text:
Register your Surface to easily check the status of your warranty and for quicker access to technical support. You can also: enable access to phone or chat support, request hardware service, check the status of a service request or cancel a service request.
To Register your Microsoft Surface device:
Step 1: Go to https://devicesupport.microsoft.com. If you are already signed in you will see your profile name and icon at the top corner of the page. If you are signed in move to Step 2 below. If you are not automatically signed in you will see Sign in |Sign up in the top corner. Click Sign in and enter your Microsoft Account credentials. If you don't already have a Microsoft Account click Sign up to create one. You must have a Microsoft Account to register your device.
Step 2: Once you are signed in you will be redirected back to the Device Support - Help with device registration, warranty info and services page. Under the Overview section and to the right of My Devices is Register my device. Click on Register my device to begin the registration process or If you do not have any registered devices you will see a blue Get Started button below My Devices. Click Get Started to begin the Registration process.
Step 3: Follow the steps on the Register your Microsoft Device page:
Select your Country/Region from the drop down menu
Select your Product Family Type from the drop down menu
Enter your Serial Number

subset: commoncrawl


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Around The World is well underway, and if you've been waiting for the crowds to die down before you made your way over, now's a better time than ever! Senzafine is in the Middle East section, and has a great, colourful set out just for the event.
I love how colourful and luxurious this set it. Probably the best part about this set is the fact that the cooler colours can be carried right through Winter and up until Spring.
Original post from Casa de Smurf


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Cells are three-dimensional so it makes sense to study them in a three-dimensional context, right? That's what researchers from the University of Twente in the Netherlands thought, which is why they made these little cages for studying live cells, instead of using a flat petri dish.
Made by coating silicon pits with nitrites, the cages are sufficient to contain the cells, but are open enough that when caged cells are placed closely enough, they can still interact as usual. The pyramid cages allow researchers to keep cells where they want them, but still watch them do what they do. And it makes a sweet little microscopic zoo in the meantime. Win-win. [New Scientist]


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InduSoft Web Studio has played a major role in the Pharmaceutical industry in everything from food and drug packaging and storage, to pharmaceutical manufacturing that must adhere to strict guidelines, such as the FDA 21 CFR Part 11 and EU Annex 11 standards. InduSoft Web Studio has passed major audits from top pharmaceutical companies, and can provide the tools to create a compliance-ready SCADA software solution for the pharmaceutical industry.
InduSoft Web Studio has all the tools required to make a project that adheres to FDA 21 CFR Part 11, EU Annex 11 and GAMP (Good Automated Manufacturing Practice) guidelines. Functionality such as security, e-signatures and traceability, batch reporting and automatic writing to any SQL database are some of the tools that can be employed to maintain a fully compliant process that will meet international standards for food and drug and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The ability to store and record data for each batch makes it easy for representatives of the FDA and EU Annex to audit and verify data.
InduSoft holds a patent on the ability to connect to any SQL database from embedded Windows operating systems. InduSoft Web Studio has powerful database connectivity features, making it easy to meet the stringent logging requirements necessary in the pharmaceutical industry. Databases can be easily configured for redundancy and store-and-forward configurations ensuring that critical data requirements are met.
Facilitate easy product changeover with the built-in recipe functionality of the InduSoft Web Studio SCADA software platform. Virtually eliminate human error by enabling the necessary checks using barcode scanning, 2D matrix and RFID data collection. Integrate seamlessly with vision systems to ensure the right product is in its appropriate packaging.
With a full SCADA solution developed on the InduSoft Web Studio platform, it's easy to monitor and verify warehouse conditions such as air quality, temperature, and humidity. Provide accurate data for storage conditions by utilizing InduSoft's ability to connect to virtually any device, from temperature controllers to HVAC and filtration systems.
Run InduSoft Web Studio on any Windows PC, including the NEMA 4x, IP65 and stainless steel mounted PCs that provide a sterile and safe surface in pharmaceutical manufacturing. For more information on the types of panel PCs available with InduSoft Web Studio's SCADA software already installed, please see our list of certified hardware manufacturers.
From individual machine or material handling HMI to large scale supervisory stations InduSoft Web Studio SCADA HMI software offers everything required for a powerful solution.
IWS tools for FDA 21 CFR Part 11
Published on Friday, May 25, 2018
Watching the recording? We have hidden the InduSoft Alien in this video, and now those who watch the webinars later can still get a chance to receive a free InduSoft T-shirt.
To participate, find the alien, and send an email to email@example.com with the subject: Alien Sighting
To receive your T-shirt, please include the following information:
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Dir: Brillante Ma Mendoza. Philippines. 2013. 101mins
An intriguing experiment in melding news media criticism and occult horror, Sapi conjures up plenty of unease but doesn't have much in the way of story or character to drive its message home. The latest film from Filipino director Brillante Ma Mendoza (Serbis) features his trademark moments of shock value — including snakes emerging from sensitive body crevices — but while Sapi is meant to be a serious examination of modern journalism, its lack of bite is matched by its overextended running time.
Sapi gets a surprising amount of mileage out of deeply unsettling the viewer, even if there are few rooting interests on screen.
Screening in the Vanguard section of the Toronto Film Festival, Sapi will probably perform similarly to Mendoza's other movies, appealing to festival audiences but only offering limited theatrical prospects. However, the movie's horror trappings could cater to genre fans, although there's more atmosphere than gore to be found here.
Set in Manila, the film tracks the rivalry between the city's two big news channels, PBC and SBN. With dangerous storms and flooding going on, both channels are on the hunt to break a story about a woman who is said to be possessed by the devil. (After all, it's a ratings bonanza.) But when PBC gets the woman's satanic possession on tape, SBN's competitive fledgling producer Meryll (Meryll Soriano) buys leftover footage from PBC's unscrupulous cameraman (Baron Geisler) for their program, unknowingly unleashing a mysterious dark power in the process.
From the outset, Sapi signals that strange things are afoot. Not only are there frightening amounts of lightning ping-ponging across the sky, but also weird occurrences keep happening, including the bizarre reincarnation of a dead dog run over on the road. Mendoza puts us on high alert but keeps us wondering where the horror will emanate: The storm? Or from the unexplained visions and spooky disembodied whispering that torment the SBN news team?
Incorporating handheld camera and a presumably intentionally unflattering lighting scheme, Mendoza and his co-cinematographer Jeffrey Dela Cruz create a world in which dread seems to hang heavy in the air at all times. The queasy visuals are perfectly in keeping with the filmmaker's portrait of a sick society ruled by greed and yet at the mercy of nature (in the form of gargantuan snakes) and otherworldly terrors such as demonic possession.
Unfortunately, Mendoza's attacks on the shallowness of ratings-driven news coverage draw little blood. The characters at both channels seem typical of their profession without exhibiting anything particularly upsetting or scandalous in their behaviour. Consequently, it's hard to summon up much schadenfreude when Meryll and her associates begin to be plagued by scary invisible spirits that may or may not be connected to their theft of the possession footage.
With that said, Sapi gets a surprising amount of mileage out of deeply unsettling the viewer, even if there are few rooting interests on screen. Mendoza allows his condemnation of the news media to become repetitive, but his subtle scares — occasionally punctuated by crude but effective shocks involving copious blood or imagined suicides — start to enter the audience's blood stream. It would be inaccurate to call Sapi frightening, but it has a commitment to its slithering anxiousness that's commendable.
Nonetheless, this emotional effect can only work so well when Mendoza's characters are drawn so dully. Soriano plays Meryll without much range, showing little of the blinding ambition that could make her comeuppance dramatically interesting. Dennis Trillo, who plays SBN's promising young on-air talent, is equally blah, more a helpless victim than a deserving target for oncoming havoc. Watching Sapi, one is tempted to presume that Mendoza worked out his anger about TV journalism's cravenness in metaphorical terms but never bothered getting down to cases. The movie puts you on edge, but not for any compelling reason.
Production companies: Solar Entertainment, Center Stage Productions
International sales: Solar Entertainment, email@example.com
Producer: Larry Castillo
Executive producers: Wilson Tieng, Brilliante Ma Mendoza
Screenplay: Henry Burgos
Cinematography: Brilliante Ma Mendoza, Jeffrey Dela Cruz
Production desigern: Dante Mendoza
Editor: Kats Serraon
Music: Gian Gianan
Website: www.sapithemovie.com
Main cast: Baron Geisler, Meryll Soriano, Dennis Trillo


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Twin Blaster Missile
One of six component robots that make up Devestator, Mixmaster was available both individually and as part of the Devestator 6-pk gift set. Each of Devestators bots could only play one unique role in the finished combiner (unlike future combiners). Mixmaster is the left leg.
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Belongs to these items:
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Wesley Chapel, Florida
Sunday was another "fun" day in the life of a full timer.
We went to pick my brother up from his two nights at the hospital. He will not be able to drive for who knows how long. His lifestyle choices are affecting our lifestyle now. Not only do we have to take care of my Mother, we have to take care of him. We are not happy campers. These issues that we need to deal with, will for the time being, keep us pretty tied to to Tampa. grrrrr I guess it could be worse. Mom could live in Nebraska.
So, on to other things. We have decided since we're stuck here, we're going to join a local fitness center again. We enjoyed it when we did it last winter, and since we're changed our diets, we think this is a good time to start an exercise program. We aren't as dedicated as Sherry to get outside in this humidity and run or even to much walking.
We have been eating the vegetarian/vegan diet for 9 days now. Vegetarians eat no meat, but still eat eggs and dairy. Vegans eat no meat, dairy, or eggs. There are some very good benefits to stay away from dairy. There is a lot of information in the video Forks Over Knives. I had a free link on a previous post.
The vegan diet started as an experiment. We decided to give it a try and see what happened, and take it one day at a time.
We discovered that with a little thought, we could eat anything we wanted, providing we modified it a little.
Tacos…yes. Cake, yes. Pizza, yes. Sloppy Joes, yes. Of course these are all modified to be made without meat, dairy or eggs.
I discovered I got an energy boost from this way of eating and lose weight in the process.
We have been eating some really tasty foods. Hummus and lentils might be our new best friends.
I have lost 4.0 pounds, and Al (who didn't get a starting weight right away) has lost at least 4.0. We have done this by eating all we wanted and as often as we want. We have not craved anything at all. That was a big surprise to me because in the past when I've tried weight loss diets, I immediately started craving things. I have very rarely been hungry, in fact most of the time I have a full feeling. I get full much faster. That's a shock for me because I have always had a very good appetite and it took a lot of food to fill me up. Al still seems able to put away a good amount of food, and that's okay too because it's all healthy food with very little fat or cholesterol.
We do not consider this a diet, but a new way of eating. We try very hard to make sure we do not feel deprived and have all the crunchy, salty snacks we want. Neither of has really had a craving for something sweet, yet.
It's been surprisingly easy.
After the first few days and we started to see that we could do it long term, we started purging some things from the refrigerator.
Yesterday, I brought my mom some "treasures" from our refrigerator. I wasn't sure how Al would feel about the following item. I approached the subject very carefully….
Can you part with this ? Should we give this to Mom?
Surprisingly, he said yes. He even had a smile on his face. That's a bad picture of Al….he really looks much better.
Stouffer's frozen French bread pizzas were one of the staples of our diet. We could always grab one of them when we were too tired or lazy to cook. I was not a meal planner. This new way of eating has forced me to plan better. I have been afraid if Al got hungry, all hell would break loose!
In the beginning we were afraid to leave the house without a snack. We were afraid if we did a Pizza Hut, or Zaxby's would start calling our name. That has not been an issue so far, but we do try to bring some nuts, dried fruit, peanut brittle, or soy nuts with us.
We've both agreed that we want to stick with this new way of eating, and we're both committed to it. Will we have turkey at Thanksgiving? Maybe. If we want it, we will have it. We still have some nice fish and lobster in the freezer. We will eat them one day. We will have ice cream if we want it.
I made a vegan pizza the other night and it turned out very good. We used no peperoni or cheese. I found a good tasting vegan mozzarella cheese substitute, and we loaded it with veggies.
We made lentil sloppy joes last night. Al liked them, I didn't. I will find another way to make them in the future.
We got the truck topped put on the truck the other day. We sure do like our new truck. I believe the parts are all in for the driveshaft disconnect and the tow brackets. No hurry to get them installed now!
Our dry pattern of weather has ended. We had some beautiful cloud formations the other night, so I snapped a few pictures.
Baxter being cute.
Catherine, JoBeth and Grace moved in one space down from us yesterday. We got a tour of their beautiful new Tiffin. She's quite a beauty.
Unfortunately, because we were napping, we missed their rather eventful arrival. Check here to read all about it. Darn, I missed some great video for my blog.
Here is a sign I just had to photograph.
The end


text: mr_rbman 1 Posted September 11, 2008 Post updated down the bottom! Plz ignore this original nooby post, haha! Hey guys, i have searched for the info i'm after but my goals seem to be a bit different to most so i haven't yet come across the answers/info. I'll start with my stats. i'm 23 approximately 175cms tall 88kgs in the morning (obvioulsy for my height i'm overweight) I used to play a lot of sport but after my child and some other commitments that stopped, after a couple of years i realised i needed to get back into some more physical activity so i'm now playing indoor soccer every sunday and go to the gym (so far have been going since the middle of July) 3-4 times a week (dependant on work) I have a mate who works out and he's given me a programme and some advice which has already helped but i want to get some more opinions. Basically my goals are: Stay roughly around the 90kg mark but lose the body fat (gut and love handle's) and tone/slightly build muscle. I have improved my diet vastly but still probably isn't ideal. (i can't afford the protein shakes and supplements so that isn't an option) Breakfast (7:30am) - 3/4 weet bix, or scrambled eggs on toast (no butter) with fruit juice. Snack (10:15am) - salada's with tuna Lunch (12:30pm) - roll with ham and cheese Snack (3:00pm) - muesli bar/muffin Dinner (6:00pm) - varies most days but usually steak and veg, curry with rice, spag bol etc. Snack (7:30pm) - milo milkshake Try to drink atleast 3L of liquid (Juice/cordial/water) a day. (i find with all this i am never hungry and am usually struggling to eat my afternoon snack but i make sure i force myself to) My workout consists of 3-4 one hour sessions a week. I spend 15/20 mins on the bike and then the rest of the time is spent doing weights etc working on my whole body over the week. (knee's been playing up for a couple of weeks so i have been struggling to do all my squats!) Any advice would be much appreciated from this info! Cheers in advance! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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Today's noon scrimmage chance for CU frosh TBs to shine
BOULDER — With CU returning only two scholarship tailbacks — starter Rodney "Speedy" Stewart and backup Brian Lockridge — a terrific opportunity awaits the Buffs' four true-freshman tailbacks.
But don't look for all four to contribute this fall, so today's noon scrimmage will give each of them to make an early impression under some pressure and perhaps gain some separation from the others.
It will be interesting to see how Cordary Allen (6-1, 230), Tony Jones (5-7, 180), Trae' Jones (5-10, 190) and J.T. Torres (6-0, 215) fare today. The Buffs could use the size of Allen and Torres. But the Joneses have exited fans watching CU practices with their quick feet and slippery moves.
Also in the mix is redshirt-freshman Quentin Hildreth, a walk-on from Denver East who was a star of the spring game. Coaches like him.
Speaking of the Joneses, CU didn't make it any easier to tell them apart by giving them consecutive jersey numbers. Tony Jones, from Paterson, N.J., wears No. 26. Trea' Jones, from Wake Forest, N.C., dons No. 27.
Maybe I'll start calling them "Jersey Jones" and "Carolina Jones."
By the way, yes, Trea' (pronounced Tray) has an apostrophe. No clue why his parents did that. I'll have to ask him about it sometime.
The scrimmage — to be conducted in a "controlled" format rather than resembling a game — will be in Folsom Field and will be the final opportunity for the public to watch August camp. Following the scrimmage, all sessions will be closed.
Spectators should park in metered spots or off-campus. Those parking in university lots that require passes will be ticketed, according to CU officials.


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Is it a typical day at the Playboy Mansion?
Nope. Just an Endocrinologist and his P.A.
A Blog detailing the insanity of my medical practice and the stupidity of everyday life.
that would be younger woman. But still. I guess at 61 if you wanna get it on for 6 hour, you need SOME kind of chemical support.
Too funny! And it sounds like they were "under surveillance" until the 6 hour point.
Guess they were worried in case the doc might have had some priapism...
Should be interesting to see how it all turns out in the end with the medical board, and spouse if any.
6 hours and no youtube video? What the hell is the world coming to?
Now that's what I call a dedicated PA! Hope she makes her bonus for the quarter... :-)
OKC, PA (the non cocaine using, sleeping with the boss kind of PA!!)
ps...love the above concern about priapism because some cocaine users do use viagra to slow their cocaine crash down from being high!
So, why have you been telling us you are a neurologist, when you are really an endocrinologist?
And it was next to the Saddleback Medical Memorial Center.
I turn 61 this year. Let me tell you, NO FREAKING WAY.
I guess he missed out on his "party like a rock star" phase because he was studying too much.
Holy hell! That must be one comfy Mercedes to be able to *ahem* hang out in like that for six hours.
And buy me a star on the boulevard
It's Californication
Endocrinologists always have access to the best hormones, don't they?
After 6 hours the inside of the car must have reeked.
Got one to top that, this guy was a "not-so local" that wrote scripts that came into my pharmacy pretty frequently
Livin' the dream?
"Saddleback", lolz
hmmm...I wonder what happens on a house call?
Ewwww!!! I'm around that age and can't fathom having sex with a 61-year-old. When my husband and I are BOTH that age, sure, but until then . . . .
I'll have what she's having...
Well, for the money he's gonna lose from legal costs, the divorce, and getting fired and probably losing his license, he could have made a weekend trip to NV, gone to a bunny ranch, and had his coked up sexy-fun-time discretely, and NOT with his PA. They need to teach a class in common sense at Med School, with a special emphasis on how not to get caught if you are determined to get up to no good.
Hey, I.P., no cracking on the bunny ranch!! Soon all the poor med students are gonna have to do their summer internships there in order to pay their student loans. Added bonus if they are able to network with MD clientele. (Alas, my hot med student days have passed and sadly, I was unaware of the bunny ranches until it was too late.) ;)
Wait, I'm a PA for an Endocrinologist. This was NOT mentioned as part of my scope of practice. But my supverving doc is 39 with three kids. He's probably too tired for that kind of action. Also, ew.
@anon 4:27,
I don't think most Med students have much time or energy to moonlight (heh) at a cathouse. The ones I dated were all just kind of gray and faded by the end of the term, and spent the summer break drinking, sleeping, and shadowing doctors. Believe me, I'm not snarking at the bunny ranches at all. They serve a useful purpose, such as getting your rocks off discretely without getting arrested or caught by your significant other- if you're careful about it. I'm not passing any moral judgement, mainly because I had to renounce my morals to get into law school. Now they just hang on my wall along with my sense of shame and my pride, looking forlorn and collecting dust. Just joking... Or am I?.
I knew it had to be in the good ol' Orange County. No other place on earth like it, ha!
Little Calf Creamery. Delicious homemade ice cream and food in Thousand Oaks!


