text:
Snow Mountain - Surface Book Skin
- This Surface skin is available for Surface Book.
- Premium 3M Controltac Material.
- Tough, Ultra-Thin Scratch Protection.
- Easy To Apply And Remove.
- Made To Order.
DEKALESK Surface Book Skins are the ultimate way to protect and style your Surface. We make our Surface Book Skins from 3M Controltac material due to it's superior quality and it's much easier to apply than PVC based products. Each skin is designed to precisely fit each Surface Book.
Connect With Us
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Pinterest to hear about our latest products, promotions and giveaways.


text:
The shock of the NCAA canceling college sports largely is gone.
The cost, is not.
Santino Morina, a 20-year-old wrestler at Old Dominion University in Virginia, felt it last week when he got an emergency email.
"It was urgent news," Morina says, "[it said] we need to have a team meeting online at 4:30."
Morina logged on from his home in New Jersey, where he's staying during the pandemic. He heard his coaches announce that because of financial issues, they were ending the school's wrestling program. A program that had been part of ODU sports since 1957.
"It was April 2," Morina remembers, "so I was like 'Oh it's probably just an April Fool's joke.' And then, the more they started talking to us, the more I realized this is no joke. This is for real. The coaches were getting emotional and it really started to sink in, like, it's actually over."
The shutdown of sporting events due to the coronavirus pandemic has put athletic careers on hold and interrupted the flow of money that makes sports such a big business. College sports are trying to deal with the shortfall and dreading what happens if the shutdown affects the big moneymaker: football.
Hard winter or ice age?
This month, the NCAA was going to start distributing about $600 million to its Division 1 member schools, like Old Dominion. But with the cash-cow men's basketball tournament canceled, along with spring championships, the figure plummeted to $225 million. It helped seal ODU wrestling's fate, and left athletic departments everywhere, scrambling.
Iowa State Athletic Director Jamie Pollard recently announced many in his department are taking pay cuts and coaches are suspending bonuses and incentives.
On a conference call with reporters last week, Pollard said it could get much worse.
"We're probably in a phase right now that we're in a long hard winter," Pollard said, "but if we can't play football this fall, I mean, it's ice age time."
King football
Two years ago, Forbes reported college football's 25 most valuable teams generated a combined $2.5 billion a year in revenue. "A tremendous portion of those earnings goes toward supporting non-revenue sports like softball and swimming," and, to cash-hungry opponents.
When Florida State thumped Alabama State last year, 49-12, the losing team actually got what it wanted. A reported $425,000.
It was a guarantee game, where a lesser team usually endures a pummeling at the hands of a major program, for big bucks.
Alabama State Athletic Director Jennifer Lynne Williams says these games are critically important for a "limited resource institution" like hers.
"[Guarantee game money] goes into our general fund," Williams says, "it goes to support the University. The University gives us our operating budget and they're able to fully fund us with scholarships so when we're going out and playing, the money goes into supporting our institution as a whole."
"Not having those guarantee [games], it doesn't just affect athletics, it can effect the entire University."
Guarantee games usually are warm-ups for the power schools, played before conference competition begins. One of the possible scenarios for this football season, depending on the status of the outbreak, is playing a shortened season with just conference games.
The impact would be greatest on those smaller schools, like Alabama State, who'd lose out on the big paydays.
The concern goes way beyond guarantee games, however. There's fear a football shutdown could have a devastating effect on the entire NCAA system. Williams thinks athletic directors are uniquely qualified to handle the stresses and uncertainties currently facing college sports.
"I really do think being a former athlete has prepared a lot of A.D.'s for this [situation]," says Williams, who played basketball at the University of North Carolina. "We have to continue to build up our staffs emotionally and support our student athletes during these unprecented times."
So far, Williams says she hasn't had to make dramatic changes because of the financial challenges. Alabama State's $15 million athletic budget pales in comparison to the power conference schools, and Williams says spending less is a way of life in her department.
"We always talk about being fiscally conservative," she says, adding with a laugh "that's something I probably say to my staff too, too often. So now it's even more important."
While Williams hasn't had to cut jobs or sports, she knows the future remains uncertain.
"I think as [the pandemic] continues to play out, if it doesn't improve, I think everybody's going to have to look at how you scale back," she says.
A student, without the athlete
College athlete advocates worry the money crunch on schools, will hurt their ability to provide athletes with medical coverage and athletic scholarship.
As a result, the National College Players Association wants the NCAA to make some significant rules changes. The NCPA says third parties should be able to pay for athlete expenses, such as food, rent and medical expenses.
Santino Morina, the now former Old Dominion wrestler, used his scholarship to attend ODU instead of community college.
"I used wrestling as an opportunity to get my education," he says.
Morina can continue that education at ODU because the school says currently enrolled students will retain their scholarships if they stay. But he's not quite ready to give up on his sport.
"I'm still going to put like 100% into it," he says. "I want to still be an all-American, maybe a national champion."
The question is, where? Will increasingly financially strapped schools have scholarship money if he wanted to transfer?
"If an opportunity presents itself where I can wrestle and go to college [cheaply], I will definitely take that opportunity," he says. "But if it's not financially there, it's a sacrifice I'll take for myself."
And continue life as a student, without the athlete part.
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Recommended for Ages 12 & up
2-4 Players
30 minutes playtime
It is a truly wonderful day indeed as today we start our great competition! At the dawn of the nation of Traintopia — a country of clean, efficient, and fast transportation — we are looking for a new president, and we know exactly who we want for the job!
In Traintopia, you must create a futuristic train paradise with networks and routes for goods, commuters, and tourists. Exactly how do you do that? It's simple! On your turn:
Draft a tile, commuter, tourist, mailbag, or a train from the current offer.
Expand your network by adding the newly drafted component to it.
Tiles expand your routes. Commuters and tourists score victory points when placed. Mailbags and trains provide end-game bonuses. In more detail, the game tiles feature train tracks passing through different types of districts sought after by different types of commuters. Additionally, along the route you will find various landmarks that draw tourists. You must strike the right balance to maximize your scoring potential.
After eight or nine rounds (depending on the number of players), the game ends, then players score completed routes and gain bonus victory points from individual goal cards.
Payment & Security
Your payment information is processed securely. We do not store credit card details nor have access to your credit card information.


text:
We're so excited about Power BI's first birthday that we've turned our week of Community events into a month of events!
Whether you're a report wizard, a code master, or an eager supporter of Power BI (or all three) we've got an event for everyone, with lots of Power BI swag to give away. The winner of each event will receive a Power BI Super Swag Bag, with one of every single Power BI branded product in our inventory. Runners up will receive Power BI Swag Bags or t-shirts.
How can you participate? Read on for details!
Power BI Community Birthday Events
Leave a birthday comment! Watch the amazing birthday celebration video created by our wonderful Community, and leave your birthday wishes! A random winner will be chosen from well-wishers.
Share your favorite DAX command! Share yours and win! And in the meantime, help us create a helpful repository for all DAX users.
Share your best report about Power BI's impact in the world! It can be a guideline on how to use Power BI, tracking of tweet sentiments, news story statistics, data about our releases and updates, or any Power BI subject that interests you. (You can check out the Data Stories Gallery for some inspiration.)


text:
Sat, 20 Jan
|Antoine's Cabin
Introduction to linocut - rubber stamp
Create a 100% personalized ink pad that looks like you!
Heure et lieu
20 Jan 2024, 15:00 – 17:30
Antoine's Cabin, 69 rue Abbe Desplanques, 59130 Lambersart, France
À propos de l'événement
Moderated by Edouard Rowehy
limited to 6 places
Linocut is, as the name suggests, engraving on linoleum. (Wow thank you Jean-Michel Texplicationtropbien)
It is an old printing process, derived from wood engraving. The goal is to engrave a matrix in a material to come and press it with ink on paper or even fabric.
This workshop is an introduction to this discipline, even the less seasoned are invited!
I am going to offer you small drawings and typographies so that you can come and compose your frame and then engrave it. It is a slow and almost therapeutic process, a very pleasant moment in perspective.
The different times of the workshop :
- Presentations and mini theory.
- Choice of format and composition
- Transfer and engraving
- Impression
Little more : the workshops are also moments of meeting, life and conviviality. We are not at the library, no one will CHHHHHHTTTTT if someone starts talking, quite the contrary.
As we serve you a small drink on site and in addition you stay several hours together, the health pass is mandatory .
Just come with your good humor and your hidden smile, we take care of the rest. Unless you absolutely want to engrave your own design, you are free to come with it. Be careful all the same with lines that are too fine and have a small format.
ink pad
€39.00Sold Out
This event is sold out


