text:
It's graduate recruitment season, and we see lots of bright-eyed, optimistic prospective students coming through to visit. They've mostly had experience with research and are excited about science. But one obvious question often stumps them- what do you want to "get" out of graduate school? Many say things about mentorship and learning a lot of science and how to do it. The vast majority really don't know, though, beyond that they love science and want more. When asked what specific skills they'd like to acquire, they focus entirely on research or teaching and never mention "management."
I've posted in this blog before about how many standard graduate programs fail to adequately prepare students for many aspects of their job, beyond doing great science and sometimes grant- or paper-writing (which are obviously crucial). One of the biggest missing pieces that would be helpful irrespective of their final career is training in management. Some PhD students or postdocs will have supervised an undergraduate or two, and may have helped train new staff members. But formal training in management is basically nil in most programs.
Nonetheless, new (and old!) faculty struggle with management all the time. I've told new faculty that, for me personally, that's the area that causes me to lose more sleep than any other area directly associated with the job- more than teaching, getting grants, publishing papers, getting an experiment to work, etc. Some aspects one learns quickly, like being active in communicating both good progress and concerns early. Many (hopefully!) learn the big lesson of never to talk about other lab people's performance, especially concerns thereof. One of my biggest lessons was to schedule formal one-on-one time with everyone in lab, and if the meeting is short, then so-be-it, but at least a clear opportunity for communication is present and frequent.
Still, the transition from being "one of the lab" to being "the boss" is abrupt, and requires conscious behavioral modification. Jokes or teasing that were acceptable as a student or postdoc can be taken FAR more personally or worse. Similarly, you shouldn't just blindly Facebook-friend everyone who joins the lab- the relationship is too unequal for that (it's debatable whether you should accept a friend-request initiated by them, but I have been doing that). Generally, your opinion is taken with far more weight- some will not tell you if/ when they disagree. Further, frankly, there will be times when the lab folks just won't want you around because they don't want to have to be "on guard"- and they may not make that clear to you, so you should be careful not to overly insert yourself into their downtime.
I still struggle with this, even now 13 years into being a faculty member. The tone also changes with time, I think, particularly as your aging creates more distance between you and the increasingly relatively younger members of your lab. One aspect I find hard is dealing with disparity: some people in lab want to interact with you a lot, while others less-so. The apparent solution would be to adjust to individual's desires (to the extent you can with your available time), but this can create time inequities that are perceived as "favoritism", even if not initiated by the faculty member. Clearly, one has to make a conscious effort to be fair to all lab members in terms of professional and guidance-related opportunities, but informal interactions can be beneficial to the student and faculty member and may not happen equally to all students. In years past, I've had some lab members feel like I interacted preferentially with one person, when it was, at least partially, that one person who actively sought me out.
Other situational issues also arise. What do you tell lab people when someone is fired (or gently asked to leave)? Do you literally say nothing, even when they ask? How much do you let lab people know about your current funding, given that it's obviously zero-sum? How about celebrating successes- if one person has many of them, do you reduce celebration of those successes so as not to make the less-successful-recently folks feel bad? There are standard responses, like "It's a success for all of us when any do well," but we have to acknowledge we're also human and sometimes fall into negative emotions.
I'm curious from others of you- what challenges have you encountered (either directly or through observation)? Any advice to share? I should confess that I'm writing a full formal piece on this subject now, and if you convey a great thought, I may write you directly to ask permission to mention it!


