text: Sunday School Calendar When: February 9, 2020 @ 9:30 am – 10:30 am Repeats 2020-02-09T09:30:00-05:00 2020-02-09T10:30:00-05:00 Where: First Baptist Church New Bethlehem PA Sunday School classes children and adults. Come and grow with us! By |February 6th, 2018|Comments Off on Sunday School Share This Story, Choose Your Platform! FacebookTwitterLinkedinRedditTumblrGoogle+PinterestVkEmail About the Author:


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The final season of Mad Men will air in two 7-episode parts, AMC announced on Tuesday.
"This approach has worked well for many programs across multiple networks, and, most recently for us with Breaking Bad which attracted nearly double the number of viewers to its second half premiere than had watched any previous episode," AMC President Charlie Collier said in a statement. "We are determined to bring Mad Men a similar showcase. In an era where high-end content is savored and analyzed, and catch-up time is used well to drive back to live events, we believe this is the best way to release the now 14 episodes than remain of this iconic series."
Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner on the end of the show and life after Don Draper
Creator Matthew Weiner added: "We plan to take advantage of this chance to have a more elaborate story told in two parts, which can resonate a little bit longer in the minds of our audience. The writers, cast and other artists welcome this unique manner of ending this unique experience."
The first part of the final season, dubbed "The Beginning," premieres in the spring, and the final installment, titled "The End of an Era," will air in 2015.
Are you bummed Mad Men is splitting its season?

subset: commoncrawl


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text: Have you reached that certain age? Are you more likely to shake your rolling pin than your booty? Is there stuff you'd like to get off your saggy old chest? Then join us for a live grump fest. Jenny Eclair, self appointed form captain of grumpy old women hosts an orgy of middle aged mayhem, 90 minutes of theatrical HRT with not a thong in sight. Inspired by the ratings bursting BBC 2 series and best selling Grumpy Old Women handbook, the show is a celebration of the pre, peri and post menopausal female condition. Don't forget your bifocals. No heckling, but 'tutting' allowed. Be home in time for Desperate Housewives and to put a wash on. Marvellous.


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Climate cash-in
Western farmers and ranchers use crops - and cows - to tap into the carbon market
Seibert, Colo., farmer Curtis Sayles isn't sure what he thinks about global warming.
He practices eco-friendly no-till farming on his 5,000-acre spread because he believes it's good for his soil. Wary of most "environmental" causes, he says, "I'm not about saving the whales."
Nonetheless, last year Sayles enrolled in a program designed to help curb greenhouse gas emissions. He sells the rights to the 1,000 metric tons of carbon his farming methods keep in the ground (and out of the air) through the Chicago Climate Exchange, whose members purchase carbon credits to offset their own pollution. At about $5,000 annually, he isn't getting rich off the deal. But with federal carbon regulations on the horizon, Sayles is betting that prices will rise. If so, he - and a growing number of farmers and ranchers around the West who choose soil-saving practices - may be able to cash in. "We believe this is going to be the world's largest commodity market," says Ted Dodge, director of the National Carbon Offset Coalition, a Montana-based group that gathers and sells farm and ranch offsets to the CCX. In theory, better land-use practices in the West could keep over 19 million metric tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere per year, according to Colorado State University ecologist Richard Conant.
But because switching land-management styles can be expensive, most farmers and ranchers are unlikely to be interested unless carbon prices start rising. And some analysts worry that including farmers like Sayles - who are just continuing to do business as usual - in any market-based system may not lead to real reductions in new carbon emissions.
Agriculture is responsible for about 8 percent of the United States' greenhouse gas emissions. But farmers and ranchers can alter that equation - and create other environmental benefits - by changing how they use their land. Practices such as no-till, where crops are planted without disturbing the soil, slow decomposition and keep more carbon in the ground and out of the atmosphere, says Conant. No-till also reduces compaction and erosion, helping build more biodiverse soils that in turn support added plant growth.
Ranchers can do the same, mostly by reducing the number of cows on their land and rotating them frequently through pastures. This allows the return of native grasses, which suck carbon from the air and store it in their roots. The new grasses also help restore ecosystems punished by years of overgrazing. "The time is now to embrace some of these new approaches that will hopefully encourage sustainable rangeland management in the future," says Newkirk, N.M., rancher Jim Thorpe, whose rotational grazing practices earn him about $15,000 per year for the 3,375 tons of carbon stored in his 12,500-acre spread. "Certainly the opportunity to have another income source is welcome," he adds.
An increasing number of Western farmers and ranchers agree. By April 2008, carbon offsets from at least 2.1 million Western acres were for sale on the CCX, representing about 570,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide kept out of the air per year. (The United States would need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 1 billion metric tons to get to 1990 emissions levels.)
There is a catch: Thorpe, Sayles and most of the others enrolled in the current agricultural offset market are not actually making a dent in new emissions. Rather, they're getting paid to do something they've been doing for years. And finding new recruits may be difficult: With carbon prices at only $6 a metric ton, plow-happy farmers and heavy-handed ranchers have little incentive to change their ways.
No-till equipment is expensive, says Sayles, and many farmers are resistant to change. Sayles, who refers to his own carbon credit earnings as "beer money," estimates farmers will need to be paid at least $10 an acre (equivalent to nearly $40 per metric ton of carbon) in order to convert. That could happen, says Dodge. Prices in the European Climate Exchange, which trades carbon under the mandatory European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, are nearing that figure, and the U.S. is inching toward its own carbon cap-and-trade scheme.
But EcoSecurities consultant Mark Trexler, who has worked in the carbon offsets industry for over 20 years, is uncertain whether farmers like Sayles should even be included in the carbon market. Offsets need to be verifiable (meaning the amount of carbon stored can be scientifically confirmed) and permanent. And, he believes, they should be "additional." That means the extra income from selling carbon offsets is what actually enables a farmer or rancher to change land-use practices.
"You do want to have real reductions in carbon emissions," agrees Boise State University economist Sian Mooney. "And paying people to just continue their current practices obviously doesn't result in any additional reductions in emissions."
A strict offset market, which is necessary if the U.S. is serious about combating climate change, might have farmers sign contracts to practice no-till for at least 60 years. That could be a tough swallow for farmers who currently sign five-year contracts. It also probably wouldn't let folks like Sayles and Thorpe, who already employ soil-saving practices, into the system. And farmers and ranchers might have trouble meeting the high standards needed to verify exact emissions, since figuring out exactly how much carbon is stored in various agricultural soils across the country requires detailed, expensive and still-imprecise science.
"It's just not clear how effective carbon markets will be in changing land-management practices," says Trexler. "(But) we absolutely need to find ways to incentivize farmers and ranchers to take carbon into account."
Trexler thinks it might be a good idea to simply pay farmers and ranchers directly to use progressive methods, rather than involve them in the whole carbon market.
"Everybody wants to cash in on this," he says. "(But) at the end of the day, if you let everybody cash in on this in ways that don't actually increase the amount of carbon being avoided, you could have a real problem."
Stephanie Paige Ogburn is a staff writer for the Cortez Journal in Colorado.