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|No one is coming to get ya if'n ya break down here.
We learned a lot from Mike over the years, and I will admit up front that a lot of his advice and commentary on our silly gravel event took a while to sink in and get applied to T.I., but eventually it did. We didn't go 100% with what I feel he would have done, but we did go a long ways toward his, and the rest of the GDR crew's, rules regarding self support.
Yesterday, a comment was made regarding this idea of "self support". The comment was that it used to be that the riders helped each other out, and "support crews" were unheard of. The commenter wondered if we'd lost something along the way.
Well, I am pretty sure the answer from a "GDR" point of view would be that neither idea presented in the above summation of the comment left is right, or in the spirit of "self support". I am pretty sure the idea of "self" means "you, the rider" in a singular sense, and by definition that pretty much excludes any help from any one individual, no matter if they are racing or no. At least in the strictest sense of that idea, I believe that is true.
Of course, if you are in need of assistance that can not be provided for by a fellow rider, you are done as far as Trans Iowa is concerned. At that point, there has been a divergence from what we do at T.I. and what other events see fit to require.
We suggest a person be available to come and fetch you, since anyone associated with Trans Iowa won't. Or....you could just take care of yourself, and many folks do just that. They ride back from where ever it is they decide they can not finish Trans Iowa. Either way- You Are Responsible For Yourself. The trick is knowing "when to say when", which is long before your tank runs dry, or long before you allow your mind to descend into exhaustion induced madness. Long before your knee gives out completely, or long before you are so sunburnt you are sick. Whatever; I am sure you are getting the picture by now.
In many ways, knowing when to "pull the plug" on a Trans Iowa attempt is harder than actually riding yourself into a bad situation. In many ways, stopping when you should is a lost art. This, to my mind, is an honorable, wise, mature, and "right" thing to get straight and be capable of before you attempt something like a Trans Iowa.
If you as a rider "get" that you need to take care of your own business out there without putting yourself or anyone else at risk, the self support issue is not a big deal. Sure- there are extenuating circumstances, and we can sit here and dream up scenarios all day long which fall outside of the above, but ya gotta agree that the vast majority of issues at these big gravel grinders, (or other ultra-endurance events), can be settled by having a good grasp on your own destiny.


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Versace Underwear Sweatshirts
Legendary Italian fashion house Versace stands for decadence at every stage of an ensemble. Versace Underwear, it luxurious line of boxers, briefs, boxer briefs, swimwear, and sleepwear, is a statement in functional and masculine glamour grace of Donatella Versace's Midas touch. Emblazoned with the label's signature Greek key and Medusa head prints, luxe yet comfortable intimates in cotton and jersey invoke a sensual, modern interpretation of Versace Underwear's fidelity to its Roman heritage.


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Here is my code. i have to creat a phone book in whcih you can add entries. find them. list all entries. and quit. the entries are to be put in an array as a class. Please tell me whats wrong with it and how i can search for a name and then pull the number and notes that go with that name and return it to the user. please and thank you! The code compiles fine but when i try to excecute the find option it errors. also i dont know how i would go about listing all the entries in the phone book. and im not even sure if they way i did the add an entry part works properly. it seems to when excecuting it in the program but i dont know if it actually stores it in the array or not.
import java.io.IOException; import java.util.*; public class phonebook { public static void main(String [] args) throws IOException{ int counter = 0; String name, number, notes; char firstcommand; System.out.print("Codes or names are entered with 1 to 8 characters. Use e to make a new entry, f to find an entry, l to list all current entries, and q to quit."); Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in); System.out.print("Please chose an option: "); firstcommand = (char)System.in.read(); while (firstcommand != 'q'){ System.out.print("Please chose an option: "); firstcommand = (char)System.in.read(); if (firstcommand == 'e') { System.out.print("Enter the code or name: "); name = input.next(); System.out.print("Enter number: "); number =input.next(); System.out.print("Enter any notes or press space then enter to leave blank: "); notes = input.next(); while (counter <100){ Entry entryList = new Entry(); if (counter >= 100) { System.out.print("phonebook is full"); break; } entryList.name = name; entryList.notes = notes; entryList.number = number; counter ++; } } else if (firstcommand == 'f') { String find; int index; System.out.print("Please enter the name or code you wish to find"); find = input.next(); index = Arrays.binarySearch( Entry.entryList, find); System.out.print(index); } } } } //here is my sperate class called Entry public class Entry { public static Entry[] entryList = new Entry[100]; public String name; public String number; public String notes; }


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The enthusiasm in the eyes of children when they contribute and accomplish something to help thousands of people around the world, is a sight that will bring you to your humble knees. Many of the students at Indian Trail Elementary School in Indian Trail, North Carolina participated in The W3 Project World Water Day Challenge, in their quest to donate each mile they walked for this special project.
Watching the look of anticipation on the faces of each one of these children, literally brings tears to your eyes. They represented diverse ethnicities, genders, personalities and socio-economic backgrounds, which meant absolutely nothing when it came down to walking for a worthy cause.
Upon completion of walking for the W3 Project, students were awarded certificates and a special bag of goodies for their hard work and dedication by donating their miles to provide clean drinking water to at least one person for an entire year. 3M Filtrete made a generous donation to Indian Trail Elementary School and sponsored every mile that each student walked. The W3 Project includes the partnerships of Filtersfast.com, Wine to Water and TrekDesk. Together, they are building a community of humanitarians walking in the pursuit of health and wellness for everyone.
It's amazing how these children understood the concept that 1 mile = 1 year of clean drinking water for 1 person, while bringing attention to the obesity problem we face in our society. We want to thank the following people from Indian Trail Elementary School who were instrumental in making this project a remarkable success:
Candice Boatright, Principal
Allison Audet, P.E. Teacher
Jenna Mayhew, PTO President
Teachers: Ms. Feinstein, Ms. Baker, Ms. Dixon, Ms. Landers, Ms. Reese, Ms. Rochfort, Ms. Yalich and Ms. Hamilton
Kelly Ransbottom, Bookkeeper
We would like to again thank 3M Filtrete for their sponsorship and to all of the students who unselfishly donated their miles for such a worthy cause, thank you for a job well done! To the parents and guardians of these students, thank you so much for supporting them. See you next year!


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Katy Perry
Britney Spears signs five-year deal with Glu for new mobile game
Pop star Britney Spears has signed a five-year deal with Glu mobile for a new, untitled game.
Katy Perry headlines
Just Dance 2014 launches with free Katy Perry DLC
When Just Dance 2014 releases next week, you'll be able to download a free Katy Perry track,
The Sims 3 - Katy Perry's Sweet Treats launch trailer may rot your teeth
Thanks to the latest expansion for The Sims 3, you can have bike made of candy, and ask your virtual dates to ride back to your gingerbread house on it. Life goal achieved.
The Sims 3 Katy Perry's Sweet Treats coming in June
The newest expansion for The Sims 3 contains an array of candy-themed items 'capture Katy Perry's spirit', because video games are beautiful madness.
The Sims 3 Showtime goes behind-the scenes with Katy Perry
A new video for The Sims 3 Showtime has been released featuring a behind-the scenes with popstress, ex-Mrs. Russell Brand, Katy Perry. It is what it is. The Katy Perry themed Collector's Edition and a Limited Edition version of The Sims 3 Showtime feature the Ultimate Stage bonus venue. Get more information through Origin and […]
Katy Perry gets own Sims 3 Showtime CE
EA's announced a collaboration with Katy Perry that sees the popstar get her very own collectors edition of upcoming Sims 3 expansion Showtime. The CE will come with a bonus stage, stage props, fashion and others that will be Perry themed. Other items surrounding Perry will also make their way into future Sims titles. There's […]
Friday Shorts: Weezer, Conan, Steam sale, GT5, Dead Space 2, Katy Perry
It's Friday. Thank [insert expletive here]! Have some shorts to get you started.
Kool & the Gang, Katy Perry, Bowie all confirmed for February Lips DLC
Microsoft's confirmed the list of February DLC for Lips, with David Bowie, Katy Perry, The Human League and more all confirmed.
Katy Perry latest
Britney Spears signs five-year deal with Glu for new mobile game
The Sims 3 – Katy Perry's Sweet Treats launch trailer may rot your teeth
Friday Shorts: Weezer, Conan, Steam sale, GT5, Dead Space 2, Katy Perry
Kool & the Gang, Katy Perry, Bowie all confirmed for February Lips DLC


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Energy IATA Training
SGS offers specialized training courses in the transportation of dangerous goods by air, sea or road, including:
- IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (initial and refresher)
- IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (radioactive substances)
- ADR, ADN and IMDG awareness
- Airfreight security
IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations
The IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) for the air transport of dangerous goods prescribe training requirements for shippers, including packers, shipper's agents and agencies which perform, on behalf of the operator, the act of accepting, handling, loading, unloading, transfer or other processing of cargo.
Participants can sit the official examination at the end of the course. When a participant passes the examination, they obtain the IATA training certificate and their name is added to the IATA International Student Register. The training certificate is valid for two years and can be renewed by taking further refresher training within 24 months of the previous training. In the Netherlands, our training is licensed by the Ministry of Transport.
Radioactive (class 7) substances are covered in a separate training course.
Awareness training
Our awareness training is conducted in accordance with chapters 1.3 and 1.10 of the legislation (ADR, ADN, IMDG).
Security training
Security training is offered in accordance with Dutch legislation. In cooperation with a specialist training company, SGS offers the following training programmes:
- Beveiligings Adviseur Luchtvracht (BAL)
- Controleur Luchtvracht
- Medewerker Luchtvracht
All training courses are normally conducted in Dutch, but can also be delivered in English if required. Upon request, the training can also be organized in-house.
Find out more about dangerous goods training from SGS.


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Isn't it adorable? Our all black kitty is sick right now with one awful kitty cold. His eyes, nose and mouth are all leaking, he's coughing and sneezing and just looks awful. Point being, when he's better (looking) I'll try to get a shot of him with this hat on. I'm afraid, since the bottom in flat, that I might have to sew some elastic to the sides to keep it on for even a nano-second since he IS NOT a kitty who plays dress up!
(Oh, and yes, Wally went to the vet this morning. Not serious. He's got a fever and he's got eye drops and some antibiotic pills. Just a bad cold. Poor kitty.)


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Bahai-Faith.com has presented my views on the Baha'i faith over the years, and it has gone through various incarnations as I have continued my spiritual journey and my perspective has changed. Several years ago I was known as an outspoken critic of the Baha'i faith, but I long ago moved beyond any feelings of anger or an oppositional stance toward my former religious community or its leaders. When I expressed disagreement with the religion I used to believe in, I generally did so in a fair and reasonable way – especially after I had been an ex-Baha'i for more than a couple years. Now that I have regained some degree of belief or support for the Baha'i faith, my aim is to provide a more liberal perspective on this religion that is compatible with my Unitarian Universalist beliefs.
Like all religions, the Baha'i faith has its weak points and flaws – but it also has its beautiful and brilliant aspects. I think Baha'is need to be more open to consider that their religion, its organization and leadership are not perfect. They need to accept that some former Baha'is may have legitimate concerns or criticisms which led to their withdrawal from the religion or its community; that some Baha'is have different interpretations of the faith than the official views; that some, despite believing in the prophethood of Baha'u'llah, choose not to belong to an organized Baha'i community; and that some belong to Baha'i communities which are not affiliated with the Haifa, Israel-based organization. These disagreements are normal and acceptable phenomena for any significant religion, rather than something that mainstream Baha'is should get angry about or oppose.
Even though I am not a Baha'i, per se, I would describe myself as a friend of the faith and one who cares deeply about its future development. I believe the world is a better place because the Baha'i faith exists – but I also believe this religion is desperately in need of reform.
Introduction: What Is the Baha'i Faith?
The Baha'i Faith (with a capital "F") is a religious organization representing most Baha'is around the world. This organization claims there are 6 million adherents of the Baha'i religion, most of whom are found in Iran, India, and the United States, with others scattered among many other nations. The Baha'i faith (the religion, not the organization), is also commonly spelled Bahai and sometimes called Baha'ism or Bahaism, especially by non-Baha'is and liberal Baha'is. It was founded by Baha'u'llah (1817-1892), a Persian aristocrat in exile who in 1863 declared himself to be a new messenger of God. Baha'u'llah was born Mirza Husayn Ali Nuri, was raised a Shi'ite Muslim, and in his young adulthood followed the radical millennarian movement of another contemporaneous Persian claimant to prophethood known as the Bab.
The Baha'i faith is above all an attempt to build a more universal spiritual paradigm out of the foundation of Islam. Much in the way Christianity emerged as a Jewish reform movement and a project to spread the core principles of Judaism into the Greco-Roman world, Baha'ism was born from an Islamic matrix as a project to modernize and spread the central ideas and practices of Islam to the whole world.
I would recommend to any Muslim, or anyone interested in new religious movements, to study the Baha'i faith as an example of one possible way that people have attempted to update Islamic spirituality for a more progressive and globalized age. Based on my own study and on conversations I have had with Muslims who have looked into Baha'ism, I can say it bears a striking resemblance to Shi'ite Islam while going in somewhat of an esoteric Sufi direction, and it rejects the finality of Muhammad's prophethood as a way of introducing new ideas such as including followers of non-Abrahamic religions as "people of the Book" and expanding the rights of women.
Despite the liberalizing inclinations of Baha'u'llah, and of his son and successor Abdu'l-Baha who spread Baha'ism to Europe and America, these men nevertheless were firmly rooted in a 19th century Middle Eastern paradigm – as one would expect considering their upbringing in that time and society. They literally believed and taught ideas such as direct divine revelation of the Qur'an and their own verses and books; strict obedience to prophets and religious law codes; and total opposition to "vices" such as alcoholic beverages and sex outside of marriage.
On the other hand, Baha'u'llah and his successors criticized the Islamic concept of military jihad or holy war; promoted the idea of peaceful cooperation among nations; advocated the use of one global auxiliary language to help people from different backgrounds communicate and understand each other; and made strides in the direction of gender equality – though in a noteworthy departure from this principle, Abdu'l-Baha refused to allow women to serve on the highest leadership institution of the Baha'i Faith organization, a prohibition which remains to this day.
Why I Joined and Left the Baha'i Faith
I was introduced to the Baha'i faith during my first year in college, by my next-door neighbor in my dorm. I decided to attend a Baha'i meeting because it sounded interesting. I had always been very interested in various religions and philosophies ever since I was old enough to begin exploring these things for myself. The Baha'is I met at the meeting seemed like nice people, and they held an idealistic view of human potential, emphasizing ideas such as world peace, racial reconciliation, and respect for all major religions. I would say that two things attracted me most to the Baha'is and their religion: the people themselves and their optimistic spirit about the future of humanity.
I decided to believe in Baha'ism and join the organized Baha'i Faith after a few months of studying the religion and socializing with Baha'is. Looking back, I would say that there were many details of Baha'i beliefs and practices that I wasn't aware of when I joined, which if I had known about might have prevented me from joining their religious organization. It was the overall spirit of the Baha'is and their faith – the big picture view – that drew me in, and at that time I probably would not have even wanted to know anything about the Baha'i Faith that would have turned me off from it!
Throughout my college years, I was an active and serious Baha'i. I participated in local Baha'i community meetings and Baha'i college club meetings. I followed the religion's rituals of daily prayer and the annual period of fasting. I enthusiastically tried to share my Baha'i faith with other people, because Baha'is place a great emphasis on "teaching" the faith (trying to educate people about the existence of the Baha'i faith and encourage them to study it and join). I even went on two Baha'i "teaching trips" to a rural, impoverished area where we attempted to befriend and evangelize Native Americans and other people living in poverty. I also wrote a draft of an introductory book presenting the Baha'i faith for a Christian audience (but I left the faith before seeking a publisher).
As I became more and more involved in the Baha'i Faith community, I began to notice some things that bothered me. There were two things in particular that troubled me the most: first, that Baha'i Faith members overemphasize obedience to their religious institutions and believe the highest leadership organ of their religion is directly guided by God and infallible in all its decisions; and second, that they tend to have an unhealthy liking for bureaucracy and downplay the importance and benefits of individual free thought and activity. I strongly disagreed with the long-standing policy that all Baha'i scholars and writers must submit everything they write about the faith to a Baha'i "pre-publication review committee" for official approval. I was also frustrated by the fact that the Baha'i Faith organization prohibits its members from participating in politics, since political activism had previously been an interest of mine.
After a few years, I decided to leave the Baha'i Faith for these reasons as well as others. At the time, I regarded the Baha'i Faith organization and the faith itself to be basically synonymous – as most Baha'is do – so I didn't think much about the possibility of remaining a Baha'i without in some way supporting the dominant Baha'i tradition (which is sometimes called "Haifan" Baha'ism, because the organization representing this tradition is based in Haifa, Israel). I did briefly feel compelled to try to promote some ideas for reforming the religion and its institutions, but I did this in an arrogant and ineffective way and soon gave up on it.
I began to feel attracted to Jesus more than any other great historical religious leader, so I decided to become a Christian, got baptized, and joined the Assemblies of God church. However, my broad-minded attitude prevented me from fully buying into Evangelical Christianity, and over the years I have grown increasingly liberal and universalist in my understanding of the Gospel. I can say that the Baha'i faith had a positive influence on me in helping me to see the value in all religious paths, but that I found organized Haifan Baha'ism to be too fundamentalist and restrictive for my free-thinking mind and mystical heart.
Issues in the Baha'i Faith: "Manifestations of God"
There are some theological reasons why I left the Baha'i faith – it was not only because of disagreements with the Baha'i Faith organization. When I first became a Christian, I did so in large part because I had come to the conclusion that Jesus Christ was far greater than any other prophet, such as Moses, Muhammad or Baha'u'llah. Contrary to Baha'i doctrine, I believed that Jesus occupied a special place as the unique "Son of God" – the only human being who ever was the perfect Manifestation of Divinity. I did not believe that other founders of religions were on the same level as Jesus.
Over time, my views have evolved. Today, I still believe that Jesus was the greatest example of the fusion of the human and the divine that is known to history, but I have come to believe that all human beings are "manifestations of God" in some sense or to some degree. I no longer believe in the Trinitarian notion that Jesus was divine and everyone else isn't; instead I believe in the Unitarian view that he was a great spiritual master but human like the rest of us, and that there have been others similar to him who are great examples of divine qualities in human beings.
Most Baha'is interpret their faith as teaching that only the founders of the great religions are Manifestations of God and all others are mere servants, just as most Christians believe only Jesus is the Son of God and all others must bow down to him as Lord. I disagree with this idea. I think all humans fall on a continuum of spiritual development, rather than being divided neatly into categories of "Manifestations" of the divine attributes or "Non-Manifestations."
All human beings are manifestations of divinity, because we were all created in the image of God and we are all God's children. This teaching is found in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and in the writings of many modern spiritual leaders. Conservative Baha'is (which is most Baha'is) draw an ontological distinction between Manifestations of God and regular human beings, but there is no such distinction. There may be a small number of people whose special role in history was to found religions, but they were imperfect and fallible like all other humans. All humans are on a journey which begins when one's eternal spirit is birthed from the Womb of God, comes to earth in a physical body, and continues after death in other lifetimes and/or other dimensions of existence as we grow from spiritual infancy through stages of childhood, adolescence, and eventually adulthood. Given enough ages for development, everyone will ultimately reach the level of great spiritual masters such as Jesus, Buddha, etc. Even Jesus himself promised this! (see Luke 6:40).
It may be possible for Baha'ism to be reinterpreted in this way, since one of the core Baha'i beliefs is the idea of the continual progress of all souls in the afterlife. The Baha'i faith teaches that no soul is forever lost, and all will keep progressing toward God through ages of time. Perhaps the Great Prophets or "Manifestations" of God are at a much higher level than other souls, because they have existed for far longer back in time than most people alive on earth. Perhaps, as Buddhists believe about the Boddhisattvas, they consent to return to earth when religion needs to be renewed – even though they have already ascended to higher levels of spiritual existence.
Issues in the Baha'i Faith: "Progressive Revelation"
The Baha'i faith sees all major world religions as being part of a dispensational progression of spiritual knowledge revealed by God. While this idea has some merit, it is an oversimplification of human spiritual history. The Baha'i faith, as it is interpreted by most of its followers, ignores some important religious traditions such as Taoism and Sikhism; excessively downplays the very real differences that exist between religions; and puts all religions on one track of progressive development, when in fact they emerged on more than one parallel tracks and on different timelines in different parts of the world.
The Baha'i concept of "progressive revelation" is true as a big picture idea – that humans have gradually come to apprehend the Divine in more mature and sophisticated ways over time – but the specific details taught by Baha'u'llah and his successors are too limited to an Abrahamic paradigm. Baha'u'llah's background was Islam, which envisioned religion as progressing by means of a discrete series of prophets chosen by God. He seems to have known little about Eastern religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. He wrote almost nothing about these, even though billions of human beings have followed and been inspired by these traditions – probably because he had little contact with people from those parts of the world and most of his followers were Muslims.
Abdu'l-Baha and his grandson and successor Shoghi Effendi expanded the Baha'i view of religious unity to include acceptance of the divine inspiration of some of the Eastern religions, because they sincerely believed in the goal of uniting all humanity with one interfaith vision of truth. This was Baha'u'llah's goal too, but the time and culture in which he lived defined the way he presented the message. He simply didn't have much of any exposure to ideas from outside of Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
If we are to be intellectually honest, we must admit that the linear Baha'i concept of God sending a "new Manifestation" to "reveal" a "new Dispensation" with a "new Book" for the world roughly every 1000 years does not take into account all the great diversity and complexity of historical religious development. This idea comes directly from Islam and has a heavy Abrahamic bias. Baha'ism has attempted to embrace some non-Abrahamic religions by fitting them into the Islamic paradigm of religious history. This is a nice theoretical attempt with good motivations behind it, but I think it needs to be reevaluated.
The Baha'i concept of progressive revelation makes sense if it is interpreted in a broader way, focusing on the archetypal journey of human beings continually seeking The Source and periodically creating new religions reflecting their evolving perspective on life and existence. In fact, to embrace this basic idea as the core of how we understand the phenomenon of religion – that it is not static but evolutionary, representing a never-ending dance between the Human and the Divine – is a beautiful way of thinking. The Baha'i faith has the potential to conceive of religious history through this liberal lens, if fundamentalist interpretations of Baha'i theology are cast aside.
Issues in the Baha'i Faith: The "Most Holy Book"
One of the reasons I decided to leave the Baha'i faith was because of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, which in Arabic means the Most Holy Book. Baha'u'llah wrote this book to establish a set of laws, commandments, regulations, and rituals for the Baha'i religion which would differentiate it from Islam. Baha'u'llah said that the whole world should follow the teachings of his Most Holy Book for the next 1000 years.
While some ideas in the Aqdas are good and represent significant progress beyond the laws of the Qur'an and Islam, some of them are simply unsuitable for modern 21st century civilization and show that Baha'u'llah's mentality was to some degree limited by the standards of the time and culture in which he lived. For example, Baha'u'llah commands in his Most Holy Book that a thief should have a visible mark put on his forehead after the third offense – presumably some kind of brand or tattoo. This is much better than the Qur'anic punishment for stealing (amputation of a hand), but it's hardly compatible with the values of modern times.
I also disagree with Baha'u'llah's claim that all people must recognize his absolute spiritual authority and must accept and follow all the laws and teachings in his book. I do not believe in an infallible Bible nor an infallible Qur'an or any other scripture that conservative religious people believe is perfect. Although I think Baha'u'llah taught many beneficial and inspiring things in his writings, there are some things he taught that I simply disagree with – just as I disagree with some things taught by Moses, Jesus, Saint Paul, Muhammad, Buddha, or any other spiritual teacher who has left behind writings or sayings. I wish that Christians, Jews, Muslims, and people of all faiths would would move beyond the idea of rigid support for every law and teaching contained within their own preferred religious scripture.
Some ideas in the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Qur'an, and other scriptures are outdated and should no longer be followed. Similarly, some of Baha'u'llah's ideas in his Aqdas have already passed into the realm of the historical rather than the currently applicable – before they were ever even applied. Baha'is should take a fresh look at the Kitab-i-Aqdas and be honest with themselves about which parts of it should still be followed; which parts should be followed but need to be reinterpreted in a more modern or liberal way; and which parts of it ought to be put aside as relics of a past era. There are many positive and relevant aspects of the Baha'i spiritual tradition – including in the Most Holy Book of the Baha'i faith – but in order for these to shine forth more fully, Bahais need to be willing to engage in modern liberal hermeneutics, textual criticism, and historical contextualization of their scriptures. This is what progressive adherents of all other religions are doing, and it is necessary to keep any religion relevant in changing times and cultural settings.
Issues in the Baha'i Faith: The "Covenant" and "Covenant-breakers"
By far, the worst problem with the Baha'i faith as most Baha'is understand it today is the Baha'i concept called "the Covenant" and the treatment of Baha'is who are considered heretics, called "Covenant-breakers." Ever since Baha'u'llah passed away and his eldest son Abdu'l-Baha became the leader of the faith, Baha'is have had the notion of a special "Covenant" between God and the Baha'is, that the Baha'i religion will always remain united under one organization and will always have a perfect and infallible source of divine guidance in this world in the form of the highest Baha'i leader or institution. Baha'is who do not believe this, or who support alternative Baha'i organizations, may be declared to be Covenant-breakers and shunned by all members of the Haifan Baha'i Faith organization.
This fundamentalist, even cultlike idea and practice originated in the teachings of Abdu'l-Baha, who claimed that his appointment to lead the Baha'is after Baha'u'llah meant that all Baha'is must regard him as morally perfect and infallible; that all his writings were to carry the same authority as scripture; and that he had the authority to tell all Baha'is what to believe and do. His younger brother, Ghusn-i-Akbar (usually called by his given name, Muhammad Ali), objected to these claims of Abdu'l-Baha and believed that no religious leader other than the Manifestations of God should have that much authority. Ghusn-i-Akbar had been appointed by Baha'u'llah in his Will and Testament to become his second successor, after Abdu'l-Baha. Instead, Abdu'l-Baha declared him a heretic, excommunicated him, and demanded that all Baha'is shun him. Most of Baha'u'llah's children and other descendants and relatives sympathized with Ghusn-i-Akbar and disagreed with Abdu'l-Baha's claims, and they were also excommunicated and shunned by the majority of Baha'is, who were loyal to Abdu'l-Baha.
This is how the concept of "Covenant-breaking" was born in the Baha'i faith. Abdu'l-Baha appointed his own grandson, Shoghi Effendi, to be his successor instead of Ghusn-i-Akbar, and called him the "Guardian" of the faith. He instructed him to appoint a successor before his death from among his own children or relatives to become the next Guardian. However, Shoghi Effendi found himself unable to have children of his own, and during his lifetime he declared all of his relatives to be Covenant-breakers because, in his view, they were not sufficiently obedient to his supposedly absolute authority over the Baha'is.
Therefore, the chain of succession of individual Baha'i leaders came to an end. Shoghi Effendi died suddenly without leaving a will, and did not provide specific instructions during his lifetime about who should lead the Baha'i Faith after his death. As one might imagine, this situation led to a power struggle. Ultimately, the vast majority of Baha'is consolidated under the authority of an elected institution called the Universal House of Justice. However, according to Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi, this institution was required to have a Guardian as its chairman, who would have the right to insist on reconsideration of its decisions and to expel its members if necessary.
Therefore, a Baha'i who adheres to all the writings and teachings of the recognized successors of Baha'u'llah could legitimately question whether the current leadership organ of the Baha'i Faith known as the UHJ could possibly be perfect and infallible without a Guardian heading it. However, Baha'i Faith members are not allowed to question this or to regard the UHJ as merely a council of religious leaders making human decisions for the Baha'i Faith organization. Instead, they must profess belief that the Baha'i Covenant is still intact, that an infallible chain of succession of spiritual authority has never been broken. Baha'is are not supposed to disagree with any decision of the UHJ, since this institution is regarded as speaking for God.
I disagree with this on two levels: For one thing, it seems clear to me from the facts of Baha'i history that the Covenant did not pan out the way it was supposed to, first because the person who was originally supposed to become Abdu'l-Baha's successor was excommunicated unfairly; and furthermore because of the untimely death of his replacement, Shoghi Effendi, who did not appoint a successor.
Secondly, I simply do not believe there could ever be such a thing as a perfect chain of infallible spiritual authority. The Holy Spirit doesn't want to be limited to working through such a single channel, and what happened in the Baha'i faith ironically proves this. It's almost as if God Himself intervened to make sure that it would be impossible to believe, in a logical and intellectually honest way, in the fundamentalist Baha'i idea of "the Covenant." Also, since the time of Baha'u'llah there have been various other spiritual leaders and movements that were not part of the Baha'i faith, and some of these clearly were infused with divine inspiration. Examples include the Unitarians and Universalists, Transcendentalists, the New Thought and New Age movements, and the Charismatic movement.
Today, most Baha'is consider Baha'is who reject the claims of infallible authority by the Haifan Baha'i Faith's highest leadership institution to be "Covenant-breakers," terrible heretics who are reviled and shunned by "true" Baha'is. Two alternative Baha'i organizations were sued by the mainstream Baha'i Faith organization, simply because they use the word Baha'i to describe their beliefs. The Baha'i Faith's leaders actually had the audacity to claim that the word Baha'i is trademarked by their own organization and that such a trademark – on the name of a religion – is legitimate. It would be as if the Roman Catholic Church claimed that Protestants cannot describe themselves as Christian and sued their churches. Such attitudes among Baha'is are intolerant, fanatical, and characteristic of cults rather than the major world religion for modern times that the Baha'i faith aspires to be. In 2010, the court sided with the small Baha'i denominations and ruled that the name of the Baha'i religion is in the public domain.
Baha'is should put aside the notion of a special Covenant decreed by God that demands that all Baha'is must only support one Baha'i organization and always agree with its leadership. This idea has been disproved by Baha'i history, and it is incompatible with the modern, progressive ideals of religious tolerance and diversity that the Baha'i faith is supposed to stand for.
Issues in the Baha'i Faith: The "Universal House of Justice"
Members of the Baha'i Faith organization not only believe that their Universal House of Justice is infallibly inspired by God and that all Baha'is must unquestioningly obey its decisions, but they also believe that eventually all the peoples and nations of the world should come under the authority of this Baha'i religious institution. Specifically, conservative Baha'i doctrine asserts that all matters of state should be referred to the House of Justice; or as they understand it, that the UHJ should one day hold a higher position of power than the governments of the world. This appears to be based on a misinterpretation of one sentence that Baha'u'llah wrote in a text appended to his Most Holy Book.
Haifan Baha'ism includes theocracy as one of it's teachings, but it is far from clear that this is how the faith should be interpreted. Some Baha'i scholars disagree with this interpretation, but they have either been expelled from membership in the organized Baha'i Faith or must keep quiet about their beliefs. Most of Baha'u'llah's writings clearly promote secular democracy rather than theocracy – in fact, there is a great deal of evidence to indicate that Baha'u'llah envisioned a world in which people of all religions would have equal rights and freedoms and would form democratic national parliaments to serve as a check on the power of kings, clergy, and other autocratic rulers. Despite this, a pro-theocracy view is almost totally dominant in the Baha'i Faith today, and looks to remain so, because this doctrine is promoted by the "infallible" UHJ itself.
As for the "Universal House of Justice" such as has been created as the head institution of the mainstream Baha'i Faith organization, this is only one possible interpretation of what Baha'u'llah wrote on the subject of democratic spiritual leadership. Baha'u'llah taught that a local institution called simply the Bayt al-Adl ("House of Justice") should be formed in each city, and he described it as something very similar to a New England town meeting. Such bodies were supposed to replace the institution of the clergy in previous religions – and presumably Houses of Justice could be created at national or international levels as well – but Baha'u'llah does not define it or limit it, except to say that at least nine people must participate in the meetings of each House. Women were not excluded in theory as they have been in practice (the restriction of the UHJ to men only was a later interpretation by Abdu'l-Baha), nor did Baha'u'llah say that a House of Justice necessarily has to be restricted only to Baha'is or members of a particular organized religious community.
It is very unlikely that the Haifa-based Baha'i Faith organization will ever grow large enough to begin pushing for the kind of sweeping political power that it desires, so non-Baha'is need not worry. But regardless of practical realities, the fundamentalist Baha'i theory of future theocratic governance is a bad idea. In my opinion – and the opinion of the vast majority of progressive-thinking people in the world today – the leadership organs of any one religion should not aspire to assert authority over government. Instead, there should be separation of religion and state. Humanity is moving away from the idea of having popes, bishops, shaykhs, imams, ayatollahs, or any other kind of religious leaders holding a great deal of worldly power – and this is a very good development for the progress of civilization!
Baha'is need to put aside outdated theories and ideas that are not even clearly taught in Baha'u'llah's own writings. It was Shoghi Effendi, the successor of Abdu'l-Baha, who wrote in favor of theocracy and interpreted the Baha'i scriptures in a way that fit with his own preference for a one-world government ruled by the Universal House of Justice of the Baha'i Faith. Baha'is should move beyond such fantasies that belong to a bygone era, and reinterpret the Baha'i faith's teachings about politics and government to be fully compatible with 21st century democratic values.
Moving Beyond a Fundamentalist View of the Baha'i Faith
The Baha'i religion, if believed in a conservative and dogmatic way as many Baha'is do, is just like so many other philosophies and religions that claim absolute truth and authority while falling short of that impossible level of perfection. Baha'ism has played a valuable role in human spiritual history and continues to benefit many people today, but spiritually mature individuals (whether they choose to consider themselves "Baha'i" or not) should be able to perceive and admit its flaws and refrain from adhering to this faith with a literalistic and fundamentalist attitude – just as we should avoid all fundamentalisms so that we may continue the never-ending search for greater knowledge, understanding, truth, and meaning.
If you agree with a lot of Baha'i principles – such as the unity of humanity, world peace, equality of women and men, racial equality, and interfaith reconciliation – but disagree with the conservative way the Baha'i faith has been interpreted in the mainstream organized Baha'i community, you may be interested to check out these groups and websites:
Blessings to you in your spiritual journey, and may God be with you always!
Love, Light, and Peace,
Other Documents
Contact Eric Stetson
Bahai-Faith.com founded November 2002. Last updated May 6, 2011.


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Filtration strategies
Considering how many members have questions about brands and types of filtration, there's another side of things; multiple filters.
By that I mean two or more filters on your tank. One can not over filter a aquarium. I am not talking about the media within the filters, just that the more water filtered the better water quality maintained.
I read in an old Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine (Oct. '03) about a fellow who had, among other filtration, both a fluidized bed and Hang on Back (HOB) power filter on his 55 gallon reef aquarium. That, along with his protein skimmer, kept his reef in top shape. The person was concerned about the weight on the back of the tank from all that filtration.
The recommendation was to build wood boxes for particularly the fluidized bed filter to sit on.
But I digress. There are many, many benefits from using two or more filters on your tank.
First, your fishes. Though most freshwater fish are adaptable to varied levels of pH, temperature and hardness, marine fishes are not. It is up to the keeper to keep their charges in stable, clean water.
More than one filter can really help accomplish that. For example, there are two canister filters, both rated for up to a hundred-gallon aquarium, filtering the 75 gallon freshwater tank to my right as I write this. There are roughly 55 tetras and multiple other small fishes in it. Those fishes are nearing their 14th year.
Without getting too technical on the hows and whys, it's because of top shelf water quality from multiple filtration.
The only caveat is the flow from too powerful multiple filters that makes it difficult for fishes to swim. So when you buy filters, make sure they are rated for no more than twice your tank size. Fishes like Bettas need considerably less flow.
Cleaning. What makes aquarium keeping possible is Nitrifying bacteria. When a person has one filter, those bacteria are impinged by the cleaning, even when the filter is cleaned in tank water as it certainly should be.
That can result in a mini Ammonia bloom until the bacteria fully rebound, which can take days. And readers of this should know that Ammonia, even a tiny bit of it, can damage fishes, particularly the lining of the gils. If one visits the forum daily, you'll see many unexplained deaths. Now you know why.
With multiple filters that can be negated. Say you have two HOB power filters for example, and you clean filters monthly. You can clean one HOB one month, the other HOB the next month. As long as your tank isn't grossly overstocked, that is.
Stability is the name of the game of aquarium keeping. Multiple filters can help.
Media. The more filters you have attached to a tank the more media you can use. Too much Phosphate causing algae? Add removal product to the filters, problem solved.
There is filter media available for nearly anything that is dissolved in water. Though canister filters, by their very construction, can hold more types and amounts of media than a HOB filter, more than one of any kind of filter is a very good thing.
Clean water is what every forum member should aspire to.
And there is water volume. In nature, marine and freshwater fishes have a great deal more water to swim in than any aquarium does.
Thus, the more water in a system the better. Multiple filters can provide it.
HOB power filters that are waterfall type, hold little water volume, but any extra is good. Canister filters hold more; many brands hold over a gallon of water.
Though refugiums are a marine thing, they also work in FW. It's beyond the scope of this post to describe details of FW refugiums, but hang-on models hold a good deal of water, from one to five gallons, depending on size and model.
If one has sump-based filtration, filters can be attached to it, keeping them out of sight. I'm one who detests the appearance of equipment in an aquarium, so all my tanks have sumps.
Water volume is another plus when using multiple filters.
So, to summarize. Using two or more filters on an aquarium can benefit your fishes. And benefiting the fishes is always a good thing.


