text:
Every once in a while, a technological innovation so advanced comes along that we, as a society, might as well just take a break from trying to invent anything else for a few years. It's like, what's the point?
The most recent of these marvels is an autonomous trash can on wheels that communicates wirelessly with what appears to be Microsoft's motion-sensing Kinect camera to position itself underneath pieces of garbage you toss in its general vicinity.
According to DigInfo TV, "This Smart Trash Can, developed by Minoru Kurata, an engineer at a Japanese auto maker, won an Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival." According to me, "This Smart Trash Can, developed by Minoru Kurata, an engineer at a Japanese auto maker, should win a Nobel Prize." I don't care if they have to create a new prize category.
In the above video, we can see Kurata tossing crumpled paper up into the air while the trash can swiftly springs into action like a punt returner, outfielder, or Double Dare contestant trying to catch a raw egg in a bowl attached to his or her helmet during a physical challenge.
"Surely, there are drawbacks!" you bellow, grabbing both sides of your computer screen as though you're trying to shake some sense into your drunken roommate when two single members of the opposite sex show up at your apartment unexpectedly. Yes, there are drawbacks.
For starters, the can has to have a low enough center of gravity that it doesn't tip over. We're talking about small, office-friendly wastebaskets here, so your dreams of dropping a Hefty bag full of a week's worth of trash from your third-story window down to the sidewalk below haven't yet been realized. (YET.)
Secondly, "The probability that the trash will go in is not very high; only 10-20%," Kurata says. "I want to either improve the sensor, or upgrade the control by reducing the error through a program."
Kurata is working to patent the technology for the Smart Trash Can, so we'll hopefully see this as a commercial product someday. Even at 10-20% accuracy, I'd rip a hole in my pants pocket trying to get my wallet out quickly enough to place an order.
Here are 10 other important, world-changing innovations:
- Finally, a Refrigerator with a Sparkling Water Dispenser — Make Your Own Soda, Too
- Finally, a Tiny Robotic Vacuum for Smartphones and Tablets
- Finally, a Ramen Bowl with a Built-in iPhone Dock
- Android-Controlled Toilet Makes Your Non-Android Toilet Seem like a Throne of Spikes, Sandpaper and Lameness
- Finally, a Coffin with Built-in Speakers and Spotify Connection
- Edible iPhone 5 Case Only Costs $81
- Go Home, Folks: 'Guitar Pee' Urinal Tops Everything (Times Infinity)
- MIT Scientists Figure Out How to Get Ketchup Out of the Bottle
- Scientists Finally Create Robotic Buttocks That React to Human Touch
- Finally, a Bluetooth Fridge Magnet That Orders Pizza with a Single Touch
The award-winning Smart Trash Can moves autonomously to catch your trash [DigInfo TV]


text:
Last night on #edchat, participants tried to tackle the tough questions surrounding teacher evaluations. Mainly what part should the teacher play in their evaluation? What should teacher evaluations look like? And what would should be included in those evaluations? It was an interesting discussion. Here is just a taste of what was said:
- Assessment should come from a variety of sources including administration, students, peers, self, and key community members. Before any assessment takes place the right conditions/environment needs to be created. There needs to be mutual respect and an understanding that it's part of the learning process. The assessor and assessee need to establish a relationship if one doesn't already exist. Assessment needs to be frequent and less formal if it is to have its desired affect.
- I think peer evaluation is important, particularly as an ongoing formative activity. One way to do it could be to focus on 2 or 3 specific issues each time, change them for future evaluations and then recycle to see how they've improved (or not). Input for the issues could come from either the evaluator and the teacher being evaluated -I believe teachers need to have an active role in their evaluation.
- Some aspects to consider might be: the ability/way the teacher responds to students' participation, whether the teacher stays in the same physical spot or walks around the room and the effects of that,the use of the board (is easy for students to follow, is it too cluttered but clear anyway?is it over/under-used?); how does the T react when a student asks a question the T is not sure about, how do students react to this and what's the effect in the flow of the lesson? Does the lesson follow a discernable pattern; if so, what's the effect?; is there anything particular to note about classroom dynamics?
- Not all teachers are comfortable with peer observation, so we have to build community FIRST to foster comfort and honest feedback.
- Teachers who want to improve will ask their students to evaluate them. Critical incident reports, exit slips, anonymous surveys, etc
You can read more summarizing thoughts here and the archive here.
So what do I think...
Teacher evaluation systems are different all over the place. They can vary from state to state and even district to district. I do believe they all have good intentions. The goal is to make sure we have the best available teaching our kids. But yet while they all might have the same goal I would guess that most of them are flawed, some in a very major way.
I have only worked in one state so can only speak for the way things are here. Our teacher evaluation system is changing in North Carolina. It is going from probably the worst method to tolerable. Before teachers were observed, growth plans were examined and most teachers escaped with At Standard or Above. It was very, very subjective. If you had an administrator who you did not particularly mesh well with you might be faced with an Action Plan, meaning more work and more observations.
The state recognized there was a problem so they changed the system. Now it is based on evidences. If a teacher is believes they are Accomplished or Distinguished they have to prove it. Also in this model is a self-evaluation component. Again, this is a better model but there is still some subjectivity involved when the administrator goes to determine the overall ranking. And now with RTTT standardized test scores will be a part of that ranking.
For me there are some things missing.
Student Feedback
An administrator can walk into a room and will only ever see a snapshot of that room on that day at that time. How can that ever be used to determine how effective a teacher is? But who is with that teacher day in and day out? Kids. I know there are limitations but at least in the upper grades this should be taken into account.
Teacher Feedback
I was lucky when I was in the classroom. I had an administration that believed the teachers could best learn from each other. So we were able to visit other classrooms several times a year to see what other teachers were doing and to offer feedback. These were some of the most valuable for me because I got to see things I had heard about but also when I was observed I got some really awesome feedback for things I could do differently. Peer evaluations and conversations should be a big part of any evaluation system.
One thing is for sure. If we start to use standardized test scores as part of teacher evaluations we begin walking down a very dangerous road. Are all the kids we teach exactly the same? Do they come from the same backgrounds and home life and do they all learn the same? Until we are teaching robots who are all programed to think and act the same we might as well forget about using testing to evaluate teachers. I really believe we are headed for an educational crisis in this country because teachers are going to leave the classroom because they are judged on one test rather then their true ability to teach. I won't and would never stand for it an neither should you.
Teachers should be evaluated. But there has to be many factors that go into that evaluation. Just like we believe testing is a snapshot of the overall ability of a student, we have to look at the whole picture and take into account everything. After all our kids deserve the best, don't they?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Do we have to learn to hear?
Do we have to learn to hear? When do we learn to recognise particular noises?
Do we have to learn to hear? When do we learn to recognise particular noises?
Most people are born with the ability to hear sounds, says Emeritus Professor William Noble from the University of New England.
"Hearing is an involuntary response of a biological system to a physical signal," explains Noble, an expert in psychosocial effects of hearing impairment and tinnitus.
And, he says, research increasingly shows that it is an ability which begins before birth.
"Hearing begins at least in the last trimester, possibly earlier. For several months the foetus is able to pick up on very significant sounds, in particular the mother's voice, heartbeat and other associated sounds such as her walking at different speeds."
This is tested by monitoring auditory signals in the womb, but the response straight after birth is even more significant, says Noble.
"The tests done postnatally show that the mother's voice is a highly salient signal to which the newborn infant orients automatically, whereas other voices which have been less audible have less salience for the infant."
The audibility of the mother's voice to the child in the womb is an important pre-cursor to the bonding between mother and child after birth, he adds.
So newborn babies are already listening for their mother's voice, but how do they learn to be selective about all the other noises they are suddenly bombarded with?
"Newborns in any culture are sensitive to a whole range of audible contrasts," says Noble. "If you're born into a house in Japan or China or Thailand versus a house in France or Australia or the US then you're going to be exposed to vocal contrasts and speech contrasts that are particular to the language spoken around you. The system very rapidly tunes itself up to those and you become less and less sensitive to sounds which don't mean anything within your native language or culture."
Learning to listen
There is of course the classic situation of the child who doesn't listen. Noble says that is more an attentional problem than a hearing one.
"You certainly need to be able to hear in order to listen, but listening is a learned skill. For example it is highly probable that people raised in a musical environment are going to be more adept from an early age in listening skills and auditory attentional skills compared with someone not raised in such a household."
But, he says, a child raised in an environment where it's all talk and no music won't necessarily miss out.
"There's a range of pitches that a normal human auditory system is sensitive to, and it really wouldn't matter which kind of environment you were raised in as regards to basic sensitivity to sounds of different pitches. But it is unquestionably the case that a person with musical training is going to be able to attend to finer contrasts in musical pitch than someone who is not exposed in that way."
And the earlier such things are learned the better.
"When the system is still neurally plastic, still able to be moulded and adapted to different kinds of acoustic environments, then the earlier the exposure to these kinds of sounds the better off you're going to be."
Emeritus Professor William Noble from the School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences at the University of New England is an expert on the psychosocial effects of hearing impairment and tinnitus. He was interviewed by Annie Hastwell.
Published 08 August 2012


