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Diseminado Sa Plana-benimu
343, 07817 Sant Josep de sa Talaia, Illes Balears
OPEN SUNDAY @ CASITA VERDE Ecology Centre Ibiza
from 14.00 – 19.00 hrs
– 16.00 hrs Free Tour
Come and visit Casita Verde, Ibiza ecology centre and HQ of Greenheart Ibiza, and flagship project of the official NGO called 'Associación Ibiza Ecologic', situated in a beautiful valley near the village of San José in Ibiza.
Every Sunday of the year, during their Open Day visitors can explore a showcase of best practices for self-sustainable living and alternative energies and have a chance to sample a delicious homemade plant-based vegan lunch made with local Ibiza products according to the season along with their own own organic aloevera juices and other healthy drinks at the juice bar.
After lunch, around four the free eco-tour starts leading around Casita Verde's gardens, aloe vera fields, a number of green living-spaces and communal areas, including 3 eco-toilets, rain water shower, unique examples of eco-building, a fully functional kitchen, a bottle house media centre, a very original 'Gaia Centre' guest room, the chill-out, a tree house, a cal oven house and the magical cave.
Plus an ingenious wooden 'wild west' wagon style tiny house, made almost entirely from recycled wood
* Casita Verde furthermore organizes a variety of eco-workshops (Thursdays) on practices for sustainable living and vocational Erasmus+ work experience placements (only UK)
With LOCAL LIVE MUSIC PERFORMANCE
Casita Verde produces carob syrup, seasonal fruit jams, bake healthy bread and make colloidal silver – a natural and powerful antiseptic, antiviral and anti fungal spray.
Greenheart Ibiza is part of Greenheart International.
Greenheart invites humanity to participate in the positive transformation of our planet, co-creating a world we'd all like to live in, by consciously nurturing a new-found sense of responsibility towards ourselves, each other and our shared environment
read more: OPEN SUNDAYS CASITA VERDE IBIZA


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Addiction Nouvelle Lingerie's elegant line of bras, panties, loungewear and nightwear takes advantage of bright colors and elegantly placed panels of stretch mesh to offer a fresh look to already refined basics. Subtly sheer lingerie never gets stale….
Addiction Lingerie is designed to be comfortable enough for all day wear while maintaing a sexy and sophisticated look. The bra range runs from A through F cups, allowing most body sizes and types to indulge in this fine lingerie line.
Making strategic use of sexy, sheer, stretch mesh panels and comfortable microfiber, encompassing a wide size range, and having reasonable price points has resulted in the brand becoming a favorite of stylish stockists such as Journelle, Nancy Meyer and Net-à-porter. As Addiction Nouvelle Lingerie says, "It's a basic you'll love to show!".
Retailers and customers alike will never have to fear running out of these sexy everyday styles as the line is designed to be a permanent basics collection. The collection is currently available in nude, black, navy, purple, fuchsia, white, royal blue and red. Every season new colors are added to keep the line exciting and new.
Addiction Lingerie opened their first store last June at 634 North Robertson Blvd in West Hollywood, CA and is gearing up to launch their own ecommerce site.

subset: commoncrawl


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Just close your eyes for a moment and take yourself back in time. You have just arrived at Grandma's house and you walk in the front door to be greeted by that magnificent smell of freshly baking biscuits.
Now these are not just any biscuits. No, they are Grandma's special biscuits from a recipe handed down to her from her mother and her mother before her.
You race to the kitchen hoping that she hasn't washed the mixing bowl yet. It's a treat that you absolutely love and each batch Grandma makes is different. What will it be today? And yes, there is the mixing bowl sitting on the sink! So with a quick hello and kiss for Grandma you grab the bowl and run your index finger around its delicious content. Your eyes close as you savour the taste and you wipe that bowl completely clean.
The biscuits are out of the oven now and cooling on the cake rack. You desperately want to taste one, but how many times have you been told that hot biscuits will only cause a tummy ache.
An agonizing hour later, the biscuits are ready for eating. The treat above all treats. Far better than lollies.
These are Kerrie Livingstone's memories and now she has her Grandma's recipes and has added a few of her own. All are brought to you in her home made biscuits from her kitchen in Healesville in Victoria.
Why not treat yourself once again to the taste of Grandma's biscuits and order your Crumbs Gourmet Biscuits today!


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Heat Up the Outdoors
Couch potatoes can show their support of favorite teams in comfort. Themed cushions can come out on game day or become part of any decor in a living area or family room. Give them double duty as accents for a sports-themed bedroom, too. They're quality crafted for rough and tumble use and, win or lose, they'll remain in good standing with your sports fanatics.


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October 25th, 2011
Quartz Q-4A180/CXP is one of several highlights from camera innovator at Vision 2011
Eindhoven, October 25, 2011. Adimec (www.adimec.com), a world leader in application-specific, leading-edge industrial camera solutions, will demonstrate its first dual CoaXPress interface camera, running at 10 Gigabits per second, at the upcoming Vision 2011 event in Stuttgart, Germany 8-10 November. Shown with the Quartz Q-4A180/CXP area scan camera, this connectivity enhancement delivers the performance and cost benefits of the CoaXPress standard, and combines proven global shutter CMOS technology with the proprietary Adimec True Accurate Imaging® approach. The 4 megapixel camera can transmit 180 frames per second (FPS) at a 2048 x 2048 resolution with 10 bits per pixel over two standard coaxial cables with lengths over 65 meters without repeaters.
Adimec will be in Booth #4D 19 at the Vision show.
The Quartz CoaXPress camera will be shown elsewhere at the event as well, running in conjunction with other CoaXPress-compliant technology, including frame grabbers from Active Silicon, Silicon Software, Bitflow, Matrox and Aval Data. Also at the Vision show, Adimec will participate in the CoaXPress Plugfest to demonstrate compatibility with Version 1.0 of the standard, which was universally ratified earlier this year.
Other highlights of Adimec's presence at the annual gathering of the machine vision industry include:
CoaXPress takes off
First introduced at the Vision show 2009 (where it won a Vision Award), CoaXPress has gained full adoption in the industry. More and more system developers are interested in the advantages of CoaXPress to reduce costs, enable more connectivity flexibility, and achieve higher transmission rates over long distances, all at the same time. Traditionally, Camera Link has been the preferred interface option for high speed cameras, but the high costs of rigid cabling and limitations in data rates have driven the industry to new approaches.
The dual CoaXPress interface of the Q-4A180/CXP camera supports the CXP-6 configuration of the standard resulting in 12.5 Gbps interface speeds. It utilizes two standard coaxial cables, each with a maximum transmission rate of 6.25 Gbps over 45 meters. The costs of these cables are one-tenth of a single Camera Link cable, while enabling far greater transmission length without additional costs of repeaters or extenders. The CoaXPress standard also supports power over cable, reducing the need for a separate power connection.
About Adimec
Adimec specializes in the development and manufacturing of high-performance cameras that meet the application-specific requirements of key market segments, including machine vision, medical imaging, and defense & security. Founded in 1992, the company partners with major OEMs around the world to facilitate the creation of industry-leading cameras. Its products meet a wide range of performance, size, cost, interface and application requirements and its Adimec True Accurate Imaging® technology provides new levels of precision and accuracy to vision systems. Adimec has offices around the world focused on creating customer value and satisfaction through local, personalized support.
Contact Information
Adimec Advanced Image Systems b.v
Tel: +31-40-2353900
Fax: +31-40-2353905
Press Contact: M. Raaijmakers ()


