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This chair boasts powerful eye-catching combination of polished brass and rich blue Velvet upholstery. The modern shape echoes delicate disks, finished with a sleek gold metal shine. Inky upholstery in blue Velvet adds touch of texture. Make a strong statement as a single accent piece or combine in a dazzling dining Set. Elegant modern design match perfectly with any decor theme. Button tufted for exceptional comfort. Seat material is upholstered.
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Shipping furniture shipping is never an easy task. This is because there are a number of aspects involved in it such as the size, weight, fragility etc. All these make shipping of furniture an intricate process. For this reason, Aron Living employs dedicated countrywide furniture experts for delivering residential furniture. Not only this, we also provide other services including Room of Choice. You can find out our rates and other options by e-mailing our shipping department firstname.lastname@example.com.
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Racing Mid Season - It's Mid-Season! - From The Driver's Seat
How's Yours Going?
In October one team will be crowned the champion in the division you're running. If you have started the season out on a couple of bad runs, then you might not be sitting all that great in points right now. But understand, all it takes to claw your way back into the points picture is a few consistent races.
Your team may not be running for points this year, but if you are, then this column is for you. Your local short track championship more than likely doesn't have a points system like the overrated "chase" system in NASCAR. And because of that, your goal should be to consistently finish each and every race in the top three.
With most A-mains being only around 25-50 laps, it will take a good qualifying effort to help you succeed in finishing in the top three. I've written this before, but it's worth repeating: You can't expect to consistently finish up front if you're qualifying for the main event outside the Top 10. There just aren't enough laps at the local short track for you to pass that many cars. I understand that it has been done before. I once watched Tony Stewart at the Chili Bowl do it more than once. But those types of runs are few and far between.
Of course, to win the championship, you are going to need a little bit of luck. I'm a firm believer that you create your own luck. My father used to tell me that the definition of luck is when hard work and preparation meet opportunity. If you think about it, that couldn't be more true.
Let's say you're running third in your A-main and you really don't have anything for the leaders. But on the white flag lap, the leaders get together and slide up the track just enough to where you can squeeze by both of them and win the race. Did you get lucky? Well, of course you did, and I can assure you that the two leaders you passed will be glad to tell you in the pits that you did. But you did something along the way, whether it was passing the third-place car or qualifying third, to put yourself in that position to even have a chance at winning the race.
But along the course of a season, it amazes me the amount of teams that will blame bad preparation on bad luck. I see this all the time. Someone will say, Well, we had some bad luck--we had a wheel bearing seize up on us. OK, to which I would ask, do you pack the wheel bearings before each race? Bad luck does happen, but true bad luck is something that happens outside of your or your team's control. You can prevent a wheel bearing seizing up by doing basic maintenance on your vehicle. If you're having parts literally fall off your car at each race weekend, then it's going to be extremely difficult for you to compete for your track's championship title.
There's no doubt that winning the points championship at your track or for your series is going to be extremely difficult. But it can be done. It will take overcoming some problems and challenges throughout the year, and lots and lots of shop time. Rest assured though, the team that can be the most prepared, and which can make its own good luck will be the one hoisting the championship trophy come the end of the season. Let's make it you!

subset: commoncrawl


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Immediately after I came to know of the shocking remarks made by Shri Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, on Mrs.Sunanda Tharoor, wife of Shri Shashi Tharoor, the re-inducted member of the Council of Ministers of Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh, I had tweeted that I considered his remarks uncultured for any audience and were unworthy of someone who sees himself as a possible future Prime Minister. I stand by these views.
2.Both Shri Tharoor and his wife had every right to counter the unworthy remarks of Shri Modi in strong language. Shri Tharoor did so the same day and the TV channels rightly gave due prominence to what he said in their coverage.
3.At the same time, I would be failing in my sense of propriety and rectitude if I did not admit my disgust at the manner in which an unseen influence mobilised some TV anchors of our private channels on October 31 to interview Mrs.Tharoor and to give her an opportunity to project her views relating to the controversy in general and Shri Modi in particular.
4. There were five newsworthy items on October 31--- the brave manner in which the Tamil Nadu people and Administration were facing the Nilam cyclone, the allegations made by Shri Arvind Kejriwal of India Against Corruption (IAC) against Shri Mukesh Ambani and the Government, the aftermath of the Sandy hurricane in the US, the likely impact of Sandy on the US Presidential elections and the anniversary of the assassination of Indira Gandhi. The TV channels correctly gave prominence to their coverage some of these items.
5.The time and prominence that were given to the interview of Mrs.Tharoor were definitely uncalled for and uncouth. One had an impression that more time was devoted to her interview than to the sufferings and fortitude of the people of Tamil Nadu because of the cyclone. The TV channels seemed to consider interviewing Mrs. Tharoor and projecting her views more important than projecting the traumatic moments faced by the people of Tamil Nadu as they awaited the cyclone.
6. Every time you switched on the TV to get the latest on the cyclone, you had visuals of Mrs.Tharoor being interviewed by obliging and fawning anchors. Some of our TV anchors are known for their propensity to fawn, but I had an impression that I had rarely seen such fawning as I saw during the interview of Mrs.Tharoor on October 31.
7. Where was their professionalism? Where was their sense of dignity? Where was their news sense? Was the orchestrated projection of Mrs. Tharoor that we saw more important than recalling the painful moments after the assassination of Mrs.Indira Gandhi by two of her security guards?
8. It was a day of infamy for our TV channels. Whose is that unseen and unfelt influence that organised and orchestrated all this? ( 1-11-12)


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Hello everyone,
I'd like to add a little bit in here about what an Ambassador must think about, partly in response to the "pitchfork" example...not that I'm trying to single you out, I apologize if it comes across that way! I'd love to see pitchforks made again, and see no reason we can't have them...the turkey is back, after all!
Communication to the company of what we, the AFOL's (and TFOL's!) want is, of course, a portion of what goes on in LEGO Ambassadors. But many of the ideas we'd like to see aren't practical for the company, and we forget that LEGO is still a childrens toy and rely on that to make money. Over the last 2 years as Ambassador (and even longer before that!) I have learned an incredible amount about the processes taken to make an idea into reality and all the steps it takes. The complexity of this is huge, and it brings all sorts of considerations as to why an idea is or isn't a good one.
For me, I think it's important to consider not only what we (FOL's) want, but also what will be useful to the company. If something doesn't benefit the LEGO Company, it likely won't benefit us in the long run either.
All that said, C-C is a wealth of great people and there's more of you than I could possibly name which would make great Ambassadors.
-John Langrish.
LEGO Ambassador, Cycles 5 & 6.


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Primary tabs
"Maximum Likelihood SNR Estimation for Asynchronously Oversampled OFDM Signals", in IEEE International Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications, Recife, Brazil, 2008.,
"ML and EM Algorithm for non-data-aided SNR Estimation of Linearly Modulated Signals", in International Symposium on Communication Systems, Networks and Signal Processing (CNSDSP), 2008, pp. 530-534.,
"Non-Data-Aided Symbol Rate Estimation of Linearly Modulated Signals", IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 2008.,
"SNR Estimation with Heterogeneous Frames", in Advanced Satellite Mobile Systems Conference, Bologna, Italy, 2008.,
Comunicaciones Digitales. Pearson - Prentice Hall, 2007.,
"Iterative Envelope-Based SNR Estimation for Non-Constant Modulus Constellations", in IEEE Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications (SPAWC), 2007.,
"Sixth-Order Statistics-Based Non-Data-Aided SNR Estimation", IEEE Communications Letters, vol. 11, pp. 351-353, 2007. lopezvalcarce_CL2006-1948.pdf (195.93 KB),
"Analysis of non-data-aided magnitude gain estimators", in International Symposium on Image/Video Communications (ISIVC), Hammamet, Tunisia, 2006.,
"Blind carrier phase estimation for non-equiprobable constellations", in IEEE Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications (SPAWC), Cannes, France, 2006.,
"Second-order blind algorithms for adaptive recursive linear equalizers: Analysis and lattice implementation", International Journal of Adaptive Control and Signal Processing, vol. 20, pp. 265–289, 2006.,
"Symbol-Rate Estimation for DVB-S2 Broadcasting", in International Workshop on Signal Processing for Space Communications (SPSC), 2006.,
"Toward a theory of multirate nonlinear systems", in IEEE Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications (SPAWC), Cannes, France, 2006.,
"Analysis of a first-order adaptive recursive predictor", in IEEE Conference on Decision and Control / European Control Conference (CDC/ECC), Seville, Spain, 2005. valcarce_cdc05.pdf (1.17 MB),
"Diamond contour-based phase recovery for (cross-)QAM constellations", in IEEE Workshop on Statistical Signal Processing (SSP), Bordeaux, France, 2005. ssp05_full.pdf (347.8 KB),
"Realizable minimum mean-squared error channel shorteners", IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, vol. 53, pp. 4354–4362, 2005. T_SP_02192_2004.pdf (149.65 KB),
"Bias analysis and removal of a microphone array based road traffic speed estimator", in European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO), Vienna, Austria, 2004. biasanalysis.pdf (106.81 KB),
"Blind input, initial state, and system identification of SIMO Laguerre systems", IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, vol. 52, pp. 3357–3369, 2004.,
"Broadband analysis of a microphone array based road traffic speed estimator", in IEEE Sensor Array and Multichannel Signal Processing Workshop (SAM), Sitges, Barcelona, Spain, 2004. wideband.pdf (204.08 KB),
"Cost minimisation interpretation of fourth power phase estimator and links to multimodulus algorithm", IEE Electronics Letters, vol. 40, pp. 278–279, 2004. fourthpower.pdf (52.6 KB),
"Estimation of road vehicle speed using two omnidirectional microphones: a maximum likelihood approach", EURASIP Journal of Applied Signal Processing, vol. 2004, pp. 1059–1077, 2004. regular.406.pdf (736.38 KB),
"Minimum delay spread TEQ design in multicarrier systems", IEEE Signal Processing Letters, vol. 11, pp. 682–685, 2004.,
"Realizable linear and decision feedback equalizers: properties and connections", IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, vol. 52, pp. 757–773, 2004.,
"An algorithm for unit-norm equation-error system identification based on the method of multipliers", IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, vol. 51, pp. 3080–3085, 2003.,
"On the applicability to correlated sources of a blind channel equalization method robust to order overestimation", in IFAC Symposium on System Identification, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 2003. painted.pdf (104.01 KB),
"Blind iterative decision feedback equalizers for block QAM transmission systems", in Baiona Workshop on Signal Processing in Communications, Baiona, Pontevedra, Spain, 2003, pp. 57–62. iterative03.pdf (307 KB),


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Incorporation Information *2013 Update*
Mission Statements
ASC Club Health Check
Club & Zone By Laws
The Committee
Starting a Club
If you think that there are enough potential new members to start a Pony Club in your area, these are a few things to consider: for more information please call the office - 8685 8925
Clubs must be incorporated to be a member of the Pony Club Association of Victoria
A minimum of five responsible adults are needed to form an association, there are no minimum numbers for riding members, but to be viable you would need a few to get started. Be aware that there is a fair bit of work getting a new club up and running, and the load needs to be shared.
It's really important to have clear goals for your club - what will it mean to be a member of your club - what do you intend to achieve with it - what standards of behaviour, community involvement and commitment would you expect of your members?
Clubs need to work with their (potential) Zone as a mentor. They would apply through this Zone to be a Probationary Club in PCAV. Probationary Club status runs for a minimum of 6 months, and after being assessed by their Zone they can then apply for full affiliation. Zones are organized along broadly geographic areas, with some 'blending' around the perimeters.
Riding members of Probationary Clubs cannot compete as Pony Club members at Pony Club events (they can ride Open without needing to pay Day attendance fees; their membership card will be proof of PCAV membership).
Insurance for a Club's grounds (20,000.000.00 Public Liability) comes with their member's insurance, when they register with and pay PCAV. Rallys and Events must be run under PCAV rules - Gear Rules always apply.
To get support for your potential new Club, get the message out into your local community (notices in feed stores, newsagents, schools; facebook; good old 'word of mouth' etc) and call a meeting. Let your Zone Rep know well ahead of time so that hopefully they can send someone along to help.
More information in the By Laws


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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suffered a concussion this week after falling due to dehydration from a stomach virus, The Associated Press reported Saturday.
She is now recovering at home, but Fox News' Chad Pergram reported that the concussion will preclude Clinton from testifying next Thursday before House and Senate panels on the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya. Replacing her will be William Burns, the deputy secretary of state, and Thomas Nides, the deputy secretary of state for management and resources.
Clinton did not travel on an overseas trip to North Africa and the Persian Gulf this past week because of the virus. She was scheduled to be in Morocco to officially recognize Syrian rebels as that country's legitimate representative. President Barack Obama did so on Tuesday.
Then a Senator from New York, Clinton also fainted during a speech in Buffalo in 2005 while recovering from the flu.
SEE ALSO: I'm Just Not Ready To Accept That We Have To Have Gun Massacres All The Time


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...sometimes don't turn out the way you planned.
Last summer, I "discovered" my birth father. After nearly fifty years of wondering, I finally found him. The yearning to know, or know about, a birth parent is a familiar one. Although some of these quests culminate on a happy note, many go nowhere at all, or instead, render disappointment. I always thought the quest for my genetic paternal heritage would be the type that went nowhere. I had almost given up trying. Instead, the search has, remarkably, gone somewhere, but not in the direction I'd hoped.
Soon after my sister was born, when I was about seven or eight, my mother asked me to come into the living room. I observed her standing there, and sensed she was somewhat agitated. Mom then proceeded to tell me about my father, whom I will refer to as "JM." She was concerned that I would eventually hear about my origins through another relative if she did not tell me first. She ended with admonishing me to not say a word about it to anyone. I do not remember being shocked or upset at the news. I only remember listening intently and asking a few questions, and being left in a "hmm, isn't that interesting" frame of mind. But, I was a young child at the time, and a dutiful daughter at that. I never wanted to push against parental authority, so it wasn't until I was an adult that the need to know more burned in me.
A mere passion to know did not get me anywhere, however. As many women of her generation, my mother believes in "letting bygones be bygones." She carries a certain amount of embarrassment and hurt feelings regarding the outcome of the relationship, although she has always loved me with all of her heart. She chose to not marry JM when he proposed to her, and for her own good reasons. But, think of the stigma she faced in the 1950s as a single mother. I consider her a very brave woman for making the decision she did. She lived with an aunt at the time, and they traded babysitting duties and worked shifts at the cannery in order to make a go of things. They came from Minnesota farming stock, and one did what one had to do, without complaint. She has always been the most selfless, fairest, and loving mother, in spite of the guilt she has always carried deep inside.
Mom and me
There is a basic human need to know about our origins. Where did I come from? What traits do I share with my family and ancestors? What is my family history? It is something of a curse on those who are tenacious and will not accept no for an answer. Throughout my adult years, I periodically pressed my mother for answers, which was not often. I could not bear to bring up the ghosts of the past when it hurt, and even angered her, so much.
Still, I tried for years to make some headway into searching for my father and his family, but none of the information I had was detailed enough, or certain enough. It was not until I borrowed my mother's photograph albums for genealogical research on her family (with her full permission) that I rediscovered the photographs she had hurriedly shown me, so long ago. The precious few photographs were still there... she had not destroyed them!
How those photographs played into the genealogical find of a lifetime will be addressed in Part II of "The Best Laid Genealogical Plans."
Saturday, January 16, 2010
The Best Laid Genealogical Plans...
Posted by Chery Kinnick at 4:10 PM
Labels: genealogy
5 comments:
- Miriam Robbins said...
Looking forward to reading more!
- January 17, 2010
- footnoteMaven said...
Mountain Girl -
It is so good to see you blogging again. You have been missed.
Although this is not an easy story to tell, you have a resolution. Looking forward to Part II.
- January 17, 2010
- Charley "Apple" Grabowski said...
A difficult journey, I'm sure. I am glad that you are writing here again and look forward to the rest of the story.
- January 23, 2010
- Alice Dilts said...
Looking forward to reading the next part.
- January 23, 2010
- wendy said...
will be waiting to read the rest of the story. Glad you are back in the blogging "world"!
- January 23, 2010
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Falcons, and their handler, inspire at-risk US youth
LAUREL, Maryland — Benny and James are a pair of handsome Lanner falcons, bred in Saudi Arabia, that came to the United States a few weeks ago on a mission to change the lives of inner-city youth.
If that sounds unlikely, then so too is the story of Rodney Stotts, on whose gloved arm they perched one muggy summer morning in the unexpectedly lush countryside a half-hour's drive outside Washington.
Stotts, 41, is among the very few African-Americans to hold a falconry license, enabling him to trap, train and keep birds of prey.
But 20-odd years ago, he was a hardened drug dealer in the roughest neighborhoods in the US capital with little to look forward to but a life of violent street crime.
"I was a typical drug dealer. Sold coke. Weed. Pills. Pretty much anything you could get your hands on to flip and make money with. Carried numerous guns," he told AFP.
"I thought I knew everything," added Stotts, who sports a wool cap, a Bluetooth earpiece and an engaging smile. "Conceited as all outdoors. Hard-headed. Stubborn. Would do anything I had to do to get what I had to get."
He wasn't alone living on the edge, but he was lucky to stay alive. In 1992, the year he attended no fewer than 33 funerals of people he knew in southeast Washington, he started to change his life.
Step one was the non-profit Earth Conservation Corps, created under the auspices of then-president George H. W. Bush to undertake youth-driven environmental projects around the United States.
It hired Stotts and eight others to clean up Lower Beaver Dam Creek, a tributary of the Anacostia River that runs through Washington's east side before joining the Potomac River.
"We pulled out 5,000 tires. Car engines. Motorcycles. Sofas. Couches. Dressers. You name it," he said.
"Then after, like, three weeks, we started seeing turtles and beavers and great blue herons flying back through the creek. That really made us take off, and we couldn't stop them."
In time, the clean-up led to the return of the bald eagle, the national bird of the United States, to the skies over Washington for the first time since 1954 — and nurtured Stotts' keen interest in birds of prey.
He reckons he has trained around 10 birds, housing them in mews he built behind his home in suburban Fort Washington, Maryland, and returning some of them to the wild.
Not content with just trapping and training birds in the wild, Stotts took his winged friends on the road, traveling to local parks, boys and girls' clubs, hospitals and even senior citizens' homes to share his passion.
"I've done 96 days straight, no days off, just going places, taking the birds," he said. "Walk down the street with an owl on your arm and you stop a lot of traffic."
"Most people's initial reaction is shock, because I'm a black man and they've never seen a black falconer," he said. "After they get over that initial shock, everything is pretty good from that point on."
Today Stotts is raptor program coordinator for Wings Over America (www.wingsoveramericadc.org), an Earth Conservation Corps offshoot that uses raptors to connect with at-risk youth and inspire them to change their lives.
It's off to a flying start, occupying 600 acres (240 hectares) of woodland outside Washington plus a vintage barn under renovation to house its growing collection of birds and host a range of bird-related events.
"That's one of the things I want to do, is to give back, to give young people another alternative and to show that there is nothing you can't do, that you're the only one who stops you from doing anything," he said.
Among those inspired by Stotts is his stepson Dallas Coleman, 20, a soft-spoken high school graduate with dreadlocks who is helping turn Benny and James into full-time public performance birds.
"People my age don't believe I do the things I do, because of my age," Coleman told AFP. "When they see us, they have a bunch of questions about how we got into it, why we got into it."
Besides the two Lanner falcons, Stotts works with two Eurasian eagle owls (one named Mr Hoots), a red-tail hawk and a Harris hawk. "Day to day, I feed them, I train them, I fly them. We grow a bond with them," he said.
Until the Wings Over America facility is ready, the birds stay at Stotts' home, a veritable Noah's Ark that also includes pet snakes, pet rats and a couple of pitbulls "so that the cats stay away" from the raptors.
Reflecting on his life, he said: "Losing people to the senseless violence that you were out doing yourself, it just makes you start to realize that you're a bigger part of the problem than anyone else — and that you can't ask someone else to start being part of the solution if you're not."
Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.
More »