text:
| ||||||
Welcome to Komar Screw Corp. a leader in the fastener industry since 1969. Our in-house manufacturing capabilities, including cold-heading and screw machine operations, complement our complete distribution services. Our technical expertise and resources are second to none as a full-line fastener supplier and provider of class "C" items. Multiple warehouse facilities enable us to ship stock orders same day or provide releases to meet your production scheduling demands. Vendor Managed Inventory Programs are provided to those customers looking to save on internal costs and improve productivity. Click here to view our Electronic Hardware Catalog Including: Standoffs-Spacers & Captive Screws-Handles Versatility in production capabilities and willingness to provide superior customer service has propelled our continued growth. Quality, Price, Prompt Delivery and Service are hallmarks of the Komar business ethic. We welcome you to try us... You will be glad that you did. Niles, IL 847-965-9090 - Fort Smith, AR 479-646-9328 Nashville, TN 615-256-4446 - Brecksville, OH 440-717-9720 Springfield, MO 417-823-0687 |
Home | Contact Us | Services | Products | Manufacturing | Technical Info | Distribution Corporate Profile | Quality Policy | Inventory Systems | Links | Terms of Use | Copyrights © 2023 All Rights Reserved: Komar Screw Corporation Certification: ISO 9001:2015 / Manufacturer & Distributor of Screws & Fasteners Corporate Headquarters: 7790 North Merrimac - Niles, Illinois 60714 USA / 1-847-965-9090 - Fax: 1-847-965-8988 Email Sales Web Site Development: ProPlanet Internet Solutions, LLC Don't Glue It Screw It, Business Activity: Manufacturer & Distributor of Fasteners - Products Description: screws, bolts, nuts, machine screws, self tapping screws, thread forming screws, sheet metal screws, wood screws, thumb screws, self drilling screws, socket head cap screws, socket set screws, hex head cap screws, u-drive screws, sems screws, threaded rod, studs, self-clinching panel fasteners, nuts, clinch nuts, spring nuts, flange nuts, nylon insert lock nuts, locknuts, keps nuts, wing nuts, blind rivets, semi-tubular rivets, flat head rivets, flat washers, Lockwashers, conical washers, spring washers, bevel washers, cotter pins, clevis pins, dowel pins, roll pins, inserts, cable ties, Hastalloy, Monel, Inconel, cold-heading, screw machine operations. - Export Markets: Latin America/Caribbean, South America, Western Europe, Pacific Rim, Australia, China. |


text:
Christmas Chat 2006
Last year at this time I invited my readers to sit down with me, enjoy a nice glass of Diet Dr. Pepper, and just have a friendly little chat about the world.
I am honored that there seem to be a lot more of you out there this year than there was last year. In fact, there are about three times as many of you. That's quite a crowd.
Though, I have always said that if I had to make a choice between being right and being popular, I would rather be right. I'll let the popularity take care of itself. Unfortunately, popularity is the easier of the two to measure. Being right – it's a bit harder to tell when one has met that particular objective.
I have lamented on this before. How easy is it to be certain that one is right, when so many people who are certain they are right are so dreadfully wrong?
Oh well, the best I can do is to hold my beliefs up to the best possible light of reason and constantly ask myself, "Have I missed anything?"
Yesterday, pbabbott asked a question about harm . . . whether teaching false beliefs is itself harmful. He wrote:
If education is benificial, how can "dis-education" not be harmful? With all the wonderful improvements in life that result from education, how can a struggle to suppress it not be harmful? I take no issue with those who desire to be willfully ignorant. However, to coerce or force this darkness upon others is certainly harmful. Are we on the same page here, or do you have a perspective I've not considered?
Again, let me return to the basics for a moment. Desires are the only 'reasons for action' that exist and nothing is bad that does not thwart desires. Desires give us 'reason for action' to act so as to bring about states of affairs in which the propositions that are the objects of those desires are true.
One of the things that this means is that nothing is just, simply, bad. Pbabbott spoke of the benefits of education – and education does produce benefits. Yet, not all education is equally beneficial. We have reason to focus more attention on education that produces greater benefits, and less attention on education that produces fewer benefits.
(Note: a 'bad action' need not thwart desires directly. Actions come from desires and, from an act that does not do harm itself, we can sometimes infer that the agent has desires that will tend to cause harm, and condemn him for the desires that would motivate such an act, rather than the act itself.)
False beliefs can harm us in two ways.
(1) False beliefs about whether the propositions that are the objects of our desires are true in a given situation cause us to act to bring about states of affairs that have no real value.
This, I am willing to argue, is the tragedy of religion. They cause people to desire certain states of affairs (one which would be pleasing to God as described in some book drawn from a set of ancient myths). Yet, there are no states of affairs which pleases such a God. In fact, no God exists.
This is the tragedy I attempted to describe in my story, "The Meaning of Life" – the tragedy of devoting one's life to an empty box, rather than focusing on the relationships with others that exist in the real world.
(2) False beliefs can harm us by telling us to select means to bring about states of affairs that have value that do not work.
We can see this in the claims of those who hold that we can protect ourselves from hurricanes and other natural disasters by banning homosexual activities, banning abortion, and requiring prayer in public school. Some argue that we can protect ourselves from terrorism in this way – because otherwise God would deny us his divine protection from these threats.
In fact, these practices cause harm and provide no benefit. What we need to protect ourselves from natural disaster is a greater understanding of and appreciation for the laws of nature. Weather satellites and computer models – and the understanding of the sciences that make these things possible – does more to protect us from the costs of hurricanes than prayer.
One of the things that we need to better protect ourselves from terrorists is a better understanding of human nature and the types of things that cause people to become terrorists – so that we can find the swamps in which the terrorist mindset grows, and drain those swamps, so as to save future generations from this plague.
Illness is one of the greatest sources of misery. Fighting disease requires knowing biological facts, and those biological facts include the fact that humans evolved.
Climate, the environment, and ecology all require knowing about how natural systems work. Any person who thinks that the earth is less than 10,000 years old does not know how natural systems work and, as such, they are no help (and, in fact, are a hindrance) to rational attempts to avoid these harms and harvest these benefits.
So, yes, dis-education is likely to lead to harm.
Now, another bit of fundamental desire-utilitarianism. Morality is primarily concerned with the evaluation of malleable desires – those we can strengthen through praise or inhibit through condemnation.
The points I made above argue that a desire for truth, intellectual curiosity, and a love of reason are all virtues. They are things worthy of promoting through praise. At the same time, dishonesty, intellectual laziness, and intellectual recklessness are vices worthy of condemnation.
Above, I tied the value of education itself to benefits. Yet, this section also argues for a love of truth and intellectual curiosity. It argues for a desire to learn things that might not produce any benefits – just for the pure joy of learning. This 'pure joy of learning' is, itself, a virtue, and one we have reason to nurture in ourselves and others.
Yet, this must be tempered by the fact that none of us can have perfect knowledge and perfect wisdom, which tells us to demand more attention to things that are likely to produce harm, and to admit to our need to have less-than-perfectly-rational rules for making snap judgments in emergency situations and on matters where the threat of harm is reduced.
In this, a mistake about the age of the earth is not as bad as a mistake about the nature of harm itself. A person with false beliefs about the age of the earth is not likely to a threat to others on the basis of that false belief alone. A person who makes a mistake on the nature of harm is likely to either cause harms he cannot see, or cause harms he can see in an attempt to avoid harms that exist only in his imagination.
Of all of the mistakes that we have reason to avoid, mistakes about the nature of harm top the list.
Atheist Observer wrote in a comment a few days ago, "Religion claims the right to declare what brings harm."
Yes it does. In doing so, it often promulgates false beliefs about the nature of harm itself. In doing so, it 'sees' harm where there is none and encourages people to inflict real-world harms to avoid harms that exist only its doctrinal imagination. It fails to recognize harms that do exist and, as such, it stands in the way of people avoiding real-world harms.
Every time religion makes a mistake about harm, it does harm.
Of course, every time atheists make a mistake about harm, they also do harm – and not all mistakes about harm are religious.
Pbabbott said, "I take no issue with those who desire to be willfully ignorant."
I cannot agree with this. A desire for willful ignorance is a vice – an evil to be discouraged. It is one thing to admit, "I cannot know everything, so I must leave those subjects over there for others to study, while I focus my attention on these subjects over here." This is not "a desire for willful ignorance". Such a person will still desire to understand those things over there as well, but admits to the real-world fact that those desires will never be fulfilled. No virtuous person seeks ignorance, he simply resigns himself to ignorance that cannot be avoided.
One thing about admitting to the necessity of ignorance and the possibility of mistakes, is that one is not inclined to teach ignorance to others. There are issues that I know I do not have time to study in detail. Yet, I also make a point of writing only about those things I do have time to study in detail. I have 12 years of college and the vast majority of my waking (not-working) life behind each post I put on this blog. I try to avoid writing about things I know little about, and seek instead to rely on the conclusions that I find most popular among those who do study those issues.
This is all a part of the general virtue of intellectual responsibility – writing about subjects in one's realms of expertise, rather than subjects in one's realm of 'things I do not have time to study in detail."
People who teach that the earth is less than 10,000 years old or who bring up bogus arguments against evolution can be condemned for their intellectual recklessness. A drunk driver can sometimes make it home without killing anybody. Our condemnation is not derived from the harm he does, but the risks that drunk driving in general creates. The condemnation of the intellectually reckless does not depend on the harm the intellectually reckless person does, but the risks he creates.
Yet, even here, there must be a genuine risk of harm. The drunk driver who confines his driving to his own (otherwise unoccupied) ranch does not create a risk to others. His recklessness is not the type worthy of condemnation. We must continue to remember that condemnation belongs only to those who are guilty, and not to those who are like those who are guilty except for the fact that they (the not-guilty ones) are not a personal threat to others.
It is still the case that the worst of the worst when it comes to intellectual recklessness are those who are intellectually reckless about the nature and substance of harm itself. Of all of the intellectual mistakes that people make that we have reason to condemn, mistakes about harm sit at the top of the list.
Mistakes that assert that 'harms' exist where none can be found, and which ignores real-world harms, are not the type that can be dismissed as unimportant, innocent mistakes.


text:
Check back for full reviews of the best places to eat in your area. Thanks!
Restaurant Reviews Are On The Way…
Thank you for choosing to call us home!
Welcome to your resident portal.
To facilitate our commitment to providing a high level of service, we've created this community website just for our residents.
This site was established to improve communication as well as build a sense of community. It gives us a centralized place to post notices about upcoming events or specials offered by our apartment community. In addition, we'll be posting information that will help you get more familiar with the resources in your neighborhood, including nearby restaurants and things to do.
We know that everyone has communication preferences, and for this reason, you'll be able to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, email feed or simply visit this website.
Of course, we'd love your feedback. Participate in our polls or leave a comment with us and tell us what you think.


