text:
"Every year, the art and science of community management is becoming more predictable," said Jono Bacon, the Community Leadership Summit lead organizer. It's becoming a renaissance, and over the last few years the practice is starting to be written down and documented. It's evolving.
The 5th Community Leadership Summit (CLS), an unconference focused on community management and leadership, was held in Portland, Oregon on July 20-21 this year. And as expected, I had many different roles while there. I was a session leader, a session participant, and a hard core note taker.
Attendees around me commented that this year something was different. The mix of attendees seemed to change from that of previous years. While open source community managers and experts had been some of the core participants, the number of attendees from different disciplines and industries was clearly growing.
To me, this highlights that the open source way and how open source communities are managed is attractive to other types of organizations. Not only can open source communities teach and share our best practices, we also can learn from other fields of business and study.
Here's what I experienced during my first Community Leadership Summit, including key take-aways from the sessions I attended. I had to make some tough choices as each day had 40 sessions at four different time slots.
Day 1 sessions
Branding and communities
The core questions in this session were: How can brands and communities work better together? and What's the commonality between them? After some great discussion the group noted that branding is easier when you have a community of purpose. Identifying the right paths and opportunities for community members to be a brand ambassador can really advance both the community and the brand.
I was also excited that in my first session we created an asset for community managers. We collectively identified 12 best practices for building brands.
How I participated: I contributed to the conversation and took notes.
Community nuture programs
"Every gift is an interaction," said Heather Leson. In this session, we talked about different ways to advance community members to different milestones and achievements within a community. How to welcome community members and why it's important to do so.
We also talked about the points and badge system we have here at Opensource.com and ways that we can use it to identify contributions and reward our community members after achieving certain milestones.
How I participated: I moderated this session. I also took notes and merged them with Heather Leson's notes.
Do metrics matter?
Metrics and tracking progress were two hot topics at the Community Leadership Summit. The biggest take-away from this session was to make sure that you define goals then use the right metrics to track progress. There was a lot of debate about providing metrics to managers in order to prove the value of community management.
How I participated: I contributed to this session and shared information with some of the metrics we track at Opensource.com.
Open government communities
I lead a discussion about communities that are currently forming around open government. It was great to have Deb Bryant, an expert in open source, governance, and community engagement. This session was a great opportunity to share the different things happening in open government. The group ultimately created a list of effective strategies to change the mentality in government IT.
How I participated: I moderated this session and took notes.
Day 2 sessions
How to market your community using free tactics
The community manager from Moz (formerly SEOMoz) proposed this topic and lead the session. While we started out talking about generating good content for websites and why that's important, the conversation quickly turned to social media. The group shared which social media outlets they are using and how they use each one. Then we created a list of tools that everyone uses, some of which I plan on checking out again later.
How I participated: I contributed to the conversation, shared social media strategies, and took notes.
Measuring community management
This session was similar to the "Do metrics matter?" session from yesterday. However, it focused more on the goals we set for ourselves as community managers. The group shared different tactics on how we measure for community management and what success looks like for community members.
How I participated: I contributed to the conversation.
Building communities around content
This was one of my favorite sessions because it's really core to the Opensource.com community. Essentially, we are a community that has formed around content. The group was diverse, and we got a lot of different perspectives on content and communities. One key idea that emerged was creating quality content. But, another topic that warranted some debate was: Who has permission to publish content within a community? The answer: it depends on the community.
How I participated: I contributed to the conversation and shared some of the strategies we use at Opensource.com.
Hackathons and idea competitions
The last session of the Community Leadership Conference was a topic that I have had some experience in: running a hackathon. The group discussed different ways to run a successful hackathon and some of the different strategies around them. We also shared reasons to run a hackathon and how to maintain momentum after a hackathon has ended. We did denote that you could actually substitute anything in front of -athon, such as idea-athon or write-athon.
How I participated: I contributed to the conversation and shared my experiences from CityCamp and NC Datapalooza.
Future Community Leadership Summits
There was a proposal to host a Community Leadership Summit in New York City this September. The organizers would like to see other communities take the values and principles we talked about to events in other locations.
Final thoughts
There are two general observations worth noting.
First, attendees observed that topics that were typically coming up year after year at the conference, in the sessions, are changing, evolving, or disappearing altogether. This means that community managers are learning, evolving, and advancing onto more complex topics.
Second, there was an overarching question of: How do community managers deliver value? One of the main benefits of an unconference like the Community Leadership Summit is that attendees can explore the answer to this question. Many of the sessions I attended touched on this topic. Translating community growth and management into value that a company can understand is becoming more and more clear.
The experience from the open source community continues to lead and prove the value of community management. The role of the community manager is evolving and becoming more complex. And the delicate balance between companies and communities will continue to shape this evolution.


text: Climate plays an important role in where plants, animals, and humans can thrive. As the global climate changes, it threatens the safety and well-being of our communities, our economy, and our natural heritage. The USGS investigates the causes and consequences of climate change and helps people create strategies to navigate this global crisis.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
"International Association for Human Values (IAHV) gives hope to people, teaches us to live in spite of difficulties, and teaches us to forgive and enjoy every moment of our life given by the Creator! Our city returns to life after terrible shocks," shares Erkin Nurmamatov with tears of gratitude, a year after Osh province in Southern Kyrgyzstan was rocked by a bout of ethnic violence in June 2010.
"Everything has become better.The program came at the right time."
- Kanybay Saliev, Police Colonel, Assistant Chief of Police Department in Osh city.
In the aftermath of a week of inter-community violence, a cloud of insecurity darkened the minds of people and altered their way of life: people preferred to stay home during the evenings, parents did not allow their children to play in the neighborhood. These events also eroded cross-community trust as well as international relations of Kyrgyzstan: both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan had closed their borders with Kyrgyzstan for an extended period.
The law-maintaining forces bore the brunt of this –the Police Department in Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan, had to live with constant pressure and continually be in a state of combat readiness to keep the situation in the multi-ethnic city under control, the border troops and people working under the Department of Emergency Situations had to be on call - day and night.
Restoring Peace and Communal Harmony in Osh City
A dynamic team from International Association for Human Values, Russia: Rashit Rahimulin, Elena Stefanova, Ilshat Safin and Victor Odincov came together to work for peace in Kyrgyzstan.
"The techniques from the course help control emotionsand feelings, quickly mobilize,more effectively solve military problems, give deep relaxation, rest, calm nervous system and let us realize the nature of the mind. This helps to solve problems in the family and in the service not only in emergency situations, but also in peacetime."
- Muktarbek Sydykov, Police Major, Deputy Commander of Police Department, Kyrgyzstan.
They organized Trauma Relief workshops over the period of a year to provide the much needed healing breath to rejuvenate assurance and rebuild trust. The journey started in June 2010 with Trauma Relief workshops in Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan. More than 2500 people (a mix of Kirghiz, Uzbeks and Russian communities) including children, doctors, employees of the Department of Internal Affairs, anti-terrorist units, Special Forces and Border Guards benefitted. After the success of these workshops in Osh and Bishkek, they were also conducted for residents, school and university teachers, Department of Internal Affairs and Special Rapid Reaction Detachment forces in Jalal-abad and Chui district.
The Police Department in Bishkek, one of the first recipients of the workshops, spoke of the relief experienced, mental clarity and better ability to manage the situation. "We have had no normal rest and sleep for two months. Therefore, there is deep stress and sometimes nervous breakdowns. After the Trauma Relief workshop 'Release from stress', I feel more relaxed, calm, more self-control and irritability has decreased. I wake up rested. Psychological conditions have gradually stabilized. Everything has become better. The program came at the right time," shared Kanybay Saliev, Assistant Chief of Police in Osh city.
Bringing Peace to the Peace-keepers
On similar lines, Zemfira Kutlubaeva, the Senior Officer of the Personnel of the Osh Border Unit said, "During ethnic war, woman-soldiers cooked and baked bread under fire. Now we have more self-confidence, life force, and good humor. Health has improved and we sleep better. We have found peace of mind."
The Trauma Relief workshops also functioned as a common ground that brought people from different ethnic societies together to begin the step-by-step journey of rejuvenating mutual trust.
Yoga and Meditation Rekindles Love and Hope
A year later, the healing and re-emergence of human values is evident. The bonds of trust and belonging between people and communities are being rekindled.
Mamasadyk, a workshop participant, expressed "I would like to express gratitude from all course participants…in Osh city, Kyrgyzstan. The war is inhuman, ruthless and cruel. But at the same difficult time nobility, heroism and kindness has risen in people."
The streets resound again with the joyful sounds of children laughing as they play, their innocence and sense of well-being restored.
* The IAHV is a sister organization of The Art of Living and is headquartered in Geneva.
Published in 2010.


text:
St. Augustine of Hippo
St. Augustine of Hippo
Pope Benedict XVI
The Rhetorician's tormented interior journey which led to his moral and intellectual conversion remains a model of perseverance for the faithful
On Wednesday, 9 January [2008], at the General Audience in the Vatican's Paul VI Auditorium, the Holy Father commented on St. Augustine of Hippo. The following is a translation of the Pope's Catechesis, given in Italian.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
After the great Christmas festivities, I would like to return to the meditations on the Fathers of the Church and speak today of the greatest Father of the Latin Church, St. Augustine. This man of passion and faith, of the highest intelligence and tireless in his pastoral care, a great Saint and Doctor of the Church is often known, at least by hearsay, even by those who ignore Christianity or who are not familiar with it, because he left a very deep mark on the cultural life of the West and on the whole world.
Because of his special importance St. Augustine's influence was widespread. It could be said on the one hand that all the roads of Latin Christian literature led to Hippo (today Annaba, on the coast of Algeria), the place where he was Bishop from 395 to his death in 430, and, on the other, that from this city of Roman Africa, many other roads of later Christianity and of Western culture itself branched out.
A civilization has seldom encountered such a great spirit who was able to assimilate Christianity's values and exalt its intrinsic wealth, inventing ideas and forms that were to nourish the future generations, as Paul VI also stressed: "It may be said that all the thought-currents of the past meet in his works and form the source which provides the whole doctrinal tradition of succeeding ages" (Inaugural Address at the Patristic Institute of the "Augustinianism", 4 May 1970; L'Osservatore Romano English edition, 21 May 1970, p. 8).
Augustine is also the Father of the Church who left the greatest number of works. Possidius, his biographer, said that it seemed impossible that one man could have written so many things in his lifetime. We shall speak of these different works at one of our meetings soon.
Today, we shall focus on his life, which is easy to reconstruct from his writings, in particular the Confessions, his extraordinary spiritual autobiography written in praise of God. This is his most famous work; and rightly so, since it is precisely Augustine's confessions, with their focus on interiority and psychology, that constitute a unique model in Western literature, and not only Western but even non-religious, to modem times.
This attention to the spiritual life, to the mystery of the "I", to the mystery of God who is concealed in the "I", is something quite extraordinary, without precedent, and remains for ever, as it were, a spiritual "peak".
Rhetoric, philosophy and wisdom
But to come back to his life: Augustine was born in Tagaste in the Roman Province of Numidia, Africa, on 13 November 354 to Patricius, a pagan who later became a catechumen, and Monica, a fervent Christian. This passionate woman, venerated as a saint, exercised an enormous influence on her son and raised him in the Christian faith. Augustine had also received the salt, a sign of acceptance in the catechumenate, and was always fascinated by the figure of Jesus Christ; indeed, he said that he had always loved Jesus but had drifted further and further away from ecclesial faith and practice, as also happens to many young people today.
Augustine also had a brother, Navigius, and a sister whose name is unknown to us and who, after being widowed subsequently became the head of a monastery for women.
As a boy with a very keen intelligence, Augustine received a good education although he was not always an exemplary student. However, he learned grammar well, first in his native town and then in Madaura, and from 370, he studied rhetoric in Carthage, the capital of Roman Africa. He mastered Latin perfectly but was not quite as successful with Greek and did not learn Punic, spoken by his contemporaries.
It was in Carthage itself that fur the first time Augustine read the Hortensius, a writing by Cicero later lost, an event that can be placed at the beginning of his journey towards conversion. In fact, Cicero's text awoke within him love for wisdom, as, by then a Bishop, he was to write in his Confessions.. "The book changed my feelings", to the extent that "every vain hope became empty to me, and I longed for the immortality of wisdom with an incredible ardour in my heart" (III, 4, 7).
However, since he was convinced that without Jesus the truth cannot be said effectively to have been found and since Jesus' Name was not mentioned in this book, immediately after he read it he began to read Scripture, the Bible. But it disappointed him. This was not only because the Latin style of the translation of the Sacred Scriptures was inadequate but also because to him their content itself did not seem satisfying.
In the scriptural narratives of wars and other human vicissitudes, he discovered neither the loftiness of philosophy nor the splendour of the search for the truth which is part of it. Yet he did not want to live without God and thus sought a religion which corresponded to his desire for the truth and also with his desire to draw close to Jesus.
Thus, he fell into the net of the Manichean, who presented themselves as Christians and promised a totally rational religion. They said that the world was divided into two principles: good and evil. And in this way the whole complexity of human history can be explained. Their dualistic morals also pleased St. Augustine, because it included a very high morality for the elect: and those like him who adhered to it could live a life better suited to the situation of the time, especially for a young man.
He therefore became a Manichean, convinced at that time that he had found the synthesis between rationality and the search for the truth and love of Jesus Christ. Manicheanism also offered him a concrete advantage in life: joining the Manicheans facilitated the prospects of a career.
By belonging to that religion, which included so many influential figures, he was able to continue his relationship with a woman and to advance in his career. By this woman he had a son, Adeodatus, who was very dear to him and very intelligent, who was later to be present during the preparation for Baptism near Lake Como, taking part in those "Dialogues" which St. Augustine has passed down to us. The boy unfortunately died prematurely.
Having been a grammar teacher since his twenties in the city of his birth, he soon returned to Carthage, where he became a brilliant and famous teacher of rhetoric. However, with time Augustine began to distance himself from the faith of the Manicheans. They disappointed him precisely from the intellectual viewpoint since they proved incapable of dispelling his doubts. He moved to Rome and then to Milan, where the imperial court resided at that time and where he obtained a prestigious post through the good offices and recommendations of the Prefect of Rome, Symmacus, a pagan hostile to St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan.
Listening with the heart
In Milan, Augustine acquired the habit of listening — at first for the purpose of enriching his rhetorical baggage — to the eloquent preaching of Bishop Ambrose, who had been a representative of the Emperor for Northern Italy. The African rhetorician was fascinated by the words of the great Milanese Prelate; and not only by his rhetoric. It was above all the content that increasingly touched Augustine's heart.
The great difficulty with the Old Testament, because of its lack of rhetorical beauty and lofty philosophy was resolved in St. Ambrose's preaching through his typological interpretation of the Old Testament: Augustine realized that the whole of the Old Testament was a journey toward Jesus Christ.
Thus, he found the key to understanding the beauty and even the philosophical depth of the Old Testament and grasped the whole unity of the mystery of Christ in history, as well as the synthesis between philosophy, rationality and faith in the Logos, in Christ, the Eternal Word who was made flesh.
Augustine soon realized that the allegorical interpretation of Scripture and the Neo-Platonic philosophy practised by the Bishop of Milan enabled him to solve the intellectual difficulties which, when he was younger during his first approach to the biblical texts, had seemed insurmountable to him.
Thus, Augustine followed his reading of the philosophers' writings by reading Scripture anew, especially the Pauline Letters. His conversion to Christianity on 15 August 386 therefore came at the end of a long and tormented inner journey — of which we shall speak in another catechesis —, and the African moved to the countryside, north of Milan by Lake Como — with his mother Monica, his son Adeodatus and a small group of friends — to prepare himself for Baptism.
So it was that at the age of 32 Augustine was baptized by Ambrose in the Cathedral of Milan on 24 April 387, during the Easter Vigil.
After his Baptism, Augustine decided to return to Africa with his friends, with the idea of living a community life of the monastic kind at the service of God.
However, while awaiting their departure in Ostia, his mother fell ill unexpectedly and died shortly afterwards, breaking her son's heart. Having returned to his homeland at last, the convert settled in Hippo for the very purpose of founding a monastery.
In this city on the African coast he was ordained a priest in 391, despite his reticence, and with a few companions began the monastic life which had long been in his mind, dividing his time between prayer, study and preaching.
All he wanted was to be at the service of the truth. He did not feel he had a vocation to pastoral life but realized later that God was calling him to be a pastor among others and thus to offer people the gift of the truth.
He was ordained a Bishop in Hippo four years later, in 395. Augustine continued to deepen his study of Scripture and of the texts of the Christian tradition and was an exemplary Bishop in his tireless pastoral commitment: he preached several times a week to his faithful, supported the poor and orphans, supervised the formation of the clergy and the organization of mens' and womens' monasteries.
In short, the former rhetorician asserted himself as one of the most important exponents of Christianity of that time. He was very active in the government of his Diocese — with remarkable, even civil, implications — in the more than 35 years of his Episcopate, and the Bishop of Hippo actually exercised a vast influence in his guidance of the Catholic Church in Roman Africa and, more generally, in the Christianity of his time, coping with religious tendencies and tenacious, disruptive heresies such as Manichaeism, Donatism and Pelagianism, which endangered the Christian faith in the one God, rich in mercy.
And Augustine entrusted himself to God every day until the very end of his life: smitten by fever, while for almost three months his Hippo was being besieged by vandal invaders, the Bishop — his friend Possidius recounts in his Vita Augustini — asked that the penitential psalms be transcribed in large characters, "and that the sheets be attached to the wall, so that while he was bedridden during his illness he could see and read them and he shed constant hot tears" (31, 2).
This is how Augustine spent the last days of his life. He died on 28 August 430, when he was not yet. 76. We will devote our next encounters to his work, his message and his inner experience.
Taken from:
L'Osservatore Romano
Weekly Edition in English
16 January 2008, page 11
L'Osservatore Romano is the newspaper of the Holy See.
The Weekly Edition in English is published for the US by:
The Cathedral Foundation
L'Osservatore Romano English Edition
320 Cathedral St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
Subscriptions: (410) 547-5315
Fax: (410) 332-1069


text:
2016 Election: | Hillary's book | Trump's book | Bernie's book | Ted Cruz's book | | | 2016 Senate Debates |
The Case for Hillary Clinton, by Susan Estrich (Click for Amazon book review)
BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org: This book is the Democratic response to the book, "The Case Against Hillary Clinton." The author says,
The book is a strongly pro-Hillary pro-Democratic party argument that Hillary would have the best chance of winning the election. The author's perspective is a staunch Democrat with a feminist activist's outlook. Estrich was the first female campaign manager for a major presidential candidate (Michael Dukakis is 1988) and she is currently a political commentator for Fox News. Some of the author's "case" proved accurate, and some did not. For example, Estrich correctly predicted that Kerry would enter the 2008 presidential race and would drop out early (p. 154). But she failed to predict the rise of Barack Obama -- he is not even mentioned in this book -- despite the murmurings that began immediately following Obama's 2004 Convention speech. On the Republican side, she incorrectly predicted that George Allen would be the GOP frontrunner (p. 179) and dismisses McCain as too moderate to win the GOP primaries (p. 177). We think this poor prediction record proves more the fickleness of politics than the lack of astuteness of the author. Perhaps Estrich will update this book in 2011 or 2015. If you'd like to read the early argument for Hillary's race then, it's pretty much the same argument that Estrich made in 2005. -- Jesse Gordon, email@example.com, February 2009
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Page last edited: Dec 16, 2018


text:
Welcome to the East Bay's Eden Area
The Castro Valley/Eden Area Chamber of Commerce serves the communities of Ashland, Castro Valley, Cherryland and San Lorenzo. Comprising the Eden Area, these communities offer rich and diverse opportunities to learn, shop, work, play and live. Each community has a unique history and flair offering residents and visitors experiences to remember.
Our Community
Castro Valley's Sylvan Lake Chabot and world-class Eden Medical Center are just a few minutes apart. The vibrancy of the REACH Ashland Youth Center and grandeur of Cherryland's historic Meek Estate flow out into the communities as well. San Lorenzo offers access to the Bay, its own Village, and recreation for most lifestyles. There are restaurants for every taste and budget, more than 25 parks, award-winning school districts and shopping for every occasion…come and enjoy Alameda County's Eden Area.


text:
2-Cent Tips
Two-cent Tip: Retrieving directory contents
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
Wed, 3 Feb 2010 22:35:08 -0500
During a recent email discussion regarding pulling down the LG archives with 'wget', I discovered (perhaps mistakenly; if so, I wish someone would enlighten me [1]) that there's no way to tell it to pull down all the files in a directory unless there's a page that links to all those files... and the directory index doesn't count (even though it contains links to all those files.) So, after a minute or two of fiddling with it, I came up with a following solution:
#!/bin/bash # Created by Ben Okopnik on Fri Jan 29 14:41:57 EST 2010 [ -z "$1" ] && { printf "Usage: ${0##*/} <URL> \n"; exit; } # Safely create a temporary file file=`tempfile` # Extract all the links from the directory listing into a local text file wget -q -O - "$1"|\ URL="${1%/}" perl -wlne'print "$ENV{URL}/$2" if /href=(["\047])([^\1]+)\1/' > $file # Retrieve the listed links wget -i $file && rm $file
To summarize, I used 'wget' to grab the directory listing, parse it to extract all the links, prefixing them with the site URL, and saved the result into a local tempfile. Then, I used that tempfile as a source for 'wget's '-i' option (read the links to be retrieved from a file.)
I've tested this script on about a dozen directories with a variety of servers, and it seems to work fine.
[1] Please test your proposed solution, though. I'm rather cranky at 'wget' with regard to its documentation; perhaps it's just me, but I often find that the options described in its manpage do something rather different from what they promise to do. For me, 'wget' is a terrific program, but the documentation has lost something in the translation from the original Martian.
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Two-cent Tip: How big is that directory?
Dr. Parthasarathy S [drpartha at gmail.com]
Tue, 2 Feb 2010 09:57:02 +0530
At times, you may need to know exactly how big is a certain directory (say top directory) along with all its contents and subdirectories(and their contents). You may need this if you are copying a large diectory along with its contents and structure. And you may like to know if what you got after the copy, is what you sent. Or you may need this when trying to copy stuff on to a device where the space is limited. So you want to make sure that you can accomodate the material you are planning to send.
Here is a cute little script. Calling sequence::
howmuch <top directory name>
You get a summary, which gives the total size, the number of subdirectories, and the number of files (counted from the top directory). Good for book-keeping.
###########start-howmuch-script # Tells you how many files, subdirectories and content bytes in a # directory # Usage :: how much <directory-path-and-name> # check if there is no command line argument if [ $# -eq 0 ] then echo "You forgot the directory to be accounted for !" echo "Usage :: howmuch <directoryname with path>" exit fi echo "***start-howmuch***" pwd > ~/howmuch.rep pwd echo -n "Disk usage of directory ::" > ~/howmuch.rep echo $1 >> ~/howmuch.rep echo -n "made on ::" >> ~/howmuch.rep du -s $1 > ~/howmuch1 tree $1 > ~/howmuch2 date >> ~/howmuch.rep tail ~/howmuch1 >> ~/howmuch.rep tail --lines=1 ~/howmuch2 >> ~/howmuch.rep cat ~/howmuch.rep # cleanup rm ~/howmuch1 rm ~/howmuch2 #Optional -- you can delete howmuch.rep if you want #rm ~/howmuch.rep echo "***end-howmuch***" # ########end-howmuch-script
-- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. S. Parthasarathy | mailto:firstname.lastname@example.com Algologic Research & Solutions | 78 Sancharpuri Colony | Bowenpally P.O | Phone: + 91 - 40 - 2775 1650 Secunderabad 500 011 - INDIA | WWW-URL: http://algolog.tripod.com/nupartha.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ Thread continues here (5 messages/9.85kB) ]
Two-cent tip: GRUB and inode sizes
René Pfeiffer [lynx at luchs.at]
Wed, 3 Feb 2010 01:07:03 +0100
I had a decent fight with a stubborn server today. It was a Fedora Core 6 system (let's not talk about how old it is) that was scheduled for a change of disks. This is fairly straightforward - until you have to write the boot block. Unfortunately I prepared the new disks before copying the files. As soon as I wanted to install GRUB 0.97 it told me that it could not read the stage1 file. The problem is that GRUB only deals with 128-byte inodes. The prepared / partition has 256-byte inodes. So make sure to use
mkfs.ext3 -I 128 /dev/sda1
when preparing disks intended to co-exist with GRUB. I know this is old news, but I never encountered this problem before. http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/6480/2/ has more hints ready.
Best, René, who is thinking about moving back to LILO.
[ Thread continues here (3 messages/2.77kB) ]
Two-cent Tip: backgrounding the last stopped job without knowing its job ID
Mulyadi Santosa [mulyadi.santosa at gmail.com]
Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:14:09 +0700
For most people, to send a job to background after stopping a task, he/she will take a note the job ID and then invoke "bg" command appropriately like below:
$ (while (true); do yes > /dev/null ; done) ^Z [2]+ Stopped ( while ( true ); do yes > /dev/null; done ) $ bg %2 [2]+ ( while ( true ); do yes > /dev/null; done ) &
Can we omit the job ID? Yes, we can. Simply replace the above "bg %2" with "bg %%". It will refer to the last stopped job ID. This way, command typing mistake could be avoided too.
-- regards, Mulyadi Santosa Freelance Linux trainer and consultant blog: the-hydra.blogspot.com training: mulyaditraining.blogspot.com
[ Thread continues here (4 messages/4.27kB) ]


text:
Jwines.com has a super promotion running from now until September 6th just for KOAB readers. Save 10% off your entire order when you use the coupon code kosherbudget at checkout.
I first heard about (and ordered from) Jwines around Pesach time and was super impressed with their variety of kosher wines, competitive pricing and fast shipping.
Now's the time to order for the yomei tovim – the guaranteed shipping deadline for Rosh Hashana is September 6th.
Not valid for wine of the month club memberships, gift certificates or sale items. (Update: I'm so sorry but I just found out that the code is also not valid on sale items 🙁 I'm sorry if this caused any confusion for those trying to place an order!)


text:
A quarter of holidaymakers have struck disaster in Spain
Almost a quarter of all UK trips to Spain end up in some kind of mishap.
France emerged as the European holiday 'car crash capital', while most activity-based accidents befall Brits in Austria.
The holiday hazard hotspots emerged in a poll of 8,000 UK people by comparethemarket.com, which created a 'mishap map' to highlight the tourist traps.
Research revealed that more than one in ten UK holidays to Europe involve setbacks like illness, injury or loss or theft of property.
You are also most likely to lose or have property stolen in Spain, ahead of the Canary Islands and France.
Spain also topped the list of countries where people were most liable to fall ill, followed by the Canary Islands and Greece.
The poll revealed that almost half (47 per cent) of Brits avoid certain foods while abroad because of a fear of food poisoning.
For some unlucky travellers, trouble begins before they even get on the plane - thanks to flight delays or cancellations.
Russia emerged as the destination most likely to be plagued by flight issues, followed by Spain and the Canary Islands.
Russian flight operators emerged as the likeliest to lose your luggage.
Sam Grant, Head of Travel at comparethemarket.com, said: "No one wants their holiday to be blighted by a mishap - big or small - so it's always worth taking the necessary precautions.
"Keep an eye on your belongings, use a hotel safe and don't fall asleep in the midday heat of the Spanish sun.
"Obviously some incidents are completely out of our hands, like flight issues, or getting ill.
"But it's always sensible to ensure you have valid travel insurance so if the worst does happen, you're covered."
To see the full interactive map go to https://www.comparethemarket.com/travel-insurance/content/travellers-mishap-map


