text:
(CNN) – Two of the late President Ronald Reagan's children are taking opposing stances on same-sex marriage, as Supreme Court justices weigh a federal ban prohibiting marriages between gays and lesbians.
Michael Reagan, a conservative author, defended a controversial op-ed piece warning of a "slippery slope" after same-sex marriage approval during an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan on Wednesday.
"I think it does send a slippery slope," Reagan said. "I think if you accept the redefinition of marriage then you're going to have to accept the redefinition all the way down the line."
In the op-ed, Reagan argued that making same-sex marriage legal could result in "a very slippery slope leading to other alternative relationships and the unconstitutionality of any law based on morality. Think about polygamy, bestiality, and perhaps even murder."
Speaking on CNN, Reagan said similar questions have been posed in courtrooms without angry backlash from same-sex marriage proponents.
"When they're posed in a court of law to a solicitor general or to someone else, there's no outcry. There's no outrage," he said. "But if I quote or I use those same words in an op-ed piece, that are being used in courtrooms across America, somehow there's all this outrage that is out there."
Michael Reagan's stance is a far cry from the views of his sister Patti Davis, who told the New York Times her father would have supported allowing gays and lesbians to marry.
In the article, Davis recalls a friendship between her parents and a lesbian couple who once babysat the Reagan children.
"I grew up in this era where your parents' friends were all called aunt and uncle," Ms. Davis told the Times. "And then I had an aunt and an aunt. We saw them on holidays and other times."
"We never talked about it, but I just understood that they were a couple," she continued.
On CNN, Michael Reagan also recalled friends of his parents who were in a committed same-sex relationship.
"I have friends together 40 years. Forty years they've been together. Great Republicans. Great friends of my dad. My God, I've been with these people for 40 years, love them to death," he said.
"The reality of it is, I don't believe in gay marriage, as many people don't believe in gay marriage. I think you can have a debate on that. I don't believe in it. I think it does send a slippery slope," he continued.
Uh Ron is on the board of American Atheists geniuses.
These republicans are so out of touch with reality...
The child of their hero saying that marrying two loving gay people leads to bestiality ?
Their newspaper actually printing that ??
None of their leaders reacting and kicking this insane person out of the party ???
And THIS are the people that get about 50% of the votes... exactly how sad can a nation become?
Michael is a 'fake Reagan' because his father as much as let the world know he cared nothing for him. Ron did not go to his 'son's' wedding he was busy attending the Nixon wedding instead. Michael is no talent hack who only has a job because of his name.
It's called legal precedent. If one group changes the rules to marriage, other groups can use that as reason to change it further.
to Jack 2, gay marriage is not a perversion and cannot lead to children who have mental and possibly other disabilities. That's mainly what makes incest so wrong. Kinda like a baby whose mother smoked crack. 2 women or 2 men together, how is that immoral? Because a book says so? If that's your only reason, then you need to quit believing fairy tales. The christian god is a farce and if he's not, may he strike me dead this moment.... yep, didn't think so, I'm still here. Get a grip on reality and quit living in ignorance.
Marriage is the eternal union between a man and a woman before God and Society. Anything else is not marraige.
This creep just LOVES running around using the name of his adoptive father. He wishes he had Ronnie's blood running through his veins, but will never EVER be a true Reagan.
Patti Davis. Reagan in name only. Just another far left looney.
Republicans officially have no rational argument against gay marriage... thanks for proving it again Michael Reagan!!
MIchael Reagan has used his adopted father's name to his own advantage...he has no skills that I can discern other than to play social conservative to earn his living...he is a user and a fraud.
People keep defending Traditional marriage as if it was an amazing experience for everybody.
What is he talking about that the same language has been proposed in courtrooms without backlash? The recent SC case? I think pretty clearly people have called that BS, but in a civil way as it is a formal argument. He's delusional to think that his slippery slope argument holds water. Why are these opponents always referring to bestiality? Is it like the anti-gay preachers who so frequently end up gay? Is there something repressed there?
Michael Reagan and his ilk are genuinely ignorant people with little intellectual capacity. As a result, they *desperately* cling to extremely concrete, black-and-white thinking that belies a nearly complete lack of faith in humanity and extreme fear of any societal change whatsoever. The belief that if we accept gay marriage then we somehow "must" eventually come to accept bestiality – or polygamy, or pretty much anything else that the majority abhors – is nothing more than child-like.
The only thing relevant here is that our Lord does not approve it. Period. We are a Christina country and we will NOT have anything not approved by our Lord here. If you want to marry (i.e. the gays) leave my country.
I feel bad that Ronald's children were so dysfunctional. He was my President growing up and from what I determined a darn good one.I think Miichael has adopted child syndrome, and Patti dishonored her parents to the point of shame. Maureen (Michaels sister with Jane Wyman) was allegedly closest to Ronald though but she died in 2001. And Ronald Reagan has no biological grandchildren to carry on his lineage and legacy. I just think Ronnie was a better President and husband than he was a father but I still think Reagan's children have disappointed him. Michael is trying to honor his legacy but he does not have the talent or the gift of gab like Ronnie did. I disagree w/Patti on this too.
Ron Reagan and Patti Davis both are more reasonable about most things and that is why they are progressives who believe that everyone has a right to marry the one they love. Republicans are wrong of this and wrong on everything in my opinion. Just wrong all the time.


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DETROIT – The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and affiliates in 22 other states said they simultaneously filed 255 public records requests Wednesday to determine the extent to which local police departments are using federally subsidized military technology and tactics that are traditionally used overseas.
"Through federal grant programs, state and local police departments have virtually unlimited access to military equipment and training at no cost," said Sarah Mehta, ACLU of Michigan staff attorney. "Although these wartime tools and tactics are free for cops, they come at great cost to communities."
ACLU of Michigan filed five public records requests with police departments in Flint, Dearborn, Detroit and with the Michigan State Police.
What they want information on
SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) Teams:
- Number and purpose of deployments
- Types of weapons used during deployments
- Injuries sustained by civilians during deployments
- Training materials
- Funding sources
Cutting edge weapons and technologies:
- GPS tracking devices
- Unmanned aerial vehicles ("drones")
- Augmented detainee restraint ("shock-cuffs")
- Military weaponry, equipment, and vehicles obtained from or funded by federal agencies such as the Departments of Defense and/or Homeland Security
A separate request, filed with the Michigan National Guard, seeks information regarding: Cooperative agreements between local police departments and the National Guard counter-drug program
and incidents of National Guard contact with civilians.
"Equipping state and local law enforcement with military weapons and vehicles, military tactical training, and actual military assistance to conduct traditional law enforcement erodes civil liberties and encourages increasingly aggressive policing, particularly in poor neighborhoods and communities of color," said Kara Dansky, senior counsel for ACLU's Center for Justice. "We've seen examples of this in several localities, but we don't know the dimensions of the problem."
Who else has filed
In addition to the ACLU of Michigan, ACLU affiliates from Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin also filed the public records requests.
What will happen next
Once the information has been collected and analyzed, if needed, the ACLU will use the results to recommend changes in law and policy governing the use of military tactics and technology in local law enforcement.
Read more Michigan News headlines:
- Council of Michigan Indian tribe OKs gay marriage
- Michigan lawmakers work on '1 penny more' gas tax
- 'Oz' premieres in Royal Oak, not far from filming location
- St. Clair County: Submit ideas for new state laws
- Michigan Supreme Court begins streaming arguments online
- State slug? Michigan's UP having fun with effort
- Documents detail right to work lockdown of Capitol

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Humble pie: How Sheckler got NBC29 to apologize
When Channel 29 news director Dave Cupp appeared on camera last Friday, he did something that had happened only once before in the history of the television station: He apologized.
For Jesse Sheckler, the apology was about three years too late. "That's all I wanted to begin with," he says.
Last May, a jury tried to give Sheckler a bit more when it awarded him $10 million, the largest defamation award in Virginia. [The case was the subject of The Hook's June 6, 2003 cover story: "No apology: How NBC29 got spanked."]
In November, a judge slashed the award to $1 million. And in January, when the two parties settled, Sheckler got a check for $1 million– and the apology he'd asked for all along.
The file containing Sheckler v. Virginia Broadcasting Corporation–that's the parent company of the station with call letters WVIR– is so large it occupies its own drawer in the clerk's office in the basement of the Charlottesville Circuit Court.
Sheckler's battle began in April 2001, when the station erroneously reported that police had confiscated crack and powdered cocaine in his Greene County home and business. Despite a call and letter from Sheckler's attorney, Channel 29 did not retract the story.
For lending money to a Central Virginia drug dealer, Sheckler was indicted for drug conspiracy and acquitted– but in October 2001, during his federal conspiracy trial, the station again reported that drugs had been found on his property.
Upset that even friends and family members thought he was a drug dealer because of the report, Sheckler went to see attorney Benjamin Dick, who called Channel 29.
As Sheckler listened in on Dick's speaker phone, station general manager Harold Wright announced that the station didn't do retractions. According to both Sheckler and Dick, Wright said that if Sheckler wanted to sue, he should "bring it on." In the defamation trial, Wright professed ignorance of the provocative statement.
"We were a little surprised he didn't remember that in court," says Dick.
"Arrogant," is the word Sheckler uses to describe Channel 29's position. "Harold Wright cost them a lot of money."
Wright did not return phone calls from The Hook.
After his initial euphoria at the jury's award, Sheckler says he felt wronged again when Charlottesville Judge Edward Hogshire set aside the $10 million award.
"The judge said in court that this jury had more brainpower than any jury he'd ever seen," says Sheckler. "Then four months later he changed it."
Hogshire gave him the option of either taking $1 million or having a new trial to determine damages, a choice that Sheckler brands as "blackmail" because, he says, "The jury would never hear all the damages they've done to me."
"I reviewed case law," says Dick. "In a lot of cases, the judge knocked down awards two-thirds. Not one knocked it down 90 percent."
He adds, "You have to congratulate [station attorney] Tom Albro. He did an excellent job. He talked the judge down."
Hogshire cited threats to the First Amendment when he set aside the $10 million award.
Sheckler contends the station's erroneous report and refusal to correct it were a threat to him. "What does he think it was to me and my family to see that on TV?" he asks.
Sheckler accepted the $1 million award under protest, which gave him the right to appeal, and his attorney, Matt Murray, believes the case was headed to the Virginia Supreme Court.
It was Sheckler's family who urged him to settle, according to Dick. "The kids said, 'Dad, we think this is hurting your health and causing too much stress,'" says Dick.
Part of the settlement stipulated that Cupp read a retraction and apology at six specified times: on the 5, 6, and 11pm news January 30, and three times during the morning news on January 31. "We're having it run at the same time the defamatory statements ran," says Murray.
The statement doesn't mention that the station paid a $1 million settlement, and WVIR's attorney, Albro, declined comment on the case.
Peggy Boland was on the jury that awarded Sheckler $10 million, and wasn't surprised that the award was reduced. "A lot of people on the jury wanted to make a statement about the media," she says. "They need to report things right."
The jury included at least one local media representative, Conni Lombardo, general manager of PBS station WHTJ, who declined to comment on the trial.
"The lesson in this case is the power of the media to hurt people," says Murray. "The media need to be more sensitive to the little guy. Jesse Sheckler was a nobody in WVIR's eyes. Human dignity has a great value in a jury composed of ordinary citizens."
Even after finally getting the apology and retraction he wanted, Sheckler is still upset about the faulty reporting. "It hurt me so bad," says Sheckler, "and then what the judge did, he hurt me again. He took a system I believed in and took justice away."
The suit may be settled, but Sheckler says he still has nightmares about the damage to his reputation and continues to take medication.
"I hope he gets healthy," says Dick. As a result of the Channel 29 story that he was a drug dealer, Dick says, "A lot of people he was close to turned on him. They still believe it."
Dave Cupp reads WVIR's admission that its stories about Jesse Sheckler were incorrect.