text:
REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle
AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Jo's Health Corner
WEB ADDRESS: http://joshealthcorner.blogspot.com/
BLOG DESCRIPTION: This blog was created by Johanna Pedranti. She is an aromatherapist passionate about sharing her knowledge. Her goal is to help people find their way to optimal health without going broke. This blog is about natural health, aromatherapy, nutrition and fitness. It also has tips on making soaps and your own natural health products.
MY REVIEW: This blog covers a variety of health topics - using "essential oils" in a variety of ways to promote health and beauty. The posts vary on such topics as essential oils for children, homespa, health building, making your own, and so on.
If you've got sensitive skin, or just want to get away from makeup and materials full of chemicals, give this blog a try.
Sample post
Essential Oils for Skin Care - Sensitive Skin
We all have the potential of having sensitive skin, and our skin may become sensitive to certain substances or sensitive in certain circumstances like stress. As we age the sensitivity may increase as well.
Avoid hard water, alcohol in skin toners, harsh alkaline cleaners or soaps, highly perfumed products and skin abrasives. Simplicity and pure ingredients are important in a skin care regimen for sensitive skin. Mild toners, gentle cleansers and delicate moisturizer are the key. Use simple floral water like chamomile or orange blossom as a toner. You can also make your own infused herbal toner.
It is also important that great care is taken when selecting the essential oils. Oils with anti-inflammatory properties like yarrow, lavender, neroli, German chamomile, and everlasting/helichrysum should be used for sensitive skin according to Battaglia.
Evening primrose, jojoba, apricot kernel and infused calendula oils are base oils that traditionally been used for sensitive skin.
Make your own ointments, creams, facial gels, and toners using the essential oils and base oils mentioned above.
--Using Essential Oils On Newborns
--Jo's Health Corner Top 10 Posts of 2010
--Natural Hair Care - Technique for Hot Oil Treatment
--Using Essential Oils for Pain - Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
--Fitness Monday - Let the Metabolism Work in Your Favor
Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Check out the following blogs:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
Rush Limbaugh Report


text:
Brice Leverdez of France and Neslihan Yigit of Turkey captured the Men's and Women's Singles gold medals respectively at the Mediterranean Games in Mersin yesterday.
Nineteen-year-old Yigit (right; front), who defeated her compatriot Ozge Bayrak 21-16 21-13 for the top spot on the podium, also celebrated success in Women Doubles with Bayrak. Representing the host nation, they brushed aside French pair, Emilie Lefel and Audrey Fontaine, 21-13 21-15 much to the delight of Turkish fans cheering them on inside Mersin University Sports Hall No. 1. Slovenia's Maja Tvrdy and Nika Koncut took bronze in Women's Doubles while Tvrdy also managed a bronze in Women's Singles, overcoming Agnese Allegrini of Italy 21-16 21-16.
Meanwhile, Leverdez (BWF home page) copped top honours among the men with a 21-17 23-21 victory over Spain's Pablo Abian Vicen. Another Frenchman – Matthieu Lo Ying Ping – secured bronze from Slovenian, Iztok Utrosa, 21-17 21-17.
Utrosa also lost out to the French for bronze in Men's Doubles as he and Miha Horvat were swept aside 21-8 21-14 by Careme Baptiste and Gaetan Mittelheisser.
Croatian duo Zvonimir Durkinjak and Zvonimir Hoelbling wrested the Men's Doubles title, winning 21-15 21-9 triumph over Emre Arslan and Huseyin Oruc of Turkey.
The Mediterranean Games, which began on 20 June, are a multi-sport event held every four years. Countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea – the meeting point of three continents (Europe, Africa and Asia) – participate in the sporting spectacle as a means of building social and cultural rapprochement. Olympic rules apply and competition ends in 13 days.
Athletes from 11 of the 24 participating nations – Croatia, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey – competed in badminton.
Text by Gayle Alleyne | BWF


text:
Thank you again Hathors and Tom!
*** gavin
The Aethos and Non-dual States of Consciousness
A Hathor Planetary Message through Tom Kenyon
In this message we wish to discuss some of the significant relationships between manifest reality and non-dual states of consciousness.Mind and Consciousness
Before we proceed, however, we would like to draw a distinction between the terms consciousness and mind as we use the words.For us consciousness is transcendent to all phenomena and is not bound by neurological activity in your nervous system. Furthermore, consciousness is transcendent to both time and space, as you perceive them. And it is through the vehicle of your consciousness that you can travel through energetic vortices that lead outside the constraints of embodied existence.
Mind, as we use the term, refers to the sensory, mental and emotional experiences you have as a result of distinct changes in your nervous system. Indeed, as you read these words, you are creating their meaning through the agency of your physical brain and nervous system. You are creating the meaning of our words through the window of your mind, but this window is both created and constrained by the limitations of your nervous system.
Our messages are linguistically coded, and at various locations in the syntax (order) of our communications there are vortices—wormholes—through which you can temporarily transcend your mind and enter into the infinite mystery of consciousness.
How We View Higher Dimensions
In our experience of ourselves, we exist within multiple dimensions of consciousness, and depending upon our level of personal evolution we manifest in the fourth through the twelfth dimensions. Through the ninth dimension we can alternate between our anthropomorphic form, which is humanlike in appearance, or our light body.As we shift into the 10th dimension all connections to our anthropomorphic form dissolve. We become, for all intents and purposes, geometric light forms. As we progress in our own personal evolution we can express ourselves through the 10th, 11th and 12th dimensions in a multitude of ways.
Each progression upward in consciousness brings with it a greater understanding of the interconnectedness of all beings and all aspects of the cosmos. The odd paradox of existence becomes clearly apparent as we enter into the 10th Dimension.
Interconnectedness and Non-duality
We are sharing this information because something similar occurs for you as you transit into the higher dimensions of your own being. In the 10th through the 12th Dimensions, awareness of interconnectedness expands, as does an awareness of non-duality—the Mother of All Things. This is, indeed, the paradox of consciousness we mentioned earlier, and it is one that has been addressed by some of your Perennial Philosophies.For us, the attainment of non-duality is not the final destination but rather a cantilever to greater mastery and an understanding of how to create benevolent outcomes.
How We View Non-duality
In a non-dual state of consciousness we, like you, experience a disappearance of opposition. In non-dual states of consciousness, duality—as it is experienced in relative existence—disappears, and we enter into a great sense of centered awareness and serenity.In the deepest states of non-duality there is only pure consciousness experiencing itself.
It is important to realize that non-dual states of consciousness are relative to the perceiver. Thus, if you experience non-duality through your heart chakra, you may very well experience impersonal love—a deep sense of cosmic connection.
Indeed, in this state of union between non-duality and the heart, you become infatuated, and for all intents and purposes, you fall in love with the cosmos. And in that paradox of the heart, you become the Beloved, and everything you see and witness is the Beloved as well.
While this is a beautiful state of consciousness, it is not pure non-duality. As you move upward into the higher chakras experiences of non-duality change. When you reside in the crown chakra, non-duality is experienced in its pure form—pure consciousness aware of itself. There is no sense of a personal self in these higher dimensions of non-duality.
The paradox of creation is that it unfolds from the purest states of non-duality into the most polarized states of existence. Thus, in your consciousness are the two seemingly conflicting states of relative existence (i.e., your embodied life in time and space) and non-dual states of consciousness in which all polarities and conflicts disappear.
Our perspective, as mentioned earlier, is that non-dual states of consciousness are cantilevers to greater mastery of creation and not the end point or the goal of evolution.
Interconnectedness vs. Oneness
It is here we feel it necessary to discuss an important distinction between interconnectedness and the concept of "oneness." We do not view these two terms interchangeably. There are many different definitions of "oneness" upon the Earth, and so it is not possible to address all the subtleties and distinctions.We will instead turn our attention to what we consider to be the fundamental distinction. Some persons believe that interconnectedness is the same as "oneness" and that as you enter higher states of consciousness and higher dimensions of being, you merge into a blob of light, in which all distinctions disappear. This is not our view.
Interconnection or interconnectedness is the recognition that all beings and all aspects of the cosmos are interrelated and at the same time beings have unique differences. These differences are fascinating and unique. Sometimes they are annoying, and sometimes they are enriching. But these differences are part of the tapestry of manifest reality, and they are not superfluous.
One of the difficulties we see with the concept of "oneness," as currently propagated by some persons in the New Age and Personal Growth communities, is that the unique differences between people are denigrated and somehow because everything is "one," appropriate energetic boundaries between individuals can be, and often are, disregarded. Furthermore, some individuals use this belief system (i.e., "oneness") as an excuse to avoid personal accountability and responsibility. In our experience of ourselves through all dimensions we remain unique individuals, and the higher dimensions of our being do not obliterate our uniqueness but rather present greater opportunities for creation.
The Aethos
We now wish to share with you a means to access one of our greatest cultural treasures, what we call the Aethos (pronounced, AH-EE-THOS). The Aethos is a bandwidth of consciousness anchored in pure non-duality.When a Hathor enters into the 10th Dimension there are many opportunities and ways of manifesting. Some of us choose to temporarily join a community of vibration. This community consists of individual Hathors in the 10th, 11th and 12th Dimensions. These individuals enter into non-duality by their own volition and choose to remain, for a period of time, in this vibration of consciousness for the benefit of other beings.
Most individuals remain temporarily in the Aethos, while a few show no signs of leaving. When a being enters into the Aethos all personal distinctions are set aside. A being that is in the Aethos has no name. All personal identity has been replaced by total immersion into non-duality. These beings "hold" this vibration of non-duality for the benefit of others because non-duality is the Mother of All Things and the underlying fabric of all existence.
To be in the presence of an Aethos is to be raised upward into non-duality.
Your experience of being with an Aethos will differ from another's experience, based upon your own level of evolution and the issues in duality that you are facing.
But regardless of how complex or difficult your personal issues may be, being in the presence of an Aethos will elevate you, and that is why we are sharing this information at this time.
For some of you who are highly advanced, simply hearing the name Aethos, and understanding its non-dual nature, will be enough for you to move into communion with non-duality through this means.
Many people, however, would find such a path, or method, intrinsically difficult. And so we are offering a sound treasure to assist you. This Sound Meditation is an analog of the light realms where the Aethos resides.
The Aethos emits vibrations of light and these vibrations can be stepped down into the audible range of human hearing. Thus, what you will be hearing, when you listen to The Aethos Sound Meditation, is a translation of light into sound. It is the harmonic essence of the Aethos as it manifests in the 10th Dimension.
We suggest you experiment with listening to this unique sound treasure in various ways. The first way would be to listen to it with your full attention on the sound. Allow the sound to be the primary focus of your attention, and when your mind wanders bring it back to the sound.
The second way to listen would be with your focus of attention on your heart chakra in the center of your chest.
Then listen to it with awareness in your throat chakra.
Next, listen to it with your focus of attention in your Third Eye (Ajna), located between your eyes at the bridge of your nose.
And then, finally, listen to The Aethos Sound Meditation with your attention in your crown chakra at the top of your head.
Feel and sense the differences that arise when you listen to The Aethos Sound Meditation from these various chakras. Most of you will find that it feels more natural to listen to The Aethos Sound Meditation with your focus of attention in one of your chakras. This chakra is the focus we suggest you use when listening, in preparation for the sound meditation that will occur during the upcoming World Meditation.
The Evolutionary Intelligence Test
From our perspective one of the signatures of an evolved consciousness is the recognition of interconnectedness. This recognition is an evolutionary intelligence test and your species is in the middle of it. Humanity cannot continue to live, collectively, as it has done—living in the delusion that humans can plunder the Earth with no consequence to the Earth, to its myriad life forms or to humanity itself.The World Meditation
The goal of the World Meditation is to add a vibrational quality to the emotional atmosphere of your planet.You have an inherent right to do so because you are embodied in time and space, and because you are living temporarily upon this Earth. As a resident of this planet, you have a right to encourage benevolent outcomes.
The specific purpose of this World Meditation is to accelerate the collective human recognition of interconnectedness and a passage from the miasmas and delusions of humanity's collective history into a new constellation of cultural beliefs that will serve to unfold humanity's higher destiny. This will be done through the agency of your imagination—the power of your will and intention—joined with the creative potentials that reside in non-dual states of consciousness.
The date and time of this World Meditation will be November 4th between 3:00 and 4:00 PM PST (Pacific Standard Time). While the meditation will be global, the nexus point of the energetic will be in Seattle, Washington during the final hour of a Hathor Intensive we are calling The Art of Seeding New Realities.
For the duration of this meditation, the Aethos will enter into the space that will be created by those attending the Intensive. And from this nexus point, the Aethos will extend its energetic throughout the world to all those who have chosen to join us in this undertaking (The World Meditation).
It does not matter where on Earth you are physically located. Furthermore, while the formal meditation in Seattle will begin at 3:00 PM and end at 4:00 PM, the energetic generated by the Aethos will continue for twenty-five hours. In other words, the Aethos will continue to emanate its energetic from the 10th dimension to those individuals who have chosen to participate in the World Meditation from November 4th 2012 at 3:00 PM PST to November 5th 2012 at 4:00 PM PST.
You can join the World Meditation anytime during this twenty-five hour period.
In point of fact, you can also enter into this specific meditation whenever you wish to "broadcast" the thought form of interconnectedness to humanity. As you collectively enter the more intensive phases of planetary transformation, those of you attuned to the reality of interconnectedness will "know" when it is propitious to send this thought form to your fellow humans through the agency of this particular meditation.
When undertaking this meditation, it is important to understand that you are not directly affecting the outcome of events, but rather you are "broadcasting" a benevolent thought form to the human collective. What individual humans choose to do, or not do, in relation to the realization of interconnectedness, however, is in the sovereign providence of each individual.
Furthermore, the Aethos does not and is, in fact, incapable of intervening into human consciousness. A human person must choose to enter into a vibratory alignment with the Aethos. In other words, the Aethos does not take actions. It simply emanates its nature, which is non-dual consciousness.
The Actual Meditation
During the meditation we suggest you begin by listening to The Aethos Sound Meditation for thirty minutes. During this phase, your focus of attention is in your heart chakra unless you intuitively sense that it would be better for you to place your attention in another chakra.After listening to the Aethos Sound Meditation, simply be in silence with your awareness in your heart chakra (or another chakra you have chosen to work with). After a minute or so of focusing in your chosen chakra, imagine that some part of you (i.e. your KA or "etheric double") rises above you wherever you are physically located on the Earth. Imagine and sense that this second you, which looks exactly like the physical you, floats to a position sixty miles above the planet, where you join hands with others all across the Earth who have joined in the meditation.
This joining of hands is a symbolic representation of the thought form we are calling "interconnectedness." This is the recognition and the acknowledgement that all humanity is interconnected and that this interconnectedness exists simultaneously along side the unique differences of all individuals.
The one you may be joining hands with could very well live in a far distant area of the Earth from you. He or she may have a different view of reality. He or she may follow a different religion than you or follow no religion at all. The person you are holding hands with may be facing challenges very different than those you are facing, due to his or her location on the Earth and the culture he or she must conform to. And yet in spite of all these differences you are interconnected.
Joining you in this sea of interconnectedness will be the Devic kingdoms, the spirits of the Earth, the elementals, and the myriad life forms upon your Earth, as well as the Earth herself. For those of you who are aware of multiple dimensions you may very well experience a joining with intergalactic intelligences as well as with cosmic bodies, including the Sun and the Central Sun—the black hole that forms the center of your galaxy.
We realize that some of you reading this are so disheartened by the quality and the state of humanity you may find it difficult, if not impossible, to join hands with fellow humans. If you are one of these persons we suggest you join hands with the nature spirits, and you will, by this action, be adding to the potency of the transformation.
Preparation For The World Meditation
If you choose to join us in the World Meditation, we ask that you begin to work with The Aethos Sound Meditation on a regular basis. The purpose of this preparatory work is so that you become familiar with the states of consciousness produced in you by the Aethos.If you are dealing with difficult issues in your life, we suggest you listen to The Aethos Sound Meditation at least once a day. This is to assist you to move into a different state of consciousness, and from this perspective your issues will decrease and/or your ability to deal with them will increase.
The net result of this is that you will be elevated, and we need as many elevated individuals as possible to join the World Meditation. Let us put this another way…if you are riddled with personal toxicity, work with The Aethos Sound Meditation every day, first for your own benefit and, secondly, for the world sangha (community).
You are, by the way, welcome to listen to The Aethos Sound Meditation and use it as a personal transformational tool even if you do not plan to join the World Meditation.
The Aethos Sound Meditation: Final Reflections
It is with pleasure and great expectation that we present to you The Aethos Sound Meditation. We trust that it will bring you a sense of serenity and a greater capacity to deal with the chaotic events of your world.It is also our expectation that the Aethos will open a path to your own non-duality, and that, as a manifest creator-being, you will bring the two together—the uniqueness of your life and the power of non-duality.
May this union be a boon to you and to all your relations.
The Hathors
September 20, 2012
Tom's Thoughts and Observations
I find this particular Hathor message to be one of their more densely packed bodies of information, and even after reading it multiple times I still find new levels of insight.There are several areas discussed, but I will confine my comments to the Aethos and the Sound Meditation that will form the first part of the World Meditation on Nov. 4th.
The Aethos
My first encounter with the Aethos occurred about a year ago in preparation for a Hathor Intensive called Transmissions of Light. A few months before the event I was in one of my periodic existential funks when one of my mentors escorted me through the realms to the 10th dimension where he instructed me to just "sit" with the Aethos.I was immediately calmed and soon entered what I recognized to be a type of Samadhi (yogic trance) in which I began to sink deeper and deeper into a non-dual state of consciousness. The agitation that had so clearly commandeered my mind for several hours suddenly dissipated in a matter of several minutes. And this, no small feat, had transpired just by me "sitting" in the presence of the Aethos.
As the Hathors mention in this message, the idea of non-duality shows up in various Perennial Philosophies, some of which can be traced back to the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita of ancient India, the non-dual teachings of various mystics and sages as well as the essential teachings of Buddhism, to name but a few.
The Aethos I "sat" with was, as I said earlier, a 10th dimensional Hathor, and whenever I sense this being clairvoyantly, I clearly see "it" as a ball of light comprised of thirteen counter-rotating spheres embedded within each other. My sense is that the ratios established by these counter-rotating spheres combine to create a non-dual energetic, which is what affected me so strongly.
I referred to this being as "it" because it has no sign of gender. Whereas the Hathors I have encountered in the 4th through the 9th dimensions have both a light body and a gendered anthropomorphic form, the Hathors I have encountered in the 10th, 11th and 12th dimensions present themselves solely as geometric light forms.
The Aethos Sound Meditation
When I recorded The Aethos Sound Meditation, it was this 10th dimensional Hathor who guided me. From an engineering standpoint, it was a fascinating experience. As I recorded each of the eight tracks that comprise the recording, this being would alter my voice in distinct ways and in distinct ratios to previously recorded sounds. After laying down the foundation tracks I simply layered and looped them, according to "its" guidance, in order to approximate the light fluctuations that comprised "its" being. There was no electronic manipulation of the sound—meaning that I did not alter the EQ in any way, nor was any reverb or other effect applied to my voice. The sounds you hear in The Aethos Sound Meditation are completely natural and devoid of any effect, as hard as it may be to comprehend after listening to it.At the end of this message, you will find two links to two different versions of this sound meditation. The first is 5 minutes and 4 seconds long. It is a way for you to test the waters, so to speak, and I would suggest you start with this one. See what unfolds for you in the short five minutes it takes to listen.
Work with this five-minute audio file in the ways the Hathors suggested. First just listen to it with your full attention on the sounds. Then listen to it with your focus of attention in your Heart Chakra (beneath your sternum and in the center of your chest). Then listen to it with your attention in your Throat Chakra. Next listen to it with your focus in your Third Eye (between your eyes at the bridge of your nose), and then, finally, listen to it with your attention in your Crown Chakra (at the top of your head). You might want to do these in separate listening sessions to avoid "energetic overload."
The second version is for those who are choosing to join the World Meditation on November 4th and/or for those who wish to enter into the presence of the Aethos for longer periods of time. This second audio file is 30 minutes long, the length of time the Hathors will be spending with the Aethos prior to the symbolic holding of hands in the final stage of the World Meditation.
If you plan to join us in the World Meditation, I strongly urge you to begin listening to this extended version well in advance of November 4th. This is so you have experience with the various states of mind that the sound meditation produces in you.
Directions for The World Meditation
As the Hathors mentioned, the energetic of the Aethos will be extended to all those participating in the World Meditation for a period of twenty-five hours, beginning at 3:00 PM PST (Pacific Standard Time) on November 4th and ending at 4:00 PM PST on November 5th. This means you can enter into the meditation and join with the world sangha (community) anytime during that twenty-five hour period. For the precise time of the Meditation in Seattle for your time zone, you can consult various world time sites, including http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/Begin the Meditation by listening to The Aethos Sound Meditation for 30 minutes. This is to raise your state of consciousness, and to prime the pump of creation, since the Hathors contend that non-dual states of consciousness are cantilevers to creative states.
Then you imagine that your KA (your etheric double), or some version of you, floats up to a position 60 miles above your location on the planet. You then imagine holding hands with others around the world. This joining of hands is an act of imagination signifying an acknowledgment of interconnectedness. As the Hathors explained, this type of interconnectedness does not negate our differences. It is inclusive of them. The act of holding hands above the Earth acknowledges that we are all interconnected, including other life forms and even energetic intelligences as well.
How long you remain in this imaginal state is up to you. I would suggest at least 5 – 10 minutes. When your mind wanders, and it most likely will, just bring your focus of attention back to the "you" that is floating 60 miles above the Earth.
After you complete the World Meditation, it would be an ideal time to engage The Sphere of All Possibilities to energize whatever personal outcomes you wish to manifest. If you have not read this Hathor Planetary Message, it would be good to do so before the World Meditation.
If this is like other Hathor World Meditations in the past, it could be an energetically charged experience. If you encounter a lot of intensity during the meditation, it would be good to rest afterward, even lying down if possible.
If you are so inclined, you can enter into the Meditation repeatedly and as many times as you wish during the twenty-five hour period. Your comfort zone would be the guide here.
Note: If you choose to work with the 30 minute Aethos Sound Meditation, please download it to your computer and refrain from listening to it from our server. If too many people listen to The Aethos Sound Meditation from our server, at any given time, the server may crash—keeping others from being able to hear or download it. Please do not depend on listening to this sound meditation on our website on the day of the meditation. The server will not be able to "serve" everyone. Download it before the day of the meditation.
Important Note: Do not listen to The Aethos Sound Meditation in situations requiring alertness such as driving a car or while operating machinery.
To listen to these following two meditations, you must visit Tom's site at the address below ...and download in advance. Do not plan to listen to this from our site on the day of the meditation. You must download it ahead of time and be ready (scroll down to bottom to find these two meditations once on his page):
1. The Aethos Sound Meditation (5min)
2. The Aethos Sound Meditation (30min)
Tom Kenyon
©2012 Tom Kenyon All Rights Reserved www.tomkenyon.com
You may make copies of this message and distribute it any media you wish so long as you do not charge for it, do not alter its content in any way, credit the author and include this entire copyright notice. The Aethos Sound Meditation audio files are not part of this message and may not be posted on any other site. They are for your personal listening purposes only.


text:
"October gave a party, the leaves by hundreds came.
The Chestnuts, Oaks and Maples, and leaves of every name.
The sunshine spread a carpet, and everything was grand.
Miss Weather led the dancing, Professor Wind, the band."
Goerge Cooper, 'October's Party'
That sums up our October, doesn't it? A more glorious month has yet to be seen, if you ask me. This year has shown us some amazing weather, and I know that many, many people thought summer was too hot, too muggy, too much 'Summer', I guess, but to me, it was just what Summer should be. And then for our reward, the heat index fell, the nights became more comfortable and we got October. Blessed, glorious, magnificent October.
"Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause
between the opposing miseries of summer and winter"
~Carol Bishop Hipps
For what it's worth, Summer wasn't miserable. Just normal. And Winter is only miserable if you choose to look at it that way. Several years ago, I took up Cross Country skiing again, having not touched the skinny skis since I was a young girl. I forgot how magical it is to slide over the snow, in a quiet wood or on the trails and I've loved the benefits it gives me from the exercise. So I tend not to dread Winter like I've done in the past. And of course that means I really pray for a good snow cover. My apologies to those who hate everything that happens between now and Springtime.
But here we are in November, and it's often a fairly gloomy month. That's just not my cup of tea. There's no eye-popping color, no crunching through ankle deep leaves, or mind-boggling glimpses of cobalt blue sky. It's just November, the countdown to holidays and crazy chaos and the beginning of the dark season.
So I do what any other sane and hardened Northern dweller will do to combat these coming days. I turn on the oven, fling items like flour, baking powder, cinnamon, milk and eggs all over the kitchen and come up with something comforting and slightly sweet, something to draw me back. To rein me in, so to speak. Last year I made a big effort to try and embrace Winter and all it's darkness, with it's amethyst sunsets and opalescent snowfalls. It made a huge difference so I am hoping it works again this year.
Along with a heightened attempt to change my attitude about Winter, so my baking has taken on a new aspect, and changed so dramatically from when I was little. I balk at making baked goods laden with shortening, oil and tons of refined sugar. Delicious, yes. Healthy- not at all. So I'm always on the lookout for recipes that support that, yet offer abundant flavor and comfort.
Like Peanut Butter Banana Bread.
These are two of my favorite tastes, together in a moist, tender load studded with chopped peanuts. While it's not health food at all, it's created with a lean towards the 'Better for You' angle, using very little fat and only a small amount of sugar.
I've been experimenting with sugar content in a lot of my baking recently. Instead of using white sugar, I've subbed in maple syrup, or honey or brown sugar for my recipes, often reducing the amount drastically. The results have been wonderful- good flavor and texture without the item being so sweet as to cross your eyes. Now I am not ignoring the fact that subbing one sugar for another is actually better, but instead I am focusing on removing white refined sugar from my diet completely. Sugar is sugar, yes. The goal is to remove refined products, which also includes white flour. All my baked goods are also being made with whole wheat flour too, including this bread.
I love the balance of peanut butter and banana in this bread. The PB is a subtle undertone to the delicious banana taste, and the addition of chopped peanuts (in this case, they were honey-roasted which I can't recommend enough) adds a nice textural crunch to the moist bread. This recipe calls for ground flaxseed, and while I often add that to my baked goods even when it isn't called for, in this recipe it's a vital component and adds a nice nutty touch. Here's the original recipe, with my substitutions in parentheses.
Peanut Butter Banana Bread
from All Recipes
- 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (I used 3-1/2 large bananas- more than it called for but delicious nonetheless)
- 1/3 cup plain fat-free yogurt
- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted (I subbed canola oil)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (I omitted this)
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I increased this to 3/4 c. and it was perfect)
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used all whole wheat)
- 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
- 2 T. chopped roasted peanuts
Preheat oven to 350° and spray a standard loaf pan with cooking spray. Alternatively, you could use an 8×8 baking pan too, with adjusted baking time.
In a large bowl, combine bananas, yogurt, peanut butter, butter, eggs and sugar and stir until thoroughly combined. In another bowl, whisk together flour, flaxseed, baking soda, salt, spices and chopped nuts until uniform. Add to wet ingredients and stir just until blended. Do not over-mix. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Baking time will be shorter if using the 8×8 square baking pan.
If desired, sprinkle chopped peanuts over the top of the loaf prior to baking. I loved how this added a nice crunchy touch to the finished product.


text:
Become a CBN partner and receive The Transforming Word: Verses to Overcome Fear and Experience Peace, our special DVD/CD gift to you.
CBN Partners are making a difference sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Find out how.
Best-selling author
Host of The Dave Ramsey Show, live radio talk show in 200 markets since 2001
Creator, Financial Peace University, a 13-week program to help people get out of debt
B.S. Finance & Real Estate, University of TN
Wife: Sharon; Children: Denise, Rachel & Daniel
Total Money Makeover
(Thomas Nelson, 2003)
Dave says the first step in getting out of debt is having a written budget. Don't try to have the perfect budget for the perfect month because you never have those. Spend every dollar on paper before the month begins. Give every dollar of your income a name before the month begins, which is called a zero-based budget. Income minus outgo equals zero every month. If you're married, agree on the budget with your spouse. If something comes up in the middle of the month that causes the budget to need changing, you can change the budget only if you do two things: 1) Both spouses agree to the change. 2) You must still balance your budget.
Dave says you have to get serious and cut up the credit cards. Dave says there is NO positive side to credit card use. You will spend more if you use credit cards. Even by paying the bills on time, you are not beating the system. The average family today carries $8,000 in credit card debt according to the American Bankers' Association. When you pay cash, you can "feel" the money leaving you. This is not true with credit cards. If you use credit cards instead of cash, you will spend 12 to 18 percent more. If you "have to" use plastic, Dave suggests a debit card. He uses debit cards for travel, ordering on line, etc. Personal finance is 80 percent behavior. You need to cut out habits that make you spend more.
Dave says it is going to rain and you need a rainy-day fund. The job is downsized, you get fired, the transmission goes out, etc. Life happens; this is not a surprise. Christmas is always in December; therefore it is not an emergency. Dave says save $1,000 to keep from going back in debt to cover emergencies. No more borrowing. You have to break the cycle. Your emergency fund needs to be in liquid, available cash.
Dave's way to pay off debt is called the Debt Snowball. It is simple to understand but requires truckloads of effort. You list all your debts in order of smallest payoff balance to largest; the interest rate of the debt doesn't matter. The reason Dave lists smallest to largest is to have some quick wins. If you go on a diet and lose weight the first week, you will stay on the diet. When you start the Debt Snowball and in the first few days pay off a couple of little debts, Dave says it lights your fire. After you list the debts smallest to largest, pay the minimum payment to stay current on all debts except the smallest. Every dollar you can find from anywhere in your budget goes towards the smallest debt until it is paid. Then, when debt number two is paid off, you take the money that you used to pay on number one and number two and you pay it on number three. Keep paying minimums on all debts. Every time the Snowball rolls over, it picks up more snow and gets larger, until by the time you get to the bottom, you have an avalanche. And you are on your way to being out of debt.
After college, Dave found a niche in foreclosure bargain real estate. With a formal education in finance, a family background in real estate and a burning desire to succeed, Dave had a head start in life. By the time he was 26,
Dave had a net worth of over a million dollars and was making $250,000 a year. His real estate portfolio was worth more than $4 million and everything seemed to be moving perfectly. Then, banks decided to trim back on real estate lending due to the 1986 real estate tax act. Most of Dave's borrowing was in short-term notes (because most of the property he resold was for profit) so the banks invoked their right to call the notes. Dave had 90 days to find $1.2 million. He paid virtually all of it, but doing so destroyed his business and he ended up losing everything but his house and literally the clothes on his back.
"I remember the strain on my marriage," says Dave. "It took three and a half years for paradise to completely unravel and for me to end up broke."
From the nightmare of losing everything and the emotional pain it caused, Dave got the idea to counsel the average consumer through debt problems. In ten years, Dave says he has seen more than 10,000 foreclosures come across his desk.
"I believe it is time for the typical American family to get out of financial bondage," says Dave. "I believe that through knowledge and discipline, financial peace is possible for all of us."
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.


text:
[Image: From "Assimilation" by Dillon Marsh].
I mentioned in the previous post the work of South African photographer Dillon Marsh, whose "Landscape Series" seeks "to find things that are out of the ordinary, picking them out of the landscape where they might otherwise blend in. I choose objects that can be found in multitude within their environment so that I can depict a family of objects in a series of photographs. By displaying each project as such, I feel I am able to show both the character of the individual members, and the characteristics that make these objects a family."
[Image: From "Assimilation" by Dillon Marsh].
Marsh's photos seen here were seemingly everywhere on the internet a few weeks ago, but I thought I'd post them nonetheless, as they're not only interesting images in and of themselves, but they depict one of my favorite topics: human infrastructure claimed—or assimilated, in Marsh's words—by nonhuman species, other builders and users of artificial environments, who construct their own homes on those underlying skeletons.
[Images: From "Assimilation" by Dillon Marsh].
It is an architecture of infestation, of creative reuse across species lines.
[Images: From "Assimilation" by Dillon Marsh].
So what is all this, more specifically? As Marsh explains, "In the vast barren landscapes of the southern Kalahari, Sociable Weaver Birds assume ownership of the telephone poles that cut across their habitat. Their burgeoning nests are at once inertly statuesque and teeming with life. The twigs and grass collected to build these nests combine to give strangely recognisable personalities to the otherwise inanimate poles."
[Images: From "Assimilation" by Dillon Marsh].
Seen one way, these photos depict an entire form of architecture reduced to ornament, mere biological decoration; seen another, they just as powerfully reveal how the smallest and seemingly most inconsequential additions to the built environment—incremental 3D fabrics of twigs, grass, and weeds—serve to augment that built environment through inhuman architectural means.


text:
I was browsing through my polish and came across this amazing glitter bomb from Lush Lacquer. I'm not sure what took me so long to try her out but I am completely in love! I used 1 coat of Black Friday over Wet N' Wild Black. This is a beautiful combination and the glitter just pops over black. It's like a party on my nails.
I picked up Purity during the Sephora sale. Purity was a pure-challenge to apply. I'm not sure if it was due to me being tired or just a bad formula. Either way, it took quite a bit of cleaning to get a decent appearance. It is gorgeous, so I guess it was worth all of the trouble and the 3 coats.
Those are my latest NOTD's. Hope you like them. Thanks for stopping by!


text:
February 27, 2012 ☼ information ☼ information age ☼ information warfare ☼ intelligence ☼ journalism ☼ morality ☼ newspaper ☼ privacy ☼ Public Policy ☼ Security ☼ wikileaks
This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.
When Wikileaks indiscriminately leaked diplomatic correspondence it had the fig leaf of claiming it was exposing wrongdoing by governments. Never mind that it put the lives and safety of informants in authoritarian countries at risk while only revealing details of how international diplomacy is conducted. Those details might have surprised ordinary people who were unfamiliar with the workings of their foreign ministries and embassies, they didn't achieve any lofty public purpose. As I argued then, they might have conversely caused governments to tighten up their information silos to the detriment of the public interest.
Now, when Wikileaks has indiscriminately leaked the email archives of a private firm, Stratfor, there is no fig leaf of any kind left. Stratfor is a private intelligence company that collects and sells geopolitical analysis to private and government buyers. The nature of its business requires it to seek out informants, negotiate with them and pay them. It might procure leads from US government agencies and sell them information. All this is in the nature of its business.
Some people might be appalled that other people do this kind of business, but it is a legitimate business. Stratfor didn't claim to be the Red Cross or a humanitarian organisation. It claims to be "a subscription-based provider of geopolitical analysis…(using) a unique, intelligence-based approach to gathering information via rigorous open-source monitoring and a global network of human sources." It is what it says it is. It operates legally.
If Julian Assange or anyone else knows of specific instances of wrongdoing or illegal activity by Stratfor or its employees, the right thing to do is register a complaint with the relevant law-enforcement authorities. If Mr Assange has evidence of illegality, the only ethical thing for him to do is to hand it over to the authorities. Wholesale, indiscriminate leaking of private information—because you dislike Stratfor's business or suspect illegality—is neither ethical nor moral. It is quite likely illegal.
From what we know of Julian Assange, he lacks the moral compass to make these fairly obvious ethical judgements. The Hindu, though, does (or, perhaps, used to). I often disagree with the newspaper's editorial line. However, until the Indian newspaper's dalliance with Wikileaks, I did not have reason to complain about its basic ethics. No longer. It is unclear just how a reputed institution like The Hindu could be a willing collaborator with Mr Assange on the violation of the privacy of a private company.
If the editors of The Hindu believe that invading Stratfor's privacy is somehow acceptable then they ought to start by opening up their own corporate email systems to the public. Make every email and phone call public. Surely the public has a right to know the names of the informants who talk to the newspaper's journalists? Surely the public must know what the journalists tell each other and to their editors? So what if the informants are honest whistleblowers risking their lives or crafty officials manipulating public opinion? Let's have it. Let the people decide!
If The Hindu's editors think that their own emails are private information, why then are they denying that right to Stratfor?
Update: In an editorial note published on February 28th, the newspaper justifies its collaboration with Wikileaks on two premises. First, that "confidentiality and privacy cannot be invoked as a cover for wrongdoing or unethical behavior"; and second, "the unusual nature of Stratfor's business — in essence, providing intelligence to clients who include governments and large corporations, some embroiled in serious controversies, like Dow Chemical — means that there is a compelling public interest in studying the e-mails to see if they cast light on corporate or governmental wrong-doing."
This is sophistry. The ethical question here is how can we know a priori that there is wrongdoing? Is it ethical for individuals and newspapers to steal private property (or deal with thieves) merely on suspicion? Even the police can't search without warrant. So if I suspect The Hindu of being on the payroll of the Chinese Communist Party, it it acceptable for me to hack into their email systems, or ransack their offices, to look for evidence of "wrongdoing or unethical behavior"? Clearly not.
And surely the "unusual nature of StratFor's business" is not that unusual. For instance, "the unusual nature of The Hindu's business - in essence providing information to clients who include governments, large corporations, rapists, convicts and enemies of India, some embroiled in serious controversies like the 2G scam and the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka — means that there is a compelling public interest in studying the emails to see if they cast light on corporate or governmental wrong-doing."
So let The Hindu open up its email archives to me. I will be 'acutely aware that my use of this material imposes special obligations upon me, in particular to respect the privacy of the legitimate business activities and private correspondence of The Hindu, its staff and those they may have corresponded with. In my reportage, I shall do my utmost to respect this obligation, by only publishing material if it clearly points to corporate or government wrong-doing or unethical behaviour, and thus meets the test of compelling public interest.'
If this proposal strikes you as preposterous, it is because it is. Strangely, and unfortunately, The Hindu's editors are doing just this to someone else.
© Copyright 2003-2024. Nitin Pai. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Vintage Blush
Katherine's winning formula of elegant corded lace and classic high neckline make our beautiful lace dress a star. Now in sensuous scarlet red with a discreet side closure for a smooth fit over hips.
Midnight blue worn by Judy Murray at Wimbledon 2015
The matt and sheen contrast are just some of the hallmarks of Alie Street tailoring, an added detail to make you feel impeccably dressed for whatever your next special occasion demands.
Details to love – Classic high neckline, flattering knee length skirt with side zip, ¾ sleeves, luxurious lace.
Skirt length from under bust to hem: Approx 67cm.