text:
Green Day's 'American Idiot' Returns to U.K. Chart Prior to Donald Trump's Visit
On the strength of a social media campaign, Green Day's 2004 single "American Idiot" has returned to the U.K. singles chart, where it currently sits at No. 18, 14 years after it peaked at No. 3.
The campaign timed itself to coincide with the arrival of President Donald Trump on Thursday.
Billboard reports that back in May a Twitter account using the screen name "@TrumpIdiotNo1" and describing itself as "American Idiot for UK No.1 When Trump Visits" launched, asking people to buy or stream the song in the week leading up to Trump's visit. As of press time, the account has more than 1,600 followers.
The title track to Green Day's career-saving 2004 album, "American Idiot" was written during the George W. Bush administration as a critique on propaganda-driven TV, with Billie Joe Armstrong singing, "Don't wanna be an American idiot / One nation controlled by the media / Information Age of hysteria / It's calling out to idiot America."
It's but one of several displays of anti-Trump sentiment planned for his visit. A giant balloon representation of the president wearing only a diaper is set to fly around London with full approval from Mayor Sadiq Khan. Protests throughout the country are also scheduled, with British police preparing for possible riots.
"American Idiot" is Amazon U.K.'s best-selling song at the moment, and if it's going to top the Official Charts list in the next few days, it will have to unseat another older song that has become relevant. The No. 1 song in the U.K. is currently "Three Lions (Football's Coming Home)," a 1996 recording by Baddiel & Skinner & Lightning Seeds, an anthem for the England national soccer team, which is playing a World Cup semifinal against Croatia tomorrow.


text:
DOE Issues Final Rule on Federal Green Building Standards
The Federal government has long been a leader in constructing green buildings, and LEED has been the Federal standard of choice. The Department of Energy issued a final rule updating its recommended certification standards and levels for all Federal buildings on October 14, 2014.
The Final Rule does not tell Agencies which rating system to use. Rather, if the Agency chooses to use a rating system, such system must meet the following characteristics:
- Allow assessors and auditors to independently verify the criteria and measurement metrics of the system;
- Be developed by a certification organization that (i) provides an opportunity for public comment on the system, (ii) provides an opportunity for development and revision of the system through a consensus-based process;
- Be nationally recognized within the building industry;
- Be subject to periodic evaluation and assessment of the environmental and energy benefits that result under the rating system; and
- Include a verification system for post occupancy assessment of the rated buildings to demonstrate continued energy and water savings at least every four years after initial occupancy.
Sounds a lot like LEED or Green Globes to me, so unless something else comes into the marketplace, Federal buildings are likely to use the LEED standard.
The DOE's rule is based, at least in part, on a General Services Administration (GSA) report on green building rating systems issued on October 25, 2013, and available here. The GSA recommended LEED-2009 Silver or 2 Green Globes v 2010. It also contained a variety of other recommendations, including keeping current with the rating systems as they evolve.
The GSA's recommendation is an interesting one for two reasons:
(1) the GSA requires its buildings to be LEED Gold, and
(2) the recommendation was not supplemented to recommend LEED v4, even though the GSA did evaluate LEED v4.
Since the Final Rule does not have a recommended rating system, and most agencies are unlikely to parse whether a particular rating system other than LEED complies with these characteristics, the GSA's recommendations are likely to become the Federal default.


text:
Type in a username to look up a member by name. Partial usernames are OK too.
Operated for SA Reunited by Dating Lab.
Copyright © 1997-2024, Dating Lab. All rights reserved.
Black Singles from SAReunited dating is South Africa's new dating service for single black men and women in SA. It's free to join, search and easy to use - search for other black SA singles, chat to and flirt with potential dates, see photos, create a profile, send gifts and find love the like-minded Black community in SA !!


text:
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Narrator: Kenneth Branagh
Published by HarperAudio on October 24th 2017
Format: Audio
Buy on Amazon
A new recording of the most widely read mystery of all time, performed by Kenneth Branagh.
Now a major motion picture from Twentieth Century Fox, releasing November 10, 2017 and directed by Kenneth Branagh.
"The murderer is with us - on the train now..."
Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. One of his fellow passengers must be the murderer.
My husband and I decided to listen to this on audio as we cook dinner—listening to books while we cook has become a habit. I hadn't read this one yet. In fact, I haven't read anything else by Agatha Christie except And Then There Were None. I had the advantage of not having the mystery spoiled for me, so I will not spoil it for you, either (just in case). However, I will say it was quite a satisfying murder mystery, and I was guessing up until the end.
This was my first Hercule Poirot book, and I haven't really watched any movies or television featuring the character, either. He definitely owes something of a debt to Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes, and I liked him. Kenneth Branagh is an excellent narrator. He does accents really well, which is something I noted when listening to his reading of Heart of Darkness. He even does a really good American accent. His reading of Mrs. Hubbard was fantastic.
I know the reason he read this book is that it's a movie tie-in for the film he directed and starred in last year. I might want to watch it. It has a stellar cast, though reviews on IMDb are not awesome.
If you haven't read this book, treat yourself to this audio version. You won't be disappointed. Kenneth Branagh is a great reader.
This book counts towards the British Books Challenge, as Agatha Christie is a British writer, though the book is set in modern-day Croatia (Yugoslavia at the time). Because of its setting, I'm also counting it for the Literary Voyage Around the World Challenge. I'm counting it as my selection for a classic crime story for the Back to the Classics Challenge.


text:
Freight Forwarding and
Shipping Specialists
We have over 45 years of freight forwarding and shipping experience and can help with all your residential and commercial transportation needs.
From roll-on/roll-off services for cars, trucks and boats,
to overseas shipping for students, we'll handle all your requirements.
Our Services
We pride ourselves on our professional and reliable services. Whether you're moving home, studying abroad or need to transport heavy machinery for your business, you can count on us for all your UK and overseas shipping needs.
Wherever you need to ship your cargo to, we offer a friendly and efficient service to
our clients. For a competitive quote, click here to fill out one of our online forms,
or call us on 0208 805 5588.
We provide transportation services for businesses and individuals. Since we started in 1962, we have built a long-standing reputation with some of the UK's leading shipping lines.
We are also a member of BIFA (British International Freight Association), the official trade organisation for UK shipping companies and freight industry specialists. Rely on Andrews Shipping to deliver a quality service.
Student Shipping
We offer a reliable student shipping and storage service. Whether you're about to start studying overseas or you're coming back to the UK, we help students move hassle-free with boxes, collection and delivery.
Car Shipping
We can ship your vehicle anywhere in the UK or abroad. We specialise in transporting cars, vans, buses, boats, trucks and caravans, and we will even collect your vehicle from a private address or UK car dealership.
Residential Shipping
It doesn't matter if you're emigrating overseas or you just want to send something to a friend, we can transport your goods securely and safely. We offer both full container and part-load shipping to destinations worldwide.
Commercial Shipping
We know how difficult it can be to transport cumbersome commercial items, which is why we offer services tailored for your business. No matter what you need to ship, we have the expertise and containers to handle it.


text:
I was tempted to offer you a list of 150 items, but I thought better of it!
- Hamilton, J. D., 2017. Why you should never use the Hodrick-Prescott filter. Mimeo., Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
- Jin, H. and S. Zhang, 2017. Spurious regression between long memory series due to mis-specified structural breaks. Communications in Statistics - Simulation and Computation, in press.
- Kiviet, J. F., 2016. Testing the impossible: Identifying exclusion restrictions.Discussion Paper 2016/03, Amsterdam School of Economics, University of Economics.
- Lenz, G. and A. Sahn, 2017. Achieving statistical significance with covariates. BITSS Preprint (H/T Arthur Charpentier)
- Sephton, P., 2017. Finite sample critical values of the generalized KPSS test. Computational Economics, 50, 161-172.
- Stypka, O., P. Grabarczyk, R. Kawka, and M. Wagner, 2017. "Linear" fully modified OLS estimation of cointegrating polynomial regressions. Discussion Paper Nr. 77/2016, SFB 823. (H/T David Stern)


text:
Fish consumption and breast cancer risk. The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).
Engeset D., Alsaker E., Lund E., Welch A., Khaw K-T., Clavel-Chapelon F., Thiébaut A., Chajès V., Key TJ., Allen NE., Amiano P., Dorronsoro M., Tjønneland A., Stripp C., Peeters PHM., van Gils CH., Chirlaque M-D., Nagel G., Linseisen J., Ocké MC., Bueno-de-Mesquita HB., Sacerdote C., Tumino R., Ardanaz E., Sánchez M-J., Panico S., Palli D., Trichopoulou A., Kalapothaki V., Benetou V., Quirós JR., Agudo A., Overvad K., Bjerregaard L., Wirfält E., Schulz M., Boeing H., Slimani N., Riboli E.
There is current interest in fish consumption and marine omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids and breast cancer risk. Some in vitro and animal studies have suggested an inhibitory effect of marine n-3 fatty acids on breast cancer growth, but the results from epidemiological studies that have examined the association between fish consumption and breast cancer risk in humans are inconsistent. We examined fish consumption and breast cancer risk in 310,671 women aged between 25 and 70 yr at recruitment into the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). The participants completed a dietary questionnaire between 1992-98 and were followed up for incidence of breast cancer for a median of 6.4 yr. Hazard ratio for breast cancer by intake of total and lean and fatty fish were estimated, stratified by study centre and adjusted for established breast cancer risk factors. During follow-up, 4,776 invasive incident breast cancers were reported. No significant associations between intake of total fish and breast cancer risk were observed, hazard ratio (HR) 1.01 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.99-1.02; p = 0.28 per 10 g fish/day). When examining lean and fatty fish separately, we found a positive significant association only in the highest quintile for fatty fish (HR 1.13, 95% CI 1.01-1.26), but test for trend was not significant (p = 0.10). No associations with breast cancer risk were observed when the study participants were subdivided by menopausal status. Although the period of follow-up is relatively short, the results provide no evidence for an association between fish intake and breast cancer risk.


text:
After a 10 hour flight and a long night of heavy and indulgent eating and drinking, a serious siesta in the plush, cloud-like hotel bed was just what the doctor ordered. With the exception of that psychopath Catherine Toth (who decided to wake up early to work out!), the rest of us bloggers headed up to the 30th floor at a reasonable hour the next morning for the Special Club breakfast (served from 6:30am-10am) at Club Sofitel, Australia's largest executive club lounge.
My (2nd helping) breakfast plate with Melissa Chang & Kaleo Lancaster doing their thang
On my plate, you'll notice a little container of Vegemite, a popular spread in Australia made from yeast extract (yes, I got brave). On paper, as a beer lover, I was supposed to enjoy it, but it was definitely something one needed to get used to. Here's Melissa and Cat's take on the Australian specialty:
Melissa Chang and Catherine Toth try Vegemite (via thedailydish's YouTube channel)
Refueled and ready, us four blogsketeers embarked on our journey to see Brisbane on the best mode of transportation on earth: foot. The stroll afforded us the opportunity to take in the scenery that Brisbane had to offer.
Going southwest through Queen Street Mall
Art on Queen Street
Chanukah display at Brisbane Square
Crossing Victoria Bridge
Outside the Queensland Art Gallery
Queensland Museum & ScienceCentre
Cat navigating while Melissa and I document
We made it to the Queen Elizabeth II Park/Parklands area on the banks of the Brisbane River
Nice look back at the metropolitan city we just walked from
Cat, me and Melissa posing along the Brisbane River
As we made our way along the river on Clem Jones Promenade, we noticed that there were a fair amount of joggers and bicyclists getting their exercise on. Here's a site you don't often see in America (at least one that's not destroyed or vandalized): a Community Bike Station, complete with tools, a place to mount your bike for repairs, and even a tire pump!
Community Bike Repair Station along the Clem Jones Promenade
Along Clem Jones Promenade
Panoramic shot of the Brisbane River (click to enlarge)
And then we got to the South Bank Parklands area where we found nice picnic areas, pools, and even a manmade beach called Streets Beach.
Pool at the South Bank Parkland
Manmade beach called Streets Beach
The sights were good enough to get Kaleo, Melissa and Cat a snappin'
On the way back, we headed to the Queen Street Mall main stage to attend the Hawaiian Airlines Consumer Event. The locals got a total kick out of our folks from Hawaii spreading their Aloha with song and dance.
Hawaiian Airlines Consumer Event at the Queen Street Mall in Brisbane Australia
Shortly after returning to our hotel, some of Hawaiian Airlines' execs invited us to join them for an informal lunch in Fortitude Valley's Chinatown district, which was a short 15 minute stroll from our hotel. Twelve hungry Americans pounding "Hawaiian style"? Ouuuuraaaaiiii!
The sights along the way to Chinatown
The first signs of Chinatown
We landed at King of Kings (Chinese) Seafood Restaurant, which was a hit with a few of them on a previous visit.
King of Kings Seafood Restaurant in Brisbane Australia
It wasn't long before we found out why.
When in Chinatown…
King of Kings Roast Duck
Just getting started…
Custard Tarts off the Yum Cha menu
One of the highlights of the afternoon was watching Kaleo Lancaster go from blogger to "Dragon Slayer" as he took down the legendary "Dragon Drink", a series of three, increasingly potent drinks that King of Kings is known for. Here's a video I took of the momentous, yet painful looking event.
Kaleo Lancaster takes on the Dragon Drink from King of Kings Seafood Restaurant in Brisbane Australia
After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to unwind before getting ready for another walk through South Bank and meal in Fortitude Valley. Part of the unwinding process naturally included Happy Hour at another visit to Club Sofitel.
Pre-gaming at Club Sofitel with some bubbly
And then, it was off – on foot again! – to South Bank, this time guided by Hawaiian Airlines staffers Jeremy Althof and Jesse Starmer. The sights and sounds of Brisbane at night give a totally different perspective to the scenic city. Highly recommended!
Remember the Treasury Casino & Hotel earlier today? Here's what it looked like at night.
Walking through Brisbane Square, we saw some filming going on, which appeared to be a TV news segment.
Getting reminiscent of Hawaii: here's a gecko sighting. I wonder if it has an Australian accent too? 8)
Here's a close-up of the famous Wheel of Brisbane.
And here's us in front of it (l to r: Kaleo Lancaster, Melissa Chang, me, Catherine Toth)
Moonlit Brisbane skyline from South Bank
With our restaurant reservation coming up, we jetted off via taxi to our dinner destination: Alfred & Constance, an eclectic collection of random, mini restaurants (sorta), serving food, drinks and desserts. Here's a description of each of them:
- The Vanguard Beer Garden & Restaurant: Booze, Beer and sharable feasts
- White Lightning Tiki Bar: Tropical drinks and a party that never stops
- Alfred's Café: Workday bites, salads, coffee and sweets
- Late-Night Dessert Café: Featuring alcoholic juice & boozy smoothy stations
Since Jeremy and Jesse knew the owner there, we had a table waiting for us at the Vanguard Beer Garden. Perfs!
Here's one of two Cocktail Jugs we ordered: Watermelon & Ginger Swizzle, which consisted of Gin & watermelon liqueur shaken with homemade rhubarb syrup & topped with soda. The other one we got was the Pimms & Lemonade jug: Pimms No. 1 & Fresh house made lemon syrup, swizzled down with fresh mint & topped with soda.
Watermelon & Ginger Swizzle (Gin & watermelon liqueur shaken with homemade rhubarb syrup & topped with soda).
Salt & Pepper Squid with Lemon & Sweet Paprika Mayo ($14.90)
Here, they are known for their free-range meats which are cooked whole in wood and charcoal ovens. We went with their popular roast pork with crackling.
250g of Roast Pork carved from the whole pig w/crackling ($29)
Oysters Kirkpatrick (6 for $24). Raw oysters, barbeque sauce and bacon. 'Nuff said.
Cat and Melissa opted for dessert from Alfred's Café. Melissa got the Baklava Muffin, while Cat got the Classic Crème Brulee.
Cat's Crème Brulee ($12)
And there's day 2 in the books. We've got just half a day left in Brisbane, but lots to see & do. Come back next month to witness koala and kangaroo petting, majestic views of Mount Coot-tha and grindz at The Shelter Bar.
To view more photos from the trip and get a sneak preview of what's to come:
Melissa Chang's #AlohaBNE blogs:
Catherine Toth's #AlohaBNE blogs:
Kaleo Lancaster's #AlohaBNE blog:
My #AlohaBNE blogs/posts:
Instagram search results for #AlohaBNE:
Twitter search results for #AlohaBNE:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6fspcsRH8U&w=500&h=400&rel=0] Tarp Surfing in Hawaii – VH07V Style (Click to Play!)


text:
Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
by Susan Mikula Campbell
The Niagara-Wheatfield community was rocked this week by the news that three high school students were involved in a car crash early Sunday morning, resulting in the death of one student. A second student remained in critical condition at Erie County Medical Center.
"All three were from Niagara-Wheatfield, all were seniors and preparing for graduation," said N-W Superintendent James Knowles. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the parents and families."
Knowles said the school district's crisis plan was immediately put into action. All teachers were notified and met Monday morning before students arrived. Counselors were immediately made available and will continue to assist any student or teacher on request. A mourning flag was flown below the U.S. flag in front of the school.
According to New York State Police, the young women were in a 2009 Mazda that was northbound on Walmore Road and failed to negotiate a curve. The vehicle drove off the east shoulder, struck a power pole, and then rolled over several times. According to police reports, the occupants were not wearing seat belts.
Jasmin P. Dubuc, age 19, of Cayuga Drive in Niagara Falls, was ejected from the vehicle and sustained extensive trauma and was pronounced deceased at the scene. The vehicle operator, Taylor J. Clause, age 18, of Walmore Road in Lewiston, also sustained extensive trauma and was transported to Erie County Medical Center by Mercy Flight. Another passenger, Jasmine A. Rickard, age 18, of Upper Mountain Road in Sanborn, was also injured and taken to ECMC by Mercy Flight. She was later released.
The New York State Police Collision Reconstruction Unit is assisting with the investigation.
Knowles said the tragic news came at a difficult time with prom (June 7) and graduation (June 20) just weeks ahead. School officials are already discussing how Dubuc will be remembered at the Artpark graduation ceremony.