text:
sniff(redirected from sniffs round)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia.
Related to sniffs round: sniff around
v. sniffed, sniffing, sniffs
a. To inhale a short, audible breath through the nose, as in smelling something.
b. To sniffle.
2. To use the sense of smell, as in savoring or investigating: sniffed at the jar to see what it held.
3. To regard something in a contemptuous or dismissive manner: The critics sniffed at the adaptation of the novel to film.
4. Informal To pry; snoop: The reporters came sniffing around for more details.
1. To inhale forcibly through the nose: sniffed the cool morning air.
2. To smell, as in savoring or investigating: sniffed the lilacs; sniffed the breeze for traces of smoke.
3. To perceive or detect by or as if by sniffing: dogs that sniffed out the trail through the snow; sniffed trouble ahead.
4. To utter in a contemptuous or haughty manner: The countess sniffed her disapproval.
1. An instance or the sound of sniffing.
2. Something sniffed or perceived by or as if by sniffing; a whiff: a sniff of perfume; a sniff of scandal.
sniff′a·ble adj.
sniff′er n.
1. To inhale through the nostrils with the mouth closed.
2. To smell in short, quick inhalations.


text:
The Social Sector Franchise Innovations Roundtable (SSFIR) is a unique invitation-only conference convening a diverse cross-section of social sector franchise entrepreneurs, commercial franchise experts, impact investors and donors, thought leaders, and scholars. The SSFIR aims to identify barriers to growth and define actions that can build the Social Sector Franchising ecosystem among diverse contexts, customers, financing, and donor/investor relationships.
Highlights from the 2017 Social Sector Franchise Roundtable
The 2017 Annual Social Sector Franchise Innovations Roundtable (SSFIR), held at the UNH Durham campus was a unique invitation-only conference convening a diverse cross-section of social sector franchise entrepreneurs, commercial franchise experts, impact investors and donors, thought leaders, and scholars.
The theme for the Roundtable was, "Moving from Pilots to Proven Concept: Tools, Metrics, and Best Practices for Social Sector Franchising". The event helped identify barriers to growth and defined actions that can build the Social Sector Franchising ecosystem across diverse contexts.
2017 Agenda At A Glance:
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
- Opening Keynote Address and Q & A
Keynote Speaker: Greg Hills, Managing Director of FSG
Mr. Hills has over 20 years of experience advising organizations on strategy, program design, evaluation, and operational improvement, and co-leads FSG's global corporate consulting practice advising multinational corporations on innovative shared value and CSR strategies. He has published numerous influential papers and speaks regularly on topics of shared value, CSR, collective impact, and philanthropic effectiveness. FSG is a mission-driven consulting firm for leaders in search of large-scale, lasting social change. http://www.fsg.org/
Watch the short video from Mr. Hill's keynote Beyond the pioneer Getting Inclusive Industries to Scale.
- Introductions
Brief Introductions of participants - names, organizational affiliations
- Panel and Discussion
Innovative Measurement Breakthroughs in Health Sector Franchising
View PDF of all panel presentations here.
Lunch (Video and Presentation by UNH EC-SISI Funded Togo Hope Project)
A Nebraska-based program called Global Partners in Hope (GPiH) is developing five regional health centers, delivering real, sustainable hope to the rural people of Togo. Last summer, thanks in large part to a grant from the UNH Emeriti Council, three UNH students had an opportunity to assist in this effort. Kiley McKenna (Nursing '18), Elizabeth Lapsley (Nursing '18), and Aboubacar Konate (Civil Engineering '17) participated in a ten-day GPiH mission to conduct a needs assessment of the health of the rural community surrounding the village of Agbelouve. Read more here.
- Check in on our Inaugural Living Case Studies
Recorded presentations and Q & A with our 2016 Social Sector Franchise Accelerator protégés Mark Mutaai, Jibu and Victor Mhango, Ziweto Agrovet Enterprise and Ignite. A review of what progress has been accomplished, major deviations from the plans made at SSFIR 2016 what the future holds.
- Read about the Jibu case in Carsey Perspectives
- Read about the Ziweto case in Carsey Perspectives
- Building the Social Sector Franchise Ecosystem Part One: Current Organizational Support for the Field.
View PDF of all panel presentations here.
- Building the Social Sector Franchise Ecosystem Part Two: Developing a Research Agenda and Community of Practice to Catalyze the Growth of the Social Sector Franchise Ecosystem
- Evening Keynote and Dinner – Galen Welsch, Co-founder and CEO Jibu
Galen co-founded Jibu in 2012 and under his leadership Jibu has quickly become a top-rated B-Corp social franchise bringing affordable drinking water access to thousands, and creating hundreds of jobs, mostly for youth, across East Africa. Galen's achievements at Jibu have been recognized by BBC World, the Guardian, Fast Company, the Franchise Times, and by Forbes 30 under 30 and serves on the advisory board of the UNH Social Sector Franchise Initiative. http://jibuco.com/
Thursday, October 19, 2017
- Introduction of the Social Sector Franchise Accelerator Process 2017-2018
All five new Social Sector Franchise Accelerator protégés made 10 minute introductions of their social franchises and Critical Issues followed by 5 minutes of clarifying questions from participants.
Brief profiles of our 2017-2018 SSFA Protégés
- Apps and Girls:
A small social enterprise dedicated to providing coding training, entrepreneurship coaching, and mentorship to school-age girls in Tanzania
Currently running three social enterprises that address issues for those living on less than $3/day: Petal, educating communities and providing women with sanitary napkins; Roots, building hygienic toilet facilities that turn waste into fertilizer; and Right Light, which rents solar lamps to communities without adequate infrastructure.
- Livelihood Basix:
An NGO that provides solutions for smallholder farmers, women, and youth living in sub-Saharan Africa by addressing issues of agriculture development, financial inclusion, and vocational skills.
- Supply Hope /Mercado Fresco:
A micro-franchise network model that increases access to nutritious, affordable, high-quality food while empowering women through the creation of in-home grocery stores in Nicaragua.
- Pollinate Energy
A social business that brings highly affordable, quality products such as cook stoves, solar lamps, fans, and water filters to the urban slums of India through a micro-franchise model.
- Apps and Girls:
- Accelerator Solutions Prototyping with Working Lunch* (buffet available from 12:00pm – 12:45pm)
Participants broke into five groups, one for each SSFA protégé, to work through an Accelerator Solutions Prototyping Process that had as its end result an action plan for moving the social franchise forward to the next stage of development. The action plan identifies possible strategies for solving key constraints, attracting financing, resolving management dilemmas, etc. The action plan will guide the mentoring relationship between the IFA mentor and the SSF franchiser.
- Accelerator Solutions Prototyping Teams Report Back
Each team was given have 10 minutes to report back on the Accelerator Solutions Prototyping process and the Actions Plan created.
To read the individual Actions Plans and read the blog posts of the mentor/protégé calls click here
For more information, please visit the 2017 Roundtable page.


text:
I'm a user interface design consultant; I work with companies to produce web sites, applications, and consumer devices that give their users simple and direct tools for solving their problems. This consultancy — Miramontes Interactive — is the latest incarnation of my long-standing activity in technology, design, and usability.
My design projects have spanned a number of dimensions -- research to product, consumer to enterprise, desktop to web. What they have in common is a general approach to design that's based in a clear understanding of user needs, technology opportunities, design approaches, and the ways in which these factors can all come together in a successful solution to a problem. Prototyping, iterative design, and user feedback are essential parts of this process, which I carry out individually for small projects and as a part of a larger development team for corporate projects.
I've worked on a wide range of usability projects, from early-stage ethnographic field studies of work environments, user needs, and market requirements to "traditional" usability studies of competing interface designs. My usability work is almost always accompanied by design recommendations: I understand the connection between design and usability, and I can tell whether a design recommendation will require a simple tweak or a major architectural overhaul. As a result, I can structure my recommendations to meet the needs of the client and the product at hand, and be certain that the client will get maximum value from the study.
I've gotten a lot of calls recently from clients looking for a combination of interaction design and development services. Design and development require different perspectives on a problem, but I understand design, and I do know how to code, so I've ramped up my development skills and services accordingly. In these projects, I rarely operate simply as a programer. One way or another, I'm inevitably working on the interaction design of the site, and bringing in as much usability testing -- formal or informal -- as I can.
I've added a number of my older papers and technical reports to the site, and the casual visitor might be some questions about why anyone should care about these relatively ancient documents. (1995?? Did they really have computers then?) So I've added present-day annotations to some of these papers, pointing out aspects of the work that I still think are worthy of attention, personal or historical insights about the projects, and post-hoc justifications for what, at the time, honestly seemed like really good ideas, regardless of what ultimately happened. Enjoy.
As an aside, I found that it was a lot of fun to go back through all this stuff and think about it from a more up-to-date perspective. If you happen to have a web site with a similarly historical overview of your own work, I'd highly recommend this -- you'll learn a few things by doing it, and it may provide some additional value to your visitors.
I've written a column for IEEE Internet Computing, focusing on user experience issues. Written from the perspective of a user experience guy talking to research and product development people whose expertise, by and large, is not in user experience, these columns point out new developments in the user experience world that are opening up new opportunities for research and products, and address technology issues that could be helped by thinking more carefully about user experience. If that suits you, come by for a look.


text:
Country singer Miranda Lambert doesn't get why controversial R&B star Chris Brown was allowed to perform twice at the Grammys on Sunday.
She tweeted on Monday: "He beat on a girl...not cool that we act like that didn't happen."
Brown beat up then-girlfriend Rihanna the night before the Grammys in 2009. He pled guilty to an assault charge and was sentenced to five years of probation and six months of community labor.
U.S. & World
Lambert suggested Brown listen to her song "Gunpowder & Lead" about avenging domestic violence and "be put back in his place. Not at the Grammys."
She attended the Grammys in Los Angeles with husband Blake Shelton who was a double nominee. Lambert joins a slew of others who questioned the move on social networks.
The Grammy-winning singer is known for hits including "The House That Built Me" and "White Liar."
A message left seeking comment from a representative of Brown's wasn't immediately returned.


text:
The Thai Nationals were held at Surf Spot in Hua Hin, Thailand over the weekend.
It was a great local show of effort, with amateur and pro freestyle classes represented along with twin tip and course board racing both accounted for! K!NN Team Thailand had 2 entries, Yo Pudla (Ozone, Quicksilver, GAC, and more...) and Bobby Samui, plus there was an entry from K!NN Team Vietnam, the winner of the most recent KTA tour stop in Indonesia, Long Nguyen Duc.
It was an excellent display of effort as every rider raced to pop as many times as possible in the short 5 minute freestyle heats. Whispers across the audience wondered if it would be Yo, on home territory, versus Long in the final - a heat anticipated by many after the previous KTA competition in Indonesia. Both rose throughout the ranking to in fact be seated against each other.
Gasps were heard throughout the home audience with every trick thrown, landed or not, the power was immense. In the end it was the grand display of grace as he landed every trick in his backyard that won Mr. Yo Pudla first! -His front mobe 5's certainly didn't hurt either
Yo took 1st, Long took 2nd, and it was the last year's of progression that skilled Mr. Bobby Samui to win 3rd! K!NN Team all around, smiles and high-fives accompanied this band of brothers on the podium!
More pics can be found at K!NN Team facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/KINNTEAM?fref=ts


text:
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Madonna Dedicates Golden Globe-winning Song To Elton John
Friday, 24 August 2012
The Material Girl has kept a dignified silence throughout the one-sided war of words with the Rocket Man legend, who has taken several swipes at the star over the last few months.
John took aim at the singer after she beat him to the Golden Globe for Best Song in January when Masterpiece, her track from her period film W.E., won the honour.
He then branded Madonna a 'fairground stripper' after she exposed her breast on stage during her MDNA tour.
But the pop superstar chose to take the higher ground during a concert in Nice on Tuesday by dedicating the song to her most famous critic, telling the crowd that she 'forgives' him for his constant criticism.
She said, 'I want to dedicate this song to a Mr. Elton John. I know he's a big fan of it, and I know he's a big fan of mine. And you know what, I forgive him. You gotta start somewhere.'
From contactmusic.com


text:
EU Platform for Roma Inclusion: Frequently asked questions
Mariah Jen17 November 2011
Who are the Roma?
There are around 10-12 million Roma people in Europe. They have been part of Europe for centuries and are integral to its society and economy, but frequently face prejudice, intolerance, discrimination and exclusion.
Reliable data are hard to come by, but estimates by the Council of Europe (see annex) show that almost all EU countries have Roma communities of varying sizes. They form a significant proportion of the population in Bulgaria (around 10%), Slovakia (9%), Romania (8%), Hungary (7%), Greece, theCzech Republic and Spain (all 1.5-2.5%).
Around a third of these live in the countries of the western Balkans, such as Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and in Turkey.
What is the European Platform for Roma Inclusion?
The European Platform for Roma inclusion (or European Roma Platform) was created to help coordinate and develop policies for Roma integration and stimulate exchanges among EU Member States, international organisations and Roma civil society. It aims to make existing policy processes more coherent and facilitate synergies. The first meeting was held in April 2009 ( IP/09/635 ).
How does the Platform support Roma integration?
The Platform's role was enlarged and reinforced when European leaders agreed an EU-level Framework for national Roma integration strategies in June 2011 ( IP/11/789 ). This was based on a proposal put forward by the European Commission in April 2011 ( IP/11/400 ).
Under the EU Framework, each of the EU's 27 countries will set out how they intend to improve the situation of the most vulnerable Roma communities living on their territory. Member States will have to address four key areas for better social and economic integration – education, employment, healthcare and housing – and set out measures proportionate to their Roma population . It is also about ensuring that Roma people's fundamental rights are respected. Governments have until the end of 2 011 to submit their national strategies. The Commission will then assess the plans and report back next spring.
The EU Framework reinforced the role of the European Roma Platform by making it the main forum for discussing and exchanging policy approaches to promote Roma inclusion. In this respect, the Platform can play a crucial role in helping Member States develop or up-date their national strategies for Roma integration – as they are required to do under the EU Framework.
The Platform also allows representatives of the Roma communities to play a direct role in EU-level discussions and exchanges on Roma integration policies. International organisations and other stakeholders working in the field are equally involved in the process.
Finally, the Platform will provide the Commission with feedback on the results of national efforts on the ground through the voice of Roma civil society.
What will be discussed at this meeting of the Platform?
The meeting that will take place today and tomorrow is specifically aimed at helping Member States prepare their national strategies for Roma integration under the EU Framework process. It will focus on the contributions of Member States, civil society and international organisations to making the EU Framework a success.
Member States will discuss the ir challenges and successes in preparing their national strategies; civil society organisations will discuss how they can provide a coordinated input into the Framework's process; and international organisations will exchange views on their contribution and possible synergies.
As such , the meeting provides a unique opportunity for policy exchange and discussion before Member States are expected to present their strategies to the Commission.
How will the EU framework help the Roma?
The EU framework develops a targeted approach for a more effective response to Roma exclusion by setting EU-wide goals for integrating Roma, in education, employment, health and housing.
It will make a tangible difference to Roma people's lives over the next decade by focusing on Roma in national, regional and local integration policies in a clear and specific way, addressing them with explicit measures to prevent and compensate for the multiple disadvantages they face.
Member States will be asked to submit national Roma strategies to the Commission by the end of 2011, specifying how they will contribute to achieving the overall goals, including setting national targets and allowing for sufficient funding (national, EU and other) to deliver them.
Finally, the Framework strategy proposes solutions for using EU funds more effectively and lays down foundations for a robust mechanism to monitor results.
What are the specific EU-level goals?
The goals address the four main areas for improving social and economic integration for Roma, all of which are primarily national policy areas:
Education: ensuring that all Roma children complete primary school;
Employment: cutting the employment gap between Roma and other citizens;
Health: reducing the gap in health status between the Roma and the general population;
Housing: closing the gap in access to housing and public utilities such as water and electricity.
How will the Commission monitor progress?
The Commission will report annually to the European Parliament and to the Council on progress on the integration of the Roma population in Member States and on the achievement of the Roma integration goals.
It will base its monitoring notably on:
The results of the Roma household survey regularly carried out by the Fundamental Rights Agency, the United Nations Development Programme in cooperation with the World Bank.
National reform programmes in the framework of the EU 2020 Strategy, in particular for those countries with a high share of Roma population.
Ongoing work within the Open Method of Coordination in the field of social policies.
Member States contributions based on their own monitoring systems which national authorities are requested to include in their national Roma integration strategies.
It will also take into account the work of the European Platform for Roma Inclusion.
How do EU policies support Roma integration?
Many of the most important areas for improving Roma integration – such as education, employment, health and housing – are national or regional responsibilities. But the EU has an important role to play in coordinating action by Member States. The EU can lend support with powerful policy and financial tools such as European legislation against discrimination, policy coordination, common integration goals and structural funding.
EU legislation (the Race Equality Directive) obliges Member States to give equal access to ethnic minorities, such as the Roma, in education, housing, health and employment. Nevertheless, these rules need to be well implemented and applied in practice in order to offer effective protection to individuals, and if need be, access to justice in cases of discrimination.
Several EU funds are available to Member States to support national Roma inclusion policies , namely the European Social Fund (ESF), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). The EU already co-finances projects for the Roma in sectors like education, employment, microfinance and equal opportunities (in particular equality between men and women).
For the forthcoming financial period the Commission has proposed an increase in the ESF budget of at least 7.5%, amounting to at least €84 billion over seven years. Furthermore, the ESF of the future will have a stronger social dimension. The Member States will be required to allocate at least 20% of their European Social Fund resources to social inclusion. This could significantly increase funding in some countries with big Roma minorities where only 5 to 10% of EFS is currently spent on social inclusion.
What is the role of Member States?
Member States are primarily responsible for Roma integration, because the key areas which are the biggest challenge for Roma inclusion remain mostly national prerogatives. These include access to quality education, to the job market, housing and essential services, and healthcare.
P olicies in these fields are often handled by regional and local authorities, depending on the country. This means different levels of government have a joint responsibility for Roma inclusion and need to cooperate closely to achieve results.
For example, the EU makes funds available to support inclusion and employment of Roma, among other things, but Member States and regions are responsible for allocating and implementing funding for specific integration projects.
What are the main areas where Roma face exclusion?
In education , Roma children have lower attainments and often face discrimination and segregation in schooling. Although the situation differs between EU countries, a survey by the Open Society Institute in six EU countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia) found that only 42% of Roma children complete primary school, compared to an average of 97.5% for the general population across the EU as a whole.
This has a knock-on effect in the labour market, where young Roma are less well-equipped and less qualified to find a job. The Europe 2020 strategy sets a headline target of 75% of people in the EU aged 20-64 to be in employment, compared to a current rate of 68.8%. For Roma, the employment rate is significantly lower, with a gap of around 26 percentage points according to World Bank research covering Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania, and Serbia.
In health , Roma have a life expectancy which is 10 years below the European average of 76 for men and 82 for women and a child mortality rate that is significantly higher than the EU average of 4.3 per thousand births. Indeed, the United Nations' Development Programme research in Bulgaria, Romania,Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic put Roma infant mortality rates there at 2-6 times higher than those for the general population, depending on the country. These outcomes reflect poorer living conditions, reduced access to quality healthcare and higher exposure to risks. There is also evidence that Roma communities are less well informed about health issues and can face discrimination in access to healthcare.
Roma also face significant gaps as compared to the average European in terms of access to housing and essential services . While between 72% and 100% of EU households are connected to a public water supply, the rate is much lower among Roma. Research by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency points to wider problems in accessing housing, both private and public. This in turn affects Roma health and broader integration prospects.
What are the benefits of better Roma integration?
In addition to better respect for the fundamental rights of a large number of EU citizens and greater social cohesion, better Roma integration can bring considerable economic benefits.
The Roma represent a growing share of the working age population, with an average age of 25 compared to the EU average of 40. Some 35.7% of Roma are under 15, compared to 15.7% of the EU population. Roma also form 1 in 5 new labour market entrants in Bulgaria and Romania.
According to a recent research by the World Bank 1 , full Roma integration in the labour market could bring economic benefits estimated at around €0.5 billion annually for some countries.
What about Roma outside the EU?
To improve the situation of the estimated 3.8 million Roma in the western Balkans and Turkey, the Commission intends to step up support for integration in the context of EU enlargement.
Among other things, the enlargement process includes funding for social development projects. The Commission will support national efforts to improve Roma inclusion by improving the delivery of aid under the Instrument on Pre-Accession Assistance and by encouraging Roma involvement in formulating, implementing and monitoring policies. It is currently implementing or planning projects worth €50 million which could exclusively or partly benefit Roma.
The Commission will also closely monitor the economic and social situation of Roma in its enlargement progress reports for each country.
Further information:
EU & the Roma
European Platform for Roma Inclusion – programme and details
Working together for Roma inclusion –The EU Framework explained
1: World Bank, Roma Inclusion: An Economic Opportunity for Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania and Serbia, September 2010.
Link: http://www.iewy.com/36611-eu-platform-for-roma-inclusion-frequently-asked-questions.html


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Score Breakdown based on
18 Reviews
5 on July 26, 2013
It was a beautiful evening and morning, around 100 degrees at the height of the day, but the experience was incredibly awesome. The tubs at twilight and in the morning were a highlight! Pepper and her staff have created a beautiful, clean and amazing experience for glamping it. Love this place and will be back!
4.6 on April 26, 2013
Pepper has thought of everything, including a little s'mores kit for the firepit and potpourri in the outhouse (you won't even mind that it's a Honeybucket, I swear). The bed was super-comfortable, breakfast was fabulous, and I loved taking a luxurious hot shower under the stars (no worries: total privacy). My family LOVED staying here. It is a bit pricey ($245 for two, plus $50 each additional), but so worth it. We'll be back for sure.
5 on June 21, 2012
My husband and I stayed at Cherrywood and loved the comfortable teepees. My favorite was spending time with the horses watching her niece and wrangler bring them up the hill to tack up for our ride. After all, these horses are all rescues in which Pepper has brought to her farm. Pepper is literally a lifesafter for these horses and everyone of them is a gem. They are quiet and fun to ride. We enjoyed our stay and plan to go back soon, The view is beautiful on a clear day of the orchards and Mount Adams.
5 on June 04, 2012
This place is so wonderful! It is truly the most unique and comfortable lodging in Eastern WA. The owners are super cool and the breakfast was superb! We will definitely be back! So happy to have discovered this gem! :-)
5 on August 11, 2011
My husband and I truely enjoyed the experience. The horseback winery tour was wonderful and everyone was very friendly. We stayed one night in the teepee which was very comfortable and fun. Delicious breakfast served outside ~ Pepper and crew are delightful. We had an awesome time.
4.4 on September 07, 2010
A friend and I spent a couple of days in Zillah to visit wineries and stayed at Cherrywood. It was a fun and amazing experience to sleep in the teepees and shower under the open sky. The included breakfast was out of this world. I would definitely recommend this to anyone heading in that direction.
5 on June 13, 2010
The Tepee's were more then we expected, very comfortable. Pepper and her family and wranglers are so welcoming. We took the horseback ride and spent one night. What a peaceful, wonderful experience we all had, I would recommend this to everyone. We do plan to go back. Such a delightful place and a great experience. Pepper is an excellent host and chef. Everyone there was pretty special.
5 on August 05, 2009
I don't know how I stumbled across this place online but I am so happy I did! My boyfriend and I recently stayed one night (not long enough) in one of the very cool teepees and braved the horseback wine tour in the unseasonably hot sun. The owner, Pepper is friendly, sincere, and takes great care of her guests. Not to mention an amazing chef. If you are looking for a one of a kind getaway that none of your friends are talking about yet, this is the place to go.
5 on May 21, 2009
Where to start?! Pepper and her family are so warm and hospitable! From our horse back wine tour to our private table set up for the next morning's breakfast- every detail was thought of! Even sprigs of rosemary and fresh flowers adorned our table. We ended up chatting with Pepper and her family for a bit in their living room before we made our departure... my husband even grabbed a few more fresh donuts out of the fryer, courtesy of Pepper's daughter. We can't wait to go back- it's not often you can sleep IN a teepee!!! Thanks again for a great time!
5 on July 08, 2008
What a perfect place to stay. You cannot go anywhere and meet anyone as special as Pepper; she treated us like family. We stayed in the teepees, which are just as comfortable as any room and perfectly decorated. How can you better enjoy the beautiful wine country than on horseback, and a great picnic lunch to boot - what fun. Breakfast was outstanding as was the entire exprience. I can't wait to visit again. Thanks Pepper!
5 on July 07, 2008
What a great birthday getaway. My husband and I stayed in the teepee with hardwood floors. The attention to detail, amenities and service exceeded our expectation. The lavendar placed throughout the teepee was a beautiful touch. The bed was soooooo comfortable. We woke up feeling rested each day. The shower teepee was a pleasant surprise. The daily breakfast had a unique presentation. Again...the attention to detail...fresh flowers...a single flower in your napkin ring to the lemon/mint in your ice water. The food was authentic and absolutely delicious. The location of the teepee is central to about 12 wineries in the rattlesnake hills vineyards. The hospitality was perfect. We felt like we were at home. We can't wait to go back and look forward to sharing our time at this place with our friend and family. D & C
4.8 on June 25, 2008
We recently stayed at the Cherry Wood B&B and couldn't be happier with our choice. The owners Pepper and Terry made us feel like family from the moment we arrived. They went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure our stay was enjoyable. Furthermore, their B&B is situated in very close proximity to many exceptional Washington wineries. I would recommend this B&B to anyone wanting to stay in the Yakima Valley Wine Country!!!!!!!!!
5 on June 23, 2008
I just returned from a stay with 3 friends & took the horseback wine tour. We were given a wonderful picnic lunch and rode for the entire afternoon, sipping wine & having a blast. We enjoyed staying in the teepees & woke up to a delicious breakfast. Pepper was a wonderful host. If you want the adventure of sleeping in a teepee with all the comforts, this is the place! We will be going back!
4.4 on September 17, 2007
We had a wonderful stay. The food was amazing. Pepper & Terry are warm, friendly, and charming people. They were also very knowledgeable about the surrounding vineyards. I would love to go back.
5 on September 16, 2007
Very friendly Hosts, excellent room and fabulous breakfast. A quiet, peaceful, setting.
5 on August 05, 2007
Stay at Cherry Wood Bed & Breakfast and you will be guaranteed lovely accomodations, warm hospitality, and a yummy and hearty breakfast. B&B is in close proximity to many local wineries - - a couple within walking distance. We stayed in a t-pee, and look forward to making this an annual trip!
5 on May 22, 2007
We were so pleasantly overwelmed by the thoughtful accommedations at the T-Pee and the hostpitality Pepper provided. The special touches from hot water to bottled water to bathrobes to comfy covers made our stay a one of a kind experience. The grapes, the coyotes, the frogs, the horses, and the moon will always call us back again for a visit and the breakfast seals the deal. Thanks for the memories!!! lorin guenette
5 on April 28, 2007
We stayed for a night in one of the extraordinarily beautiful teepees. It was one of the most unique and romantic experiences we've ever shared. The views were incredible and the location (only a stone's throw away from a dozen wineries) couldn't have been more perfect. We felt at home the moment we got there with such a friendly and helpful innkeeper. We cannot wait to go back for another memory packed weekend. -Jamie and Ashley from Seattle