text:
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North, Central, and South America, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples. They are often also referred to as Native Americans,[1] Aboriginals,[2] First Nations [2], Amerigine, and by Christopher Columbus' geographical and historical mistake, Indians,[1] now disambiguated as the American Indian race, American Indians, Amerindians, Amerinds, or Red Indians.
According to the still-debated New World migration model, a migration of humans from Eurasia to the Americas took place via Beringia, a land bridge which connected the two continents across what is now the Bering Strait. The most recent point at which this migration could have taken place is c. 12,000 years ago, with the earliest period remaining a matter of some unresolved contention.[3][4] These early Paleo-Indians soon spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes.[4] According to the oral histories of many of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, they have been living there since their genesis, described by a wide range of traditional creation accounts.
Application of the term "Indian" originated with Christopher Columbus, who thought that he had arrived in the East Indies, while seeking Asia. Later the name was still used as the Americas at the time were often called West Indies. This has served to imagine a kind of racial or cultural unity for the aboriginal peoples of the Americas. Once created, the unified "Indian" was codified in law, religion, and politics. The unitary idea of "Indians" was not originally shared by indigenous peoples, but many over the last two centuries have embraced the identity.
While some indigenous peoples of the Americas were historically hunter-gatherers, many practiced aquaculture and agriculture. The impact of their agricultural endowment to the world is a testament to their time and work in reshaping, taming, and cultivating the flora indigenous to the Americas.[5] Some societies depended heavily on agriculture while others practiced a mix of farming, hunting, and gathering. In some regions the indigenous peoples created monumental architecture, large-scale organized cities, chiefdoms, states, and massive empires.
Many parts of the Americas are still populated by indigenous Americans; some countries have sizeable populations, such as Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and Ecuador. At least a thousand different indigenous languages are spoken in the Americas. Some, such as Quechua, Guaraní, Mayan languages, and Nahuatl, count their speakers in millions. Most indigenous peoples have largely adopted the lifestyle of the western world,[citation needed] but many also maintain aspects of indigenous cultural practices to varying degrees, including religion, social organization and subsistence practices. Some indigenous peoples still live in relative isolation from Western society, and a few are still counted as uncontacted peoples.
The specifics of Paleo-Indians migration to and throughout the Americas, including the exact dates and routes traveled, are subject to ongoing research and discussion.[7] The traditional theory has been that these early migrants moved into the Beringia land bridge between eastern Siberia and present-day Alaska around 40,000 — 17,000 years ago, when sea levels were significantly lowered due to the Quaternary glaciation.[7][8] These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets.[9] Another route proposed is that, either on foot or using primitive boats, they migrated down the Pacific Northwest coast to South America.[10] Evidence of the latter would since have been covered by a sea level rise of hundreds of meters following the last ice age.[11]
Archaeologists contend that Paleo-Indians migration out of Beringia (eastern Alaska), ranges from 40,000 to around 16,500 years ago.[12][13][14] This time range is a hot source of debate and will be for years to come. The few agreements achieved to date are the origin from Central Asia, with widespread habitation of the Americas during the end of the last glacial period, or more specifically what is known as the late glacial maximum, around 16,000 — 13,000 years before present.[14][15]
The Pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic to European colonization during the Early Modern period.[16]
While technically referring to the era before Christopher Columbus' voyages of 1492 to 1504, in practice the term usually includes the history of American indigenous cultures until they were conquered or significantly influenced by Europeans, even if this happened decades or even centuries after Columbus' initial landing.[17] Pre-Columbian is used especially often in the context of the great indigenous civilizations of the Americas, such as those of Mesoamerica (the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacano, the Zapotec, the Mixtec, the Aztec, and the Maya) and the Andes (Inca, Moche, Chibcha, Cañaris).
Many pre-Columbian civilizations established characteristics and hallmarks which included permanent or urban settlements, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, and complex societal hierarchies.[18] Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first permanent European arrivals (c. late 15th–early 16th centuries), and are known only through archaeological investigations. Others were contemporary with this period, and are also known from historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Maya, had their own written records. However, most Europeans of the time viewed such texts as heretical, and much was destroyed in Christian pyres. Only a few hidden documents remain today, leaving modern historians with glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge.
According to both indigenous American and European accounts and documents, American civilizations at the time of European encounter possessed many impressive accomplishments.[19] For instance, the Aztecs built one of the most impressive cities in the world, Tenochtitlan, the ancient site of Mexico City, with an estimated population of 200,000. American civilizations also displayed impressive accomplishments in astronomy and mathematics. American Indian creation myths tell of a variety of originations of their respective peoples. Some were "always there" or were created by gods or animals, some migrated from a specified compass point, and others came from "across the ocean".[20]
The European colonization of the Americas forever changed the lives, bloodlines and cultures of the peoples of the continent. The population history of American indigenous peoples postulates that infectious disease exposure, displacement, and warfare diminished populations, with the first the most significant cause.[5][21] The first indigenous group encountered by Columbus were the 250,000 Taínos of Hispaniola who were the dominant culture in the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas. In thirty years, about 70% of the Tainos died.[22] Enslaved, forced to labour in the mines, mistreated, the Tainos began to adopt suicidal behaviors, with women aborting or killing their infants, men jumping from the cliffs or ingesting manioc, a violent poison.[22] They had no immunity to European diseases, so outbreaks of measles and smallpox ravaged their population.[23]
The Laws of Burgos, 1512-1513 were the first codified set of laws governing the behavior of Spanish settlers in America, particularly with regards to native Indians. They forbade the maltreatment of natives, and endorsed their conversion to Catholicism.[24]
Reasons for the decline of the Native American populations are variously theorized to be from diseases, conflicts with Europeans, and conflicts among warring tribes. Scholars now believe that, among the various contributing factors, epidemic disease was the overwhelming cause of the population decline of the American natives.[25][26] After first contacts with Europeans and Africans, some believe that the death of 90 to 95% of the native population of the New World was caused by Old World diseases.[27] Half the native population of Hispaniola in 1518 was killed by smallpox.[28] Within a few years smallpox killed between 60% and 90% of the Inca population, with other waves of European disease weakening them further.[29] Smallpox was only the first epidemic. Typhus (probably) in 1546, influenza and smallpox together in 1558, smallpox again in 1589, diphtheria in 1614, measles in 1618—all ravaged the remains of Inca culture. Smallpox had killed millions of native inhabitants of Mexico.[30][31] Unintentionally introduced at Veracruz with the arrival of Pánfilo de Narváez on April 23, 1520, smallpox ravaged Mexico in the 1520s,[32] killing 150,000 in Tenochtitlan alone, including the emperor, and was credited with the victory of Hernán Cortés over the Aztec empire at Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City) in 1521.[33]
Over the centuries, the Europeans had developed high degrees of immunity to these diseases, while the Native Americans had no such immunity.[34] Europeans had been ravaged in their own turn by such diseases as bubonic plague and Asian flu that moved west from Asia to Europe. In addition, when they went to some territories, such as Africa and Asia, they were more vulnerable to malaria.
The repeated outbreaks of influenza, measles and smallpox probably resulted in a decline of between one-half and two-thirds of the Aboriginal population of eastern North America during the first 100 years of European contact.[35] In 1617–1619, smallpox reportedly killed 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Native Americans.[36] In 1633, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the Native Americans were exposed to smallpox because of contact with Europeans. As it had done elsewhere, the virus wiped out entire population groups of Native Americans.[37] It reached Lake Ontario in 1636, and the lands of the Iroquois by 1679.[38][39] During the 1770s, smallpox killed at least 30% of the West Coast Native Americans.[40] Smallpox epidemics in 1780–1782 and 1837–1838 brought devastation and drastic population depletion among the Plains Indians.[41][42] In 1832, the federal government of the United States established a smallpox vaccination program for Native Americans (The Indian Vaccination Act of 1832).[43][44]
In Brazil, the indigenous population has declined from a pre-Columbian high of an estimated 3 million to some 300,000 in 1997.[45][46]
Later explorations of the Caribbean led to the discovery of the Arawak peoples of the Lesser Antilles. The culture was extinct by 1650. Only 500 had survived by the year 1550, though the bloodlines continued through the modern populace. In Amazonia, indigenous societies weathered centuries of colonization.[47]
The Spaniards and other Europeans brought horses to the Americas. Some of these animals escaped and began to breed and increase their numbers in the wild.[48] The re-introduction of the horse had a profound impact on Native American culture in the Great Plains of North America and of Patagonia in South America. By domesticating horses, some tribes had great success: they expanded their territories, exchanged many goods with neighboring tribes, and more easily captured game, especially bison.
Over the course of thousands of years, American indigenous peoples domesticated, bred and cultivated a large array of plant species. These species now constitute 50–60% of all crops in cultivation worldwide.[49] In certain cases, the indigenous peoples developed entirely new species and strains through artificial selection, as was the case in the domestication and breeding of maize from wild teosinte grasses in the valleys of southern Mexico. Numerous such agricultural products retain native names in the English and Spanish lexicons.
The South American highlands were a center of early agriculture. Genetic testing of the wide variety of cultivars and wild species suggest that the potato has a single origin in the area of southern Peru,[50] from a species in the Solanum brevicaule complex. Over 99% of all modern cultivated potatoes worldwide are descendants of a subspecies indigenous to south-central Chile,[51]Solanum tuberosum ssp. tuberosum, where it was cultivated as long as 10,000 years ago.[52][53]
Natives of North American began practicing farming approximately 4,000 years ago, late in the Archaic period of North American cultures. Technology had advanced to the point that pottery was becoming common, and the small-scale felling of trees became feasible. Concurrently, the Archaic Indians began using fire in a widespread manner. Intentional burning of vegetation was used to mimic the effects of natural fires that tended to clear forest understories. It made travel easier and facilitated the growth of herbs and berry-producing plants, which were important for both food and medicines.[54]
In the Mississippi River valley, Europeans noted Native Americans' managed groves of nut and fruit trees as orchards, not far from villages and towns, in addition to their gardens and agricultural fields. Wildlife competition could be reduced by understory burning. Further away, prescribed burning would have been used in forest and prairie areas.[55]
Many crops first domesticated by indigenous Americans are now produced and/or used globally. Chief among these is maize or "corn", arguably the most important crop in the world.[56] Other significant crops include cassava, chia, squash (pumpkins, zucchini, marrow, acorn squash, butternut squash), the pinto bean, Phaseolus beans including most common beans, tepary beans and lima beans, tomato, potatoes, avocados, peanuts, cocoa beans (used to make chocolate), vanilla, strawberries, pineapples, Peppers (species and varieties of Capsicum, including bell peppers, jalapeños, paprika and chili peppers) sunflower seeds, rubber, brazilwood, chicle, tobacco, coca, manioc and some species of cotton.
Cultural practices in the Americas seem to have been mostly shared within geographical zones where otherwise unrelated peoples might adopt similar technologies and social organizations. An example of such a cultural area could be Mesoamerica, where millennia of coexistence and shared development between the peoples of the region produced a fairly homogeneous culture with complex agricultural and social patterns. Another well-known example could be the North American plains area, where until the 19th century, several different peoples shared traits of nomadic hunter-gatherers primarily based on buffalo hunting. Within the Americas, dozens of larger and hundreds of smaller culture areas can be identified.[citation needed]
An independent origin and development of writing is counted among the many achievements and innovations of pre-Columbian American cultures. The Mesoamerican region produced a number of indigenous writing systems from the 1st millennium BCE onwards. What may be the earliest-known example in the Americas of an extensive text thought to be writing is by the Cascajal Block. The Olmec hieroglyphs tablet has been indirectly dated from ceramic shards found in the same context to approximately 900 BCE, around the time that Olmec occupation of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán began to wane.[57]
The Maya writing system (often called hieroglyphs from a superficial resemblance to the Ancient Egyptian writing) was a combination of phonetic symbols and logograms. It is most often classified as a logographic or (more properly) a logosyllabic writing system, in which syllabic signs play a significant role. It is the only writing system of the Pre-Columbian New World which is known to completely represent the spoken language of its community. In total, the script has more than one thousand different glyphs, although a few are variations of the same sign or meaning, and many appear only rarely or are confined to particular localities. At any one time, no more than around five hundred glyphs were in use, some two hundred of which (including variations) had a phonetic or syllabic interpretation.
Aztec codices (singular codex) are books written by pre-Columbian and colonial-era Aztecs. These codices provide some of the best primary sources for Aztec culture. The pre-Columbian codices differ from European codices in that they are largely pictorial; they were not meant to symbolize spoken or written narratives.[58] The colonial era codices not only contain Aztec pictograms, but also Classical Nahuatl (in the Latin alphabet), Spanish, and occasionally Latin.
The Wiigwaasabak, birch bark scrolls on which the Ojibwa (Anishinaabe) people wrote complex geometrical patterns and shapes, can also be considered a form of writing.
Native American music in North America is almost entirely monophonic, but there are notable exceptions. Traditional Native American music often centers around drumming. Rattles, clappersticks, and rasps were also popular percussive instruments. Flutes were made of rivercane, cedar, and other woods. The tuning of these flutes is not precise and depends on the length of the wood used and the hand span of the intended player, but the finger holes are most often around a whole step apart and, at least in Northern California, a flute was not used if it turned out to have an interval close to a half step. The Apache fiddle is a single stringed instrument.
Music from indigenous peoples of Central Mexico and Central America often was pentatonic. Before the arrival of the Spaniards it was inseparable from religious festivities and included a large variety of percussion and wind instruments such as drums, flutes, sea snail shells (used as a kind of trumpet) and "rain" tubes. No remnants of pre-Columbian stringed instruments were found until archaeologists discovered a jar in Guatemala, attributed to the Maya of the Late Classic Era (600–900 CE), which depicts a stringed musical instrument which has since been reproduced. This instrument is astonishing in at least two respects. First, it is the very few string instruments known in the Americas prior to the introduction of European musical instruments. Second, when played, it produces a sound virtually identical to a jaguar's growl.[59]
Art of the indigenous peoples of the Americas composes a major category in the world art collection. Contributions include pottery, paintings, jewellery, weavings, sculptures, basketry, carvings and hair pipes.[60]
Due to the many artists posing as Native Americans, the United States passed the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, requiring artists prove that they are enrolled in a state or federally recognized tribe.
The following table provides estimates of the per-country populations of indigenous people, and also those with part-indigenous ancestry, expressed as a percentage of the overall country population of each country that is comprised by indigenous peoples, and of people with partly indigenous descent. The total percentage obtained by adding both of these categories is also given.
Note: these categories are inconsistently defined and measured differently from country to country. Some are based on the results of population wide genetic surveys, while others are based on self identification or observational estimation.
|Part Indigenous
|Combined total
|North America
|Central America
|Costa Rica
|El Salvador
|Antigua and Barbuda
|The Bahamas
|Dominican Republic
|Puerto Rico
|Saint Kitts and Nevis
|Saint Lucia
|Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines
|Trinidad and Tobago
|South America
|French Guiana
Argentina's indigenous population is about 403,000 (0.9 percent of total population).[89] Indigenous nations include the Toba, Wichí, Mocoví, Pilagá, Chulupí, Diaguita-Calchaquí, Kolla, Guaraní (Tupí Guaraní and Avá Guaraní in the provinces of Jujuy and Salta, and Mbyá Guaraní in the province of Misiones), Chorote (Iyo'wujwa Chorote and Iyojwa'ja Chorote), Chané, Tapieté, Mapuche (probably the largest indigenous nation in Argentina) and Tehuelche. The Selknam (Ona) people are now virtually extinct in its pure form. The languages of the Diaguita, Tehuelche, and Selknam nations are now extinct or virtually extinct: the Cacán language (spoken by Diaguitas) in the 18th century, the Selknam language in the 20th century; whereas one Tehuelche language (Southern Tehuelche) is still spoken by a small handful of elderly people.
Mestizos (European with indigenous peoples) number about 34 percent of the population; unmixed Maya make up another 10.6 percent (Ketchi, Mopan, and Yucatec). The Garifuna, who came to Belize in the 1800s, originating from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, with a mixed African, Carib, and Arawak ancestry make up another 6 percent of the population.[64]
In Bolivia, about 2.5 million people speak Quechua, 2.1 million speak Aymara, while Guaraní is only spoken by a few hundred thousand people. Also there are 36 recognized cultures and languages in the country. Although there are no official documents written in these languages, Quechua and Aymara were historically only ever oral languages until fragmented modern attempts at transcription and written standardization. Radio and some television in Quechua and Aymara is produced. However, the constitutional reform in 1997 for the first time recognized Bolivia as a multilingual, pluri-ethnic society and introduced education reform. In 2005, for the first time in the country's history, an indigenous descendant Aymara, Evo Morales, was elected as President.
Morales began work on his "indigenous autonomy" policy which he launched in the eastern lowlands department on 3 August 2009, making Bolivia the first country in the history of South America to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves.[90] Speaking in Santa Cruz Department, the President called it "a historic day for the peasant and indigenous movement", saying that he might make errors but he would "never betray the fight started by our ancestors and the fight of the Bolivian people".[90] A vote on further autonomy will take place in referendums which are expected to be held in December 2009.[90] The issue has divided the country.[91]
The Amerindians make up 0.4% of Brazil's population, or about 700,000 people.[46] Indigenous peoples are found in the entire territory of Brazil, although the majority of them live in Indian reservations in the North and Centre-Western part of the country. On 18 January 2007, FUNAI reported that it had confirmed the presence of 67 different uncontacted tribes in Brazil, up from 40 in 2005. With this addition Brazil has now overtaken the island of New Guinea as the country having the largest number of uncontacted tribes.[92]
Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations,[93] Inuit[94] and Métis.[95] The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" are falling into disuse.[96] Old Crow Flats and Bluefish Caves are the earliest archaeological sites of human habitation in Canada.[97][98] Hundreds of Aboriginal nations evolved trade, spiritual and social hierarchies. The Métis culture of mixed blood originated in the mid-17th century when First Nation and native Inuit married European settlers.[99] The Inuit had more limited interaction with European settlers during that early period.[100] Various laws, treaties, and legislation have been enacted between European immigrants and First Nations across Canada. Aboriginal Right to Self-Government provides opportunity to manage historical, cultural, political, health care and economic control aspects within first people's communities.
Although not without conflict, European/Canadian early interactions with First Nations and Inuit populations were relatively peaceful, compared to the experience of native peoples in the United States. Combined with relatively late economic development in many regions, this peaceful history has allowed Canadian Indigenous peoples to have a relatively strong influence on the national culture while preserving their own identity.[101] National Aboriginal Day recognises the cultures and contributions of Aboriginal peoples of Canada.[102] There are currently over 600 recognized First Nations governments or bands encompassing 1,172,790 2006 people spread across Canada with distinctive Aboriginal cultures, languages, art, and music.[103][104][105]
According to the 2002 Census, 4.6% of the Chilean population, including the Rapanui of Easter Island, was indigenous, although most show varying degrees of miscegenation.[106] Many are descendants of the Mapuche, and live in the country's central valley and lake district. The Mapuche successfully fought off defeat in the first 300–350 years of Spanish rule during the Arauco War. Relations with the new Chilean Republic were good until the Chilean state decided to occupy their lands. During the Occupation of Araucanía the Mapuche surrendered to the country's army in the 1880s. Their land was opened to settlement by Chileans and Europeans. Conflict over Mapuche land rights continued until present days.
Other groups include the Aimara who live mainly in Arica-Parinacota and Tarapacá Region and the Alacalufe survivors who now reside mainly in Puerto Edén.
A small minority today within Colombia's overwhelmingly Mestizo and Afro-Colombian population, Colombia's indigenous peoples nonetheless encompass at least 85 distinct cultures and more than 1,378,884 people.[107][108] A variety of collective rights for indigenous peoples are recognized in the 1991 Constitution.
One of these is the Muisca culture, a subset of the larger Chibcha ethnic group, famous for their use of gold, which led to the legend of El Dorado. At the time of the Spanish conquest, the Chibchas were the largest native civilization between the Incas and the Aztecs.
Costa Rica was the site of many indigenous cultures, but only eight remain today: Bribri, Boruca, Cabecar, Chorotega, Guaymí, Huetar, Maleku and Terraba, also called Teribe or Naso.[citation needed]
Ecuador was the site of many indigenous cultures, and civilizations of different proportions. An early sedentary culture, known as the Valdivia culture, developed in the coastal region, while the Caras and the Quitus unified to form an elaborate civilization that ended at the birth of the Capital Quito. The Cañaris near Cuenca were the most advanced, and most feared by the Inca, due to their fierce resistance to the Incan expansion. Their architecture remains were later destroyed by Spaniards and the Incas.
Approximately 96.4% of Ecuador's are Highland Quichuas living in the valleys of the Sierra region. Primarily consisting of the descendents of Incans, they are Kichwa speakers and include the Caranqui, the Otavaleños, the Cayambi, the Quitu-Caras, the Panzaleo, the Chimbuelo, the Salasacan, the Tugua, the Puruhá, the Cañari, and the Saraguro. Linguistic evidence suggests that the Salascan and the Saraguro may have been the descendants of Bolivian ethnic groups transplanted to Ecuador as mitimaes.
Coastal groups, including the Awá, Chachi, and the Tsáchila, make up 24% percent of the indigenous population, while the remaining 3.35 percent live in the Oriente and consist of the Oriente Kichwa (the Canelo and the Quijos), the Shuar, the Huaorani, the Siona-Secoya, the Cofán, and the Achuar.
In 1986, indigenous people formed the first "truly" national political organization. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) has been the primary political institution of the Indigenous since then and is now the second largest political party in the nation. It has been influential in national politics, contributing to the ouster of presidents Abdalá Bucaram in 1997 and Jamil Mahuad in 2000.
Much of El Salvador was home to the Pipil, Lenca, and a number of Maya. The Pipil lived in western El Salvador, spoke Nahuat, and had many settlements there. The Pipil had no treasure but held land that had rich and fertile soil, good for farming. This both disappointed and garnered attention from the Spaniards who were shocked not to find gold or jewels in El Salvador like they did in other lands like Guatemala or Mexico, but later learned of the fertile land El Salvador had to offer and attempted to conquer it. At first the Pipil had repelled Spanish Attacks but after many other attacks they had stopped fighting and many were used for labor by Spaniards. Today many Pipil and Indigenous populations live in small towns of El Salvador like Izalco, Panchimalco, Sacacoyo, and Nahuizalco.
Many of the indigenous peoples of Guatemala are of Maya heritage. Other groups are Xinca people and Garifuna.
Pure Maya account for some 40 percent of the population; although around 40 percent of the population speaks an indigenous language, those tongues (of which there are more than 20) enjoy no official status. Guatemala's majority population holds a percentage of 59.4% in White or Mestizo (of mixed White and Amerindian ancestry) people. The area of Livingston, Guatemala is highly influenced by the Caribbean and its population includes a combination of Mestizos and Garifuna people.
About 5 percent of the population are of full-blooded Amerindian descent, but upwards to 80 percent more or the majority of Hondurans are mestizo or part-Amerindian with Caucasian, and about 10 percent are of Amerindian and/or African descent.[109] The main concentration of Amerindians in Honduras are in the rural westernmost areas facing Guatemala and to the Caribbean Sea coastline, as well on the Nicaraguan border.[109] The majority of indigenous people are Lencas, Miskitos to the east, Mayans, Pech, Sumos, and Tolupan.[109]
The territory of modern-day Mexico was home to numerous indigenous civilizations prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores: The Olmecs, who flourished from between 1200 BCE to about 400 BCE in the coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico; the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs, who held sway in the mountains of Oaxaca and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec; the Maya in the Yucatán (and into neighbouring areas of contemporary Central America); the Purepecha or Tarascan in present day Michoacán and surrounding areas, and the Aztecs, who, from their central capital at Tenochtitlan, dominated much of the centre and south of the country (and the non-Aztec inhabitants of those areas) when Hernán Cortés first landed at Veracruz.
In contrast to what was the general rule in the rest of North America, the history of the colony of New Spain was one of racial intermingling (mestizaje). Mestizos quickly came to account for a majority of the colony's population; however, significant numbers and communities of indígenas (as the native peoples are now known) survive to the present day. The CDI identifies 62 indigenous groups in Mexico, each with a unique language.[110]
In the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca and in the interior of the Yucatán peninsula the majority of the population is indigenous. Large indigenous minorities, including Aztecs, P'urhépechas, and Mixtecs are also present in the central regions of Mexico. In Northern Mexico indigenous people are a small minority.
The General Law of Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous Peoples grants all indigenous languages spoken in Mexico, regardless of the number of speakers, the same validity as Spanish in all territories in which they are spoken, and indigenous peoples are entitled to request some public services and documents in their native languages.[111] Along with Spanish, the law has granted them — more than 60 languages — the status of "national languages". The law includes all Amerindian languages regardless of origin; that is, it includes the Amerindian languages of ethnic groups non-native to the territory. As such the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples recognizes the language of the Kickapoo, who immigrated from the United States,[112] and recognizes the languages of the Guatemalan Amerindian refugees.[113] The Mexican government has promoted and established bilingual primary and secondary education in some indigenous rural communities. Nonetheless, of the indigenous peoples in Mexico, only about 67% of them (or 7.1% of the country's population) speak an Amerindian language and about a sixth do not speak Spanish (1.2% of the country's population).[114]
The indigenous peoples in Mexico have the right of free determination under the second article of the constitution. According to this article the indigenous peoples are granted:[115]
amongst other rights.
The Miskito are a native people in Central America. Their territory extended from Cape Camarón, Honduras, to Rio Grande, Nicaragua along the Mosquito Coast. There is a native Miskito language, but large groups speak Miskito Coastal Creole, Spanish, Rama and other languages. The Creole English came about through frequent contact with the British who colonized the area. Many are Christians.
Traditional Miskito society was highly structured with a defined political structure. There was a king, but he did not have total power. Instead, the power was split between himself, a governor, a general, and by the 1750s, an admiral. Historical information on kings is often obscured by the fact that many of the kings were semi-mythical.
Most Peruvians are either indigenous[116] or mestizos (of mixed Indigenous and European ancestry). Peru has the largest indigenous population of South America, and its traditions and customs have shaped the way Peruvians live and see themselves today. Cultural citizenship—or what Renato Rosaldo has called, "the right to be different and to belong, in a democratic, participatory sense" (1996:243)—is not yet very well developed in Peru. This is perhaps no more apparent than in the country's Amazonian regions where indigenous societies continue to struggle against state-sponsored economic abuses, cultural discrimination, and pervasive violence.[117]
Indigenous peoples in what is now the contiguous United States are commonly called "American Indians", or just "Indians" domestically, but are also often referred to as "Native Americans". In Alaska, indigenous peoples, which include Native Americans, Yupik and Inupiat Eskimos, and Aleuts, are referred to collectively as Alaska Natives.
Native Americans and Alaska Natives make up 2 percent of the population, with more than 6 million people identifying themselves as such, although only 1.8 million are recognized as registered tribal members. Tribes have established their own rules for membership, some of which are increasingly exclusive. More people have unrecognized Native American ancestry together with other ethnic groups. A minority of U.S. Native Americans live in land units called Indian reservations. Some southwestern U.S. tribes, such as the Yaqui and Apache, have registered tribal communities in Northern Mexico. Similarly, some northern bands of Blackfoot reside in southern Alberta, Canada, in addition to within US borders.
A number of Kumeyaay communities may be found in Baja California del Norte.
Most Venezuelans have some indigenous heritage, but the indigenous population make up only around 2% of the total population. They speak around 29 different languages and many more dialects, but some of the ethnic groups are very small and their languages are in danger of becoming extinct in the next decades. The most important indigenous groups are the Yekuanas Wayuu, the Pemons and the Waraos. The most advanced native people to have lived in present-day Venezuela is thought to have been the Timoto-cuicas, who mainly lived in the Venezuelan Andes. In total it is estimated that there were between 350 thousand and 500 thousand inhabitants, the most densely populated area being the Andean region (Timoto-cuicas), thanks to the advanced agricultural techniques used.
The 1999 constitution gives them special rights, although the vast majority of them still live in very critical conditions of poverty. The largest groups receive some basic primary education in their languages.
Indigenous peoples make up the majority of the population in Bolivia and Peru, and are a significant element in most other former Spanish colonies. Exceptions to this include Costa Rica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Dominican Republic, and Uruguay. At least three of the native American languages (Quechua in Peru and Bolivia; Aymara also in Peru, Bolivia and Chile, and Guaraní in Paraguay) are recognized along with Spanish as national languages (or Aymara in Chile, by regional basis).
The Native American name controversy is an ongoing dispute over the acceptable ways to refer to the indigenous peoples of the Americas and to broad subsets thereof, such as those living in a specific country or sharing certain cultural attributes. Once-common terms like "Indian" remain in use, despite the introduction of terms such as "Native American" and "Amerindian" during the latter half of the 20th century.[118][119][120]
|Part of a series on
|Indigenous rights
|Human rights · Racial Discrimination
Self-determination · Forced assimilation
Forced relocation · Cultural heritage
Freedom of religion · Cultural diversity
Land rights · Traditional knowledge
Intellectual property · Language
Land use planning · Right to Indentity
Conflict Resolution · Gender equality
|Notable NGOs and other entities
|ACHPR · Amazon Watch
AFN · Council of Indigenous Peoples
Cultural Survival · FPCN · FUNAI · NARF
Survival International · UNPFII · UNPO
|Colonialism · Civilizing mission / Manifest Destiny
Cultural genocide · Development criticism
Bantustan · Indian reservation · Indian reserve
|Legal Representation
|ILO 169 · United Nations Declaration
|Historical Cases
|Papua Conflict · San controversy
Indian removal · Peruvian Crisis
Chiapas conflict
|Related Categories
|Organizations · Politics
Documentaries · Activists
In recent years, there has been a rise of indigenous movements in the Americas (mainly South America). These are rights-driven groups that organize themselves in order to achieve some sort of self-determination and the preservation of their culture for their peoples. Organizations like the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin and the Indian Council of South America are examples of movements that are breaking the barrier of borders in order to obtain rights for Amazonian indigenous populations everywhere. Similar movements for indigenous rights can also be seen in Canada and the United States, with movements like the International Indian Treaty Council and the accession of native Indian group into the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization.
There has also been a recognition of indigenous movements on an international scale, with the United Nations adopting the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, despite dissent from the stronger countries of the Americas.
Moves towards the rights of the indigenous in Leftist countries of Latin America, led to a surge in activity in historically the most right-winged state in South America. In Colombia various indigenous groups protested the denial of their rights. People organized a march in Cali in October 2008 to demand the government live up to promises to protect indigenous lands, defend the indigenous against violence, and reconsider the free trade pact with the United States.[121]
With the rise to power of Leftist governments in Venezuela, Ecuador, Paraguay, and especially Bolivia where Evo Morales was the first indigenous descendant elected president of Bolivia, the indigenous movement gained a strong foothold.
Representatives from indigenous and rural organizations from major South American countries, including Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile and Brazil, started a forum in support of Morales' legal process of change. The meeting condemned plans by the European "foreign" power elite to destabilize the country. The forum also expressed solidarity with the Morales and his economic and social changes in the interest of historically marginalized majorities. Furthermore, in a cathartic blow to the US-backed elite, it questioned US interference through diplomats and NGO's. The forum was suspicious of plots against Bolivia and other countries, including Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, Paraguay and Nicaragua.[122]
The forum rejected the supposed violent method used by regional civic leaders from the called "Crescent departments" in Bolivia to impose their autonomous statutes, applauded the decision to expel the US ambassador to Bolivia, and reafirmed the sovereignty and independence of the presidency. Amongst others, representatives of CONAIE, the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia, the Chilean Council of All Lands, and the Brazilian Landless Movement participated in the forum.[122]
Indigenous Amerindian genetics primarily focus on Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups and Human mitochondrial DNA haplogroups. "Y-DNA" is passed solely along the patrilineal line, from father to son, while "mtDNA" is passed down the matrilineal line, from mother to offspring of both sexes. Neither recombines, and thus Y-DNA and mtDNA change only by chance mutation at each generation with no intermixture between parents' genetic material.[123] Autosomal "atDNA" markers are also used, but differ from mtDNA or Y-DNA in that they overlap significantly.[124] AtDNA is generally used to measure the average continent-of-ancestry genetic admixture in the entire human genome and related isolated populations.[124]
The genetic pattern indicates Indigenous Amerindians experienced two very distinctive genetic episodes; first with the initial-peopling of the Americas, and secondly with European colonization of the Americas.[125][126][127] The former is the determinant factor for the number of gene lineages, zygosity mutations and founding haplotypes present in today's Indigenous Amerindian populations.[125]
Human settlement of the New World occurred in stages from the Bering sea coast line, with an initial 15, 000 to 20,000-year layover on Beringia for the small founding population.[126][128][129] The micro-satellite diversity and distributions of the Y lineage specific to South America indicates that certain Amerindian populations have been isolated since the initial colonization of the region.[130] The Na-Dené, Inuit and Indigenous Alaskan populations exhibit haplogroup Q (Y-DNA) mutations, however are distinct from other indigenous Amerindians with various mtDNA and atDNA mutations.[131][132][133] This suggests that the earliest migrants into the northern extremes of North America and Greenland derived from later migrant populations.[134][135]

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Starting in January of 2010, anyone with a traditional IRA will be able to convert to a Roth IRA, even if your adjusted gross income is more than $100,000 per year. You'll have two years to pay taxes on any tax-deductible contributions you've made to the IRA. Your money will grow tax free in the Roth after that. And unlike a traditional IRA, whoever you leave the money to when you die won't have to pay taxes on what's left in the Roth. You only want to make the switch, however, if you don't have to tap the IRA for cash to pay the taxes.
Is conversion for you? Here are 5 reasons to convert to a Roth IRA on SmartMoney.com.


text:
The traditional exterior yields to a modern great room with soaring ceilings, a dark walnut floor and tons of natural light. By taking down walls in the center of the house, the family got a huge free-flowing living area while retaining snug bedrooms for boys Lucky, 4, and Rocco, 2. Stansfield wanted a new framework to give her decorating flexibility — an environment where she could display her mother's fancy Limoges china one day and earthy Heath pottery the next, depending on her mood. Stansfield, who sold her company to Liz Claiborne and now works as a fashion consultant, refuses to commit to one style, and to prove that home décor can be almost as flexible as hemlines, she's made a house that's simultaneously traditional and modern, loaded with objects yet devoid of clutter. "With fashion and with interior design, you can get into a situation where you love something for five years ago, and suddenly you can't stand it," says Stansfield, 45. "I love midcentury, but, oh my gosh, when you get the furniture and everything in that style, then what do you do if your tastes change? Or if someone gives you a gorgeous china teapot? Throw it out because it doesn't go with your Neutra house? It's so important to keep your options open."
Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times
Copyright © 2019, Los Angeles Times


text:
Planning to move into a cloud group. You will definitely want to read the PDF "TransitioningToTheCloud"
Download the PDF from DeveloperWorks
Where did cloud get it's name? What makes a cloud well, a cloud? It covers PaaS, IaaS, SaaS and Public, Private, Community, and Hybrid cloud implementations and services.
You may know SaaS, but this article is still for you. All parts of the cloud work and interact together. Great for sales people and tech-sales.
It's short, quick easy read. It's only 15 pages and it has pictures.
It will give you cloud knowledge, key words, concepts and a clear direction in where you might want to spend the majority of your time as it pertains to learning new technology. All of which I give examples of in this PDFP.


text:
As you likely have heard by now, there is an actually super supergroup on the horizon.
Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) on drums, Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) on guitar, and the legendary John Paul Jones (from a little band you might know by the name of Led Zeppelin) on bass. Yea, I really cant envision a scenario where this album could possibly suck.
More from Antiquiet and Pitchfork can be found here.
Homme's wife, Brody Dalle of Spinnerette, is already sorta not really on record with her opinion: "I'm not at liberty to talk about it… but I think [the project] is pretty fucking amazing. Just beats and sounds like you've never heard before."


text:
Raw: Old Man Cracks Cop In The Head With His Cane
Old man miraculously walks, and then whacks an officer with his cane
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text:
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann
Pair the phrases "controversy" and "Ohio Secretary of State," and folks are bound to get antsy.
That's what erupted today, after some absentee ballot forms - distributed to Buckeye State residents by the McCain campaign - were deemed incomplete by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.
The problem? At the top of the McCain-issued absentee ballot application, above lines where voters write their address and other identifying information to verify their voting eligibility, a statement reads: "I am a qualified elector and would like to receive an Absentee Ballot for the November 4, 2008 General Election." Next to the statement is a small checkbox.
Many applicants who filled out and returned the forms forgot to – or didn't realize that they were supposed to - check that box.
Yesterday, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner deemed applications with unchecked boxes unacceptable, sparking accusations that she was disenfranchising Republican voters by taking a particularly stringent stance. Saying that the McCain camp issued "confusing" forms, Brunner today insisted that state law "provides absolutely no room to accept forms if the voter has not taken the step of affirming that he or she is an eligible voter."
A form almost identical to the McCain application was used by Ohio Republicans during registration for a 2007 special election. No complaints were lodged at that time.
The McCain campaign mailed over a million of the applications last week. A Republican aide estimates that the number of affected registrations will be "in the thousands."
In a press conference today, Brunner stood by the assessment that forms with unchecked boxes would not be processed, but she invited county election boards to submit the incomplete forms to her office, which will then contact applicants who failed to check the appropriate box. Voters will be informed of the mix-up by phone, reissued a new form, and also directed to a website where they can electronically confirm their status as eligible voters.
"Even though a campaign's confusing form has kept some Ohio voters from following Ohio election law, I am working with boards of elections to make sure every eligible voter gets to vote," said Brunner in a statement issued this evening. "Ohio law is crystal clear on the strict requirements to receive an absentee ballot. Ignoring that law could lead to voter fraud in such a high-turnout election."
Team McCain isn't satisfied with Brunner's decision, which adds an extra step to the process and could confuse applicants who believe that they have already filled the form out correctly.
"There is no reason to reject a form that includes all necessary legal requirements," said Jon Seaton, McCain's regional campaign manager in the state. "Our position has not changed – qualified electors who request an absentee ballot should not be disenfranchised."


text:
When you think of Phoenix, you think of…well, you probably don't think of pizza. At least Ken and Elaine Spinato didn't back in 1971 when they were living in Chicago! The cold, blustery winters and the hot, humid summers left a lot to be desired, so when the time came for the family to make a move, Phoenix was at the top of the list. There was one hesitation, though—Ken was (and still is) a pizza connoisseur. Problem solved: Ken decided that the family would introduce the authentic taste of great Chicago-style pizza to the people of Arizona.
We don't like to toot our own horn…but if others want to toot it for us, we'll humbly accept it. <toot, toot>


text:
Home Topics Gymkhana
Police link Dar es Salaam house to Mo Dewji abduction
Police have identified a house at Mbezi Beach as where tycoon Mohammed Dewji was held following his kidnapping by unknown people.
Police: Africa's youngest billionaire freed by kidnappers
Africa's youngest billionaire, snatched a week ago off the street outside a luxury hotel in Tanzania, has returned home unharmed after being released by his kidnappers, police said on Saturday.
Tanzanian billionaire Mohammed Dewji released by abductors
Kidnapped Tanzanian billionaire Mohammed Dewji has been released, 10 days after he was seized by armed men in the city of Dar Es Salaam.
Recent Stories
Election: PDP urges military to disobey presidential order on ballot box snatching
The presidential candidate of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and PDP national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, have urged the military and other security agencies to disobey the presidential order asking them to deal ruthlessly with would-be ballot box snatchers.
NAF arrests 10 armed bandits, recovers 57 livestock
The 453 Base Service Group, Nigerian Air Force, Kaduna, on Tuesday said it had arrested 10 suspected thugs and bandits and recovered 57 livestock.
Senator Lokpobiri: Governor Dickson of recruiting militants to destabilise elections
Sen. Heineken Lokobiri, Minister of State for Agriculture, has dismissed accusations of instigating violence in Bayelsa leveled against him and other APC chieftains in the state by Gov. Seriake Dickson.
Caster Semenya unleashes team of professors to battle IAAF, CAS
Caster Semenya has released a list of experts she will call in her appeal hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) this week in her fight against regulations aimed at lowering the testosterone levels of hyperandrogenic athletes like her.
Olamiju Alao-Akala suspended as Ogbomoso council chairman
The Chairman of Ogbomoso North Local Government Area of Oyo State, Hon. Olamiju Alao-Akala, has been suspended from office.
Most Popular
Red Cross releases toll-free lines, promises to assist vulnerable during elections
The Nigerian Red Cross Society has released toll-free lines for citizens to reach it in the course of the elections.
NBS: Nigeria's capital importation up by 37.49% in 2018
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the total value of capital importation into Nigeria stood at 16.81 billion dollars in 2018 compared to 12.22 billion dollars capital imported in 2017.
NEMA receives 160 returnees from Libya
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), has received a fresh batch of returnees from Libya.
Akin Oyebode, Bola Akinteriwa criticise INEC for postponing general elections
Two renowned academics, Prof. Akin Oyebode and Prof. Bola Akinteriwa, have criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for postponing the general elections.
Sudan lawmakers postpone meeting on extending President al-Bashir term limits
A Sudanese parliamentary committee has postponed a meeting on amending the country's constitution to allow President Omar al-Bashir to run for a new term, state media reported on Saturday.


text:
BisMan Symphony needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 150 designs submitted by 34 freelance designers.
Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra
The BMSO presented its first concert season in 1976-77 with three orchestral concerts. Since that time, the organization has grown to a full six-concert season with additional special events each year. The BMSO presents an annual Dixieland Jazz concert and is the driving force behind Bismarck, North Dakota's annual Fourth of July celebration at the North Dakota State Capitol. With an annual audience of more than 5,000 at our six subscription concerts and more than 15,000 including special events, the BMSO has entered a period of growth that is driving the decision to refocus its branding efforts.
The BMSO especially values artistic excellence, commitment to Bismarck-Mandan, accessibility to everyone, and education.
Visit the BMSO's website to get a sense of the organization and how it is presented to the public. Orchestra concerts and classical music should be fun and relevant to modern society – although perception is sometime that it is stiff, irrelevant, and uninteresting. Help us break this misconception!
Without alienating our core constituency of more mature, more educated, higher income individuals, we would like to explore ways to engage younger audiences in the concert hall. This will not happen by simply having a "cool" logo, but by really connecting younger generations to our core values, stated above.
• MUST include the words "Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra"
o If Bismarck and Mandan are on two separate lines, then no hyphen is needed
o If the cities appear side-by-side, then it should be "Bismarck-Mandan"
o Either way is acceptable
• We would like to have a recognizable and unique icon that can stand independent of the words "Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra"
• Try to highlight the letters "BMSO" in the design
• Unless you feel it absolutely necessary for your design, steer clear of fancy, flowery typeset – this can imply elitism and inaccessibility
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


text:
Marcus.stout necesitaba un nuevo diseño de otro y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 19 diseños de 5 diseñadores freelance.
Aspiration Software
At Aspiration Software LLC, we aspire to deliver the highest value to our customers by providing exceptionally talented Internet Technology specialists. We foster an environment of trust and loyalty within our company, believing that our outstanding commitment to our people will directly impact our company and client relationships.
People who need a partner for IT services. This will be used in presentations.
The final design will include the following:
- Background(s)
- Typestyles (Fonts)
- Colors (for lines, tables, bullets, other common elements)
- and optionally: transitions
And all of the key template elements should be formatted, including:
- Titles
- Text Boxes
- Placeholders for stock photos
How to submit: we have attached a sample PowerPoint file with just four pages in 2003 format with the key elements we use. Please apply your template to this file and show the four different squares in your submitted artwork. We think that will be the most efficient means of assessing your submissions.
IMPORTANT: The 99 designs process doesn't allow us to assess whether you've properly changed the template elements until we've assigned a winner and received your template file. However we will object to paying the winner if the template isn't properly saved.
Winner: you should save and submit the template in the following PowerPoint formats: 2003, 2007, 2010.


text:
One of the best things about blogging on WordPress.com is that, within moments of signing up, you can get a site up and running without any website building experience. No prior knowledge required.
However, you may have heard the phrase that "scripting isthe new literacy." Since I work in support on WordPress.com, one of the more common questions that I see asked is, "I published a post, and now my sidebar is at the bottom of the page. What happened?" Usually, these types of layout issues are caused by improperly formatted HTML within a recently published post. It can be tricky to locate the culprit, especially if you don't have much experience with HTML.
If you haven't heard of HTML or CSS before, here's the run down: HTML is a markup language that essentially tells your internet browser how to display your webpage. This includes formatting the…
View original post 252 more words


text:
Selecting your vehicle's make, model, and year allows us to display only parts and items specific to your car's model and year.
Part# G240589
4 Reviews
OPGI Price: $13.99
Part Type: (R) = Authentic reproduction of the original GM product
Years: 1965-1977
Sold As: PAIR
These thin plastic washers were used by GM behind the door strikers during assembly. The washer allows adjustment of the door striker without marring the paint. Sold in pairs.


text:
Fujitsu Siemens preps 'piano lacquer' laptop
Limited edition, naturally
Fujitsu Siemens (FS) today unveiled what it claims is "the world's most desirable laptop" - so desirable, in point of fact, that the company is making the €4,000-plus ($4,743/£2,724) product available in "limited quantities only". Among its appealing features: it's 2cm thick and is decked out in a "black piano lacquer" finish.
The Lifebook Q2010 not only boasts Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11g Wi-Fi but also 3G mobile phone network connectivity and Gigabit Ethernet. VoIP-ready, the notebook a pair of microphones for improved noise-cancellation and sound quality. The notebook has a fingerprint scanner backed by a Trusted Platform Module for secure log-ins.
The machine's a Centrino-branded item based on an Intel Core ULV processor of as-yet-undetermined speed and Intel's 945GMS chipset, which also provides the machine's graphics. The Lifebook sports a 1280 x 800, 12.1in display. The machine will be offered with up to 1GB of 400MHz DDR SDRAM on board, up to 128MB of which will be grabbed as video buffer.
The Q2010 has an SD and Express Card slots for expansion, along with a SIM slot to enable cellular networking. There are a pair of USB 2.0 ports too - a dock connector links the unit to a port replicator box with integrated optical drive.
Weighing 1kg, the Q2010 measures 29.7 x 21.9cm - roughly the same as an A4 sheet of paper - and is 1.8-2cm thick. Inside is a lithium-ion battery capable of delivering up to eight hours' runtime, FS said.
Dubbed by one FS spokesman as a "truly aspirational product", the Q2010 will ship some time in Q2. ®


text:
These chives, tucked into a rock wall outside my kitchen, are always the first harvest of the year. They'll be great in the Ohio Organic cottage cheese now available at many Northwest Ohio locations, including Claudia's, Schorling's, and Walt Churchill's Market.
To share pictures of your spring food treasures, whether hunted, gathered, garden-grown, or kitchen-created, e-mail picture files to email@example.com .


text:
About this Shoe
Show your shoes how much you love them with a selection of Hudson London shoe care items. This gift box kit includes one Buffing Brush, one Polishing Cloth and one Polish and is hand tied with Hudson London ribbon. This kit is for tan leather shoes and boots.
- Internationally Restricted: Yes


text:
Expert Advice
How Much Am I Worth?
Patrick McIvor
I received a very interesting question from a friend on Facebook the other day...
"You're a platform artist! Do you think anyone is worth a $1,200 dollar haircut?"
And my response was,
"Yes, why is anyone not willing to pay the price, then right to say it's not worth that when others are clearly willing to not only pay, but to wait to pay $1,200 for a haircut."
This is something that has long plagued our industry and a subject that can be tough for hairdressers. Because of our unique relationships with our guests, sometimes establishing our initial price is easy, but raising the cost is something that can be put off for years even though we know all of our costs have increased. I think that happens partially because generally the first value for our service is given to us by our employer who many time sees our great value. Later though, when it comes time for us to reevaluate our value, we hesitate because we are worried that people won't see us as "worth" as much.
So, how come some salon professionals charge $12 for a haircut and others charge $1200? How much is a haircut worth? That is the $10,000 question.
Can one person's widget be worth 1000X some one else's widget? …Because when you get right down to it, a widget is just a widget, and a haircut just a haircut. Well, is a car just a car, a house just a house, a painting just a painting or a t-shirt just a t-shirt?
I think when we look around at general examples, no matter what the economic situations are, valuations that vary in cost by up to 1000X or more come down to one thing, the experience it creates for the consumer. It is the consumer who validates the value and when it is thought of as a service or item, the value is based on cost, but when the value is placed on the experience not the actual value of the service or item, the sky is the limit.
Food: This is as recession proof an industry as ours, and today with so few people actually cooking, many cost valued food items and very high-end restaurants have flourished by pushing the extremes.
McDonalds, BIG Mac - $5
Fleur Las Vegas, Fleurburger - $5000
Transportation: The goal of transportation is point A to B, safely.
Nissan Versa - $13520 mpg 30/38
BMW 750Li xDrive - $118,895 mpg 16/24
Which one do you want? Consumer Reports worst or the disappointing one? Shelter: How much is a home worth? It depends where you live.
New York, New York - Address: 146 West 57th #32K
Square footage: 286 square feet
Price: $395,000
The Skinny: This apartment in Metropolitan Tower was designed as a maid unit and has never acquired a kitchen. But, if all you want to do is swim, go to the gym, and do laundry in the building, maybe this is the place for you? $1,381/square foot!
Arlington, Texas - Stunning Executive Home. Wood Plank Floors In L...
Price: $395,000, City: Arlington, Beds: 4, Baths: 4
Type: Residential, MLS® #:11895220, 3704 sq/ft
For us, it's not only the experience, but the artistry…and what is art worth? Heck, my daughter can at least get the nose in the middle of a portrait's face, but Picasso can't and they're getting $95.2 million for "Dora Maar au Chat." That would make my daughter's value $95,200 @ 1/1000th valuation.
It was Vidal Sassoon who taught us that it's not the hair on the floor that they're paying for, it's what's left on the head. For me, that was the first step in understanding the guest was never really paying for how much we did, they were paying for how they felt while we were creating a beautifying experience for them.


text:
Pinger locator still the best option in jet search
PERTH, Australia (AP) — Searchers looking for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane have discovered new signals consistent with those emitted by so-called black boxes in the Indian Ocean, but they do not want to send a submersible down yet to look for the plane. For now, they will continue to use the towed pinger locator to get a better fix on the location. Here's why:
The Australian Navy vessel Ocean Shield picked up the signals using a U.S. Navy device called a towed pinger locator. It's essentially a long cable with a listening device, or hydrophone, attached to the end. It's pulled behind the boat at a depth of 3 kilometers (1.9 miles).
The pinger locator is designed to detect signals at a range of 1.8 kilometers (1.2 miles), indicating it would need to be almost on top of the black boxes — the flight data and voice recorders — to detect them if they were on the ocean floor, which is 4.5 kilometers (3 miles) under the surface. However, the latest detections indicate the pinger locator may be effective at a longer range than designed.
The first signal from the black boxes was picked up Saturday and lasted two hours and 20 minutes before it was lost as the ship moved forward. The ship then turned around and a few hours later picked up a second signal that lasted for 13 minutes. It picked up signals twice again on Tuesday.
The Tuesday signals lasted 5 ½ minutes and 7 minutes but they were weaker, indicating that the black boxes may be running out of battery. They have a stated shelf-life of 30 days, but sometimes they last longer. The plane disappeared just over a month ago, on March 8. The signals have given searchers a better idea of the location of the devices, which are now believed to be within a roughly 20-kilometer (12-mile) radius. Still, that is a 1,300-square -kilometer (500-square-mile) plot of the ocean floor, an area as wide as a large city.
When crews determine the best possible location, the next step will be to send down the U.S. Navy's autonomous underwater vehicle Bluefin 21, an unmanned submersible that can create a sonar map of the seafloor and any wreckage, as well as take photos.
But the sonar can scan only about 100 meters (330 feet). As for its ability to take photos, it can see with lights and cameras only a few meters away in a landscape that is completely dark.
So, even after the search area has been narrowed down, deploying the underwater vehicle now to find the black boxes would be the equivalent of looking for an object the size of a desktop computer in a city the size of Los Angeles.
Indeed, the Bluefin 21 would take six times longer to cover the same area than the towed pinger locator.
So it makes more sense to use the towed pinger locator to zero in on the location of the pinger, or at least try until searchers become certain the batteries of the black boxes are dead and are no longer emitting any signals. Then searchers would have no option but to use the Bluefin 21.
No. Militaries will not disclose the depth to which their submarines will go down because it is classified information. But it is believed some of the most sophisticated nuclear powered submarines can dive only a few hundred meters (yards) down.


text:
In today's society, when you hear the word discrimination most people automatically think of skin color or ethnicity. Well that is by far not the only times that it happens. People seem to be judging other people on wider array of items then ever before.
Whether its by their skin color, their origin, the clothes they are wearing, their religion, the car they drive, where they live, their hair style, their tattoos, their body piercings, or any other body modifications. They have always said "you should never judge a book". I guess that now we have to add "or by its pretty pictures or its Spiral Binding" to the end of that saying?
Just to be clear, if you prejudge someone by their piercing jewelry, tattoos, skin color, or any other factor other then direct experience with that person, you just might miss out on a really good friend at the very least, and YOU ARE PREJUDICE.
A few years ago for instance, According to Chanel 17 KGET News a little girl was turned away by a local pediatrician, because of Her Mothers tattoos and body piercing jewelry. The doctor said "he is just following his beliefs, and creating a Christian atmosphere for his patients. He even has a sign on the wall that states "This is a private office Appearance and Behavior standards Apply". I really do not think that the majority of Christians think that it is Christian to turn away an innocent little girl in need of medical treatment because you don't like the way her mother looks or thinks. At least I hope not.
This is just crazy, people are taking there beliefs a little to far when they deny a child medical attention because their parents have tattoos. The mother brought her child in to the office due to the girl being in pain from an an ear infection, and was asked to cover the tattoos which she did do. She never should have had to even do that in my opinion, especially to get medical service for here daughter. Yes this was in 2007 but still those very same prejudices live on today, and 6 years later it is really getting annoying to say the least.
There are many people that are tattooed ( or pierced ) like Angelina Jolie-Pitt who is a very famous woman and role model to many because of her charity.
Do you think this doctor would deny her children medical attention? In all honesty, I think that he probably would have actually, because I think that he is that ignorant.
We need to wake up as a society and learn to accept people for who they are instead of judging them for who we think they look like. Life is to short to be judging people because they are pierced or Tattooed or 50 other reasons.
Naturally these are all my personal opinions, but it makes me sad to think that a Doctor can have a profitable medical practice with guidelines such as the ones that he sets, because that means that there is enough people that either feel the same way, or just don't care about how others are treated, to keep him in business.
At Body Jewelry by The Chain Gang we produce some of the very finest Quality Body Piercing Jewelry and Adult Toys in the Industry. We are also always happy to help you whenever we can. Just email us. email@example.com www.TheChainGang.com


text:
Reinventing the hearing aid
Introducing Circa™ AI, the world's first hearing aid that tracks brain and body activity, while also providing superior sound quality. Circa AI is the first-ever hearing aid to feature integrated sensors and artificial intelligence to optimize your hearing experience and deliver benefits beyond traditional amplification.
Circa AI provides:
Download the brochure to learn more about Circa AI hearing aids.


