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Is Obama to Blame for Failures at the VA?
Obama, Bush, Congress, and presidents going back to JFK all bear some of the responsibility. By Jordain Carney and Stacy Kaper
Failure is an orphan—and there are few failures more toxic than those of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The agency, ostensibly created to help veterans heal from the wounds of war, is plagued by a backlog of claims from soldiers seeking help, leaving them to wait months or even years for compensation.
There's consensus that the backlog is unacceptable, and President Obama's administration pledged to eliminate it by the end of 2015. But the agency—and the backlog—is getting new attention due to a spate of deaths at VA hospitals, and Republicans are attempting to pin the agency's failures squarely on the president.
Looking for a lone villain in the VA debacle, however, is a fool's errand. It's true that—despite holding the world's most powerful post for five years—Obama is yet to eliminate the long waiting times for veterans seeking help. Blaming him alone, however, is to ignore roots of the problem that stretch back decades before Obama took the Oval Office.
Instead, the sheen of shame over the VA's failures spreads across time and party affiliation. It stains the legacies of presidents as far back as John F. Kennedy and condemns past Congresses whose poor oversight allowed the problem to fester. The VA itself is also not without fault, as bureaucracy and intransigence let the agency deteriorate to the point the problem became nearly impossible to fix.
So who really broke the VA? In sum, it's a failure with many silent fathers.
President Obama
Obama's experience with the VA is a testament to the danger of big promises—and high expectations.
He pledged to end the claims backlog while simultaneously making a string of moves that summoned a flood of new claims to the agency.
The administration made it easier for veterans to get compensation for both post-traumatic stress disorder and exposure to Agent Orange—a Vietnam War-era defoliant now tied to a long list of neurological disorders. Those moves extended help to long-suffering veterans, but they weren't matched by the VA reforms needed to adequately address the new claims. Agent Orange alone took up 37 percent of the Veterans Benefits Administration's claims-processing resources nationally from October 2010 to March 2012, according to a Government Accountability Office report.
And as claims soared during Obama's first years in office, so did wait times. In 2009, there were about 423,000 claims at the VA, with 150,000 claims pending for more than four months (the official wait time it takes a claim to be considered "backlogged"). By 2012, claims had exploded to more than 883,000—and 586,540 of those sat on the agency's backlog list.
The administration did request—and get from Congress—additional funding for the agency. The agency's budget totaled $100 billion in 2009. In 2014, it was up to $154 billion. But that money doesn't instantly transfer into an expanded capacity to meet veterans' needs: It takes approximately two years to fully train a claims worker; the blame for the staff crunch doesn't rest on Obama's shoulders alone.
The influx of claims has since fallen, and the backlog is greatly diminished—though there is controversy over how the administration has dealt with the claims. (For more on the administration's struggle to fix the VA, seePart One.)
"As a candidate, Barack Obama promised veterans the moon, but in many cases he hasn't delivered as president," said GOP Rep. Jeff Miller of Florida, the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. "VA's disability claims backlog grew to historic levels on his watch. … Candidate Obama promised the most transparent administration in history, but his VA is a case study in how to stonewall the press, the public, and Congress."
Miller's own branch of government, however, cannot claim clean hands.
The VA could be overhauled to better address the needs of modern veterans, including reforms to the way it processes claims, assesses the performance of its employees, and measures its overall performance. But putting many of those reforms in place would require an act of Congress—and thus far those haven't happened.
Instead, Congress has taken a more reactive approach. When incidents—such as the recent hospital deaths—capture public attention, lawmakers hold hearings where they berate agency officials with juicy sound bites they can later play back for their constituents. It's good political theater, but it's unclear that the payoff is anything other than political.
"Congress has been totally exasperated by the VA's inability to get on top of the problem for a long time," said Linda Bilmes, a senior lecturer in public policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School. "But they haven't been willing to really contemplate anything other than throwing more money at the problem."
Congress is taking some legislative steps now: The House is slated to vote this week on a VA accountability bill to make it easier to fire senior executives, and the latest VA funding bill banned bonuses to agency executives. But neither measure contains changes on the structural level.
And even when Congress has passed legislation aimed at improving the agency, its record of efficacy is mixed at best—especially in terms of eliminating the claims backlog.
In 2000, lawmakers passed the Veterans Claims Assistance Act. The law was signed by President Clinton and was, by all accounts, a well-meaning attempt to make it easier for veterans to get VA claims approved.
The law required that the VA tell a veteran what to do to prove a claim, help the veteran obtain necessary records, and inform the veteran when the VA could not obtain the information it needed. The law required the VA to retrieve the veteran's service medical records and provide exams when the VA did not have sufficient evidence to substantiate a claim.
But the law was ambiguous and left much open to interpretation, which had to be fought out in the courts. It wound up adding several additional layers of bureaucracy to an already clunky VA claims process without appropriating additional funds or human resources to manage the increased workload.
"So the situation wasn't getting better; it just added another forum that made it harder to get things done," said Sherman Gillums, an associate executive director with Paralyzed Veterans of America. "We attribute a lot of the early trouble—not the current backlog, but early trouble—to this, because it created an institutional laziness or institutional inefficiency and made that a part of the culture at the VA. People just accepted claims sitting around a long time because they had to do all of this other stuff.
"So if there is a snowball in all of this, I would say that's the little tiny thing that would eventually become the avalanche," he said.
President George W. Bush
The Bush administration sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, but when those troops came home injured, the Defense Department failed to adequately communicate it to the agency tasked with helping them.
Early on, the department was publicly counting only about a third of the casualties stemming from the War on Terror. That was because the Department was only counting servicemen and women immediately targeted in the department's wounded-in-action statistics. That accounting method left out those who were not targeted but were wounded nonetheless, such as troops injured when they were riding two trucks back from one that was hit by a roadside bomb, or those hurt in training or transportation.
The underreporting made it more difficult for the VA to prepare for the coming influx of requests for help. The poor sharing of information—including medical records—between the two agencies has long been a bone of contention, and it remains a challenge (albeit one that is improving) to this day.
"It's not surprising, really, that the VA ended up being poorly prepared for what happened, given the way that they were planning," said Harvard Kennedy School's Bilmes. "There was absolutely a lack of planning, a lack of capacity for planning. ... They didn't know what hit them. They were completely overwhelmed."
Additionally, the VA's claims-processing time skyrocketed early in the Bush years. In 2002, it took the VA an average of 224 days to complete claims, as compared with 166 days in 1999.
VA leadership
While the agency was hampered by plenty of external factors, it is hardly an innocent victim. Agency leadership allowed its problems to fester and its infrastructure to crumble.
For example, the VA did not have a digital way to process claims nationwide until 2013, instead relying on an inefficient paper filing system. By comparison, the IRS rolled out its electronic filing system across the country—albeit with some problems—in 1990.
It's just one area where the agency was too slow to react to changes in the world around it.
Even by the mid-2000s, several years after 9/11, the VA was using out-of-date claims projections it had based on injury estimates that used assumptions from older wars. Due to medical advances, many service members who would have died from their injuries in past wars are now being saved. That means fewer deaths, but it also means more wounded veterans, a development the agency failed to anticipate and was slow to adapt to.
And agency leaders at times failed to request the funding needed to do their duty.
In 2005, under VA Secretary Jim Nicholson, after originally denying its fiscal predicament, it came out that the VA faced a $3 billion shortfall in funding for veterans health care. The situation required emergency supplemental funding from Congress.
"There was a leadership attitude that was not aggressive in pushing back against whatever administration, … or even quietly going to Congress and saying we need more people," said Gerald Manar, national veterans service deputy director at the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a former 30-year VA employee.
Kennedy to Nixon to George H.W. Bush—and every president in between
In many ways, the Obama administration is paying for the negligence of past administrations, dating all the way back to President John F. Kennedy, who authorized the decade-long use of Agent Orange in Vietnam.
But it wasn't just Kennedy. Under President Johnson, Agent Orange was the dominant chemical used during the war. President Nixon halted its use, but a long line of presidents either refused to acknowledge the damage done or failed to address it.
President Carter's VA created the Agent Orange registry, where veterans who were worried about potential side effects could be examined. But four years later, a GAO report found that 55 percent of respondents felt that the VA's Agent Orange examinations either weren't thorough or they received little or no information on what long-term health impacts exposure could cause.
And President Reagan's legacy includes a damning congressional report from 1990 that found: "The Reagan administration had adopted a legal strategy of refusing liability in military and civilian cases of contamination involving toxic chemicals and nuclear radiation. ... The Federal Government has suppressed or minimized findings of ill health effects among Vietnam veterans that could be linked to Agent Orange exposure."
Progress has been slow. Vietnam veterans won a major victory under President George H.W. Bush when Congress passed legislation allowing the VA secretary to make certain diseases, including Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, "presumptive" to Agent Orange exposure. This means that the VA automatically assumes the diseases are related to the defoliant that the veterans encountered during their military service, making it easier for them to collect disability payments.
The government's long-standing failure to address the damage done to veterans by Agent Orange mirrors the larger failure of the VA. It spans generations and party affiliations, and every effort to fix it comes with unintended consequences.
"This goes across party lines," said Ronald Abrams, the joint executive director with the National Veterans Legal Services Program, and a former VA official who has worked on veterans claims cases for 40 years. "Democrats and Republicans have allowed this festering sore to continue."


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Dark Wolf: Sandara, thank you for your time and for this interview.
DW: You have made a few illustrations based on fantasy novels. What inspires you in a novel? What makes you draw a scene or a character from a novel?
DW: From all of your works do you have one that is closer to your heart? Which one do you consider to be the best you made so far?


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What can you do to become a pro-blogger?
Well, you need to get a lot of traffic to your blog.
And now you thinking….'I already know that, but HOW am I going to do it? I have some trade secrets to let you in on. By using these trade secrets, you too, can become a pro blogger.
Today, you are going to learn some great tricks of the trade to grab the attention of StumbleUpon, and use their platform to set your blog on fire. These tips and tricks will get you anywhere from the hundreds up to the thousands of StumbleUpon visitors each day.
StumbleUpon does lean toward some niches more than others, and you need to use this to work for your advantage. You will find that StumbleUpon can be one of the greatest viral marketing tool out there. So here are some tips:
- If you do have a niche that is lacking in the mass appeal, StumbleUpon will be a great boost for you where the others won't. Digg uses a broad forum which keeps their power from weakening in traffic. StumbleUpon works a bit differently by creating more specific categories, providing a more targeted audience.
- Write posts that appeal to the particular social media, if you go for the general appeal, you are going to lose your followers. For instance, Del.icio.us likes anything that their users prefer, Digg likes the appeal of the masses. You have to have content that is going to get thousands of hits, or you won't become a pro-blogger.
- When you are writing for StumbleUpon, you don't need to worry about pleasing the masses, matter of fact, you benefit more by sticking with your niche, yes, even your small ones, and this will bring you some highly targeted traffic.
- So, write your content for your niche, not for the general public. By doing this, you will increase your chances to your post will be submitted to receive more traffic in a more specific category.
In another blog, I will go into the types of posts you should and should not be making. I will go into the types of content and the things you can do to make your blog more appealing to StumbleUpon.


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(We're following the news from Oklahoma, where a tornado devastated the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on Monday. Most recent update: 8:40 p.m. ET.)
A day after a monster EF-5 tornado pummeled Moore, Okla., the focus turned to the victims.
NPR's Wade Goodwyn spent the day in the city talking to survivors. Christie Parrish decided to leave her home for her sister's shelter.
"You could hear [the tornado] like a mile away and it sounded like this roar, and you could just hear it and feel the debris hitting our shelter and we came out and you could see smoke from our neighborhood and I got over there and there's nothing there," she said.
She saw rescuers digging through the rubble that became of the house next door. She thought, that like she was doing, rescuers were searching for pets.
They weren't.
Instead, they pulled out the lifeless body of Parrish's neighbor, who they later learned had her little boy ripped out of her arms.
"It is an emotional gauntlet survivors here are moving through," Wade reported for All Things Considered. "At first there is the titillating excitement of a massive storm bearing down on your town but you expect to be OK. Then comes apprehension as the storm turns directly towards you. Then absolute terror as your life hangs in the balance. As you step out of the shelter or the closet or the bathroom back into the day, there's a flood of relief and joy. But that quickly turns to shock and horror as the devastation around you and the horrible turn fate has dealt you makes itself at home."
Early this morning, we got a glint of good news from officials. After beginning the day with word that at least 51 people had been killed and that the number of dead might top 90, a spokeswoman for the state medical examiner's office said that the official death toll was 24 — a figure that could still change. The fatalities included at least 9 children. The spokeswoman, Amy Elliott, said during a televised news conference the initial number included some victims who were counted twice.
Elliott was asked if she expected rescue workers to find more victims.
"I pray that there's not, but I feel that there is," Elliott said.
The new information did not change the fact that the cost — in lives and damage — from the storm is expected to rival that from a tornado that devastated the same part of the nation in May 1999. That twister left behind "46 dead and 800 injured, more than 8,000 homes damaged or destroyed, and total property damage of nearly $1.5 billion," as NOAA has reported. In fact, as the National Weather Service received field reports, it upgraded the tornado to a top-of-the-scale EF-5, meaning it had winds in excess of 200 mph.
Throughout the day, rescue workers continued sifting through the rubble in an effort to find survivors. Police said that they had searched through most structures, but they were giving them a second and third pass.
Kurt Gwartney with NPR member station KGOU said the scene in Moore today was still shocking. He said in one spot he saw 80 to 90 cars piled on top of each other.
"You can't really figure out how that would happen, but there it is right in front of you," Kurt said.
At the White House, President Obama said at mid-morning that the nation's prayers are with the people of Oklahoma and that the federal government will have its resources on the ground there for "as long as it takes" to help the community get back on its feet.
We'll be following the news as the day continues. So hit your refresh button to make sure you're seeing our latest updates. We'll add related posts as well. Note: As happens during news events such as this, there will be information that later proves to have been incorrect — as has happened with the initial reports from officials about the death toll. We'll focus on what's being reported by NPR and other news trusted news outlets, and on information provided by officials with direct knowledge of the situation. If some information proves to have been wrong, we'll correct the record and explain what happened.
Update at 8:40 p.m. ET: Woman Survived In Bank Vault:
Erica Garrett in Oklahoma City tells reporter Brad Gibson from member station KWGS that she and seven others survived by sheltering in a bank vault.
Garrett, who along with fellow employees of the Tinker Federal Credit Union branch, two customers and a police officer, got inside the vault.
"It was terrifying. It was loud, it was roaring, debris was flying in from underneath [the vault door]," she said. "You could hear it, you could feel it, you could feel your ears popping."
"There was the smell of gas coming in," Garrett said. "We knew the branch was gone. We could see the daylight coming in from the crack under the door."
Update at 4:12 p.m. ET. Top Scale Tornado:
The National Weather Service now confirms that based on preliminary data gathered in the field, this tornado produced winds in excess of 200 mph, making it a top-of-the-scale EF-5.
In a statement, NWS said damage points to an EF-1 tornado that rapidly — during a 4 mile or 10 minute stretch — intensified into an EF-5.
Update at 3:50 p.m. ET. Blank Stares:
NPR's Wade Goodwyn has spent the day in Moore. He said the damage reminds him a lot of what he saw in Joplin, Mo., where an EF-5 tornado killed more 100 people back in May of 2011.
"It's just a giant trough that has been carved out of the ground. Everywhere [the tornado] went, it left nothing behind," Wade tells our Newscast unit.
He said that wherever you walk, you see people with "blank looks on their faces."
"I think they're thrilled and relieved that they survived the storm," Wade said. "But it's certainly cruel fate to have everything one owned completely annihilated."
Update at 3:42 p.m. ET. EF-5 Damage Found:
The National Weather Service in Norman just tweeted:
And EF-5 tornado is the strongest on the Enhanced Fujita Tornado Damage Scale. It indicates wind speeds in excess of 200 mph.
Update at 3:16 p.m. ET. Perimeters Set Up:
Kurt Gwartney with NPR member station KGOU reports from Moore that police have set up a perimeter around the harder hit areas. He said while emergency personnel continued to sift through the rubble, facilities — like portable toilets — have been brought into town.
Kurt told our Newscast desk that things today, however, are just as shocking as they were yesterday.
He said in one spot he saw 80 to 90 cars piled on top of each other.
"You can't really figure out how that would happen, but there it is right in front of you," Kurt said.
Update at 2:42 p.m. ET. Insurance Village:
NPR's Alan Greenblatt sends this dispatch from Moore:
Update at 2:23 p.m. ET. Schools Did Not Have Safe Rooms:
Albert Ashwood, of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, said during a televised news conference that neither of the schools hit by the tornado had safe rooms. They also did not have basements. Ashwood said FEMA had funded safe rooms for more than 100 schools in the state but these two were not among them.
Saferooms, he said, are a "mitigating measure. It's not absolute." However, he said, any safety measure could've helped the seven kids who died at Plaza Towers Elementary School.
There are 556 school districts in Oklahoma with 1,781 schools.
Update at 2:00 p.m. ET. 190 MPH:
At a televised press conference, Rick Smith, of the National Weather Service, said their preliminary survey shows a top wind speed of 190 mph, "but we're not done and it could go higher."
That keeps the tornado as an EF-4.
Update at 1:48 p.m. ET. Working Toward Better Count:
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said during a televised press conference that the state is trying to get a better handle on just how many people died because of Monday's tornado.
She said that the Medical Examiner had received 24 bodies, but other bodies may have been transported to local funeral homes. She said 237 people were injured.
Fallin said she took an aerial tour of the area and the damage is "wide and hard to look at."
Mick Cornett, the mayor of Oklahoma City, called this tornado "the storm of storms."
Cornett said in some places the debris is 4-feet deep and it is amazing that many people had come out of this alive
"That so many lives were spared, is a testament to the technology," Cornett said, adding that the warning system was "excellent."
Update at 1:13 p.m. ET. 17-Mile Path:
The National Weather Service's Norman, Okla. office tweets:
Update at 12:48 p.m. ET. Flags Half-Staff:
House Speaker John Boehner has ordered the flags at the Capitol to fly at half-staff.
"Our hearts and our prayers go out to those in Oklahoma who have been victimized by this storm, especially our colleague Tom Cole," Boehner said in a statement to press. "Moore, Okla. is his hometown, so obviously he's there, and so I've ordered the flags this morning to be lowered to half-staff in honor of those who've suffered through this terrible storm."
Update at 11:11 a.m. ET. 9 Children Dead:
Amy Elliott, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma City Medical Examiner, said during a televised news conference that nine children are among the 24 who are dead.
Elliott explained that without cell phones, some officials may have double counted fatalities when they reported them over two-way radios. That explains the higher number officials were reporting through the night.
She said that seven of the nine children were found in one elementary school and two others were found elsewhere.
Elliott was asked if she expected rescue workers to find more victims.
"I pray that there's not, but I feel that there is," Elliott said.
Update at 10:10 a.m. ET. Obama: "As Long As It Takes."
"The people of Moore should know that the country will remain on the ground there for them, [and] beside them, as long as it takes," President Obama just said at the White House.
He said the federal government is putting "all the resources that they need at their disposal."
"Our prayers are with the people of Oklahoma today," the president added. "We will back up those prayers with deeds for as long as it takes."
Update at 10 a.m. ET. At Least 7 Children Killed:
The 24 confirmed fatalities include at least 7 children, state medical examiner's office spokeswoman Amy Elliott tells The Associated Press.
President Obama is due to address the nation in the coming minutes.
Update at 9:30 a.m. ET. Official Death Toll Revised Down:
A glimmer of good news: State officials now say there are 24 confirmed deaths, not the 51 they reported earlier. Apparently, some victims may have been counted twice.
Update at 9:15 a.m. ET. Survivor's Missing Dog Is Found As TV Crew Is Filming:
There will be many emotional stories of survival and family members finding each other in the aftermath of the storm. As one TV crew was interviewing Barbara Garcia of Moore, she talked of huddling in her home with her dog — and losing hold of the pet when the tornado destroyed the house.
As Garcia was speaking, the schnauzer was spotted under some debris. Their reunion is touching. As Garcia says, one of her prayers was answered.
Another nice moment in the interview: The reporter asks Garcia if she can comprehend what happened. "I know exactly what happened here, exactly," says Garcia, with the seasoned voice of someone who lives in tornado alley.
Update at 8:40 a.m. ET. No Official Update Yet On Death Toll:
Though a spokeswoman for the state medical examiner's office has warned that the death toll may top 90, Gov. Mary Fallin (R) just told CNN that she does not have "an updated number at this point in time."
"We have a lot of different moving parts" and officials want to be careful about releasing such figures, she added. So the official death toll remains at 51.
Update at 8:30 a.m. ET. Governor To Be Part Of News Conference.
From Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin's Twitter page:
That's 1 p.m. ET.
Update at 8:15 a.m. ET. News Conference Delayed:
A news conference to be held by police and other officials in Moore is now expected to happen at 1 p.m. ET, CNN says, not 8 a.m. ET as earlier thought.
Update at 8:10 a.m. ET. "All I could see was destruction":
Associated Press photographer Sue Ogrocki saw the tornado warnings on television Monday and headed toward Moore. She writes that "by the time I got to Moore, all I could see was destruction."
Ogrocki was at one of Moore's elementary schools as rescuers brought children out alive. "I know students are among those who died in the tornado," she says, "but for a moment, there was hope in the devastation."
Update at 7:55 a.m. ET. About 100 Rescued From Rubble So Far.
Though the death toll is expected to rise, there is this good news: CNN says it's been told by authorities that about 100 people — so far — have been found alive and rescued from the rubble of destroyed buildings.
Update at 7:25 a.m. ET. "2-Mile Wide Lawnmower Blade":
Monday's tornado was like "a 2-mile wide lawnmower blade" that chewed up everything in its path as it went through Moore, Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb (R) just told CNN.
Update at 7:20 a.m. ET. Listening For Voices:
From The Associated Press: "Rescuers walked through neighborhoods where Monday's powerful twister flattened home after home, to listen for any voices calling out from the rubble."
Update at 6:45 a.m. ET. News Conference Expected; Lightning And Rain In Area:
TV crews in Moore are packing up to head for shelter as rain resumes and lightning can be seen in the sky. Meanwhile, CNN says police officials expect to hold a news conference at 8 a.m. ET. (Note at 8:15 a.m. ET: The news conference is now set for 1 p.m. ET.)
Update at 6:35 a.m. ET. How To Help, Where To Go For Information:
The White House blog has a post that outlines "Resources and Information for Those Affected by Oklahoma Tornadoes."
Update at 6:30 a.m. ET. President Obama To Address Nation:
The president is expected to make a statement about the tragedy in Oklahoma at 10 a.m. ET.
Related posts:
-- All our coverage of the tornado is collected here.
-- Oklahoma Tornados: Finding Aid, Giving Aid.
-- VIDEO: A Time-Lapse Of The Tornado In Oklahoma.
-- Measuring The Power Of Deadly Tornadoes.
-- A Brief History Of Oklahoma Tornadoes.
-- Tweets Capture 'Shock And Awe' At Tornado's Deadly Power.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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For more information about this welding supply store, including product availability, contact us at 1-800-225-8247.


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Your food storage containers can make a big difference in the amount of kitchen storage space you have available, especially if yours is a small kitchen. These tips can help you optimize your kitchen or pantry real estate.
Tupperware and plastic takeout food containers seem to multiply when we're not looking. To combat that avalanche of containers, the folks at Re-Nest have highlighted the kinds of reusable food storage containers that work best in small spaces. The list includes: three or four snack bags, pocket-sized reusable grocery bags, and glass to-go containers with leak-proof lids.
Major tips here are to skip the bulky canvas grocery bags in favor of the nylon squishable kind, limiting the number of water bottles and mugs on hand at any time, and opting for glass containers that can go from freezer or fridge to oven or microwave. (We have a thing for Snapware glasslock food containers in particular.) Photo by Pieter Pieterse
Have any space-saving or small-kitchen food storage tips? We're all ears in the comments.


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Robert Edward Larkin III - Membership information with The Florida Bar - Find more information about Robert Edward Larkin III on The Florida Bar website including the attorney's bar license status, eligibility status and ten year discipline history, if any. Check the Florida bar website to make sure the attorney is a member in good standing with the Florida Bar and currently licensed to practice law in Florida.
Florida Bar Board Certification in Employment Law - Lawyers certified in "Labor and Employment Law" by the Florida Board of Legal Specialization have demonstrated substantial involvement in this area of the law.
Under Rule 6-23.2, the term "Labor and Employment law" is defined as "advice and representation concerning the application and interpretation of public and private sector labor and employment law principles, as well as employment discrimination and employment-related civil rights law."
Attorneys that practice labor and employment law in Florida deal with "state and federal laws that apply to the employment relationship including, but not limited to:
(1) the National Labor Relations Act, as amended;
(2) the Fair Labor Standards Act;
(3) Florida's public sector collective bargaining laws and career service appeals;
(4) the Employment Retirement Income Security Act;
(5) the Family Medical Leave Act;
(6) Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Florida's Civil Rights Act;
(7) the Americans With Disabilities Act;
(8) Occupational Safety and Health Act; [and]
(9) the Age Discrimination in Employment Act."


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StresStimulus is a load testing tool for websites, mobile and Enterprise apps. It determines the web performance and scalability of your application under the rigors of heavy traffic load. Hundreds or thousands of physical users are realistically emulated through on-premise load generators or in a cloud testing environment. At the same time, server monitoring information is collected in real-time to pinpoint application performance bottlenecks and isolate web speed issues.
StresStimulus makes website stress testing and mobile performance testing super easy thanks to its end-to-end test wizard that walks you through recording, configuring and executing tests. It also saves time on mobile app load testing due to its out-of-the-box support for native app frameworks. What sets StresStimulus apart from other performance testing tools is its support for complex websites and apps combined with its competitive pricing.
Record any browser or web application activity and StresStimulus will replay it with hundreds or thousands of concurrent users. It executes HTTP load testing by accurately emulating and measuring user impact on server infrastructure.
Monitor the performance of every HTTP request, page and transaction. StresStimulus will help to isolate performance bottlenecks and poor scaling areas so you can focus only on areas that require optimization.
Run tests from a single test machine or spread virtual users between any number of load generators instantiated on-premise, on your private cloud or in public clouds such as Amazon Web Services or Azure.
Looking for a simple tool to stress test complex web applications? Instead of a million features, StresStimulus has everything you need to complete comprehensive performance tests while remaining affordable.
Record traffic from your Apple, Android, Windows phone or Blackberry mobile device, and then replay it to realistically emulate your user-base. Comprehensive mobile performance reports help pinpoint any performance irregularities and optimize your app.
StresStimulus works with all main web platforms, like ASP.NET, Java, PHP and with the majority of Enterprise application platforms such as D365 CE/FO, Power Apps, SharePoint, SAP BPC, PeopleSoft, Siebel, Salesforce, Cognos.
Fiddler is the world's most popular free web debugging proxy. In addition to working as a stand-alone stress testing tool, StresStimulus can also be a Fiddler add-on to combine performance testing and debugging in one solution.
"We were able to produce a performance test in 4 days after unsuccessfully trying to produce the same test with Jmeter and Blazemeter for over two weeks."
- Mike O'Connor, Senior QA Automation Engineer, Newmarket, an Amadeus Company"Our team managed to successfully diagnose and fix a major issue with our Dynamics CRM system (which has been plaguing us for months) using StresStimulus. Many thanks to the StresStimulus team for creating such a great product!"
- Gui Vöhringer, Business Analyst, Intertrust Group, Netherlands


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Mark "Forger" Stucky, Virgin Galactic's flight test director and pilot, is no longer with the space tourism company.
"I am now a former Director of Flight Test and former SpaceShipTwo pilot," Stucky wrote in a post on LinkedIn.
He added in a comment on LinkedIn that he did not leave the space tourism company "on my own timeline."
Virgin Galactic confirmed to CNBC that Stucky "is no longer employed," but did not explain further.
"We thank him for his 12 years of service on the flight test program," a Virgin Galactic spokesperson said in a statement.
Stucky helped develop Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo system, serving first as the engineering test pilot for Scaled Composites — which built the spacecraft for Virgin Galactic — before spending the last six years as Virgin Galactic's lead test pilot and director of flight testing.
He piloted Virgin Galactic's first test flight that reached space, launched Dec. 13, 2018. The Federal Aviation Administration awarded Stucky – the 568th person to fly to space – the "Commercial Astronaut Wings," an honor the U.S. has given to those who cross the 80-kilometer boundary that the government recognizes as space.
In addition to leading Virgin Galactic's first spaceflight test, Stucky as also the pilot commanding the first glide flight and first rocket-powered flight of SpaceShipTwo spacecraft VSS Unity.
Stucky has flown more than 170 different types of aircraft throughout his career, which also included the U.S. Marines, NASA and the U.S. Air Force.
Virgin Galactic has seven pilots on staff to fly VSS Unity and the carrier aircraft VMS Eve. The company most recently added two pilots to that corps in October 2020, when it hired Royal Canadian Air Force pilot Jameel Janjua and U.S Marine Corps pilot Patrick Moran.
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Mail sent to Ateneo CS and CompSAt mailing lists
| digitalpinay, issues, philippines, womenUpdated copy at http://www.livejournal.com/users/sachachua/6605.html .
Please leave comments there.
Miguel Paraz just forwarded a _very_ interesting contest application
to the CompSAt-EB mailing list, and I'm sending this to you because it
is worth talking about, and that is because it is completely wrong.
The Philippine Computer Society (PCS) is doing a search for "Digital
Pinay 2005". They're looking for role models for information and
communication technology, "women who exemplify the qualities expected
of future women leaders of the Philippine ICT industry."
To help them find worthy candidates, their application form asks for
information like name, paragraph or two about why you deserve the
award, IT experience, and such essential information as height,
weight, bust, waist, and hip measurements.
I put up a copy of the form at
http://sacha.free.net.ph/notebook/personal/digitalpinay.doc . Read it
all the way to the end. You may start out amused, perhaps annoyed. I
hope you end up horrified that such a thing could have been thinkable,
much less thought a good idea. That it was proposed at all could be
chalked up to temporary insanity, but that it reached this point
cannot be attributed to reason.
A beauty pageant does not pretend to be anything but a beauty pageant.
On the other hand, "Digital Pinay 2005" pretends to define an ideal
woman in ICT, and _that_ is why it is so insulting. Or perhaps our
Atenean curriculum is missing charm classes to help women learn how to
wear business suits and casual clothes well?
Our industry _cannot_ be like this. Until now, I have not come face to
face with such discrimination in what I believe to be such an
egalitarian field. Our industry _is_not_ like this. But the existence
of this contest sends a message to students, to professionals, to
people inside and outside our industry. The message is that ICT in
2005 is about appearance more than substance, that how a woman looks
and how she walks is more important than what she learned and what she
can do. If nothing else, it tells us that our industry thinks this
view is acceptable.
It is a farce that I must denounce in the strongest terms. If the PCS
would like to beautify its meetings with models, it should not pretend
at all to be promoting women in ICT when it is actually doing the
exact opposite. If PCS would like to say that women are valuable
contributors to ICT, it should not attach such values to them. For
what will these women be but stereotypes and living proofs of
discrimination in IT? What is their value? What will they be beyond
a pretty face and a nice body?
(I find it interesting that winners are required to attend all PCS
official functions. Essentially, you can buy a professional woman's
time for P 25,000. The co-ed winner costs only P10,000 and the
runners-up are free. Why will they grace the PCS functions with their
presence? Who will take them seriously knowing the criteria by which
they were judged? What of this promised visibility in the job market?
Is that really the kind of job markets Ateneans are preparing for?)
The contest insults women by objectifying them, and men for proposing
that such objectification is commonplace and normal. The contest
insults our industry and our society. Will we not discuss it? Will we
not consider how such a situation came to be? Will we not point at it
and say that this is wrong?
Exams are going on and there seems to be no time to talk of things
like this, but these are things that must be thought about. This is
Science and Society. This is the Philosophy of Man. This is, even
without all the subjects you've taken up, even if only considering
that still and quiet voice within you—this is a matter of right and
So read, reflect, and be angry, for this is the sort of thing that
should never be complacantly ignored. Realize that this _is_ a
problem, that it _does_ exist, and that we contribute to it with our
silence. Affirm what you believe in. Write. Write your fury, your
shock—or casual indifference, if that is all you experience upon
reading this.
As for me, I believe that just because something _is_ doesn't mean it
has to be.