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By PAUL FOY | Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell made a pitch Wednesday for a privately funded youth conservation corps and sought donations for the effort from executives at an outdoor-gear trade show.
Jewell said budget paralysis in Washington has forced her to seek help from the private sector. As she walked the showroom floor of the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market, she asked major players for money to put 100,000 youths to work on public lands.
"We're not waiting for Congress to act," said Jewell, a businesswoman who headed retailer Recreational Equipment Inc., or REI, for more than a decade before joining President Barack Obama's cabinet last year. "We want to get started this spring."
Jewell said the effort has already received $1 million from clothing retailer American Eagle Outfitters toward its goal of $20 million.
Jewell delivered a breakfast speech to the Outdoor Industry Association, a group of companies ranging from industry giant Patagonia and Salt Lake City-based equipment maker Black Diamond Inc. to tiny Ruffwear, a maker of performance dog gear in Bend, Ore.
"We're happy to help," said Nicholas Brayton, president of Woolrich, a maker of outdoor clothing since 1830.
Jewell was on familiar ground as she hugged industry friends at the trade show, where manufacturers display products and take orders from retailers. About 22,000 people were in Salt Lake City for the show that runs through Saturday.
"My sense is Sally is going to have tremendous support from the outdoor industry," said Topher Gaylord, president of Richmond, Calif.-based Mountain Hardwear. "Youth participation is at the core of our business. We absolutely want to find a way to support her initiatives."
Executives appreciate Jewell's direct and sometimes blunt style, said Todd Spaletto, president of The North Face, best known for its Gore-Tex jackets and geodesic tents.
The company already funds organizations that get children outdoors, and "we're trying to tie all this together with Sally's initiative," Spaletto said.
In her speech, Jewell lamented legislative gridlock in Washington. She became interior secretary just as forced budget cuts took hold and delayed the department's efforts to make repairs and complete other projects at national parks.
"I walked in right when sequestration hit," Jewell said. "It's a pretty tough situation."
She also spoke about a disconnect between a generation of young, technology-loving adults and nature. She brought along Brandon Benton, a crew leader for the San Francisco-area Conservation Corps North Bay, who said that program turned around his life.
"I was exposed to a world unknown to me, the natural world," said Benton, 24, of Santa Rosa, Calif. "You don't always have to be in your house, on social media. The natural world is free and beautiful."As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.


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Oak Forest Hospital to close by month's end
Oak Forest Hospital to close by month's end
Listen to this Story at WBEZ.org
By Gabriel Spitzer | Aug. 16, 2011
(WBEZ/Gabriel Spitzer)
Opponents twice blocked the closure of Oak Forest, but at Tuesday's meeting Cook County won the day.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and health officials say closing Oak Forest is difficult but necessary.
Activists who lost their fight to preserve Oak Forest Hospital now say they're going to focus on holding Cook County to its commitments.
A state board Tuesday approved the county's plan to close the hospital and replace it with a regional outpatient center. Patients, unions and community activists managed to stave off the closure twice before. But at Tuesday's meeting of the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board, the county won the day.
Organizers say now the task is to make Cook County honor its pledge not to abandon south suburbanites.
"Let us take those concerns and be very vigilant," said William McNary of Citizen Action Illinois, calling the vote expected but disappointing. "Don't give up today. Because those health care needs are still going to continue beyond what they do here."
McNary sits on an advisory board set up by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. He vowed to make sure the outpatient center offers the best possible care and to press neighboring hospitals to follow through on their promise to absorb Oak Forest patients.
Many of the opponents sat through the four-hour meeting holding protest signs, and some even cried "genocide" as the vote was unfolding.
President Preckwinkle said she understands the anxiety, but condemns the rhetoric.
"To suggest the people on the independent governing board or the health care professionals are motivated by genocidal impulses is demeaning and extremely unfortunate," Preckwinkle said after the vote.
The county made several concessions to opponents, including agreeing to run an immediate care facility on the site around the clock. Ultimately, new appointments to a state regulatory board gave Cook County the votes it lacked in two previous efforts to pass the plan.
County officials say they plan to discontinue hospital operations by the end of August and immediately begin phasing in the clinic services.


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With Cricket Web's T&N Trophy Challenge IV Fantasy Cricket Competition coming to a close we've created the 5th in the series of the Fantasy Cricket competitions.
This competition is the biggest yet and includes 30 ODIs over the December/January period which are displayed at the bottom of this thread or can be viewed here http://www.cricketweb.net/fantasycricket/matches.php
If you're new to Cricket Web's Fantasy Cricket you can create an account here http://www.cricketweb.net/fantasycricket/signup.php or if you already have an account you can login here http://www.cricketweb.net/fantasycricket/logon.php
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to email the Fantasy Cricket team at firstname.lastname@example.com or leave a mesage in the Fantasy Cricket forum http://www.cricketweb.net/forum/fantasy-cricket/
We look forward to having you all invovled!
Cricket Web Fantasy Cricket Team
T&N Trophy Challenge V
Start Date - 30-09-2004
End Date - 13-02-2005
Below is a list of the matches that will be played for the selected competition.
Australia New Zealand 05-12-2004 Telstra Stadium
Australia New Zealand 08-12-2004 Sydney Cricket Ground
Australia New Zealand 10-12-2004 Brisbane Cricket Ground (Gabba)
Bangladesh India 23-12-2004 Chittagong Stadium
New Zealand Sri Lanka 26-12-2004 Eden Park
Bangladesh India 26-12-2004 Dhaka
Bangladesh India 27-12-2004 Dhaka
New Zealand Sri Lanka 29-12-2004 McLean Park
New Zealand Sri Lanka 02-01-2005 John Davies Oval
New Zealand Sri Lanka 04-01-2005 Jade Stadium
New Zealand Sri Lanka 08-01-2005 Westpac Stadium
Australia West Indies 14-01-2005 Melbourne Cricket Ground
Australia Pakistan 16-01-2005 Hobart
Pakistan West Indies 19-01-2005 Brisbane Cricket Ground (Gabba)
Australia West Indies 21-01-2005 Brisbane Cricket Ground (Gabba)
Australia Pakistan 23-01-2005 Sydney Cricket Ground
Australia West Indies 26-01-2005 Adelaide Oval
Pakistan West Indies 28-01-2005 Adelaide Oval
South Africa England 30-01-2005 Wanderers Stadium
Australia Pakistan 30-01-2005 W.A.C.A. Ground
Pakistan West Indies 01-02-2005 W.A.C.A. Ground
South Africa England 02-02-2005 Goodyear Park
South Africa England 04-02-2005 St George's Park
VB Series Final 1 VB Series Final 1 04-02-2005 Melbourne Cricket Ground
South Africa England 06-02-2005 Newlands
VB Series Final 2 VB Series Final 2 06-02-2005 Sydney Cricket Ground
VB Series Final 3 VB Series Final 3 08-02-2005 Adelaide Oval
South Africa England 09-02-2005 Buffalo Park
South Africa England 11-02-2005 Kingsmead
South Africa England 13-02-2005 SuperSport Park


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UKnowKids, a company that helps parents monitor what their kids are doing on the web and with mobile phones, is on a mission to educate parents and children about the dangers of "SWAT-ting." The term, which gets its name from SWAT, as in "special weapons and tactics," is when someone activates an emergency response as a prank.
In an email, Unknowkids Vice President Steve Woda, wrote that "many SWAT-ters use a service like Spoofcard to disguise the origin of the prank call which allows them to change their voice and add background sound effects." He pointed out that "teens who engage in online gaming, chat rooms or social media may be at risk" of having the cops show up at their house because of a SWAT attack by a prankster.
Wooda points out that "certain calls could cost law enforcement up to $10,000 and that legislators are currently working on a law that will make SWAT-ting a four-year felony." Parents need to warn their kids that SWAT-ting is a dangerous game that could put lives at risk and get them into serious trouble.
TMZ reported that police recently showed up at the home of actress Miley Cyrus after someone reported a home invasion and possible shots fired. The police dispatched a helicopter and surrounded the house in what must have been a very expensive and potentially dangerous waste of use of taxpayer funds. Police told TMZ that if someone were hurt or killed because of the practice, the caller could face felony charges.
A bit of perspective
Although SWAT-ting is disturbing, it's not an epidemic so let's not unleash yet anothertechnopanic. Just because it's happened doesn't mean that lots of kids are doing it. Still, it's one more thing to talk with your kids about to make sure they understand that sending the police on a wild goose chase is itself a serious crime.


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We can't say we weren't warned. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band walked onto the stage of Wembley Stadium, returning to a venue they last played 25 years ago this month, and launched straight into Land of Hope and Dreams. Springsteen usually includes that song in encores – it was the first sign last night was going to be special – and it was: this was arguably the most astonishing Bruce Springsteen concert I have ever seen.
In recent years Springsteen's British stadium shows have been guilty of being somewhat predictable but last night was different: three songs in and Springsteen approached the crowd, collecting signs with requests. The rarely played Save My Love was followed by Rosalita (Come Out Tonight), This Hard Land and a stupendous Lost in the Flood featuring Roy Bittan's gothic piano playing and searing guitar from Springsteen.
Wembley had been transformed into a giant Springsteen jukebox – all bets were off as to what he would play next. "We can keep on taking requests," Springsteen said, "or we can play the entire Darkness on the Edge of Town record." Naturally the audience went bananas. It was the first time a British audience has been treated to Springsteen performing an entire album and from the fiery intensity of Adam Raised a Cain to Max Weinberg's menacing drums on Something in the Night to Nils Lofgren spinning on one foot while playing the guitar solo during Prove it all Night with his teeth it was breathtaking.
The audience were about as jubilant as it was possible to be considering they were hearing 10 songs streaked with anger, despair and desperation. And then it was back to the jukebox – the whole stadium singing Waiting on a Sunny Day back to a grinning Bruce. The man is in indecently good shape for someone who will be 64 in September. I looked around at the crowd, many of whom looked like they weren't even born the last time Springsteen was at Wembley. The youthful enthusiasm of the audience had clearly affected Springsteen – even Born to Run, which he sings every show, felt newly urgent. Dancing in the Dark prompted a sprouting of beautiful young women – standing on friends' shoulders waving placards begging Bruce to dance with them. "One Dollar to Dance with my mum" read one sign, complete with dollar note. That did the trick. The last time Springsteen played London was the night of the Hyde Park shutdown – he and McCartney had the power pulled during Twist and Shout. This time we heard the full song followed by an emotional 10th Avenue Freeze-Out with tributes to lost comrades Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici and then just as it seemed like it was all over he had one final surprise – Thunder Road, Springsteen alone on stage, his voice echoing around the stadium. And with that he was gone. As he left the stage I saw a girl with a sign – not a song request but a statement. It read: "Thanks for making our lives better."


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Cameron Diaz by Terry Richardson for Esquire UK
Photographer Terry Richardson captures 40 year old (!) actress and California girl Cameron Diaz in a series of provocative poses for the Esquire UK November cover shoot. Here's what Cameron had to say about her age:
"For the first time in my life I'm content," she says on entering her fifth decade. "I'm so excited. Getting older is the best part of life. Like, I know more than I've ever known. I have gratitude. I know myself better. I feel more capable than ever. And as far as the physicality of it – I feel better at 40 than I did at 25."
Check out some first looks in the gallery above – she looks incredible at 40 – and find the full shoot and interview in the November issue of Esquire UK, on sale tomorrow, Thursday 4 October.


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Teaching the Five Senses
The best way to teach children about their senses is to have them use them. Actually smell, see, taste, hear, and touch. Teachers of two-year-olds need to keep the lessons very simple. Teachers of three- and four-year-olds should expand the activities as the children move through the early childhood center.
Here are some tips for teaching two-year-olds the five senses:
- Start with labeling the body parts. Use a felt board shaped like a face and have children place cutouts (nose, eyes, ears, mouth, and so on) in the proper place.
- Then lead the children in games where they touch or identify their own body parts (kind of like Simon Says, but forget the rules for two-year-olds). Keep it short.
- Once all the children clearly know where everything is, begin to talk about the senses: "eyes are for seeing, noses for smelling, etc."
- Continue with the basics. Focus on --
Seeing and not seeing -- Use blindfolds.
Simple tastes (sweet, sour, salty) -- Have them taste lots of food and spices.
Familiar smells (things they smell often, like peanut butter, baby products) -- Have them smell items and tell them what they are smelling.
Textures (soft, hard, scratchy) -- Have them feel fur, sand paper, and other textured objects.
Sounds (loud, soft) -- Have them make loud noises and listen to soft music.
- Work on vocabulary development. For two-year-olds, the key is giving them the language and expanding their vocabulary. Keep it simple -- stay with familiar objects. It is most important for two-year-olds to understand the things that are in their immediate environment. The children will become frustrated if the teacher presents experiences that are too abstract.
Teaching two-year-olds the five senses takes about two to three weeks. They need a couple of days to fully understand some of the ideas. They'll let the teacher know when they are ready to move to the next concept.
Shyrelle Eubanks is a National Education Association staff person in the Student Achievement Department and a specialist in early childhood development.


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Teddy bear surprise for patients
Build-a-Bear Workshop visits UC Davis Children's Hospital
Elizabeth Herrera, 8, edged into the playroom, moving slowly with her IV pole beside her. She had her sights set on one destination: a large cart filled with stuffed bears, lions, elephants and Hello Kitty dolls, waiting for adoption.
After much deliberation, Herrera reached for a fluffy, caramel colored bear, stared into its eyes and held it tight. She had made a new friend.
UC Davis Children's Hospital patients like Herrera had the chance to choose a new a furry friend at the Build-a-Bear Workshop event this month, thanks to one patient's dad.
"My wife, my daughter and I had the chance to visit Build-a-Bear Workshop in Roseville a couple months ago, and we thought it was such an emotional and wonderful experience. We wanted to give that to all of the kids at the hospital."
— Jason Love
"My wife, my daughter and I had the chance to visit Build-a-Bear Workshop in Roseville a couple months ago, and we thought it was such an emotional and wonderful experience. We wanted to give that to all of the kids at the hospital," said Jason Love, whose daughter, Emily, is a pediatric cancer patient at UC Davis.
Within a week, Love helped to raise over $1,800 through Crowdtilt.com, an online group funding website, which was enough to pay for stuffed animals, hearts and accessories for all patients in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and the Pediatrics Unit.
With help from Build-a-Bear Workshop in Roseville and Children's Miracle Network Business Development Council member Trisha Pickerel, he made his dream come true: he brought the event to the hospital for the kids to enjoy, just in time for Valentine's Day and on UC Davis Wears Red Day, a campus-wide campaign to promote heart disease prevention.
Build-a-Bear staff helped kids choose a heart (satin hearts and battery-operated beating hearts were both up for grabs!) and led the heart ceremony, which included making a wish upon the heart, before tucking the heart inside their animal.
Video of UC Davis Children's Hospital patients
receiving colorful stuff animals
UC Davis medical students then sutured up animals on small surgical tables, before sending them on to the photo booth area, where kids could take a snapshot with their newfound friends.
"It was a sweet event and a great activity for the kids in our hospital," said Diana Sundberg, manager of Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy. "We loved seeing all of the smiles on the kids' faces when they cuddled with their new stuffed animals. Thanks to everyone who made this event possible for our kids."


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The BCIT Mathematics Department provides instruction to students in the School of Energy, the School of Construction, the School of Health and in the School of Academic Studies and Computing.
Our goal is to prepare students with the mathematical tools necessary for careers in technical fields by emphasizing the relevance of the mathematics to their career area.
In addition to the regular day school courses we offer a variety of math courses in a part time studies format. Some courses are intended for people wishing to upgrade their math skills; to learn more, go to Math Competency Testing or Upgrading Courses.
Information about Building Better Math, an exciting project involving challenging real world problems for high school students can be found at their website.


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RENTON, Wash. – The Seattle Sounders FC revealed their new primary and secondary kits for the 2013 season today.
Click here to view a full screen photo gallery of the new kits | Buy online now at ProShop.SoundersFC.com
The primary kit remains rave green and features a subtle silhouette of the Space Needle positioned vertically on the right chest. The traditional adidas three stripes and trim are in Sounders blue.
The secondary kit continues in cascade shale with the addition of a two inch vertical stripe which connects team colors through a mosaic design to emphasize the team's unique and diverse fan base. The adidas three stripes and trim are also in rave green. Fans will notice a new lettering and numbering font for the 2013 and 2014 seasons. This will be the first time the primary and secondary kits feature different patterns.
"Rave green has become an integral part of the team's identity," said Sounders FC owner Joe Roth. "The new kits feature unique designs and detailing that will further link the team to the supporters and the city of Seattle."
The adidas ForMotion™ kits will improve comfort and enhance performance by reducing the fabric weight by 27%. The overall weight of the jersey has been reduced by 34g. The TechFit PowerWeb bands have been removed from the jersey and are now on the MiCoach Elite system baselayer.
The primary kit will be worn for all MLS league matches but will be substituted by the cascade shale if the rave green is in color conflict or is similar to a home team's primary kit. The super cyan kit, which debuted in 2012, will continue to be worn for Champions League, U.S. Open Cup and friendly matches in order to differentiate between these competitions and MLS league matches.
In 2013, the Xbox logo continues to be featured prominently on the jersey front with the Sounders FC badge over the heart. The badge represents the team's personality, image, core competencies and characteristics. The design is loosely based on a heraldic shield, which helped identify warriors who were otherwise hidden by their armor.
- The Seattle Sounders FC badge was developed with three distinct layers to represent the partnership between the club, the community, and the fans.
- The partners are all united under one banner which carries the team name.
- The Space Needle is a universally recognized icon and symbol of Seattle.
- The overall design is an updated, contemporary treatment of traditional shapes. The effect is clean, bold, aggressive and uniquely Northwest.
Fans can purchase the new kits online through the team's website, the downtown Pro Shop located at 410 Pike Street or on match day at CenturyLink Field.


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MOHEGAN � The 2014 Mohegan Sun World Baseball Coaches� Convention begins at 4:30 p.m. today at the Mohegan Sun Convention Center and continues through Saturday.
Presenters of note at the 11th annual convention this year include 2012 National League Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey of the Toronto Blue Jays. Dickey will do a break-out segment at 3:15 p.m. on Friday about the pitch that put him on the national stage: the knuckleball.
�That should be interesting, especially since I never caught (a knuckleballer),� said one of the organizers of the Convention, former Boston Red Sox catcher Roger LaFrancois. �How he throws it and how it helped him get back into baseball is quite the story.�
Talking baseball
Dickey will also take part in the �Talking Baseball� segment with Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Craig Breslow, Boston third base coach Brian Butterfield and major league infielder and East Lyme native John McDonald, who was also part of the World Series champion Red Sox in 2013.
�Our registration is already up to over 900 coaches, so we expect over 1,000 coaches to come out,� LaFrancois said. �They come from all over New England and the Northeast. Most of them are youth, AAU and high school coaches and there are some high school and college players who come out to take part in the clinics.�
Notable coaches
Also scheduled to be on hand as presenters are some notable college coaches including Scott Stricklin from the University of Georgia, Spanky McFarland from James Madison, UConn�s Jim Penders, ECSU�s Matt LaBranche and Penn State�s Rob Cooper.
On Saturday, the baseball coaches will be joined by some top softball coaches and players.
USA softball outfielder and Olympic Gold medalist Jessica Mendoza and Michelle Gascoigne, a pitcher for the 2013 National Champion, the University of Oklahoma, are scheduled to be among the presenters.