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# systemctl start mysqld.serviceUnfortunately, it got stuck attempting to start it, with syslog being filled with messages like this:
May 31 12:33:40 novo systemd[1]: mysqld.service holdoff time over, scheduling restart. May 31 12:33:40 novo systemd[1]: Job pending for unit, delaying automatic restart.so something was obviously wrong. First, I blamed wrong file permissions or SELinux. Unfortunately, the pair of commands:
# chmod -R mysql.mysql /var/lib/mysql # restorecon -R /var/lib/mysqldid not fix it. Digging with Google it turns out I need to the mysql_upgrade command but that needs to connect to a running instance. uhm...
So the solution to this chicken-and-egg problem was to manually start mysql with the --skip-grant-tables options like this:
# su - mysql -c "/usr/libexec/mysqld --skip-grant-tables"then running in another shell:
# mysql_upgrade -u root -p # systemctl restart mysqld.service


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Can Gingrich Derail Romney?
He'll make it interesting, but GOP voters will find Romney the better bet to beat President Obama.
It's hard to ignore Newt Gingrich's return from the dead as a viable Republican presidential candidate, but it is easy to take his second act with a grain of salt.
POLL: Should Payroll Tax Holiday Be Extended?
Labeled an also-ran presidential wannabe at the outset of the election season, Gingrich has emerged as the latest flavor-of-the-month in the GOP's White House sweepstakes.
SEE ALSO: Inflation Threat -- Not Now, But Soon
But is Mitt Romney's camp nervous? Not so much, though it is retooling its strategy to target a candidate it had long ago written off as a legitimate threat.
At best, the Gingrich surge defines the race as a two-man contest between the former House speaker and perennial top-tier candidate Romney. It will not lead to Romney's demise.
Still, Gingrich's rising poll numbers and a recent endorsement from the conservative New Hampshire Union Leader have helped him raise $4 million since Oct. 1, compared with a dismal $800,000 cash haul in the third quarter. It's enough money to pay off an estimated $1 million in campaign debt, open new offices in New Hampshire and South Carolina, and hire some well-respected new strategists.
Yet even with donor checks coming in at an accelerated rate, he doesn't have enough time to build a field organization necessary to win in the early voting states.
Gingrich recently hired Jeff Chidester, the former New Hampshire state director for Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) campaign. Chidester is a tea party activist with a local right-wing radio show in the Granite State.
In Iowa, über-operative Craig Schoenfeld as well as Katie Koberg, a big antitax activist, rejoined the Gingrich campaign after quitting in June during an exodus of staffers who were convinced that the ex-speaker's bid for the White House was doomed.
Schoenfeld is a big rehire, since he headed the super PAC Americans for Rick Perry after leaving the Gingrich campaign.
Gingrich is already scrounging for votes among the tanking conservatives in the field. With businessman Herman Cain's campaign on life support over allegations of a long-term affair and multiple accusations that he engaged in sexual harassment, Gingrich is treating the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza with respect in hopes of landing Cain's supporters when he drops out of the race.
With the biggest get-out-the-vote operation in New Hampshire, Romney has a 27-point lead over Gingrich in a recent highly regarded poll in the state.
It won't be much easier for Gingrich to cut into the conservative vote in Iowa, either. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) has built a formidable field operation in Iowa, while Michele Bachmann also has a strong ground game that will be needed to pull voters to the Jan. 3 caucuses.
Unless Gingrich is obliterated in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, which would question his electability and credibility, he has a real chance to pull out a win over Romney in the South Carolina primary on Jan. 21. It is the third state in the GOP nominating process and is dominated by conservative Republicans who find Gingrich more to their ideological liking.
Romney will likely lower expectations for his performance in South Carolina, setting the stage for what could be a decisive showdown in the Florida primary on Jan. 31.
The former Massachusetts governor also hopes to demonstrate his own fundraising prowess. He raised $3.6 million through Sept. 30. He is likely to exceed that take this quarter.
Do not be surprised if Romney drops a bombshell when he reports his most recent campaign contributions, rolling out a major fourth-quarter buck-raking haul.
Romney will spend the coming weeks focusing on attacking Obama, while Gingrich will be forced to face questions about his past indiscretions and controversial comments, instead of talking about jobs and the economy.
Romney's campaign continues to argue that he is the candidate most likely to defeat President Obama. Polls support Romney's case that he is the most electable candidate in the GOP field.


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Many moons ago I heard about a book that won the Pulitzer price for General Non-Fiction in 1974: The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker. The title intrigued me, and so I ordered it from the USA. (I could not find a single copy in the whole of South Africa…)
The book blew my mind. To this day I regard it as the best "non-theological" commentary on the human condition that I have ever come across. I followed it up with Becker's Escape from Evil, and the experience pretty much repeated itself. And I am still working through his The Birth and Death of Meaning. Slowly…
I don't think these books are everyone's cup of tea, but they exposed me to a line of thinking that helped me greatly to understand the predicament of being human, as well as my Christian faith.
The only other scholar in the field of the human sciences whose writings had a similar effect on me was Rene Girard. His work on mimetic desire, conflict and scapegoating is fast becoming legendary. It is also becoming extremely popular, which is perhaps unfortunate. Girard has been, and is being enlisted as an apologist for a number of causes and doctrinal novelties that I doubt he would have personally endorsed. Sadly, this is often the case with profound thinkers who are no longer with us.
Added to this, Girard is a human being and his insights are certainly not complete or perfect. One does not have to agree with every tenet of his theory to gain much from it (the proverbial fish and bones). To elevate him to the status of guru is unwise. Many of his views do not sit well with conservative evangelicals, but that does not have to create an either/or conflict. His main contribution is in the field of anthropology, and his readers should consider for themselves what the implications are for their theology. For instance, the notion that you HAVE to reject the penal substitution theory of atonement in order to gain much from Girard is, in fact, not true. His work is multifaceted, and can be thought of as a series of self-contained units, each flowing into the other. There is no need to follow him slavishly, or to adopt each of his conclusions.
I have often thought of these two men as Cyrus-like servants of God, in the sense that they fulfilled a spiritual purpose without knowing that they were doing so, or at least the extent to which they were doing it. I suspect that Girard discovered it along the way, but that he was too modest to actually make something of it.
To elaborate on these purposes would fill a book, so I will refrain. Suffice it to say that Becker's assessment of the human condition is pretty dark and damning, and that he suggests, as an objective scholar and social scientist, that "primitive Christianity" may be the only answer to the succession of failed immortality ideologies and "hero-systems" that have marked the human race since the dawn of time. Biblical Christianity, of course, takes the problem of death really seriously. Modern Christianity, according to Becker, is simply another "hero-system" or effort to deny death, and thus he relegates it to the same status as all other immortality ideologies. (All Restorationists may now applaud.)
The irony of these scholars' work is that it has been mostly overlooked by mainstream theologians and believers (Girard's work is finally being noticed, as mentioned, but this only happened relatively recently), seemingly because it did not come in the stereotypical theological wrapping. But this is in fact what makes it so powerful. As young researchers neither of them were crusaders for a cause or motivated by some or other belief system that created a research bias and predisposed them to looking for clues that would fit into an existing schema. They truly "stumbled" upon the powerful truths that they ended up articulating for the rest of us, and only later related it to the sphere of religion.
My all-time favourite interview is of Girard telling how he discovered that the Decalogue's Tenth Commandment reveals mimetic desire to underlie all divine moral codes, and that it did so millennia before he came up with his theory. He notes that he finds it absolutely befuddling that this obvious fact has been overlooked by theologians. (First five minutes of interview – you can skip the rest).
To me Becker and Girard's work represents two sides of the same coin: Mimetic desire is in fact the subjective response to the reality of death, and thus our greatest and most sophisticated effort at denying death. (Eve found the power to dismiss God's warning of impending death through the enchantment of desire).
What we covet is in fact the life of the neighbour, and the closest we can come to this is to appropriate his/her possessions. In the process the neighbour is "sacrificed" to effect the life-exchange and overcome death. Our fascination with vampirism is but one testimony to this subconscious drive within.
This, of course, is where the gospel comes in. My greatest companion volume to Becker and Girard is Anders Nygren's Agape and Eros (another largely forgotten work) – a book that shaped Karl Barth's theology significantly.
Barth beautifully summarises Nygren in these words:
Love, as Eros, is, in general terms, the primordially powerful desire, urge, impulse, and endeavor by which a created being seeks his own self-assertion, satisfaction, realization, and fulfillment in his relation to something else. He strives to draw near to this other person or thing, to win it for himself, to take it to himself, and to make it his own as clearly and definitively as possible. In Agape, however, the one who loves never understands the origin of his search as a demand inherent within himself, but always as an entirely new freedom for the other one… And because he is free for him, he does not seek him as though he needed him for himself as a means to his self-assertion and self-fulfillment…. He loves him gratis. That is to say, he desires nothing from him, and he does not wish to be rewarded by him.
The book that completed the puzzle for me was Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness. His groundbreaking work in regard to affective forecasting reveals that we desire things because we anticipate that they will make us happy. In this way we become slaves to our projections of a happy future self who inevitable ends up being grumpy about everything we have accumulated and achieved for him/her when we finally meet him/her.
Gilbert is not a believer, but his insights into the things that make humans tick are worth noting – and a lot of fun to consider alongside a Bible open to Ecclesiastes.
I was blown away when I discovered the book of Romans to be an eternal and majestic exposition of all of the above, especially Paul's interpretation of the Mosaic law as a vehicle to reveal that God handed humanity over to desire as a result of rejecting him, and that none of us, no matter how religious, can suppress the power and dictates of desire, and so we "all have sinned".
It is indeed impossible to understand the much disputed Romans 7, or even Romans 2, without these insights. In Romans 7 Paul represents the religious persona trying to do good but being tripped up by desire, revealing him/herself as a lawbreaker and in need of a saviour. In Romans 2 he hints at this by telling very "righteous" people that they were doing exactly the same as the "sinners" whom they were judging.
To conquer covetousness, and in the process fulfill the intention of the law as revealed in the tenth commandment, something called "love" is needed, that is, the ability to joyfully take what is mine and hand it over to my neighbour, as opposed to taking what belongs to my neighbour and appropriating it for me.
Agape is therefore diametrically opposite to covetousness, and here Nygren is helpful.
This suggests a reversal between the subject and object in the sacrificial drama, and this, again, is where Girard becomes helpful. The identity of the scapegoat is changed, and the "living sacrifice" is revealed as the only one with the ability to live this life of love and service and so fulfill the law by proving him/herself to be covet-free.
However, to do so, the underlying death-conquering motive that manifests in denial, mimetic desire and "heroism" must be dealt with, and this can only happen where there is an actual participation in the life that is really life. Hence, an identification with the life of God (as opposed to the apparent life of the neighbour) is necessary as the first step to be delivered from acquisitive, mimetic, erotic desire.
Romans 4's Abraham reveals this action as something called "faith:" "My body is as good as dead, but God can give life where there is none!" The acknowledgment of "my body of death" is imperative as a basis for faith, and so Paul's despair in Romans 7 as a result of his inability to conquer mimetic desire is intended to produce this very cry "who shall deliver me from this body of death" as a precursor of the faith that followed and that would lead to an impartation of Spirit-life in Romans 8, and thus to the new identity of a "living sacrifice" in Romans 12 (one who has died yet is alive, like Isaac & Christ) who is finally able to live the life of love and service expounded upon in chapters 12 right through to the end of the book.
Interestingly, the introductory passage to the "practical" section of the book, in the first verses of chapter 12, reveals that the "renewing of the mind" has to do with not thinking higher of oneself than you ought to, but to think with sober judgment, namely as a particular, single member in this new, resurrected body of Christ.
Thus chapters 1 to 11's covetous narcissistic self that seeks to be served is exchanged in 12 to 16 with an "alive" sacrificial self that seeks to serve, and who never thinks of itself outside the boundaries of its particular calling in the community of the saints. Thus the rivalry that is prohibited by the tenth commandment, underlying and constituting the covetous self, is done away with completely. Envy and inferiority, as well as pride and arrogance, are also done away with.
In the place thereof, an identity with a very particular calling and equipping, whose life is shared with others, is encountered, embraced and accepted. The only rivalry that is left is revealed by Paul (tongue-in-cheek, I'm sure) to be the following: Outdo one another in showing honour! (12:10)
I have been long convinced that most of our psychological ailments spring from the cognitive dissonance triggered by the failure of our death-denying, hero-aspiring tendencies.
In other words, our failure to keep up with the Joneses drives us mad. And so it should, for God is telling us to go back to the right tree. I have found in Romans a paradigm to challenge our most basic and dearly held presuppositions, rather than just another "therapy" aimed at helping us to live up to our delusions. In fact, in my experience virtually all efforts at therapy represent efforts to assist us to better deny death and to better actualise or authenticate ourselves.
The converse is also true. I have been completely astounded at the impact of going the opposite route, namely using the above truths as a basis for counseling (anti-counseling?) brothers and sisters in the Lord. Truly, only those who are willing to lose their lives can find it, and any therapy that is not based on this truth is tantamount to doing interior decorating on death row.
Ironically, the Buddhist insight into desire as the cause of suffering and its related ideals of selflessness and Nirvana are now being "discovered" by many Christians, causing them to reject Christianity in favour of a philosophy of selflessness and slow, restful religion. Yet Buddhism or any of its derivatives cannot compare with the majestic way in which Paul expounds these very same things – the "primitive Christianity" referred to by Becker.
The Bible has a much more sophisticated and practical approach to desire and selflessness than what you can find in any branch of Buddhism, or anywhere else in the entire universe for that matter, but you have to read carefully to find it.
(This post was originally a comment on the blog of David McAnulty)


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STS-98, Mission
Control Center
Atlantis' astronauts were awakened shortly after 4 a.m. Central time today to AC/DC's "For Those About to Rock", announcing the start of Flight Day 7 on board the Shuttle. About two hours later, International Space Station (ISS) flight controllers began a series of critical tests to insure that the newly activated computers in the Destiny Laboratory module of the ISS could take over control of the orientation of the Station from Russian segment computers. It was the first time that U.S. computers in Destiny provided control of the ISS, an important first in Station operations to preserve propellent previously used in orienting the ISS to the sun for the generation of electricity.
The Expedition One crewmembers - Commander Bill Shepherd, Pilot Yuri Gidzenko and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev - were awakened a short time before the tests began, having been granted two additional hours of sleep after working late Monday night to continue the activation and checkout of Destiny's systems.
The so-called "control authority" tests will continue throughout the week, as control of the Station is handed back and forth between the Zvezda module and Destiny, verifying that the new laboratory can provide command and control capability for Station orientation through the operation of four large gyroscopic devices housed on the Station's Z1 truss. The gyros were operating perfectly early today, displaying good speeds and normal temperatures as they worked to gently steer the Station to provide correct alignment of the U.S. and Russian module solar arrays to the sun.
Shepherd provided an ISS status report for flight controllers, indicating that although there is a missing washer in Destiny, it will not harm the Lab's systems thanks to a series of filters associated with the air purification system in the new module. Shepherd also reported that he has detected some loose wires on the treadmill exercise device in the Zvezda module, but said the device remains operational. The treadmill is designed to eliminate vibrations caused by exercise which could disturb sensitive microgravity experiments.
Overnight, space station flight controllers issued final commands to tighten the bolts that secure a newly positioned docking port to the Destiny laboratory. The docking port was attached to Destiny during Monday's spacewalk. Flight controllers also continued commands to complete the activation of the Atmosphere Revitalization Rack in Destiny.
Commander Ken Cockrell and Pilot Mark Polansky will perform another reboost of the Station today, using Atlantis' jet thrusters to slowly raise the altitude of the ISS for future operations. Cockrell and Polansky will then join Mission Specialists Marsha Ivins, Bob Curbeam and Tom Jones for a few hours of off-duty time to relax and enjoy the view of Earth from orbit.
This afternoon, spacewalkers Curbeam and Jones will set out the tools they will use Wednesday during the third and final scheduled spacewalk of the mission, the 100th spacewalk in U.S. spaceflight history. During the planned five-hour excursion, Jones and Curbeam will attach a spare S-band communications antenna assembly to the Z1 truss, photograph the base of the huge U.S. solar arrays installed during the STS-97 mission in December, and practice techniques which could be used in the future to assist an incapacitated spacewalker.
Hatches remain closed between Atlantis and the ISS. They will be reopened following tomorrow's spacewalk for one more day of joint operations inside Destiny on Thursday.
Atlantis and the ISS are orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 230 statute miles with all systems operating in excellent shape.
The next Mission Status Report will be issued at 7 p.m. Tuesday, or sooner, if events warrant.
NASA Johnson Space Center Mission Status Reports and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to firstname.lastname@example.com. In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type "subscribe hsfnews" (no quotes). This will add the e-mail address that sent the subscribe message to the news release distribution list. The system will reply with a confirmation via e-mail of each subscription. Once you have subscribed you will receive future news releases via e-mail.


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We probably won't get another Sunday of conference championship games like this anytime soon.
Two games that came down to the final snap in games overstuffed with heroes and goats are a lot to ask on a typical regular season Sunday with a dozen games for our enjoyment. To get them back to back at this point in the season is a gift that football fans should savor for a good long time.
We'll have plenty of time over the next two weeks to celebrate what the Giants and Patriots were able to pull off, but let's take a moment now to look at the other side of the coin. The 49ers and Ravens suffered brutal losses on Sunday, the kind that will resonate until they can get back on the field and start another push for a Super Bowl title. Plenty of people were to blame for those losses, but Monday finds us wondering who had the worst weekend of all.
U.S. & World
There are no shortage of candidates.
Lee Evans: The Ravens wide receiver had a game-winning touchdown catch in his hands late in the fourth quarter against the Patriots, but he couldn't make it stick. Give credit to Pats corner Sterling Moore for making a good play on the ball, but Evans should have been able to hold onto it and send his team to Indianapolis. Bills fans are well familiar with Evans' iffy hands, but they never experienced a gut punch like Evans delivered to Baltimore on Sunday.
Billy Cundiff: Thankfully for Evans, his blunder was overshadowed just a couple of moments later. Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal to send the game to overtime and he missed it way to the right thanks to nothing but his own foot. The Ravens seemed discombobulated as they rushed to get the snap off before getting a delay of game call, something that forces us to point the finger of blame at the next guy on the list.
John Harbaugh: You don't get to hold onto timeouts for next season. We mention that because Harbaugh didn't seem to know that as he watched his team stumble over themselves before Cundiff's field goal. Harbaugh made a weak denial that his team was rushing and said he never considered calling timeout, something that makes you wonder if he totally forgot that he still had one in his pocket. Cundiff should have made the kick, but his coach should have put him in the best possible position to hit it.
Alex Smith: Smith had a season of great redemption, but Sunday was a reminder of just why people had such serious doubts about his ability in the first place. It's okay to struggle against the Giants defense, but Smith was throwing passes into the dirt so often that it forces you to consider the possibility that he has a deeply held hatred for worms. Smith made two good plays on Sunday, but he couldn't make one when his team needed it the most. The 49ers never converted a third down and Smith has to shoulder the blame for that.
The 49ers wide receivers: One catch in the NFC Championship Game as a group. ONE!
Kyle Williams: Williams gave us a hint of what was to come when he made one of the only diving catches of a punt in memory. That bizarre decision seems totally sane compared to his choice to run close enough to a punt he wasn't fielding that it could bounce off his knee and hand the Giants a touchdown in the fourth quarter. And then came overtime, when Williams carried the ball like it was dipped in the Ebola virus and allowed it to be knocked out of his hands to set up the winning Giants field goal. Worst of all, Williams isn't even the team's regular punt returner. Ted Ginn was hurt and unable to go on Sunday, calling to mind a line from Clerks: I'm not even supposed to be here today!
(One note on Williams, Evans and Cundiff: They all did a commendable job of holding themselves accountable in the moments after the game. There's no way to change what went wrong, but they handled the situations with the kind of maturity that speaks well of them as people if not players.)
Jim Harbaugh: Harbaugh got the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game because he showed boundless faith in his players even when others doubted their abilities. That came back to bite him Sunday. Why wasn't Williams told to simply fair catch everything in overtime? Why was the entire game put on Smith's right arm when Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter were running the ball effectively against the Giants? There comes a point when you have to do what's necessary to win, even if it means changing from the formula you've used to that point. On top of that, Harbaugh dodged the FOX cameras after the game, a poor decision that tarnishes what was an incredibly successful rookie year in the NFL.
Jack and Jackie Harbaugh: If the Ravens and 49ers won on Sunday, they would have been in line for book deals celebrating their ability to create winning head coaches. As it was, they had to watch their sons lose games that scorch the soul. At least the Indiana Hoosiers, coached by son-in-law Tom Crean, won on Sunday.
The officials: It has been an awful postseason for NFL zebras and Sunday added another chapter to the tale of woe. Evans' play was almost certainly not a catch, but there was no reason not to review it to make it absolute. In the Giants win, the officials bailed out Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw when he fumbled on a hit by Patrick Willis in the fourth quarter by blowing the whistle ludicrously early for stopped forward progress. It looks even worse because the play is not reviewable, which is the NFL's shoulder-shrugging gesture that always looks like they are covering up egregious errors by the men in the striped shirts.
Peyton Manning: We're sure Peyton is happy for Eli and all, but little brother is 60 minutes away from taking the family lead in Super Bowl rings. If he doesn't, Tom Brady will win a fourth ring and further separate himself from Peyton in the race for the crown of best quarterback of this generation. And the game is going to be played at Peyton's home stadium in Indianapolis while the (erstwhile?) Colts quarterback tries to figure out if he's ever able to play again.


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Not everyone is happy with "Homeland."
Showtime's six-time Primetime Emmy winner isn't sitting well with Lebanese authorities.
The scene in question showcases militants shouting in Arabic for people to get out of a crowded street to make way for the world's top jihadi in what is supposed to be Beirut.
Instead, the scene was filmed in Tel Aviv, Israel, which is leaving some Beirutis angry claiming the show's portrayal is misleading.
In particular, Lebanese Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud told the AP he's upset the location in Beirut was depicted as violent when it's the complete opposite.
"It showed Hamra Street with militia roaming in it. This does not reflect reality," he said. "It was not filmed in Beirut and does not portray the real image of Beirut."
Abboud went on to say a lawsuit may be considered.
"The information minister is studying media laws to see what can be done," he said.
A childhood friend of Israeli "Homeland" co-creator Gideon Raff has said the show hasn't had the opportunity to shoot in Beirut.


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VANCOUVER - The B.C. coroner's office has created a death review panel to take a comprehensive look at float-plane safety after four crashes that killed 22 people in less than two years.
Coroner Barb McLintock said in an interview Wednesday that death review panels can be convened when multiple-fatality cases occur in similar circumstances. Unlike public inquests, panel discussions occur in private, although the recommendations are made public, she said.
The panels, created through a legislative change in 2007, have so far addressed four issues: motorcycles, domestic violence, avalanches involving snowmobile operators, and tree fallers.
Tom Pawlowski, the provincial coroner who specializes in industry deaths, will lead the float-plane safety panel. Various aviation experts and officials, including representatives of the commercial float-plane sector and the federal transportation safety board, will also participate.
A total of 22 people died in B.C. in four commercial float-plane crashes — two on water, and two on land — between August 2008 and May 2010.
"To be honest, we were getting a little tired of these coastal plane crashes," McLintock said from Victoria.
Since then, there have been a handful of private and commercial float-plane accidents in B.C., but only one death — a passenger killed on Aug. 24, 2011, when a private plane operated by a friend crashed on Upper Arrow Lake.
McLintock could not say when the float-plane panel would conclude its work, only that panel members would not be identified until that time. One area to be discussed is the need for life vests to be worn by passengers in flight, so they don't risk drowning after escaping from a plane crash in water.
"There's a lot of issues," McLintock said. "It's become quite broad-ranging."
On Nov. 29, 2009, a Seair Seaplanes de Havilland Beaver plane stalled during takeoff and crashed in Lyall Harbour off Saturna Island. Six passengers died, while the pilot and one other passenger escaped with injuries. A coroner's report into the crash obtained by The Vancouver Sun notes the deaths were accidental and progress is being made on safety issues by the float-plane industry and Transport Canada.
Seair Seaplanes of Richmond has ordered improved door-latch releases and push-out windows, has enhanced pre-flight briefings to passengers, and provided hand-held baggage scales on its aircraft so pilots can better calculate weight and balance, the report found.
Patrick Morrissey, whose wife and infant daughter died in the crash, said it was a "preventable accident" with several contributing factors such as improper loading and a stall warning system that didn't work. Citing ongoing industry safety initiatives such as support for passengers wearing life vests in flight, he said all that's left is for Transport Canada to make these "seemingly acceptable changes mandatory."
A safety-board report in March 2011 into the Seair crash recommended that passengers on all commercial float planes in Canada be required to wear life vests, while the planes themselves should be fitted with easily opened emergency exits.
Other major crashes:
• Aug. 3, 2008, a pilot and four passengers die after a Pacific Coastal Airlines Grumman Goose crashes shortly after takeoff on a flight from Port Hardy to a logging camp at Chamiss Bay, near Kyuquot Inlet.
• On Nov. 16, 2008, a pilot and six passengers en route to a hydro project at Toba Inlet are killed when another Pacific Coastal Grumman Goose crashes on South Thormanby Island.
• May 29, 2010: A pilot and three passengers are killed when an Atleo River Air Service Cessna crashes near Tofino. Passenger intoxication and interference with the pilot led to the crash.
Canadian Aviation Regulations prohibit any operator of an aircraft from allowing a person to board the aircraft where there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person's faculties are impaired by alcohol or a drug to an extent that may present a hazard to the aircraft or to those on board.
Click here to read Larry Pynn's award-winning Broken Wings series, a six-part series published in May and June 2010 that examined the inadequate safety standards following a series of fatal float-plane accidents in British Columbia.


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U.S. speedskater Simon Cho allegedly tampered with the skates of a Canadian rival at last year's world short-track team speedskating championships in Poland on the orders of his coach, according to an arbitration filing.
The charge is contained in the filing on behalf of 13 U.S. short-track skaters seeking to have coach Jae Su Chun dismissed from his job as head coach of the national team. They allege that Chun allegedly asked Cho to sabotage a Canadian skater. Chun has yet to respond to the allegations in the request for arbitration document filed Tuesday.
According to the filing, Cho later told a teammate in a written message, "It is my darkest secret and I regret it."
Cho won a bronze medal in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
U.S. Speedskating suspended Chun last weekend, pending the results of an investigation by a law firm into charges of abuse against the coach filed last week by more than a dozen skaters.
The arbitration document alleges Chun asked Cho to tamper with the skates of Canadian Oliver Jean before the final of the 5,000-meter relay. Canada was only able to field three skaters in the relay because of a problem with Jean's blades.
Speed Skating Canada said Thursday that it was aware of the tampering allegation and it would have no comment until the issue has been resolved in court.
According to the arbitration document, on the plane trip home from the world meet in March 2011 in Warsaw, Poland, Cho told a fellow U.S. skater he had tampered with the blades.
In July 2012, Cho told a fellow American skater, "I know I have done (expletive) up things. I wish I could take them back. But I can't. ... And I'm preparing myself for the consequences to come."
Two days earlier, Cho had said to a fellow skater, "Everyone knew Jae Su was the mastermind behind the situation at the World Teams."
Cho has not commented publicly on the details mentioned in the documents.
Chun issued a statement Sunday denying that he abused athletes in any way while expressing confidence he would be found innocent. He has not commented publicly on the tampering allegations.
Seven members of the U.S. short-track team, including Olympic bronze medalist Lana Gehring, have signed a statement supporting Chun, claiming abuse allegations against their coach are "baseless" and a "false attack on his character."


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By Moonee Valley Health and Fitness|May 17th, 2014|0 Comments
About the Author: Moonee Valley Health and Fitness
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Antenna History
These antennas use the basic design of the original DK3 antenna plans from Don Johnson W6AAQ. Kenneth Akerman, K8RWK started building the antennas in the mid-1990s and made substantial mechanical improvements to the basic construction. I used one of them on my semi and straight truck for over 950,000 miles and it is still in use today. They have proven themselves for ruggedness and reliability. K8RWK became a silent key in May of 2005 and I picked up where he left off and continued to improve on the DK3 design. After 2006, they became only available with a copper mast. The latest improvement was the addition of a 160 Meter accessory kit in 2008.
Eliminator Antennas
Privacy Statement: We DO NOT collect any personal information from this website.


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To, Mother nature, the birth point of all of us and Lord Ganesha,the god whose blessing we need to start any good work.
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Hi, from 2007 we are celebrating Ganpati in nature friendly way....this is the god of all good thing.....we have responsibility to make his festival look good and to add values in it so that it remains good for generations. We also want to thank Maharashtra pollution control board and the people who cleans our seashore after the Viserjan.
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गणपती बाप्पा मोरया ............
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Did You Know?
Ongoing Research Regarding Wealth and Philanthropy
Growth in African American Household Wealth
February 9, 2010
By John Havens
Until 10 years ago, household wealth as measured by net worth has grown substantially slower (roughly 30% slower) for African Americans in the U.S. than the national rate. From 1992 through 2001 it grew at a real annual rate of just 2.4% as compared with the national long term rate of 3.2%.
Based on the most recent data from the Federal Reserve, the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy estimates that the average wealth of households headed by an African American grew at an annual real (adjusted for inflation) rate of 4.2% from 1992 through 2007. This is above the long-term national rate of 3.2% and nearly double the 2.4% rate cited above.
Nevertheless, the average wealth of African American households was only about a quarter of the average wealth for all households in 2007. Additionally, since 2007, the decline in both the financial and especially the housing markets occurring during the recession affected the wealth of African American households more than for the average household. This is because African American households have a higher debt (i.e., mortgages, student loans, consumer credit, etc.) -to-asset ratio.
For more information about African American wealth, see our study on African American Wealth Transfer.


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from Dior Mag / by Jean-Pierre Lavoignat
She was indisputably one of the biggest stars of the 65th Cannes Film Festival. And in any case she delivered – regardless of what the jury led by director Nanni Moretti may decide – one of the strongest, most moving, most memorable performances of the competition. Precisely because it isn't a performance – it's a manifestation. In Rust and Bone, the much-acclaimed, remarkable new film directed by Jacques Audiard, Marion Cotillard does not play the role of Stephanie, a killer whale trainer who has lost her legs at Marineland in Antibes, who rediscovers the will to live thanks to a boxer who has also taken a beating from life. She is Stephanie, as simply and naturally as she breathes. Not once does the mind wander toward the challenges she faced as an actress. Never does one feel the weight of what she has accomplished. When the camera descends from her soulful face to the metallic prostheses that serve as her legs, one even forgets special effects. We only see a young woman with a hesitant, lurching stride, a melancholy air and a raspy voice who, suddenly, awakens to life, to feelings, to sensuality, to emotion.
Cotillard's strength resides precisely in her capacity to embody more than perform. What was so beautiful and moving in La Môme (which was released as La Vie en Rose in English-speaking markets), and which made Olivier Dahan's film so successful and won Cotillard, among other awards, the Oscar for Best Actress, is that under all the heavy artifice of makeup one could feel the hammering of a heart, a burning flame. It wasn't a physical resemblance to Edith Piaf that so moved audiences, but the inner fire that consumed the woman who sang The Hymn to Love. The same goes for Rust and Bone, even though the two worlds are light years apart. Here, there is no artifice, no makeup. Bare face, bare soul. No pathos, no screaming, no tears – or few. But there's such a jostle of complex and contradictory feelings and emotions that come across subtly, profoundly, in a vacant stare, an inflection, a half-smile, in the faintest of gestures. Like a hurricane that might sweep away everything in its path without making the slightest sound.
After La Môme, perhaps in an effort to gently distance herself from such a strong character, Cotillard played a series of supporting roles in American films, with the exception of the French film Petits Mouchoirs, which was directed by her life partner Guillaume Canet. She thus allowed herself the luxury of working with much-admired directors (Michael Mann, Christopher Nolan, Woody Allen and Steven Soderbergh among them) and A-list co-stars (such as Johnny Depp, Daniel Day Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio) and consolidating her unique status in the movie industry. Now, she's once again on the front lines. And in a beautiful way. Here, at age 36, is an actress at the height of her art. And such is her curiosity about the cinema, about human beings and the feelings that drive them, we can be certain that she still has surprises in store, that she hasn't yet revealed all her secrets.
De rouille et d'os
The Palais des Festivals in Cannes, May 17th at 9:30 pm. A dizzying thunder of applause breaks out as the lights go up in the Grand Théâtre Lumière. And it doesn't stop… Amid the fervent applause, the audience's faces are illuminated by joy and overwhelmed by emotion. In presenting Rust and Bone on the second day of the competition, director Jacques Audiard set the bar high. From that moment on, all the films in competition throughout the 12-day festival would be measured against this strange, profound film, which is at once dry and lyrical, violent and tender, dark and sensual. Three years after presenting A Prophet, which won the Grand Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, director Jacques Audiard had struck again.
Audiard has had a curious career. The son of screenwriter Michel Audiard, a cult figure in the French cinema, he also started his career as a screenwriter before moving behind the camera, in 1994, with the thriller Regarde les hommes tomber (See How They Fall). He was 42 years old, which is late for a first film. Since then, he has only directed five films. Six films in 18 years aren't many. However, it was enough to establish him as one of the most interesting French filmmakers working today – as well as one of the finest. His work is populated by wounded men, luminous women, troubling fathers, fragile sons and characters who have been battered by life yet somehow find the means to invent a new one. Rust and Bone, a very loose adaptation of two novels by the Canadian author Craig Davidson, is no exception. By putting together two characters who never should have met – a killer whale trainer who, after a work-related accident, finds herself a double amputee, and a boxer with a young son who, in order to make ends meet, takes part in illegal, bare-knuckle fights – he tells a story of resurrection. Under his direction, the film is inhabited, inspired, an astonishing mix of acuity and invention, of realism and sophistication. Once again, he puts together fledgling actors and confirmed talents, thus offering Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts – who turns in a powerful yet nuanced and delicate performance – the opportunity to break out after his acclaimed début in the astonishing Bullhead, and Marion Cotillard a major new role in her singular career, five years after her Hollywood consecration with the Oscar for Best Actress, for La Môme (aka La Vie en Rose). Once again, he lays emotions bare and exposes raw sentiment with the cool efficiency of a surgeon and the mysterious profundity of a poet. This film is all the more captivating because it touches, almost without seeming to, the very essence of life.
The True Face of a Lady
In 2009, she played Billie Frechette alongside Johnny Depp in Public Enemies; she was also a Hitchcockian heroine in Lady Noire Affair, a short film by Olivier Dahan, the director who had triumphed with La Môme (La Vie en Rose) two years earlier. In 2010, Christopher Nolan's Inception found her sharing top billing with Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael Caine; that same year, she continued the Dior saga in Lady Blue Shanghai, this time with David Lynch behind the camera. In 2011, the year she played Adriana in the Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris, John Cameron Mitchell presented Lady Grey London, the third installment of the short film opus. Finally, this year Marion Cotillard triumphed at Cannes and in theaters with Rust and Bone, and generated major buzz on the Internet with the final sequence in her Dior adventure, L.A.dy Dior, which takes place during a photo shoot in Los Angeles, once again under the direction of John Cameron Mitchell.
As the face of Lady Dior, Cotillard for the past three years has been the heroine of a grand saga in which the house's iconic handbag truly becomes a character in a film – and even the crux of the plot in a series of episodes that make up so many chapters in the broader story of Lady Dior.
Before her, one recalls, there was Marlene Dietrich, the couturier's great friend, who lent her name to a campaign for Christian Dior stockings. Then came Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, the godmother at the launch of the Baby Dior line. Not to mention Monica Bellucci, Isabelle Adjani, Natalie Portman and Charlize Theron, among many others…