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text:
Tareq Salahi
Internet Celebrity / Scandal Figure / Vintner
Date Of Birth:
26 May 1968
Place Of Birth:
Washington, D.C.
Best Known As:
One half of the 2009 White House gate-crashing couple
Tareq Salahi and his wife, Michaele Salahi, breached White House security on 24 November 2009 in a successful stab at fame-at-any-cost celebrity. Tareq grew up in Farquier County, Virginia, where his parents started Oasis Winery in 1977. He studied business and enology (wine making) at the University of California in Davis, graduated in 1991 and returned to Virginia to help run the family business. With a reputation as a slick promoter, he served on the Virginia Winery Board (2000-03) and the Virginia Tourism Board (2006-09), and he and Michaele (married in 2003) were local high-society socialites known for polo-oriented charity events. The sudden notoriety from gate crashing a White House state dinner brought out unflattering revelations about the Salahis, who were immediately accused of trying to gain publicity in preparation for a TV show called The Real Housewives of Washington, D.C.. Details of the Salahis' troubles include a longstanding feud with his mother over who should control Oasis (the company filed for bankruptcy in February of 2009) and a trail of lawsuits and disputes with creditors and employees. The Salahis, in limited interviews, claimed they were invited to the White House, and that it was all a misunderstanding to be cleared up at some later date. The Secret Service said the Salahi's were not invited. The brouhaha brought them notoriety and plenty of publicity, as well as the threat of criminal charges. As the investigation dragged on, both appeared on Real Housewives and kept their names in the tabloids with various antics, including a 2011 report to police by Tareq that Michaele had been kidnapped -- when in fact she was having a romantic tryst with Neal Schon, a guitarist for the 1970s rock band Journey.
Extra Credit:
While authorities were trying to figure out whether to charge the Salahis with a crime, they lost a judgment in civil court in December of 2009 to a landscaper they'd failed to pay. Ordered to surrender property in lieu of payment, Tareq Salahi handed over his designer watch. The next day jewelry experts proclaimed the watch a fake… Tareq's father is Palestinian, his mother is Belgian… Tareq belonged to a lobbying group called the American Task Force on Palestine.
4 Good Links
Official site of the TV show he and his wife were on
With a bio that says "Born with a philanthropist's heart and raised on ponies and wine..."
Their December issue has a section on local legends, the Salahis
Virginia court records from Web of Deception
See also:
Copyright © 1998-2018 by Who2?, LLC. All rights reserved.


text:
For Release: February 14, 2017
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have discovered a surprising connection between a supermassive black hole and the galaxy where it resides.
Powerful radio jets from the black hole – which normally suppress star formation – are stimulating the production of cold gas in the galaxy's extended halo of hot gas. This newly identified supply of cold, dense gas could eventually fuel future star birth as well as feed the black hole itself.
The researchers used ALMA to study a galaxy at the heart of the Phoenix Cluster, an uncommonly crowded collection of galaxies about 5.7 billion light-years from Earth.
The central galaxy in this cluster harbors a supermassive black hole that is in the process of devouring star-forming gas, which fuels a pair of powerful jets that erupt from the black hole in opposite directions into intergalactic space. Astronomers refer to this type of black-hole powered system as an active galactic nucleus (AGN).
Earlier research with NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory revealed that the jets from this AGN are carving out a pair of giant "radio bubbles," huge cavities in the hot, diffuse plasma that surrounds the galaxy.
These expanding bubbles should create conditions that are too inhospitable for the surrounding hot gas to cool and condense, which are essential steps for future star formation.
The latest ALMA observations, however, reveal long filaments of cold molecular gas condensing around the outer edges of the radio bubbles. These filaments extend up to 82,000 light-years from either side of the AGN. They collectively contain enough material to make about 10 billion suns.
"With ALMA we can see that there's a direct link between these radio bubbles inflated by the supermassive black hole and the future fuel for galaxy growth," said Helen Russell, an astronomer with the University of Cambridge, UK, and lead author on a paper appearing in the Astrophysical Journal. "This gives us new insights into how a black hole can regulate future star birth and how a galaxy can acquire additional material to fuel an active black hole."
The AGN and Galaxy Growth Connection
The new ALMA observations reveal previously unknown connections between an AGN and the abundance of cold molecular gas that fuels star birth.
"To produce powerful jets, black holes must feed on the same material that the galaxy uses to make new stars," said Michael McDonald, an astrophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and coauthor on the paper. "This material powers the jets that disrupt the region and quenches star formation. This illustrates how black holes can slow the growth of their host galaxies."
Without a significant source of heat, the most massive galaxies in the universe would be forming stars at extreme rates that far exceed observations. Astronomers believe that the heat, in the form of radiation and jets from an actively feeding supermassive black hole, prevents overcooling of the cluster's hot gas atmosphere, suppressing star formation.
This story, however, now appears more complex. In the Phoenix Cluster, Russell and her team found an additional process that ties the galaxy and its black hole together. The radio jets that heat the core of the cluster's hot atmosphere also appear to stimulate the production of the cold gas required to sustain the AGN.
"That's what makes this result so surprising," said Brian McNamara, an astronomer at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, and co-author on the paper. "This supermassive black hole is regulating the growth of the galaxy by blowing bubbles and heating the gases around it. Remarkably, it also is cooling enough gas to feed itself."
This result helps astronomers understand the workings of the cosmic "thermostat" that controls the launching of radio jets from the supermassive black hole.
"This could also explain how the most massive black holes were able to both suppress run-away starbursts and regulate the growth of their host galaxies over the past six billion years or so of cosmic history," noted Russell.
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
# # #
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of ESO, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI).
ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.
This research is presented in a paper titled "ALMA observations of massive molecular gas filaments encasing radio bubbles in the Phoenix Cluster," by H.R. Russell et al., published in the Astrophysical Journal [http://apj.aas.org].
Media contacts:
Megan Watzke
Chandra X-ray Center, Cambridge, Mass.
Charles Blue
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Visitor Comments (3)
I find that black holes can be the most interesting thing in the universe. There has been speculation that black holes are the polar opposites of "white holes", which are purely theoretical. But it is thought that if one could survive the immense gravitational forces of a black hole for a VERY extended period of time, that you would emerge out on the other side by coming through a "white hole". White holes could be where all the material not ejected by a quasar beam, might end up. In some distant part of the universe, or some alternate reality, if of course, it was mathematically possible.
Posted by Andrew on Tuesday, 02.20.18 @ 16:42pm
Thank you for all this research.
Posted by Sahand on Monday, 11.6.17 @ 08:58am
This could be great. If this phenomenon can withstand the radiation and heat generated from the Jets and create new stars this could lead to a number of things that we haven t seen.
Posted by Dominic on Wednesday, 02.15.17 @ 18:20pm