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This is a double-duty Harness which available to be used as normal harness and keep your dog safely restrained and secure while riding in your vehicle. Our advanced design can fit to any kind of seat belt. No need to worry about the buckle size anymore! Breathable sporting material keeps your pet cool even wearing this wide safe pad on chest.
Item Details:
- Condition: 100% brand new
- Color: Blue
- Material: Breathable synthetic fabric with nylon webbing straps
- Durable buckles and adjustable strap
- Any seat belt can go through the harness back to keep your pets safely
Size: M -------------- See size chart below:
Size S: Neck 25cm - 34cm, Chest 38cm - 44cm Size M: Neck 28cm - 40cm, Chest 40cm - 52cm Size L: Neck 33cm - 46cm, Chest 58cm - 86cm
- Increased safety and comfort for your pet
- Stop your dog from being thrown around the car in the event of an accident
- Prevent your dog from distracting the driver
- Stop your dog from leaping out of the car the minute the doors are opened
- Manufactured by LEON Pet, a world leader in Pet Products
Package Includes:
- 1 * pet harness with new packing


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Puff Pastry using Julia Child's recipe.
Filled with a cream cheese filling.
No recipe - Just beat together
about 3/4 cup of cream cheese with enough powdered sugar to sweeten.
Added a pinch of salt, vanilla extract and one small egg.
Topped with thinly sliced Gala Apples.
No need to peel.
Sprinkled with brown sugar and a little cinnamon.
Drizzled with melted butter.
Baked in a 400°F oven for 15 minutes.
Reduced to 375°F and baked until golden brown.
Drizzled with melted butter.
Baked in a 400°F oven for 15 minutes.
Reduced to 375°F and baked until golden brown.
Fast French Puff PastryBased on recipe from Julia Child & Company
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
13 ounces chilled butter
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup ice water (more as needed)
Cut butter into 1/2 to 3/4 inch cubes.
Place flour and salt into heavy duty mixer with paddle blade. (I use a KitchenAid). Add cubes of butter and mix just enough for the paddle to slightly flatten the butter cubes. Do not break up butter into smaller pieces. Add enough ice water to moisten. Turn out on to floured surface. Will look very shaggy and the butter pieces will be visible. Pat and push mixture into rectangle and using a pastry scraper, flip bottom of pastry over the middle and then the top over to cover. (Like a business letter). Turn so that the fold is on your left hand side. Roll pastry out to a 12 to 14 inch rectangle. Fold again. Turn and roll out again. Do this "fold and turn" four times. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or longer. Remove from fridge and roll out and turn two more times. Pastry is now ready to use. If not using right away, refrigerate or freeze.
Enough for two single crust tarts or one two crust pie.


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I'm dreaming of a white Christmas! Decor this Christmas day with Frosty Christmas Tree.
Black Friday 2019 is around the corner! It's time to prepare your marketing for Black Friday.
Summer is coming to an end and teachers from all over the country are preparing for the school year with welcome poster designing, course planning and classroom decorating.
Creative design ideas for coffee shop marketing and promotion to get your new or established business noticed.


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Spitta and the Jets drop off a new mixtape, seemingly out of nowhere. Sometimes the best things in life are random. Read More
Spitta gives the visual treatment for his "Sunroof" record off The Stoned Immaculate.
On Saturday March 17, 2012 iHipHop, Babygrande and The Madbury Club put on a one of a kind SXSW showcase at Haven in Austin, Texas. Thousands left happy after witnessing the legendary GZA of Wu-Tang Clan perform alongside Grammy Award winning Latin funk band, Grupo Fantasma (Brownout). In addition to this monumental performance, Jet Life, Marz Lovejoy, Flatbush Zombies, T. Mills, The Airplane Boys and Mod Sun all took the stage to deliver incredible showings, while DJ Statik Selektah held down the wheels of steel for the evening. For those in attendance, click through this slideshow to relive this eventful occasion, and for those who couldn't make it, click through to check out some tremendous photos from the showcase. All photos by Lucas Alvarado / Far Fetched Future. Copyright 2012 Gadfly Communications, Inc.
iHipHop will return to SXSW this year for yet another incredible official showcase. Being that it's our third-year in a row bringing the best and brightest in all of hip-hop to Austin, Texas, we had no choice but to pull out all of the stops. We couldn't have done it all by ourselves, so big shout outs to our co-presenters Babygrande and The Madbury Club.
This year GZA of the Wu-Tang Clan will headline the event, while being backed by none other than Grammy Award winning band Grupo Fantasma (Brownout). The showcase will also include performances by east coast hardcore veterans M.O.P. as well as Curren$y's entire Jet Life crew (Trademark Da Skydiver, Young Roddy, Smoke DZA, Sir Michael Rocks of The Cool Kids, Fiend, Cornerboy P & Street Wiz), Marz Lovejoy, Flatbush Zombies, T. Mills, Airplane Boys, Mod Sun and DJ Statik Selektah.
Whether you're a hip-hop head or a casual listener, this is place to be. The showcase will take place on Saturday March 17, 2012 at Haven, located at 409 Colorado, Austin. Doors at 8pm. For more information, visit SXSW.com


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Posts Tagged Vacation
Greg Miller – Primo Amore
Posted by Daniel Lewis in Uncategorized on March 2, 2011
'Greg Miller is an American photographer born in 1967. While maintaining a commercial photography career that began in 1988, Miller has produced several bodies of personal work including photographs from County Fairs, Marching Band Camps and Ash Wednesday. In 2008, this work earned him a Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Since 2001, he has taught regularly at The International Center of Photography in New York. Miller received a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in photography from the School of Visual Arts in 1990. Greg lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.'
'Photographing people or places has to be for more than the sake of simple description, a story has to be told within the frame. I make photographs to describe an underlying world that exists in the absence of connection. This is manifested in the complicated relationships individuals occupy in the same space as well as with themselves. As a child, I was very aware of how adults around me were relating (or not relating) to each other. I have retained that awareness and it has become the basis for my photography.'