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Located in the heart of Greenwich Village, Onegin has become New York City's latest hotspot to enjoy unique Russian cuisine. Traditional dishes are made with skill and combined with a modern flair by Executive Chef Lovely Sandou. The lavish menu features items such as: House Smoked Charcuterie, roasted pork loin & rosemary-dijon roast sirloin served with homemade horseradish. Chicken Kiev, boneless chicken breast pounded and rolled around cold herbed butter, then breaded and fried and the Bite Size Cabbage or Meat Pierogi, signature Russian miniature pies. Each expertly crafted dish is cooked in an authentic Russian wood burning oven, used in the past to heat czars' castles.
Upon entering Onegin guests are transported into a scene out of a Pushkin's novel. Inspired by famed novelist Alexander Pushkin's remarkable tale of Eugene Onegin, this Russian restaurant invites guests to enjoy a unique dining experience reminiscent of 19th century St. Petersburg at the height of the Russian Czars. Onegin features an elegant dining room, traditional carriage seats, with quotes from Pushkin adorning the handcrafted tables and brocade walls. Painted onto the ceiling, in the center of the dining room, are murals of celebrated Romantic Era Russian portraits, including one of Alexander Pushkin.
With its lavish menus, elegant décor, and daily events and specials, Onegin maintains the perfect balance between traditional Russian opulence and contemporaryNew York City charm.
The menu at Onegin, bound and presented as a classic novel, showcases chapters of gourmet Russian Fusion cuisine. As impressive as the cuisine, Onegin's extensive drink menu and full bar that features a selection sure to indulge every guest's distinctive taste. The exclusive house infused vodkas, served in nine unique flavors, are the restaurant's most popular drink of choice. Additionally, guests can choose from an impressive collection of specialty cocktails, beer, liquors and international wines. The perfect after dinner treat, Onegin offers a full tea service. Onegin also offers after dinner treats including aromatic teas sure to complement all of the restaurants desserts, such as the homemade Napoleon with Bavarian Crème.
Onegin's weekly events and specials have transformed the restaurant into exciting Manhattan haunt. Throughout the week, guests can enjoy Onegin's lively entertainment with Tuesday's Romantic Karaoke Night and Burlesque Fridays. Guests can also take advantage of weekday specials including happy hour,with $5 beer, wine, and house cocktails weekdays from 4:00pm to 7:00pm and Ladies Night, featuring free strawberries & bubbly when visiting Onegin weeknights for dinner.
391Sixth Avenue
New YorkNY10014


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Herschel Space Observatory
With the Herschel Space Observatory believed to have entered its final year of operation, we take a look back at the telescope's short life.
The European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory was launched in May 2009 and is currently expected to remain operational for around another year.
Compared to the Hubble Space Telescope, which launched in 1990 and is still producing useful science, it seems like a short lifespan – especially when compared to the 17 years it took to plan and build. But thanks the particular challenges of the infrared astronomy that Herschel is designed to do, it was always destined to be short-lived.
Any object with a temperature will emit radiation according to the blackbody law. At the temperatures commonly encountered on Earth, much of this radiation is at infrared wavelengths – this is picked up by the Observatory's imaging equipment and interferes with the picture being taken, rather like trying to take a photograph in too-bright light.
Although there is less of this background infrared radiation in space, the telescope's images can still be compromised by the heat given off from its own instruments. They therefore have to be cooled.
Herschel therefore carries more than 2000 litres of liquid helium on board to cool the telescope's instruments down to a temperature only fractionally above that of the cosmic microwave background. In addition, it is in orbit around the Sun at the Sun-Earth system's second Lagrangian point, where it maintains a constant position with respect to both bodies and where, sitting in the Earth's shadow, is shaded from most of the Sun's radiation. As carrying the coolant out to this position, 1.5m km from Earth, adds to the fuel cost, there is a necessary trade-off between the cost of the mission and its duration.
The Observatory carries three types of instrument on board. There are spectrometers to determine the chemical composition of celestial phenomena from their spectral lines, and two kinds of imaging sensor – bolometers, which determine the intensity of incoming radiation from the change in their material's electrical resistance as they heat up; and photometers, which detect incoming photons directly.
By the spring of 2013, Herschel will have been in operation for four years, six months longer than originally conceived.
It has spent that time studying various phenomena that are interesting at far-infrared and submillimetre wavelengths: principally the formation of galaxies and stars. Both of these involve large amounts of (initially) cold gas and dust, which cannot be seen at visible wavelengths but which are a lot brighter further down the electromagnetic spectrum.
Its spectrometers are also being used to research the chemical composition of stars and planets, and of the dust in interstellar space. Discoveries made include the first detection of molecular oxygen in space, and the presence of water vapour around a nearby star.
But aside from its own discoveries, it is expected that Herschel will pave the way for future missions by helping to identify celestial bodies to focus particular attention on. For one of these future missions, ESA, along with the Canadian Space Agency, is contributing to NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, also designed to make observations at infrared wavelengths, which is expected to launch in 2018. It will partly pick up where Herschel left off, ensuring a valuable legacy – despite its short lifespan.
For further information on the Herschel Space Observatory see its pages on the European Space Agency's website.