text:
Humor in Photography
A graveyard with a misplaced Parking Space sign. A piglet making massage to another one. A funny roadside attraction showing an epitaph, Here lies the last trespasser. A little girl picking her little brother's nose. An Asian woman in bathing suit holding a huge umbrella while taking a splash on the beach. A man running naked in the middle of a tennis match.
Is something comical going on? Go grab your camera and photograph it.
Humor has always been the favorite of many photographers, be it humorous people or animals, situations, signs, or juxtapositions. However, capturing humor in photography is not an easy task. It is a difficult subject and many photographers have failed, like some stand-up comedians who desperately force their acts.
When capturing humorous photos, what you have to do is to observe the world and see what others don't see. This is one of the rules of thumb in photography that many fail to follow. Look at your subject, try to understand what it is, and then begin looking at what else the subject is. In other words, look, see, and see beyond the subject. This is one of the skills that sets apart a humorist and good photographer from others.
Finding humor can be matter of luck. Sometimes, humorous situations arise when you least expect them. For example, a child making funny faces, an elephant suddenly appearing in the middle of a busy street, or a sign saying, Illegally parked cars will be towed, crushed, and melted. So have your camera ready at all times. Look for visual non-sequitors, contrasts, or moments that make you go, huh?
If you decide to stage a humorous scenario, the first thing you should do is to look for a subject that can tickle the fancy of those who are going to see the photos. Setting up your own hilarious situation can give you a lot of laughs while doing it, or even more laughter later when everyone gets to look at the photos. Just enjoy and do not force yourself to come up with a funny scenario.
You may have achieved an excellent humorous photo if it seems an ordinary joke at first, but the effect to the viewer remains for a long time.
Tags: Humor, Photography


text:
Rule #1 - Be Patient - Rule #2 - Don't ask when, if you don't contribute - Rule #3 - You have coding skills - LinuxMCE's small brother is available: http://www.agocontrol.com
I am very happy with some of the very recent annoucements -Mplayer as the media player. I have never been a fan of XINE.Stay tuned its only going to get better.Regards,Blair
I really don't know why everyone is all ga-ga over MPlayer, the code-base is terrible, and a lot of things had to be grafted back into MPlayer for it to have the functionality that the Xine_Player wraps directly around libxine...but I guess people really are sheep...*hmm*
I'm a fan of working hard after the 710 release to get LinuxMCE in a package form. I think the admin site needs to be completely re-written (it should be an optional plugin for the package version), we need to get rid of the mysql database (at least the parts that have to do with system config) and get rib of all os specific stuff like the boot scripts. The package version should care about firewalls, remote access, ssh keys or any of that stuff. Users should be based on the OS users and the list goes on.Then if people feel there is still a need for an appliance version, we can pick an OS, and do much like we do now. Except, the website would be installed by default, we would care about firewalls, ssh etc. In fact it would be very similar to now, but the appliance stuff should be very low maintenance. The majority of work would lie in the package.Is this the feeling amongst the community or have i taken it further then what people were expecting?
...I do think that the website should continue to be installed by default... it's currently the only way to configure many things... of course, you're right, the website could use some improvement... but I also think there are bigger issues that need to be tackled first.


text:
My GDPR Notice in connection with the services I provide
This privacy notice has been produced to help you understand why I, your local LDC driving school instructor, require to obtain/store your personal information, how it will be used, who it might be shared with and how long it might be kept. The notice will also remind you of the rights you have under the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Where the information is not necessary to deliver the services you require from me it may be necessary for me to obtain your consent to either collect such information in the first place or use it for other purposes than you would legitimately expect.
Below is a list of the Personal Information I may collect and how it will be used:
1. With your consent, I may need to keep your credit/debit card details for the purpose of receiving payment from you for my services or products. This information will be stored in a secure manner to ensure your Personal Data rights are not breached until such time as you cease to use my services or expressly require me to erase/destroy such information if sooner. In either case the information will be disposed of in a secure manner.
2. I will need to keep written and secure digital records of all payments made, lesson appointments booked and lessons delivered for the purpose of maintaining accurate accounting records as is legally required of me for 6 years. At that point the accounts records and any supporting personal information will be disposed of in a secure manner. This information will be held in my paper-based/digital diary, your LDC Workbook if provided, my paperbased Student Record System, my accounts sales day book and potentially digitally on the LDC Student/Instructor online Hub if you choose to use this facility.
3. I will require your name, address, email address, telephone number(s), date of birth and provisional driving licence details for the purposes of:
- Providing my services as an LDC driving school instructor so that I may contact you or find you or give you access to the online services I provide in legitimate pursuit of this role until my services are no longer required by you. Such information will be recorded in my paper-based Student Record System and potentially digitally on the LDC Student/Instructor online Hub if you choose to use this facility.
- Booking either a Theory or Driving Test on your behalf.
- Providing you with access to the LDC Students online Hub to provide you with other ancillary services the contents of which can be erased by you at any time. Providing you with promotional offers in relation to my business with your expressed permission until you otherwise remove such consent.
- Sharing the information with the franchisor Teaching Driving Limited (t/a LDC) to help assist with the quality control of the LDC franchise network as a whole.
- Maintaining accurate accounts records as is legally required of me for a period of 6 years (see point 2).
4. I will hold records of your learning progress in my Student Record System and possibly in a secure digital form on the LDC Students/Instructor online Hub to help you know where you are in the training programme at any point in time. This information may be shared with LDC to help assist with the quality control of the LDC franchise network as a whole.
5. I will hold records of your test failures and passes noting where the driving faults occurred on your test report in my paper based Student Record System so that I can monitor my own personal performance in this regard. This information may be shared with LDC to help assist with the quality control of the franchise as a whole.
6. With your consent, upon passing the driving test I would like to take a photograph of you and a written review for the purposes of promoting my services as an LDC driving school franchisee and for the promotion of the LDC brand name as a whole on various secure digital platforms and written media with your expressed permission until you otherwise remove such consent. Please note on social media I and LDC can not prevent this review/photo from being shared or copied by others but both I and LDC would quickly delete all copies on such platforms under our control if you so request.
7. I may need to pass on your contact details to the NHS Test and Trace Service (Test and Protect in Scotland, and Test, Trace, Protect in Wales) if they need to know who else may have potentially been infected by COVID-19 as a result of being in my vehicle around the same time the person of interest was potentially infectious.
Any personal information not disposed of as stated above will be securely destroyed following 6 years from being received unless you have consented to enable me to retain it for longer.
8. Should I use a dash cam in my training vehicle it would normally be to aid your learning as part of the driving lesson and/or to support any insurance claim I may need to pursue in the event of an incident. Should I need it for any other purpose I would seek your written consent in this regard beforehand. If cameras are fitted clear signage will be on the exterior and interior of my training vehicle. Outward facing cameras record outside of the vehicle and inward facing cameras record primarily what is taking place in the front two seats. If I have a dash cam fitted I will inform all of my customers of this fact. New customers will be informed before their first driving lesson. If you are not happy about cameras recording you do have a right to ask for the interior facing cameras to be turned off during your lesson time. Audio will only be recorded if it aids you and your learning otherwise the camera will be muted. Once you are no longer my customer I will delete any video footage of your lessons within 30 days unless I have your written permission to use them beyond this date for the stated purposes we then agree. I may keep footage for as long as it may be required by my insurance company in support of any actual insurance claim.
If you want to make a complaint about the way I or LDC have processed/used your personal information, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office ICO, as the statutory body in the UK which oversees data protection law, by visiting: www.ico.org.uk/concerns


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text: Calas De Majorca is a purpose built tourist resort set on the east coast of the Balearic Island of Majorca. The area attracts families and couples who are looking for a resort where there is a choice of beaches and a fairly busy nightlife. As Calas De Majorca is nestled on a cliff side this means that you will have some spectacular views across Majorca's landscape. There is a good choice of restaurants in Calas De Majorca and for evening entertainment you will find some bars with karaoke and live music. Many hotels offer their own evening entertainment program, which attracts those on a family holiday to Majorca.