text:
EXTRACT: 'Every new technology comes with some benefits and some risks. I think probably the risks associated with widespread planting of Bt corn were not fully assessed.' - Todd V. Royer, Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs
NOTE: Once published, the paper will be available at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0707177104v1
GM Corn May Affect Aquatic Ecosystems, Indiana University Study Says
Press Release -- October 8, 2007 -- BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A study by an Indiana University environmental science professor and several colleagues suggests a widely planted variety of genetically engineered corn has the potential to harm aquatic ecosystems. The study is being published online this week by the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.
Researchers, including Todd V. Royer, an assistant professor in the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs, established that pollen and other plant parts containing toxins from genetically engineered Bt corn are washing into streams near cornfields.
They also conducted laboratory trials that found consumption of Bt corn byproducts produced increased mortality and reduced growth in caddisflies, aquatic insects that are related to the pests targeted by the toxin in Bt corn.
Caddisflies, Royer said, 'are a food resource for higher organisms like fish and amphibians. And, if our goal is to have healthy, functioning ecosystems, we need to protect all the parts. Water resources are something we depend on greatly.'
Other principal investigators for the study, titled 'Toxins in transgenic crop byproducts may affect headwater stream ecosystems,' were Emma Rosi-Marshall of Loyola University Chicago, Jennifer Tank of the University of Notre Dame and Matt Whiles of Southern Illinois University. It was funded by the National Science Foundation.
Bt corn is engineered to include a gene from the micro-organism Bacillus thuringiensis, which produces a toxin that protects the crop from pests, in particular the European corn borer. It was licensed for use in 1996 and quickly gained popularity. In 2006, around 35 percent of corn acreage planted in the U.S. was genetically modified, the study says, citing U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
Before licensing Bt corn, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conducted trials to test its impact on water biota. But it used Daphnia, a crustacean commonly used for toxicity tests, and not insects that are more closely related to the target pests, Royer said.
Royer emphasized that, if there are unintended consequences of planting genetically engineered crops, farmers shouldn't be held responsible. In a competitive agricultural economy, producers have to use the best technologies they can get.
'Every new technology comes with some benefits and some risks,' he said. 'I think probably the risks associated with widespread planting of Bt corn were not fully assessed.'
There was a public flap over the growing use of Bt corn in 1999, when a report indicated it might harm monarch butterflies. But studies coordinated by the government's Agriculture Research Service and published in PNAS concluded there was not a significant threat to monarchs. Around that time, Royer said, he and his colleagues wondered whether the toxin from Bt corn was getting into streams near cornfields; and, if so, whether it could have an impact on aquatic insects.
Their research, conducted in 2005 and 2006 in an intensely farmed region of northern Indiana, measured inputs of Bt corn pollen and corn byproducts (e.g., leaves and cobs) in 12 headwater streams, using litter traps to collect the materials. They also found corn pollen in the guts of certain caddisflies, showing they were feeding on corn pollen.
In laboratory trials, the researchers found caddisflies that were fed leaves from Bt corn had growth rates that were less than half those of caddisflies fed non-Bt corn litter. They also found that a different type of caddisfly had significantly increased mortality rates when exposed to Bt corn pollen at concentrations between two and three times the maximum found in the test sites.
Royer said there was considerable variation in the amount of corn pollen and byproducts found at study locations. And there is likely also to be significant geographical variation; farmers in Iowa and Illinois, for example, are planting more Bt corn than those in Indiana. The level of Bt corn pollen associated with increased mortality in caddisflies, he said, 'could potentially represent conditions in streams of the western Corn Belt.'
GM Corn May Affect Aquatic Ecosystems, Indiana University Study Says
- Details


text:
Vincent Stanley, a 40-year veteran of Patagonia and co-author of "The Responsible Company," spoke to students about the company's quest for sustainability.
Today Patagonia has annual sales of $500 million, but its mission statement still reflects the practicality and ideology of its early years: to "build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis."
How Patagonia has been able to grow yet maintain its values was the topic addressed by Vincent Stanley, the company's acting vice president of marketing, in a talk entitled "Patagonia's First 40 Years: Achieving Profits Responsibly." A nephew of Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, Stanley has been with the company since 1973. He visited Tuck at the invitation of the Center for Business & Society and, after his talk, had lunch with a select group of Tuck students.
The piton issue showed Patagonia that its business could be successful and have a positive effect on the environment. The lesson came up again in 1988 in Boston, where the company opened its third retail store. Immediately after the store opened, employees began calling in sick with severe headaches. It turned out that they were inhaling toxic chemicals that were off-gassing from the new cotton clothing stored in the basement. The chemicals had been applied to the cotton as pesticides and, later on, to prevent mildew in shipping. Realizing that the conventional cotton industry was harming the environment as well as Patagonia's employees, the company decided to shift to organic cotton, taking a mere 18 months to alter the supply chain for 66 products. "We had to pray for rain, guarantee the loans of cotton farmers, and learn all the processes of clothes making," Stanley explained. "It really taught us how to talk to suppliers and negotiate."
In 2005, Patagonia focused on the other end of the product lifecycle, initiating the Common Threads clothing recycling program. First it started taking back used Capilene underwear, which it would send to Japan to be melted down, re-extruded and turned into new underwear. Then it added fleece to the list, and in 2010 the company announced it would accept any of its clothes to be recycled. This "cradle-to-cradle" sensibility came out of the belief that it wasn't sufficient to make better products that were less harmful to the environment; "we also had to question what we make and not buy what we don't need," Stanley said.
Patagonia took a more public step in that direction in 2011 when it bought a full page advertisement in the New York Times for its R2 fleece jacket. Departing sharply from the typical marketing message, the advertisement declared "Don't Buy This Jacket," and then explained the ecological footprint of the product and urged customers to not "buy what you don't need" and "think twice before you buy anything." It was a bold way to both tout its own high-quality, long-lasting products, and discourage the kind of rampant consumerism that is hurting the planet.
It's unlikely such a strategy could come out of a public corporation, and the Chouinards know it. They could have sold the company years ago, but they "wanted to use the business as a pulpit and laboratory," Stanley said. Toward those ends, Stanley and Chouinard co-authored "The Responsible Company," a book that attempts to show other businesses how they can become more sustainable. Patagonia also worked with Walmart to create an index of social responsibility for the apparel industry. Called the "Higg Index 1.0," the indicator-based tool helps companies evaluate their product inputs and facilities to gauge sustainability and make improvements. The index is an effort by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, which has 82 members and includes names such as Nike, Levi's and H&M.
Patagonia is still small compared to the Walmarts and Nikes it is trying to influence, but its successes over the years have given the company confidence to effect change on a larger scale. Stanley is optimistic about corporate sustainability, especially because most MBA graduates today have had some exposure to it during business school. Tuck is no exception. With its Center for Business & Society and courses such as Business and Climate Change, Tuck students have many opportunities to learn how businesses can make the economy more sustainable.


text:
Well, that was quick. Several hours after Mitt Romney told an Iowa heckler that "corporations are people, my friend" the DNC is up with a video lampooning the quote. Featuring the smooth sounds of Barbara Streisand's "People," no less.
Note to Willard: Ya stepped on yer dick but good this time, numbnuts. Wishing you continued success at waffle-stompin' yer unit.


text:
The case of Simon Mol will become a cause celebre for racists everywhere.
Simon Mol has tested positive for HIV. In itself this is distressing. There are at least four girls who have also tested positive for HIV – with what they are calling an 'African' strain of the disease.
But the issue is not whether Simon has HIV – it's about what Mol's motives were when having sex with the girls. Polish Radio reports:
Polish Police are looking for women who have had sexual contact with the Cameroonian refugee, poet and journalist Simon Moleke [his proper name], who has been charged and arrested for intentionally infecting women with the HIV virus.
The implication is that Mol knew he had HIV and has been going around Warsaw, not just casually and carelessly having unprotected sex with girls, but trying to give women a potentially deadly disease!
That is an amazing claim and one I don't know how the police substantiate.
Whatever – the case is taking on a political character. Even in the Polish Radio report, politics creeps in:
The case has surfaced only recently, but as records on the internet forum of the Green Party website show, the intentional spreading of HIV by Moleke might have been known to the leftist activist circles as early as over half a year ago.
I imagine the writer of that report means a post dated June 28, 2006 on the forum of zieloni.org.pl (the Green party web site) warning that Mol was 'spreading HIV' around Warsaw.
Mol has connections to the Green Party in Poland.
June, remember, was the month when the claims (in fact, exactly the same text on exactly the same day) that he was deliberately spreading HIV first emerged online at poezja.org , a supposedly cultured web site in Poland for poetry lovers.
In fact, it was someone called 'ppp' who posted both warnings (see comments in previous post). So the readers of a poetry web site plus Green Party forum readers knew about this. But they were not trying to keep it a secret. That's why they put this message online.
Racists lick their lips
The crude racism that has been appearing on these web sites (and there has been some nasty stuff) is nothing to remarks made on an international white supremacist web site with the jolly title Pan Aryan National Front.
If the ramblings of racist morons makes you physically sick then don't read this next bit. Under aliases such as LR Eichmann (naturally) our charming racists comment:
….A gift of multiracialism... HIV, AIDS, sexual diseases, rapes, without forgotting [sic] more steals, more homicides, etc.... Why do even the white girls from Poland believe niggers are good persons?
…….kill him, and send those girls with that mind to the nuns!....or better butcher the nigger…
……Poor white girls.... but they were FUCKING STUPID. Sleep with the dog and wake up with fleas!
And so on, literally ad nauseam.
Mol has a high profile in the Polish media. He is Poland's 'celebrity refugee'. Whatever the outcome of this case, racists are going to use it for their own destructive ends.
I am sure poezja.org had a forum about this. But now that forum thread has suddenly disappeared. Why?


text:
89mm x 4mm Paper Lollipop sticks x 12,200
- High quality paper lollipop sticks
- 7 Sizes Stocked
- Manufactured from food grade virgin pulp
- Environmentally friendly and biodegradable
- Custom sizes available on request
Our paper lollipop sticks are manufactured from quality virgin pulp which is FDA approved for all food uses.
Yolli lollipop sticks are used by leading professionals around the world. They are popular with both home hobbyists and industrial users.
Our paper lollipop sticks are manufactured to extremely fine tolerances ensuring a consistent length and diameter. They are equally suited for operation in high speed production lines as they are for artisan hand made products.
We can supply paper lollipop sticks in any size or quantity. If you are a large user then you should contact us directly to discuss your requirements.
- Solid section paper lollipops sticks
- Manufactured from FDA approved virgin pulp
- 7 sizes available from stock.
- Delivered factory packed and sealed to ensure they reach you in perfect condition


text: On Thu, 28 Sep 2006, Clements, Brent M (SAIC) wrote: > Ok, here is the code I'm working with....mkdir keeps giving me a -1 > failure...can anyone spot what I"m doing wrong? What is errno on the return? That might give you an idea of what is causing the problem (see list of error codes in man 2 mkdir). > char fullpath[10000]; > sprintf(fullpath,"/tmp/oooo/RANK%d", my_rank); > printf("MY PATH TO CREATE %s", fullpath); > int mkdir_return; > mkdir_return = mkdir(fullpath,0777); > printf("mkdir results: %d\n", mkdir_return); Um, does /tmp/oooo exist? I don't think mkdir(2) does the equivalent of mkdir -p and create parent directories as required. Also are the slaves successfully printing out the line(s) showing that they have fullpath set as you expect? rgb -- Robert G. Brown http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/ Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305 Durham, N.C. 27708-0305 Phone: 1-919-660-2567 Fax: 919-660-2525 email:rgb at phy.duke.edu


text:
Fiscal Cliff Negotiations: Another Week Wasted?
Republican House Speaker John Boehner accused U.S. President Barack Obama of pushing the country toward the "fiscal cliff" on Friday and of wasting another week without making progress in talks.
With three weeks left before a combination of steep tax hikes and deep spending cuts kicks in unless Congress intervenes, Boehner said the administration had adopted a "my way or the highway" approach and was engaging in reckless talk about going over the cliff.
"This isn't a progress report because there is no progress to report," Boehner told reporters at the Capitol. "The president has adopted a deliberate strategy to slow-walk our economy right to the edge of the fiscal cliff."
The bleak report from Boehner prolonged the economic uncertainty surrounding the cliff, which has already riled markets, slowed down business decisions and disrupted the budgeting processes for government at all levels across the country.
Economists say going over the cliff could throw the economy back into a recession.
Obama has called for extending the tax cuts set to expire on December 31 for middle-class taxpayers but letting them rise for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. Boehner and Republicans oppose his plan, preferring to find new revenues by closing loopholes and reducing deductions.
Boehner characterized as "reckless talk" Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's comment this week that the administration was prepared to go over the cliff if tax rates for the wealthiest were not increased.
The downbeat assessment was in line with what Boehner has offered for weeks as the two sides hold their ground on Obama's call for raising tax rates and Republican calls for cuts in entitlements like the Medicare and Medicaid healthcare programs for seniors and the poor.
Congressional aides said there were no plans for meetings on the issue this weekend. Future talks will be limited to Boehner and Obama and their staffs as the deadline approached, aides said.
Boehner said his telephone conversation with Obama on Wednesday and renewed staff talks on Thursday had not made any progress.
"The phone call was pleasant, but it was just more of the same. Even the conversations the staff had yesterday were just more of the same. It's time for the president, if he's serious, to come back to us with a counteroffer," Boehner said.
Boehner and the House of Representatives leadership submitted their terms for a deal to the White House on Monday, after Obama offered his opening proposal last week.
The plans from both sides would cut deficits by more than $4 trillion over the next 10 years but differ on how to get there. Republicans want more drastic spending cuts in entitlement programs, while Obama wants to raise more revenue with tax increases and to boost some spending to spur the sluggish economy.
Vice President Joe Biden said the administration was prepared to consider "any serious offer" from Republicans and "theoretically" could negotiate how high tax rates must rise.
"The top brackets have to go up," Biden said during a visit to a Virginia diner. "Theoretically, we can negotiate how far up, but we think it should go - the top rate should go to 39.6 percent."
Boehner also did not rule out a compromise on raising tax rates on the richest Americans. Potential options include boosting the rates above the current 35 percent but short of the 39.6 percent rate proposed by Obama, or raising the income threshold higher than the $250,000 sought by the White House.
"There are a lot of things that are possible to put the revenue that the president seeks on the table," Boehner said.
With polling showing most Americans would blame Republicans if the country goes off the cliff, more House Republicans have been urging Boehner to get an agreement quickly, even if it means tax hikes for the wealthiest.
But Boehner could have a challenge selling an eventual agreement to conservative Tea Party sympathizers in the House, some of whom are openly critical of the concessions the speaker has already made.
Boehner has been under fire from the right for proposing $800 billion in new revenue and for removing from House committees four conservative Republican lawmakers who were seen as bucking the leadership.
"When he couples this conservative purging with a negotiated tax increase of $800 billion, we are starting to see more and more signs that he's not dedicated to fiscally conservative beliefs," Andrew Roth of the influential anti-tax group Club for Growth told Fox News.
Once the question of whether to raise tax rates is resolved, the two sides will try to figure out a way to deal with the spending cuts, perhaps postponing or trimming them. They will also work toward a longer-term deficit-reduction package to be taken up after the new Congress is sworn in next month.
At a news conference on Friday, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi threw her support behind a White House proposal to give Obama power to raise U.S. borrowing authority without legislation from Congress.
The debt ceiling issue, which provoked a 2011 showdown that led to a downgrade of the U.S. credit rating, has become entwined in the fiscal cliff debate. The debt limit will need to be raised in the next few months.
"The White House and House Democrats are on the same page on the debt ceiling," Pelosi said.


text:
A model predicts that the world's populations will stop growing in 2050
- Date:
- April 4, 2013
- Source:
- Plataforma SINC
- Summary:
- Global population data spanning the years from 1900 to 2010 have enabled a research team to predict that the number of people on Earth will stabilize around the middle of the century.
- Share:
Global population data spanning the years from 1900 to 2010 have enabled a research team from the Autonomous University of Madrid to predict that the number of people on Earth will stabilise around the middle of the century. The results, obtained with a model used by physicists, coincide with the UN's downward forecasts.
According to United Nations' estimates, the world population in 2100 will be within a range between 15.8 billion people according to the highest estimates -high fertility variant- and 6.2 billion according to the lowest -- low fertility variant-, a figure that stands below the current 7 billion.
A mathematical model developed by a team from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) and the CEU-San Pablo University, both from Spain, seems to confirm the lower estimate, in addition to a standstill and even a slight drop in the number of people on Earth by the mid-21st century.
The population prospects between 1950 and 2100 provided by the UN were used to conduct the study, published in the journal 'Simulation'. Mathematical equations which are used in scientific fields, such as condensed matter physics, were then applied to this data.
"This is a model that describes the evolution of a two-level system in which there is a probability of passing from one level to another," as explained by Félix F. Muñoz, UAM researcher and co-author of the project.
The team considered Earth as a closed and finite system where the migration of people within the system has no impact and where the fundamental principle of the conservation of mass -biomass in this case- and energy is fulfilled.
"Within this general principle, the variables that limit the upper and lower zone of the system's two levels are the birth and mortality rates," Muñoz pointed out and recalled the change that occurred in the ratio between the two variables throughout the last century.
"We started with a general situation where both the birth rate and mortality rate were high, with slow growth favouring the former," he added, "but the mortality rate fell sharply in the second half of the 20th century as a result of advances in healthcare and increased life expectancy and it seemed that the population would grow a lot. However, the past three decades have also seen a steep drop-off in the number of children being born worldwide."
The model's S-shaped sigmoid curve reflects this situation with an inflection point in the mid-1980s when the speed at which the population is growing starts to slow down until it stabilises around 2050.
The data also reflect the downward trend in the UN's series of prospects. "Overpopulation was a spectre in the 1960s and 70s but historically the UN's low fertility variant forecasts have been fulfilled," Muñoz highlighted.
As recently as 1992 it was predicted that there would be 7.17 billion people on Earth by 2010 instead of the actual 6.8 billion. In fact, the fertility rate has fallen by more than 40% since 1950.
"This work is another aspect to be taken into consideration in the debate, although we do not deal with the significant economic, demographic and political consequences that the stabilisation and aging of the world population could entail," the researcher concluded.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Plataforma SINC. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Cite This Page: