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Between the time I was asked to write this post and the date that you are reading it, a young and promising life ended by suicide in my community. Such a tragic event shocks the life of a parent, a family, a school, and a community in ways that are yet to be felt. The … Continue reading
In her article "Mommy bloggers: A child's right to online privacy" Sarah Kendzior raises a number of important points in relation to children's online privacy such as: "Some mommy bloggers have argued that their need for total honesty trumps the responsibility to protect their child's identity." Sarah argues that mothers hold the key to protecting … Continue reading
Thank you for joining @SWSCmedia debate on "Social Media for Social Work and the ethics of online engagement: An evening with BASW". This debate was used for crowdsourcing social workers opinions and will be considered by BASW for a further guide in relation to social workers' engagement on social media. We also would like to thank … Continue reading
Barely a month has passed since 20 children aged 6 and 7 were killed in their classrooms at Sandy Hook elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. It is also disturbing that for many children in the United States, such gun-related violence has long been a sad fact of life due to structural poverty, economic decline, and crime. One … Continue reading
Social media is a growing issue for social workers, in terms of how they employ these communications platforms in their professional and personal lives. We see its prevalence in discussions about our case work, in the press, in debates at conferences and, of course, in social media discussions. As the professional association for social work … Continue reading
Technology is firmly now part and parcel of our daily lives, embedded in our culture and transcending our whole lives – professional, personal and those grey areas in between. So what are the rules of engagement for those of us who are either qualified and registered social workers or those on the pathway to qualification? … Continue reading
I'd enjoyed Twitter for many months, well before September, 2012. It had given me immediate news on all the important things; Arsenal's results; on all things cycling, who'd won what, who was going to win what as well as news that I'd rather not have, the latest drugs in cycling story for example. