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The great Brazilian miracle
Phenomenal resistance by a poor Christian minority in Brazil hinders the advance of several threats from the gay agenda subsidized by the Lula administration
By Julio Severo
Barack Obama, the would-be Antichrist, barely became US president and he has already been advancing anti-"homophobia" bills.
For years, Lula, the socialist president of Brazil, has been trying to advance such bills in Brazil, with the assistance of many homosexual groups that receive training and grants from powerful US organizations, but he is stumbling in difficulties because of a very small opposition. Why is Obama, in so a short time, being more successful than Lula?
The opposition to these bills in Brazil and the US is being made by conservative Christians. The difference is that, while conservative Christians in the US count on numerous well-funded pro-family groups, the Brazilian Christian mobilization looks likes a pack of people in rags. They have no resources; they have no TV stations, etc.
This does not mean that Brazil has no strong, well-funded Christian groups. The Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (Kingdom of God Universal Church, whose Portuguese initials are IURD) has vast financial resources, radios and many TV stations, including Record, the second most important TV channel in Brazil. There are also the Reborn in Christ Church and many other denominations with TV channels. The common denominator of those powerful evangelical organizations is their support for the same administration that has been promoting abortion and homosexuality in the Brazilian society.
The small Christian mobilization in Brazil does not count on any powerful organization and additionally it has to face the Lula administration, the liberal media, progressive evangelicals and Catholics, and the omission of the vast majority of Christian leaders who prefer not to speak openly against the pro-abortion and pro-homosexuality policies of the government.
The only recourse for the active Christian minority is prayer and action.
The powerful
Before the gay-agenda threats in Brazil, where are the powerful evangelical leaders? The powerful are with the powerful. Not accidentally, the inauguration of Record News, a news channel owned by TV Record, had the attendance of the "powerful" Lula, who wanted to be together with the "powerful" Bishop Edir Macedo, the founder of the "powerful" IURD. The powerful please the powerful.
In the past Brazilian presidential elections, IURD leaders supported Lula, and in turn Lula supported its candidates too. They have been allies.
So Lula, whose administration is openly pro-abortion, pro-homosexuality and pro-socialism, is at ease with Record TV, which has been in a steady pro-abortion campaign. In his interview to the Veja magazine (the Brazilian counterpart of Time magazine), Bishop Honorilton Gonçalves, the IURD strongman responsible for Record, revealed the reason Record defends abortion.
Veja magazine: "Recently, Record assumed openly the pro-abortion position — which is compatible with the IURD view on the subject. Why to adopt such position?"
Bishop Gonçalves: "It was a direct orientation from Mr. Edir Macedo, who asked us to make the society conscious on the importance of a woman being able to determine her own destiny".
Later, Bishop Macedo voiced his own view in the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper.
Folha de S. Paulo: "In your biography, you defend abortion. Currently, Record and Record News show a pro-abortion campaign. Why?"
Bishop Macedo: "I support the decriminalization of abortion for many reasons…"
With this same "moral" base, Macedo has recently accused that "many 'Christians' have treated homosexuals as lepers in the past". When it comes to the Gospel, Christians condemn sin, but not the sinner. When it comes to their social responsibilities, they reveal to society the divine condemnation on homosexuality, and because of it they are condemned themselves by gay activists and by society as condemners of homosexuals. And now Macedo joins in the social and gay chorus, making the comparison of homosexuals and lepers, as if they were equal.
Did Macedo see "many" Christians churches expelling "many" homosexuals? Perhaps he saw "many" Christians keeping away from homosexuals openly kissing one another. Or perhaps the "many" Christians are, according to his "moral" view, the Christian mobilization against anti-"homophobia" bills…
Ultimately, are homosexuals today like the lepers in the past?
"Leprosy is an unalienable human right!"
Perhaps Macedo does not know, but lepers in the past did not have any freedom to make huge parades of "leprous pride". They could also not kiss one another openly and lobby city councils, legislative assemblies and the Congress for bills against "leprophobia".
There was no bill against "leprophobia" to fight "leprophobics". There was not also any legal means to prosecute priests who said any negative word against leprosy.
Lepers had no freedom to manifest their views in radios, TVs, newspapers and magazines, by saying, "Leprosy is a human right! Leprosy is a normal lifestyle. I have the right to be a leper, because I was born this way!"
Poor modern gay activists! They also have no such rights!
Bishop Macedo is not an idiot — in a purely earthly sense. He is smart — in a purely earthly sense. He knows — or he should know — that the command for the social isolation of lepers in the Old Testament came from God, not from religious leaders. And God broke this isolation when Jesus touched lepers. God commanded the isolation, and he himself broke it to bring healing.
What is then Macedo's motivation for his comparison of homosexuals with lepers?
Pleasing the powerful
He knows that two important issues for the Lula administration, for the social elite and for the world government are abortion and homosexuality. Whoever favors these two issues receives the favors of the Lula administration. Whoever favors these two issues receives the favors of the social elite, the Obama administration, the UN, etc.
In a time when IURD periodically faces most serious scandals, nothing better than to please the social elite to hide under the rug its "inconveniences" and escape from the dens of scandals and corruption.
Gone was the time when those who had the name of "great men of God" trusted in God to escape from the lion's den.
Daniel escaped from the lion's den because of his integrity before God, especially his spiritual and financial integrity. Today, the "great men of God" leave the lion's den — dens of scandals and corruption they dig themselves through their lack of integrity — pleasing the powerful.
The approval of abortion and homosexuality pleases the powerful — including many religious powerful.
What then to do in this political, social, cultural and religious climate of hostility against the Bible positions against the sin?
The passive Christian before the advance of the evil in the society
Naive Christians have a "spiritual" answer to these challenges: They just refrain from acting and manifesting the Bible positions. Just visualize one of these Christians back in the Nazi Germany talking to another in a street, "Brother, do not rebel and do not react against the evils you see in the Nazi society. Remember: our destiny is heaven and we should not worry about earthly things. Let's pray for Hitler, because he needs salvation. Let's pray for Nazis, because they need salvation. Let's pray for the persecuted Jews too. Our mission is only to pray. Nothing else".
Nazi Germany, whose high political leaders were composed mostly of violent fascist homosexuals, was a society where euthanasia, abortion, evolutionism and other perversities were actively promoted, before the passivity of the overwhelming majority of the German Christians.
Passivity is not a call for the true citizens of the Kingdom of God. Passivity is not my call. I have been a consistent intercessor for more than 20 years. I know by experience that firstly God calls us to prayer and next to action.
Whom should Christians please?
Prayer that does not lead us to spiritual action is empty religious recitation, with no power to influence our own lives and nation.
So I am not attached to such recitation, but attached to the Powerful One through prayer and God's Word.
Offending the powerful, who want to impose homosexual "marriage" and other homosexual insanities in the society, I speak what God speaks on homosexuality.
Offending the powerful, who want to impose a completely anti-natural homosexual normalcy and criminalize every effort to assist people who want to leave out homosexuality, I speak that God has healing, hope and deliverance for everyone, including those in homosexuality.
How is then a poor Christian minority being able to hinder several threats from the gay agenda in Brazil?
The great Brazilian miracle is being made possible not because of the religious powerful, but because of those who, even offending the powerful, want to please only the Powerful One.
Portuguese version of this article: O grande milagre brasileiro
Source: http://www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com
Read also:
Director of YWAM in Brazil attacks Christian activism against the anti-"homophobia" bills and homosexual "marriage"
To know more about Bishop Macedo in Portuguese, click here.To know more about TV Record in Portuguese, click here.


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image from concertposters.biz
Release date: 25 July 1980
Tracks: (Click for codes to singles charts.) Hell's Bells (3/28/81, #50 AR) / Shoot to Thrill (4/11/81, #60 AR) / What Do You Do for Money Honey / Givin' the Dog a Bone / Let Me Put My Love into You / Back in Black (12/20/80, #37 US, #51 AR) / You Shook Me All Night Long (9/6/80, #35 US, #38 UK) / Have a Drink on Me / Shake a Leg / Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution (11/29/80, #15 UK)
Sales (in millions): 22.0 US, -- UK, 49.0 world (includes US and UK)
Peak: 4 US, 12 UK
Review: With 1979's Highway to Hell, AC/DC achieved its first gold album in the U.S. AMG and was "poised for worldwide breakthrough success." AMG "In the middle of album rehearsals, singer Bon Scott went on a drinking spree; he choked on his own vomit and was found dead in the back seat of a car." RS After two days of mourning, guitarist Malcolm Young called his brother Angus and they went back to work. Five months later, the result was "this smoking album with the most prophetic title ever." ZS
Back in Black
New vocalist Brian Johnson "was as willing to shred the upper end of his voice as Scott had been" TM and "had the same bluesy edge as Scott" AMG but "sang with more power and conviction." AMG He stamped "his own personality, not to mention distinctive rasp, on the record." VH1 He "sings as if he's being tortured – and thoroughly enjoying it." TL
You Shook Me All Night Long
The "primo dance-metal banger You Shook Me All Night Long" RS and the "eerie Hells Bells," AMG "are arena anthems of uncorrupted hookiness and sonic quality," TL not to mention "strutting blues-based guitar heat." RS Also included are "such perennial rock anthems as the stomping title track" AMG with its "proud peacock strut," TM "the melodic Shoot to Thrill, [and] the album-closing battle cry Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution." AMG
Hell's Bells (live)
"Coming after years of synthesized disco and overproduced AOR, Back in Black proved once again the resilience of live, loud, and melodic rock, and listeners immediately responded." TB It was one of "the greatest hard-rock album of the decade" RV and "one of rock's all-time classics." AMG "For many, [it is] the essential hard-rock record of the modern era." TB It "is a ten-song feast of tightly wound, enormously disciplined stomp rock" TM infused with "the relentless logic of a sledgehammer." RS
Resources and Related Links:
- DMDB page for Back in Black
- AC/DC's DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry
- producer Mutt Lange's DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry
- AMG All Music Guide review by Greg Prato
- TM Tom Moon (2008). 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. Workman Publishing Company, Inc.: New York, NY.
- CRS Tim Morse (1998). Classic Rock Stories: The Stories Behind the Greatest Rock Songs of All Time. New York, NY: St. Martin's Griffin.
- RV The Review "100 Greatest Albums of All Time" by Clarke Speicher (October – November 2001; Vol. 128: numbers 12-23).
- RS Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
- TB Thunder Bay (2005). Albums: The Stories Behind 50 Years of Great Recordings. Thunder Bay Press; San Diego, CA. Pages 202-3.
- TL Time Magazine's All-TIME 100 Albums by Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light (11/13/06).
- VH1 VH1. (2003). 100 Greatest Albums. Edited by Jacob Hoye. Pocket Books: New York, NY.
- ZS Zagat Survey (2003). Music Guide: 1,000 Top Albums of All Time. Coordinator: Pat Blashill. Music Editor: Holly George-Warren. Editors: Betsy Andrews and Randi Gollin. Zagat Survey, LLC: New York, NY. Page 32.

subset: commoncrawl


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If I had to name one place where you should visit over a long Memorial Day weekend I can think of no better place than Arlington National Cemetery, our nation's premire memorial cemetery, honoring those who have served in our armed forces.
My husband, daughter, and I visited Arlington for several hours on Friday. If you aren't a proud American as you walk the grounds, exit the gates, and cross Memorial bridge back over the Potomac towards the Lincoln Memorial then you and I… sadly…. don't have anything in common.
Today (Sunday) we are still attempting to recover from our visit as I do believe we traversed most of the 600 plus acres Arlington encompasses. I've never walked so many steps or climbed so many hills in my entire life, but it was so very worth it.
The images I took during our visit and the three views I've posted above best help me remember why Memorial Day is observed. I'll post more later….


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Granola is a food that usually stands on its own, as a snack or as a breakfast cereal, but it can be a great addition to other recipes because even a very basic granola has a lot of flavor. Granola is usually made up of oats, fruit, nuts and seeds that are lightly sweetened and baked until they're crisp. Some variations include shredded coconut, crisp puffed rice or other grains, but all mixes can be very tasty. This Granola Quick Bread is an easy to make loaf that incorporates a lot of heart-healthy granola into a completely different – yet still very tasty – form.
I like big, chunky granola for snacking, but most granola is broken up into smaller pieces and that is what you're going to want to use in this quick bread recipe because it is easier to incorporate. My granola included oats, coconut, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnut pieces, almond pieces, dried cranberries and raisins. The bread uses quite a lot of granola and it will get most of its flavor from there, but I also added more shredded coconut and some extra raisins to highlight the sweetness of these elements, which didn't stand out in the plain granola.
The loaf bakes up to be a little but dense, yet tender, and very flavorful. The nuts and the nutty flavor of the toasted oats really come through, but the bread is a little bit sweeter than the plain granola thanks to the addition of brown sugar in the recipe. The loaf is good when it is sliced and served plain, and it is excellent when toasted and served with some butter or cream cheese. The bread keeps very well for several days when stored in an airtight container, too (the flavors meld a bit more), so it can be made in advance and enjoyed a slice at a time for several days.
Granola Quick Bread
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (can sub white whole wheat)
1 1/2 cups granola
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, granola, spices, baking powder, and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, vegetable oil and eggs until smooth. Whisk in vanilla and buttermilk. Pour into flour mixture and stir until no streaks of dry ingredients remain.
Stir in raisins and shredded coconut until well incorporated. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Turn loaf out to cool on a wire rack before slicing.
Makes 1 loaf.


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Dizzy Returns Kickstarter intends to reboot classic franchise
Gaming icons of the current generation step aside. Philip and Andrew Oliver, creators of long lost Codemasters hero Dizzy, are calling on fans to help fund an overdue return through Kickstarter.
The title, simply named 'Dizzy Returns', will be produced for iOS by developer Blitz Games.
"It's been 20 years since the last game in the original series (Crystal Kingdom Dizzy) and he's not been seen in a new adventure since then. But with your help we can set that right!," says the Kickstarter page.
"We've always believed in creating games that are fun, challenging and rewarding, and we've carried those principles through into everything that our company, Blitz Games Studios, has created since."
"Our aim is not to just reboot an old Dizzy game though. We want to stay true to the spirit and core ideals of the original series, whilst utilising the platforms, technology and resources we now have at our disposal. We believe that Dizzy Returns is a perfect fit for mobile gaming, and touch screen technology obviously means that we can experiment with and implement new mechanics and new ways of playing in Dizzy Returns."
Here's a direct message from the Oliver twins:
Dizzy Returns needs a total of £350,000 to succeed. Are you going to stump up the cash to make this happen?


text:
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text:
TX Real Estate
Arlington >
Other Ebby Offices >
Granbury Independent School District
Private Schools
Happy Hill Farm Academy
Lake County Christian Academy
There are more than 50 specialty galleries,
antique and craft malls in Granbury. Shops in the
historic district feature antiques, arts and
crafts, fine arts, gifts, and apparel.
Grapevine Mills Mall
The Shops at Willow Bend
Davis Catfish Ponds- where you are almost guaranteed a catch!
Rent or bring your own poles.
Fishing and Boating- Lake charters and guide services available for Lake Granbury and local areas. Enjoy fishing for stripers and
sand bass with the help of a professional guide.
Country Love Theater
Family entertainment theater performing 50's
gospel and country music. Theater seats 400
with additional dining areas for conventions.
Full concession area.
404 N Houston 817-279-9999
Brazos Old-Fashioned Drive-In & Cinema
Bring your lawn chair and enjoy family entertainment
under the stars in an authentic 1950's drive-in, or
catch a movie at the cinema.
1800 W Pearl
Granbury Opera House
The Opera House was built in 1886. It was restored
and reopened for professional, live theater in 1975
and features musicals, plays, and melodramas
11 months of the year.
133 E Pearl St.
Granbury Rose
The Granbury Rose offers cruises on Lake Granbury year-round. Experience the fun and exciting Murder Mystery cruise, a romantic dinner cruise, a relaxing scenic cruise, or a lovely breakfast brunch.
Amon Carter Museum
The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
Palace of Wax, Grand Prairie
The Fort Worth Zoo, Fort Worth
Six Flags Hurricane Harbor
Fossil Rim Wildlife Center
Six Flags over Texas
The Kimbell Art Museum
Texas Motorplex, Ennis
Lone Star Park, Grand Prairie
Texas Motor Speedway
Texas Rangers Baseball Team
Dallas Cowboys
Bass Hall
Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas Zoo
Dallas World Aquarium
More Useful Links
City of Granbury
Texas Online
Hood County Appraisal District
Hood County Clerk
Golf Courses
Squaw Creek Park
Squaw Creek Reservoir is a 3,228 acre man-made
Lake. The reservoir offers fishing, boating, camping,
and a beach for swimming.
County Road 213, off Hwy 144 S.
Yellowstone Tours
Take a tour through Historic Granbury aboard a
1927 Yellowstone Park bus. Your ride takes you
to places of noted history and landmark homes
You'll even visit the gravesites of General
Granberry and Jesse James!
Dinosaur Valley State Park
State Park including camping, picnicking nature trails and the
best preserved dinosaur tracks in Texas!
West of Glen Rose817-897-4588
Medical Care
Cook Children's Medical Clinic
Hood General Hospital
Glen Rose Medical Center
Comcast: 972-445-5555
TXU Gas: 800-460-3030
Granbury Municipal Utilities, Acton Municipal
Utility District
Post Office
Granbury Main Office
530 N Crockett St.
Driver's License
DPS Office in Granbury
400 N. Gordon
Chamber Of Commerce
No properties at this time
Please check back soon or try a different community.


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text: The Boston ensemble Big D and the Kids Table brought on their fast-paced style of ska-punk upon their debut in 1995. But like most ska bands, a revolving lineup frequented for the next three years as the Allston-based crew self-released their debut 1997 split with pop-punkers Drexel, Shot by Lammi (recorded for only $700), and the Live EP. Both were issued on their own Fork in Hand Records, run by vocalist David McWane and bassist Steve Foote. By the time Big D signed with Asian Man Records, the ten-piece of McWane, Foote, Gabe Feenberg (trombone), Dan Stoppelman (trumpet), Sean P. Rogan (guitar), Marc Flynn (trombone), Chris Bush (tenor sax), Jon Lammi (guitar), Max MacVeety (drums), and Chris Sallen (tenor sax) had already released their first full-length, Good Luck, in 1999. Known for an especially rowdy live show, Big D picked up the award for Outstanding Ska Band at the 1999 Boston Music Awards before Mike Park and Asian Man reissued Good Luck. The band returned in 2002 with the Gipsy Hill EP and continued with their notoriously relentless show schedule (playing an average of 200 shows a year), as a split EP with Japanese noise rock act Melt Banana appeared in 2003. Fueled by a D.I.Y. work ethic since early on, the band's small but loyal fan base kept growing through incessant grassroots touring and promotion, all with little label support and money. Big D hooked up with part of the summer's Warped Tour and played at Vegas' Ska Summit. They headed out across North America in 2004 on the Ska Is Dead and You're Next tour with Catch 22, Mustard Plug, and the Planet Smashers; their Springman debut, How It Goes, was released that same year. Big D stayed on the road, of course, hooking up with the likes of the Suicide Machines, Reel Big Fish, Streetlight Manifesto, RX Bandits, and more. By this time, the band was down to seven members: McWane, Foote, Stoppelman, Rogan, Bush, drummer Jon Reilly, and trombonist Paul E. Cuttler. The limited-edition Salem Girls EP appeared for Halloween 2005; Big D then returned to the studio by 2006's end to work on their next full-length and debut for SideOneDummy Records, with Mighty Mighty Bosstones bassist Joe Gittleman in the production chair. With new saxophonist Ryan O'Connor on board in place of Bush, the chilled-out vibe of Strictly Rude surfaced in March 2007. The album was preceded by a February split via Bad News Records with China's Brain Failure, entitled Beijing to Boston. The band teamed up with Gittleman again in 2009 for their fifth studio album, Fluent in Stroll, before hitting the road on their own headlining tour. Big D eventually took a break from the road, and in 2011 released For the Damned, The Dumb & the Delirious. Touring behind the album was halted after McWane was diagnosed with cancer, resuming in 2012 after the singer went into remission. The band's next efforts arrived in 2013. The first was Stomp, a ska-punk album, followed by Stroll, a reggae/dub-influenced set. The EP, Good Luck, arrived the next year, a six-song session recorded at the studios of Boston radio station WBCN. ~ Mike DaRonco & Corey Apar


text: Released 10 years ago today, Minority Report served up a captivating and thoroughly convincing look at what the future might hold. But how well has the film's bold vision aged? Wired took at look at 10 key technologies from the film — which built on concepts dreamed up during an "idea summit" of tech thinkers convened by director Steven Spielberg — to compare the decade-old science fiction to today's reality. Above: Iris Recognition In Minority Report: Devices that scan the distinctive features in the iris — the colored portion of the eye — are everywhere in Minority Report. They're used in place of security badges and IDs, and they help billboards tailor ads directly at you as you pass by. Also, spiderbots shuffle around scanning irises in search of suspects. The reality today: The ID system portrayed in the movie works because the government has every citizen's iris on file, and that is eminently plausible, says Patrick Grother of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the government agency that oversees biometrics. India has already scanned the eyeballs of 150 million citizen enrollees, and border control agencies around the world use the technology. Preregistered travelers can move in and out of the United Kingdom, cross the US-Canadian border, and navigate the Middle East without a passport as long as their irises are approved. Recent advances — better compression algorithms that allow iris data to traverse networks faster, cameras that can scan irises from up to 9 feet away while people are in motion — will only expand the iris scanning's reach. —Amber WilliamsSelf-Driving Cars In Minority Report: In the world of 2054, a symphony of self-driving cars zoom down the sides of sheer skyscrapers and onto horizontal highways and back. The vehicles form a system dubbed "individual mass transportation," where the wealthy can get from their deluxe penthouses to their destinations without brushing elbows with the lower classes living below. "The beauty is that your own vehicle is sort of an extension of your taste and the design of your apartment," says Harald Belker, the conceptual auto designer for the film. The vehicles are voice-activated and run using magnetic levitation, a technology that lets vehicles float inches above a surface. The reality today: Maglev systems are already employed in a handful of railways across the globe, delivering speeds up to 361 mph. The self-driving part of *Minority Report'*s vision is also practically here, as Wired's 20.02 cover feature detailed. Google's got its own roving band of driverless vehicles that navigate city streets, pedestrians and red-lights, and can hit up to 75 mph while merging between lanes on highways. BMW, VW and Toyota have their own robot-car projects as well. A wide-scale system like the one in the film would require huge outlays for infrastructure. "If there isn't any way to modernize the transportation system, we'll never make any progress," Belker says. —Christina BonningtonSpiderbots In Minority Report: A squadron of tiny, eight-legged bots scampers autonomously through a flophouse, using an array of on-board sensors — including, memorably, iris scanners — to identify residents and relay that information to the authorities. The reality today: Say hello to your robotic insect overlords. The US military (with the help of British Aerospace) has been developing a fleet of insect robots made specifically for reconnaissance missions. The goal is to equip soldiers with an extra pair of eyes in urban environments and other potentially hostile areas. There are nonmilitary applications, too: A team of spiderbots was recently deployed inside of Mount St. Helens. Each was equipped with a seismometer for detecting earthquakes, an infrared sensor to detect heat from volcanic explosions, a sensor to detect ash and a global positioning system to sense the ground bulging and pinpoint the exact location of seismic activity. —Bryan GardinerPredictive Policing In Minority Report: A trio of psychic precogs lie partially submerged in what looks like the world's least enjoyable hot tub, their brains hooked up to police computers that display their visions of crimes yet to happen. From there, the cops can race out and arrest the bad guys before they break the law. Or, as Tom Cruise's character puts it to one would-be wife-stabber, "Under the authority of the District of Columbia Pre-Crime Division, I'm placing you under arrest for the future murder of Sarah Marx." The reality today: Predictive policing has become a buzzphrase in the last 10 years, and a handful of police departments have actually opened units and programs that aim to take a pre-emptive bite out of crime. In Los Angeles, police use an algorithm that analyzes seven years of data to predict where and when burglaries, auto thefts and car break-ins are most likely to occur. Officers on patrol then pay particular attention to those "hot spots." Not as cool as psychic-based murder prediction, sure, but in the first few months of this year, these crimes are already down by 22 percent, translating to about 153 property crimes prevented. Predictive policing programs in Santa Cruz, Memphis and Chicago have seen similar results — and Chicago has even been able to predict more violent crimes, like shootings. Unlike the movie, though, it's not about slapping handcuffs on a would-be perpetrator before a crime has been committed. "It's just about disruption," says Captain Sean Malinowski of the LAPD. "You go out there and prevent a crime from happening through your presence. There's still the Constitution." —Elise Craig3-D Holograms In Minority Report: Tom Cruise converts cherished home videos into a 3-D hologram. His character is able to look at projected images of his wife and missing son. As he moves around, he sees them from different angles. The reality today: Approximations of holograms have been around since the 19th century — in the form of images projected on glass. (The much-tweeted performance by the long-dead Tupac at Coachella in April was a high-tech example.) But the kind of 3-D tech depicted in Minority Report has what's called dimensionality — when viewed from different points of view, different aspects are visible. (Think Princess Leia's "Help me ObiWan, you're our only hope" projection in Star Wars.) That's called motion parallax, and no one has figured out how to create it. Minority Report brainstorming session participant Neil Gershenfeld, head of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms, says we'll soon see more and more realistic onscreen 3-D, thanks to lenticular displays that eliminate the need for 3-D glasses, plus head-tracking systems that know exactly where our eyes are in relation to the image being generated. "It's relatively easy to make a holographic TV screen," he says. "The problem with Star Wars-style 3-D projected in mid-air is that the physics don't work." —Bryan GardinerSick Sticks In Minority Report: In 2054, police descend on uncooperative civilians wielding a special sort of baton called a sick stick, which had the almost magical ability to "make you lose control of your bowels and/or throw up," says brainstorm participant Shaun Jones, a technology consultant and former director of Darpa's Unconventional Countermeasures Program. Nothing like instantaneously expelling the contents of your digestive tract to tame rebellious impulses. The reality today: Sick sticks don't exist yet, but nonlethal weapon development is in full swing, Jones says. At the Department of Defense, scientists are working on machines that can direct beams of sound that impair hearing and emit electromagnetic waves that generate uncomfortable heat. New nonlethal weapons are making their way into cities, too: Police departments in Southern California are testing a weapon that incapacitates its target with superbright lights that strobe at different wavelengths. Funded by the Department of Homeland Security and developed at Intelligent Optical Systems in Torrance, California, the LED Incapacitator 3 looks like a standard flashlight, but its light show causes temporary blindness and disorientation. One of its inventors, Vladimir Rubtsov, says it's a good substitute for the taser and can be used for riot control or against unruly drunks heading for their cars. —Amber WilliamsPersonalized Billboards/Ads In Minority Report: Wherever he goes, Anderton is tracked by cameras and biometric sensors and bombarded with intrusive personalized ads. "The whole idea was that the ads would not only recognize you, but also your state of mind," says Jeff Boortz, a consultant on the film. Deducing that stressed-out Anderton needs a relaxing break, he is offered targeted products like an Amex card and a Guinness. The reality today: Amazon and Google have long been reading our searches and helpfully suggesting products we might like to buy. DVRs know your taste in police procedurals and when you like to watch them. NEC is experimenting with dynamic ads that target specific shopper characteristics, such as gender, ethnicity and age. Using billboards equipped with a camera and facial-recognition software, the company is able to target a given message with a great degree of specificity. Not far over the horizon: facial recognition cameras in malls and other public places that can guess age and gender, then flash demographically targeted ads as you pass by. Can retina-recognition devices be far behind? —Bryan GardinerGestural Interface In Minority Report: Tom Cruise waves his gloved hands around to manipulate objects on a giant screen in front of him. Every gesture is registered, allowing him to rifle through files, expand and contract windows, and select onscreen objects. Finally: an alternative to the mouse and keyboard paradigm. "To build a genuinely new user interface, you have to build it from the ground up, like what the original Mac did in the early '80s," says John Underkoffler, chief scientist with Oblong and the designer of Minority Report's gestural interface. The reality today: Gestural interfaces seem to be conquering the world. Most of us pinch and zoom on a daily basis now — but on touchscreens, not in mid-air. But there's also Microsoft's Kinect interface, which uses infrared-light and "Time of Flight" algorithms to pinpoint the position of a person's limbs, kind of like sonar. Microsoft has sold more than 20 million units — which don't even require the gloves used in Minority Report — and plans to build Kinect support into PC operating systems as well. New smart TVs from LG and Samsung use similar technology that lets you adjust the volume and change the channel without a remote. As camera and sensor technology becomes more refined over the next decade, we'll eventually be able to control personal computing devices with smaller, subtler movements at closer ranges. —Christina BonningtonE-Newspapers In Minority Report: News is delivered on flexible e-paper screens that update in real time and show video. And cheap screens take media beyond the news sphere: Cloying cartoon animals come to life on the sides of a cereal box, and they dance around with glee as Cruise gobbles the cereal in his bowl. (It looks as annoying as it sounds.) The reality today: Newspapers, magazines and books are migrating to Kindle and iPad screens, but flexible e-paper remains mostly in the lab. Korean electronics giant LG has begun producing a flexible, plastic e-paper display that could hit the mainstream within the next five years. The current version is 6 inches wide and .7mm thick, but the company has dabbled in 19-inch, newspaper-size versions as well. Samsung is working on a similar flexible display using OLED technology. When flexible displays arrive in earnest — as early as 2015 — look for them to be wrapped around everything from building support columns to coffee mugs, delivering things like headlines, status updates, stock alerts and ads. —Christina BonningtonJetpacks In Minority Report: Cops zip around the sky in personal propulsion systems complete with red and blue lights flashing. The reality today: Spielberg insisted on including jetpacks in Minority Report because — just guessing here — they make for indelible cinema. But unlike the more plausible bits of futurism in the film, the jetpacks were closer to what was envisioned in Commando Cody serials than to the impractical devices that actually exist. —Amber WilliamsImages courtesy 20th Century Fox


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I previously wrote about work I was doing on the Dojo Ajax Toolkit's TabContainer widget. This work prevents the tab buttons from wrapping around when they are wider than the available space, and instead allows you to use either a drop down menu to select the tab (like Firefox/IE7), or to use left and right slider buttons to "slide" the buttons.
Well, thanks to some great collaboration with Dijit master Bill and a Dojo contributer called alle, the work has now been committed to the code base. It should be available to view HERE from Aug 12th 2009 onwards, and will be in v1.4 when it is released.
If you can't wait for it, you can either download a copy of the nightly code base from http://archive.dojotoolkit.org/nightly after Aug 12th, or checkout the code yourself from Subversion right now. Note that code in between releases is not guaranteed to be stable, as many features may be in the middle of upgrades.
There are a couple of issues remaining to be worked on, such as improved right-to-left support, but for people who have been clamouring for this to make it into the code base, you can grab this now, and get the upgraded, more stable widget in v1.4


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MaryJanes Outpost was my most recent read and it was fabulous! Just released last week I have ooh'd and ahh'd over this book since Wednesday. This book is all about enjoying the great outdoors! If you like camping, fishing, hiking, or just enjoy being outside than you will truly enjoy this book. It is filled with ideas, how-to's, recipes and all kinds of helpful information.
In the year 2000 after I spent my first summer in Arkansas I thought I was going to die! Having been raised in New England where the days may be in the 90's with no humidity and the nights often got into the low 50's this deal of the temperature NEVER dropping below 75 about did me in. But the truth is I have come to love the summers here and spending time outdoors is something I love to do.
Earlier this summer I built a chicken coop and started a compost pile. Currently I am working to build a fairly good sized raised bed garden for next season. I should have it ready enough to plant some garlic this fall and put in a good crop of lettuce before years end.
I have also really become interested in the concept of "outdoor living" where you create spaces outside that are just as comfortable and enjoyable as your own living room. One concept that never really crossed my mind until I read "Outpst" was that of bathing outdoors. Not until I came across the Instructions for an Outpost Bathtub anyways! I'm not gonna share the directions-you'll have to buy the book for that-but here is a picture of what I want to make.
I have an old cast-iron tub in the barn that will be just perfect for this little project. It needs some major cleaning and some refinishing but by fall I will have an Outpost Bathtub!
To purchase this book please click here!


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XCOM: Enemy Unknown "Our Last Hope" Launch TrailerPlatforms: YouTube
Take command of XCOM headquarters, recruit and train your soldiers, and research alien technology to advance the capabilities of your squad. The battle against the enemy will be tough, and success will depend on your ability to keep your recruits alive and evolve them from rookies to more skilled and powerful soldiers. You are our last hope to save humanity from the global alien invasion. Good luck Commander.


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Boston EMS paramedic suspected of drug tampering may have affected 57 patients
Boston health officials over the weekend began notifying 57 people who, they say, may have been exposed to blood-borne illnesses in the summer of 2011 when they were treated by a city ambulance paramedic now believed to have tampered with vials of painkillers and sedatives.
The telephone calls to potential victims will be followed up Monday with letters offering free medical tests to determine if they were exposed to infectious diseases.
The paramedic, who officials declined to identify, is believed to have tampered with the powerful drugs during a six-week period in the summer of 2011, but officials said they could not be more specific about the exact dates because of an ongoing criminal investigation. No charges have been filed against the paramedic.
Barbara Ferrer, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, which runs the city's ambulance service, said in an interview that officials do not believe the paramedic carried any infectious diseases, but acknowledged that health officials do not know for sure. Nor do they know how the individual may have tampered with the medications, which are in liquid form and are injected.
Health officials are notifying people treated by the paramedic out of an "abundance of caution,'' she said.
Ferrer said Boston EMS security rules governing controlled substances on its ambulances require that two paramedics be present when patients are given those medications. She declined to say how the suspected paramedic was able to thwart security.
She said 64 patients may have been exposed; seven died shortly after they were transported to the hospital by Boston Emergency Medical Services. Officials believe their deaths were not related to the suspected medication tampering and instead due to their "initial catastrophic injury or medical event.''
Ferrer said the paramedic has been relieved of all duties since the alleged misconduct was discovered on Sept. 6, 2011.
Officials are not saying why they believe the paramedic tampered with the medicines, but the incidence of health care workers stealing drugs to use for themselves or sell is not uncommon.
News of the Boston incident follows disclosures over the summer that thousands of people may have been exposed to hepatitis C, including some patients at Exeter Hospital in New Hampshire. Authorities say David Kwiatkowski, a medical technician, stole syringes filled with the narcotic fentanyl, injected himself, then returned the contaminated syringes, which were used on patients.
Kwiatowski, arrested in July, has been infected with hepatitis C since at least 2010; tests conducted in recent months have identified at least 30 patients thought to have been infected by him, authorities said.
Thousands more who were treated at the New Hampshire hospital and medical centers in other states where he worked are being screened for hepatitis.
Dr. Ethan Bryson, an associate professor of anesthesia and psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, has studied the issue of painkiller thefts by health care workers and said there is a dearth of definitive data to know how widespread the problem may be, but said researchers believe the risk for a health professional to develop an addiction mirrors that of the general population — about 12 to 15 percent.
He said fentanyl — the narcotic stolen at Exeter and one of the drugs the paramedic is suspected of tampering with — is one of the most commonly stolen drugs by health care professionals.
"Fentanyl lends itself to abuse by people who have access to it because someone can take it, get high real quick, and still function after a short while'' because the effects wear off quickly, said Bryson, whose new book, "Addicted Healers,'' explores drug addiction by health professionals.
Boston health officials believe the paramedic may have also tampered with the sedatives lorazepam and midazolam and the powerful painkiller morphine.
While the alleged drug tampering happened in 2011, Ferrer said Boston EMS was unable to accurately identify the small number of patients who may have been exposed to compromised medications until the state drug analysis lab completed its testing of medication vials — about 200 samples — at the end of July, 10 months after the problem was first discovered. She said the test results then allowed EMS to identify 64 patients that potentially received compromised medications.
Ferrer said officials still do not know how many of the 64 patients actually received compromised medications, but she said the group represents a very small subset, far fewer than 1 percent of the 16,968 patients encountered by EMS during the time period in question.
She said officials yanked every vial of controlled medications aboard the nine advanced life support ambulances that carried them on Sept. 7, 2011 — a day after the suspected tampering was discovered.
Ferrer said Boston health officials immediately notified the Boston Police Department, state public health officials, and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
"Those are the protocols,'' Ferrer said. "As soon as we determined there was a problem we did what we could do to ensure the investigations that needed to happen were happening.''
The drug samples were sent to the same state drug analysis lab that was closed in August amid revelations that chemist Annie Dookhan
allegedly altered drug samples, faked drug tests, forged colleagues' signatures on analysis reports, and lied about having a master's degree. She was arrested Friday and charged with two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of falsifying her academic records. Investigators say that Dookhan has jeopardized the reliability of drug evidence used in 34,000 cases.
The Boston Police Department declined to comment on whether there are similar concerns over the qaulity of testing on the Boston EMS samples.
Ferrer said this is the first incident of suspected drug tampering in Boston EMS's 135-year history, and she worried that the case could undermine trust in the department's 350 paramedics and emergency medical technicians.
"We want to assure the public that this is a service people can rely on that provides life-saving services by a well-trained and skilled work force,'' Ferrer said.
She said members of the public who have questions about Boston EMS services should contact the central office at 617-343-2367.
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Rutherford B. Hayes: Domestic Affairs
Delivered on March 5—since March 4 was a Sunday—Rutherford B. Hayes's inaugural address tried to calm the nation and make clear his main policy concerns. According to the new President, "The fact that two great political parties have in this way settled a dispute in regard to which good men differ as to the facts and the law . . . is an occasion for general rejoicing."
Above all, Hayes wished to heal the wounds left by the Civil War:"Let me assure my countrymen of the Southern States that it is my earnest desire to regard and promote their truest interest, the interests of the white and of the colored people both and equally and to put forth my best efforts in behalf of a civil policy which will forever wipe out in our political affairs the color line and the distinction between North and South, to the end that we may have not merely a united North or a united South, but a united country."
Hayes wanted the South to have "wise, honest, and peaceful local self-government," but insisted that the interests of blacks and whites be guarded equally—that the Reconstruction amendments guaranteeing civil and voting rights must be obeyed. Hayes emphasized that the schoolhouse, not the railroad station, was the key to political stability and to economic prosperity in the South and elsewhere. He did not ask for railroad subsidies but called for federal aid for education, observing that "universal suffrage should rest upon universal education."
In addition to the disputed election and the South, Hayes addressed the problem of the depressed economy by returning to the gold standard, and the possibility of disputes with foreign powers, by embracing arbitration as Grant had with Great Britain in the 1871 Treaty of Washington. He also dealt with the problem of corruption by advocating a "thorough, radical, and complete" reform of the civil service. Although he realized he was elected by the "zealous labors of a political party," he reminded himself, in his most memorable words, "that he serves his party best who serves his country best."
Although Republican members of Congress universally supported Hayes while the election was in dispute, several party leaders, within hours of his inauguration, had become angered by his independence. In choosing his cabinet, Hayes ignored and offended leading Republican senators. He not only failed to appoint the political lieutenants of Blaine, Simon Cameron, and Roscoe Conkling, but also named William M. Evarts (who challenged Conkling's control of New York Republicans) as secretary of state, Carl Schurz (who bolted the Republican party to oppose Grant in 1872) as secretary of the interior, and David M. Key (who had been a Confederate and was a Democrat) as postmaster general. Hayes's appointment of Key was both a gesture of reconciliation and an attempt to attract white southern moderates to the Republican party. Party leaders were enraged, but Hayes's demonstration that he was beholden to no one increased his credibility among reform-minded Republicans.
End of Reconstruction
The most difficult problem facing the nation, however, could not be postponed. While in Congress, Hayes had supported the radical reconstruction of the former Confederate states on the basis of universal male suffrage enforced by the military occupation of the South. As governor of Ohio, he had fought successfully for passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, eliminating race as a qualification for voting. Initially, the Republican party, supported by blacks and a few whites, dominated southern state governments. Gradually, however, the Democratic party, by playing the race card and resorting to violence (the Ku Klux Klan is an example), gained control of state after state. By Election Day 1876, only Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina had Republican governments. But on December 14, 1876, the Florida Supreme Court reversed the work of the state returning board and allowed the Democrats to take control of Florida on January 1, 1877. So by the time that Hayes took office, Reconstruction had already ended in the entire South except in Louisiana and South Carolina and in those states, extra-legal Democratic governments challenged the authority of the legitimate Republican governments. Their effective control was limited, however, to small areas surrounding state houses in the capitals of New Orleans and Columbia that were protected by small detachments of federal troops.
Reinforcing these Republican beachheads was not a viable option for Hayes even if he were so inclined. The 25,000 man U.S. Army was primarily deployed in the West and few troops were available. The Democratic House of Representatives had already refused to appropriate money to pay the Army as long as detachments protected Republican governments in the South. Hayes's mandate, to say the least, was shaky. All Democrats opposed military occupation and a large number of Republicans—including Hayes—had come to the conclusion that bayonet rule was counterproductive. Most northern whites were preoccupied with the economic problems of unemployment and falling farm prices, and were less concerned about violent acts of white southerners against blacks than they had been in the past. "Waving the bloody shirt" had lost some of its appeal twelve years after the war was over.
The question Hayes faced was not whether the troops should be removed but when they would be removed. Hayes, however, continued to be guided by what he said in his acceptance letter and reiterated in his inaugural address. He would be willing to remove the troops upholding Republican governments in Louisiana and South Carolina if leading Democrats in those states pledged to uphold the civil and voting rights of black and white Republicans. The pledges were made, Hayes removed the troops, but the promises were soon broken. Over the next two decades, southern blacks were systematically disfranchised until virtually none could vote--a situation that persisted until well in the twentieth century. In addition, despite Key's appointment and his distribution of post office patronage, any hope of winning moderates to the Republican party quickly evaporated. The color line prevailed and racism kept virtually all southern whites in the Democratic party.
The depressed economy stagnated business, cut farm income, and had a devastating effect on labor. Less then three months after Hayes removed the troops in New Orleans, a general strike (the most widespread in American history) broke out in mid-July on trunk-line railroads between the northeastern seaboard and the Midwest. Wage cuts, on top of earlier reductions, led to the Great Strike of 1877, which began spontaneously on the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) and quickly spread to other lines. Virtually none of the strikers were organized in any labor union and the strike grew without any leaders or organizations in control. Unemployed men and boys joined the strikers and rioting broke out at many points, especially in Baltimore and Pittsburgh. In Baltimore, men and boys stoned the Maryland militia, which opened fire, killing ten. An angry mob of 15,000 gathered outside the B&O depot where the militia, police, the mayor, the governor, and railroad officials were inside, and proceeded to burn passenger cars and part of the depot. In Pittsburgh, state officials called in the First Division of the Pennsylvania National Guard from Philadelphia to disperse the crowd blocking the departure of Pennsylvania Railroad freight trains. (The strikers allowed passenger trains with mail cars attached to depart on schedule.) The militia from Philadelphia dispersed the crowd temporarily by killing ten to twenty people and then retired to a nearby roundhouse for locomotives. An outraged crowd besieged the Philadelphia guardsmen and burned them out, killing five as they fled Pittsburgh. The mob then destroyed 104 locomotives, 2,152 railroad cars, and innumerable buildings.
Tom Scott, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, urged Hayes to use federal troops to suppress the strike, but Hayes and his cabinet rejected Scott's plea to intervene on the side of railroad management. Hayes did not break the Great Strike of 1877. He used the Army not to operate trains but to keep the peace, and only when help was properly requested by state and local authorities who could no longer cope with riots. When railroad management claimed to be unable to transport the mail, Hayes refused to intervene to get it through. The huge disorganized strike was over by the end of the month, but the railroads had won a Pyrrhic victory. Workers gained more than they lost by fighting the wage cuts. The public tended to blame the railroads for the appalling conditions that caused the strike. The railroads attempted no further cuts, and by early 1880 had restored the cuts that precipitated the strike.
Money and the Economy
During the Civil War, the national debt had increased by a staggering 4,000 percent. Much of the conflict had been financed by long-term bonds that committed the government to repay investors the principal with substantial interest; when money could not be raised, the government paid for the war by printing "greenbacks," fiat paper money not directly backed by specie (gold or silver). Reflecting the perceived willingness or capacity of the federal government, at some future date, to redeem greenbacks in gold, their value dropped below par and fluctuated, bring gold out of circulation and the United States off the gold standard.
Advocates of inflation (usually midwestern and southern farmers and businessmen who were in debt) wished to increase the number of greenbacks in circulation while creditors (often northeasterners whose banks provided them with an adequate money supply and who would profit from deflation) wished to return to the stability of the gold standard and redeem greenbacks at face value. The hard money (gold) people tended to see this conflict in moral rather than in economic terms, as a struggle between honest and dishonest money. Hayes, although a debtor himself (thanks to large investments in real estate) advocated hard money and believed the depression following the Panic of 1873 was aggravated by the threat of inflation that greenbacks represented. He wholeheartedly supported the 1875 Specie Resumption Act and, along with Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman, carefully built up the federal government's gold supply to redeem greenbacks by January 1, 1879. Because of Hayes's resolution and preparation greenbacks circulated at face value in gold by mid December 1878; by January 1879, more gold was exchanged for the convenient paper greenbacks than greenbacks were redeemed for heavy gold coins.
While Hayes and Sherman were preparing to return the United States to the gold standard, inflationists were shifting their support from the printing of greenbacks to the free (unlimited) coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 parts of silver to one part of gold. Since one part of gold was worth more than sixteen parts of silver, the silver coins would drive gold coins out of circulation and keep the United States off the gold standard. Under great pressure from inflationists and western silver miners, Congress, in 1878, passed the compromise Bland Allison Act over Hayes's veto. It required the secretary of the treasury to purchase at the market price $2 to $4 million of silver each month and mint that silver into dollars. Hayes saw to it that this Act did not have an inflationary effect. Sherman purchased the minimum $2 million of silver and redeemed silver dollars in gold coin upon request, and the United States went on the gold standard as scheduled. As Hayes predicted, prosperity returned with the return to the gold standard. Indeed, the last two years of Hayes's presidency were blessed by a stunning revival of business. No doubt, Hayes was lucky that the business cycle swung upward while he was President, but the stability and the predictability his policies provided enabled businessmen to calculate the costs of their future moves with a greater degree of accuracy, contributing to the economic recovery.
Fighting for Civil Service Reform
Hayes ruffled the feathers of Republican party leaders by attempting to reform the nation's civil service. Government employees, especially those in the field service outside Washington, were appointed as much or more for their competence as political operatives than for their capacity as postmasters or revenue collectors. Civil servants were efficient political organizers but often neglected their official duties; at times, they were corrupt for the sake of party or personal financial gain. Assessments of civil servants were more important than corruption as a source of party revenues. Local, state, and federal politicians assessed from 2 to 7 percent of all civil servants' yearly salaries; those in lucrative positions (the legitimate fees collected by some officers exceeded Hayes's salary) paid more. Some recouped their assessment by accepting unlawful gratuities and bribes.
Moderate by nature, Hayes moved with caution and annoyed reformers who wanted sweeping changes, infuriating spoilsmen who wanted no reform. On June 22, 1877, Hayes issued an executive order prohibiting political assessments and forbade the management of political parties, conventions, and campaigns by civil servants. Hayes wanted to depoliticize the civil service but he did not want to destroy Republican party organizations. Several Republican party leaders in Congress, however, believed he was destroying their organizations and ignored his order.
The lieutenants of Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York were the most conspicuous in flouting Hayes's order. Chester A. Arthur, the collector of the Port of New York, ran the New York Customhouse, which collected 70 percent of the nation's revenue and was the largest federal office in the land. With Conkling's approval, Arthur (who was a reasonably efficient administrator and would later become the twenty-first President of the United States) kept the customhouse in politics. Hayes wanted his order obeyed and decided to remove Arthur and his second in command. Hayes also wanted to reduce Conkling's political power; Conkling had been a rival for the nomination in 1876 and opposed Hayes's appointment of his political enemy, Evarts, to the cabinet. In addition, since the New York customhouse was so conspicuous, striking a blow there for reform would be an important symbolic act and, if reform had any merit, would have a practical effect on government service.
Hayes confronted Conkling in an era when the legislative branch wielded more power than the executive branch and routinely decided on civil service appointments in their home states and districts. He tried to replace Arthur with Theodore Roosevelt Sr., but Conkling rallied spoils-minded senators and blocked Roosevelt's confirmation by invoking "the courtesy of the Senate" (the notion that senators could dictate field appointments). Hayes bided his time and seven months later, on July 11, 1878, with Congress not in session, he suspended Arthur and replaced him with Edwin A. Merritt (Roosevelt had died) and named Silas W. Burt (an ardent reformer) as naval officer (the second in command at the customhouse). When the Senate reconvened in January 1879 Conkling again attempted to block Hayes's nominees. Hayes attacked, stating that the customhouse should be conducted on business principles and that Arthur and his men made it "a center of partisan political management." While most Republican Senators sided with Conkling, enough joined the Democrats (who were delighted by Republican divisiveness) to make Hayes victorious. Hayes insisted that the New York customhouse become a showplace for reform, giving Burt that responsibility. The customhouse was removed from politics and appointments were made based on merit, following open competitive examinations. The success of this initiative was a major factor in the passage of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883, two years following Hayes's departure from office.
Enhancing the Power of the President
In his struggle with Conkling and his cohorts in the Senate, Hayes regained the President's constitutional power over appointments. By the end of his administration, congressmen and senators could suggest whom they thought should be nominated for federal jobs at home, but they could not dictate appointments to Hayes. A more significant constitutional struggle occurred during the second half of Hayes's term in office. The Democrats won control of both houses of Congress in the 1878 elections. With the capacity to pass whatever appropriations bills they desired, the Democrats moved to force unwanted laws on Hayes by attaching legislation (called riders) to necessary money bills. This tactic was essentially a two-pronged assault on federal election enforcement laws. These laws were passed to protect the civil and voting rights of blacks in the South and to prevent fraud in northern cities. More fundamentally, the Democrats sought to use those riders to destroy the veto power of the President. They wanted to be able to intimidate black voters and to enable their city machines to cheat with no interference from the federal government in local, state, congressional, and presidential elections. They believed that repealing the election laws would bring them the presidency in 1880. In the ensuing "Battle of the Riders," Hayes relished the thought of being in combat once again and eagerly confronted the Democratic Congress.
Outraged by the rider tactic, Hayes called it "unconstitutional and revolutionary." Riders had been in the legislative bag of tricks since the days of Andrew Jackson, but they seldom affected major issues. For Hayes, the federal government had a duty to protect the rights of citizens at national elections; as President, he had a duty to prevent Congress from usurping his power to share in legislation. In April, May, and June, Congress passed appropriations bills with riders attached which Hayes promptly vetoed on two grounds: one, that every citizen has the right "to cast one unintimidated ballot and to have his ballot honestly counted," and two, that the riders were an unconstitutional attempt to force legislation on the President. The Democrats did not have the strength to muster a two-thirds majority to override the vetoes and Hayes's stirring veto messages (all of which he wrote himself) rallied public opinion and Republicans of all stripes to his side. The Democratic threat to shut down the government if they did not get their way failed miserably; they gave up and passed the necessary money bills. Rather than pave the way for Democrats to the White House they united Republicans who moved on to victory in 1880.
Treatment of Native Americans
Hayes's Indian policy was paternalistic, yet fundamentally decent. In the late nineteenth century, the federal government appropriated several million dollars annually for the support of Native Americans who had been forced off their lands and on to reservations which could not adequately sustain them. Hayes's secretary of the interior, Carl Schurz, reformed the Indian Bureau, the agency in his department that administered policies affecting Native Americans. Schurz cleaned out a ring within the bureau that had received gifts from Indian contractors and was defrauding both the Native Americans and the government.
Despite that excellent start, the removal of both the Nez Perce from their ancestral lands in eastern Oregon and of the Ponca from their reserve along the Missouri River in the Dakota Territory had tragic consequences. Both of these removals had been decided upon during the Grant administration and were carried out during the first three months of Hayes's term. The eviction of the Nez Perce from the Wallowa Valley led to a war that lasted from June to October 1877, during which time the Nez Perce out-maneuvered and out-fought the U.S. Army on a 1,700 mile retreat before they were forced to surrender in Montana just south of the Canadian border. The surviving Nez Perce were sent to the Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma). The Ponca, who did not resist, were also sent to the Indian Territory and would have been forgotten had not one of their chiefs, Standing Bear, tried to return to Dakota on foot in the winter with the corpse of his son, in hope of burying him with his forebears. He was arrested in Nebraska but his plight aroused enormous sympathy in the Northeast and sparked an Indian-rights movement that opposed removals of Native Americans. Responding to pressure but also recognizing the injustice and the high cost of the removal policy, the Hayes administration abandoned it. Hayes, Schurz, and the Indian Rights Association were humane in their paternalism but were not interested in preserving the culture of Native Americans. Indeed, Hayes believed acculturation was the best policy, that education coupled with learning to be a farmer, herder, teamster, etc. was in the Indian's best interest.