text:
THE TRUTH IS, our teeth are amazing! Without them we wouldn't be able to speak, eat, sing, or smile properly. We'd like to celebrate our teeth by sharing some interesting dental facts you may not have known!
Here Are 10 Fun Dental Facts
- If you've been using floss daily, by the end of the year the total length will be the perimeter of a baseball diamond! Is your floss going to make it to home plate?
- Because birds lack teeth, many swallow stones or grits to aid in breaking up hard foods.
- On average, women smile 62 times a day and men only eight times a day. Step it up, guys!
- The average American spends 38.5 total days brushing their teeth in their lifetime.
- Only 40 percent of young people age six to 19 have had cavities in their life. That's down from 50 percent a decade ago!
- In the middle ages, people thought that a dog's tooth boiled in wine made an excellent mouth rinse to prevent tooth decay. Tasty!
- The Egyptian Plover, also known as the crocodile bird, is famous for flying into crocodile mouths and cleaning their teeth.
- Prior to the 1850s, 'toothpastes' were usually powders and contained soap and chalk.
- An obscure law in Vermont states that it is illegal for women to wear false teeth without the written permission of their husband. Crazy!
- Different animals have different amounts of teeth; armadillos have 104, pigs have 44, and humans have 32.
Another cool fact: the narwhal's tusk Is actually a tooth!
How Many Of These Facts Have You Heard Before?
It's always fun to learn about the obscure facts and crazy history that make up our tooth trivia! Do you know any other cool dental facts? Comment below or on our Facebook page! And remember, take care of your teeth. They do so much for you!


text:
Find your nearest D&W branch in seconds!
Search for your nearest D&W branch where ever you are.
All it take is 4 easy steps:
- Enter your address or post code in the search bar OR leave it blank and we will try to find you
- Enter how far away you want to search in Max Distance drop down box
- Filter by wholesaler using the dropdown box if required.
- Press the Search Locations button.
Once the search has completed, you should see your nearest wholesaler both on the map and below it. If you are using a mobile you can pick the wholesaler on the map, then select the phone number to dial. That way you can check stock before you go.


text:
With support for realtime rates through the most popular carriers, and easy setup, our ecommerce software can handle your shipping requirements. Supports realtime rate and tracking integrations with UPS, USPS and FedEx, or zone-based rates through Royal Mail or Parceforce.
Royal Mail Zone-Based Shipping Tables
More Info: Visit Royal Mail Website (New Window)


text:
Disclaimer, Privacy, Content Submission Policy
Thanks to our loyal readers for your appreciation and enthusiasm for our coverage of this topic. We appreciate your continued interest in our website.
The content of this website is for general information purposes only and does not constitute or offer legal, financial or other advice upon which you may act or rely.
We try to keep information on BonetheFish.com servers accurate. However, the accuracy of information provided cannot be guaranteed.
All parties submitting materials to the BonetheFish.com site represent and warrant that the submission, installation, copying, distribution and use of such materials in connection with the BonetheFish.com site will not violate any other party's proprietary rights.
The user understands and agrees that BonetheFish.com is not responsible for any errors created in or damage to materials as a result of the installation or maintenance on BonetheFish.com servers, or their use by anyone accessing BonetheFish.com Web servers.
All use of the BonetheFish.com site must be in accordance with all exisiting BonetheFish.com policies, rules and regulations.
Unless otherwise noted, photographs and artwork presented on the BonetheFish.com site are the exclusive property of BonetheFish.com.
Linked external sites are not endorsed by BonetheFish.com.
About broken links: We continuously add new material to BonetheFish.com, and we regularly test the links on our many pages for reliability. However, despite our best efforts, links sometimes fail without warning, often only temporarily. We apologize for any inconvenience.
If you find anything that looks wrong, please let us know.
Privacy Statement
This statement informs you about how BonetheFish.com will use information we may gather about you during your visit to our Web site. The privacy of visitors to our site is of utmost importance to BonetheFish.com.
If you visit the BonetheFish.com site...
Reading or downloading information:
We may collect and store information for statistical purposes. For example, we might count the number of visitors to the different sections of our site to help us make those areas more useful to visitors. Similar information is gathered for anonymous ftp, remote account login or other comparable types of connections.
Sending us an e-mail:
By sending us an electronic mail message, you may be sending us personal information (e.g., name, address, e-mail address). We may store the name and address of the requester in order to respond to the request or to otherwise resolve the subject matter of your e-mail.
Registering information with us:
Some of our Web pages ask visitors who request specific information to fill out a form. For example, users are asked to comment on topics. Other information which may be collected at our site through questionnaires, feedback forms, or other means, enable us to determine a visitor's interests, with the goal of providing better service to the BonetheFish.com community.
We want to be very clear: regardless of the information being transmitted to BonetheFish.com, we will protect all such information consistent with applicable law.
We cannot guarantee that statements of information submitted by readers or users of this site via e-mail, feedback form, question form, or suggestion form. We reserve the right to not use such information and, on the other hand, to edit any information submitted if we were to use it. Any submissions in relation to BonetheFish.com, become the sole property of BonetheFish.com. We can not compensate the submitter for such a submission.
Content Submission Policy
All remarks, suggestions, ideas, graphics, comments, or other information that you send to BonetheFish.com through our site (other than information we promise to protect under our privacy policy becomes and remains our property, even if this agreement is later terminated. That means that we don't have to treat any such submission as confidential. You can't sue us for using ideas you submit. If we use them, or anything like them, we don't have to pay you or anyone else for them. We will have the exclusive ownership of all present and future rights to submissions of any kind. We can use them for any purpose we deem appropriate to our BonetheFish.com mission, without compensating you or anyone else for them. You acknowledge that you are responsible for any submission you make. This means that you (and not we) have full responsibility for the message, including its legality, reliability, appropriateness, originality, and copyright.
By accessing this website you are agreeing to this policy.


text:
The hanging of two of the four men convicted for raping and murdering a woman in New Delhi in late 2012 has been stayed, according to a ruling by India's high court that was issued Saturday. The men had been found guilty of raping and attacking a woman on a bus; they've been appealing that finding.
The four men were sentenced to death in September for a crime that sparked shock, anger and intense debate over how India handles violence against women.
"The Supreme Court's order came in response to a petition filed by an attorney for the two men that said the appeals court that confirmed the death sentence this past week had completely ignored their defense," The Associated Press reports. "The court scheduled a hearing in the case for March 31."
An attorney for the other two men convicted in the case says he will file papers for a similar stay, the news agency reports.
As NPR's Julie McCarthy reported when the trial ended last fall, the judge detailed the crimes the men were found guilty of committing, in which they attacked a 23-year-old woman and a friend:
"He talked about how they lured this woman onto a bus. They turned off the lights. She believed she was on a normal bus; she wasn't at all. They pinned her down. They took turns raping her.
"They threw her off the bus naked. They stole all her belongings. And everyone was found equally guilty. So, guilty on gang rape, guilty for murder, guilty for kidnapping and unnatural offenses, which really speaks to the brutality of this attack."
Two additional men were also involved in the attack. One, a juvenile, is in a reform home. Another man allegedly hanged himself while in jail.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


text:
Adult Education Centres
The English Montreal School Board offers a wide array of academic programs through its education centres located across the city of Montreal.
Adult Education CentresComplete high school courses in your own home!
The Distance Education for All Learners (DEAL) program allows anyone who is 16 years of age or older and lives in Quebec to take secondary school courses from home.
Supporting Adults with Special Needs
The EMSB has work study and social integration programs for adults with learning or physical disabilities. Learn more about programs and services for our special needs student community.
Special Needs NetworkAcademic
Learn English or French, complete high school or get those pre-requisites you need to for CEGEP. We have the program you need to attain your goals.
There are several steps to complete before an adult can be accepted for international studies. This process may take time to complete, please start early to ensure you are accepted in time for the beginning of your chosen course.
How do I register for school?
Registration and course selection for academic programs are done directly at the adult education centre. For more information on guidelines and pre-requisites please see below.


text:
Liebherr-Australia Earthmoving Tour to Europe
In April, three Liebherr-Australia and New Zealand employees from the earthmoving division took 15 high priority earthmoving customers and partners on a 10-day tour of Europe.
The trip visited Switzerland, France, Germany, and Austria. While taking in the beautiful European landscapes and sights, the group visited the earthmoving factories Liebherr-France in Colmar (France), Liebherr-Hydraulikbagger in Kirchdorf (Germany), Liebherr-Werk Telfs (Austria), and Liebherr-Werk Bischofshofen (Austria). Another tour was organised to Liebherr-Hausgeräte in Ochsenhausen (Germany), where the famous Liebherr refrigerators are manufactured.
After having experienced the breathtaking Alps and indulged in the local culture, the journey ended with yet another highlight: Bauma 2016 in Munich.