text:
Frankfurt: Where Plush Offices Become Luxury Condos
High-rise office buildings in Frankfurt are being renovated into luxury condos. Laura Stevens reports. Photo: Chris Kister Fotodesign.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... ay ay ay ay ... parts ... and raised are flocking to all the space living Joinus with the D tells about this real stake in Virgin in Germany's financial hub is Laura Stevens ... of our mansion segment so ... um are free with the house is nearly all of the country's commercial banks got a lot of professional space for cash or on the residential space ... what are the developers coping with this ... lol basically they ... looked for a nice piece on ... but it turned to ... the States so ... it means a lot of different office buildings in any suspected scam to hurting them ... this feeds into residential which is ... the more expensive than building from scratch it also gives you some great views and some really nice I think that it's so lovely young professionals putting down roots that they must must must like this because they can basically adapt the floor plan to whatever ... they want power the costs of these conversions ... coming up ... looking at several of the units of energy right now lot of my ranging from about one million euro as TUI about five million years and to an angle it's the spiritual effects ... of outspoken Jade dollars Current square footage sound ... that guy is ... kind of own brand of preferred real estate is usually around four hundred dollars per square foot on average sound ... is a little bit pricier but the upper lot of it so ... it's not that familiar refrain from why is this such a desirable part of Germany's I know is a big drawback understanding the city so ... power developers dealing with that a lot of people wanna be praying for the first place ... actually it's kinda funny to Stamford is not known as the most desirable city to live in Germany ... by it is a huge financial Times there's a lot again professionals coming to City is also extremely convenient you can access to your prayer that even sleep in Sydney ... there's a lot of trees in high-speed ways to get around the country itself ... as a result they're suddenly the company Mackey and sad ... that she deal with that the developers are really looking at neighborhoods to have a low level of knowing my enclave in luck cherry here and then after stopping ... also protected that you know


text:
Mother Makes Sure Nobody Jumps In While Her Daughter Whoops On Some Girl! "Get The F*ck Back Im Not Playin"
Was her mother keepin it real? Or was she wrong for this
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text:
Jessica McClure & Alan Holt
Lynn and Missy Holt of Thedford are pleased to announce the engagement and upcoming marriage of their son, Alan Michael, to Jessica Sue McClure, daughter of Susan McClure of Aurora, and Michael McClure of Lincoln. Alan is a 2007 graduate of Sandhills High School in Dunning, and is currently a fifth year senior at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, majoring in business administration, economics emphasis. He will graduate May 4, 2012. Jessica is a 2008 graduate of Aurora High School, and is currently a senior at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, majoring in elementary education, with English-as-a-second-language endorsement. She will graduate in December 2012. Grandparents of the couple are Lenore Holt of Thedford, Sherry Forbes of Plainfield, Ind., and Mr. and Mrs. Rolland and Dorothy Bamesberger of Johnson Lake. The couple will be married June 29, 2012, at St. John's Lutheran Church in Waco.


text:
Amsterdam Underground is an initiative of De Regenboog Group and is the only non-profit provider of guided tours offered by formerly homeless people in Amsterdam.
The walking tour will provide students with information on how to survive on the streets of Amsterdam when homeless. It gives information on social institutions established for the homeless. All guides speak from their own experience with living on the street. Students are welcome to ask questions.
For further information please contact the FHT team on 01279 658221.
Visit website
Call us to find out more about Amsterdam trips on:
01279 658221
Or email us
The beautiful Portuguese Synagogue, is one of the most important legacies of the vibrant Jewish community in Amsterdam. The architecture shows the self-confidence and wealth of the Jewish community in Amsterdam at the time it was built. It was the largest synagogue of its time and one of the biggest buildings of Amsterdam.
Contact our Amsterdam student trips experts at FHT Group Tours today and we will arrange this visit as par read more ...
Without doubt he best way to explore Amsterdam is from the water, so this is a great adjunct for any student trips or study tours to Amsterdam for groups of all subject disciplines
Take a tour on the Amstel which last an hour and discover the city's beautiful canals, lined with impressive canal houses and decorative facades. On the trip your group will get a chance to sail through the historic city centre, the IJ, see th read more ...
Located on the Prinsengracht canal, the Anne Frank House is dedicated to the young Jewish wartime diarist Anne Frank, who hid from Nazi persecution with her family and four other people in hidden rooms at the rear of the building. After her capture in 1944 she was transferred to the death camp at Bergen Belsen and died from Typhus at the age of just 15.
Her diary has become a symbol of the struggle against oppression and has been read more ...
Housed in one of the most impressive industrial heritage sites in Holland, the brewery where Heineken's premium quality beer was brewed for a hundred years has been transformed into a sensational interactive tour through the world of Heineken. Its buildings span two centuries, the main parts dating from 1867 (the original building) and 1930 (a working brewery until 1988).
Contact our Amsterdam student group trips team at FHT Gr read more ...
The Ajax Arena is a superb sporting venue to the south east of the city and home to the Iconic Dutch Football team. Stadium tours can be arranged on a daily basis through the Arena.
During the 1-hour guided tour, student groups will learn all about the facilities of our stadium and the legendary AFC Ajax. You will be able to see the dug-out, pitch and also press area. Public Transport is by Metro 50 and&n read more ...
Centrally located just a short walk from the restaurants and bars of the Leidesplein and close to Dam Square at the heart of Amsterdam, the Hans Brinker offers budget accommodation that is extremely popular with students. Rooms are 4-8 bunk bedded with en-suite facilities. A lively hostel with a disco in the basement exclusively for guests.
The 3 star ibis Amsterdam City Stopera is a great central base for a student trip to Amsterdam. The hotel is located close to the various museums such as the National Maritime Museum and the Hermitage and lies in close proximity to the Royal Theater Carré, Artis Royal Zoo and the Rembrandtplein. Students will be accommodated in triple rooms and leaders in singles and twins, all ensuite and with buffet breakfast read more ...
These two Hostelling International properties are basic but comfortable, with students in 4-8 bunk bedded rooms. All rooms have private facilities and each location has a café/bar for meals and socialising.
The Stayokay Vondelpark is situated next to Amsterdam's picturesque Vondelpark, within walking distance of the city centre and conveniently located for some of the museums.
The Stayokay Zeeburg is located in a quieter a read more ...
Tour Day 1
Depart to arrive in Amsterdam late afternoon.
Check in at your accommodation followed by evening meal.
Free time in the evening for local orientation.
Tour Day 2
Visit the Golden Age exhibition in the Rijksmuesum
Afternoon &nbs read more ...
Tour Day 1
Depart to arrive late afternoon.
Check in at your accommodation followed by an evening meal.
Free time in the evening for local orientation.
Tour Day 2
Morning &n read more ...
Tour Day 1
Depart to arrive late afternoon
Check in at your accommodation followed by evening meal
Free time in the evening for local orientation
Tour read more ...
Your Name:
Your Subject:
Establishment Name:
Telephone No:
Email Adress:
Preferred Travel Dates:
Student Numbers:
Staff Numbers:
Course Level:
--Select Course Level--
6th Form
Further Education
Higher Education
Where did you hear about FHT?
Where did you hear about us?*
Brochure Received
Email Received
Web Search
Word of Mouth
Previous Customer
Additional trip information
We'd like to keep you informed by email about our future offers, products and useful information in educational travel. Please tick this box to let us know that you are happy for us to do this. We may also pass your information on to other companies in our travel group, Anglia Tours and WST.
You may choose to unsubscribe at any time by contacting us directly on firstname.lastname@example.com or selecting unsubscribe in our marketing material.
view full story »
Peter Richardson is always efficient, friendly and so easy to get hold of. He always makes sure we have everything we need for our trips.
-- The Sheffield College, London, Jan 2017
See all
E: email@example.com
Educational trips for student groups
Sixth Form and College Trips
University Trips
Student Group Trips & Study Tours
Study Trips & Group Study Tours
Booking Conditions
Cookie Policy
Privacy Policy
A bespoke website by Prominent Media


text:
You have no items to compare.
You have no items in your shopping cart.
Keep up on our always evolving product features and technology.Enter your e-mail and subscribe to our newsletter.
Address:(by appointment only)Snowpaw LtdUnit 12, Shelley LaneOwer, RomseyHampshireSO51 6AS
Phone:0345 026 8045
Get all the latest information on Events,Sales and Offers. Sign up for newsletter today.
Enter your e-mail Address


text:
Message Board
Stan Jankaitis Message Board
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Jankaitis has written!
Author Jankaitis's Book Reviews
Instinct Of Survival
�������� Novice pilot Joe Bussil flies into an ice storm and crashes on the snow covered Yukon Mountains. � Everything Joe needs to survive is lost in the crash. �Joe faces many ordeals in his new world, avalanches, a nemesis polar bear , a continuos search for food, shelter, and the Yukon itself which Joe perceives as a living entity bend on destroying him. But not all is dire and�there are some lighter and even enjoyable times for Joe and his new ...