text: For explosive kick and awesome acceleration, lots of our young racers use this Atomic Prolink Race Jr Classic. A low-profile Classic Racing binding with an ultra-low 2-rail construction, it delivers an exceptional snow feel. The binding has a Carbon Race Lever that opens and closes manually, and weighs in at just 218g. As part of our new Prolink bindings range it's compatible with NNN® and Turnamic®.


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My first piece for the New Yorker magazine!! This image is for an article by Jerome Groopman about how T-cell from our immune system could be the game changer in fighting cancer.
The New Yorker has always been one of my dream client, I can't possibly tell you how thrilled I was when AD Chris Curry gave me this assignment!! Thank you Chris!
(Photo courtesy: Daniel Fishel)


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A large number of small supplier businesses could face higher business and credit risks in the future as margins have declined and challenges increase.
- Some supplier segments could face higher credit risks in the future
- Robust solvency, but margins have decreased
- Good payment behaviour over the last two years
German car production and sales continued to increase in 2016 and H1 of 2017, with domestic passenger car registrations rising 3% year-on-year in H1of 2017. However, the diesel emission scandal and allegations of collusion among large carmakers have increased insecurity within the industry.
German automotive suppliers are still making good profits and, in general, their solvency and liquidity are robust. However, margins have decreased for the last couple of years, due to increased material and labour costs, rising competition and pressure on sales prices. At the same time, suppliers have to invest in engineering/production branches overseas in order to be close to original equipment manufacturers (OEM) that have relocated abroad.
There is a large number of small companies in the supplier subsector which could face higher business and credit risks in the future, due to low leverage in negotiations with OEMs or if OEMs stop ordering from them (delisting). At the same time, competition is fierce in some segments. More than 50% of chassis manufacturers and electronic component providers generate revenues of less than EUR 50 million. Many small businesses have difficulties funding the investment necessary for further growth or to climb up the value chain. High capital expenditures in research and development are necessary to stay ahead of competition in new trends and technologies, i.e. electric motors, connected driving, autonomous cars. In order to stem necessary investments, increasingly size matters. Therefore, the concentration process in the German suppliers segment is on-going, while dedicated technology companies are entering the automotive market.
This is exacerbated by the fact that the automotive market performance is highly dependent on volatile factors, such as global political and economic developments (consumer spending and consumption attitudes), raw material prices, and currency exchange rates.
Our view of payment behaviour in the sector has been good over the last two years, with no increase in the number of non-payment notifications in the past 12 months.
However, should the current decrease in Diesel car sales in Germany and Europe continue, it cannot be ruled out that some suppliers of Diesel-related components (such as injection pumps, filter systems, drive shafts, gear boxes and exhaust systems) could face liquidity and payment issues in the coming months.
Given the structural vulnerability of smaller suppliers, we rate the German automotive sector as "Fair". Our underwriting stance remains reasonably relaxed, as it was in 2015 and 2016, especially for larger-sized, well-established suppliers, who usually have good access to capital markets and face a very low default risk.


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Nothing seems to divide Holy Priests like Chakras. I know people who have quit their Priests all together over them, Priests who have gone Disc or Shadow because of them as well as plenty of Priests who have stuck with Holy but tend to pick their Chakra and stick with it regardless of their circumstances. My focus today is PvP but a lot of what applies here can also be used whilst dungeoning and raiding.
First of all, know your "enemy"!
Now I deliberately didn't include the third Chakra and the reason for that is simple. Chastise is our default ability if we aren't in a Chakra at all. So lets say I'm in Serenity and I have been for a while, all I need to do to throw a disorient on that pesky Holy Paladin over there is leave Chakra state, cast Chastise and then re-enter Serenity immediately incurring no real penalty (ok Chastise hits for less but…..).
/cancelaura Chakra: Serenity
/cancelaura Chakra: Sanctuary
/cast [target=mouseover, harm, nodead] Holy Word: Chastise; Holy Word: Chastise
You do need to hit the macro twice to get the disorient but it leaves whichever of the two Chakra states you're in and then will stun either your mouse over target if you have one or your actual target if you don't. I'd definitely recommend using a macro because in hectic pvp combat the last thing you want to be doing is trying to right click off the right buff whilst the person you want to disorient is trying to smash your face in with an axe.
So with the basics covered, what I do use and why? Well my general rule of thumb sees Serenity as my go to Chakra for most things pvp related. I'm a great fan of casting on the move (you can tell I was a Resto Druid in a former life can't you) and given that in most pvp, standing still just makes you an easier target, you can't beat instant cast abilities. Being able to dance through and behind your enemies throwing out heals can make a huge difference on your time to live and that of your team-mates.
Also if you're left alone, Serenity is definitely where it's at. That instant heal can and will save your life over and over again.
However, especially in the two 40 mans, Sanctuary has it's place:
Isle of Conquest
- On entering the boss room to take down the opposing boss I switch because with his leap, every little bit of aoe healing counts.
- If we're winning by attrition and camping the graveyard, i.e. everyone is grouped up in one place with lots of people taking damage, I switch.
Alterac Valley
- End bosses are an obvious choice for Sanctuary, especially if you're forced into pulling with towers up.
- Any huge face offs on the road, i.e. by Iceblood graveyard or between Stonehearth and Stormpike, using Sanctuary is a potential option. It depends whether you're just championing one person, i.e. a warrior/deathknight or trying to keep the masses alive.
As for Arenas, given that I only ever play 2 v 2, I tend to switch between Serenity, no Chakra at all for the disorient and then using Chakra: Chastise if I need to nuke.
Basically before you make a decision on which Chakra to use, consider the following:
- Are you sticking with the vast majority of the team or are you off either solo or with a handful of others. Then consider Sanctuary for the former and Serenity for the latter.
- How many opponents are there? Lets say for example that you and a rogue are attacking the Farm in Arathi Basin. There is just one defender but you know that this team have been fairly good at communicating thus far. Do you stick in your healing Chakra or do you switch to Chastise for the extra bit of oomph? After all, the faster they die, the quicker you can tag.
- Is anyone focusing you? Serenity all the way then.
- Macro cancelling Chakra and disorient early and often. The more CC you can provide, the less healing you need to do. Consider things like Chastise – > Mindcontrol for defending the Lumber Mill in Arathi Basin or in 2 v 2s. Not only is it annoying, it's also effective, especially if you follow it up by parking the person next to you and then fearing them.
- Serenity normally beats Sanctuary unless the opposing team is kindly focusing on aoeing down your team at roughly the same rate, you aren't taking huge amounts of damage yourself and you don't like anyone else in the team enough to focus them with lots of single target heals.
- Chakra: Chastise has it's place. I use it in scenarios, 5 man groups in which people don't stand in bad and the tank actually uses cooldowns and for nuking demolishers in Strand of the Ancients. It can also be handy in one v ones against certain classes (i.e the ones which don't currently hit very hard themselves) as long as you're ready to swap back to defensive mode Serenity the second they get a mate. The other thing to consider is how many healers are on your team. If I end up in a healer heavy side and no one has the gear/spec set up, I'll use Chastise for dps, especially to help kill flag carriers whilst the others heal. My Dps isn't awesome but I've never come bottom yet although in random battlegrounds that's perhaps not surprising.
Above all, don't be afraid to play around with them. Also I have it on good authority that chastise the disorient is cheating (rich coming from a Paladin :p) so use it often!
Filed under: Patches, Practical stuff, Priests, PvP | Tagged: Battlegrounds, Chakra, Holy Priest, Holy Priest PvP, Patch 5.2, PvP, Warcraft, WoW |


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LMC's Longest Serving Employee
Carol is the longest-serving employee at Lexington Medical Center, having celebrated her 40th anniversary in November 2010.
"I've thoroughly enjoyed working at Lexington Medical Center and still do. I love our vision and the care we provide to our community," she said.
Eunice Medhurst, the hospital's first nursing director, recruited Carol to be the assistant head nurse on 3rd Medical. She decided to join Lexington Medical Center because she wanted to work closer to her home and be involved in the groundwork of a new hospital.
"The past 40 years have gone by so fast. I was walking down the hall the other day and thought about what I would do if this was my last day, and I got teary-eyed. As long as I can contribute, I will," Carol said.
Carol is known around the hospital for wearing a signature bright pink scrub jacket. She jokes that when she retires, they should retire the jacket and color, too, in honor of her many years of service.
Married for 46 years, Carol has two sons and four grandchildren.
This month, Lexington Medical Center celebrates its 40th anniversary. We opened as a small county hospital on January 6, 1971. Today, we've grown into a modern medical complex with state-of-the-art technology and an unsurpassed culture of caring. Each day this month, we'll share a story from our hospital's history book.


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Fire Fighters Train in Africa
CJTF-HOA Public Affairs
The U.S. Marine Corps is arguably one of the most revered institutions within the U.S. Department of Defense. So, when Combined Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) leadership recently welcomed members of the Djibouti Armed Forces (FAD) into the U.S. Marine Corps Corporals Course, it was a distinct honor.
Initiated by the Japanese military, Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) supported a joint-nation noncombatant evacuation operation (NEO) exercise and training here, Sept. 29.
Deputy command chaplain for U.S. Africa Command engages with key leaders and local practitioners of the Islamic faith during a week-long temporary duty assignment to Djibouti, Africa to take part in USAFRICOM's Cutlass Express 2017 exercise.
U.S. Embassy representatives from eight East African nations joined military leaders from U.S. Africa Command and Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa at Camp Lemonnier Jan. 24, for the 2017 East Africa Security Synchronization Conference.
Within hours of being notified, CJTF-HOA's East Africa Response Force prepared dozens of Soldiers and tons of supplies for takeoff during an emergency response exercise, validating the EARF's rapid response capabilities.