text:
Trusted Chabad Management
Announcing the launch of CMS Cloud, where you have access to your Chabad Management System anywhere and on any device or smartphone. If you would like to try out the system using a demo account, please click here to get started.
The Chabad Management System (a.k.a. CMS) has been formed with the purpose of providing Chabad mosdos with effective management tools, enabling them to manage their mosdos in the most efficient and productive manner.
Whether it was Contact Management or Donations and Pledges, Hebrew School or Camper enrollments, Event Reservations or Yahrtzeit tracking, Reminders and follow ups and more, CMS provides the framework of organizing and storing this vital information in a database and enabling the Shliach to generate powerful reports based on this information.
For the last 20 years, CMS Classic has been providing these vital services to Shluchim around the world.
CMS Cloud takes this to a new level, by moving the system to the web. Now you can have access to your CMS anywhere and on any device and smartphone.
While rich features were being added for integrating with various online services such as Google, Online Forms and MailChimp, it became apparent that the limitation of having the system installed on a computer (even on a network) was increasingly limiting.
Shluchim today expect access to their data anywhere and at any time, over the web. The natural progression of the System was to move it to the Cloud, enabling the Shliach to have access to it from any computer or device. Mobile apps for Android and Apple will give the user access to view and update their data on the go.
This is just the beginning. There is so much more to come*...
Keep track of contacts, addresses, emails, and contact numbers
Detailed tracking of contributions and pledges
Simplify this process by automating the generating of letters and receipts
Integrate Merchant Processing with CMS, making your system a virtual terminal
Simplify the collection process by easily tracking who owes you money for pledges made and services provided
From a simple reports of Contacts to more complex reports such as who donated last
year but not yet this year,
these reports will give you the information that you need when you need it
Do you know whose Yahrtzeit is coming up this month?
With Occasion tracking, you
can instantly have a report of the upcoming important Hebrew dates and when they fall out this year.
The power of any application is when it communicates with outside services and leverages them to your benefit
Features / Plan |
Q. When will CMS Cloud be ready?
A. It is ready. To see in in action, create a login to the demo. This login will give you access to the sandbox database where you can try out any of the features and see how it works first-hand.
Q. Will I be able to continue using CMS Classic or will I be forced to use CMS Cloud?
A. We will continue to support CMS Classic for the foreseeable future. We have no plans to retire it at all. We will be encouraging users to begin using CMS Cloud in conjunction with CMS Classic. Because of the Bridge between the two applications, this will be possible even before CMS Cloud has all the modules implemented.
Q. What is the Classic-Cloud Bridge?
A. This is the link which connects CMS Classic with CMS Cloud. Information in both systems is synchronized using this Bridge.
Q. Will it be easy to move my information to CMS Cloud?
A. Very easy! With a few clicks, the migration process begins. A progress indicator shows you where it's up to. Then it's done. All this happens within the CMS Classic program using the Classic-Cloud Bridge.
Q. Can multiple users use CMS Cloud at the same time?
A. Yes! And they can access the system from any computer or device, even a phone via mobile apps. You can set up different permission levels to restrict users from accessing all areas of your database.
Q. How much is CMS Cloud going to cost?
A. There is no charge to use the Basic package integrated with CMS Classic. For the full CMS Cloud, independent of CMS Classic, the cost starts at $49/month. Click here for full pricing and more details.
Q. How safe is my data in the Cloud?
A. We have implemented industry standards for data storage and backups. Redundant servers save your information simultaneously. Backups are also in place.
Q. What about privacy? Who has access to my data?
A. Only you do. You own your data and you protect it with your secure login. CMS Classic can connect to your data with a secure Token you retrieve using your login.


text:
Yes, our service delivers to the region. To inquire about the possibility of delivery and its cost to your locality, please contact our manager
You can check the status of your order in your personal account on the website. Additionally, you will receive notifications about the order status to the email address you provided during the order placement. You can also contact our manager and inquire about the order status using the order number
Yes, we can deliver your order on the same day during our business hours. You can select this option when placing your order, and your order will be delivered on the same day. If the order is placed 1-2 hours before the end of the business day, you should check with our manager for the possibility of same-day delivery
Delivery flowers Dobrich