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Oliver: Education has Value
The following opinion piece by President Rob Oliver appears in the Monday, March 26, edition of the Argus Leader:
Education has more value than 'stuff'
I think it's time to have a serious talk about values.
What do you value in your life?
For me, above all, I value the relationships I've been blessed with. My wife, my children, my extended family, and my friends have all helped shape me into who I am today. And, for their love, support and guidance, I am eternally grateful.
Beyond my relationships and my faith in God, what I value most is my education. It was, as I've often said, what provided me with a coveted membership to the lifelong club of eternal curiosity. The more I've learned, the more I've questioned, discussed and explored — all in an effort to seek solutions that I hope will one day make a difference in the lives of others.
So I can't help but feel exasperated at the news that, in an effort to save about $6 billion annually, Congress is proposing to allow interest rates on Federal Stafford loans to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.
At the same time the government is proposing to charge our young people more —twice as much more — to learn the technical, creative and critical reasoning skills they'll need to pilot our country tomorrow, the rates on items most categorize as elements of the "American Dream" — homes, cars and property — are at historic lows.
According to bankrate.com, an aggregator of financial rate information, the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage ranges from 3.80 percent to 4.70 percent. The average rate for an auto loan ranges from 3.25 percent to 3.77 percent (that's the average; countless dealerships offer 0 percent financing).
In other words, if Congress doesn't act soon, it will be cheaper to finance a home than it will be to finance an education.
I've always believed that public policy was intended to reflect the values of its citizenry. If we're willing to essentially double the cost of borrowing for an education — which according to the South Dakota Board of Regents' FY2011 Factbook has been proven to "improve voter participation, volunteerism and civic engagement, and raise aggregate income" — while continuing to decrease the cost of tangible items, are we in effect saying we value "stuff" more than knowledge and creativity?
If that's the case, what does that tell us about our society?
Don't we, as citizens, have a moral responsibility to leave this country a better place than what we found it?
I think we do. I also believe that the only way to ensure a strong and lasting economy while building a civil society is through education. Without education, how will the young people of today find better ways to preserve our environment, guarantee equality, extend life, advocate for humanity, strengthen our communities, share cultures and advance technology tomorrow?
I'd like to publicly thank U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson, who is co-sponsoring legislation to keep Federal Stafford Loan interest rates at the lower level. And I'd like to ask each of you, my fellow citizens, to join me in lobbying our elected officials to support Johnson's efforts.
Let's send a message to our elected officials about what we really value in America.


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Several years ago I was outside on my deck, watering a potted ficus tree, when I felt something in my hair. I reached up to brush it away and felt a sting on my hand. A moment later, I saw a spider fall to the deck and scurry away.
I don't generally kill spiders, not even in my house. Someone once told me it was bad luck, and the last thing I need is the Ayatollah Arachnid putting out a fatwa against me. However, I killed his one, because my hand hurt and that didn't seem fair.
A short time later, my niece called. I told her about my encounter with the spider.
"OMIGOD!" she said. "If it was a brown recluse spider, you're going to die!"
I didn't want to overreact, but my hand was becoming red, swollen, and very painful. So after we hung up, I went out to the deck to conduct a follow-up investigation. The spider was lying inert, legs pointed to the sky in that dead bug repose. I took a closer look and here's what I saw:
Overreaction aside, I raced to by computer to consult Dr. Internet:
The female black widow gives the more serious bite, but its bite is rarely lethal. You can identify this spider by the red hourglass marking on its belly. The bite feels like a pinprick. You may not even know you've been bitten. At first you may notice only slight swelling and faint red marks. Within a few hours, though, intense pain and stiffness begin. Other signs and symptoms of a black widow spider bite include:
* Chills
* Fever
* Nausea
* Severe abdominal pain
(Here's where I'd normally show you pictures of people with grotesque, flesh-eating spider bites, but I'll spare you in case you're eating breakfast.)
I waited to sense the debut of symptoms and fantasized about shooting spidey webs from my fingertips.
In fact, nothing happened. It took a few days, but the swelling receded and life went on.
Fast forward to a couple of days ago. I woke up with a series of seven bites along the right side of my body. They were about the size of shirt buttons and looked like the work of mosquitoes. I got up and showered, but as I was toweling off, I noticed the bites were now painful and swollen. They had also grown to the size of quarters, compelling me to again consult Dr. Internet.
The Mayo Clinic had this to say:
In some cases, hypersensitivity to mosquito bites may be associated with an underlying medical condition, such as chronic lymphocytic lymphoma or certain viral infections, such as Epstein-Barr virus.
That was more than I wanted to know.
The problem was I hadn't seen a mosquito in my neighborhood in decades. In addition, the bites were now the size of Montana. All I could think of was fatwa.
Again, I consulted Dr. Internet and was relieved to find that:
Spiders get a pretty bad rap in the world of first aid. Plenty of red, raised welts have been identified, either correctly or incorrectly, as spider bites. Despite the belief by many victims that spiders are responsible for their pain, spider bites are often harmless. Indeed, most spider bites go unnoticed and untreated…Almost all spiders are poisonous. That's how they hunt. Most spiders are too small, or their poison too weak, to be dangerous to humans.
That produced a breathy whew! Still, I consulted a flesh-and-blood doctor who advised me to wait and see. That was even a bigger relief.
With so much information only a mouse click away, have you ever used the Internet to diagnose a medical problem? Did you find all that information comforting, confusing, frightening?
Happy Monday!


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What about are U talking hometown or did U say these words to Mick?Quote:
The riddle no one can ever solve.
You dont even have time or chance to solve it...
Try to teach her to know all the best and the most beautiful things you know about this world, and remember to teach her about the prides of being blessed to live in the US and how to protect it. I am serious.
I just hope she will never learn any bad behaviors from her father !!!


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Zero Dark Thirty, the multifaceted story of the hunt to find Osama bin Laden, marks producer/director Kathryn Bigelow's second collaboration with writer Mark Boal and her most ambitious production to date. The film encompasses sweeping events spanning nearly a decade across multiple countries and involving a cast of hundreds. From the naturalistic performances of an ensemble that includes Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, Kyle Chandler, and Edgar Ramirez, to innovative cinematography in extreme low-light conditions, to the painstakingly layered art direction, every facet of the production became a proving ground for Bigelow to make living history come alive on screen.
At the film's press day, Bigelow, Boal, Chastain and Clarke talked about the challenges of telling a story where the audience already knows the ending, how all the characters are based on real people, why the Department of Defense did not vet the script, why they included enhanced interrogation scenes, how Bigelow collaborated with her creative team on the look and tone of the film, and why the raid was the most logistically demanding scene. Chastain also discussed how she approached Maya, the film's strong central character, and revealed she's now starring in The Heiress on Broadway.
Question: It must be very gratifying to become Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow and have everyone anticipate your next movie and assume it's going to be good. Is a part of you feeling like, "Hello, where were you for K-19 and Strange Days and The Weight of Water?"
Kathryn Bigelow: No, I'm just so gratified. Obviously, The Hurt Locker received a certain amount of attention and I'm so honored by that. It was both a very surprising experience, but also again just so gratifying.
There was news today about a Navy Seal killed in a rescue operation. Do you have any thoughts on what happened and the fact that they're still out there putting their lives on the line today to protect our country?
Mark Boal: I don't think either of us has seen that report. We've been in our hotel room. Have you seen that?
Jason Clarke: No. I haven't seen anything.
Bigelow: I did see that report. Yes.
Do you have anything that you'd like to say?
Bigelow: Well, just other than it's a real tragedy.
So much of this movie is based on fact. How much of Jessica's character came from reality?
Boal: All the characters in the movie are based on real people. The dialogue is written because it's a screenplay and I'm compressing ten years into two hours. I took the information people gave me and had to reconstruct things to tell a story.
This is a film of a militarily sensitive nature. Did you have any concern for your own personal security in real life or about revealing certain things?
Boal: No, not really.
Bigelow: No.
Boal: Knock on wood.
How involved was the Department of Defense in the process?
Bigelow: The DOD didn't vet the screenplay. Had we gone down that road, there might have been a lot more assets available to us. It was a very smart decision on Mark's part to work off his material and to not have that extra layer imposed on him.
Kathryn, can you talk about the difficulty of doing a film about something that many people already know so many aspects?
Bigelow: Well, certainly, it doesn't lend itself to spoilers. I think what was so strong and what struck me so much about the screenplay was how inherently dramatic the story is and was and that ten year journey was. It was a very riveting, galvanizing story that gave us a real glimpse into the intelligence hunt on the ground through the eyes of the characters that Jessica and Jason play of what it would be like to hunt the world's most dangerous man — the dedication, the courage, the sacrifice and the price that they paid both personally and then some of their colleagues who did not survive. It was inherently a very dramatic piece. The fact that you knew the ending only amplified the drama.
Jessica, what type of research did you do to try and make your character as real as possible?
Jessica Chastain: I had three months before we started shooting. I went to school for it, I guess. I nicknamed Mark "the professor." I would sit with him and go through the screenplay and ask a lot of questions about the character I was playing and about the CIA. I did some reading. I found two books that were particularly helpful, The Looming Tower (The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright) and Michael Scheuer's book, Osama bin Laden. I was never able to meet the real woman it's based on because she's an undercover agent. I had to use my imagination to fill in the blanks where the research couldn't answer the questions. So, instead of going "OK…Jessica Chastain as CIA agent, this is what I would do," I tried to answer why she was recruited out of school. There's a child's drawing in Pakistan, American candy, certain things that would be reminders of the life that she was becoming a stranger to. I had to create on my own, but still stay faithful to the woman I'm portraying.
Did you talk to any CIA agents yourself?
Chastain: I talked to Mark Boal.
Directing is a male dominated profession, but you've proven women can do just as good a job. The CIA seems similar, but this film focuses on a female agent who is highly competent. Was that part of the attraction?
Bigelow: Good question. I have to say that if that character at the center of that hunt had been a man, I would have been very happy and eager to engage in that story as well. What was important to me was that this was a very strong character at the center of this hunt and that the movie doesn't engage necessarily in gender politics about that character. She is not defined by a man. She is not defined by a love interest. She is defined by her actions. I think that's a character that's very inspiring and is beautifully played by Jessica. It was exciting to me. I will say that I was surprised and excited that it was a woman. I was thrilled that it was a woman and to find out that there were women at the center of this hunt, but there were also a lot of men who worked very, very hard as well. It was a very wonderful screenplay, so I was very happy.
There are few films in recent times that have been prejudged as much as yours before anybody has seen it. Now that people are starting to see it, there is this discomfort level with having to accept the fact that the enhanced interrogation, as the story is told, yielded the clue that led to the discovery of where Osama bin Laden was in Abbottabad. Did your perspective on it change as you were doing the movie?
Boal: I know better than to speak before Jessica, but I'm going to jump in, because there are a couple of premises in your question that I want to take issue with, if that's okay, and then the writer will hide under the table. First of all, I think that it's a gross misrepresentation of the film to suggest that it shows this intelligence operation coming down to any single piece of information. I understand those scenes are graphic and unsparing and unsentimental, but I think what the film does over the course of more than two hours is show the complexity of the debate and the number of different ways that information came into the CIA, including in that particular scene. It shows that torture didn't stop the attack that the characters are worried about and that the information that Jessica and Jason's characters hear about occurs over a relatively civilized, with emphasis on relatively civilized, context of a hummus and tabouli lunch. But the first part of your question is totally true. The film was a political chew toy before I even wrote a word, and I think that will unfortunately continue and people will bring what they want to see. Our intention was to show the complexity of this debate which is fairly complicated and hopefully have people judge for themselves, but there does appear to be a mischaracterization on that front.
Chastain: That said, I can talk to you a little bit about the idea of what the film was before it came out. I am the worst at keeping secrets. I am the kind of person that the second I buy someone a Christmas present, I tell them what I bought them. I don't wait until Christmas. I'm not good at it. When I was cast in this, I was so excited about this character of Maya. I found her to be really inspiring, and the script was incredible. It was so eye-opening, but I had to keep it a secret. There was a lot of press coming out, and people were speculating that I was a Navy Seal wife and all this stuff. I had to hold my tongue for a year. I'm very excited that people are now seeing the film, and they're realizing it's not a propaganda film, and it doesn't have an agenda. It just tries to show this moment in history as accurately as possible. In regards to the difficult scenes that these people found themselves in, in playing the character, I felt so much compassion for this woman who really sacrificed so much for this mission. In our film, she becomes a stranger to herself at the end of the film. I loved her from the moment I read her and saw what Mark had created. He took the dry facts of this manhunt, the greatest manhunt in history, and what he was able to do with the dry facts was to create this amazing arc and put the light on the people who worked so hard that never get the acknowledgement for that. I have an enormous amount of compassion for everything they dealt with.
Clarke: I can say that those scenes were really difficult to shoot, but what I loved about the character, and I was always grateful to the people at this table, was that the journey of that man is there for all to see. You get to see exactly what happens, and the fact that it's coming back into the debate and everything else means that it's film showing in a way what you can't understand in a book or in a journalist's sound byte. For Dan (referring to his character), it's like Manny Pacquiao. You find that if you want to get a bit of skin, you'd better give a bit of skin, and it costs.
Was there any thought of not including the intense interrogation because it is such a hot potato?
Bigelow: All I can say is personally, as they both mentioned, those sequences were difficult to shoot. I wish it was not part of our history, but it was.
There is a scene where Maya is on the phone and we see a child's drawing on the wall behind her. Does your character have a child?
Chastain: In my backstory that I created from my imagination for my character, it wasn't her child, but it was some other part of a family.
Clarke: I also had a child's tattoo on a number of times. I think, in a way, it's great to make those things up about how these people maintain this life so far away, doing what they do, and the little things that get them through. For me, the tattoo and maybe the drawings are just something to touch on that kicks you back to home in some kind of way.
The scene where the monkey steals your character's ice cream cone stood out to me. Was there something symbolic you were saying with that?
Clarke: Well, that is one for the writer, but as an actor, you're always worried that the monkey is out-acting you. But reading that script for the first time, I'm the same way. It was one of the scenes that really struck out to me. This is one for Mr. Boal.
Boal: I don't know that I want to explain the symbolism, but it is something that was drawn from life. I was worried when we were shooting it that the monkeys weren't going to do what they were supposed to do, which was grab the ice cream. The great rule of screenwriting is, don't ever write anything involving children or animals for that reason. But they did great. They went right for the ice cream, just as scripted, so that was cool.
People tend to underestimate Maya throughout the film because she is beautiful and young and she ends up using that to her advantage. Has that ever come in handy in real life and how have you used it to your advantage?
Chastain: I have no idea how to answer that question. I think in the film, and what was great in this screenplay, and everything about her that's in the movie, is that at first glance people would dismiss Maya because she appears to be younger than she is. The only thing I can relate to with that is I remember when I was 7 or 8 years old saying I'm going to be an actress when I grew up, and everyone looked at me but [they were] not listening to me. You know, I'm not 17 years old.
Clarke: (laughs) I have her at 22.
Chastain: I've been working for a while. I went to Juilliard. I played a dead body on TV. I did a lot of theater day players. I guess that kind of determination and "Listen to me! Cast me!" probably connects to Maya.
How did Juilliard prepare you for something like this?
Chastain: In regards to school, I spent four years studying Shakespeare – iambic pentameter and all that – and to be honest, this text was more difficult than that, because not only has Mark taken the facts of what happened, but he has also created a very subtle character arc within it, and you find the humanity within what he's created. Juilliard absolutely helped me when preparing to speak very complex language, and it gave me the tools for the research I would need to do in order to be believable as a CIA agent.
Kathryn, can you talk about how you collaborated with your D.P. and creative team to create the look and the specific tone of the film?
Bigelow: I had an extraordinarily talented crew and a cinematographer named Greig Fraser, also an Australian, Jeremy Hindle, production designer, Paul Ottosson, sound designer, Alexander Desplat, composer, and both William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor for editors. I think it was very important to us, and certainly from the script, to really give the audience a sort of "you are there" feel to this piece. In other words, peel back the curtain of the intelligence hunt and get a glimpse of what it might be like to actually try to find a very sharp needle in a very big haystack, and to do it in a way that feels like it's unfolding in real time in front of you and around you. You're inside it, especially with the raid itself. The raid was the most challenging logistically, because we had to shoot in low light conditions to replicate a moonless night, and then no light conditions to use the night vision goggles, which were real night vision lenses that we adapted to our camera lenses, and they only work in zero light conditions. You have about 100 crew members and 22 Seals traipsing around a pitch black, rubble-strewn set which was kind of interesting. But again, the desire was to make it feel like you are there. I don't mean a lot of subjective camera, but nonetheless a kind of sense that it feels real and that it's unfolding around you in real time.
When you're on set shooting the film, you don't have the benefits of the music and the sound design. Now that you've seen the final film, what do you think?
Chastain: This was the first film I've ever done where I had no idea what it was going to look like when I finished. The experience of making the film was incredibly intense. There was a lot of guerilla-style filmmaking. We were always on our toes. We didn't have a lot of time for things. There's a lot of material to shoot very quickly in crowds. For example, the scene in the hallway with Kyle Chandler when I hand him his ass, that one in particular, when I saw it, I was really embarrassed watching it, because I've never seen myself like that before. I guess it's almost like having gone through a four-month black-out, and then someone has videotaped it, and you watch it and you go, "That's what happened!" I saw it once three weeks ago, so that feeling was really kind of shocking, and I haven't seen it with an audience yet. I'm going to see it tonight for the first time with an audience. I'm really excited about that.
Clarke: I found the way Kathryn shoots particularly [helpful]. It helps if you've been on a stage. There are four cameras going at the same time. It's not the traditional way where film is shot with reverses. As an actor, that's what you love. Once they get it all set-up, it's just you and the other guy or the other girl or the other people in the scene, and you just do it, and the camera finds it, and you keep going without a sense of "Hey, find your light" or "We're going to make this work" or whatever. It's just you become in this zone of "let's explore" like you do on stage. Each night you go back and you explore until she says, "Cut." I think that really helped. When I watched the film for the first time, I was watching myself in all the scenes. I was stunned by how seamless and selfless Kathryn had made this film, and I say this with all honesty, I could not see one moment of stitching or making of the movie. It just seemed to go. You're there to watch yourself or what's been cut out, and it was just like "Bang!" It went through. There was nothing fancy. There was nothing ostentatious. It just jumped in that river and went all the way to the very end of the Amazon, and I came out of there like, "I think I've seen something amazing. I'd better be quiet here because …"
Clarke: You're welcome.
Can you talk about the evolution of Maya from the beginning to the end of the movie? How did you handle that?
Chastain: Yes, there is a very definite arc for Maya. The wonderful thing about her, and actually the most difficult thing about her as an actor to play, is she is someone who does not explain her subtext. She doesn't take the time to say how she feels. She doesn't sit down and have a drink with someone and talk about her feelings. She's so haunted by this mission. A lot of the arc had to almost be mapped out before we even started shooting, so much so that I found chapters in the script that were marked by different markers for her when something might change. And, of course, Kathryn and Mark were very involved in this with me. Is she brushing her hair? What kind of effort does she put into herself when we see her? So, we understand something about her before she even opens her mouth. So much of Maya is told without her explaining it. It has to be seen in her appearance and in her eyes and how she's relating to the other characters. Because of that, for me, it's more difficult than a character like Celia Foote where you work on the voice, you change your body, you show up, and you do a scene ten different ways, and you get to be open and big, and then just throw it to the wall and see what sticks. This is something you have to know what you're doing before you show up. You can't just make it up.
Bigelow: If I could just jump in on this, it's such a testament to an extraordinary talent that Jessica is, that she had to find the beautifully and highly nuanced and subtly calibrated emotion of her character. For instance, in a scene where she's delivering lines like "Twenty detainees confirmed that's the photograph of Abu Ahmed." You have this universe that is again so highly nuanced and carefully calibrated in a very narrow bandwidth of opportunity. There's not, like she said, an opportunity to go to a bar and hang out with a friend. All that has to come out of this very story-rich format, and it's a real testament to her talent that she could do that.
We already know a lot of the details of this story and Osama bin Laden's face is so recognizable. At the end of film, was there any discussion about how much to show of his character?
Bigelow: Our thinking was this is about the people, the men and women on the ground in the workforce, who found this house, and then therefore, found this man. Ultimately, it's not really about him as much as it's about them. They humanized that hunt and humanized that journey. It's their story.
Kathryn, that scene at the Marriott Hotel was so real. How did you do that?
Bigelow: Did it surprise you?
Clarke: It surprised me! And I was there when you showed it to me.
Bigelow: Well, it was important. Certainly this is something that Mark made very clear in the screenplay, like what's at stake. For every day that goes by that they don't find this man, there could be another 9/11. There could be another London bombing. There could be another Khobar, another Marriott. It's only 2-1/2 hours, so there were events that we didn't have time for. That was what was important, to remind us of the ticking bomb, and Camp Chapman and Belawi (Homam Khalil al-Belawi).
How did you film it?
Bigelow: I had a great practical FX team. I had a great crew. They make what I do easy, I think. We rigged a room like this. It took probably about two weeks. I found the location, and then we would rig the whole place so it was ready to go. We had pulleys where people would be thrown across the floor on harnesses. Every single window was rigged to go. All the glass was replaced with a tempered glass so there was nothing dangerous in the set. With a lot of planning, you set it up, and gratefully, with the actors, that was one take. They were just perfect, perfect, perfect, and that was intense. It was very intense.
Chastain: I want to say something about filming that scene, because I've never done anything like that before. And, from all my friends who do the big action movies and stuff like that, they always talk about it like, "Oh, it just takes so long. It's weeks and weeks. It takes forever. You can get so bored." They had scheduled two days for that whole sequence, and Kathryn did it all in one day. We actually finished early. I remember showing up and saying, "Okay." It was incredible to be an actor on that set with everything that they had put in place. For me, I didn't feel like anyone was going to get hurt and I felt like there was no time to be wasted. It was fantastic. I watch the stuff that Kathryn puts together, especially the raid, and you can see why it's so exciting. Being on that set, the organization and the focus was really intense.
Clarke: The other thing about this, the surprise, is that for that split second, Mark was about to take you into a conversation and a world. I mean, it's so minute that it does it. It adds to what you said, the surprise. I remember the same thing. It was just like there's another element there that he's introduced and then "Bam!" This is when you're kind of hoping for…
Chastain: It's leading into it. Right.
Clarke: Yeah. And it does, because there were three other explosions leading up to that, and that one, you're right, it's very different and the circumstances around it.
Did the experience of shooting on location help you understand more about your characters and the culture in which they had to immerse themselves?
Clarke: That's part of it. It's part of getting into character. That's the wonderful integrity that everybody in this production brought to it. We're going to try and bring integrity to it, and as an actor, there are difficult things, and we had instances in restaurants and all that. But these are the cloaks that these people put on and the worlds that they go in and do what they do. I was grateful that at every step we tried to be as authentic as possible. As an actor, you allow those things to inform you and it makes your job easier. That said, I always order my own food in a restaurant.
Chastain: He's talking about a time when we went to a hotel restaurant in Amman, which is a pretty liberal city, I think, and the waiter wouldn't give me a menu. He gave the men menus at the table, so Jason ordered for me that day.
Clarke: I knew what she wanted to eat.
Chastain: For me, it's difficult being in that kind of a situation. I felt invisible as a woman. I don't like that. Any time anything like that happened, it was just another log to the Maya fire, of her feeling invisible, like no one would listen to her or talk to her.
While you were on location, did you get to do any sightseeing or travel, and if so, where did you go?
Chastain: I loved Petra. It's so amazing. I actually took one of the horse-drawn carriages. It was pretty crowded. I went during the day, but on certain days, they do the candle lights so I did both. It's incredible. I also went to visit the Taj Mahal. The light is so pink and pretty. We had a couple of days off when the production moved to London, and I stopped at the Pyramids in Egypt.
Jessica, can you talk about what you are working on now?
Chastain: Yes, I'm doing a Broadway play called The Heiress. I just had a show yesterday.
Zero Dark Thirty opens in theaters on December 19th.


text:
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WAR OF THE REBELLION.com
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text:
God is stirring in the hearts of leaders a vision to see a generation that is passionately ablaze for Jesus and His cause. I am not talking about a mere spark that eventually fizzles, but an all-consuming fire, which continues to burn through one's entire life.
As leaders, we must build with this goal in mind. We are not called to just bear fruit, but to produce that which remains (John 15). I personally don't believe I have fulfilled my role effectively as a leader of the younger generation if their passion and commitment to Jesus fades somewhere in their 20s or 30s. We must see a generation whose light burns even brighter with their age. So the question then must be: "How do we as leaders create a culture that releases young people into a life of not only sustained fire but a fire that is ever increasing?"
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Three Components of Fire
It is one thing to ignite a flame, or occasionally stoke an ember, but altogether another to sustain a fire that is ever advancing and magnifying. A fire requires three things to continue: fuel, heat and oxygen. As we call a generation to give their lives fully to Jesus—to present themselves as a living sacrifice (fuel) and encounter the passionate love in the gaze of Jesus (heat)—we must also be intentional in creating an atmosphere where oxygen is abundant.
Anyone who is familiar with the elementary school science experiment, where a lit candle is placed inside a jar, knows what happens when oxygen is removed from the equation. The flame extinguishes, and all that remains is smoke. Fire simply cannot survive in a vacuum. It requires oxygen, and the more it draws on fresh air, the more dazzling, pervasive and powerful it becomes.
In Matthew 5, Jesus tells His disciples that they are the light of the world and slips in a word of common sense. "Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house" (v. 15).
That statement seems rather obvious, but is profound. A light is not designed to be hidden. It is made to transmit its radiance and only diminishes when concealed. Jesus was addressing a tendency we have to hide who we really are, and is teaching us a key to see the light in our lives sustained and increased. His illustration does not refer to an electric lamp but a flame, one that needs oxygen to survive and intensify.
So how does this apply to us as leaders running with a generation called to illuminate the world? Believers, at any age, need oxygen to burn. We must release our young people now. We cannot afford to wait until they are more mature or have it all together. It would be remiss of us to urge them to be the light of the world and then not empower them to be the light of the world. It is as we empower and release young people into a life of ministry and leadership for Jesus that they experience the oxygen needed to burn brightly.
A Burning Passion to Minister
Years ago at our Jesus Culture conferences, we started sending everyone into the city. Thousands of young people would venture out to lay hands on the sick, prophesy, pray for people and show them the extravagant love of Jesus. We knew we could not just tell this generation they are revivalists, but had to give them opportunity to go and be revivalists.
As we did this, not only were there profound testimonies of salvations, healings and deliverances, but the impact it had on the young people ministering was immediately apparent. Their worship went to another level and their commitment to Jesus was strengthened at an even greater depth. We would hear testimonies for months and years to come about how the passion that was ignited at the conference and solidified by stepping out to minister was still burning.
As we continue to call a generation to complete abandonment and create an atmosphere where they encounter God, we must send them to radiate their light. Jesus called His disciples to first be with Him, but this always resulted in them being sent.
There is a rhythm we find with the leadership of Jesus, where His disciples would be with Him and then be sent by Him. His discipleship method was a powerful cadence: breathing in ... and breathing out. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. As they were trained and activated, the fire they received in being with Jesus extracted the oxygen it needed to gather momentum. And this cyclical demonstrative affair between the Lord and His followers continued on through Acts and into today.
Recently, I was speaking at a conference in Orlando, Fla., where we empowered the youth to pray for each other. In that meeting, hundreds of their peers received healing. The following week, I received a testimony from a youth pastor whose students had not only prayed for others to be healed, but had also received healing.
That Sunday, their group got up and shared all that God did at the conference and the healings that occurred. The youth then moved into words of knowledge and prayed for people in the congregation who also received healing.
Due to these young people having opportunity to witness the anointing of God in and through them, the impact from their encounters and activation at the conference reverberated beyond the meetings and blessed their church community.
No Age Limit to Be Heaven's Ambassadors
Perhaps without even realizing, many leaders have communicated to a generation that they are not yet ready. A high proportion of Christians believe in order to be used by God, they should become more educated or experienced. However, Jesus didn't place an age limit on His commission to be heaven's ambassadors. If fact, the moment someone gets saved, they are the light of the world.
As leaders, we must believe and empower this reality. We need to deliberately create opportunities for the those the Lord has given us to take risks, lead and display the life of Jesus in our churches, schools and cities.
I recently received a report from a youth pastor who told me of the impact his students were having as they were activated. Testimonies of brain tumors and scoliosis being healed, cancer not being found when the doctors operated, complete freedom from asthma, and students prophesying over strangers in public. The youth pastor went on to say that this had all happened in the last five weeks, and up to this point, they had never seen anything like it in their "charismatic" church.
It is important not to limit God. Young people don't have a junior Holy Spirit. The exact same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead resides in them. And they must have a chance to allow Him to minister through them, despite their inexperience and immaturity.
It is in this posture of releasing His presence and power that we get the oxygen we need to not only sustain the fire in us, but see it increase. In intimacy, we inhale His breath and then exhale it through ministering. Our job as leaders is to empower them to minister.
Release Brings Results
Sandra was a student determined to put her love for the Lord into action. Encouraged by her leadership, she met up with three friends and discussed how they could ignite change. Praying and fasting, they believed God would have favor on their event to tell others about the love of Jesus.
Throughout the week more and more students showed up, until Friday when she closed by sharing her own story. Seventy-five people gave their hearts to the Lord that week, and 467 in the following year! Sandra reported that the thing God did most was help her realize the change she was begging to see had to begin in her.
Release brings results. As we walk with young people on a journey of discipleship and call them to a life of holiness, discipline and character, we must give their flame a chance to absorb oxygen and allow them to be burn brightly!
Banning Liebscher and his wife, SeaJay, have been on staff at Bethel Church in Redding, Calif., for more than 10 years. Banning is the director of Jesus Culture conferences. Banning's heart is to ignite a prayer movement, raising up and releasing healing revivalists in cities around the world. He is the author of Jesus Culture: Living a Life That Transforms the World (Destiny Image).
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After all the rain we had at the end of August, I began to see a variety of mushrooms on my morning walks. It was like, overnight, mushrooms had sprung up everywhere. Mushrooms need a great deal of moisture.
Mushrooms are among the best known of the plants called fungi. After a spell of wet weather in spring, summer or fall many of these fungi spring up suddenly.
Fungi have none of the green plant material called chlorophyll. Green plants that contain chlorophyll require sunlight, but mushrooms don't.
The main part of the mushroom is underground while the umbrella growth most people call a mushroom is actually a stalk that grows up from the mass of roots called mycelium that is underground.
They grow in decaying matter, sometimes hidden under leaves or moss. People generally give the name mushroom to the kinds that can be eaten, instead of toadstools - referred to as the ones that are poisonous.
There are 1,000 or more varieties of mushrooms that are good to eat. Many of these belong to the group called the agaries. This word comes from the Latin word for "field." All the mushrooms of this kind grow in pastures, lawns and open fields.
Some kinds of mushrooms that are good to eat are: The "horse mushroom." similar to the common mushroom but larger; the "parasol" mushroom, which is tall and graceful; the "oyster" mushroom, growing in clusters on stumps or partly decayed trees; the "golden clavaria," which is a beautiful honey color; the "fairy ring" mushroom has a flavor like nuts; but the most popular and delicious of the mushrooms is the "morel."
Food experts say that mushrooms are not any more nourishing than juicy cabbage leaves. Regardless of what the experts say, a steak smothered in mushroom gravy or a side dish of buttered mushrooms makes for good eating - and a big pot of southern cabbage is hard to beat!


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February 12, 2010
The following letter was sent the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton January 14, 2010:
The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State Washington, DC 20520
Dear Madame Secretary;
We write today to respectfully urge that U.S. representatives to the United Nations office in Geneva raise tough and incisive questions about violations of religious freedom and related human rights in Iran, Iraq, and Egypt during the seventh session of the United Nations Human Rights Council"s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) scheduled for February 2010. The United States also should ensure that these issues are included in the recommendations that result from the UPR. The UPR forum provides a unique opportunity to shine a light on the egregious violations in these countries and to encourage these nations" governments to comply with international norms.
USCIRF has long focused on the status of religious freedom and related human rights in Iran, Iraq, and Egypt. We have recommended that both Iran and Iraq be designated as "countries of particular concern" (CPCs) under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 for their governments" perpetration or toleration of systematic, ongoing, egregious religious freedom violations. Since 2002, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has placed Egypt on our Watch List because conditions in that country require close monitoring due to the nature and extent of violations of religious freedom perpetrated or tolerated by the government.
Iran: The U.S. State Department has designated Iran as a CPC since 1999. The government of Iran continues to systematically and egregiously violate religious freedom, and has engaged in prolonged detention, torture, and executions of its citizens based primarily or entirely upon the religion of the accused. Over the past few years, and especially after the contested June 2009 Presidential election, the government has imposed harsh prison sentences on prominent reformers from the Shi"a majority community, many of whom have been tried on trumped-up criminal charges of "insulting Islam," criticizing the Islamic Republic, and publishing materials that deviate from Islamic standards. This systematic repression extends to religious minorities, particularly Baha"is, as well as Sufi Muslims, Jews, and Evangelical Christians. Members of those minority groups that are formally recognized (Zoroastrians, Christians, and Jews) also face legal and other forms of discrimination. Because the Iranian authorities view members of the Baha"i community as heretics, many have been subjected to particularly severe religious freedom violations. Over 200 Baha"i leaders have been executed since 1979, and seven Baha"is recently were put on trial, after having been unjustly imprisoned for nearly two years and charged with "espionage for Israel," a crime punishable by death. Approximately 40 other Baha"is remain in prison solely because of their beliefs. The United States should question Iran during the UPR about these specific cases. In addition, during the past few years, arrests and harassment of Sufis increased significantly, with reports that the government is considering banning Sufism outright. Heightened anti-Semitism and repeated Holocaust denials by senior government officials continue to occur, despite UN resolutions condemning such practices. Christians in Iran, particularly Evangelical and other Protestants, as well as converts, are subject to harassment, kidnappings, arrests, close surveillance, and imprisonment. The Iranian government has taken steps in recent years toward passing a revised penal code that, in clear violation of Iran"s international legal obligations, would codify serious punishments, including the death penalty, on converts from Islam.
Iraq: Despite security improvements, Iraqis from many religious communities, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, continue to suffer from targeted violence and intimidation, and those from the country"s smallest minorities, including Chaldo-Assyrian and other Christians, Sabean Mandaeans, and Yazidis, are especially vulnerable. For example, Christian churches were bombed as recently as December 23, 2009. The violence, forced displacement, discrimination, marginalization, and neglect suffered by members of these small minority groups has led many to flee the country, threatening these ancient communities" very existence in Iraq and jeopardizing Iraq"s future as a diverse and free society. Given both the drawdown of American troops and the national elections scheduled for March 2010, it is particularly important to draw attention to the conditions necessary to ensure that all Iraqis, including religious minorities, can participate in elections that are safe, fair and free of intimidation and violence, and to make certain that the new government fully guarantees religious freedom.
Egypt: In Egypt, serious problems of discrimination, intolerance, and other human rights violations remain widespread against members of religious minorities, as well as non-conforming Muslims. The government has used charges of blaspheming or insulting Islam to imprison purportedly "unorthodox" Muslims and individuals, including bloggers, who have called for political and religious reforms. At the same time, the government has done little to stop the repression of and discrimination against religious minorities, including indigenous Coptic Orthodox Christians and other small Christian groups. In many cases, no action is taken to punish those responsible for violence or other severe violations of religious freedom. There has been an upsurge of attacks by extremists targeting Coptic Orthodox Christians, most recently in early January in a small town in the Qena Province in Upper Egypt. The government also has not adequately responded to the pervasive and virulent anti-Semitism in the media under its control. Egypt"s Supreme Administrative Court in March 2009 dismissed final appeals to a 2008 lower court verdict overturning the ban on providing official identity documents to members of the Baha"i faith. However, to date only about a dozen Baha"is have received such documents.
Along with Iran, Iraq, and Egypt, the seventh session of the UPR process also will review the human rights record of Kazakhstan. Given that Kazakhstan currently chairs the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), it is incumbent to raise concerns about two articles in the current and draft Kazakh Administrative Codes. These articles would prescribe international standards on freedom of religion or belief with possible penalties for those who take part in, lead or finance an unregistered religious community or social organization as well as those who conduct unlicensed "missionary activity." The Kazakh government should submit these articles for review by international experts, including at the United Nations and the OSCE, and should abide by their recommendations.
The UPR process offers a unique opportunity for U.S. representatives to ask hard questions of nations whose records on religious freedom and related human rights are profoundly troubling. We urge the United States to join other nations in raising these issues, thereby reaffirming that human rights remains a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy and that America will hold governments accountable for their actions.
Sincerely yours,
Leonard Leo
cc: The Honorable Susan Rice, Ambassador of the United States to the United Nations
Douglas Griffiths, Charge"d" Affairs, a.i., U.S. Mission to the United Nations in
Esther Brimmer, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations
Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Rights, and Labor
Peter J. Kovach, Director, Office of International Religious Freedom


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There is a general consensus concerning Rep. Charles Rangel, former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and power broker by virtue of his 40 years of connections and many years of raising money for candidates and causes he favors: He should make nice with his congressional colleagues, find a way to settle the ethics charges that could lead to his expulsion and move ahead in his campaign for a 21st term.
But Rangel, this time around, is no general-consensus cat.
When Rangel did his Harlem shuffle dance at his birthday fundraiser in New York City's famed Plaza Hotel recently, he was Charles in Charge. In Washington on the House floor the day before, he seemed barely in control of his thoughts or his emotions as he castigated his fellow representatives, especially Democrats, for dragging their feet in resolving the ethics case that has been around for more than two years.
In both settings, I could not help seeing him as yet another black leader — whether in politics, business or the cultural milieu — who doesn't know when it is time to leave the stage. It is time for Rangel to do so when he can't acknowledge wrongdoing based on slipshod ethics resulting from years of developing a sense of entitlement. I won't call it corruption.
"If it is the judgment of people here, for whatever reason, that I resign, then, heck, have the Ethics Committee expedite this," he said in a speech to Congress that lasted more than 30 minutes, one that he said was given against the advice of his lawyers and others. "Don't leave me swinging in the wind until November. If this is an emergency, and I think it is to help our local and state governments out, what about me? I don't want anyone to feel embarrassed, awkward. Hey, if I was you, I may want me to go away, too. I am not going away! I am here!" Rangel said that some of the 13 ethics charges (pdf) reflect lapses in judgment, but not corruption. "If I can't get my dignity back here, then fire your best shot at getting me expelled."
In being "brazen" and "arrogant" on the House floor, says Mike Paul, a public relations specialist who markets himself as a "reputation doctor," Rangel was essentially daring his colleagues: "Do you have the balls to vote out a guy as powerful as I am at 80 years old, to kick me out of this House?" And George Arzt, a consultant and longtime political observer, says this is "pure Charlie," adding: "Charlie is just a hell raiser, and that's what he's known for. Maybe he feels that a deal would be more imminent if he did it this way."
Maybe he is being crazy like a fox, and in terms of image, his House-floor speech might have played well back home in Manhattan, especially central Harlem. There, Arzt says, what he hears most from black constituents is this: "He's a fighter, and if he goes down, he's going down fighting, and we like that."
So this is reality: Ordinarily, Rangel might have to work at repairing his reputation to woo these voters, says Ester Fuchs, a political scientist at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. But, says Fuchs, "His greatest advantage is he's got no competition at this point; so even if people were unhappy with him, there's nobody compelling at this point to vote for." Given the millions of federal dollars he has brought into the district, including a huge portion of President Bill Clinton's urban-development program, along with his old-school gift for glad-handing, "most people don't think he's done anything worse than anybody else in Congress," Fuchs says.
For the record, there are four declared candidates trying to defeat Rangel in New York's Sept. 14 Democratic primary, but no one has broken from the pack — and certainly, based on their own records, they haven't made the case for trading in Charlie. They still might focus their campaigns around the themes of Rangel's age and the ethics charges, but they are generally seen as lambs for the slaughter, paving the way to a more likely era-changing election in 2012. And this is the thing: By 2012, the leading candidates might be Hispanic or white.
For nearly 70 years, New York's 15th District, with various tweaks of its boundaries, has been considered "black." Two men have held the seat: first Adam Clayton Powell Jr., then Rangel. But long gone are the days when one would consider this a black district in a Harlem that was the black capital of the world. More Hispanics than blacks live in the district — and so do a growing number of whites, thanks to Columbia University as a magnet and the prime real estate available at relatively bargain prices for those of a certain income bracket.
That is why Fuchs says that the more Rangel calls attention to charges many people remain clueless about, the more potential voters might think he protests too much and must be guilty of something. "He needs to do a deal and get this over with so that he can reclaim some of his legacy and leave on his own volition. I think what he fears most is being pushed out and being pushed out under an ethics cloud."
In the meantime, teams Rangel — the one in New York and the one in Washington — are cranking out press releases about campaign activities like the opening of an office in a predominantly Hispanic section of the district "as he kicks his reelection effort into high gear," as well as his push to bring "a new online and mobile application to better connect with his constituents and promote legislative interest, especially among the younger generations." This from a candidate who is not exactly an Internet master. His staff is working overtime to build an image that belies his 80 years.
He is his own best and worst adviser, by most accounts. As Paul, the "reputation doctor," puts it: "What he has decided — even with the best counsel sitting in the room — from a PR perspective, from a legal perspective and from a political perspective, is, 'Thank you for your advice, but this is what I'm going to do.' "
In the days leading up to the birthday extravaganza, media speculation was that none of the big-name political players — including some of the colleagues in the House whom he had helped elect through his prodigious fundraising — would show up. Some, perhaps given a kind of "I'll break your knees" warning in political terms by Rangel's alter egos, caved in at the last minute.
Many no doubt took their cue and found cover from Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who had himself waffled but eventually made it clear that he would be there. Aretha Franklin bowed out because of an injury, but her replacement was not too shabby: Dionne Warwick, who serenaded the congressman with "That's What Friends Are For." Amid all this, Rangel danced. "This damn sure ain't no funeral, is it?" he declared to no one in particular.
On his way into the Plaza gathering, one of Rangel's buddies, the ever-genteel (publicly at least) former Mayor David Dinkins, gave the finger to hecklers calling Rangel a crook. Most likely against the advice of counsel, both Rangel and Dinkins told reporters they'd let that finger do their talking for a Charles in Charge on his own terms.
E.R. Shipp, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, is a Southerner based in New York.


text:
Invest Detroit was the big winner Tuesday at the meeting of the Michigan Strategic Fund. The nonprofit, which is affiliated with Business Leaders for Michigan, was approved for two awards, totaling almost $2 million.
There were nine awards, totaling $6.65 million for an Entrepreneurial Services Program approved by the MSF in April. After the approval of the program, the MSF sought applications from nonprofits and universities who wanted to provide support services to help entrepreneurs launch and grow high-tech companies.
In all, 20 proposals were received.
Invest Detroit received the largest award, being approved for $1.35 million to administer the Accelerate Michigan Innovation competition, which awards a first-place prize of $500,000 to an emerging company each November.
Previously, the competition was administered by Ann Arbor Spark, an economic development organization.
The award will also cover the cost of the third annual Institutional Investor Forum hosted by Crain's Detroit Business in November. The event is held in conjunction with Accelerate Michigan.
Invest Detroit also was awarded $605,300 to administer the Michigan Hacker Fellowship, a program that will be a partnership with Detroit-based Grand Circus Detroit LLC, a company that provides technology training, to place computer science graduates from state universities into start-up companies in the state.
Other awards:
• $960,000 to Ann Arbor-based BBC Entrepreneurial Training and Consulting to continue its work helping area companies get federal grants.
• $500,000 to Ann Arbor Spark to create the Michigan Angel Fund II.
• $800,000 to Detroit-based NextEnergy to extend for two years the Michigan Accelerating Technologies Energy Grant program.
• $367,281 to Detroit-based Inforum Center for Leadership to fund for two more years its inGAGE training program to accelerate the success of women-led ventures.
• $582,376 for the University of Michigan Center for Entrepreneurship to continue its entrepreneurship training activities for two years.
• $987,850 for the Ann Arbor-based Michigan Venture Capital Association to support its Venture Upstart III program for two more years.
• $500,000 over two years for the GreenLight Business Model Competition, a pitch contest for green companies put on by Spartan Innovations of the Michigan State University Foundation.


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Greg Bedard's article this morning at jsonline gives us a good look into the kind of leader Rodgers may be. Over the last couple of years, I'll admit, I was definitely in the camp that said Favre can pretty much do whatever he wants, he's older than everyone on the team, he deserves it, he's given this team more than just about any Packer in history, etc etc. But a small part of me did wish that he were a bit more involved with the team off the field. Again, I don't fault him for it. But reading this article does get me somewhat pumped for the Rodgers era. It is refreshing to hear that he values the "team" concept so much and that his regular gatherings are a way for the players to get to know one another better. Like any workplace, these kinds of events can really improve the morale of a team as well as the overall connectedness. Perhaps most importantly, getting to know teammates outside of work tends to ease communication while at work – so good for Rodgers, good leaders should step up like this.
I was interested to read Rodgers' comments re him assuming he's the starting QB as well as his established-veteran-like relationship with the other two QBs. I think this is a reflection of the confidence he has and how he projects that confidence. For the most part, I'm just fine with this. But I couldn't help but wonder a bit if it might be a bit presumptuous for him to assume he's the starting QB (even if TT, MM and all of Packer Nation is saying this). Maybe MM and TT have told him that unless he's injured he will definitely be the guy – I don't know that. But a part of me wonders what would happen should Brohm shine in camp and preseason, pick up the offense well and look better than Rodgers. Could it even be possible that for the first time in 17 years, we'd have a QB controversy in Green Bay??
I also wondered a bit re Rodgers' comment re not being injury-prone. I know he hasn't played enough for us to determine conclusively now that he is an injury-prone player. At the same time, I think it's fair to say so far in his career his injury history is not good and that fans have some reason to be concerned re future injury issues.


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Kun Liu was killed during a stunt in Bulgaria in October 2011 while performing in a rubber boat on Ognyanovo dam, just outside the capital, Sofia. He died after suffering wounds from a nearby explosion.
His parents Zong Yu Liu and Yan Mei Bai are seeking unspecified damages of more than $25,000 against Millennium Films and the movie's stunt coordinator, Chad Stahelski.
Stahelski and Elizabeth Wolfe, a spokeswoman for Millennium Films, declined comment on the case.
Kun Liu, 26, was a native of Beijing and his parents are suing for funeral and burial expenses as well as "the loss of society, love, comfort, attention, services and support" of their son. They claim the filmmakers and Stahelski "negligently and carelessly failed to provide adequate protection from hard to the participants of the stunts."
"The Expendables 2" stars Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger and is due to be released in the United States on Aug. 3.
Bulgarian authorities at the time reported another stuntman was seriously injured during the explosion that killed Kun Liu.


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Friday 25 January
|Coccinella (1)
Ladybirds are perhaps the most well-known and popular of all British beetles, and the seven-spot ladybird is one of the commonest species (2). This rounded beetle has bright red wing cases with 7 black spots, although some individuals may have more or fewer spots. The thorax is black with patches of pale yellow at the front corners (3). The common name of this group of beetles, 'ladybird', was originally given to the seven-spot in honour of the Virgin Mary; the red wing cases symbolising the Virgin's red cloak, with the seven spots representing her seven joys and seven sorrows. The larvae are blackish in colour and are active predators of aphids (4).
Both adults and larvae are voracious predators of aphids, and are one of the gardener's greatest natural allies (4). Ladybirds lay their yellow eggs in small groups on leaves (5). The black larvae have relatively long legs, and they are active predators. When threatened, adults exude a bright yellow distasteful substance from the joints of the legs, which dissuades potential predators from eating a ladybird. Adults overwinter in garden sheds, amongst vegetation, in crevices in fences and a range of similar locations, and can often be discovered in fairly large numbers during this time. They emerge in March and April (4).
There is much folklore centred on ladybirds; ladybird numbers are said to indicate the number of aphids due that particular year, they are also widely thought to bring good luck, particularly with regards to romance (4). There are many rhymes associated with these beetles, the most well known in England begins: 'Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home, your house is on fire and your children are gone' (4).
Found in central and northern Europe and is extremely common and widespread in Britain (3).
This ladybird occurs in a wide range of habitats and is a familiar garden denizen (1).
Very common in Britain (3).
This beetle is very common and is not threatened.
Conservation action has not been targeted at this species.
For more on the folklore associated with this species see: Fauna Britannica by Stefan Buczacki (Hamlyn).
This information is awaiting authentication by a species expert, and will be updated as soon as possible. If you are able to help please contact:
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The Medical Library Association held its annual meeting in Austin, TX on May 15-20. UT Health Science Center librarians traveled from San Antonio and Harlingen to attend the conference. Jonquil Feldman, director of Briscoe Library and Outreach Services co-chaired the committee that organized the program for this meeting. The plenary speaker was Dr. Mae Jemison, a former NASA astronaut who was the first African-American woman in space. A physician and engineer, Dr. Jemison leads the 100 Year Starship project, which proposes to leverage advances in technology and medicine that will make interstellar travel possible and will at the same time transform life on earth. The speaker for the closing session was Dr. Eszter Hargittai, professor at Northwestern University, who spoke about her research on Internet functionality of people college of age and older. The conference was attended by over 1,100 librarians from the U.S., and Canada as well as from countries in Europe, Australia, Asia and South America.
Kathy Carter, assistant director of the Ramirez Library at the RAHC in Harlingen, TX attended a class before the meeting and took advantage of opportunities to network with colleagues. Peg Seger presented a poster, "Expanding the limits of outreach education and collaboration," co-authored with Rajia Tobia, Jonquil Feldman, Kathy Carter, Paula Winkler, Chris Frei and Grace Lee. Several librarians took advantage of one-day passes to meet face-to-face with exhibitors who represent the publishers and organizations who license e-journals, e-books and databases.
Tags: June 2015


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| 8.1°C Belfast
Dissident republican suspects in the killing of one of their former commanders in Belfast are "dinosaurs trapped in the past", the city's Lord Mayor said.
Ex-Continuity IRA (CIRA) figure Tommy Crossan, 43, was shot dead at a fuel depot in the grounds of an industrial complex in full view of surrounding houses. Three gunmen may have carried out the killing and a red BMW car was found on fire nearby.
A priest attended to pray over the bloodied victim in West Belfast, an area long known as a republican heartland but which has been relatively peaceful in recent years following the end of the IRA campaign in 1998.
Relatives gathered in tears at the scene, their devastation visible to onlookers.
First citizen Mairtin O Muilleoir of Sinn Fein said the killers existed in the dark margins of society but could not slow the pace of change in Belfast.
He claimed: "They are dinosaurs trapped in the past and I urge everyone to work with the police to remove them from our streets."
Crossan was once the CIRA's Belfast leader but was believed to be the subject of a death threat and had been expelled from the group some years ago after a fall out.
He served time in prison for conspiracy to murder Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers following a gun attack on a police station in West Belfast in 1998.
The CIRA has opposed the peace process which largely ended three decades of violence and transformed Northern Ireland. Crossan was killed on the 16th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement which mandated political power-sharing at Stormont.
CIRA gunmen murdered Police Constable Stephen Carroll in Lurgan in Co Armagh in March 2009 but the organisation has since been riven with splits, security sources have suggested.
Friday afternoon's attack happened at the Peter Pan Centre in Springfield Road, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said. Detectives have launched a murder investigation and are combing the scene for forensics clues.
Mr O'Muilleoir told BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight: "There are some micro groups of criminals masquerading under an assortment of republican labels. They have no support within the community.
"I wouldn't under any guise brand them 'professional' but they certainly are killers... They have nothing to offer to the people of Belfast."
He said t here was a whole assortment of factions, and fractions of factions, of dissident republicanism and added every week produced another schism.
"Sadly they clearly have access to guns and they have murderous intent and they are willing to kill those with whom they disagree."
The largely-nationalist area of Belfast where the shooting happened is mainly comprised of tightly-packed terraced housing estates and businesses.
Nationalist SDLP councillor Colin Keenan said it was a horrific scene.
"We have long hoped that the shadow of death had been lifted from West Belfast.
"Today's event is a terrible, tragic reminder of the violent conflict of the past."
The Springfield Road, one of the main arterial routes, was closed to traffic.
A PSNI spokeswoman said: "Detectives from Serious Crime Branch have launched a murder investigation after a man was shot dead in the Springfield Road area of West Belfast."
Members of the security forces have been on high alert for attacks by various extremist factions who have also killed two soldiers and a prison officer.
In recent weeks they have stepped up efforts to kill police officers, with several attacks on the force in West Belfast.
After the murder of prison officer David Black on the M1 motorway in November 2012, police mounted an unprecedented surveillance operation against various factions as well making significant arrests.
Sinn Fein Stormont Assembly Member Jennifer McCann said t hose behind Crossan's killing had no consideration for anyone in the community except themselves and their own criminal agenda.
She added: "They have shot a man dead and endangered anyone in the immediate vicinity.
"There is now a family in mourning and a community traumatised by this shooting.
"It will not go unnoticed that, with sadness, at Easter time as republicans gather to commemorate their patriot dead, that there are criminals on the streets masquerading as republicans for their own ends.
"This community does not want them. They need to listen to this community, stop these senseless actions and go away."
David Ford, Northern Ireland's justice minister, said the murder should be condemned by all.


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Emergency Services
If you have a life-threating emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest hospital emergency room.
DHS hospitals are among the top providers of emergency and trauma services in Los Angeles County. DHS hospital emergency rooms are open 24/7 and staffed by physicians trained in Emergency Medicine. DHS also operates two pediatric emergency rooms to meet the special needs of children.
Hospital emergency rooms are often crowded and not appropriate settings for the treatment of minor illnesses that can be more quickly addressed in DHS Urgent Care settings. A list of Urgent Care Centers can be accessed from the "Services" tab on the main homepage. These facilities offer extended weekday and weekend hours.
If you need emergency services, visit one of the DHS Emergency Rooms listed below. Hospital staff will assist you with coverage and payment options at the time of your visit, and help link you with options for ongoing care within DHS.
Locations that provide Emergency Service
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
1000 W. Carson St.
Torrance, CA 90509
LAC+USC Medical Center
2051 Marengo Street
Los Angeles, CA 90033
Olive View-UCLA Medical Center
14445 Olive View Dr.
Sylmar, CA 91342