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Hello Malwarebytes, I am disabled Veteran legally blind but not totally blind I am running Windows XP Pro 32-Bit The New Malwarebytes 3.0 I have, has pages where I can not put my cursor and raise or lower the page, in order to see (for example) the buttons at the bottom of the finished scan page. The Page itself is TOO BIG. I was at coffee shop and a guy there had malwarebytes running and he showed me the "Pause and Cancel" buttons at the bottom of his "scanning" and "Finsished scanning" page. I can't see very well if I go into monitor screen settings and adjust the resolution to anything other than 800 x 600. Is there any way you could give us some type of ability to select "Your Screen Resolution Setting" so that I could see all the buttons at the bottom of the page. I did not have a problem with the last version of Malwarebytes, just before the 3.0 version. 2. Also one other thing, a friend paid for my subscription (1-year) two months before it was due to expire. The new subscription started at the date he paid for my subscription and I lost out on two months of service., <y subscription wasn't to expire until Last of December and my friend paid for another year in September, and then in "My Account" in the program it said (after my friend bought the subscription) that now the experation date was in August. Would you please fix this. Like I said I am a disabled veteran and I am barley makeing it on $1100.00 per month income. The two or three months that I should have still had, would help me out a lot. 3. I want you to know that I am Happy to Buy American (Made In The USA). Thank You Robert Morris post script: decedent of Robert Morris who signed Declaration of Independence


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Apple now introduced the biometric "Touch ID" onto the new iPad, latest iPad Air 2 and the iPad Mini 3. Touch ID is also on the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
What is Touch ID? Touch ID is a little biometric finger print reader on the new iOS devices:
- iPad Air 2
- iPad Mini 3
- iPhone 5S
- iPhone 6
- iPhone 6 Plus
With Touch ID, you can now do more with just the touch of a finger, you can log in and verify identity in logging into apps. Touch ID is that little metal ring around the home button on the new iOS devices.
With the introduction of "Touch ID" onto the new iPad we have added something amazing. With three taps you can get into a medical record. You will touch once with Touch ID to get into the iPad, tap the drchrono EHR app, once the app is launched, then with Touch ID, get into their EHR. Only three taps, no typing a passcode.
This video show off Touch ID in action:
This feature was also added to the onpatient Personal Health Record.
This video shows off Touch ID on the PHR in action
The great thing about Touch ID is that it only takes a few minutes to setup. To setup Touch ID EHR follow this video, this video applies to all iOS devices with Touch ID, in the video I am showing how you can use an iPhone 6 to setup Touch ID EHR, it is the same for the new iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3:
I spoke about Touch ID a number of months ago, it is now a reality and changing the world.
The amazing thing about Touch ID is that people sometimes forget password and pin codes. This changes the game even more of touch technology in healthcare.


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Advanced Therapeutics Cluster
Imagine generating new insulin-producing cells to treat diabetes; or stopping the toxic proteins that cause Alzheimer's, then growing replacement nerve cells to reclaim memory and restore cognitive function. Cancer could be attacked from within by robbing tumor cells of their deadly ability to multiply unchecked. Stem cells could be grown into cardiac cells to repair a damaged heart. Cystic fibrosis, hemophilia and other diseases could be cured by adding back working copies of the missing genes whose absence gave rise to the illness.
These are the kinds of new therapies envisioned by UMass Medical School through the Advanced Therapeutics Cluster(ATC), a major new initiative to be housed in the Albert Sherman Center that will dramatically expand the school's research efforts and focus some of the best minds in the world on creating new therapies for many debilitating diseases.
The mission of the ATC is to apply the knowledge flowing from the latest biomedical discoveries, develop new ways to treat disease and then drive those therapies into clinical trials. When complete, the ATC will include some 80 new faculty researchers with 700 scientific and support staff. Three integrated research programs will comprise the ATC:
The Gene Therapy Center
RNA Therapeutics Institute
Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine


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Heraklion Airport
Palazzo Vecchio Exlusive Residence, Rethymno
Private Taxi Transfer
×3 ×4
One Way Price
Private MiniVan
×5 ×8
One Way Price
Executive MiniVan
×5 ×8
One Way Price
Private MiniBus
×9 ×12
One Way Price
TransferPlan will transfer you from and to Heraklion airport as quickly, safely and comfortably as possible. Heraklion International Airport, "Nikos Kazantzakis" is the primary airport on the island of Crete and the country's second busiest airport after Athens International Airport. It is located about 5 km east of the main city center of Heraklion, near the municipality of Nea Alikarnassos. It is a shared civil/military facility.
The airport took its name after the Cretan native and most famous Heraklion resident Nikos Kazantzakis, who left his mark in Greek history as a novelist and philosopher. Heraklion Airport is Crete's largest and busiest airport, also serving as a connection between Agios Nikolaos, Malia, Hersonissos, Stalida, Elounda and other resort towns. The airport has been operating since the late 30s and its annual number of passengers is approximately 5 million. The airport serves both domestic and international flights.
Heraklion Airport is operating in a renovated and modern space since 1971. The airport complex has been expanded in order to accommodate increased traffic and serve an ever-increasing flight network. Especially during peak season, the airport gets really busy, thus some sporadic delays are expected.
The proximity of the airport to the Heraklion town allows the visitor some spare time to explore or simply wind out and have a nice lunch or drink in the local eateries. Furthermore, around the airport, one can find some excellent hotels and resorts in case an overnight stay is required. The historical site of Knossos Palace and the Archaeological Museum are also located nearby and can be easily reached from the airport with our help. Navigating through the airport can be a daunting task, airport staff will be readily available to assist you.
Book your Heraklion Airport transfer now. Enjoy a high-quality service at the lowest prices. Best price guaranteed. That's why we are Crete's favourite airport transfer company.


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"Dean Sluyter has one of the freshest voices in spiritual writing today. From the common ore of pop culture, he extracts the gleaming diamonds of dharma-wisdom." —Lama Surya Das, author of Awakening the Buddha Within
"If you spliced together DNA from Quentin Tarantino and the Dalai Lama, you'd get Dean Sluyter and he'd write this amazing book." —Michael Gelb, author of How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci
"Entertaining and thoughtful in turn, Cinema Nirvana compels you to watch the movies in the way a buddha might see them." —Stephen Batchelor, author of Living with the Devil
"Sluyter is the movie guru I have longed for. Virtually every page contains jaw-dropping insights and laugh-out-loud surprises." —Lama John Makransky, Professor of Buddhism and Comparative Theology, Boston College


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Superman has kryptonite, Tiger Woods has his own libido and know we now we know that Cliff Lee has an insurmountable nemesis as well.
They are the San Francisco Giants and they thumped Lee like no other team has been able to do in the last two postseasons to grab a 11-7 victory in Game One of the World Series. Lee, who entered the game with a 1.26 career ERA in the playoffs and an even smaller 0.75 mark this October, didn't get out of the fifth after allowing eight hits and seven runs to Giants hitters who should probably offer seminars to the rest of the big leagues.
Two of the biggest blows off of Lee both came from the bat of Freddy Sanchez, who went 3-for-3 against the Rangers ace on Wednesday night. His double in the third inning scored the first run of the game and another double sparked the six-run fifth inning rally that put the Giants well on their way to victory. The biggest at-bat of that rally likely belonged to Pat Burrell, however. He drew a walk, just the second of the 2010 postseason from Lee, that seemed to drain what little energy was left in Lee's left arm.
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Cody Ross and Aubrey Huff followed with run scoring singles, Lee left the game and then Jose Uribe, the hero of NLCS Game Six, put the game out of reach with a three-run homer that sent AT&T Park into a frenzy of joy.
All the runs helped Tim Lincecum pick up the first World Series win of his career despite having less than his best stuff. He gave up runs in each of the first two innings, was touched for seven hits and four runs and had to be removed with two outs in the sixth. So much for predicting pitcher's duels ahead of time, eh?
Adding insult to injury, Lincecum also had two batted balls bounce of his body on their way to becoming base hits and made a bizarre play in the top of the first. Lincecum fielded a comebacker and then ran Michael Young all the way back to third instead of throwing the ball to Uribe who was waiting to tag Young at the base.
Coupled with a major baserunning gaffe by Sanchez in the bottom of the inning, it felt like the Giants were either a bit too tight for the World Series opener or that they jumped the gun a bit on the passage of California's Proposition 19 legalizing marijuana. Things settled down for them after a couple of innings, though, and they put a major hurting on a guy that conventional wisdom had turned into some kind of unholy combination of Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax and the young Mike Tyson.
Not bad for a team that everyone said was going to have a hard time scoring runs. We'll see if they can keep it up on Thursday night.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com. You can follow him on Twitter.