text:
On November 20, 2006, airline officials in Minneapolis removed six imams from U.S. Airways flight 300 to Phoenix after their behavior raised the suspicion of fellow travelers.[1] The imams decried the incident as racist and evidence of discrimination. On March 12, 2007, they filed suit against the airline, airport, and fellow passengers. Some of the imams' claims are exaggerated; many are false. In reality, the incident was a tactical move to support the imams' claim to leadership over the American Muslim community. Indeed, the "flying imams" case, Ahmed Shqeirat et al. vs. U.S. Airways,[2] appears to mark just the latest front in the war between Islamists and mainstream, pluralistic American Muslims.
The airport episode appeared pre-planned, the American equivalent of the manufactured Danish cartoon controversy, in which Danish Islamists, who hoped to benefit from polarization, exaggerated victimization and sought a pretext for crisis.[3] The six imams, five of whom hailed from the Phoenix area, were returning from a North American Imams Federation conference. Three drew attention to themselves when they conducted prayers at the departure gate rather than in the airport chapel or quietly in their seats. However, they drew no response. On the plane, however, they aroused passenger suspicion with loud Arabic conversations, requests for apparently unnecessary seat-belt extenders—which can be used as weapons—and a post-boarding seating switch. Other passengers expressed their worries to the crew, who had them removed. After this incident, Omar Shahin, president of the North American Imams Federation and a prominent Phoenix imam, told the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR, an Islamist advocacy group) and its attorneys, "Security at the airport isn't our problem; it's their problem."[4]
On March 12, 2007, the imams, CAIR, and attorney Omar Mohammedi, a former president of CAIR's New York chapter, filed suit not only against the airline and the Minneapolis Metropolitan Airports Commission but also against the anonymous "John Doe" passengers who alerted the crew to the imams' suspicious behavior.
The involvement of CAIR, an organization that has received significant Saudi financing,[5] injected impressive machinery and resources into the case. Omar Shahin explained, "Since minute one of this incident, I contacted [CAIR communications director] Ibrahim Hooper and [CAIR executive director] Brother Nihad Awad, and we arranged everything … Everything's being coordinated with CAIR."[6] The group underwrote the cost of any litigation.[7]
CAIR used its national network of imams and press connections to draw attention to the case. Tactically, though, the decision to litigate against ordinary passengers was a misstep. It drew critical commentary from the mainstream press.[8] The Arizona Republic dubbed it "intimidation by lawsuit,"[9] and many individuals and organizations, including our own American Islamic Forum for Democracy, offered assistance to the passengers forced into court.[10] While Mohammedi amended his suit to target only John Does whom he deemed "racist" or who had made false accusations,[11] the discovery process would still require suspect passengers to retain counsel. Congress stepped in and, in late July, passed legislation protecting passengers from similar future lawsuits.[12] The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty then filed an amicus brief with the court on August 1, 2007, asking the court to remove the John Does from the suit and denouncing the imams' "attempt to hijack the court as legal terrorism."[13] Under this barrage of criticism, the imams dropped their lawsuit against the passengers on August 23, 2007,[14] although they are proceeding with the rest of their suit against the airline, its employees, and the Metropolitan Airports Commission.
My Experience with the Phoenix Imams
I have known three of the plaintiffs in the U.S. Airways suit for almost a decade. Soon after settling in Arizona in 1999, I became involved in the local Muslim community. Before moving to Scottsdale, I usually attended Friday congregational prayer services at the Islamic Community Center of Tempe, Arizona. Often, Ahmed Shqeirat, now the primary plaintiff, delivered sermons at the mosque where he has long been imam. I was struck by the political nature of his sermons. He repeatedly criticized both U.S. domestic and foreign policy and often exaggerated Muslim victimization. He advocated political unification of Muslims internationally and blamed the United States, Israel, and the West for perceived slights. He called for the political empowerment of Muslims in American society.
After hearing several sermons, I spoke and wrote to him to express my dismay at his emphasis of political over spiritual topics. He responded that "secularism is Godlessness" and asserted a right to "speak about political injustice." The concept of purely spiritual Islam and creation of an intellectual environment welcoming to all Muslims regardless of political persuasion was anathema to him.
To give one example of his abuse of pulpit, during a Friday sermon in April 2004, he displayed an image, which CAIR had distributed, of an American soldier in Iraq with two young Iraqi boys. In the photo, the soldier held a sign saying, "Lcpl Boudreaux killed my dad, then he knocked up my sister."[15] Shqeirat neither made any attempt to verify the image's authenticity nor to determine, if real, whether it was representative. Nor, when he was asked, could he explain how such a display related to Islamic theology or spirituality. The goal of using faith identity to divide society highlights the incompatibility of Islamism with traditions of American culture and society.
I had similar concerns regarding the sermons of Marwan Saadeddin, another plaintiff, whose sermons I heard in the Phoenix Valley. Following the U.S. Air 300 incident, Saadeddin spun the incident to the media[16] and transformed it into a parable of victimization during a Friday sermon at a Phoenix Valley mosque. During the sermon, I heard him say, "I'd rather be dead than removed from an airplane in handcuffs." Such is the political and fanatical ranting of one of Arizona's leading imams. As is common among Islamist preachers, he substituted politics for theology and spirituality.
I also know Omar Shahin, another imam plaintiff. He resides in the Phoenix area and has been the head of the Valley Imam Council of Phoenix, the former imam of the Islamic Center of Tucson, a teacher with the Arizona Cultural Academy, and the imam of the Islamic Center of the East Valley. His hyperbole is typical of the Phoenix-area Islamists. He called the day of his eviction from the U.S. Air flight "the worst day of [his] life,"[17] a statement far more forceful than any he issued after the 9-11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the March 11, 2004 train bombings in Madrid, the July 7, 2005 London bus and Underground bombings, or in response to any Al-Qaeda video seeking to justify the murder of Americans and noncombatants in the name of religion. Indeed, he blamed the 9-11 attacks not on Muslim terrorists but on the CIA and FBI.[18]
There should also be concern regarding the involvement of some of the imams with Islamic charities shuttered because of their terror financing. Shahin was the Arizona representative of Kindhearts and the Holy Land Foundation, both of which the U.S. Treasury Department shut down because of their involvement with Hamas.[19] Saadeddin dismissed Hamas connections as any reason for concern, recently stating that, "Hamas has nothing to do with [the] United States. Talk about Al-Qaeda only, because this is where they hit America ... [If] America consider[s] it—the foreign policy of America consider[s] Hamas—as a terrorist. That's their business."[20]
Rally and Counter-rally
Had the Islamist imams only apologized for terrorism, it would be bad enough. But they have also sought to undercut the efforts of local Muslims to advocate against and condemn publicly terrorism conducted in the name of Islam. On November 9, 2001, I published my first commentary, arguing that the vast core of American Muslims were loyal to the flag and U.S. Constitution and that radical spokesmen did not represent the core community.[21] This article led to the formation of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD).
In Phoenix in 2004, AIFD organized the first Muslim rally against terrorism.[22] We first engaged the Arizona Interfaith Movement, a statewide inclusive interfaith leadership organization, to support Muslims willing to take this stance. We then approached the Valley Imam Council, which represents nearly all of the local Phoenix mosques and their imams. At the time, Shahin chaired the council. We made it clear that the rally would be apolitical and that the only purpose was to make clear, unambiguous statements about Islamic morality and ethics, including unequivocal statements that there is never any justification for suicide, terrorism (the intentional targeting of noncombatants), and homicide bombing.
Rather than support such goals, Shahin, Shqeirat, and Saadeddin directed the Valley Council of Imams to withdraw support. They used their pulpits instead to criticize the rally and its organizers. Citing the Arab-Israeli conflict, they objected to the idea that terrorism is always forbidden. The local CAIR chapter also withdrew. Once the Valley Council of Imams pulled out, the Interfaith Movement also withdrew support for fear that the rally would not advance harmony.
AIFD proceeded alone. The April 25, 2004 "Standing with Muslims against Terrorism" rally was then held without the public support of any local imams or any of the known Islamist organizations. The rally was a success. Four hundred people attended, perhaps half of whom were Muslims.[23] All major local networks covered it. When the media asked local imams about their refusal to participate, they responded by criticizing the rally's apolitical nature and said they would only attend rallies in which they could argue that U.S. foreign policy was a major cause of terrorism. They also objected to any linkage of Muslims with terrorism in the rally name.
Two weeks later, CAIR-Arizona held a counter "Muslim Americans for Human Rights and Dignity" rally in which they failed to condemn explicitly terrorism and terrorists by name. The rally drew only seventy-five people.[24] The failure of CAIR and the local imams to rally much support shows the falsehood of their claim to represent the mainstream Muslim community. Many Muslims recognize the problem posed by terrorists justifying their actions in Islam. To deny the association of Muslims with terrorism—as Islamist organizations like CAIR do—is counterproductive. The Islamist strategy of picking and choosing whom they identify as a Muslim depending on the situation is disingenuous. To deny that the Fort Dix terrorist attack plotters were not real Muslims, as CAIR-Arizona chairman (and U.S. Airways employee) Mohammed El-Sharkawy did, sidesteps the problem.[25] And to argue that only scholars can determine who is and who is not a true Muslim not only appropriates God's duty[26] but also diminishes the egalitarian nature of traditional Islam that accepts no intermediaries between the individual and God.[27]
Imposing Leadership
Creating intermediaries in order to claim false mandate remains the root of the imams' strategy. Organizations such as the National American Imams Federation and the Assembly of American Muslim Jurists exist to impose hierarchy and, from that self-appointed hierarchy, to establish the mandate to speak on behalf of the entire Muslim community. The Islamic Society of North America, an un-indicted coconspirator in the United States of America vs. Holy Land Foundation et al. terrorism financing trial,[28] formed a Leadership Development Center to train and indoctrinate imams.[29] On March 7, 2007, it announced a leadership certifying program for imams in conjunction with the National American Imams Federation.[30]
Establishing false leadership claims is also one reason why both CAIR and various Islamist imams attempt to partner with U.S. law enforcement. On CNN's Paula Zahn Now, Shahin said, "If you go back to our background, I am personally the chairperson for the police advisory board. I did a presentation for the FBI agent in Phoenix. I did [a] presentation with CAIR-Arizona to Yuma Air Force Base for more than 600 Marines."[31] For many imams, participation in such programs bestows or recognizes legitimacy. This is wrong on two counts, however. First, it again conflates policy work with religious legitimacy and, second, groups often exaggerate their partnerships. One Homeland Security official said, "It is not uncommon for that particular organization [CAIR] to issue a press release attempting to overstate their interaction with the department."[32] Within the mosque, however, congregants rarely question self-appointed Islamist spokesmen about the basis of their authority or legitimacy to represent attendees. Their inflated associations outside the mosque feed their own efforts to legitimize control and tribalization. And government and media acceptance of claims of victimization stops many non-Muslims from questioning the ideological motivations behind the religious rhetoric that many of these groups employ.
For moderate, traditional Islam to reassert itself against well-funded Islamist organizations, though, it is necessary to examine how political ideology pollutes spirituality. CAIR's involvement in the flying imam suit is problematic. Many Muslims have seen the call by Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR's national office, for Muslims to report their victimization to CAIR. "Reporting to an organization like CAIR is important, because it is empowering. It is empowering to the Muslims themselves who report; it is empowering to the organization, and it is important to the status of Muslims within the United States," he told an audience at the All Dulles (Virginia) Area Muslim Society, urging them to inflate the Muslim component of the FBI's annual hate crime statistics to compare better to figures on anti-Jewish violence.[33] In 2005, for example, the FBI catalogued 848 anti-Semitic hate crimes, 128 anti-Islamic hate crimes, and 115 anti-Christian hate crimes.[34] In essence, therefore, CAIR's focus on victimization and minority politics is motivated by political Islam. The imams' victimization routine creates a self-fulfilling prophecy that CAIR can use to bolster its own claims to be a civil rights organization. It would be as if firefighters committed arson in order to bolster their position inside a community. That CAIR seeks to create facts to justify its political and foreign policy positions also shows the rigidity of its top-down approach to the community it claims to represent.
The Struggle for American Islam
While the press may focus on the flying imams case, for American Muslims, the battle is broader. On one side are the imams represented by CAIR, the Islamic Society for North America, and the North American Imams Federation, all of which lean toward an Islamist view supporting greater interplay between religion and politics and the primacy of sectarian identity. On the other side are Muslims embracing Western secular democracy. The two are mutually exclusive in their interpretation of religious hierarchy, the interplay between theology and contemporary politics, individuality, and tolerance.
Responsibility for the victory of traditional, tolerant, and pluralistic interpretations of Islam lies with Muslims and Muslims alone. The intellectual marginalization of Islamists is the duty of Muslims who value the principles upon which the United States was built and now stands. This requires recognizing the primacy of the Constitution in political life, even if Muslims turn to the Qur'an in their spiritual life. Islamists, though, insist that regardless of temporal government, the Qur'an should be the central guiding document for legislation and interpretation. Islamists believe the Qur'an is the only source of law while non-Islamists believe it is just one source.
Perhaps this was the reason why the Prophet Muhammad and his companions sought to avoid creation of the same religious intermediary class that today CAIR, the Islamic Society of North America, and the North American Imams Federation presume to fill.
Within the United States today, most Muslim organizations—CAIR, the North American Imams' Federation, the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America, the Muslim Students' Association, the Islamic Society of North America, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the Muslim American Society, the Islamic Circle of North America, and the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy—embrace the Islamist approach. Many imams affiliate themselves with these organizations, fundraise on their behalf, and parrot the political agenda of these organizations. The flying imams lawsuit is just one more example of the synergy between the North American Imams Federation and CAIR.
A few small organizations—the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, the American Islamic Congress, the Islamic Supreme Council of America, the Center for Eurasian Policy, and the Center for Islamic Pluralism—are moderate and support a separation between spirituality and temporal politics. They are underrepresented in terms of resources and organization. Still, it is this nascent anti-Islamist movement upon which the Muslim fight to embrace American pluralism and freedom depends. It is also essential for interfaith relations. Many Americans are hungry to hear from Muslims who are not apologists for terror, who are ready to lead the fight against militant Islamism, who respect the division between mosque and state, and who do not seek to use their religion as a vehicle to change the American political landscape.
The struggle of these two trends to define Islam in America will last generations. It will require development of a new Islamic ideology, one born from the founding ideology of the United States. This will require not only renewed ijtihad (interpretation) but also the confidence of American Muslims to overcome Islamist and radical Wahhabist attempts to label any effort to separate religion and government as bid'a (illegitimate invention). While the transnational umma (Muslim community) might engage itself in issues regarding theology, charity, socialization, and worship, U.S. politics should be blind to faith. For any American citizen or resident, the concept of loyalty to umma should be subordinate to loyalty to state and allegiance to the U.S. Constitution.
Shari'a (Islamic law) might guide Muslim individuals as they choose in their homes, but it should not be invoked in government. Faith will still inspire Muslim behavior and actions, as it does with followers of other religions, but it should not be articulated in government. The embrace and exposure of Islamist agendas will repel most Muslims. It is no surprise that despite its claims to represent American Muslims, CAIR's membership has plummeted 90 percent since 9-11,[35] a claim it first refuted as a "hit piece" before confirming it in an amicus brief to the Dallas federal court hearing in the Holy Land Foundation case.[36] A recent Pew Research Center poll showed that a plurality of Muslims believes mosques should remain apolitical,[37] a finding which suggests the majority may oppose theocracy and Islamism. The finding is also significant when put in the context of the fact that many Muslims came to the United States from autocratic societies where the mosque was often the only haven for political speech. That so many now desire apolitical sermons suggests that they have come to understand and appreciate the freedoms of U.S. society.
A Manifesto to Defeat Islamism
In 1964, Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's leading theoretician, published Ma'alim fi al-Tariq (Milestones) in which he laid out steps to achieve an Islamic state and defeat the West. He described a generational process to ensure the victory of Islamism over Western liberal society. Liberal and traditional Muslims have yet to wage an effective counter-jihad against their Islamist brethren. There does not yet exist a liberal Muslim intellectual work equivalent to Milestones to lay the groundwork to defeat Islamism and ensure the creation of integrationist, tolerant American Muslim institutions.
A starting point to counter the Qutb construct would be for Muslim leaders to acknowledge ten points:
- An Islamic narrative should not constrain universal human principles.
- Mosques should support the separation of church and state, even as they take stands on social or political issues.
- The affirmation of an egalitarian approach to faith beyond the constraints of simple tolerance. Tolerance implies superiority while pluralism implies equality.
- Recognition that if government enacts the literal laws of God rather than natural or human law, then government becomes God and abrogates religion and the personal nature of the relationship with God.
- Separation of mosque and state to include the abrogation of all blasphemy and apostasy laws.
- Empowerment of women's liberation and advocacy for equality as is currently absent in many Muslim-majority, misogynistic cultures.
- Ijtihad negating the need for Muslims active in politics today to bring theology into the political debate. Nowhere in the Qur'an does God tell Muslims to mix politics and religion or instruct by what document governments should be guided.
- Creation of movements and organizations that are specifically opposed to such radical or terrorism-supporting groups as Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Jamaat al-Islamiya, and Al-Muhajiroun, to name a few, rather than simply being against undefined, generic notions of terrorism.
- Public identification without apologetics of leaders and governments of Muslim majority countries who are dictators and despots and are, as such, anti-liberty and anti-pluralism. Muslims enjoying freedom in the West have yet to create mass movements to liberate their motherlands from dictatorship and theocracy and to move these toward secular democracies founded on individual liberties for all based in natural law.
- Establishment of classical liberal Muslim institutions and think-tanks to articulate, disseminate, and educate concerning the above principles. The idea that individual liberty and freedom need not be mutually exclusive with Muslim theology must be taught to Muslim youth.
Countering Islamism and combating Islamist terrorism should be a greater public responsibility for the organized American Muslim community than the obsession with civil rights and victimization in which current Islamist organizations engage. Americans living in fear for their security are looking to moderate, traditional Muslims to lead this fight. The credibility of the Muslim community suffers because groups such as CAIR, ISNA, and the North American Imams Federation deny the interplay between Islamism and terrorism.
Non-Muslims also have a role. Both the U.S. government and mainstream media often give Islamists and their organizations exclusive voice to speak on behalf of American Muslims, which creates a cycle of apparent, if not real, empowerment. Seldom do they turn to non-Islamists and anti-Islamists who may represent far more American Muslims. The recent refusal of PBS to air the ABG Films, Inc. documentary Islam v. Islamists is a prime example of the manner in which media producers and executives shield Islamists from criticism.[38]
The imams and clerics who push for Islamist societies are none other than politicians who cloak themselves in religious jargon. It is naïve to treat these clerics as simple activists or consider their civil rights discourse at face value. Until moderate Muslims challenge their actions, terror networks and their ideologies will flourish. Freedom and liberty are prerequisites to bring an individual close to God through religious practice free from coercion. If some imams fear that individuals will lose faith without coercive direction, then they misunderstand both Islam and liberty.
As lawyers argue the merits of the flying imams' case in a Minneapolis courtroom, a silver lining is apparent: Excessive litigation on their part has eroded support for Islamist organizations such as CAIR, ISNA, and the National American Imams Federation, both nationally and also within the Muslim community.[39] Their loss could be the moderates' and liberals' opportunity to create a new American Muslim narrative.
M. Zuhdi Jasser, a former U.S. Navy lieutenant commander, is chairman of the board of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (www.aifdemocracy.org).
[1] Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul), Nov. 21, 2006.
[2] Ahmed Shqeirat v. U.S. Airways Group, Inc. (John Does and Metropolitan Airports Commission), case: 2007cv01513, Mar. 4, 2007, accessed Sept. 17, 2007.
[3] Pernille Ammitzbøll and Lorenzo Vidino, "After the Danish Cartoon Controversy," Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2007, pp. 3-11.
[4] "Suing Imams Were 'Spoiling for an Incident'" 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America, Apr. 9, 2007; transcribed from audio file of phone conference available at North American Imams Federation website, accessed Sept. 17, 2007.
[5] Daniel Pipes and Sharon Chadha, CAIR: Islamists Fooling the Establishment, Middle East Quarterly, Spring 2006, pp. 3-20.
[6] Omar Shahin speaking to imams, NAIF, and CAIR by telephone conference call, Nov. 21, 2006. Audio file at American Islamic Forum for Democracy website, excerpted from full audio file at North American Imams Federation website, accessed Sept. 17, 2007; "'Flying Imam' and the Company He Keeps," 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America, Apr. 20, 2007.
[7] Amy Goodman, "High-flying Profiling," Democracy Now, Nov. 29, 2006.
[8] USA Today, Mar. 26, 2007; "The John Doe Lawsuits," The New York Sun, Apr. 3, 2007.
[9] The Arizona Republic, Mar. 30, 2007.
[10] The Washington Times, Mar. 21, 2007.
[11] The Washington Times, Mar. 31, 2007.
[12] Fox News, July 25, 2007.
[13] "Becket Fund Asks Court to Remove John Does from Flying Imams Case," Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Washington, D.C., Aug. 1, 2007.
[14] The Washington Times, Aug. 23, 2007.
[15] CAIR news release. Apr. 2, 2004.
[16] Paula Zahn Now, CNN, Nov. 28, 2006.
[17] KSAZ, Fox 10 (Phoenix), Nov. 27, 2006.
[18] The Arizona Republic, Sept. 28, 2001.
[19] The Washington Times, Dec. 1, 2006.
[20] KFYI 550 AM (Phoenix), Nov. 30, 2006; Joe Kaufman and Gary Gross, "Fifth Column Imam Flyers," FrontPage Magazine, Apr. 20, 2007.
[21] M. Zuhdi Jasser, "Vast Core of Muslims in U.S. Loyal to the Flag," The Arizona Republic, Nov. 9, 2001.
[22] "Muslim and American Patriot," The Washington Times, Apr. 24, 2004.
[23] The Jewish News of Greater Phoenix, Apr. 30, 2004.
[24] The Arizona Republic, May 15, 2004.
[25] The Arizona Republic, May 15, 2007.
[26] Qur. 4:94.
[27] Qur. 50:16
[28] United States of America vs. Holy Land Foundation et al., U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, Appendix A, CR no. 3:04-CR-240-G.
[29] INSA Leadership Development Center website, Plainfield, Ind., Islamic Society of North America, accessed Aug. 29, 2007.
[30] "ILDC to work with NAIF on Leadership Certificate for Imams," ISNA Leadership Development Center, Mar. 7, 2007.
[31] Paula Zahn Now, Nov. 28, 2006.
[32] The Washington Times, June 12, 2007.
[33] Center for Vigilant Freedom, audio on CAIR's meeting on the six imams at All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center, Apr. 30, 2007, accessed May 20, 2007.
[34] "Table 1: Incident, Offenses, Victims, and Known Offenders by Bias Motivation, 2005," Hate Crime Statistics, 2005, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Clarksburg, W. Va., Oct. 2006.
[35] The Washington Times, June 12, 2007.
[36] The Washington Times, Aug. 21, 2007.
[37] "Muslim Americans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream," Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C., May 22, 2007.
[38] The Arizona Republic, Apr. 10, 2007.
[39] Floyd Abrams, "Be Careful What You Sue for: The Islamic Society of Boston Loses Its Libel Case and Its Reputation," The Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2007.


text:
arly this month Ford Motor Co., as part of an aggressive electrification strategy that includes the launch of five electrified vehicles in North America by 2012 and Europe by 2013, named its "20 Cool Places to Charge in the U.S." They include such varied locations as M&T Bank Stadium, where the NFL's Baltimore Ravens play, situated just down the road from the GM White Marsh plant that's been retooled to make electric motors and hybrid components. The zoo in Greenville, S.C., was also featured, not far from where Korea's CT&T is going to make electric vehicles in Spartanburg County. Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee actually offers a solar-power charging station, in the same state where Nissan is rolling out its Leaf electric car and its new electric vehicle battery plant in Smyrna, near Nashville. And nearly a third of the 20 locations were in California, including Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, not far from the Tesla/Toyota electric car tie-up at the former NUMMI plant in Fremont.
In other words, the field is wide open in the still-nascent EV landscape, and the players are making their plays.
Ford itself launched the Transit Connect Electric small commercial van in 2010, will launch Focus Electric later this year and will introduce C-MAX Hybrid, a second next-generation lithium-ion battery hybrid and C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid in 2012. In June the company said it would triple production capacity of electrified vehicles in North America by 2013, adding 170 jobs at its Rawsonville plant in Ypsilanti, Mich., and Van Dyke Transmission plant in Sterling Heights, Mich., on top of the more than 50 new electrified-vehicle engineers who have come on board in Dearborn in the past year. Production of the two C-MAX vehicles will begin at Michigan Assembly Plant in 2012, with locally sourced battery packs and electric drive transaxles. The plant in Wayne is the world's first to produce gasoline-powered vehicles, full-electric vehicles, hybrid and plug-in hybrids under one roof.
Employees at the Rawsonville Plant in Ypsilanti will assemble advanced lithium-ion battery packs for the C-MAX Hybrid, and now they will also assemble larger battery packs for the C-MAX Energi, bringing that production to the U.S. from a supplier in Mexico.
Significantly, Ford's plan to invest in more capacity for its five-passenger C-MAX electrified models for North America "replaces an earlier plan of introducing the gasoline-engine-powered seven-passenger C-MAX multi-activity vehicle," said the company this summer.
The European Way
Today, Ford sells approximately 35,000 electrified vehicles a year, but hopes to grow EV production capacity to more than 100,000 by 2013. By coincidence, more than 100,000 of the C-MAX five-passenger vehicles have been sold since its launch in late 2010 in Europe, where sales of the new model have picked up substantially, says Ford, leading to production expansion activity at its plant in Valencia, Spain.
Elsewhere in Europe, Daimler and other carmakers continue to pick up their own activity, while also breaking the mold with ever more futuristic concepts. Daimler says it is the first car manufacturer to have released four electric production models, including its smart fortwo EV. At the recent 2011 International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Daimler and BASF introduced a new concept vehicle called the smart forvision, developed with a special emphasis on energy efficiency, temperature management and lightweight design. Amazingly, it is the first time the two German companies have joined forces on a project.
"In this joint project with Daimler we have successfully developed a holistic approach to urban mobility of the future," said Dr. Andreas Kreimeyer, member of the Board of Executive Directors and Research Executive Director of BASF SE.
"The smart forvision is an impressive example of what can be achieved when two leading companies from two very different sectors sit down together," said Dr. Thomas Weber, Daimler AG board member responsible for Group Research and Development at Mercedes-Benz Cars. "It was exciting to see how our developers and designers worked with the researchers at BASF and came up with a joint vehicle concept that provides a meaningful insight into the future of electric mobility."
Among its features: Transparent organic solar cells, transparent organic light-emitting diodes, all-plastic wheels, new lightweight body components and infrared-reflective films and coatings. The amount of energy needed to heat up or cool down the vehicle's interior can be reduced with the help of a comprehensive temperature management system that uses innovative materials such as polymer films in the windows to reflect thermal radiation, and high-performance insulating materials. "All help to reduce the vehicle's energy consumption and so increase its range and practicality," said the companies.
Where Smart Will Reign
EV connectivity is a showcased element, of course, in a number of areas' pilot projects in smart grid implementation, be it Boulder, Vancouver, Ontario, the Research Triangle or Korea. And both companies and communities already are on the lookout for next frontiers. A consortium of Japanese electronics firms is moving forward with a project in New Mexico in partnership with the state and Los Alamos and Sandia national labs. And Korea's government, as part of a national focus on green technology and environmental awareness, has pursued a smart grid partnership with the state of Illinois whereby the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute is working with Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago to test and develop technologies. Korea is also pursuing a $65-million smart grid "test bed" project on Jeju Island, where the schematic features an EV charging station at the island's center.
Ultimately, though, what all EV champions want is to not be on an island.
At a Discovery 2011 Forum session entitled "Is Ontario Ready For Plug-In Electric Vehicles?" earlier this year in Toronto, Sandy Di Felice, director of external affairs for Toyota Canada, said hybrids are at the core of technology development at Toyota, which has sold 3 million hybrids around the world. The company is in the midst of a plug-in hybrid trial in key markets across Canada, and is primarily sticking with mirroring a hybrid powertrain with an electric powertrain in order to address drivers' range anxiety concerns. But the company's eyes are always open.
"For Toyota our goal of sustainable mobility can be achieved with several different technologies being pursued concurrently," said Di Felice. "We fundamentally believe it's about the right vehicle at the right time in the right place."
The next chapter? Toyota hopes to bring fuel cell cars to market in 2015.
"Overcoming range anxiety is a particular point we looked at when we designed the Chevrolet Volt," said Phil Petsinis, manager of government relations for GM Canada, noting a propulsion strategy that has limited pure-electric-power capabilities.
As for charging up, "There is no time during the day when it's more expensive to use electricity than it is to visit your local gas station," said Tom Odell, manager, electric vehicles, for Toronto Hydro, one of the largest local electric power distribution companies in Ontario. He said EV infrastructure management is integrated into the asset management division of Toronty Hydro's system reliability planning. He said the utility was prepared last year for the introduction of EVs, anticipating penetration as high as 10 percent. But the need for empirical information about where EV use is clustered drove the company in late 2010 to deploy 4,000 transformer smart meters across Toronto.
"We're not deploying a smart grid just for EVs," he said, "but EVs are a part of the smart grid. We're working with other OEMs to be prepared for the EVs as soon as they're available in Canada. We're also engaging the regulatory and policy makers. We need to streamline the installation process, and make it just an extension of the vehicle purchase process."
GM's Petsinis said Ontario (and by inference, any other community that wants to be smart) needs such plug-in-ready enablers as charging station installation incentives; free parking and free charging; vehicle purchase incentives; low off-peak charging rates; government fleet purchases and HOV lane access.
"The U.S. provides incentives of 50 percent of the cost of [home charging station] installation," he said, up to $2,000. "Quebec will provide 50 percent up to $1,000. Ontario could do something very similar. B.C. has been leading in the area of building codes and home and public charging facilities."
"The City of Vancouver was a leading municipality in getting prepared for electric vehicles," said Alec Tsang, senior technology strategist for BC Hydro. He said charging infrastructure guidelines for home and workplace were developed in 2009 in B.C., and building code revisions are in progress. Condos also are being retrofitted with charging infrastructure.
Tsang said there is a lot of concern about capacity to serve the EV load, and that there is not a business model in terms of fee-for-service for charging infrastructure.
That said, "We wouldn't have brought the Volt to market if there were crucial barriers," said GM's Petsinis, noting unfolding technology developments such as a charger that would shorten EV charge times to just 3-4 hours. "The grid impact of EVs over the next few years is minuscule. The Volt consumes 2,500 kilowatt-hours a year, similar to an AC unit. It's not insurmountable."
Petsinis also said building code changes friendly to home charging are a must. That need was borne out in the results released earlier this month by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) after surveying people in the service territories of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Southern Company in the southeastern U.S. More than 50 percent of respondents would prefer to charge their EVs at home.
"These surveys help in developing preliminary forecasts for electric vehicle adoption and identify the corresponding infrastructure and charging needs," said Mark McGranaghan, vice president of Power Delivery and Utilization at EPRI. "As we survey people in different regions of the country, we see different perceptions about electric vehicle technology. This will help utilities in developing their specific plans to meet the needs of their customers."
Almost two-thirds of respondents (59 percent for TVA and 61 percent for Southern) expect their local utility to develop public charging stations, while more than half (52 percent for TVA and 57 percent for Southern) expect their utility to offer installation of at-home charging.
EPRI asked survey respondents what factors influenced their likelihood to go electric with their car purchase. "Survey results point to the availability of multiple locations to charge, and the availability of fast charging technology. Results also show that consumers may be hesitant to pay for faster charging, with more than 50 percent in both surveys unwilling to pay $500 to install an optional 220V upgrade system in their home for fast-charging electric vehicles."
In 2010 EPRI published results of a similar survey conducted in conjunction with Southern California Edison that characterized Southern California consumers' perceptions of electric vehicle ownership. That survey found that 95 percent of respondents prefer at-home charging.
Here are links to the EPRI surveys, as well as a consumer guide to EVs:
TVA report: http://my.epri.com/portal/server.pt?Abstract_id=000000000001022729
Southern Company report:http://my.epri.com/portal/server.pt?Abstract_id=000000000001022728
Southern California Edison: http://my.epri.com/portal/server.pt?Abstract_id=000000000001021285
EV Consumer Guide: http://my.epri.com/portal/server.pt?Abstract_id=000000000001023161
The Site Selection Energy Report features exclusive and in-depth reporting and analysis on the most important energy projects and energy policy issues impacting the world of manufacturing and industrial real estate. Topics covered include oil and gas projects, investments into alternative energy installations and R&D, tax credits and financing, electric utility issues and much more.