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June 2017
Best Duration Time for Short Videos?
30/06/17 11:17
One of the questions I often get asked by clients is - "What's the best time or length for the video?" Like a lot of questions the answer is - "It depends!" And in this post I touch on why. Read More…


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"The first major and eminently readable book on gnosticism benefiting from the discovery in 1945 of a collection of Gnostic Christian texts at Nag Hammadi in Egypt." –The New York Times Book Review
1. The Controversy over Christ's Resurrection: Historical Event or Symbol?
2. "One God, One Bishop": The Politics of Monotheism
3. God the Father/God the Mother
4. The Passion of Christ and the Persecution of Christians
5. Whose Church Is the "True Church"?
6. Gnosis: Self-Knowledge as Knowledge of God


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From the Cave to the Bedroom: Should We Practice "Paleo Sleeping Habits"?
Stone Age people slept better than we do, say some researchers. To start with, they didn't bring electronic devices into the cave as they settled in for the night!
Have you heard of the popular "paleo diet"? People on this diet are instructed to consume only nuts, berries, meat and other foods that their Stone Age ancestors would have eaten. When it comes to our health, though, sleeping is as important as eating. Maybe we should consider "paleo sleeping"—adopting sleep habits that don't disrupt our inborn sleep rhythms?
The National Center on Sleep Disorders Research reports that a third of American adults fail to get enough sleep. Insomnia seems to be an epidemic today. Sleep experts tell us part of the problem is that our lifestyles can work against the systems in our body that regulate our sleep/wake cycle.
Here are ways to overcome some of the modern challenges to good-quality sleep:
Take a nap. Did you know that until a few hundred years ago, people seldom slept in one block of eight hours or so? People in hot climates might wake up, work for a while, take a siesta during the warmest part of the day, and then return to work during the cooler twilight hours. Before the Industrial Revolution in the cooler European climates, reports Virginia Tech professor Roger Ekirch, people might go to bed for a few hours as soon as darkness fell—"first sleep," this was called. Then they would wake up around midnight for a while, perhaps socializing, praying or doing a little work, before "second sleep," which lasted until dawn. Though some people with sleep problems are advised against napping, many of us in the modern age could benefit from some daytime shuteye. Remember those "Blondie" cartoons featuring a furious Mr. Dithers rousing Dagwood Bumstead from a forbidden desktop snooze? Today, Dagwood's company might be following the lead of Proctor & Gamble, Google, Nike, NASA and other organizations that provide "nap rooms" where employees can take a short power nap.
Don't worry if you wake up. For most of us, there's no going back to the pre-Industrial "first sleep" and "second sleep" pattern. Yet many of us do wake up for a while in the middle of the night. If this is seriously disrupting your sleep, consult an expert. But some doctors suggest that worrying about this wakeful period can keep us awake longer and nudge us into middle-of-the-night fretting. Instead, they say, just enjoy that time of quiet rumination before you drift back off to sleep. And if you find yourself lying awake for longer than half an hour, it's better to get up and do some relaxing activity until you feel sleepy again.
Turn off those sleep-robbing devices. Today, our electronic gadgets might well be the biggest impediment to getting enough sleep! For decades, radios, TVs and personal computers have stimulated our minds to wakefulness, competing with our natural sleep cycle. And that was nothing compared to today's smartphones, tablet computers and backlit e-readers. These devices beam light right into our eyes—and we take them to bed with us! Dr. Charles Czeisler of Harvard Medical School participated in a survey on the effects of communications technologies and sleep, conducted by the National Sleep Foundation. He reported, "Light-emitting screens are in heavy use within the pivotal hour before sleep. Invasion of such alerting technologies into the bedroom may contribute to the high proportion of respondents who reported that they routinely get less sleep than they need." Banish your devices from the bedroom. Better yet, turn them off so they don't summon you from another room. At the least, change your settings so they only wake you for emergencies (and no, it's not an emergency when your phone sounds the alert that you've received a Facebook "like" or you've almost exceeded your data usage for the month). And if you use an e-reader, choose a model that is not backlit—or better yet, read a paper book.
Sleep in the dark. Scientists have found that even today, cultures who live without electricity tend to adhere to natural sleep patterns. Exposure to natural sunlight during the day helps us sleep better, but artificial light wreaks havoc on our sleep cycle. Dr. Czeisler explains, "Artificial light exposure between dusk and the time we go to bed at night suppresses release of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin, enhances alertness and shifts circadian rhythms to a later hour—making it more difficult to fall asleep." Sleep experts recommend using low-wattage, incandescent lamps as you're winding down before bedtime. Eliminate light pollution in your sleeping area with light-blocking window coverings or a sleep mask. If your room has a night light for safety, position it so it doesn't shine into your eyes while you're lying down. That goes for your alarm clock, as well.
Keep it quiet. Nighttime was traditionally a time of silence, save for the breathing of our fellow humans and the chirping of insects. This may be why many people report that they sleep best when they are camping. Sleep scientists tell us that even when we're asleep, our brains react to sounds, disturbing our sleep slightly even if a noise doesn't wake us. If you can hear street noises, your neighbor's TV, barking dogs, a snoring partner or birds chirping, use earplugs or invest in a white noise machine to drown out the sleep-disrupting noises. An electric fan or humidifier also can provide adequate background noise. (You also can convert your smartphone into a sleep ally by downloading a white noise app.)
Keep your cool. Sleep experts tell us that we sleep best if the room is around 65 degrees. This has always been a challenge during periods of hot weather. But even in the dead of winter, our modern homes are often overheated to a degree that keeps us wakeful. Set your thermostat so that nighttime temperatures are cool enough that you can sleep under the covers comfortably. Add a room air conditioner or fan in the warm days of summer. Choose a mattress that doesn't trap heat. Cotton sheets and pajamas also help us stay cool. And put away your heavy down comforter in the summer.
Mind your medications. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 9 million Americans take prescription sleep medications. Millions more use over-the-counter products to help them fall asleep or stay asleep. Used properly and under the supervision of a doctor, these drugs can be of help. But sleep medications can disrupt our natural sleep cycle, sometimes severely. Talk to your doctor about the sleep medications you take. And don't forget to discuss what might be the most common sleeping aid: alcohol. University of Missouri experts report that 20 percent of us indulge in a "nightcap" to help us sleep. Our ancestors consumed alcoholic beverages, but today's spirits are far more potent than the beer and mead of yesteryear—and alcohol consumed too close to bedtime can interfere with the natural sleep mechanism of the brain.
Control your coffee drinking. Historians tell us that coffee drinking swept the world just as the Industrial Revolution forced people in cities out of their natural sleep and wake cycles. Some say, only half in jest, that without coffee to wake us up, modern factories never would have caught on! Coffee is a useful stimulant, and nutritionists tell us it contains healthful nutrients. But the caffeine in coffee notoriously keeps us awake if we consume it too close to bedtime—so switch to herb tea or water in the afternoon.
Get plenty of exercise. Numerous studies show that exercise improves the quality of our sleep. Our ancestors worked hard—getting enough exercise was not a problem for them! But today, many of us humans spend most of the day sitting down. Ask your doctor about an exercise program that's right for you. A good old-fashioned walk is a great choice. And here's a bonus of walking: According to research from the University of Illinois, spending time in the natural environment helps us sleep better. But working out is stimulating, so be sure to allow some downtime between exercise and bedtime. Think of our ancestors, who, done with their day's toil, settled in around the fire telling stories. Choose calm, soothing activities like reading or listening to soft music to help you transition into sleep.
Poor sleep weakens our immune system and leads to diabetes, heart disease, even dementia. If you are having trouble sleeping, talk to your doctor. You may be referred for a sleep evaluation to help identify and treat the problem. Practicing good "sleep hygiene" that supports the body's natural sleep patterns may be the first step.
The information in this article is not intended to replace the advice of your healthcare provider. Talk to your doctor if you have concerns about your sleep. The National Sleep Foundation and the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research offer sleep information for consumers.
Right at Home, Inc. is a national organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for those we serve. We fulfill that mission through a dedicated network of locally owned providers of in home care services.


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Event Server Job
$81.58 estimated pay
Instructions and details
About Instawork Gigs
Instawork is the best place for hospitality workers to find temporary jobs on-demand. From Michelin-star restaurants to small coffee shops, Instawork makes it easy for bartenders, cooks, servers, dishwashers and other experienced hospitality workers to find work at local businesses and earn up to $30/hr on a flexible schedule. No interviews or paper resumes. Just book the gig in the app and show up to do the work. Se habla español.
An event server role refers to a front of house worker whose primary responsibility is to assist the guests in having a positive experience.
Event Server responsibilities:
Set up for events, carry trays, serve guests, and clean up at the event's conclusion.
Set up can include putting out tablecloths and place settings, arranging table placement and putting up a buffet.
A banquet server's duties during the event can vary based on the situation, but, in general, they must be able to focus on the job while staying on their feet and moving about freely, which can include bending, climbing stairs, and carrying items weighing 25-50 pounds.
Good communication is important, as is being able to follow directions efficiently and meeting the physical demands of the job.
A positive attitude while on the job is also essential. Banquet servers must adhere to health and safety standards at all times, even when closing down at the end of the event, which may include breaking down the table set up and taking tablecloths and linens to the laundry.


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One of my favorite go-to websites for burial information is FindAGrave.com. According to the website, Find A Grave now boasts more than 66 million grave records from all over the world. All of these records are volunteer supplied, and many have photos and biographical information attached to them. Of course, not every burial record is contained on Find A Grave, and many that are there don't have photos of the tombstones -- YET.
That's where the volunteers come in. You can log a request via the website to ask someone who lives near the cemetery where your ancestor is buried to go and take a picture of the tombstone and post it on the Find A Grave record of that ancestor. I've put in a few requests for volunteers to take photos of my ancestors' tombstones that I can't already find on the website, and I haven't been disappointed. In fact, just last week, I was surprised by Frank Murphy, a Find A Grave volunteer who went out to the Barnes Cemetery in Mercer County, Missouri, to snap a picture of the grave of my 4th great grandfather, John Newton Garriott, who was buried there in January 1882. Here's the photo that Frank uploaded onto John Garriott's Find A Grave record.
Jan 15 1882
75y 1m 26d
John's wife, Jane Alen Reed Garriott, is also buried in the Barnes Cemetery, and I'm kicking myself for not asking Mr. Murphy to get a photo of her gravestone, too. Perhaps, I'll ask him if he plans to be out at that cemetery again one of these days. Meanwhile, I appreciate the generosity of Frank and all of the other volunteer photographers who schlep out to the cemeteries (often out of their way, and in uncomfortable weather) to document our ancestors' burials and share this precious information with us.
Thanks, Frank!
Ps. I live in San Francisco and, while I don't have a car to get to cemeteries outside of the city, I can take a bus to the National Cemetery in the Presidio. If anyone needs photos of graves in that cemetery, drop me a line. I'd be happy to pay it forward!


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Army Col. Leland Holland would sometimes talk about his 444-day hostage ordeal in Iran "like it was a good old fish story," says his son, John. But other times, recalling how he was beaten with rubber hoses and telephone books, he'd get angry. The memory of picking a lock with a paper clip, making his way to the roof, and breathing fresh air could bring him to tears. Three times after he retired from active duty, his family found him kneeling in the corner of the basement, face to the wall, hands clasped together over his head as if handcuffed, reliving in his nightmares the ordeal of being interrogated.
Ben Affleck's celebrated film, Argo, has spotlighted a desperate CIA scheme that enabled six U.S. Embassy employees to escape post-revolutionary Iran disguised as a Canadian film crew. Holland was part of a far less fortunate group, the 52 Americans who didn't make it out of the embassy when militants stormed it on Nov. 4, 1979, and were held hostage for 444 days.
Argo has been showered with honors, topped by a best-picture Oscar at the Academy Awards. There's no dispute that it is historically inaccurate and ignores a larger tragedy to focus on a tiny sliver of success associated with a humiliating chapter in the nation's history. But give Argo its due. The film is serving to remind the country of a time, a place, and a debacle at what could be a pivotal moment in the history of the Iranian hostage crisis.
The former hostages and their advocates are mobilizing for a Capitol Hill push that they hope will be the final chapter in a 33-year quest for relief and for justice. In a few weeks, members of Congress will receive a packet of information that includes powerful statements and videos from the former hostages and their survivors. Some will be telling their stories publicly for the first time. One of them is Steven Lauterbach, whose written account opens with this sentence: "I slashed my wrists while in captivity in Iran."
The hostages were among the first victims of Islamic terrorism -- yet unlike subsequent victims, they have never received the satisfaction of a court judgment against a state sponsor of terrorism, or financial compensation drawn from its assets. For decades they have tried and failed to navigate a web of conflicting legal opinions, court reversals, and changing terrorism policies. And for decades they have been thwarted by the 1981 Algiers Accords, in which Iran agreed to release the hostages and President Carter agreed to bar lawsuits by them and their families. One Congress after another has been unable or unwilling to surmount presidential administrations and court rulings that have kept the accords in force.The Supreme Court last year ended the possibility of suing under current law, leaving Congress to find a solution.
With its suspected march to nuclear weaponry and broad sponsorship of global terrorism, Iran presents America and the world with problems much deeper than how to tie up the loose ends of a 1980 crisis. Yet the dark details of their captivity and its long-term impact – the depression, the nightmares, flashbacks, divorces, and physical illnesses– are bound to add urgency to the former hostages' cause, as is their advancing age (a dozen of the 52 have since died).
Nor does it hurt that the cinematic spotlight on Iran has coincided with two related tragedies. Argo opened a few weeks after murderous militants attacked another U.S. mission, this one in Benghazi, Libya, igniting intense concern on Capitol Hill about diplomatic security. The film opened the same month that one of the 52 former hostages, former CIA agent Phillip Ward, killed himself. He had returned home covered with scars from torture, a reclusive, alcoholic ruin who couldn't hold a normal job -- who couldn't even hold a cup of coffee, his hands shook so badly. "He took his life, but in reality his life was taken from him 33 years ago in Tehran, Iran," attorney Tom Lankford, who has been trying since 2000 to win justice for the former hostages, wrote in a tribute to Ward in Roll Call last fall.
"Raped Of Our Freedom"
Lankford has lived intimately for years with the disquieting tales of former hostages and their families, and punctuates his conversations with graphic images and details – the cells fouled with excrement, the diplomat's wife who still has anxiety attacks, the retired Air Force colonel who in his nightmares hears the hoses being forced down the throats of Iranian political prisoners as they were suffocated outside his cell.
Most of the former hostages functioned well in productive careers after they returned – including Leland Holland, who died in 1990, and Tom Schaefer, the retired colonel who remains haunted by the suffocations. They and many others became public figures, giving speeches and media interviews about their experience. Yet few if any former hostages escaped life-altering changes wrought by 444 days of terror, boredom, hope, and hopelessness.
Rodney "Rocky" Sickmann, a 22-year-old Marine charged with guarding the embassy door, was one of the youngest hostages. For the first month in captivity, he says, he slept with his wrists tied to his ankles and sat during the day with his hands and feet tied to a chair, a shotgun pointed at his head, and was blindfolded whenever he left the room. "You think of your past. That's all you had," he recalls. He heard cars beeping, birds chirping, "life going on without you," and wondered if anyone besides his parents cared. "It was so lonely," he says.
And often so terrifying. Sickmann says he and other hostages were shown videos of people being dropped in boiling tar, of people shot in the head after being ordered to strip and face a courtyard wall. He himself was blindfolded and told to undress and turn his back, and he heard three rifles bolted behind his head. "It was a mock execution, but I didn't know that," he says. "You dreamt, you cried, you prayed for the opportunity of a second chance."
Sickmann did get that chance. When he came home, he found that his parents had kept their 1979 Christmas tree up and decorated for the whole 444 days. He married his girlfriend and went to work at Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis. He had three children and rose through the company, where he now has what he calls "a wonderful job" as director of military sales. Through a chance meeting at a family wedding, Sickmann even ended up on the set of Argo, and his son had a bit part.
Despite flashbacks, dreams, and problems with noises and being alone, Sickmann was convinced he was fine. But his wife thought otherwise and after many years persuaded him to get help. "You never forget it," he now says of his captivity. He repeatedly says that Iran "raped us of our freedom" and has never paid for that in any way. He often wonders, even now, if he should have disobeyed orders and shot at the militants and the women who were their human shields.
Lauterbach, a small, slight man who was the assistant general services officer at the embassy, had no experience or training as a soldier or spy when he was taken hostage. "It was my first time as a Foreign Service officer. I didn't volunteer for it," he says. It was a menacing environment; there were crowds on the streets and bodies hanging from construction cranes, just like in Argo, he says. Looking back at when he slashed his wrists, he says "it's hard for me to really know what my motive was." His plan, he says, was to "hurt myself bad enough that they would panic" and take him out of solitary confinement. He was covered with blood and prepared to die, he says, but his captors rushed him to the hospital for stitches. And they did take him out of solitary.
Now 61, Lauterbach was 28 when he was captured and says he was "more mentally and emotionally damaged than I wanted to admit" by the experience. He met his wife at his next posting in France, had two children, pursued a successful Foreign Service career, and now consults for the State Department. Yet he still has a recurring nightmare that "somehow the agreement to release us has been rescinded and we have to go back." He believes he is a more pessimistic, fatalistic person as a result of the ordeal. "It's never completely in the past," he says. "You're always in the shadow of it psychologically."
Bill Daugherty's captors quickly identified him as CIA and treated him accordingly. He spent 425 of his 444 days in solitary confinement, and endured interrogation sessions 12 hours long. Unlike some of the embassy hostages, he was used to risk and adversity. At 31, his resume included military school, Marine boot camp, flight school, a stint as an air traffic controller, and a tour flying off an aircraft carrier in Vietnam. "My whole life up to that time was dealing with stress," he says. He also had received military training in subjects like how to survive in captivity and how to defeat interrogation.
Like Sickmann and Lauterbach, Daugherty believed he was in good shape after his release. He says he never had nightmares or other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Yet he was troubled. His cover was blown – he was known worldwide to be a CIA agent – and he stumbled about trying to find a new career path. On the personal side, he says he felt lost and "addled" at times. In 1986 he entered into what he calls an "unwise marriage" that ended in divorce. He also made some bad career choices before landing in the CIA's counter-terrorism unit. In 1996 he became a college professor, and a few years later met the nurse practitioner who is now his wife.
"I didn't start understanding what I wanted and what my life should be until 12 to 15 years" after returning from Iran, says Daugherty, who worked as a consultant on Argo. "If I came back in better mental shape than a lot of (the other hostages), I can't imagine how they dealt with it."
Rough Justice
Terry Reed, another attorney for the former hostages, calls his clients "the only victims of Iran's hostage-taking and terrorism that have been left behind." Others who are not bound by the Algiers Accords have gone to court and won judgments against Iran. They include former journalist Terry Anderson, held for seven years by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, who collected some $26 million taken from frozen Iranian assets; victims of the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon, whose lawyers are trying to seize Iranian assets frozen in U.S. institutions to collect on tens of millions of dollars in court awards; and victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, who last year won what will likely turn out to be a largely symbolic $6 billion award against Iran, al-Qaida, and the Taliban.
The disturbing details of the hostages' lives during and after captivity have been no match for successive administrations determined to uphold an international deal, even though it was necessitated by a host government that failed to protect an embassy and allowed militants to hold hostages for month after month. And even though it was signed almost literally at the point of a gun, with Iran threatening "serious consequences" for the hostages if billions in frozen Iranian assets weren't released.
Brokered between Iran and the United States by the government of Algeria, the Algiers Accords were hailed as the catalyst for ending the protracted crisis. The executive agreement allowed for commercial claims against Iran to be paid out of Iranian assets frozen when the hostages were taken, but it barred any attempt by the hostages to bring suit against Iran in a U.S. court. Since Iran already enjoyed sovereign immunity against such claims, the State Department did not see that as a concession at the time. In addition, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel concluded in a Nov. 13, 1980 memo that Congress had the power to "constitutionally override" the Algiers Accords and reinstate the former hostages' right to sue Iran for damages.
In January 1984, Iran was added to the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism. Twelve years later, Congress passed the Antiterrorism Act, removing the sovereign immunity of countries on the list, and eventually made it retroactive so the former hostages could sue Iran. The former hostages and their families did just that in 2000, and won a default liability ruling the next year in federal court after Iran failed to mount a defense.
The State Department, worried about the implications of violating an international deal signed by a president, argued the case should be dismissed. Congress tried again to help in 2002, writing into a conference report that the former hostages had a valid claim against Iran under the 1996 act. But U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, in a decision later upheld by an appeals court, dismissed the claim in 2002. Congress did not specifically invalidate the Algiers Accords, he said, so he had no choice.
''Were this Court empowered to judge by its sense of justice, the heart-breaking accounts of the emotional and physical toll of those 444 days on plaintiffs would be more than sufficient justification for granting all the relief that they request," Sullivan wrote. "However, this Court is bound to apply the law that Congress has created, according to the rules of interpretation that the Supreme Court has determined. There are two branches of government that are empowered to abrogate and rescind the Algiers Accords, and the judiciary is not one of them."
Congress tried yet again in 2008, inserting a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act allowing Americans to sue countries that sponsor terrorism. It specifically mentioned the Iranian hostages, so the former hostages filed a new lawsuit citing that section of the new law. But the Obama administration Justice Department urged that the case be dismissed. In September 2010, Sullivan again cited the hostages' "tremendous suffering" but again ruled against them. Congress had failed to "expressly" nullify the Algiers Accords or create an unambiguous cause of action against Iran for the 1979 hostage-taking, he said. Last year, the Supreme Court declined to review the case.
Rather than ask Congress at this point to repeal the Algiers Accords, which would trigger years of legal activity with no guaranteed outcome, the former hostages, their advocates, and their Capitol Hill allies have settled on different course: a surcharge on fines and penalties paid by companies that do business with Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. The money would be put into a compensation fund for the hostages. Mike Smith, the hostages' lobbyist, says such a plan will pass overwhelmingly if it comes to a vote, as he expects it will this year. If the State Department has an alternate plan, he adds, "we're flexible as long as it brings relatively speedy relief to the former hostages."
Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, whose constituents include former hostage Kathryn Koob, was the lead sponsor last year on a sanctions surcharge bill that attracted 69 cosponsors. He disagrees with the State Department view that the Algiers Accords are binding; he says agreements negotiated under duress are revocable and further, he says, it's a violation of the Geneva Conventions to make agreements that don't allow people to seek compensation from their captors. But Braley plans to reintroduce the sanctions bill this year with as many cosponsors as he can find, "to try to provide some measure of justice to people who've been denied justice all these years." He says more than $400 million could be available, and hostages held the full 444 days would receive a "significant settlement."
Daugherty estimates that he and the other former hostages are due quite a lot. Based on compensatory and punitive damages to other victims of terrorism, he puts the total at nearly $18 million per hostage. "I don't expect to get anywhere near that," he says, but suggests it would be rough justice for a country that has paid very little for the hundreds of U.S. dead and wounded in attacks linked to Iran over the years.
As time runs out for many of the former hostages, and even some of their children, they have become less intent on holding Iran accountable and more interested in compensation and some measure of closure. "At this point in time, that's about 89 percent of justice right there," says John Holland. "The other 11, I'd still like to see somebody do some physical time themselves for what they did."
Under Siege
Iranian militants supportive of the new revolutionary government first overran the embassy in Tehran on Feb. 14, 1979, and staff there – led by Leland Holland – were told to give them some ground and then talk them into leaving. Miraculously, it worked. But what followed was a cascade of missteps and misjudgments that still evoke anger and frustration among the hostages seized in the subsequent Nov. 4 attack.
After the Valentine's Day breach, some officials in Washington believed that the militants would move on to other targets or activities, says Daugherty, who was stationed in Washington at the time. He and others, including embassy personnel in Tehran, assumed the opposite: that the militants would be back with more force. The message from the embassy to Foggy Bottom for months after that first breach, says John Holland, Leland's son, was "get us out of here," that Iran was in such disarray that the government could not ensure physical security.
But the embassy continued to operate. Nine months later, Carter let the deposed shah of Iran into the United States for medical treatment, setting off unrest in Tehran that culminated in the hostage crisis. Daugherty said in a 2003 article in the journal American Diplomacy that the State Department had information at the time that the shah was not at death's door and could have been treated where he was, in Mexico, rather than in the United States. "I don't know how that story changed," he says now about the factors that led to Carter's decision.
The shah was about to arrive in the United States when U.S. charge d'affaires Bruce Laingen went to the Iranian foreign ministry to notify his counterpart and ask for protection. Though Carter and others later asserted that assurances had been given, Daugherty wrote in his 2003 article that Laingen did not report any response at all to his request for protection. Daugherty still is incredulous that Carter did not evacuate the embassy the minute he decided to let the shah into America, about two weeks before the militants attacked. The way it played out, he says, "We never had a chance."
The grim history that began to unfold at the moment of capture was nothing like Argo, with its focus on can-do American (and Canadian) nerve and creativity. The hostages were taken just a few years after the hasty, ignominious U.S. exit from Vietnam, and overnight, it seemed that Iran had brought America to its knees.
That perception was fueled, perhaps even created, by a nightly ABC News program that later became Nightline. Initially called America Held Hostage, it launched four days after the embassy takeover and included a countdown that underscored the country's helplessness: Day 11, Day 49, Day 266, Day 365, and on and on. The national feeling of impotence intensified after a tragic April 1980 rescue attempt resulted in the deaths of eight U.S. troops and the loss of U.S. helicopters and classified material to Iran.
That sense of American powerlessness pervaded the household of every hostage. Weeks after the failed rescue, just before Father's Day, Bruce German's teenage daughter wrote a 7-page letter to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, pleading for German's release. "Dear Ayatollah," it began, in round, girlish script. "I wish you could convince your people to let my dad come home to his family … It is very difficult for me not having my dad around."
German, a State Department budget officer, had arrived in Tehran five weeks before the embassy takeover. His family learned of his abduction from a church member who saw news of it on TV.
In censored letters every couple of weeks, he urged his daughter and two sons to keep sending him mail, keep praying, and keep doing their schoolwork. Once he wrote that he was "staying at the lovely resort of Lorton," recalls the daughter, Deborah Firestone. "So we knew he was in a prison." When he did come home, he didn't talk to his children about what he'd been through, but "I heard things," Firestone says, including that his Iranian captors had played Russian roulette with him.
German, now 76, describes "constant threat" from the day he was taken captive. "We didn't know from day to day if it was our last day because they kept threatening us with guns," he says. He recalls the hostages being forced awake at 3 a.m., blindfolded, and "paraded in our underwear into a cold hallway," where they would hear the "unmistakable" sound of guns being cocked, and wonder if they were about to be executed. Outside his cell at the notorious Evin prison, German heard "moaning and screaming and carrying on" as Iranians were tortured. Prayer and mental toughness got him through, German says.
While Firestone says German had flashbacks and nightmares after his release, German says he chose not to the see "the shrinks" offered by the government. "I didn't need that," he says. He did make what he calls changes "for the better" after conversations with friends. "I just took their advice and decided to get on with my life, move ahead, and that I'd try not to look back. So I don't dwell on that at all anymore," he says. "I just put the hostage crisis behind me."
German's life is divided into distinct pre-Iran and post-Iran chapters. Within a year of his return, he moved away from his family. Within a few years, he had divorced his wife and left the State Department. He moved to rural northeastern Pennsylvania and reconnected with a woman he knew in high school. He has little contact with his children and grandchildren, a subject he declines to discuss.
Before the Iran crisis, says Firestone, an elementary school teacher, her parents' marriage was "rock-solid" and she was a "daddy's girl." But since a few months of family closeness right after he returned, she says, contact with her father has increasingly ebbed. He missed her college graduation, her 1993 wedding, and her brother's wedding last summer. At this point, she hasn't seen him for eight years. He last saw her youngest child, almost 12, when she was 3.
While it's impossible to gauge the role of German's captivity on his choices, Firestone has no doubts. "He's pretty much fallen off the face of the earth as far as his family is concerned," she says. "Our lives have been irreparably damaged because of what happened."
Hero and Victim
Fresh off 444 days as victims, the hostages returned to a nation that was more than ready to move on from nightly doses of America Held Hostage. They were celebrated as heroes with a full-blown ticker tape parade in New York – the kind usually reserved for astronauts, military veterans, and champion sports teams. Ronald Reagan had just taken the oath of office. People desperately wanted it to be a new morning in America, as Reagan's reelection campaign would put it in a TV ad four years later.
"We had been so embarrassed by the Iranians holding power over us," says Lankford. "We didn't want to hear about how the hostages were kept in freezers with no clothes on, kept in cells with their own excrement. America in 1981 needed heroes, and these folks as a group were presented as heroes. It was really in many respects to wash away the bad feeling of Vietnam. Heroes you give medals to. You don't compensate them."
In truth, each hostage was both a hero and a victim, a dual identity epitomized by Leland Holland. He was an Army intelligence officer in Berlin during the Cold War, served two tours in Vietnam, and became a parachutist at the ripe age of 46 before going to Tehran as the Army attaché for the embassy. He returned to active duty and a top Pentagon job when he was released, gave talks about his ordeal at various military bases, and made Army training films based on his experience – films his son says are still in use. In a measure of his reputation, shortly after he died, the Army bestowed his name on an 11-building complex at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. And yet in retirement, when he was no longer too busy to keep memories at bay, he relived his interrogations in nightmares.
The ordeal that left an indelible mark on so many lives has not only receded in time, it has been overwhelmed and overshadowed by the many terrible terrorist acts that followed, most notably the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. Still, Firestone says she was shocked to find the Iran hostage crisis distilled to one paragraph in her son's history book. In Lankford's conference room one recent day, she gazed at hostage photos on a 2001 trial exhibit headlined "52 Faces We Won't Forget," and remarked, "It seems like everybody has forgotten."
In the view of many former hostages, that forgetfulness extends to the failure of the U.S. government to learn from what what they endured amid the anarchic tumult of a country that had just been through a revolution. They shook their heads last Sept. 11 when terrorist attacks killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans at the consulate in Benghazi. It was happening again – a host government unable to protect diplomatic personnel, and pleas for help that went unheeded. "Nothing's changed over all these years," German says.
But change may be coming at last. In the wake of the Benghazi tragedy, the Obama administration and Congress appear determined to improve protection of U.S. personnel overseas. And the former hostages, who have long been able to count on bipartisan goodwill in Congress, now have a new strategy and new prominence. Thanks to a popular film, Americans have been given a fresh reminder that Islamic terror has plagued the country beyond this generation, and 52 of its earliest victims may finally get their due. It's no Hollywood ending, but it could be a last act.
Multimedia produced by Cory Bennett


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Call Now!
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Philadelphia & Lower Bucks County
Over 20 Years Experience
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Philadelphia Blue Flame Chiropractor
Every condition is different, and each patient is treated specifically to their individual needs
One of the most important times for a woman to receive chiropractic care is during her pregnancy.
From the moment of conception, your body goes through a series of changes. Back, pelvic and postural changes can cause unwanted pain and discomfort. The good news is, chiropractic care in Tacony, PA can help!
How can chiropractic help in Tacony, PA?
Your spine is made up of 24 independent vertebrae that enable your body to twist, bend and move. It also helps protect the delicate central nervous system that controls and coordinates every cell, tissue and organ of the body.
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Relief from back, neck or joint pain
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For some reason I am in love with sakura flavored stuff this year. In past years I didn't give sakura flavoring the time of day. Probably because sakura season is during allergy season so I don't participate in all of the hoopla. No picnics for me. I think I have only done it twice in my eight years here.
In the picture:
1. Sakura green tea
2. Sakura salt
3. Sakura macaroons
4. Sakura umeshu
5. Sakura bean paste
6. Pancakes topped with sakura bean paste
7. Sakura rice mix


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ASTANA, Kazakhstan, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Andrey Golubev posted his second singles win of the weekend in clinching a Davis Cup series win for Kazakhstan Sunday over Austria.
Golubev defeated Jurgen Melzer 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 and gave the Kazakhs a 3-1 lead in the best-of-five, first-round series. The fifth match wasn't played. They will face the defending Davis Cup champion Czech Republic in April's Davis Cup quarterfinals.
Golubev opened the Austria-Kazakh series with a straight-set win Friday over Andreas Haider-Maurer and a win by Evgeny Korolev over Melzer put the Kazakhs up 2-0. But Austrians Julian Knowle and Alexander Peya beat Golubev and Yuri Schukin in Saturday's doubles to keep the series going.
Melzer had the only break of the first set Sunday but Golubev evened things with the lone break of the second set.
The third set again turned on one break -- at love in the seventh game -- with Golubev saving a pair of break points. Golubev won more than two-thirds of the points in the fourth set, including getting breaks in the fourth and sixth games in advancing the Kazakhs.


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As Far As Her Eyes Can See
A review of Lisa Randall's Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World (Ecco, 2011).
LISA RANDALL HAS BEEN JUSTLY APPRAISED by Time magazine as one of the "100 most influential people in the world" for her work in theoretical particle physics. From her position at Harvard University, she often travels: to the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, CERN, in Switzerland, where her theories are being put to the test in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC); to speaking engagements with professional and public audiences about her work in particular and the awe and wonder of science in general; and to rock formations where her chalked fingers can find ways to defy gravity. On the side, she writes popular books, such as her acclaimed Warped Passages1.
In Knocking on Heaven's Door, Randall picks up the story from where she left off when the LHC was years away from first collision, expanding her horizon from, as she poetically puts it, "what's so small to you is so large to me" to "what's so large to you is so small to me." In other words, the book ranges from the smallest known particles to the entire bubble universe, from 10−35 meters (the Planck length, where quantum gravity rules) to 1027 meters (the entire visible universe, 100 billion light-years across, where dark matter and dark energy dominate), a stunning 62 orders of magnitude. (Randall correctly notes the age of the universe at 13.75 billion years, clarifying her apparently paradoxical figure of 100 billion light-years thusly: "The reason the universe as a whole is bigger than the distance a signal could have traveled given its age is that space itself has expanded." She unpacks that sentence in the book.) (continue reading…)


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The year is 1467 and civil war has broken out. The authority of the Ashikaga Shoguns has collapsed and it is every man for himself in the provinces. Honor and duty vie with survival in the delicate dance of power, conquest and betrayal as you attempt to unite the land of the Rising Sun through a combination of deal-making with foreign powers, sending your powerful samurai armies into battle against your enemies, and unleashing shadowy Ninja clans under the cover of darkness to assassinate your rivals!
* Control a noble family in Feudal Japan
* Rise in influence and power within your clan and go on to claim the ultimate prize
* Conquer and grow while rewarding your most valued retainers in your bid to become Shogun
* Detailed historical map of Japan during the warring states period
* Make deals with external powers, including the Portuguese and the Dutch
* Employ the aid of powerful Ninja clans when your Samurai armies are not enough
About Sengoku
2013-04-20 #
source: www.paradoxplaza.com/games/sengoku-way-of-the-warrior


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Prop. 30 OK doesn't stop student protests
higher education Student protesters worry Prop. 30 won't block tuition increase Student protesters demand tuition cuts after Prop. 30 passes
Public university students in the Bay Area staged protests Thursday against possible tuition hikes, saying the passage of Proposition 30 provided only a temporary reprieve from cuts to higher education.
At UC Berkeley, about 200 students and faculty members braved a steady rain at noon on Sproul Plaza to rally against the specter of increased fees. They brought out a giant No. 2 pencil reading, "Kids R No. 1" and a sign that said, "We got the money, we want the power."
"Hey, rain or shine, the cuts are coming - stay here," a woman who helped organize the event said on a speaker, imploring fellow students not to let the weather stop them from taking part in the protest.
Speakers demanded tuition rollbacks, saying that because Prop. 30 guaranteed only that tuition will not rise this school year, cuts in the future remain likely.
"I'm glad that Proposition 30 passed, instead of not passing, but it doesn't actually do anything more than at most delay or defer plans to raise tuition," said Geoffrey O'Brien, an associate professor of English. "We understand that we have, unfortunately, a permanent struggle. Without raising a stink and raising some noise, we're not going to do anything except passively watch burdens increase for undergraduates."
Ridhima Vemula, 19, a sophomore double majoring in public health and economics, huddled under an umbrella with Madhavi Muralidharan, 18, a freshman economics major as they watched the demonstration.
"It's a really important dialogue to have right now, especially now that Prop. 30 has passed," Vemula said.
Muralidharan said she never fully understood the struggles facing public schools until she found herself having to "take out huge loans to try to get to Berkeley."
"I'm here because I think this is really relevant to all of us here right now," Muralidharan said.
The UC Berkeley protest was one of several demonstrations on UC campus Thursday in advance of a university regents meeting next week in San Francisco on whether to raise fees for seven professional degree programs.
California State University students also staged protests, with Bay Area demonstrations at Cal State East Bay, San Francisco State and San Jose State.
CSU trustees will vote next week in Long Beach on a proposal to impose hefty new fees on thousands of students who repeat courses, take far more credits than they need to graduate and take more credits in a single semester than strictly necessary.
CSU officials said their proposal is actually beneficial to students because it is designed to free up thousands of classroom seats so that fewer qualified applicants, as well as students who are currently enrolled, will be turned away or shut out of courses. CSU says it has turned away 20,000 students a year since the state's budget crisis began four years ago.
But protesters call the proposal "student fee extortion" and say there are legitimate reasons why many students need to take additional credits or repeat courses.
Henry K. Lee and Nanette Asimov are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com Twitter: @henryklee @NanetteAsimov