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Thursday, Apr 21, 2011, 8:51 pm
Despite Polling, Progressives Still Scrambling to Win Budget Fight
Liberal activists and labor groups are taking heart from a spate of independent and commissioned polling showing that the public overwhelmingly rejects Rep. Paul Ryan's House-passed GOP plan. Small wonder: it essentially ends Medicare as we know it, slashes other safety-net programs—and drastically cuts taxes on the rich to the lowest levels in 80 years. By margins in some polls nearing 90%, those polled favor keeping Medicare in its current format, not turning it into a voucher program that won't cover health care costs for future retirees.
On top of all that, a solid majority of Americans, including Republicans according to one recent poll, favor raising taxes on those earning above $250,000, as President Obama has proposed. (Even if he didn't fight for taxing the wealthy last year.) So this is a fight liberals think they likely can win during the upcoming budget debate—despite Tea Party-driven Republican leaders increasingly willing to hold the debt ceiling hostage to their demands—and in 2012.
As Roger Hickey, co-director of the liberal group Campaign for America's Future, points out, "Ryan's budget was a huge gift to us. It makes absolutely clear that they're out to destroy these programs that are vital to the middle class. Our polling shows that it's poison," he says. "There's a big, massive effort especially in Republican districts to mobilize opposition. Even the Tea Party hates this stuff."
Maybe so, but early signs are that the high-profile, effective opposition to the full range of budget cuts and tax breaks that is supposed to be unleashed during this congressional recess is still too fragmented to make much of a difference. There's little indication that the draconian centrism afflicting Washington pundits and Democrats is changing, or that Democrats in Congress or the White House fear the wrath of their liberal base.
The booing and hostility that greeted Rep. Paul Ryan when he defended lowering taxes for the wealthy has been greeted by some liberals as yet another sign that the tide is turning in their favor. But that's hardly the same as a well-organized grassroots campaign and high-profile advertising war that reframes a budget debate that has been dominated by deficit hawks. Even President Obama accepted the GOP's basic deficit premise in his Johnny-come-lately defense of a Democratic vision of such programs as Medicare and Medicaid.
This tough questioning of Ryan and the razzing he faces is hardly the sensational TV equivalent of the media-savvy Tea Party revolt against the health care bill during the summer of 2009.
As the noted progressive blogger Digby observed, with a blunt candor you don't see from the spokesmen for liberal groups:
The most amazing thing about this --- and as a member of the progressive movement it shames me to admit it --- this stuff is not orchestrated by the Democrats or liberal interest groups. We are, quite simply, too lame and too unorganized to do it. (I know this because there is a huge amount of kvetching going on behind the scenes about why the left can't get its act together on this.)
These are just plain old regular citizens going to the townhalls on their own and challenging the Roadmap to Hell. And they're doing it in spite of the media rending their garments and speaking in tongues about how the deficit is going to kill us all in our beds.
In truth, there is activism being mounted against the Ryan plan supposedly underway, even if you haven't yet heard much about it. Perhaps the most potentially high-impact events are just starting to being organized for next week, going after saving the low-hanging fruit of the budget debate: Medicare and Social Security, the focus of the "Don't Make Us Work 'Till We Die" campaign led by the Strengthen Social Security coaliton. (An email alert on the events didn't go out to some reporters until Friday afternoon.)
In addition, Moveon.org is reportedly organizing protests in Congressional districts against the attacks on Medicare, as is the grassroots organization Americans United for Change, that Social Security coalition that includes unions and advocacy groups, and several other progressive groups. But for any progressive-leaning blogger and reporter seeking information on past and current protests against the GOP budget, it's not been easy to find, although there have been a few exceptions. Indeed, no organization or website has yet even provided centralized, easily accessible information on the range of activist inititiatives. All this is yet another sign of the lack of coordination and ineffectiveness of progressive groups at a critical point for our country.
One organizer, described as the "go-to" person by other progressives in catalyzing the budget fight, was initially reluctant to speak to this reporter, then was unable to say if there was either a list of town halls to attend or even a "take action" website where people could directly participate further. "There isn't an online tool for this," she observed. "The information on the town halls is very hard to get."
She added, "We're asking people to call their congressional offices," in order to find out where the town hall meetings are. She concluded, "There are a lot of angry people out there, and we also want people to encourage Democrats in the House and Senate to hold the line against a radical restructuring of government."
Yet they're avoiding or discouraging the media while hiding opportunties for direct activism—this is a strategy for mass mobilization? These missteps simply can't be chalked up to the overwhelming financial firepower of the Koch brothers and corporate donors funding conservative groups and the GOP.
There may be an understandable reluctance on their part to provide a list of town hall activities for activists to attend, (as Campaign for America's Future blogger David Johnson nonetheless did), worried that GOP legislators might somehow shift the sites at the last minute. But that still doesn't explain why as of this writing there are virtually no "take action" pages online outside of signing pre-formatted petitions that are too often ignored by congressional offices.
As one PR spokesperson for a very large membership organization admitted in an email, "Don't have a landing [web] page. Sorry."
Labor, as usual, is the best organized group in any liberal coalition, and on Thursday, the AFL-CIO sent out an important email alert to union members and signed-up activists:
Can we trust Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives to fix our long-term deficit problems in a responsible way?
Obviously not. On April 15, they passed an all-out assault on vital programs, including Medicare, to pay for massive giveaways to millionaires and billionaires—while doing almost nothing to balance the budget. The bill was passed without even a single Democratic vote.
This "budget" bill is a fraud on the American people—not a starting point for debate or negotiations. It is no more of a deficit reduction plan than Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's taking away rights from workers was a budget plan.
A budget that's only passed the U.S. House of Representatives isn't law. But the big danger is that the Senate will try to cut a deal that meets House Republicans halfway and worsens the imbalance in our economy. We can't let that happen.
Tell your senators and President Obama to reject the House Republican budget fraud—and create a responsible 2012 budget that funds the America we believe in....
But most of these groups, with the apparent exception of the Strengthen Social Security coalition, are not actually providing any information on their websites about how would-be activists could participate in grassroots actions—from protests to phone calls—that could actually make a difference in a very tough budget fight.
The Campaign for America's Future and some of its allies showed the impact that intense lobbying could have on the White House, as they generated petitions and pressed staffers about the strong public opinion against the GOP's plans, especially on Medicare. With justification, Roger Hickey points to those efforts as helping toughen the language of the president's talk on the budget.
Another exception: Moveon.org claims to have rallied 10,000 people, along with US Uncut, across the country for Tax Day protests against Bank of America's non-payment of taxes while domestic programs are on the chopping block.
But having a broader impact on Congress, or convincing Democrats and the White House not to throw everything but Medicare under the bus, is still a long way from being realized. That's in part because so much focus is now on preserving the very popular Medicare program while deep budget cuts, especially a flat ceiling on Medicaid spending, and huge tax breaks are getting much less attention.
Yet even labor isn't planning to spend on TV ads, and a much-touted ad campaign against 25 vulnerable Republicans by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee amounted to just about $6,000. (Hat tip to ABC's Note.) As Roll Call reported:
Republicans and their allies are laughing off the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's latest round of ad buys as "minuscule" and "irrelevant" after discovering the cost of the effort was less than $6,000.
"At what point does a campaign committee blush when launching a 'paid advertising campaign?'" asked Jonathan Collegio, spokesman for the outside conservative group American Crossroads.
With so little visibility for a progressive vision and activism, after Washington insiders have treated cutting the deficit—as opposed to job creation—as the nation's top priority, then the drift towards a dangerous "centrism" becomes much harder to stop.
Indeed, some "bipartisan" deals under serious consideration, for instance, would place a flat limit on domestic spending, thus wiping out the ability of the federal government to aid the jobless, elderly, sick and poor in times of economic crisis. As a recent report by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities noted about the Corker-McCaskill spending cap, the subhead proclaimed that it "Would Force Draconian Cuts in Social Security and Medicare; Make It Harder for Nation to Recover From Recessions."
Meanwhile, the Congressional Progressive Caucus's "People's Budget" that sharply cuts defense spending, closes loopholes and saves needed domestic programs is largely ignored by the mainstream media and Washington power-players. In March, the caucus announced plans for a 17-city "Jobs and Economic Justice Tour" later this summer, organized by Change to Win, aiming to raise awareness and support for the broad principles of the People's Budget. But that tour, even if it manages to garner media attention, will take place well after the bruising debt ceiling and budget debates scheduled for the spring.
The public is on their side, but unless progressives become far more visible and influential on the budget debate, members of Congress will likely have to make the budgetary equivalent of Sophie's Choice. They will be asked to choose between potentially triggering a worldwide depression by failing to raise the debt ceiling—or accepting savage GOP-led budget cuts that could stall a fragile economic recovery and undercut millions dependent on federal programs for help.
UPDATE: Some angry constituents are starting to raise tough questions at other meetings with members of Congress, a welcome development for progressives, but it's not at all clear that this has much to do with any organizing or outreach by liberal groups that can shape congressional response on the budget. Think Progress reports:
Earlier this week, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) held town halls across his district to defend his budget's plan to end Medicare and extend tax cuts for the wealthy. During a stop in Milton, WI Ryan's constituents made their feelings apparent, booing down the seven-term congressman when he defended tax breaks for the rich, as ThinkProgress first reported. Yesterday, Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) received the same hostile reception from his constituents for voting to end Medicare.
This town hall backlash is now spreading to other districts across the country. As Huffington Post reports, freshmen Reps. Robert Dold (R-IL) and Charlie Bass (R-NH) got an earful from their constituents for voting in favor of the Republican budget this month. During a Buffalo Grove, IL town hall, Dold caught a lot of flack for supporting corporate tax breaks and voting to end Medicare...
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Art Levine
Art Levine, a contributing editor of The Washington Monthly, has written for Mother Jones, The American Prospect, The New Republic, The Atlantic, Slate.com, Salon.com and numerous other publications.
More by Art Levine
- In God We Don't Trust: Growing American Secular Movement Rallies in D.C. This Week
- Despite Polling, Progressives Still Scrambling to Win Budget Fight
- After GOP Strips Bargaining Rights, Unions Launch Morning Protests Across Wisconsin. Strikes Next?
- Protests in DC: Pressure Mounting on State AGs to Crack Down on Foreclosure Fraud
- US Uncut Spreads Spirit of Madison: 50 Protests Saturday Over Budget Cuts, Corporate Tax Dodgers


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