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Check out this video by Luke Huxham exclusively for Mint Design, a creative outlet inspired by California's skateboarding, hip-hop and streetwear culture.
Mint Design Footwear is inspired by colorful classic designs and are made of 100% recyclable EVA. Mint Design Footwear uses our proprietary odor resistant, anti-bacterial open cell technology E.V.A, which features a lightweight shock absorbent design to minimize fatigue.
Bringing footwear to entirely new arena is our newly developed patent pending, Energy Flow Technology. EFT technology is integrated into the all of our shoes, featuring hundreds of micro knobules that therapeutically massage your feet as you walk, giving them an exhilarating energy boost. Our colorful footwear features vented holes for total breathability, which can be worn year round.
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There's Shelfy…and then there's Natalie. Jessica Biel has always referred to the "Top Tier", a club to which she does not belong that, of course, includes Natalie Portman on a short list of young actors constantly presented with the most prestigious parts.
Biel has blamed her exclusion from the "Top Tier" on her good looks, lamenting that it's her beauty that has held her back.
Natalie Portman isn't beautiful?
This is Natalie Portman yesterday in Toronto promoting Love and Other Impossible Pursuits at TIFF, first at the press conference and then at the gala premiere.
Fresh faced, light makeup, I mean that's just… not fair. And it's not like it gets old. I saw her multiple times at Cannes in 2008 – she has a face that never gets boring. She even looks good mid-sentence or mid-blink. Moments when anyone else would appear distorted, Natalie Portman is still perfect.
And on the carpet last night…
Laura said she could hardly focus because she couldn't stop staring at her. In a bright print Lanvin dress with fuschia lips, so elegant, and sassy too. Natalie Portman can work the cameras. And the photographers in the stills pool were losing their sh-t.
Portman is professional, respectful, understands it's a job. She's nice, but not overly nice. Pleasant but not gushy. Certainly there's a wall, and she's smart enough to be able to keep it up. At the same time, she's also clever enough to give just enough so that she's able to sell her movie without opening up too much about her life. And there's a wicked sense of humour under there too. You just have to earn it.
If there's a flaw in Natalie however it's the footwear. Laura remarked that her shoes last night were a disservice to that dress. This almost always the case. They don't suck…but they're not all that spectacular. In her case, the reason is less about style than it is about principle. Natalie's animal friendly, eco-friendly position prohibits her from many lines and styles. So on this point she gets a pass.
Favourite Natalie Portman quote comes from Ryan Gosling. On whether or not he'd ever agree to star in a remake of Roman Holiday:
"I love that film, and (Natalie Portman is) the only person who could do it. She's like water, that girl. She moves through everything untouched."
This is why it's always been a dream: Natalie Portman and Ryan Gosling. And they teased us with it in February but it went no further than flirty friends and text messages.
Maybe one day.
Photos from Wenn.com and Splashnewsonline.com
Natalie by day and night
There's Shelfy…and then there's Natalie. Jessica Biel has always referred to the "Top Tier", a club to which she does not belong that, of course, includes Natalie Portman on a short list of young actors constantly presented with the most prestigious parts.


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meanderings of the sasuraijin.
In my various campaign rules postings, I have listed my preferences as a GM. However, I would like it explicitly stated that I believe in the Rule of Yes: if it is not forbidden or defined, it's allowable; and even if it is forbidden and/or defined, we can discuss a workaround... - and am willing to discusses and make exceptions to my preferences and even the game rules on a case-by-case basis. I like working with my players, and enabling them to accomplish their goals for their characters.
Originally Posted by nijineko
hmmmm, i would have to say that my current "favorites", which to me means the ones i'd currently play first if given my choice of any of my wide array of favorite characters, are either Meo of Golden Valley, or Path of Ursailia and Prii the Twice-Forsaken.
Meo is a druidicly-trained lad who through streneous application of himself, learned how to shapechange without becoming a druid or learning any magic at all, arcane or divine. (and legally to boot!) He and his mentor
A cat like me sees a lot of things sitting in odd corners. Few sentients pay attention to cats, unless we are making noise, or are trying to communicate on the move. Over the years, I have collected a number of interesting odds and ends. I once tried giving away a bunch of them, but it turned out that the operation of the various and sundry proved so complex, that it did not work out well for the poor recipient.
So I thought I would give some of them away one at a time. Drop me a line,
Unless specified otherwise on a per campaign basis, character generation uses the following method (please see further requirements at the end of this post):
4d6, drop lowest die, generate column of six stats.
Repeat twice more, generating two more columns.
No switching numbers between columns.
Pick best column.
Assign numbers from chosen column to stats as you see fit.
Apply racial / template / etc., adjustments.
For general clarification, here is a list of things that are generally allowed, individual campaigns may vary...:
Chapter one: all.
Chapter two: all but the prestige versions of bard, paladin, and ranger; the gestalt characters (unless and until i run a gestalt campaign, that is), and the generic characters.
Chapter three: character traits, flaws, and spelltouched feats.
Chapter four: action points.
Updated 07-22-2011 at 01:22 AM by nijineko


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Six of the best organs in the world
Oliver Condy's quick guide to some of the greatest pipe organs in the world
The organ has a reputation for being loud and brash, but it's also capable of the most ethereal, mysterious and beautiful sounds you'll find anywhere on earth. However, which are the world's finest organs? Here are six for starters.
Builder: Aristide Cavaillé-Coll
Cathedral of St Ouen, Rouen
Considered to be one of the most important organs in France, this huge four-manual instrument is often used to record music by Vierne and Widor. Variously neglected and rebuilt from the 17th to the 19th centuries, it was eventually completely rebuilt by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll in 1888 and inaugurated by the great French organist Charles-Marie Widor two years later.
Today it remains almost exactly as Cavaillé-Coll intended and is considered one of the most beautiful of the French late-19th-century 'symphonic' period. There are two mighty en chamade ranks of pipes jutting horizontally out of the main case. And they're loud…
Our audio clip (above right) features a performance by Jeremy Filsell of the Final from Vierne's Symphony No. 1 on this wonderful organ.
Builder: Glatter-Götz/Rosales
Walt Disney Hall, Los Angeles
This instrument's completely bonkers organ case (click the link below to take a look) is the result of a four-year collaboration between architect Frank Gehry and organ builders Glatter-Götz and Manuel Rosales. Suitably Disney like – it may remind you of the cartoon Fantasia – the case has been described as looking like French fries or a game of pick-up sticks. Each of the façade pipes speak, it's worth bearing in mind.
And despite looking odd it provides an eye-popping centre-piece for the staggering new Walt Disney Hall. But does it pass muster musically? Well, yes – it appears that the critics have warmed to its harmonic richness, powerful reeds and beautifully engineered diapasons.
Builder: William Hill
Birmingham Town Hall
Of the UK's town hall organs, it's the mighty Hill built in 1834 for Birmingham's town hall opening that reigns supreme. With its 32-foot façade pipes, it has the largest single organ case in Europe. It's rumoured to be the first organ ever to be fitted with a heavy-pressure solo reed stop – the Tuba Mirabilis, installed in 1837.
But it also possesses some exquisite softer stops: its flutes and strings shimmer in the venue's warm acoustic while its diapasons are beautifully mellow. What makes this organ particularly worthy of mention, however, is its constant use in weekly recitals given by a string of city organists since 1834. Thomas Trotter, the seventh organist, has given well over 500 recitals since 1983.
Builder: Gottfried Silbermann
Freiberg Cathedral
Freiberg Cathedral is lucky enough to possess two Silbermanns. But it's the main organ that gets special mention here. In 1711, Freiberg Cathedral commissioned a 28-year-old Gottfried Silbermann to build a three-manual, 44-stop organ with pedals. Completed in 1714, it was restored in 1983 and remains almost exactly as the builder intended.
This is the kind of instrument JS Bach hankered after all his life – Silbermann and Bach worked closesly together, both sharing an interest and deep knowledge of acoustics. Travel to Freiberg and you'll discover an instrument with strong reeds and silvery diapasons. Admirers of Silbermann's craftsmanship would refer to the 'Silberklang' or 'Silvery Sounds', a play on the builder's name. Mozart reckoned that 'these instruments are magnificent beyond measure'.
Builder: Delaunay/Grenzing
St Pierre des Chartreux, Toulouse
Classified as a national historic monument, this instrument is arguably the finest French Classical organ in working order in France. Toulouse is something of a Mecca for organists, with this fine instrument on the tour path for any serious fan of Couperin, De Grigny or Raison.
Built for the convent of Les Jacobins in Toulouse in 1683 by Robert Delaunay, the organ was rebuilt and restored by various builders until its complete restoration in 1983 by Gerhard Grenzing. It has four manuals, 51 stops and 78 ranks and its sound is extraordinary and unique. Listen to the cornet stop, for example, and you get an idea of just how unique these organs are.
Builder: George Ashdown Audsley
Lord & Taylor Department Store, Philadelphia
If the 33,000-pipe Midmer-Losh in Atlantic City, New Jersey still worked, it would be the largest organ in the world. Instead that crown now goes to the fully-functional 28,500-pipe Wanamaker organ in the Lord and Taylor department store in Philadelphia. It may not be the subtlest of organs, but for its sheer panache, it deserves respect.
Originally built in 1904 for the St Louis World's Fair, the Audsley organ originally had 10,000 pipes. In 1909, John Wanamaker snapped it up for his new emporium in Philadelphia. It took two years to put in place and various pipes were added up until 1930, bringing the total to its number today. It may be massive, but underneath its skin lies a gentle giant capable of velvety, magical sounds.
Watch a video clip of Frederick Swann playing the mighty Wanamaker
CD: Vierne: Symphonies pour orgue
Jeremy Filsell (organ)
Signum Classics SIGCD063
Audio clip: Vierne: Symphony No. 1, Op. 14 – Final
Image: Oliver Condy