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12 May 2010
Southern Road Trip Diary, pt 4
photos by Tom b.
- H&M dress
- AA floppy hat
- UO flats
- 70s leather & wood sandals (had to trade out for the flats to walk around in the animal pens!)
(cute barn cat... feeding the goats... petting Elliot the donkey)
Our last stop on our trip was spending the night in Stuart, VA. Our friends Tanja and Jeff live in an old farm house with about a billion animals all around. Pretty much heaven! The animals are a result of Tanja's involvement with a local animal rescue group. Most of them were abused or abandoned and have found a wonderful new home on their farm. If I remember correctly there were 3 goats, 2 sheep, 2 horses, a donkey named Elliot, 5 dogs, 5 ducks, a few visiting geese, 5 guinea hens and 20-something cats! The cats of course were my favorite (if I had to pick). There were house cats and barn cats, forest cats and porch cats! Inside the house there was a cat room where the fosters were kept while waiting for adoption.
(Elliot the donkey... hanging out by the barn... goat head butts!)
Tom snapped plenty of photos of the goats and Elliot the donkey but the horses and sheep were pretty shy. Well, except for when Tom would kneel down to take a photo. Then the sheep would sneak up behind him to check him out!
(goats like to have their photos taken too... I was on a hair-washing strike on our trip - day six!)
I think if Tom had to pick a favorite it may have been Barney the three-legged chow. He is the resident watch dog and just one big teddy-bear of a dog. And then there was Love Bug the cat who sort of thought he was a dog and followed us everywhere we went. Too cute!
Tanja treated us to lots of hearty food during our visit including fresh duck eggs for breakfast. I'd never eaten duck eggs but I'm always up for trying something new and I have to say it was quite good! They're a bit larger than chicken eggs and have a creamier texture. I imagine they would be wonderful to bake with.
While we were visiting I was wonderfully inspired by all of the work Tanja is doing with the local animal rescue group. I was hoping there would be a way to donate help directly to her group. Then I found out that they work with PetFinder.com for all of their adoptions and donations. If you'd like to support Tanja and so many others like her, or if you're thinking adding a pet to your family, I highly recommend that you take a moment to learn a bit more about Pet Finder.
(the big dogs... the farmhouse... Tom and Barney... Tanja... little lady goat)
34 comments:
- Rebecca said...
I love the H&M dress, probably because it looks like it's made of chambray. It looks like you had a fun time on the farm, what an amazing place to visit. I think Eliott the donkey would be my favourite!
~ the dandelion girl ~
- May 12, 2010
- Tess, That'll Do said...
I'm absolutely in love with this entire post. For one, you always have the most gorgeous photos I've ever seen. Truly. For two, you might know that I'm vegan so there's very little that I enjoy more than farm sanctuaries. And that beautiful old farmhouse? Ah, icing on the cake! I wish I could visit them and spend the day with the animals. One of the sweetest animals I've ever met was a blind cow at the Maple Farm Sanctuary here in MA.
- May 12, 2010
- Paula said...
i love all the pictures you always upload to your blog and i ask myself how you have so much time to take them, cause, for example, i don't have any time to go to a special place to take pictures.... anyway, really nice pictures :) you have really nice clothing too :D
- May 12, 2010
- BaronessVonVintage said...
These photos are just gorgeous. That first one is AMAZING!!!
- May 12, 2010
- Victoria / Justice Pirate said...
aw I love all the animals!!!!!!!!!!!! I want a goat. I told my husband that, but they don't do so well in the suburbs of NJ. :(
- May 12, 2010
- Unknown said...
Although I have been anxiously awaiting your write-up about the clothes you found in the abandon house, I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed your vacation pictures, Tom is amazing with the camera.
- May 12, 2010
- Hannah said...
I've loved these posts! They make me want to move to the South, so very badly. But of course, I can't see the 90 degree temperatures!
- May 12, 2010
- L. said...
these photos are all so pretty! what a beautiful farm your friend has, and it's so awesome what shes doing for those animals. really a great post.
Betty Noir
- May 12, 2010
- Anonymous said...
I am loving your gorgeous road trip journal series. Such lovely, dreamy images. Thanks!
- May 12, 2010
- megannielsen said...
Wow you always take the absolute best pictures. I LOVE that dress, and it fits you so perfectly!
- May 12, 2010
- diptea said...
I love your pictures. They are so gorgeous. You are an inspiration. The chambray dress is so cute ... and the farm animal pictures are so adorable!!
- May 12, 2010
- jenloveskev said...
ahh you look so effortlessly beautiful!! I love it! These are great photos!
- May 12, 2010
- Fabulocity in Amish Country said...
Gorgeous pics!! Loveeee the floppy hat! :)
- May 12, 2010
- Miranda said...
You're so beautiful and you give me so much inspiration! This is just lovely!
Have a nice day! =)
- May 12, 2010
- tess said...
wow your friends are so cool and inspiring, a great cause and a great life
and I love your dress
- May 12, 2010
- Jenni said...
Being around so many animals looks like a dream to me. Amazing! Love your outfit, too... I have a similar dress (with puffy sleeves, not cuffed sleeves) and it's one of my favorites. I love how you styled it with the hat.
- May 12, 2010
- reckless daughter said...
I wish I had a farm so I could do that rescue thing - what lovely people to take that on!
You look fabulous - I love that you went on hair washing strike I do that too sometimes ;)
- May 12, 2010
- Isabel said...
I'm so in love with your dress!
- May 12, 2010
- Leire said...
Not only the clothes are beautiful --I love that hat!--, but the whole post is amazing. Great oictures, great story and great goat! :) aren't those animals sweet? :)
- May 12, 2010
- giselaandzoe said...
what a lovely post..love all the scenery..inspires me to do a southern road trip myself!
- May 12, 2010
- MODERNISMANDVINTAGE said...
Beautiful pics!
- May 12, 2010
- Unknown said...
I love your dress!
Is so cool!:)
And the pictures? AWESOME!
I also think that the Tanja's work is really amazing, she's a really nice person if she does this kind of thigs.
Sometimes in the world you know people that is really a good people, isn't it?
well, my english is very bad, but I hope you can understand me!
xxx darling!
- May 12, 2010
- Ana, Playground Love said...
love that first picture, it is absolutely dreamy!
- May 12, 2010
- charinthecity said...
Gorgeous pictures, compliments to you and Tom! My fiance and I look at your pics to try and improve on our portrait shots. Love this post in particular with all the animals.
- May 12, 2010
- Zoë, Lion Heart Vintage said...
wow, just gorgeous. this farm is my idea of Heaven... surrounded by loving animals and beautiful nature! also some fantastic clothes thrown in there wouldn't hurt..... ;)
your outfit is beautiful and timeless, as per usual! what a great post.
PS your hair looks great for day 6! holy cow.
- May 12, 2010
- Valerie said...
Your friends are wonderful for saving those animals and you are wonderful for sharing about it! It looks like a dream come true to live there.
I have a fish named Elliott. No Joke. He's a pretty cool dude.
- May 12, 2010
- goodbyestockholm said...
Adore that floppy hat!!!
- May 12, 2010
- s said...
I notice that you deleted the post about the abandoned house full of clothes. Given that several people wrote in about that, don't you think you should address it? Or are you just going to sell the clothes in your shop anyway?
- May 12, 2010
- Lara said...
I love the photos! I also can not believe that you went 6 days with out washing your hair! I could never do that. You are lucky to get me one day. But I have pretty limp oily hair so that may be the difference
- May 13, 2010
- MOUSEVOX VINTAGE said...
This is so southern it melts my own lil' southern heart.
- May 13, 2010
- Bench Shoes said...
I really like this dress! So adorable
- May 13, 2010
- jozefina said...
so cute photos!!!
- May 13, 2010
- Christina said...
Day 6?!? How did you get your hair to stay in such good shape? You must share! Mine gets greasy by the end of the day. I shutter to think of it on day 6.
- May 13, 2010
- Common Threads said...
great photos and lovely dress!
- May 19, 2010