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GE Healthcare and Cellular Dynamics International agree to sublicense for cellular assay patents
CHALFONT ST. GILES, UK and MADISON, Wis., Dec. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- GE Healthcare Life Sciences, a business unit of GE Healthcare (NYSE: GE) and Cellular Dynamics International (CDI), a leading commercial producer of human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell lines and tissue cells, announced today that GE Healthcare has licensed CDI to develop, manufacture and sell cellular assays and models derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells for use in drug discovery and toxicity screening. The agreement follows the recent announcement that GE Healthcare has expanded its license with Geron to obtain exclusive global rights to Geron's intellectual property and know-how for the development and sale of cellular assays derived from iPS cells. Financial terms were not disclosed.
As the worldwide pharmaceutical industry seeks to reduce drug development costs and bring more effective, safer drugs to market, the availability of more biologically relevant and predictive cell models becomes increasingly important. GE Healthcare is pioneering the development of human cell-based assays and models for use in drug discovery and predictive toxicity screening. In 2010 the company launched CytivaTM cardiomyocytes (human heart cells), stem cell-based assays that are already helping pharmaceutical companies identify drug candidates that show toxic effects much earlier in the discovery process.
Cellular Dynamics develops, manufactures and sells human cells based on iPS cell technology and currently offers iCell® Cardiomyocytes, iCell Neurons (brain cells), iCell Endothelial Cells (blood vessel cells) and iCell Hepatocytes (liver cells). CDI has also launched MyCell™ Services, a custom cell manufacturing service that leverages the ability of iPS cell technology to make stem cells or terminal cells from any individual, including those with diseases of interest to pharmaceutical companies and academic scientists.
Dr Amr Abid, General Manager, Cell Technologies, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, said, "We believe it is important that stem cell-based assays are available to researchers so that progress can be made in drug discovery; clarity and freedom to operate is fundamental to advancing the use of such assays. Our recently extended agreement with Geron provided the foundation for the type of agreement we are announcing today. GE Healthcare believes that such agreements are the next step to enabling the wider industry to benefit from the use of this key intellectual property without violating patent rights. We are delighted that Cellular Dynamics International is the first company to work with us to bring greater clarity to the marketplace."
Bob Palay, CEO of Cellular Dynamics International, added, "CDI's mission is to provide human cell-based research and drug discovery tools that enhance scientists' ability to better understand human biology, increase efficiency of the discovery process and ultimately improve human healthcare. The IP space surrounding stem cell technology is complex. With the licensing of the GE-Geron intellectual property portfolio, CDI now has more than 700 licensed or owned patents and patent applications. We have built our IP portfolio intending to ensure broad freedom to operate and to offer customers products that they can use with confidence and the knowledge that their subsequent discoveries are protected by this IP portfolio."
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems. Our "healthymagination" vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employees are committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.
About Cellular Dynamics International, Inc.
Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. (CDI) is a leading developer of next-generation stem cell technologies for drug development, cell therapy, tissue engineering and organ regeneration. CDI harnesses its unique manufacturing technology to produce differentiated tissue cells from any individual's stem cell line in industrial quality, quantity and purity. CDI is accelerating the adoption of pluripotent stem cell technology, adapting its methods to fit into standard clinical practice by the creation of individual stem cell lines from a standard blood draw. CDI was founded in 2004 by Dr. James Thomson, a pioneer in human pluripotent stem cell research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. CDI's facilities are located in Madison, Wisconsin. See www.cellulardynamics.com.
Media Contacts:
GE Healthcare
Dr Val Jones, Global Media Relations Manager
E [email protected]
College Hill
Dr Lynne Trowbridge, Tim Watson
E [email protected]
Cellular Dynamics International
Joleen Rau, Senior Director, Marketing & Communications
[email protected]
Russo Partners LLC
Robert E. Flamm, Ph.D.
[email protected]
SOURCE Cellular Dynamics International, Inc.


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An improbable scenario that would have prompted a polite chuckle among tennis fans two weeks ago is set to play out on Thursday when Marion Bartoli, Kirsten Flipkens, Sabine Lisicki and Agnieska Radwanska do battle in the Wimbledon semi-finals.
The odds on those players making the last four were 33,379-1 at the start of the tournament but the early departures of Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka opened up the draw and Lisicki knocked out defending champion Serena Williams in the fourth round to blow it wide open.
Lisicki, the new favourite and bidding to become Germany's first grand slam singles champion since Steffi Graf in 1996, will take on last year's runner-up Radwanska.
Awaiting the winner in the final will be French 15th seed Bartoli or Belgian Flipkens, a woman who has defied medical advice to continue a tennis career that came close to being destroyed by injury and illness.
Nicknamed "Flipper", she was languishing at 262nd in the world a year ago, after suffering blood clots in her legs that put her at risk of a pulmonary embolism or thrombosis.
She said she felt tired after a flight from Thailand and went to have it checked out before heading on to Tokyo.
"The doctor told me that if I had taken the flight I would have come out blue," she said.
Her fightback has been nothing short of extraordinary. Her freefall down the rankings left her in the tennis wilderness where she was not even deemed good enough to play in the qualifiers for last year's competition.
She became the first Belgian to reach the last four at Wimbledon since Justine Henin in 2007 with a three-set victory over former champion Petra Kvitova.
Now all that stands between her and a place in the final is Bartoli, the 2007 runner-up to Venus Williams, whose punchy groundstrokes are tailor-made for grass.
The Frenchwoman came through a bizarre rain-interrupted quarter-final that featured eight successive breaks of serve.
Lisicki is now tipped as the player most likely to lift the famous Venus Rosewater dish.
Having ended Williams's hopes of a sixth title in arguably the biggest shock of a tournament filled to bursting with surprise results, she beat unseeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi in just 65 minutes to reach the last four.
Lisicki's career has also been dogged by injury – she dropped outside the world's top 200 in 2011 – but she is a potent force on grass.
She possesses one of the fastest serves on tour and her Wimbledon record contrasts markedly with her performances in the three other grand slams.
She has a 18-4 record in singles at the All England Club compared to 16-15 at the Australian, French and U.S. Opens.
Lisicki reached the semi-finals in 2011 before losing to Maria Sharapova, but is feeling more positive this time around.
"I think this time I'm more ready," she said. "I just feel like I'm hitting the ball well. I think I'm moving well. I feel good.
"And having had the experience in the past, all that together helps me a lot."
Her semi-final opponent is no novice.
Radwanska reached the final last year against the odds and surprised many still further by taking Serena Williams to three sets when everyone was predicting a mauling.
She is the highest remaining seed and shuns the hard-hitting muscular tennis that currently dominates the women's game for a more cerebral and wily approach.
(Editing by Ed Osmond)


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Liberal Democrats' role in the Coalition Government offers the party a chance to re-define its foreign policy thinking, much as the Orange Book re-defined aspects of its economic thinking. The Orange Book is often seen as a rightward shift, so in what direction is Lib Dem foreign policy now moving?
The conflicts in Afghanistan and Libya have kept foreign affairs at the heart of UK politics, at a time when the Government is also conducting a major review of its defence spending - and this only a few years after opposition to the Iraq War became a defining issue (if not the defining issue) for many Liberal Democrats.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg sits (with fellow Lib Dems Chris Huhne and Danny Alexander) on the UK's year-old, American-inspired National Security Council, proving that foreign and security policy is very much a joint coalition concern - hardly a surprise, given that the Coalition Agreement itself includes a page on Foreign Affairs.
Clegg was with the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary at the key foreign-policy meeting with President Obama when the latter was in London. David Cameron's comments (including on the possible need for a joint EU line on a possible Palestinian declaration of independence at the UN in September) at his joint press conference with Obama arguably reflect Clegg's publicly articulated thinking on a number of key issues.
Lib Dem ministers include Jeremy Browne at the Foreign Office and Nick Harvey at Defence, while Clegg himself made a major foreign policy speech as recently as March.
That speech, delivered in Mexico and entitled "An axis of openness: renewing multilateralism for the 21st century", offers many insights into where Clegg and his party might be going in foreign policy terms, offering as it does a qualified defence of "the principle of liberal interventionism...the principle that we have a collective responsibility to support freedom and protect human rights around the world".
In contrasting "law-abiding" liberal intervention in Libya with the "liberal vigilantism" of Iraq, Clegg seeks to move on from Iraq, "the lesson of (which) is not that intervention in support of liberal aims is always wrong". He is making a liberal intervention to rescue the very principle of liberal intervention from those Lib Dems who might attack it most.
In doing this, he is shifting the party back towards the thinking of Paddy Ashdown, the former Lib
Dem leader who wrote a whole book about liberal interventionism and who, it must never be forgotten, was a hawkish (and influential) advocate of British intervention in the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo.
The Lib Dems' opposition to the Iraq War temporarily overshadowed all other aspects of the party's foreign policy thinking, including its consistent support for the war in Afghanistan. Some Lib Dems' presence in the ranks of the "Not in my name!" stop the war brigade became a distorting prism, affecting both how the party viewed foreign affairs and how the party itself was viewed by itself and others.
Anyone who has spoken even briefly to Nick Clegg knows that he is a deeply nuanced thinker on questions of foreign policy. An emotion-led approach to such questions was never likely to satisfy him, however much it might occasionally have appealed to some of the party's hairier grassroots activists and even the occasional backbench Parliamentarian.
Clegg is able to build on a base of Lib Dem foreign-policy thinking that is surprisingly deep for a third party that was long in opposition. The academic and journalistic foreign-policy establishment includes more Lib Dems than one might expect, with many London-based diplomats privately conceding that the party punches above its weight on these matters.
Such foreign-policy experts are very much on the grown-up wing of the party, which is ever more in charge, especially now that the Lib Dems face the responsibilities of government. Many of the foreign-policy challenges which might have appeared easy in opposition are now, not surprisingly, turning out not to be so easy after all, hence the party's taking an increasingly measured, realistic approach to some very complicated problems.
If this adds to a growing tendency for the party to think maturely and dispassionately about foreign policy, then so much the better. Liberal Democrats are at their best when they apply cold reason and intellect to difficult issues, and foreign policy is no exception to that.
Nick Clegg's Mexico speech must be a call to arms for those who want Lib Dem foreign policy to be based on the liberal principles that the speech articulates. Just as the Orange Book drew together some of the best of the party's new thinkers on economics and public services, so it is now time for a similar exercise on foreign policy.


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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
On January 15th of each year, the assessor will notify the public of their preliminary assessed values by placing the information in "Property Search", and mailing a Notice of Preliminary Valuation postcard. The assessor will again send a notification with a Change of Valuation postcard on or before June 1st, if your valuation has increased or decreased from the previous year.
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The assessor is the elected government official responsible for establishing the value of real property and personal property for the purpose of taxation.
Property taxes are funds generated by taxing the value of real estate, business personal property, and motor vehicles.
All owners of taxable real estate, business personal property, and motor vehicles located within the state. This includes businesses, farmers, homeowners, and individuals.
The county treasurer collects property taxes and distributes them to local subdivisions of government, according to their budgets.
Property taxes are used entirely to support local subdivisions of government and are a major source of funding for their operation. Taxes help fund essential services such as:
Tax rates are established as a result of a budgetary process. Each governmental agency provides a budget that will cover the cost of maintaining their respective agency for a fiscal year. The budget requirements are totaled and that amount is divided by the total assessed value of property for that subdivision to establish the tax rate. The tax rate is stated as a percent or amount due for each $100 of assessed value.
The County Assessor is not responsible for establishing the tax rate.
As the cost of providing services increases, the subdivisions may increase their budgets and likewise their property tax requirements. Control over the spending of property taxes lies with the taxpayers participation in the governing process by attending budget hearings and becoming fully informed as to how the tax dollars are being spent. In this manner, each taxpayer can be involved in determining the spending priorities of local government.
Property taxes do not increase proportionately to valuation increases. If budget requests increase modestly, then tax rates and tax dollars often increase modestly.
NBHD is the short form of the word "neighborhood". Neighborhood is defined as an area of complementary land uses in which all properties are similarly influenced by the forces affecting property value. View the NBHD list (PDF).
Your valuation represents the market value of your property as of January 1st.
A partial value is activated on a partially completed residential, agricultural/horticultural, or commercial/industrial, buildings/structures representing the portion completed as of 1 January of each year. Ref. Ch. 77-1301 Nebraska Statutes.
By using professionally accepted mass appraisal techniques including the cost, income, and sales comparison approach to value.
Changes in the physical makeup of your property, such as additions, remodeling, or new buildings will impact your valuation. Changes in the marketplace can also affect your valuation. A reappraisal in your county may also result in your valuation changing.
The assessor's office would like to talk with you about your valuation! Your preliminary value is published on the website January 15th each year. Just call 402-593-2122, or stop by the office, or Ask the Assessor and have an appraiser explain to you how your value was determined. It's an informal process during this period, generally, we do not require appointments. This gives the appraiser the chance to correct possible errors and answer your valuation-related questions.
The assessor will notify you officially by mail, on or before June 1st, if your valuation has increased or decreased from the previous year. The month of June is the period of time when formal valuation protests may be filed in writing with the Sarpy County Board of Equalization. The assessor's office will still hold informal discussions regarding your property valuation during this period, just contact us please.
The Department of Revenue Property Assessment Division has a guide available to help you understand the process: Real Property Valuation Protest Information Guide (PDF).
Present evidence that the assessor has valued your property above its market value or is not equalized with similar properties in the county.
You may file an appeal to the Tax Equalization and Review Commission. View the Appeal Process.
Every assessor prepares and maintains a property record file for each parcel of real property including improvements on leased land, in the county. Any changes made to the assessment information of the property will be reflected in the property record file. The information that you will find in the property record file includes, but is not limited to:
We recommend each property owner review their property record file to ensure the accuracy of the data. Incorrect data can produce incorrect valuations.
New! You now have the ability to print a property record file from your computer! On the Sarpy County Property Search website find the parcel needed.
Once you have selected the parcel you need, select the link to Property Record File. It's that simple. You can select any historical year.
We can still email or mail you a copy of the property record file. Please call 402-593-2122 or Ask the Assessor. There is no cost to the property owner of the parcel requested, however, there is a fee for copies that are not owned by the taxpayer and they must be picked up from the office.
Learn about the Nebraska Department of Revenue Property Assessment Division on their website.
For residential properties, we provide printable valuation reports for a parcel's neighborhood or market area. The reports are located on the Property Detail page of the parcel you are reviewing on Property Search. There are many terms/abbreviations used on the reports you may not be familiar with, so to help navigate your way through the reports, we have created a key for your reference:
Give us a call at 402-593-2122 if you have any questions, we are here to help.


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New Bruce Springsteen Song 'You've Got It' Unveiled
'You've Got It' is the latest Bruce Springsteen song to be released as part of the 'Wrecking Ball' pre-release promotion. The campaign promises to deliver all of the album's new songs, one by one, up to the point of its March 6 street date.
Springsteen's marketing team must be working overtime, because the Boss has also agreed to spend an entire week on 'Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.'
'You've Got It' seems destined to be a stand out number on the new album. It's stripped down compared to some of the other tracks we've heard thus far. In fact, the simplicity of the acoustic guitar and Springsteen's strong vocal on this song takes one back to 1984's 'Nebraska' era, which is a welcome surprise.
The omission of Springsteen's thunderous sounding band and choral singers allows one to focus more on the lyrics which simply suggests that, well, you've "got it." It's fairly safe to assume that Springsteen is talking about chemistry as there is definitely a sexual undertone holding this one together.
Apparently, "it" can't be found, made, purchased or taught…"but you know it when you feel it," and here, Springsteen commands that his baby give it to him. 'You've Got It' does pick up with the aptly timed addition of slide guitar, percussion and a hand clapping rhythm but overall, it's the song's bare boned foundation that draws you directly into Springsteen's hand.