text: The love of gardening begins at home! According to our history book "FULFILLING THE DREAM", the original name of our organization was National Council of State Garden Club Federations, mirroring the structure used in governing our country: a federation of states joined together by a single mission and purpose. In 1935, our name was shortened to National Council of State Garden Clubs, and then was modified again in 2001 to National Garden Clubs, Inc. All Garden Club activity begins at the local level, in grassroots organizations that provide local communities of gardeners with networking, education and outreach opportunities. Each local club is under the guidance and direction of that states' president, serving as a liaison to national elected and appointed officers. For those who want to serve the NGC beyond their own communities, a wealth of opportunities are available by serving as project and committee chairman, event or project organizer, publication editor, school instructor, flower show judge and many other positions. To locate garden clubs in your area, contact headquarters at National Garden Clubs, Inc. or contact your state or local organization via the state garden club websites. Additional information is available in our membership brochure titled: "Grow Your World and Green Your Community by Joining a Garden Club". Starting a Garden Club National Garden Clubs welcomes start-up clubs that can be tailored specifically to a group's needs and interests. NGC and its state-level organizations can help you get started and provide access to the wealth of resources and networking opportunities that our global reach offers. Click here to learn more about starting a new garden club.


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Garlicky fondant potatoes
Nutrition and extra info
- Vegetarian
- kcal195
- fat7g
- saturates3g
- carbs31g
- sugars0g
- fibre2g
- protein4g
- salt0.58g
- 1 tsp olive oil
Olive oilol-iv oyl
Probably the most widely-used oil in cooking, olive oil is pressed from fresh olives. It's…
- 50g butter
Butter is a dairy product made from separating whole milk or cream into fat and…
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 x 750g bags Charlotte potatoes, cut in half if large
- 1l hot vegetable stock
- 2 sprigs thyme, leaves only
This popular herb grows in Europe, especially the Mediterranean, and is a member of the mint…
Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Heat the oil and butter in a large roasting tin. Add the garlic and cook over a medium heat for 2 mins. Tip in the potatoes and toss to coat in the garlic butter and oil.
Pour the stock over the potatoes and season with pepper and a little salt. Bring to the boil then transfer to the oven. Cook for 40-45 mins or until tender.
Transfer to the stove-top and toss over a medium heat until most of the liquid has been absorbed and turned to a shiny glaze – about 15 mins. Tip potatoes into a warm serving dish and scatter over the thyme and serve.


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Board members are elected at large for terms of four years. Elections are held every two years, with three members being chosen at one election and four members at the other. The President and Vice President of the Board of Trustees are elected by the Board for one-year terms at the annual organizational and regular meeting in July. A student member is elected annually—the term is June 1 through May 31 of each year.
The Board generally meets twice a month on Wednesday with the public session commencing at 3 p.m. with closed session to follow. However, special meetings of the Board are sometimes called to handle business that cannot be dealt with completely at a regular meeting. For more information regarding the Board meeting schedule and location, click on the Board Agendas menu or call the Office of the Board of Trustees at (213) 891-2044.
Los Angeles Community College District


text:
Breaking changes:
- XContent refactoring might imply backward changes for Java clients (#367)
New features:
- Bulk API (#371)
- Gateway: a
localgateway for zero configuration persistency (#343), (blog)
- Mapping API: Delete Mapping (with data) (#373)
- River: A pluggable river (indexer like) support (#377), (blog)
- Search API:
- Thrift Plugin: Expose REST interface using thrift (#354)
- EC2 Discovery should optionally bind to nodes who are members of all groups (#345)
- Memcached transport does not support version, npe when no uri (#342)
- Allow to specify highlighter parameters on a per field level basis (#356)
- Allow to configure a common logger prefix using
es.logger.prefixsystem prop (#360)
- Change default thread pool to scaling from cached (#381)
- Create Index / Update Settings: Automatically prefix all settings with
- Gateway:
- JMX: Disable creating by default an RMI JMX connector (#348)
- Local Gateway: Expose
gateway.local.initial_shardsto control when to recover and index (#352)
- Mapper:
- Query DSL:
match_allfilter (#365)
- Search API: Automatically identify "script" fields on the field elements in search (#357)
- Terms Facet: Allow to provide
_indexas the field, resulting in facets on indices (#374)
- Admin REST API: Cluster State returns also
- Add
refreshoption to index/create/delete opereation, REST allows for refresh parameter (defaults to false). (commit)
- Allow to specify stopwords as comma delimiated list of words. (commit)
- Add nodes attributes to cluster state. (commit)
Bug fixes:
- Search failure when no results are found and sorting by score (#362)
- Geo search across anti-meridian doesn't work (#363)
- Setting
path.workdoes not affect the logs location (#366)
- Mapper:
- Shared Storage Gateway (fs/s3): Wrong snapshotting of transaction log (#375)


text:
Father Michael Cooney, pastor of St. Peter Church in the Detroit suburb of Mount Clemens, has engaged in "a bit of Irish diplomacy," as he calls it, to send a message to parishioners about a source of frustration for him and many other priests: people who leave Mass early and don't stay for the dismissal. He has posted a sign at each of the church's exits reading, "Judas left early too."
The effort has had a positive effect, he tells The Michigan Catholic, newspaper of the Detroit Archdiocese. The reason, he feels, is that he introduced the signs with humor, rather than scolding the congregation.


text:
Silver Oxidized Our Lady of Sorrows Medal-Inexpensive Our Lady of Sorrows Silver Oxidized Medal-
Oval 1" Mary medals Made in Italy-Lowest Bulk Price- Oxidized Mary Medallions-Charms-Jewelry-
Blessed Virgin Mary Medals (Our Lady Mater Dolorosa)
Our Lady of Sorrows (Latin: Beata Maria Virgo Perdolens), the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows (Latin: Mater Dolorosa), Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names by which the Blessed Virgin Mary is referred to in relations to sorrows in her life.
Under this title, she is the patron saint of Slovakia, the state of Mississippi, the Congregation of Holy Cross, Mola di Bari, Apulia, Italy and in Barangay Paloway, San Andres, Catanduanes, Philippines.
The Seven Sorrows of Mary are a popular devotion in the Roman Catholic Church. There is a devotional prayer which consists of meditation on her Seven Sorrows. Also, there is a corresponding devotion to the Seven Joys of Mary.


text:
Year of publication
- 1998 (4) (remove)
- English (4) (remove)
- Case Based Reasoning (4) (remove)
This paper presents a brief overview of the INRECA-II methodology for building and maintaining CBR applications. It is based on the experience factory and the software process modeling approach from software engineering. CBR development and maintenance experience is documented using software process models and stored in a three-layered experience packet.
Although several systematic analyses of existing approaches to adaptation have been published recently, a general formal adaptation framework is still missing. This paper presents a step into the direction of developing such a formal model of transformational adaptation. The model is based on the notion of the quality of a solution to a problem, while quality is meant in a more general sense and can also denote some kind of appropriateness, utility, or degree of correctness. Adaptation knowledge is then defined in terms of functions transforming one case into a successor case. The notion of quality provides us with a semantics for adaptation knowledge and allows us to define terms like soundness, correctness and completeness. In this view, adaptation (and even the whole CBR process) appears to be a special instance of an optimization problem.
For defining attribute types to be used in the case representation, taxonomies occur quite often. The symbolic values at any node of the taxonomy tree are used as attribute values in a case or a query. A taxonomy type represents a relationship between the symbols through their position within the taxonomy-tree which expresses knowledge about the similarity between the symbols. This paper analyzes several situations in which taxonomies are used in different ways and proposes a systematic way of specifying local similarity measures for taxonomy types. The proposed similarity measures have a clear semantics and are easy to compute at runtime.
This paper motivates the necessity for support for negotiation during Sales Support on the Internet within Case-Based Reasoning solutions. Different negotiation approaches are discussed and a general model of the sales process is presented. Further, the tradition al CBR-cycle is modified in such a way that iterative retrieval during a CBR consulting session is covered by the new model. Several gen eral characteristics of negotiation are described and a case study is shown where preliminary approaches are used to negotiate with a cu stomer about his demands and available products in a 'CBR-based' Electronic Commerce solution.


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Love a great big juicy delicious home-grilled burger? Try a grilled Texasburger slathered with RavensBark BBQ Sauce – The Hickory.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Grill Time: 20 minutes
6 (6-ounce) burger patties
salt & freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
1 to 1-1/2 cups RavensBark BBQ Sauce – The Hickory
12-15 slices yellow onion
6 good quality burger buns
melted butter
Heat a grill to medium hot. Pour 1 cup of the RavensBark BBQ Sauce – The Hickory in a baking dish and place to the side. Season burger patties with salt & pepper. Place the onion slices around the perimeter of the grill surface turning once during the cook process. Grill the burgers to desired degree of doneness. With about 3-4 minutes before the burgers are done, place the burger patties in the baking dish with sauce, turning to coat both sides well and return to the grill to caramelize the sauce. Open the buns and paint the insides with melted butter. Place buns, buttered sides down, on the grill rack; grill buns just long enough to lightly brown, with edges slightly crisp. Place a burger on each bun and pour some of RavensBark BBQ Sauce – The Hickory on top and layer on grilled onion slices. Serves 6