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Sorry if this has been posted...
Alex Gonzalez-SS-Red Sox Nov. 16 - 8:32 pm et
Free agent Alex Gonzalez reportedly has a three-year, $15 million offer on the table, likely from either the White Sox or the Reds.
The Blue Jays have also been talking to Gonzalez, but they didn't make the offer. If Gonzalez can get this kind of deal, Julio Lugo at four years and $32 million would look very attractive. Of course, if it's the White Sox that sign Gonzalez, the same teams that are considering Gonzalez right now would likely covet Juan Uribe. Uribe is about as good defensively and has more offensive potential. Should the Reds get Gonzalez, Brandon Phillips would stay at second base. It'd make the decision to re-sign Juan Castro look awfully redundant.
Yuck, let's hope it's the Sox who want him.


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Create An 07 Racing Collectibles Account and Earn 100 Race Points worth $5.00 by creating an account.
When you create a new account, 100 Race Points worth $5.00 will be added to your account that you can redeem at any time.
Sign Up Today to start earning Race Points and Save Money!


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Shovels, snow blowers and salt spreaders were out in full force Thursday night and Friday morning as the Chicago area dealt with Mother Nature's latest offering: a wintry mix of rain and snow.
The storm dumped up to nine inches of snow on parts of McHenry County, evidenced by huge snow banks and plow truck drivers working through the night to get to side roads and parking lots. In Gurnee and Antioch, roads were a sloppy mess.
While precipitation appeared to have tapered off a bit in downtown Chicago at about 8:30 p.m., a Winter Weather Advisory remained in effect for Cook, DuPage, Kane and DeKalb counties until midnight. Lake and McHenry counties were under a Winter Storm Warning until midnight.
As of 8 p.m., the winter weather had caused the cancellation of more than 225 flights at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and delayed both inbound and outbound flights by about an hour. Delays and cancellations were significantly less at Midway International. Travelers were advised to check FlyChicago.com or remain in contact with their airlines for the most up-to-date information.
Chicago's Department of Streets & Sanitation put out 199 snow trucks to patrol Lake Shore Drive and the city's main thoroughfares. Trucks were salting the roadways but plowing as needed, officials said.
The Illinois Tollway mobilized all available resources to keep shoulders, ramps and toll plazas across the 286-mile system clear, a release from the Tollway said.
Since the snowfall began early Thursday, Tollway officials said they helped nearly 50 drivers change tires, charge car batteries, get fuel and call for tows.
Salt was proving to be extremely effective because most area temperatures remained right above the freezing mark. Most thoroughfares and arterial streets were just wet and slushy.
Once the storm passes Thursday night, the next chance of precipitation will be Sunday, the weather service said. But by then the highs will be in the lower 40s and the precipitation will be all rain. But conditions were expected to be significantly worse in the population-dense east coast, where up to two feet of snow was predicted to fall in the days ahead in a convergence of two strong storms.
A planned visit to Chicago by NBC News' "Today" show anchors Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie was canceled Thursday in advance of the storm.
Area Snow Totals:
- Beach Park: 10"
- Marengo -- 6"
- Belvidere -- 2.5"
- Romeoville -- 0.3"
- Lake in the Hills -- 6.1
- O'Hare -- 1.4
- Midway -- 0.6


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About NicoleN
icole Schapiro is a Human Capital Management Coach, Strategy Advisor, Organizational Development Consultant and the author of the New York Times bestseller, Negotiating For Your Life. Her book was reviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle as "the year's best contribution to business books." US Senator Dianne Feinstein said "… after reading Negotiating For Your Life we learn how to expand our horizons and therefore our careers: I highly recommend it!"
Nicole was described by the New York Times as a "role model for all people who want to succeed and are not afraid of the odds." She is indeed a role model for risk taking, resilience, and achieving vision and results.
Chicago Tribune described Nicole, "As a most inspirational speaker. Her presentations are life changing." At age 15, Nicole escaped alone from Communist Hungary to the United States. Speaking no English she lived for a year as a homeless person in New York City. Yet with courage, persistence and innate negotiation skills she received a scholarship to the University of Chicago and earned a BS in Psychology, and later, from NYU, an MA in Industrial Psychology.
Before the age of 30 Nicole became the first woman senior vice president of Sales and Marketing at a NY based large financial institution. In 1991, she lost her home in the Oakland fire, left with nothing again, except her life. Nicole is a role model for overcoming difficult odds and challenges without ever acting like a victim. She utilizes her practical, in-the-trenches business experiences, inspiring life challenges to impact, ignite people's passion and possibilities to lead them to successful results. Many organizations and individuals who have followed Nicole's practical approach, innovative current methodologies have found immediate and sustainable results changing the bottom line and increased organizational success.
Nicole Schapiro has published numerous business articles and has been a guest on national Radio and TV Show such as Oprah, CNN and BBC. She has also received many awards including:
- The Congressional Recognition for Outstanding Service to the Community by Nancy Pelosi.
- The City of San Francisco's Immigrant of the Year Award.
- Toastmaster's International Leadership Award
- San Francisco Small Business Administration's 21st Century Dynamic Woman Award
- Who's Who of Finance and Industry
Nicole believes in serving her customers, community and family. She "pays it forward" through her involvement with and support of numerous nonprofit organizations dedicated to health, youth and environment.
About Nicole Schapiro & Associate
NICOLE SCHAPIRO & ASSOCIATES have produced customized keynote speeches, training seminars and executive coaching programs for small, medium and Fortune 100 and 500 companies around the world. At NSA, we pride ourselves on delivering proven results designed to achieve our client's goals and organizational mission, while providing result oriented and sustainable solutions. Our Clients will have specific tools and strategies to maintain the motivation and commitment to use their newly acquired skills in both their professional and personal lives.'
Nicole Schapiro and NSA serve customers by consistently conducting field test to validate and update the research that is the bases of her customized methodology. The results are proven and cutting-edge material that helps customers to achieve sustainable success and to thrive in the global competitive market.
Your Success......Our Passion
Your People......Our Business
Your Growth......Our Mission!!