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First, I came across a comment in another forum last week that mentioned a model known as Morton's Demon. I hadn't heard of this before, but it is apparently a metaphorical representation of how people maintain beliefs in the face of contradictory evidence. The Demon sits at the gateway of the mind and allows only that data to pass that supports currently held beliefs and values, while barring any information that conflicts. I suppose to some degree anyone is susceptible, but, I think it's fair to say, some more than others.
Next, a few days ago, I called someone I know, but the call was intercepted by a third party, and a conversation began. During this conversation, the topic of Arctic oil drilling was briefly broached. Just to note, I did not raise the issue, and I'm extremely ill informed on the topic. However, the "logic" presented by this person was, let's say, unusual, and went something like this: The oil platforms in the Gulf withstood Katrina, therefore it is unreasonable to worry about potential problems drilling in the Arctic.
Without thinking, my first response was, "Have you ever seen an oil spill?" The answer was, "Yes, from a ship, but not from a platform." My next natural question was, "How are they planning to move this oil?" Don't get me wrong. I don't know if the intent is to use pipelines or ships, I was simply asking, aloud, the first questions that came to mind. The topic switched quickly, and I didn't pursue it.
Finally, also a few days ago, I was excited to see not one, but two small owls hanging around in my backyard. Being ignorant regarding owls, I decided to research online to determine the species. I was having no luck, when someone suggested I check the Audubon Web site.
At the site, there was a link to an article about the potential impact of oil excavation in the Arctic
The article basically claims that there are engineering challenges that are presented by this region that are not presented in other regions we have so far excavated for oil. I would say that the Arctic presents a very different environment, in many regards, than, for example, the Gulf area; and it seems at least reasonable to accept that materials and processes could react differently in that far colder climate. The article also claimed that seismic exploration would be used, and that this could have a negative impact on species of whales known to use local waterways. That whales are using the area appears to be causing the local Indians some concern, because they still hunt some whale species to survive—again, according to the article. And finally, as this location becomes commercial, the article notes that increased shipping traffic can be anticipated; which is also a concern—and that makes sense to me, because I've seen the impact of recreational boating and commercial shipping on waterways, having lived in Florida, Pittsburgh, and Austin.
So, deciding that the article was rational, if not supported by citations, I forwarded the link to my pal and asked in my subject line, "I wonder what Audubon has to gain from lying like this?" I added no further content. I received a short reply later that same day, presented here in its brief entirety:
"I don't know why they do stuff like this. Look around you and you will see oil rigs pumping all over the place and cattle grazing right next to them. Also the area is not as big as PA. It is really a small area and it so happens in that particular area there are very few Polar Bears. I hesitate to get into this because the media is so liberal and it seems to me the Democrats of which I use to be one, want to ruin our country stopping us from doing anything and everything that would make things better and easier for us all. No matter how good of an idea someone comes up with, if it didn't come from an Democrat they will vote against it."
When I examined this, I wasn't sure what to make of it. It appeared that he was initially reasoning that since cattle exist well enough in prairie oil fields, that I should extrapolate Arctic wildlife would fare just as well (since domestic cattle and wild whales are nearly equivalent?)—and that, somehow, I should consider the two ecosystems are comparable, when clearly they are not when I "look around."
The next assumption is that size dictates importance. True, when I "look around," I sometimes see that small things are unimportant, but sometimes I see that they can be very important. There are some substances required by the human body, for example, without which it will cease to function normally (or at all)—even though they may be required in very small amounts. It is never safe to assume without knowledge that in any interdependent system, the mere size of a component dictates the overall importance of the component to the smooth operation of the system as a whole.
As far as polar bears being few in the region, again, I'm ignorant. But, if the animal is already struggling as a species, then "few" may be significant. I have no knowledge of how populous polar bears are in the areas considered for drilling, but one thought that pops into my head goes something like, "Why would the Audubon Society knowingly inflate polar bear population figures? How would they benefit by a public disinformation campaign?" Honestly, I don't mean to imply there's no one at Audubon who might benefit. But I can't really miss the clear, immediate benefit to oil companies, and politicians supported by them, to be able to drill in previously restricted areas. I am, then, fully aware of a clear bias on one side of this issue, while I remain ignorant, but open to hearing more about what potential bias the other side might harbor.
To be fair, my friend appears to be trying to explain the Audubon Society's bias—in an odd, convoluted way. It seems he reasons that media supports liberals, and I'm sure that he means that "Democrats" are "liberals," but he provides no explanation about how the media actually benefits from lying. I can "look around" and see media's advertising dollars pouring in, mainly from industries and corporations—so there's hardly an obvious financial incentive for the media to promote articles that oppose oil drilling, while they support themselves with the money they generate annually from Chevron, Exxon, Shell, and Mobil. The "benefit," I'm being told, is that they merely wish to be contrary to the Republicans, so much so that they would rather harm the nation (and their own revenues) than support a Republican idea that would actually benefit everyone. Why they hate Republicans and cater to Democrat liberals is sort of glossed over. But they are, according to this line of reason, willing to shoot themselves in the foot financially, and potentially harm themselves and the rest of us, purely for the sake of being disagreeable.
The Audubon Society, I take it, then, is not actually a group that supports conservation, but is, rather, a front for the liberal anti-Republican Democrat agenda. Likewise, the Inupiaq tribe actually knows the whales are in no danger. They simply like to disagree with Republicans, too. Have marine biologists, oceanographers, geologists, climatologists weighed in on this? If so, do those who land on the side of caution also wish only to destroy the planet for anti-Republican spite? What a poor, persecuted group the Republicans are—according to my friend. Very much like another group I frequently hear about that suffers from similar persecution.
So, my friend appears to believe that people in all areas of conservation and research who err on the side of caution in this debate, are only claiming to be concerned with conservation, but are actually just Democrat sympathizers who care nothing for the welfare of the planet and only want to be on the opposite side of absolutely anything U.S. Republicans endorse. A global conspiracy of Republican haters.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, let me just reiterate that this post is not intended as an analysis of the Arctic drilling situation. I'm ignorant. I'm not taking sides. I have not even attempted to take a position on the issue. I am, however, taking a position on the soundness of one citizen's logic and argumentation in defense of the drilling. I do not presume that his argument represents the "best" argument offered; in fact, I think it's only fair for me to assume it could not possibly be.
I'm merely pointing out that someone is seriously asking me to accept the position that it's more reasonable to believe (a) large numbers of diverse groups falsely claim to care about the planet while they are actually lying for spite, even if it means harming themselves, other people or the environment, rather than (b) large corporations and the politicians they support are lying in order to gain gobs and gobs of money, even if it means harming themselves, other people or the environment. When I take my friend's advice and "look around," I can't deny I've seen some individuals and, to some degree, small groups do "a," however, I've seen "b" too many times to even begin to count.
I should also give a hat tip to the line, "…of which I use to be one." How many times have any of us heard, "I used to be a nonbeliever…", as though that argument is any more compelling to me as it would be to them if I were to say, "I used to be a Christian…" Has that line of idiocy ever altered anyone's opinion about god?
And this is atheist-related how, exactly? Here's where I'm back to synchronicity and Morton's Demon. Compartmentalization is old hat in atheist discussions—the idea that people can reason perfectly well except with regard to one or two particular emotional issues. But here, I have an example of someone using Morton's Demon in a political context. And he is, just to note, also a Christian. And, just to stir the pot a bit, I'll go ahead and add that I also know this person denies we walked on the Moon, thinks Evolution doesn't happen, and has some interesting opinions about 9-11. So, I'm surprised, and even a bit amazed, that his particular Demon is able to keep up with all the information he has to work to sort and divert. If ever I felt sympathy for a metaphorical figure, it is now, when the simple thought of all that labor literally fatigues me.
Here is where I am supposed to reveal the secret of how to effectively respond to Morton's Demon. The truth is, though, I've got nothing. In order to know how to effectively counter him, I'd have to have some idea why he's considered necessary by those who employ him. Maybe it's like someone who suspects he has cancer refusing to visit a doctor because he doesn't want to know? Can life and reality really be just a "cancer" to so many? From what I've seen, willful ignorance and self-deceit create a tangled web that must be intricately woven throughout all areas of our lives and minds. In the same way harm to a tiny ecological region might cause damaging ripples throughout an entire planetary system, so willful ignorance and self-deceit can ripple through entire worldviews—poisoning the mind and producing poorly informed behaviors that impact everyone and everything within reach.
I'm beginning to question what exactly "compartmentalization" is. Might it be confined to those who don't take their religious beliefs too seriously? Is it that some are religious by rote, so that their beliefs don't have to integrate, because they don't actually hold them in the forefront (or, in some cases, even the remotest corners) of their minds? Is that "compartmentalization"? I am having trouble understanding how someone could believe—consciously and thoughtfully believe—many common religious doctrines without those beliefs requiring protection in other areas—most other areas—of their worldviews and minds. Can I hold to an unreasonable belief that informs all of my most basic human values and interpretations, and not also require protection from information in nearly every other area of my life? Is that realistic? Is it even possible?
I'm not sure anymore.


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Show All Answers
Living on one of Norfolk's drinking water reservoirs is worthwhile, but also comes with challenges and restrictions. Take some time and review the other Questions in this section.
Be aware that you are not purchasing property up to the waters edge. Norfolk owns property around each of its reservoirs and it can vary. For Lake Whitehurst and Little Creek Reservoir, the City owns 25 feet from the normal water elevation and owns 10 feet from the normal elevation for Lake Smith. Even with erosion, the City still owns this property. For Lake Lawson, Western Branch Reservoir, Lake Prince, and Burnt Mills there are fixed property lines. Check your property plat.
If the property you are purchasing has an existing bulkhead, riprap revetment, pier, fence or any other structure on Norfolk's property, you will need to secure a Shoreline Protection Permit. Even though the previous owner has a permit, it will not transfer to you. These structures come with the sale of the property and you are responsible for their upkeep and maintenance. Please note the Liability Insurance requirements and it is recommended that this be in place when you Close on the property. Not all insurance companies will include a municipality as an Additional Insured on a Homeowner Policy and you don't want to have to make a change after Closing.
If you are interested in adding a pier, shoreline protection or other structure, review the Shoreline Protection Permit application package and contact us with any questions.
We know that you would like to see the water. However, Norfolk does not allow the removal of trees and underbrush of any size without the proper permits. In many cases, we will allow the trimming of lower limbs to create a "view corridor" but not allow tree removal. Call us to discuss your proposed project before undertaking any work.
Boating and fishing are permitted, but there are limits on these activities. Swimming is prohibited! A boat, canoe, or kayak can be placed into the reservoirs with motors no larger than 10-horsepower. All boats used on Norfolk reservoirs are required to have a Norfolk Boat Permit. Types of boats that are not allowed in the reservoirs are stand up paddleboards, sailboats, houseboats, inflatables of any kind, and personal water craft (ex: jet skis), surfboards and similar devices. Don't forget that this reservoir is part of the drinking water system.
If you have more questions, email us at email@example.com or call us at (757) 441-5678.
Yes. There is a "strip" of land around each reservoir that is owned by the city. It is not an easement. The amount of land owned varies with the reservoir because of when they were built, and how property was acquired. Generally, there is a 25-foot strip around Lake Whitehurst and Little Creek Reservoir, and a 10-foot strip around Lake Smith. Even with erosion, Norfolk still owns the property around the reservoirs.
For Lakes Lawson, Prince, Western Branch, and Burnt Mills, the amount varies. Check your property plat for an indication of what Norfolk owns. A professional survey may be required to determine the exact amount of property owned by the City of Norfolk.
No. Norfolk owns the property and should be treated as your backyard neighbor. Don't do to city property what you wouldn't do to your next-door neighbor.
All uses of the city's property requires permission. We are your backyard neighbor and should be treated the same as the next-door neighbor. We do not allow the removal of trees of any size, bushes, shrubs, or any other material without a permit. A formal landscape plan may be required if extensive work is planned. We would prefer that the property be left as a natural buffer to help protect the reservoir water quality. We understand that you may want a view of the water and will work with you. Contact us at (757) 441-5678 if you have any questions or concerns.
The short answer is "No". Remember, we are your backyard neighbor and a property owner. The property around the reservoir is not an easement, but owned by the city. However, we understand that you want to be able to see the reservoir and we can work with you to create a "view corridor". Selective removal of lower tree limbs and trimming of bushes may be allowed, with the proper permits.
What about trees that are leaning or already on the ground or in the water? We will meet with you to discuss your concerns.
To discuss your concerns and set up a meeting, call 757-441-5678.
No, trees are excellent habitat for the wildlife. While we don't allow limbs and woody debris to be placed on the shoreline for stabilization, trees that have naturally fallen into the lake do not pose a problem. These trees provide habitat for fish, birds, and turtles. Removal of trees of any size is prohibited without the proper permits. If you have a question about a tree in the lake or the safety of a tree on city of Norfolk property around the reservoirs, please call us at 757-441-5678.
Yes. The best method for protecting the shoreline from erosion is to leave the shoreline in a natural condition. Rooted plants are the best defense. Planting may be required to help reestablish the vegetation and this is the recommended option. However, we understand that some areas need extra protection. We have procedures in place that will allow for the construction of a rip-rap revetment.
A permit is required before any work can take place. All shoreline work will require a landscape plan and permit. Permit applications can be obtained by calling 757-441-5678 or from the internet.
Yes. A boat, canoe, or kayak can be placed into the reservoirs. Motors no larger than 10-horsepower may be used. If a boat with a larger motor is put in the reservoir, the larger motor must be disabled. All boats used on Norfolk reservoirs are required to have a Norfolk Boat Permit. For information on obtaining a permit, see the Boat Permit page.
Types of boats that are not allowed in the reservoirs are stand up paddleboards, sailboats, houseboats, inflatables, and personal water craft (ex: jet skis), surfboards and similar devices.
Boat Permits are valid for the calendar year (January 1 through December 31). There is no provision to pro-rate the fee.
No, we do not have a provision to pro-rate the cost. Permits are good January 1 through December 31.
Boat Permit locations
You can purchase the daily permits at the same locations as the annual permits.
The daily permit cost is $5.00 per day. Yes, the permit can be purchased in advance and will be dated for the day of use.
If you walk into the any of the facilities selling permits, you will be able to leave with your permit. If you send the application in by mail, please allow 10-14 days for processing and mail.
Lake Whitehurst, Lake Smith, Lake Lawson, Little Creek Reservoir, Western Branch Reservoir, Lake Prince, and Lake Burnt Mills. All access to Lake Wright is prohibited, including fishing from shore. Lake Wright at the Premium Outlets is not open to the public.
You can launch your boat from our public boat ramps. Additional information and the locations can be found at our Fishing and Boating page.
Yes. All boats in Norfolk's reservoirs require a permit.