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Showing Collections: 1 - 1 of 1
Haniel Long Collection
Identifier: AC 137
Scope and Content
The Haniel Long Collection was originally acquired by the late John Bennett Shaw from Haniel Long, a personal friend of many years. John Bennett Shaw was a collector of books and memorabilia on Sherlock Holmes.
Found in:
Fray Angélico Chávez History Library


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Buy now, pay later. Rates as low as 0% APR financing with Affirm. Apply Now.
Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts can be so boring, but they don't have to be! Stuff them with delicious ingredients like sauteed spinach and cheese, weave them with salty, smoky bacon, grill them on your Weber, and you'll never look at chicken breasts the same again. Watch this video for a quick, step-by-step tutorial to see how easy this recipe is!
Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breast
By Mike Lang
½ Italian sausage
½ cup dried cherries
1 Tablespoon butter
¼ cup sweet onion, chopped
5 ounces fresh spinach
2 Tablespoons curly parsley
¼ cup soft bread crumbs
3 ounces provolone cheese, cubed
3 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
2 pounds bacon
Kosher salt and freshly cracked
1. In a skillet, crumble sausage and cook over medium heat until browned.
2. Add cherries to the sausage and continue to cook another 3-4 minutes. Add sausage and cherries to a large bowl.
3. Return the skillet to the side burner and add the butter. Once melted, add the onion and cook until tender and fragrant, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the spinach in two batches. Cook and stir till wilted.
5. Add the spinach mixture to the sausage and cherries. Stir in the parsley, bread crumbs, and cheese. Set aside
6. On a solid surface, flatten the chicken breasts with a mallet, or bottom of a heavy pan, until they are approximately ¼ inch thick.
7. On a sheet of plastic wrap, make a bacon weave, by placing two strips of bacon, overlapping slightly, perpendicular to the counter's edge. Repeat approximately eight times. Weave in additional bacon strips parallel to the counter's edge, by folding down alternating strips. Repeat until the weave is complete.
8. Place the chicken breasts, skin side down, on the bacon, side by side, leaving a border of bacon around the chicken.
9. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
10. Cover the chicken evenly with the sausage mixture.
11. Using the plastic wrap, roll the roast away from you. Keep the roll right, using the plastic wrap to keep the roll together. Once wrapped, tighten further with the plastic wrap. Refrigerate for one hour.
12. Remove from the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap. Grill over indirect-medium heat until the internal temperature of the roast reaches 165°F with an instant read thermometer.
13. Remove from the grill. Allow to rest. Slice and serve.


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Hillary Clinton on EnvironmentDemocratic Jr Senator (NY); Secretary of State-Designee |
CLINTON: I do believe that the green-collar job piece of [the economic stimulus package] is important. That's why I have $5 billion to do it. There are programs already. In Oakland CA, Mayor Dellums is working to have a green-collar job program. We could put hundreds and hundreds of young people to work right now, putting solar panels in, insulating homes. That would give them jobs and it would move us more quickly to a green economy. And I think that if you look at this from a jobs and justice, a stimulation and long-term planning effort, we need to lay down the markers now. We've got to hold the line against President Bush with his ill-advised approach to stimulating the economy.
A: We don't do anywhere near enough to try to prevent dangerous materials and products from coming into our country. We don't even do enough of it within our own country. We have totally turned our back on the information that is available to try to better track the impact on children and others of these kinds of exposures to toxic materials. So, number one, we need tougher standards across the board, something I've been advocating for years. Number two, it should be especially applied to any kind of imports, and that requires going and making sure that we have inspectors on the ground and we have tough standards and we exercise recalls.
A: I have supported a green building fund and green-collar job training with the AFL-CIO that will put a lot of people too work. And it's important that we do this, because we can create millions of new jobs.
A: Well, the first thing I would do is put somebody in charge who actually cared about the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast and was willing to really do what it took. I outlined a 10-point plan--I can't say it in 30 seconds--but briefly it is put somebody in charge, make sure that the White House has a system where that person reports to the president, which is what I would expect every single day. And my questions [to the person in charge] would be: What have you done to get the hospitals open? What have you done to get people to move back? What have you done to make sure the levees are strong enough to withstand whatever might come next? We've got to recognize rebuilding New Orleans is an American problem, not a New Orleans or Louisiana problem alone.
KUCINICH: Absolutely. The aftermath underscores everything that's wrong in this country about race.
GRAVEL: Yes.
CLINTON: I have proposed a 10-point Gulf Coast Recovery Agenda, because it's sort of as a chicken and an egg issue. First, we've got to get the hospitals back up, [then] the law enforcement and the fire departments. This administration has basically neglected with almost criminal indifference the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast, in particular New Orleans and the parishes. Even if we were to give people a right, there is nothing to return to. We have got to rebuild New Orleans, and it's not only the protection from the levees, it is all the infrastructure.
EDWARDS: This is an issue I care about personally and deeply.
OBAMA: Halliburton or Bechtel getting the contracts to rebuild is a further compounding of the outrage.
Taking on the air-quality problem was a brilliant move. She successfully carved out a post-September 11 issue that played to her strengths while also meeting the needs of her constituents. Along the way it also created some space between her and the Bush administration and an opportunity to return to the base of her party.
Dear Administrator Whitman:
We would like to convey our strong support for EPA's proposal to remove sediment contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from the "hot spots" in the upper Hudson River. This clean-up plan is a crucial first step towards restoring the Hudson's tremendous social, ecological, and economic value for the people of NY and NJ.
The Hudson River has been designated as an American Heritage River. Unfortunately, since 1983, 200 miles of the Hudson have also been designated as a Superfund site due to the damage caused by the estimated 1.3 million pounds of PCBs released by General Electric Company.
PCBs pose a serious threat to public health; they are probable human carcinogens and are known to cause neurological, reproductive, and endocrine disorders. Since 1976, because of PCB contamination, women of childbearing age and children [have been advised] not to eat any fish from any location along the Hudson. Unfortunately, low-income and subsistence fishermen and their families continue to consume fish contaminated with PCBs.
This contamination also adversely impacts longstanding commercial, recreational, and cultural activities on the Hudson River. For example, the commercial striped bass fishery was once a $40 million a year industry. However, due to PCB contamination, the state closed the fishery in 1976, all but ending a way of life along the river.
Environmental dredging in the Hudson will allow future dredging to ensure commercial craft continue to ply the waters of the upper Hudson River, and reduce the adverse affects of PCBs on the aquatic ecosystem. This means EPA's remediation plan is a critical first step in reducing threats to public health, reviving local economies, reopening recreational opportunities and reinvigorating cultural ties along the river.
The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is the political voice of the national environmental movement and the only organization devoted full-time to shaping a pro-environment Congress and White House. We run tough and effective campaigns to defeat anti-environment candidates, and support those leaders who stand up for a clean, healthy future for America. Through our National Environmental Scorecard and Presidential Report Card we hold Congress and the Administration accountable for their actions on the environment. Through regional offices, we build coalitions, promote grassroots power, and train the next generation of environmental leaders. The 2003 National Environmental Scorecard provides objective, factual information about the environmental voting records of all Members of the first session of the 108th Congress. This Scorecard represents the consensus of experts from 20 respected environmental and conservation organizations who selected the key votes on which Members of Congress should be graded. LCV scores votes on the most important issues of the year, including environmental health and safety protections, resource conservation, and spending for environmental programs. Scores are calculated by dividing the number of pro-environment votes by the total number of votes scored. The votes included in this Scorecard presented Members of Congress with a real choice on protecting the environment and help distinguish which legislators are working for environmental protection. Except in rare circumstances, the Scorecard excludes consensus action on the environment and issues on which no recorded votes occurred.
To: Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Dear Administrator Leavitt:
We are writing to urge you to take prompt and effective action to clean up mercury pollution from power plants. The EPA's current proposals on mercury fall far short of what the law requires, and they fail to protect the health of our children and our environment. We ask you to carry out the requirements of the Clean Air Act to protect our nation from toxic mercury contamination.
On January 30, 2004, EPA proposed two alternative rules to address mercury emissions. Unfortunately, both of these proposals fail to meet the Clean Air Act directives for cleaning up mercury. EPA's proposals permit far more mercury pollution, and for years longer, than the Clean Air Act allows.
The toxicity of mercury has been proven time and again by scientists around the world. The Agency's own scientists just released a study finding that approximately 630,000 infants were born in the US in the 12-month period, 1999-2000, with blood mercury levels higher than what is considered safe. This is a doubling of previous estimates.
The newest scientific studies show that controlling mercury emissions works. As we saw in Florida, sharp reductions in mercury pollution are mirrored by reductions in nearby fish populations. A study in northern Wisconsin indicated that reductions in the input of mercury from air corresponded with marked reductions in mercury fish tissue levels in the 1990s.
As the Administrator of the EPA, you have the legal authority and the responsibility to address mercury emissions and protect public health. We do not believe that EPA's current proposals are sufficient or defensible. We urge you to withdraw the entire proposed rule package and re-propose a rule for adequate public comment that meets the terms of the 1998 settlement agreement and is promulgated by the December 15, 2004 deadline.
OFFICIAL CONGRESSIONAL SUMMARY: Allows a tax credit for 50% of the costs of reducing lead hazards in U.S. homes built before 1960 in which certain low-income children less than six years of age and women of child-bearing age reside. Allows a maximum credit of $3,000 for lead abatement costs and $1,000 for the cost of interim lead control measures.
LEGISLATIVE OUTCOME:Referred to Senate Committee on Finance; never came to a vote.
OFFICIAL CONGRESSIONAL SUMMARY: To establish a congressional commission to examine the Federal, State, and local response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Region, especially in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and other areas impacted in the aftermath, and make immediate corrective measures to improve such responses in the future.
LEGISLATIVE OUTCOME:Rollcall vote #229; lost 44-54.
OnTheIssues.org Explanation: A classic 1980s study demonstrated that poor neighborhoods are burdened with more environmental hazards than rich neighborhoods. The 1980s study established the field of "environmental justice"; this bill addresses environmental justice and health justice.
OFFICIAL CONGRESSIONAL SUMMARY: A bill to require health impact assessments and take other actions to improve health and the environmental quality of communities, and for other purposes.
SPONSOR'S INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: Sen. OBAMA: The Healthy Places Act of 2006 focuses on the built environment, which includes our homes, parks, and transportation systems. Like many other States, Illinois has already begun to take steps to improve the environment. City leaders in Chicago have recognized that many low-income families have no access to fresh foods and medicine because there are no grocery stores and pharmacies in their neighborhoods. Retail Chicago, an initiative of the city's Department of Planning and Development, is now using redevelopment funds to entice local developers to bring grocery stores and pharmacies into these neighborhoods.
The Healthy Places Act of 2006 would expand these and other efforts to improve the planning and design of communities that can promote healthier living. It establishes and supports health impact assessment programs; better addressing environmental health issues; and creating a grant program to address environmental health hazards, particularly those that contribute to health disparities. Finally, the Healthy Places Act provides additional support for research on the relationship between the built environment and the health status of residents.
LEGISLATIVE OUTCOME:Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; never came to a vote.
Beach Protection Act of 2008 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (popularly known as the Clean Water Act) to include among eligible grant activities the development and implementation of programs for source tracking, sanitary surveys, and prevention efforts to address the identified sources of beach water pollution. Requires grant recipients to identify:
A joint resolution expressing the approval of Congress to an inter-state compact regarding water resources. In the Great Lakes--St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact the Congress finds that:
Sen. CANTWELL. I reintroduce today the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act of 2007. This legislation has won the unanimous approval of the Senate several times, but unfortunately has not yet reached the finish line.
There is no doubt, animal fighting is terribly cruel. Dogs and roosters are drugged to make them hyper-aggressive and forced to keep fighting even after suffering severe injuries such as punctured eyes and pierced lungs. It's all done for "entertainment" and illegal gambling. Some dogfighters steal pets to use as bait for training their dogs, while others allow trained fighting dogs to roam neighborhoods and endanger the public.
The Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act will strengthen current law by making the interstate transport of animals for the purpose of fighting a felony and increase the punishment to three years of jail time. This is necessary because the current misdemeanor penalty has proven ineffective--considered a "cost of doing business" by those in the animal fighting industry which continues unabated nationwide.
These enterprises depend on interstate commerce, as evidenced by the animal fighting magazines that advertise and promote them. Our bill also makes it a felony to move cockfighting implements in interstate or foreign commerce. These are razor-sharp knives known as "slashers" and ice pick-like gaffs designed exclusively for cockfights and attached to the birds' legs for fighting.
This is long overdue legislation. It's time to get this felony animal fighting language enacted. It's time for Congress to strengthen the federal law so that it can provide as a meaningful deterrent against animal fighting. Our legislation does not expand the federal government's reach into a new area, but simply aims to make current law more effective. It is explicitly limited to interstate and foreign commerce, so it protects states' rights in the two states where cockfighting is still allowed.


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The risks
Viruses and spyware can attack your smartphone or tablet via the following means:
- Downloading from websites that have either deliberately or accidentally been infected by one or more viruses.
- Downloading apps which are infected. These include apps which are downloaded from the device or operating system's official store, and increasingly, fake stores which have been set up solely for the purpose of distributing malware.
- Connecting your device to a computer, for example in order to install updates, sync and load music.
Viruses and spyware can cause very serious consequences including:
- Identity theft from apps working in the background to steal personal information stored on the phone.
- Fraud from apps working in the background to steal personal information stored on the phone.
- Premium rate calls and text messages being sent from your phone without your knowledge.
- Deletion and corruption of data.
- A slow or unusable device.
- Decreased battery life.
Your device could be just carrying a virus – which could then be passed on to other devices (such as computers) via email.
Protecting your mobile device
Apple devices have extremely good built-in safeguards against malware, but are becoming a more popular target for fraudsters, meaning that you should install internet security whatever your device. .
For personal and home office use there are a number of choices that you can take to decide which internet security app to download. Whichever you choose, make sure it is a repuable brand from a mainstream supplier, and get the best you can afford.
It is important to download updates for security apps as soon as you are prompted to guard against new malware.
- Always check the security settings in your device to ensure maximum protection.
- Periodically check on your service provider's website for updates for your make and model of smartphone or tablet.
- Before connecting your device to a computer, ensure your computer has the latest antivirus/antispyware and firewall installed and running.
- When setting up mobile banking, make sure any apps you download for the purpose are published by your bank.
- Be vigilant against fake stores when downloading apps – do so only from recognised sources.