inn & Club is honored to be one of Travel + Leisure's top 500 Hotels in the world for 2015!
Once again, the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club has been honored by Travel + Leisure readers as one of the top resorts in the U.S. in its 20th annual Top 500 resorts World's Best Survey. Each resort receives a score composed of ratings for its rooms and facilities, location, service, restaurants and value, of which the resort obtained impressively high results. Judging for the prestigious survey is based on opinions of magazine's readers who are among the most discerning travelers around the world.
"We are very honored to once again have both resorts named among the top resorts in the U.S. by Travel + Leisure's readers. This acknowledgment is a great testament to the hundreds of hard-working staff at the Ponte Vedra Beach Resorts, continuing to provide guests with the high-quality accommodations and service they have come to expect," says David Mariotti, General Manager, Ponte Vedra Beach Resorts.
"Ponte Vedra exhibits an exceptionally high degree of service, striking and luxurious facilities and many extra amenities. Guest services are executed and presented in a flawless manner. The property sets the standard for hospitality and service."
AAA Five-Diamond Award
"No. 1 Family Hotel in the Unites States"
Travel + Leisure
"Classy, right on the beach, and the service is top quality"
USA Today
"20 most romantic resorts in North America"
The Washington Post
"Among the World's Best Hotels"
Travel + Leisure
"One of Florida's Best"
Condé Nast Traveler's Gold List
"A dramatic blend of classical service, charm and elegance"
Town & Country
"Top 10 Southern Resorts, Best Guest Rooms"
"One of the Top 50 Family-friendly Resorts in America"
Travel + Leisure Family
"Time honored and steeped in tradition... a landmark in American hospitality"
Grand Hotels & Resorts
"One of the world's top establishments selected by the most discerning travel experts"
Fodor's Choice
"Ponte Vedra continues to uphold the industry's highest standard."
Resorts & Great Hotels
"One of the 20 hot spots from around the globe"
American Airlines' Celebrated Living
"A perfect union of quality food and courteous service"
Achievement Award, Restaurant Hospitality
"Guest rooms and service are rated extraordinary to perfect"
Zagat Survey