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Aisa Kahan Se Laaen Kay Tum Sa Kahain Jisay is newly started cousin based romantic and exemplary novel by Faizan Ahmed. A story of a girl who faces colors of the world. A story based on true circumstances of our society.
Aisa Kahan Se Laaen Kay Tumsa Kahain Jisay By Faizan Ahmed
Aisa Kaha Se Layen Kay Tum Sa Kahen Jisay Novel
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Your best Urdu Digest, Novels, Afsanay, Short Stories, Episodic Stories, funny books and your requested novels will be available on your request.


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Starry Night - B6 Horizontal Weekly Planner
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Product Description
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Please take note: If you select INSERTS ONLY you will receive ONLY the inserts. No cover is included.
*Photos are digital mock ups. Image may have more discs/coils than actual product. Please read ALL details prior to purchasing. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out*
- page size 5.8" by 8.3"
- 1/2" blank white laminated tabs
- Weekly planners have 12 months
- Pages printed on 90# index weight
- Plated aluminum coil or metal discs
- Made in Canada
- B6 planners have 27 coil punches or 7 discs.
- Interchangeable covers
Shipping & Returns
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We do not accept returns. Once an item is dropped off at the post office, we are no longer responsible for the package.
**All planners are completely hand made by me with the help of some family. We print, cut and assemble each planner with lots of love. Being a perfectionist, I do strive for perfection but I am not a machine and slight imperfections may happen. All planners are carefully overlooked for any noticeable flaws.**
**Please keep in mind that sometimes colors on the screen will differ from the actual product depending on monitor settings.
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United States Coins and Paper Money :produits de valeur
Mots clés
Type de produit
Poids (g)
Year ()
Longueur (mm)
Largeur (mm)
Profondeur (mm)
The first American coins used by the colonists was supplied mostly by Great Britain and Spain , they were silver and copper, but where only given a limited amount. A need of coins tempted the colony of Massachusetts to create a small mint in this country, which they did in 1652. The first copper coins were tokens. The Granby Coppers were the first copper coins made in America
US Silver eagle silver one Ounce Coin
Silver one ounce coin .999 fine silver
Silver eagle is one of the worlds top collectors silver coin with over 180 million coins minted by the USA government.
This coin has been popular a s it is readily liquid and has world wide reputation and highly tradeable
Coin one troy ounce
Diameter 40.6 mm
Thickness 2.98 mm
Purity .999
Face value $1.00
Saga of the 1933 Double eagles
In the great depression President Roosevelt ordered all gold coins to be melted and no more gold coins were issued for circulation.
A few coins were not melted.
Two were given to the Smithsonian institute
In the 1950s the secret service confiscated eight more coins.
King Farouk of Egypt somehow ended up owning one of these coins.
40 years later the coin showed up in New York and was also seized and a seven year legal battle commenced over this coin.
In 2001 the case was settled and the rare 1933 Double eagles coin was sold for $7,590,020
In 2004 ten more double eagle coins were found and also confiscated by the secret service and now held in fort knox.
USA Silver coins
Morgan Silver Dollar
The Morgan dollar name dafter is designer G T Morgan was minted in 1878 to 1904 and than skipped years till 1921.
The silver coin is .900 silver, 90% silver and 0.77344 troy ounces per coin
The famous Trade dollar was also produced at this time but that was intended for international trade and the Morgan dollar for home consumption.
In 1904 the coin there was an over abundance of silver coins and silver mining had slowed down so they ceased production till 1921 when 270 million silver coins were minted.
Peace Dollar
After 1921 the Peace dollar was minted on and off till 1935 and was the last silver coin minted for circulation in the United States.
The 1923 peace dollar has the highest mintage and are stamped TRVST instead of TRUST as the designers' felt creative and used Latin spelling so TRVST stands for Trust.
American Silver Eagle
American silver eagle was first minted in 1986 with one troy ounce of 99.9% silver.
Today this coin is one of the worlds most highly recognized silver coin as a hedge against inflation and current economic problems.
Even in 2008 The mint suspended temporarily orders from its agents a s silver coin orders were so high and production was months behind.
Than again in 2009 the mint temporarily stopped excepting orders for its proof and uncirculated silver Eagles.
Do not clean old silver coins as if they are valuable it will decrease their price.
Silver coins can be cleaned in Baking Soda, Electrorolysys method, using ammonia or commercial cleaning jewelry products.
Spain was the most powerful country in Europe in the 16th century. After the destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588, Spain was ruled by Napoleonic forces till 1814. Many Spanish colonial mints struck coins similar to the regular Spanish issues until the 1820\\\'s. These coins are easily distinguished by a mint mark; you would need a coin book because of the many varieties.
1778 GEORGIVS III REX many of these coins were found and with the wear and tear of such coins there is a question as to whether these coins were counterfeit British halfpennies or a Machin Mills half penny. The difference in appearance is that Georgivs III Rex is facing to the right.
George III Halfpennies were produced between 1770 and 1775, but no 1778\\\'s we\\\'re made by the British.
The U.S. Mint\\\'s history begins as the American colonists were struggling for independence from Great Britain . As the colonies grew and expanded, trading for goods increased. The colonists were ordered to use coinage and money from England , but the coins were not widely available. The colonists were not given permission to mint their own money by the King of England. As a result of this great need for coins, colonies began secretly minting their own money to look like British coins. Soon every colony had it\\\'s own form of currency. This quickly turned into a problem when colonies began doing business with each other. The Virginia penny did not carry the sam e value as the Massachusetts penny. For example, a loaf of bread that might cost 5 Virginia pennies might cost 8 Massachusetts pennies. The emerging leaders of our country knew that something had to be done to create a single currency for the nation. As the colonies began their fight for independence, the idea for the U.S. Mint was developing.
One of America 's popular collectible coin is the Morgan silver dollar the coins were minted between 1878 and 1921 with a significant break between 1905 and 1920. The 1921 versions of the Morgan dollar are the most common in circulation, although in rare cases ultra-high, pristine un-circulated grades of the Morgan dollar are traded by coins collectors. Morgan dollars are second only to Lincoln cents in collector popularity.


