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While it's easy to think that the current era of Islamist insurgency emerged from nowhere over the past few decades, in the southern Philippines the problem goes back hundreds of years.
To get an understand of what underpins the current violence — which has seen local groups affiliating themselves with so-called Islamic State (IS) — it is worth taking a closer look at this long and bloody history.
The main players in this tragic saga are the Tausug (or Suluk) people, one of the largest of the 13 groups of Muslims in the Southern Philippines collectively known as the "Moro" — a name given by the Spanish when they arrived in 1521.
Prior to Magellan's arrival, the Tausug had their own kingdom, the Sulu Sultanate, which was founded in 1457 and centred on Jolo Island. This was a major power in the region with highly developed maritime trade links.
The Tausug had adopted Islam in 1380 after the arrival of Muslim missionary Karim-ul Makhdum, and the religion spread rapidly among other ethnic groups throughout Mindanao and surrounding islands.
When the Spanish arrived — having freed their own country from Islamic (Moorish) rule less than 30 years earlier — an antagonistic relationship soon developed.
The Spanish Inquisition
It is worth remembering that in this era the Spanish Inquisition was at the height of its powers, so efforts to stamp out Islam and spread Catholicism were pursued with a bloody single-mindedness.
In instructions given by the Spanish governor for the first campaign against the Moros in 1578, he ordered that "there be not among them any more preachers of the doctrines of Mahoma, since it is evil and false" and called for all mosques to be destroyed.
These instructions set the tone for centuries of unceasing warfare — cementing the idea of an implacable and hostile central authority in the minds of the Tausug.
It is hardly surprising that such suspicion exists when one considers that not a single generation of Tausug people has experienced life without war over the past 450 years.
Their resilience — they have never been decisively subdued — is due to the tribal structure of their society, in which feuding clans unite against outside enemies under a code that emphasises honour, revenge, loyalty and hospitality.
They also employed suicide attackers, the juramentados, who would rush groups of enemy soldiers slashing furiously with razor-sharp knives until their last breath.
It was only in the late 19th Century that Spain managed to annex the Sulu Sultanate as a protectorate and establish a military presence on Jolo.
Islamist insurgency continues
In 1898 the Spanish were replaced by the Americans, who showed they could be just as determined as their predecessors, with huge numbers of Moro killed in clashes that continued until 1913.
After several decades of relative peace, the Moros again took up arms against the Japanese invaders. After the liberation of the Philippines and the announcement of independence, the Moro lobbied for independence or a continuation of American administration, rather than be ruled from Manila. The request was rejected.
After independence in 1946, the Muslim regions were governed as "special provinces" — however, many Moro complained that the top government jobs were mainly filled by Christians.
The Tausug areas remained mired in poverty and, in the absence of jobs, many young men turned to crime, kidnap and piracy. In response, Manila flooded the area with troops and a new generation took up arms.
Government actions to subdue the Tausug throughout the 1950s resulted in the deaths of a huge proportion of fighting age men in certain regions. The society was torn apart, with a younger generation growing up without the guidance of their elders.
The current era of armed Islamist insurgency arguably began in 1968 with what became known as the Jabidah Massacre (or Corregidor Massacre), when up to 68 mainly Tausug army recruits were allegedly executed after refusing to join an attack on the Malaysian region of Sabah, which was once a part of the Sultanate of Sulu and so claimed by the Philippines.
Islamist insurgency against the state
In 1971, a number of Moro intellectuals, angered by reports of the massacre and believing the central government was conducting "genocide" against them, began an open war against the state.
This independence movement soon became known as the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founded and led by Nur Misuari that fought to create a fully independent 'Bangsamoro' (Moro nation).
In 1976, the government reached an agreement with the MNLF to grant autonomy to Moro areas, a commitment that was further developed in a 1996 treaty. However, the terms of the agreements are yet to be fully met despite the creation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
For many Moro living on Mindanao, however, the deal was unsatisfactory due to the presence of so many Christian settlers, who had arrived under the government's Homestead Program between 1903 to 1973. Indeed, the population had dramatically changed from 76 per cent Muslim in 1903 to 72.5 per cent Christian by 2000.
Frustrated by the lack of progress made by the MNLF, other, more hardline, Islamist insurgency groups began to emerge including the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and in later years smaller groups such as Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiyah, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and the Maute group.
However, there are some who believe that the primary goal of these groups isn't the ancient dream of a Bangsamoro, but rather a desire for personal riches acquired through crime.
Allegiance to the Islamic State
Whatever their true aims, the recent trend for these groups to claim allegiance with IS has brought a new level of terror to the ancient conflict. Added to this are fears that battle-hardened IS fighters are making their way to the Southern Philippines as the group loses ground in the Middle East.
Today, the best hope is that President Duterte's plans for a more decentralised federal government structure will answer at least some of the desire for Moro independence and, eventually, pave the way for a lasting peace.
Follow our Facebook page for daily updates
This (possibly over-optimistic) animation from two years ago gives a brief overview of the history of Islamist insurgency:


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To the person who stole my wallet yesterday while on the subway in Mexico City with my fiance, I'm sorry. I don't know why you felt the need to reach into my pocket as the crowd shoved its way into the train car and take what was not yours, but I pray there was a good reason–perhaps your kids are starving and you can't find a job, perhaps a loved one is sick, perhaps you never learned the difference between right and wrong.
For each of these things, you cannot be blamed, and I am sorry.
I am sorry that you have grown up in a broken system in which people must steal to survive. I am sorry that forces beyond your control took your hand and led it where your hand did not belong. And I am sorry that you are weak. I am sorry that you could not stand up to these forces, that you caved beneath their pressure, that you victimize others because you, too, have been victimized unjustly.
But I want you to know something, and I want you to remember it well: You did not merely steal my money yesterday, and you will not merely steal money tomorrow or the day after that from whoever you steal from next. Perhaps you do not understand this, so please for a moment allow me to explain.
Yesterday you stole my hardwork, my work ethic, my merit. The thousand-or-so pesos in my pocket were earned through painstakingly sacrificing my time–true, I work at a job I love, a job where I help people, a job that empowers me with personal growth and values its workers–but none of these things lessens the effort I put into it and the exhaustion I get out of it. You maybe have heard the saying that time is money, but this reasoning has it backwards: money is time. A few dollars and some coins do not exist in a vacuum: they are constructs that quantify the work and energy expended over a period of time. Money can be replaced, but time cannot be–and by stealing my money today, you have robbed me of time that I can never regain.
You stole my security and my trust. Until today, I felt entirely safe in Mexico City–this is my third time here, and I've come to love the place. The people are friendly, the crowds though daunting are polite, and I never once felt at risk. Today you have broken that bond I've forged with this city. Today you spat in my face with words that scream of my naivete, that remind me how cruel and unforgiving the world can be, how hopeless and heartless are its people. You may have once felt the breach of trust, and perhaps you know how hard, how deep it stings–and if you do not, I hope you never do. It will take time for this wound to heal; your swift fingers have carved a scar into my body that cannot easily be filled. And, yet, I know you are the voice of the few, for on my way home, forced again into the subway to return, a saw a young gentleman offer his seat to another person who was standing. There are still kind souls in the world. I am sorry you are not one of them.
You stole my memories. The wallet you slipped from my pocket was unique, custom-printed with a picture of the synagogue where my fiance and I were engaged. The money therein was meant to pay for us to visit a wax museum in the city and purchase food for the next few days–food that would have given us many good memories as we cooked together in this tiny kitchen. And my debit card was to pay for the bus tickets we'd need to visit my fiance's family–I haven't met them yet, and now because of you, I might not have the chance before I return home in barely a week. These moments that could have happened–and should have happened–you have stripped away from us, and this is a crime that cannot be forgiven.
I am sorry the world pushed you to pickpocket, and I'm sorry you were too small a person to resist it. And if my faith in you–that somewhere you are a good person at heart–is misplaced, then I pray justice will be served and God will strike you down to repay these things you have so mercilessly stolen from innocent people.

subset: commoncrawl


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Our colours this month all share the theme of by the sea but other than that there is little to link them and there are lots of colours for you to play with! Just pick one image and use 3 of the colours from it and something we sell in store for a chance to be our June winner with £15 to spend in store.
Here's the first of our DT projects to kick start your creative process - we'll be back each week with a reminder until all the DT have played along.
using Sugar Rush from Paper Smooches and background stripes are from Brushed by Avery Elle.
Panel cut using the Finished Frames and mounted onto a Grey notecard from the Midnight Collection
Panel cut using the Finished Frames and mounted onto a Grey notecard from the Midnight Collection
using Fabulous Flamingos from Reverse Confetti and the Everyday Paper Pad from Avery Elle.
using Hot Air Balloon Dies from Echo Park; Mama Elephant Pigment Ink Blended Background; Cloud Border Die from WPlus9; Sunny Side Up from PaperSmooches, Beachside 6x6 Papers from Lawn Fawn
You have until 10pm on Monday the 22nd June to link up your entries to challenges page - make a card, a scrapbook page or even a 3d project - whatever takes your fancy http://makethedayspecialcards.blogspot.co.uk/p/challenges.html


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EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia
Rescued refugees on board of a EUNAVFOR ship., © dpa/ picture alliance
The aim of EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia is to take action against criminal traffickers who put the lives of thousands of people in danger in unseaworthy dingies and rowing boats in the southern Mediterranean. Rescuing shipwrecked refugees is the priority for the crew of the navy ships in the mission.
The German Bundestag agreed to Germany's current involvement in the military operation on 1 October 2015.
Since June 2015, Germany has been participating in the EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia as part of a European approach. As well as combating traffickers and cooperating more with countries of origin and transit, the aim is to prevent refugees drowning in the Mediterranean. The ships help investigate trafficking networks and are authorised to take action against boats being used by traffickers on the high seas. The ships also continue to rescue those shipwrecked.
The mission was named after a girl born on a frigate off the coast of Libya on 24 August 2015 after her mother had been rescued. The EU ambassadors agreed to rename the operation Sophia after the start of phase two on 7 October.
Find out more about EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia on the European External Action Service website


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Retail Price $1200
Your Savings $500
THIS DRESS SOLD. EMAIL DRESS INQUIRIES TO email@example.com We received an exclusive shipment from this Australian designer! Her designs are not even carried in Oregon yet! The designer donated 28 gowns to us, so you won't find dresses by Anna Campbell anywhere in Oregon but at Brides for a Cause! The Anna Campbell 'Fleur' dress is 100% silk, featuring a boned silk dupion bust with padding, soft tulle overlay and silk lining. This style features stunning floral lace detailing. This dress features an elasticated waistband, and a fuller style soft tulle straight drop skirt and soft tulle train. This dress is discontinued so its very hard to find this dress! We have one available in size XS, so fits like a 2. Please see size chart on Anna Campbell's website for measurements.


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(This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won't cost you any extra money, they will help us keep this site up and running and keep it free!)
There comes a time when we all need to find some cost-effective and smart interior design solutions to upgrade our home. Interior trims can do the trick. After all, there is a handful of decorative moldings and ideas, and they all serve our need to spruce up the house in a few easy steps.
You can choose any or all decorative interior wall trim and ceiling molding solutions. It always depends on how much you want to spend and what your aesthetic needs are. Don't forget that interior trims are the easy way to transform your home. But if you overdo it, you can easily have the opposite results. So pay attention by focusing on the size and height of the room you are about to renovate. If there are already some trims in the room, take them into consideration and match their style & size with the new moldings.
This is an easy-to-read buying guide to help you choose the right interior trims for your home.
Which are your choices? Here we go.
Crown Molding
This is also known as ceiling molding. It's the trim which stands at the upper part of the wall and softens the transition to the ceiling. It can be a dominant decorative element in the room since it becomes the ceiling's frame.
Your choices range from a simple crown molding to ornate profiles. Keep in mind that the wider the profile, the shorter the room will look. So if you are about to choose a wide dentil molding, make sure it's not too large for your space. In other words, size is the prime determinant for selecting crown moulding.
If the room is too low and not large enough, you'd better omit it altogether. For average rooms with at least 8′ ceilings, you can get ceiling moldings up to 5.25" wide. If they are wider, they will bring the ceiling down. Now, if the ceiling is high (whether or not the room is large), the ceiling trim should be wider.
As for the crown molding designs, they range from classic ornamental ones to contemporary styles. How to choose? Think of your desired architectural results. Want to break the classic look of a room? Get a contemporary molding. Want to make a contemporary home more traditional? Get ornate molding designs. Classic examples are dentil, egg & dart, symmetrical with ropes or beads, ornamental with acanthus etc.
There are made of different materials. You can get plaster, wood, PVC, foam or MDF molding. How to choose? For moisture environments, get plastic profiles. For curved walls, get flexible crown molding. Remember that plaster moldings are heavy and must be secured well during their installation.
This is the lowest wall interior trim. It softens the transition from the floor to the wall. It can come alone or be one of the lowest parts of wainscoting panels. An average size of baseboards is 3 to 5 inches high. In order to select the right size, take into account the size of the crown molding. These two trims should be matched. Even if they are not exactly the same in terms of size, they should be nearly the same to provide great visual effects.
The designs of baseboards are often simple. They often have a rounded component at their lowest part. They are made of wood, MDF, or plaster. These are the most common materials and should be paired with the material of the ceiling molding or shaker. They are extremely important interior elements not only for aesthetic reasons but also because they protect the wall – from your vacuum cleaner, for example. They also keep dust from getting into the seam between the floor and wall.
Window & Door Casing
Door and window casing serves a dual reason: first, to cover the gap between the jamb and the wall, and second to adorn these openings. They make a simple frame look nicer and make an excellent impression. Depending on trim choices and room size, you can bring the casing up the wall until the ceiling. This often looks nice when there is a raised panel running the wall and you want to match the two decorative elements.
Trims over interior openings make the transition from one room to another very elegant. They frame the opening and add character to naked walls.
There is a range of designs and styles as well as materials. It's best to match the style and material with the rest of the trims in the room. If there is wall panel, it should match the door & window casing to make them all blend together nicely and give a beautiful aesthetic result.
Chair Rail
It has always been the most distinctive part of wainscoting wall panels since it's the component installed at the upper part of the panel. It can be slim or wide. It can be deep and serve as a shelf or just play the role of the upper cap. It was originally used to protect walls from chairs – that explains its name. But if you dig deeper in the long history of architecture and interior design, you will discover that the French often kept their flat panels low and thus the chair rail only served as one more decorative element.
Chair rails signify the end of the flat or raised panel. But today they can be installed without wainscots. You can simply use this simple molding to split the wall into two sections by letting it run horizontally. Remember that the height of chair rail installation depends on ceiling height. If the ceiling is average, keep it approximately 1/3 up the wall. For high ceilings, bring it up. For low ceilings, bring it down.
Picture Rail
That's a variation of a chair rail. The difference is that it stands on its own (without a wainscoting) and is installed at the higher sections of the wall. That's because it serves for picture hanging – as its name implies. But it's not used lately.
Frame Molding
You can actually trim an entire wall or a door by using molding. A classic example is to install molding in the form of a frame just by combining trims to create a picture frame. When it comes to designs, there are all sorts of solutions. You can keep the frame moldings simple or focus on the corners and use ornamental designs.
Such moldings can mimic full wall wainscots without having to pay for the wood panels. The best way to have exceptional aesthetic results is to paint the wall and install moldings painted a different color to let them stand out and define the walls.


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WeatherOps Mobile App Updates
by Daphne Thompson, on Jul 11, 2017 12:08:49 PM
If you haven't logged into your WeatherOps account for a month and a half, you may not realize that we launched a major redesign and re-architecture of Commander:
Leading #Weather Risk Mitigation Software Offers New Look and Features #thinkweather https://t.co/cRVjhGkNGj pic.twitter.com/U3kraiQHYR— WeatherOps (@WeatherOps) May 4, 2017
Most of our users have the companion mobile app that provides a powerful situational awareness and is available on iOS or Android devices. We currently have a disconnect between some of the app settings and alert settings within Commander which we are working to remedy. Before launching the new version of WeatherOps Commander, we tossed some new APIs over to our mobile team to kick around.
I mentioned a couple of months ago in this post why some of the changes were made in the new Commander release. A large scale change was to make all product settings global to an asset. We removed the ability to have different settings for the same asset in Commander. While this was considered a feature to some, it wreaked havoc internally and never allowed settings to be shared to the mobile application.
Lightning Range Rings
Now the fun part! With those new APIs I mentioned above, we get to share a lot more information! All assets saved to the mobile application will now pull alert settings and lightning range rings directly from WeatherOps Commander. That means your entire company will receive the exact same settings for any given asset whether it is in a mobile app, text message, or email.
Current Location
Current location is a valuable asset (pun intended) for users that are on the move. You do not always have to create an asset within Commander for short stops. Whether it is maintenance work on a wind turbine, a quick stop for the tour, or an away softball game, you need to follow standard operating procedures, and we wanted to make that as easy as possible. You will have the same settings available to your current location as you would an asset in Commander. We will still follow your current location to monitor if you are traveling into an area of concern. The only changes you will see here is the ability to have multiple range rings.
Saved Locations
Saved locations are a great way to keep an eye on what is important to you outside of work. We want the WeatherOps app to be your weather app whether you're at work or home. Your saved location settings will not change. You will still have an 8-mile radius for lightning alerts and have all the WeatherOps and NWS alerts available.
With these changes, you will find that we had to move a few things around. First off, since there is a stark difference between assets and saved locations, we decided to move those into separate views. The "Assets" view is for all assets you pull in from Commander. All settings for an asset are managed in WeatherOps Commander. This means that all WeatherOps users receive the same alerts for any given asset. The "Locations" view is for your current and saved locations. All of the settings for a location, current or saved, will be managed within the application. Here is a look at the redesigned bottom navigation:
Let's dive into the "Assets" view:
Clicking on any asset will take you to the single asset screen where you can view the asset's current conditions, current alerts, Daily Planners, and Weather Checks.
Now, onto the "Locations" view:
Clicking on a saved location will take you to the single location screen where you can view the location's current conditions, current alerts, and forecast.


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What IBM Storwize V5000E can do for your business
IBM Storwize V5000E Benefits
Protect your most valuable data asset
Benefit from integration with modern data protection tools, cyber resiliency capability such as encryption and cloud "air gap" snapshots, and IBM FlashWatch guarantees for complete peace of mind.
Increase ROI
Transform IT infrastructure while increasing ROI by leveraging the power of IBM Spectrum Virtualize to extend a rich set of data services across all your storage systems.
Optimize storage efficiency
AI-powered IBM Storage Insights uses predictive analytics to optimize storage use and delivers proactive capabilities to streamline support.
Hybrid multicloud enabled
Enable enterprises across public, private and traditional environments. Grow your hybrid multicloud with the flexibility to start small and scale up as business demands or client adoption grows.
Affordable without compromise
Enterprise-class function, including cloud-based management and support. Store more data in less space with the latest generation storage media and data reduction technologies.
Six 9s availability
Gain the highest levels of availability to support your mission-critical applications.
IBM Storwize V5000E Key Features
- Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
- Easy to use management tools
- Transform from traditional to new technologies
- AI-driven management and proactive support
- Cloud capabilities that can be deployed across hybrid multicloud
- Bringing enterprise services to containers
- Data reduction options
- IBM EasyTier
- Peace of mind with IBM FlashWatch
- Six 9's availability


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5 Tips for Your South Beach New Year's Party
Need some help with planning out your South Beach New Year's party? If you're planning out a New Year's party it's definitely going to be expensive and stressful. Help yourself out and take a look at these money saving South Beach New Year's party tips. From where to cut costs and how to spend effectively, these tips will definitely make planning out your New Year's night much easier!
Make it a BYOB or BYOA Event
BYOB means bring your own beverage and BYOA means bring your own appetizer! Make guests bring a small contribution to the party to help your spending and shopping. Having guests bring a small little something to the party not only saves you some extra cash, but also gives you plenty of options to keep everyone happy at your South Beach New Year's party!
Make a Champagne Sangria for Toasting
Champagne sangria may sound a little weird to you now, but this cost effective drink will please you and your guests. The champagne sangria cuts down on champagne costs and also gives you a tasty midnight toasting option!
[prime_cq_vc_modal buttontext="Click here for this delicious Champagne Sangria recipe and enjoy it for your midnight toast at your South Beach New Year's party."]
- One 32-ounce bottle of apple juice
- One 12-ounce can of frozen cranberry juice concentrate
- One cup of orange juice
- One-and-a-half liters of champagne (or ginger ale for a non-alcoholic version)
- Keep items chilled (or frozen) until use.
- Combine the apple juice, cranberry juice concentrate, and orange juice in a large bowl. Stir well.
- Add sliced oranges, kiwi slices, and any other fruit you like.
- Slowly add the champagne or ginger ale at the last minute to keep it bubbly.
Keep the Entertainment Cheap
Instead of going crazy and running around searching for games to play for the night, opt for at home games or a downloadable game on your smartphone. Keep your guests entertained until midnight with a simple deck of cards or an app on your phone. With a deck of cards, you can play a variety of drinking games or just a regular card game. Smartphones also have free or relatively cheap apps that are available for multiple players. Check out your phone's app store and see what hidden gems you can find to entertain your guests this year!
Simple Decorations
Don't go over the top trying to impress your guests at your South Beach New Year's party. Instead of going out and buying all New Year's themed decorations purchase simple ones. Regular decorations will probably cost you a few dollars less and will still have the same effect as New Year ones. You can also use Christmas ornaments in a bowl as a centerpiece or hang them around your house.
Plan Ahead and Buy in Advance
The best tip for your party planning is to definitely plan in advance and shop early. Purchase all of your items a little bit at a time and search around for coupons. Coupons and sales will definitely be a blessing for your pockets and will allow you to buy more. Plan out what you want to serve and how many people you expect as early as possible so you can create a budget. Remember, the key to enjoying your South Beach New Year's party is to stay calm and bring in the New Year with the people you care about most!
Contact Us:
If you would like to contact us please click here. View all of our South Beach New Year's Eve events here.


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Raising Results
Beachwood, Ohio3 reviews
Business Consulting Community Service/Non-Profit
Raising Results is a full-service nonprofit management consulting firm based in Cleveland, OH. We partner with you on a project basis, supplementing the talents of internal staff, or for longer-term engagements, building your fundraising program from the ground up. Whether you need support developing donor communications, building a broader membership base, creating meaningful fundraising events, crafting memorable grant proposals, or identifying new talent for your development team, we help your organization raise results.
Reviews of Raising Results
5.0 average from 3 reviews
Chagrin Falls Historical Society
1 year ago
We are making progress because of Raising Results.
Amy Gribb
1 year ago
Superstar customer service!
Membership Matters!
4 months ago


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Follow us on Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Instagram
IFN in the news
2018-01-05 WNPR/Connecticut's Public Media Source for News and Ideas/BBC World News
Are you worried about robots making your job obsolete, is the question asked by WNPR in this radio interview. In this program Mårten Blix, IFN, is explaining how automation may affect employment in Sweden and around the world.
Listen to the interview
Research Institute of Industrial Economics, Grevgatan 34 - 2 fl, Box 55665, SE-102 15 Stockholm, Sweden | Phone: +46-(0)8-665 45 00 | firstname.lastname@example.com


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Surgical Female Pelvic Trainer
The Surgical Female Pelvic Trainer (SFPT) is a simulator for training in a wide range of laparoscopic gynecological surgical techniques and procedures. The uterus component can be easily removed and replaced after use.
Provides practice and role playing for gynecological perioperative teams
Includes a realistic vaginal canal and cervix for inspection, in which a uterine manipulator can be used
Realistic bleeding when arteries are cut
Insufflation of abdomen is represented
Compatible for use with harmonic scalpels
Contains latex
- Uterus
- Vagina
- Cervix
- External Introitus
- Bladder
- Fallopian Tube
- Ovaries
- Broad Ligament
- Ureters
- Uterine Artery
- Ovarian Artery
- Pouch of Douglas
- Dunns Pouch
- Bowel and Sigmoid
- Ovarian Cyst
- Ectopic Pregnancy
- Fibroid
- Uterosacral Ligament
- Cardinal Ligament
- Abdominal Skin with realistic pressure needed to insert cannula
- Pelvic Floor with sympathetic features


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Current Degree Seeking Students (F-1)
- Registration
- Getting your Social Security Number
- Final Semester Request for Reduced Course Load: Graduate / Undergraduate
- Program Completion Policy
- OPT (Off Campus Employment-Optional Practical Training)
- OPT 24-month Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) extension
- CPT (Off Campus Employment-Curricular Practical Training)
- F-1 I-20 Extension Procedures
- Travel guidelines - leaving the U.S.
- Tax Year Information and Forms
Health Insurance
UAF has a mandatory health insurance plan for international students in F-1 and J-1 status. The charge will be automatically added to your student account each semester. If you wish to have the charge removed, you will need to submit the health insurance waiver form (PDF) with documentation of health insurance coverage. See the Health Care and Insurance section of the Handbook for specific information.
Coverage periods are: Fall semester: August 25-January 14; Spring/Summer: January 15-August 24. There are no refunds for the summer vacation period.


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Why are we arguing over terrorist rights?
February 11, 2008 | Filed Under Law | Leave a Comment
It's simple, really. A terrorist is a label that we use for extremists who use tactics that don't sit well within our culture. As Americans, we tend to forget that "the War on terror" is a war against a tactic. Unless the alleged criminals have been convicted of crimes against the United States, they should not be denied the right to a fair trial and adequate defense. The U.S. military and our leadership is setting a bad precedent as we move forward with our war on terror because if the tables were turned and our soldiers or federal agents were captured, it would be unacceptable for a military tribunal belonging to ' the enemy ' to use their system to impose justice on our soldiers.
Why bring up this issue now, what's the point?
Six men being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will go before military commissions and could face the death penalty if it is judged they were involved in the September 11, 2001, attacks, a general said Monday.
Take the case of Iran for example. Our government has gone so far as to label the Iranian National Guard as terrorists. By doing that, of course it legitimizes any action taken against the guard (to an extent) and makes it more difficult for anti-war and 'justice' advocates to operate.
The men will be treated like members of the U.S. military during their judicial proceedings, he said.
Why are we treating alleged criminals / terrorists as military? Military tribunals don't afford anywhere near the amount of rights needed to provide an adequate defense for these people. Our system of justice and our national history suggests that we always err on the side of caution when it comes to human and legal rights. A military that would try alleged criminals who were tortured and provided information as a result of the assault is difficult to justify as impartial. I'd like to see these men sent to prison or put to death just like any person who felt the shock of 9/11 would, but there's a right and wrong way to get this done.
There is another problem with using the military route to impose justice on the alleged terrorists. Amidst speculation of water-boarding, torture, and other illegal war crimes this is the surest way to dispose of any testimony that could be made to incriminate the men accountable for these actions. This reminds me of the destruction of the water-boarding videos, it seems like destroying evidence is more important than seeking justice and answering the questions that remain after 9/11.
The proceedings will be dictated by the Military Commissions Act, which Congress passed to handle arrestees in the war on terror. The act requires that the detainees have access to lawyers as well as to any evidence presented against them. They also will have the right to appeal a guilty verdict, potentially through a civilian appeals court and perhaps the U.S. Supreme Court, according to the act. The government plans to make the proceedings as public as possible, said Brig Gen. Thomas Hartmann.
This is the only hint of positive news that comes of the latest news regarding Guantanamo Bay detainees. However, if a military trial is used there is a chance that the civilian courts will still not be used to obtain the proper ruling based on all of the evidence. What this does is seals off the public to the actions that took place before, on and after September 11th. It forever closes the door to understanding what went on and the mistakes that may or may not have been made in carrying out our law enforcement.
Further, it's problematic that a verdict might be had with a potential for appeals or Supreme Court access at a later date. This could not only taint the evidence or seal off use of specific types of evidence, but it'll also taint future decisions by civilian appeals courts. Bias and prejudice is a problem that occurs when a decision has been rendered by the military and I guarantee you that the U.S. will vigorously defend the military decision and possibly attempt to use procedural issues to get around the cases being heard on the merits.
What is murkier, however, is whether a military prosecutor will be able to use any information or confessions gleaned through controversial tactics like waterboarding, an interrogation technique designed to simulate drowning. That will be up to a judge to decide, Hartmann said. "It's our obligation to move the process forward to give these people their rights," he said. "We are going to give them rights that are virtually identical to the rights we provide to our military members."
Not all connected with the military are convinced, however.
Despite Hartmann's guarantees, Charles Swift, a former U.S. Navy attorney, said the process will not afford detainees an adequate defense. He also raised concerns that trying and executing the men unfairly could make them martyrs in the eyes of extremists.
"The losers will be the American public unless some fundamental changes are made very quickly," he said.
Which brings up an interesting point, again. Part of the disconnect between our understanding of the middle east and our role in the Iraq War has to do with our lack of public insight into American history and actions over seas. A lot of the criminals (like Saddam Hussein) that we've sought to prosecute are products of the CIA or United States foreign policy. Do we want to further create conflict and give extremists another excuse to attack our people or bases?
Finally, we've lost our sight on the most important aspect of this trial. The attack of 9/11 is one that belongs to the American people. This is our country and the military attempting to hijack justice on this matter will only create additional conflict and distrust between the people and government. It'll give these men a martyr status and the Osama Bin Ladens of the world will use this as yet another reason that the U.S. is evil and must be 'dealt with'. As this process takes place, we need to be weary of losing our identity to pushers of nationalist ideals and political agendas.
Thank God For Libertarians
February 1, 2008 | Filed Under Law | Leave a Comment
Representative Ron Paul On "Protect America Act of 2007″
TX-R US House of Representatives, Jan. 30, 2008
Madame Speaker,
I rise in opposition to the extension of the Protect America Act of 2007 because the underlying legislation violates the US Constitution.
The misnamed Protect America Act allows the US government to monitor telephone calls and other electronic communications of American citizens without a warrant. This clearly violates the Fourth Amendment, which states:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
The Protect America Act sidelines the FISA Court system and places authority over foreign surveillance in the director of national intelligence and the attorney general with little if any oversight. While proponents of this legislation have argued that the monitoring of American citizens would still require a court-issued warrant, the bill only requires that subjects be "reasonably believed to be outside the United States." Further, it does not provide for the Fourth Amendment protection of American citizens if they happen to be on the other end of the electronic communication where the subject of surveillance is a non-citizen overseas.
We must remember that the original Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was passed in 1978 as a result of the U.S. Senate investigations into the federal government's illegal spying on American citizens. Its purpose was to prevent the abuse of power from occurring in the future by establishing guidelines and prescribing oversight to the process. It was designed to protect citizens, not the government. The effect seems to have been opposite of what was intended. These recent attempts to "upgrade" FISA do not appear to be designed to enhance protection of our civil liberties, but to make it easier for the government to spy on us!
The only legitimate "upgrade" to the original FISA legislation would be to allow surveillance of conversations that begin and end outside the United States between non-US citizens where the telephone call is routed through the United States . Technology and the global communications market have led to more foreign to foreign calls being routed through the United States . This adjustment would solve the problems outlined by the administration without violating the rights of US citizens.
While I would not oppose technical changes in FISA that the intelligence community has indicated are necessary, Congress should not use this opportunity to chip away at even more of our constitutional protections and civil liberties. I urge my colleagues to oppose this and any legislation that violates the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.
Cafferty: it is time to impeach Bush / Cheney
January 8, 2008 | Filed Under Law | Leave a Comment
Will the media start with the impeachment calls? It seems this is long overdue.
CNN's The Cafferty File
should marriage be a question for the State?
November 27, 2007 | Filed Under Law | Leave a Comment
Very interesting question in the NY Times on defining marriage and why the state has a role in determining who can and cannot marry.
WHY do people — gay or straight — need the state's permission to marry? For most of Western history, they didn't, because marriage was a private contract between two families. The parents' agreement to the match, not the approval of church or state, was what confirmed its validity.
For 16 centuries, Christianity also defined the validity of a marriage on the basis of a couple's wishes. If two people claimed they had exchanged marital vows — even out alone by the haystack — the Catholic Church accepted that they were validly married.
Guess what, it's the taxes stupid!
In the mid-20th century, governments began to get out of the business of deciding which couples were "fit" to marry. Courts invalidated laws against interracial marriage, struck down other barriers and even extended marriage rights to prisoners.
But governments began relying on marriage licenses for a new purpose: as a way of distributing resources to dependents. The Social Security Act provided survivors' benefits with proof of marriage. Employers used marital status to determine whether they would provide health insurance or pension benefits to employees' dependents. Courts and hospitals required a marriage license before granting couples the privilege of inheriting from each other or receiving medical information.
In the 1950s, using the marriage license as a shorthand way to distribute benefits and legal privileges made some sense because almost all adults were married. Cohabitation and single parenthood by choice were very rare.
Can we really blame social security and redistribution of wealth and taxes as the reason marriage is bound by the state? Christians today use the State as morality police, if you aren't in line with their values, you are shit out of luck.
Today, however, possession of a marriage license tells us little about people's interpersonal responsibilities. Half of all Americans aged 25 to 29 are unmarried, and many of them already have incurred obligations as partners, parents or both. Almost 40 percent of America's children are born to unmarried parents. Meanwhile, many legally married people are in remarriages where their obligations are spread among several households.
Using the existence of a marriage license to determine when the state should protect interpersonal relationships is increasingly impractical. Society has already recognized this when it comes to children, who can no longer be denied inheritance rights, parental support or legal standing because their parents are not married.
Impracticality is our government's middle name! I love the enthusiasm and motivation behind the author's commentary, but government and religion are so deeply intertwined that it'll be next to impossible to change.
As Nancy Polikoff, an American University law professor, argues, the marriage license no longer draws reasonable dividing lines regarding which adult obligations and rights merit state protection. A woman married to a man for just nine months gets Social Security survivor's benefits when he dies. But a woman living for 19 years with a man to whom she isn't married is left without government support, even if her presence helped him hold down a full-time job and pay Social Security taxes. A newly married wife or husband can take leave from work to care for a spouse, or sue for a partner's wrongful death. But unmarried couples typically cannot, no matter how long they have pooled their resources and how faithfully they have kept their commitments.
Possession of a marriage license is no longer the chief determinant of which obligations a couple must keep, either to their children or to each other. But it still determines which obligations a couple can keep — who gets hospital visitation rights, family leave, health care and survivor's benefits. This may serve the purpose of some moralists. But it doesn't serve the public interest of helping individuals meet their care-giving commitments.
Perhaps it's time to revert to a much older marital tradition. Let churches decide which marriages they deem "licit." But let couples — gay or straight — decide if they want the legal protections and obligations of a committed relationship.
Welcome to America, what this author is proposing is politically sound, even fair, but because religion is in bed with government, I could never imagine the problem of gay marriage being dismantled so effortlessly. It'll take some liberal activism and impartial justice to win on this issue, but best of luck on this issue. Maybe Ron Paul's movement and libertarian infiltration of government ranks will help correct the dysfunctional and awkward American policy.
Fox News hates the troops, attacks America
November 25, 2007 | Filed Under Law | 1 Comment
Fox News continues to surprise me. Yesterday morning I watched in awe as a segment on Fox News was dedicated to discussing the ramifications of the terribly drafted Patriot Act. Along with millions of Democrats and Libertarians, I've been bitching non-stop about the patriot act due to multiple illegal provisions, some of which have been struck down. The government has been treading in dangerous territory with the way they've governed the United States throughout President Bush's terms in office.
I am elated to share, at least one segment, where Fox News has aired a video that is not built on conservative propaganda, but concerned with the rights of American citizens.
I love Fox News for the moment, it's unfortunate that this guy will probably get fired for saying what most Americans believe is the truth.
CIA lied to judge in high profile case
November 23, 2007 | Filed Under Law | 2 Comments
Judge Brinkema made a statement recently that implied a lack of faith in government to handle certain cases. The CIA intentionally withheld information that was critical to the issue of justice and the judge is concerned.
At a post-trial hearing Tuesday for Ali al-Timimi, a Muslim cleric from Virginia sentenced to life in prison in 2004 for soliciting treason, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said she can no longer trust the CIA and other government agencies on how they represent classified evidence in terror cases. Attorneys for al-Timimi have been seeking access to documents. They also want to depose government witnesses to determine whether the government improperly failed to disclose the existence of certain evidence. The prosecutors have asked her to dismiss the defense request.
The government has denied the allegations but has done so in secret pleadings to the judge that defense lawyers are not allowed to see. Even the lead prosecutors in the al-Timimi case have not had access to the information; they have relied on the representations of other government lawyers. After the hearing, the judge issued an order that said she would not rule on the prosecutors' motion until the government grants needed security clearances to al-Timimi's defense lawyer, Jonathan Turley, and the lead trial prosecutor so they can review the secret pleadings.
Brinkema said she no longer feels confident relying on the government briefs, particularly since prosecutors admitted last week that similar representations made in the Moussaoui case were false. In a letter made public Nov. 13, prosecutors in the Moussaoui case admitted to Brinkema that the CIA had wrongly assured her that no videotapes or audiotapes existed of interrogations of certain high-profile terrorism detainees.
As a kid, I was always a big fan of the CIA. The idea of a rogue-like organization that works for the United States government. The CIA have always been depicted as shadow warriors if-you-will that become heroes of all growing young men. I always fantasized about being one of these shadows, going out into the world and knocking off the bad guys. In my dreams, I was invisible, I was licensed to kill and serve in a highly exciting world of good guys and bad guys.
Even today, I'm still into flicks like those that center around Jason Bourne and Ethan Hunt, but I am concerned that the U.S. government has gone beyond the rogue justice into an all out assault on civil rights. The big issue today is where do you draw the line? Should the government have access to the records of all citizens, even those that are innocent of any and all wrongdoing? Proponents of a more fascist State often argue that "if you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about." That's a cop out of the argument though, because the truth is that we've always lived in an "Innocent until proven Guilty" system of government. The new rules pushed by proponents of the "Patriot" Act and other such garbage policies are continuing to blur the legal lines.
The problem isn't just with the issue of justice and civil rights, but the fact that Americans are losing faith in government. If we don't believe in our government to do this 'dirty' work, then we have a problem. I'm not of the school of though that suggests "trust the government at all costs", obviously! So, what I suggest is that government needs to do a better job of regulating its thugs. I don't accept that we need to do away with all rogue agencies that do the bidding of the U.S. government, it's just not a realistic approach to governing. At the same time, there should be a proper balance between the rights of citizens and security and right now that balance is way off.
evidence of President Bush's treason revealed
November 20, 2007 | Filed Under Law | Leave a Comment
The President can deny his involvement in federal crimes all he wants, but sooner or later the truth is going to come out and it's going to sting. America needs some kind of justice, in fact 'justice' itself needs vindication, because it has been cast aside as anti-American for some time now. What are we going to do with this President? He outs a federal agent because her husband doesn't like him and exonerates the one man that was a proven link to all of the corruption. Maybe President Bush's biggest mistake in office from a personal standpoint, won't be that he lied about Iraq, but that he was so interested in getting his friends off the hook that he's going to end up taking the fall. The best part of it all is that he is responsible for violating the law and betraying the trust of American citizens and in the end, the right perpetrator may pay the ultimate price.
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The White House is denying a claim in a new book by former White House spokesman Scott McClellan that top administration officials — including President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney — were involved in his "unknowingly" passing along false information about the involvement of Karl Rove and Lewis "Scooter" Libby in the leak of a CIA operative's identity.
Amid a burgeoning controversy about the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson's name, McClellan went to the White House podium in October 2003 and told reporters that Rove, the president's top political adviser, and Libby, Cheney's chief of staff, had not been involved.
"There was one problem. It was not true," McClellan writes in his new book, "What Happened," which is scheduled to be released in April. "I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff and the president himself."
Reacting to the release of an excerpt from McClellan's book, which was posted Tuesday on the Web site of the book's publisher, PublicAffairs, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said, "The president has not misled his spokespeople, nor would he."
The portion of McClellan's book released by PublicAffairs did not give any specifics about the actions of Bush, Cheney, Libby, Rove or then-Chief of Staff Andrew Card with regard to McClellan's dissemination of the false information.
There was no immediate comment from McClellan, who served as White House press secretary from July 2003 until April 2006.
In the excerpt, McClellan writes that "the most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White House briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby."
In March, Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice for lying to investigators and a federal grand jury about his contacts with reporters concerning Wilson, the wife of Joe Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador who had accused the Bush administration of misrepresenting intelligence on Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.
If you want to read the above article in its entirety, you can read it here: "ex-aide points finger at Bush for CIA leak"
In case you're not familiar with why this is such a big deal, it can be summarized using a single word: TREASON.


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For anyone that was wondering why there were so many disconnects and couldn't load most webpages.
Noticed that suddenly (around 16:00 / 4pm CEST 2-7-2019) there were a lot of people that couldn't connect because of CloudFlare errors? Or noticed that 99% of all websites couldn't load with a 5xx error? The service CloudFlare (a network safety and speed protocol, if I understand that correctly) was down for 20-30 minutes or so. Any web application using this service (which is almost all) couldn't load since all network traffic goes through CloudFlare. Discord was down, most websites were down, league (for some people) was down (although I don't know why it didn't affect everyone). CloudFlare is used by a LOT of web services. Google (thus gmail, yt, etc.) don't use it and were able to run.
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Digitalisation strategies, the north German energy transition, the region's economic attractiveness, investment in the future of industry and ports and the potential for the Hamburg Metropolitan Region topped the agenda of the first "Future Conference on Innovation" ended Thursday (November 8, 2018). Organised by Hafen Hamburg Marketing, Hamburg Invest and Partners, the conference offered an overview of present events.
Pioneers of technological development
During his welcoming speech at the Ingenieurwerk in Hamburg, Dr. Peter Tschentscher, Mayor of Hamburg, termed digitalisation and the energy transition "two megatrends" which are likely to dominate the future. He expressed confidence in Hamburg's clout and noted: "We have the necessary know-how. We are pioneers of technological development and that makes us strong."
"In Hamburg you do it!"
Robert Pfarrwaller, HamburgAmbassador to Austria, said a traditional self-confident attitude towards international business and especially "doer qualities" of citizens are traits of Hamburg's economic strength. Citing Bismarck's "politics is the art of the possible", Pfarrwaller compared Vienna with the Hanseatic city and noted: "In Hamburg you do things, in Vienna everything is possible."
Port's gravitational pull
Pfarrwaller stressed the Port of Hamburg's importance while Dr. Rolf Strittmatter, Chairman of the Management Board of Hamburg Marketing GmbH and Managing Director of Hamburg Invest, said: "The Port is Hamburg's centre of gravity." Around 125,000 jobs in Hamburg alone are linked to port. And its near 830-year history is a strong foundation on which to build the future combined above all with the tradition of Hamburg's merchants: "We know how to earn money, but also how to reinvent ourselves time and again."
NEW 4.0 alliance
Strittmatter, an economist by profession, is keenly aware of the strong links between "innovations and investments". Quality takes precedence over quantity, he stressed, adding: "Knowledge and technology-based investments are important." The large-scale NEW 4.0 is a a union of economics, science and politics and foresees supplying Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein with 100 per cent renewable energy by 2035. "Such a project of the century cannot be achieved alone, but only in a strong innovation alliance," said Professor Dr. Werner Beba, co-ordinator and head of project management. Around 60 partners along the entire value chain in the energy sector have joined forces in NEW 4.0. However, Beba noted: "There will be no energy turnaround without digitalisation."
Journey to the future – destination unknown
Dr. Sebastian Saxe, Chief Digital Officer in the Hamburg Ministry of Economics, Transport and Innovation is responsible for Hamburg's digitalisation strategy and setting the course for a "journey into the future, the destination of which is still unknown". Tangible examples of innovation opportunities rather than risks can allay fears of an uncertain future. Such examples are being presented on the Future.Hamburg platform and more prototypes are likely to be presented at the upcoming ITS World Congress, which Hamburg is hosting in 2021. "Driving will be autonomous on roads and on water. Tugs will be autonomous in the complex port environment," Saxe explained. The new mobile radio standard 5G is currently being tested in the Port of Hamburg. Saxe said Hamburg's motto: "We are the digital gateway to the world."
Great dynamism in Hamburg
Professor Dr. Henning Vöpel, Director and Managing director of the Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI), said the world of tomorrow will be very different, and predicted: "Location and competitive factors will change fundamentally." Data management will replace industrialization: "Knowing what and when will be the key, not know-how." Vöpel also expressed confidence that the course towards change has already been set. "For two or three years now, I've been observing a great deal of dynamism in the minds of the people of Hamburg."
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