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Alibi picks
Three Ways to Celebrate Christmas Oversoon in Burque
Whirled joy, a river of lights and Tchaikovsky
In my circles, that friend or family member is me. Loved ones recently informed me that Dec. 1 is a more reasonable time to begin decking one's halls with boughs of holly. In my defense, it seems there are more early-bird holiday hounds than ever. To wit, Starbucks released their red cup on Nov. 1, Christmas displays in big-box retailers went up the same day, and I've begun spotting Christmas trees on my Facebook news feed.
Why not engage in early Christmas merriment? Here are a triptych of ho-ho-holiday events that even the Ebenezer Scrooges of your life can dig.
Joy to the Whirled: Cliff's Magical Christmas
Have you ridden at Uncle Cliff's for decades, hoping there was a way to make the amusement park even more exhilarating? There is; just add Christmas. Cliff's Amusement Park hosts Joy to the Whirled, a holiday celebration wherein they decorate the park, sell holiday snacks and invite Old St. Nick to ride the Rattler with other guests. The event begins on Nov. 29 and runs through Dec. 23, from 6pm to 9pm daily. Tickets are $10.
The River of Lights tops my list of fave winter treats, along with spending time with family ... and biscochitos. The gardens abound with Christmas lights as you sip hot chocolate. This light show never fails to delight. If you've never been, this is a must-do; if you have, you know that walking into the Botanical Gardens this time of year is about as close as you'll ever get to the land of Oz. The River of Lights opens Nov. 30 and runs through Dec. 19, from 6pm to 9pm daily. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children. The show continues Dec. 20 through Jan. 5, but tickets will cost you $12 for adults and $6 for children. The River of Lights is closed Dec. 24, 25 and 31 and Jan. 1.
The New Mexico Ballet Company and the New Mexico Philharmonic inhabit Popejoy for two consecutive weekends to proffer a balletic holiday indulgence, The Nutcracker. While I've never actually seen it, the fact that it's a commonplace holiday topic and is often associated with words like "elegance" and "excellence" leads me to believe even those friends who've been grumbling about your holiday cheer may enjoy this show. The performance series begins Nov. 30 at 7pm and runs through Dec. 8 at 2pm. Tickets start at $11 for adults.
For more info on these events, visit the above-linked websites. If you know of other awesome community events—


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- Tous > Medicine Information and Evidence for Policy > Medicines Policy
- Tous > Medicine Access and Rational Use > Financing
- Tous > Medicine Access and Rational Use > Primary Health Care
- Mots-clés > cost containment
- Mots-clés > cost-effectiveness
- Mots-clés > costs - health services
- Mots-clés > health expenditures
- Mots-clés > health system
- Mots-clés > health system strengthening
- Mots-clés > policy perspectives
- Mots-clés > public and private sector
- Mots-clés > strategies
- Mots-clés > Tallinn Charter
(2012; 330 pages)
Member States in the WHO European Region are facing a formidable economic crisis that is also calling into question the sustainability of the European social welfare model as a whole and necessitating even greater cost–effectiveness of health systems. Policy-makers are being called on to account for each and every area of public expenditure and are expected to maximize value for money; indeed, the sizeable share of public money that is devoted to health and the ever-increasing cost pressures and demands to cut public expenditure put health systems at the heart of the policy debate. Consequently, the central message of this volume is very relevant, timely and welcome: health systems are not a drain on resources but an investment in health and wealth – that is, in the health of the population and in economic growth.
An earlier draft version of this volume served as background for the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Health Systems in Tallinn in 2008. It underpinned the deliberations of Member States as they elaborated the Tallinn Charter: Health Systems for Health and Wealth. The evidence contained in this volume illustrates how health constitutes a major component of societal wellbeing. It demonstrates that health has both a value in itself and a major impact on economic productivity and the economy as a whole. Moreover, it shows the contributions of health systems to health improvement, population health and equity: making a powerful case for investing in health systems.
These are not, however, arguments for a blank cheque. Investments in health system interventions need to be underpinned by evidence on performance, including impacts on overall population health gain and value for money.
Importantly, they must also be set against investments in other sectors because a large share of the burden of disease is preventable through early interventions not only within but also outside the health system in sectors such as education, transport, housing or employment; all these areas influence the broader determinants of health. Investments in many of these public health interventions are best value in terms of both health gain and cost-effectiveness. Policy-makers should, therefore, be held accountable both for the operation of the health services and for the health leadership that they exercise across sectors to maximize the overall health of their populations.
The WHO Regional Office for Europe in this second decade of the new century is strengthening the work of the Tallinn Charter with its central message on the value of investing in health systems. This is being done by extending the fundamental principles of the Tallinn Charter to cover the strengthening and integration of public health within the health system and, where relevant, also in other sectors. Strengthening public health is also at the core of the new WHO European health policy, Health 2020, now under discussion in our Member States. The new policy argues for "whole-of-government" and "whole-of-society" approaches that will consolidate the ideals encompassed in health in all policies. This concept emphasizes the need to improve the integration of government activities with health and to reach out beyond government to engage patients and citizens, developing a responsive and inclusive approach to governance for health. The policy will be accompanied by a raft of evidence that underlines its rationale, most particularly around enabling implementation – a lynchpin for policy success. This includes a review of social determinants and the health divide in the European Region, pointing towards successful interventions, and studies on the economics of prevention and on effective tools to improve health governance. The current volume is, therefore, a welcome and timely addition to this arsenal.


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Dean Cummings on "The Steep Life" and H20 Skis
Dean Cummings, heli-ski guide and big mountain pioneer, has a lot going on this winter. He just launched a line of skis, he's travelling the country promoting his movie, "The Steep Life,' and at some point he's going to make it back to the Chugach, where he owns and operates a heli-ski company with a domain the size of Connecticut.
Dean Cummings on The Steep Life and H2O Skis from Skiing Magazine on Vimeo.
Cummings said he designed the H2O Gear ATG ski line to "excel in big mountains and powder." They're all made in the U.S. and have full wood cores. "The Steep Life" looks at Cummings' first descents of two big Alaskan peaks, Meteorite and The Tusk, that he's had his eye on for 16 years.


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On May 4 & 5, the San Antonio Symphony performs Haydn's Symphony No. 104, "London" under the baton of Barry Douglas. This is the last symphony Haydn (1732-1809) wrote, and was a part of the set of 12 symphonies commissioned for Haydn's two visits to London. It was premiered on May 4, 1795, exactly 217 years to the date of Friday's performance. Haydn conducted this first performance.
The premiere was a huge success, and Haydn wrote in his diary, "The whole company was thoroughly pleased and so was I. I made 4,000 gulden on this evening: such a thing is possible only in England." 4,000 gulden is just under $42,000 in today's US currency. That's an amazing fee for one performance, and shows how popular and revered Haydn was at this point in his life.
Here is a good Haydn trivia question–How many symphonies did Haydn compose? If I wasn't lying in the first paragraph and 104 is his last symphony, you'd probably guess 104. WRONG! The most likely number is between 106 and 108. Several didn't survive to modern times and were not included in the original catalog that gave us the current numbering system.
Here is a video of the last two movements of the "London" symphony, conducted by Christopher Hogwood.
Jack Fishman
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
For more blogs by Jack Fishman visit: www.sasymphony.org/blog


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|Tigua Achievement Center at Ysleta del Sur Pueblo in El Paso, TX
December 2007 update: Read the December Newsletter (pdf format).
November 2007 update: Read the November Newsletter (pdf format).
SeniorNet is pleased to announce the opening of the Tigua Achievement Center at Ysleta del Sur Pueblo in El Paso, TX on August 21, 2007. Located at the Tigua Education Center (11100 Santos Sanchez, El Paso, TX 79927), the center provides computer and Internet access, education and training for reservation residents of all ages.
The Tigua Achievement Center is the third of five Achievement Centers to be opened as part of Hope and Harmony for Humanity, a collaborative, grant-based initiative of IBM, the Native American Chamber of Commerce, SeniorNet and the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development, designed to bring computer technology access and education to low-income and remote Native American reservations across the United States. In the past year, the collaborative has opened Achievement Centers on the Blackfeet Nation in Browning, Montana and for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Cass Lake, Minnesota.
For more information read the full press release, the El Paso Times article or the announcement on the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo website.


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Cars and the companies that make them are constantly evolving. What car has made the biggest leap forward from being a piece of junk when it came out to being a real peach?
Evolution is interesting to chart in animals, because the change is so slow that it's nearly imperceptible as it's happening. Automakers don't always have that luxury. Sure, a car will evolve during its product cycle with light improvements, but every decade or so there's a massive, time shifting event that suddenly makes the last generation totally obsolete.
But what car has made the biggest improvement since it was first introduced? Corvette? Sonata? Accord?


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Home > Gardening & Outdoors > The Potting Shed
There is no better place to let your eco side show than in the garden. Strip it all back, and get back to basics with our fantastic range of sustainable FSC products, for both you and the wildlife - you know they'll love you for it. Start making your own compost, or water your garden for free with our rainwater harvesting waterbutts. And when the sun goes down, up comes the solar lights, so you can sit back, admire your hardwork.
NKUKU Woodquail Reform Glass Wildlife World ashortwalk Elvis & Kresse Green Glass