text:
Write here.
Write on this post the stories of Telangana Movement, how people of Telangana are celebrating it, protesting for it, taking initiatives for it; the ordinary people, the women folk, the grandparents, the kids... from Hyderabad to the interiors of Adilabad and Mahbubnagar. If you are living outside Telangana, call your parents and family and ask them how they are celebrating this event. Write here your experiences on how you came to support Telangana Movement.
This post will entertain only the stories from Telangana on how the movement is carried out, how the people are enjoying and celebrating creation of new Telangana, how people have came about to support Telangana Movement. If there are any Andhras who support Telangana Movement it would be great to hear from you.
All other comments will be deleted without warning. You are free to criticize on other posts.
I got inspired when Anand, a commenter, wrote:
…today the support for Pro Telangana is unbelievable in Hyderabad, I am just coming from family party of 500 gathering it's unbelievable, cutting across the age group they are openly bracing the support for separate state…I didn't see this before Sep 9th brother…


text:
A 40-foot wide sinkhole at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky., has swallowed up eight Corvettes dating back to 1962.
The museum, based in the only town where General Motors /quotes/zigman/1466682/delayed /quotes/nls/gm GM makes Corvettes, says it learned of the problem in its skydome area early Wednesday morning.
"It is with heavy hearts that we report that eight Corvettes were affected by this incident," it said in a posting on its website.
Six of the cars were owned by the museum, while two others were on loan from GM, it said.
The six are a 1962 black Corvette, a 1984 PPG pace car, a 1992 white Corvette that was the 1 millionth produced, a 1993 ruby red 40th anniversary Corvette, a 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette and a 2009 white Corvette that was the 1.5 millionth produced.
The two GM cars are a 1993 ZR-1 Spyder and a 2009 ZR1 "Blue Devil."
The museum is home to 80 Corvettes.
The cause of the sinkhole, estimated at 25 to 30 feet deep, is under investigation, and the museum said a structural engineer is assessing the stability of the area. The Associated Press noted that Bowling Green is located in the state's largest karst region, which includes some of the states longest and deepest caves.
— Silvia Ascarelli
— Follow Silvia on Twitter: @SilviaAscarelli
More must-reads on cars from MarketWatch:
The 2015 Corvette Z06 is the fastest C7 yet
Unrestored Gullwing fetches $1.8 million
The Ford Mustangs that never were
10 of the most beautiful classic Italian cars


text:
It's always about Daddy
Yesterday JailBait Miley Cyrus talked out of her ass about Twilight, said she's never seen it and never will, flexing like she's above all hormonal hysteria. Oh reeeee-leeeee?
Yesterday I posted that it was not so much opinion as it was resentment and today it becomes even clearer. Thanks to Carolyn for the link.
JailBait's Daddy named his 5 favourite films.
Guess what made the list?
So her Daddy's seen it but she hasn't?
JailBait is jealous, that's what. Daddy isn't allowed to like someone else. Daddy isn't allowed to watch something else. Daddy loves Miley! Only Miley!
Miley! Miley! Miley! Miley! Miley! Miley!
Daddy how could you?
There's drilling going on in our building today. It's making me crazy. Then I watched the first 2 minutes of the video and now I've ground my teeth down to half their size.
File photo from Wenn.com


text:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Grammy award-winning singer Fiona Apple said in a handwritten letter posted on her website on Tuesday that she has canceled upcoming tour dates in North and South America to be with her ailing dog.
Apple, who vowed to make up the concerts, called off three shows in Brazil between November 27 and 30, a Buenos Aires festival appearance on December 1-2 and a December 9 performance in Mexico City, according to her record label, Epic.
The "Criminal" singer and pianist said her 13-year-old pit bull Janet has been suffering from a tumor in her chest among other ailments and appears to be dying.
"She's my best friend and my mother and my daughter, my benefactor and she's the one who taught me what love is," Apple wrote in the four-page letter she penned last week but did not release until Tuesday. "I can't come to South America. Not now."
Apple, 35, said that she wants to appreciate the final days with her dog. "I will not be the woman who puts her career ahead of love and friendship," Apple wrote.
The singer-songwriter, who is touring in support of "The Idler Wheel … " album, was arrested in September in Texas and charged with felony drug possession for having four grams of hashish, a form of cannabis.
(Reporting By Eric Kelsey; editing by Patricia Reaney and Todd Eastham)


text:
In late 1978, an exhibition of cartoonist Chester Gould's (d. 1985) art for his strip, Dick Tracy, was held at the Museum of Cartoon Art (now defunct) in Port Chester, NY. In the catalog published to coincide with the show, there is a massive appendix of 200 characters Gould created for the strip over the years. Now I've never read Dick Tracy as it was a bit before my time, but I had absolutely no idea it was so weird. The characters have bizarre appearances and names like Flattop, Nothing, and Vitamin Flintheart. Matt Masterson, the man who put the appendix together, says:
When I asked Chet Gould where he got the names for some of his characters, he told me he used to ride the train from his home in Woodstock, Illinois to his studio in Chicago and sketch various people he observed on the train. He would exaggerate upon certain features or characteristics. The name would follow, with he one exception being Flattop, whose name came from the popular aircraft carrier of World War II.
Some of my favorites are after the jump, but if you want to see the whole collection, click here.


text:
Senior card
Many municipalities in Västra Götaland offer a Senior citizen card for their older residents. The Senior citizen card is free and you can use it to travel free of charge in the municipality where you live.
The municipality pay for the card
The municipality pays the senior card for you. In some municipalities, you will need to pay a one-time fee for the card.
If you live in a municipality that offers senior card you will receive a letter a few weeks before you turn 65 or 75 years. After you receive the letter, you can order a card.
The municipality decide whether to offer senior card from 65 years, or 75 years.
Select municipality to see validity
FAQ Senior citizen card
If you have pay-as-you-go on your Senior citizen card, you can lend the card to someone else who can use the pay-as-you-go account. However, they cannot use the senior citizen ticket on the card.
Log in to My Pages to block the card. Once you have blocked your card, a new one will be sent to your home address. There is no charge for the new card. You can also contact customer service if you need help blocking your card.
Each municipality decides whether to give its residents a Senior citizen card. Contact your municipality if you want them to start offering a Senior citizen card.
You can top up your Senior citizen card with money. This is called pay-as-you-go. With pay-as-you-go, you pay for the portion of the journey that is made outside the zone in which your Senior citizen card is valid.
You can top up your card with pay-as-you-go in ticket offices that sell our tickets.
Ticket information
Many municipalities offer their senior citizens who are registered in the population register free travel within their municipal zone with Västtrafik's Senior citizen card. The terms and conditions vary between municipalities.
The senior citizen account on the card is personal to you and you must be able to show identification at a ticket inspection. You can load other Västtrafik products onto the Senior citizen card (such as pay-as-you-go). If the ticket is not a personal ticket, you can let someone else use it for travel.
If you have a Senior citizen card, three people under 20 can travel with you for free. Great for a trip out with the grandchildren!
How the offer works
- It is valid on Västtrafik's trains, buses, trams and ferries within Västtrafik's operating area (Västra Götaland region and Kungsbacka municipality).
- It is valid on journeys made by Närtrafik, Närbuss
- It is valid on Öresundståg trains between Gothenburg and Åsa
- You can only travel 4 for the price of 1 on those routes where your senior ticket is valid
If you lose your card, you can easily get a new one.
All you need to do is:
Log in and block the card. A new card will then be sent to your home address.
If you need help blocking your card, contact customer service by telephoning 0771-41 43 00.


text:
Ballot initiatives: Gay marriage, pot
Voters across the country made history by legalizing same-sex marriage via referendum Tuesday, while several states passed measures attempting to limit the implementation of "Obamacare."
And the possession and sale of recreational marijuana is now completely legal in two states — meaning that two American states now have more permissive marijuana laws than the Netherlands.
Story Continued Below
Voters in Maine and Maryland affirmed the right of same-sex couples to legally wed, the Associated Press projected — the first time such measures by popular referenda have passed anywhere in the country.
Another pro-gay marriage initiative Washington appeared poised to pass as of Wednesday afternoon. Voters in Minnesota, meanwhile, rejected a separate ballot measure that would have amended the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.
Maryland and Maine join seven other U.S. jurisdictions (six states and the District of Columbia) in permitting gay marriage. Many others have legalized civil unions for same-sex couples. Support for the measure — especially among the black community — saw a significant uptick after President Barack Obama endorsed same-sex marriage earlier this year.
"Now the commitment gay and lesbian couples have made in life will be respected equally under the law, celebrated before their loved ones, and called what it is: marriage," said Freedom to Marry National Campaign Director Marc Solomon in a statement.
"This is a landmark election for marriage equality and we will forever look back at this year as a critical turning point in the movement for full citizenship for LGBT people," Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin said in a statement.
Voters in several states considered measures to limit the Obama administration's health care law from applying within state boarders.


text: We have received more than 1,500 Valentine's Day emails! Thanks for writing. By clicking on the links below, you can see what other kids had to say. We grouped the comments by letters of the alphabet. Look for the letter your first name starts with. For instance, if your name is Diana, look under "D," which would be in the first link that covers letters A through J.


text:
|Inside decorations – Montreux
|Seems that ferris wheels are regular things at Chrismas Markets. Montreux
|Gluhwein – or GLOGG (Gloggi in Finnish) Christmas must have. Heat up some good red wine with cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom, and all spice. Throw in a little slice or two of orange, a little brown sugar, heat but don't boil. Oh my. Montreux
|Pouring us some nice warm Gluhwein! yum – Montreux
|Sunset in Montreux along lake
|Christmas trees and stuff -Vevey.
|Very nice shot of Christmas decor – Vevey.
|Nice design – Vevey.
|Saw many businesses with trees on both sides of the doorways. Vevey.
|Florist with lots of color – Vevey.
|Yes that is a giant fork. Why? Who knows…I liked the mountains in the background. Vevey.
|GLobes in Vevey – thought of Evan when i did these
|Vevey by the lake
|Vevey with mountains in the back. Beautiful scenery
|purple flowers still growing in the cold weather
|Looking down a sidestreet – this was a fun street with lots of little stores.
|Window design in a "bed and bath" kind of place. Very pretty
|Christmas Circus
|Despicable swans all over the place. If they didn't look so pretty I would totally dislike them.
|Baked beans in Montreux – cooked in big pottery on a pipe filled with burning wood. Traditional.
Just a little note I found while looking for stuff to put on here. Don't remember when i typed it.
Leaving New Zork
zork??? well yes. i am on a french kezboard right now. challenge number gazllion and one.
the z is a y and the y is a z. i will try to remember this when tzping. it`s not easly. i have to keep going back and retyping or stop when i know there is a y. plus this is a mac platform. havenàt done this in over 4 years.