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Representative George Miller (D-CA) recently reintroduced a bill (H.R. 1649) that would provide whistleblower protections to certain workers in the offshore oil and gas industry. The bill was first introduced in 2010 and again in 2011. Continue Reading Offshore Oil and Gas Worker Whistleblower Protection Act of 2013 Introduced Into the House
Whistleblower Protection Program
Former Chairman of NSPB, Employment Attorney Appointed Head of OSHA's Whistleblower Protection Program
By Bradford T. Hammock on
Posted in OSHA Enforcement
Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Dr. David Michaels has appointed Beth Slavet as the new director of the agency's Whistleblower Protection Program. Ms. Slavet is an employment attorney who has specialized in representing unions, Foreign Service employees and other government workers, with a focus on whistleblower protection. Her appointment…


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Social dialogue nordic style: Is it relevant for Ramaphosa´s South Africa?
When: | Wednesday, 09 May 2018 - Wednesday, 09 May 2018 |
Where: | Parktown Management Campus Classroom E, Donald Gordon Building, Wits School of Governance |
Start time: | 12:30 |
Enquiries: |
Liv Tørres, Adjunct Professor at the Wits School of Governance and the Executive Director of the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo, will present this seminar.
Social dialogue has developed furthest in the Nordic countries and is closely associated with the strength of the labour market partners and of the collective bargaining system. Consensus about the aim to build consensus is not enough to realise actual social dialogue. One also needs to respect each other, see the value of building each other's strength and recognise that good decisions are sometimes or often built on all parties both giving and taking.
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Why Steris Shares Popped
Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of Steris -- a manufacturer of infection prevention, contamination control, and surgical support products for the health-care industry -- jumped as much as 10% after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.
So what: For the quarter, Steris' shareholders witnessed revenue increase by 10% to $428.2 million as EPS shrank modestly to $0.70 from $0.76 in the year-ago period. Although Steris blamed European weakness and the medical device excise tax for its weaker bottom-line results, both figures topped the $406 million in revenue and $0.65 in EPS that the Street had been expecting. The biggest boost came from the company's life sciences segment, which saw operating income grow by 14%. For the upcoming year, Steris issued guidance calling for revenue growth of 8%-10% (implying $1.62 billion to $1.65 billion) and EPS of $2.47-$2.60. Current consensus estimates are for revenue of $1.57 billion and EPS of $2.49.
Now what: This was yet another earnings beat from every aspect for the usually steady Steris. Admittedly, the medical device excise tax is taking an unwanted bite out of Steris' profitability, but the mere fact that as baby boomers age Steris' products will only grow in demand makes the company an attractive option over the long run. With a yield of 1.7%, I'd suggest digging more deeply into Steris on any sizable pullback.
Craving more input? Start by adding Steris to your free and personalized watchlist so you can keep up on the latest news with the company.
While you can certainly make huge gains in device makers like Steris, the best investing approach is to choose great companies and stick with them for the long term. The Motley Fool's free report "3 Stocks That Will Help You Retire Rich" names stocks that could help you build long-term wealth and retire well, along with some winning wealth-building strategies that every investor should be aware of. Click here now to keep reading.
The article Why Steris Shares Popped originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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Rolf Harris Rocks The Stylophone
By James Grahame
A very young Rolf Harris recorded this exuberant Stylophone demo record in the late sixties. It's amusing to hear him marvel over a virtually unplayable little instrument that sounds suspiciously like a tuned duck fart. Of course, kids love fart sounds, which ensured massive popularity throughout most of the known universe.
The Stylophone fad didn't last long after parents discovered the bloody thing didn't even have a volume control. Upon being woken by electrofarts several weekends in a row, fathers throughout Britain started a grassroots campaign to smash and hide the buzzy little boxes when their little darlings were otherwise occupied with matches and the neighbour's Persian kitty.
Luckily for us, a couple of dads gave their Stylos to the drug-addled musicians living in the squat across the street. These future pop stars managed to tease a few tuneful bleeps out of their newfound toys, ensuring an irrational cult following that lasted over three decades.
Things reached such a fever pitch that Ben Jarvis - son of one of the original inventors - released an updated version in 2007. He learned from his father's mistakes and incorporated a volume control, headphone jack and two additional tones which I affectionately call 'helium duck' and 'deep duck.'
I'm counting on one of you to incorporate the Stylophone into 2010's biggest hit single, ensuring that decades of future music lovers continue to covet this cheerful electrobleep machine.


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Dedicating several in-service trainings to scenarios will greatly improve the performance of your lifeguard team. Scenarios provide a snapshot of the competency of your staff and help indicate whether or not previous in-service trainings have been effective. Scenarios are dramatic enactments of possible critical incidents that may occur at your facility. They allow lifeguards to build teamwork skills while exploring possible rescue, extrication and treatment pathways in a non-critical environment. This type of exploration is necessary for guards to be successful during critical incidents.
Scenarios push lifeguards to quickly analyze the situation presented and determine the best course of action. They force guards to coordinate their efforts and act swiftly. Success often requires guards to perform strings of complex skills consecutively and simultaneously to meet the scenario's objective.
As a trainer, it is important to have a critical eye and differentiate between a guard who can demonstrate proficiency in multiple skills one at a time and a guard who can demonstrate proficiency of multiple skills that are strung together. This also is true for a lifeguard team that can only perform in a handful of specific situations and a team that adapts to the situation as the scenario or incident changes and progresses.
Trainers must be conscious of the big picture and avoid the pitfalls that can cause the scenario to lose its potency. Trainer pitfalls include:
An unclear scenario objective
No time limits within the scenario
Too much feedback, which obscures the priorities within the scenario
Ineffective management of time and progression, failing to get the lifeguard team to the objective
Not allowing the guards to work through challenges
Becoming aware of these pitfalls can help trainers avoid them while increasing the success of scenarios. To avoid these pitfalls, follow these recommendations:
Clarify scenario objectives: Trainers must break the scenario elements down into its drill components to determine which drills must be performed to complete the objective. Once this is done, the trainer must determine the drill combinations and sequence necessary to accomplish the objective and complete the scenario.
Establish time limits within the scenario: Setting time limits for each drill within the scenario creates urgency for the lifeguards. This is crucial for the team to perform effectively during a critical incident. If not monitored, a sense of urgency can be lost during the time in-between drill repetitions; all trainings should include drill reset times to keep the level of urgency present. Reset times direct the guard team to prioritize equipment prep and assign team member duties. Drill reset times should be no more than 15 seconds.
Individual drills within the scenario should have short, reachable mini-objectives that can be achieved within 15-30 seconds. Combination drills are the pairing of individual drills that the lifeguard team has already become proficient in. Combination drills are more complex but should go smoothly if your team's ability to multitask and work as a group is there. Time limits on combination drills should last only up to 1½ times longer than regular drill times.
Provide clear, single-focused feedback: Feedback should be given immediately following the drill. It should be constructive on only one point to improve. Providing more than one feedback point disperses focus and reduces success. Continue this type of feedback strategy until all necessary points are covered to meet the objective. Feedback also can include a demonstration to assist the lifeguards in understanding the drill. When the guards are successful in achieving the objective, have them repeat the drill to verify their proficiency.
Manage lifeguard pacing through the scenario: Pacing and progress through the scenario should be a priority of the trainer. The guard team should expect the trainer to lead them through drills and activities that help them achieve the objective. If the team hits a roadblock with a particular drill, it is the trainer's responsibility to develop an alternative plan or variation to the drill that allows the team to move forward. Similarly, if the scenario breaks down it should be easy to determine which drill elements need more practice. Keep your drill repetitions to no more than 8-10 times or stagnation will begin to set in. If you notice your staff begin to lose energy and get distracted, move to a new drill.
Allow the lifeguards to work through challenges: The trainer must be patient and allow the primary rescuer to remain the primary rescuer until he or she reaches proficiency. A common mistake is to rotate the primary rescuer after each drill repetition. There might be concern that the secondary rescuer won't get the opportunity to learn or participate in the role of the primary rescuer, but recognize that the secondary rescuer is learning how to support the primary rescuer and what the primary rescuer expects of them. Scenarios are exploration time; let the lifeguards have it.
Once the team is proficient in the scenario, the trainer can add some variations such as changes in the wet/dry environment, team staffing and equipment failure. These variations allow the team to problem solve and develop creativity.
As with everything, the trainer needs to prepare and practice his or her delivery of the scenario for the guard team to reach success. Practice is just as important for the trainer as it is for the lifeguards.
1-hour in-service training session on scenarios:
Up to 4 minutes Briefing/suit up
Up to 4 minutes Drill A
Up to 4 minutes Drill B
Up to 5 minutes Combination Drill 1
Up to 4 minutes Drill C
Up to 5 minutes Combination Drill 2
Up to 4 minutes Drill D
Up to 4 minutes Drill E
Up to 5 minutes Combination Drill 3
15 minutes or more Scenario, if team demonstrates proficiency, add variation(s) if time allows
No more than 6 minutes Debriefing/clean-up.


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When [Roberto] bought his Mini Cooper, he opted to forgo the factory GPS system as it was over priced and didn't have the best of reputations. He decided that he still needed GPS in his car, so he committed himself to install a TomTom unit in a way that would not detract from the car's interior.
He dismantled the driver's side sun visor, taking measurements of the original plastic housing that contained the mirror and lighting. He then drew up a 3D model of a replacement housing that would allow him to fit both the GPS unit and the speaker in the same amount of space formerly occupied by the mirror.
He gutted his TomTom unit, removing any extraneous parts he could find. A smaller speaker was sourced due to size constraints, then everything was mounted in his new housing once it arrived.
The end result is amazing. The GPS unit looks like it was installed at the factory – there is no sign that this was any sort of aftermarket modification. We are sure people will be quick to say that would be difficult to keep your eyes on the road while looking at the navigation screen, but as [Roberto] points out, you should be following the spoken directions once the car is in motion anyhow.


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My Modern Dear Jane is moving along nicely. I still have some completed square and triangle blocks to upload pictures of and I'll have a dozen more blocks to add to my virtual wall by next week.
That will leave me with just 39 square blocks, 29 triangles and 2 Kites left to finish. I'm starting to feel more confident that I'll make it to the finish line! (grin)
Of course -NO rest for long, as I still have to complete my Civil War Jane too!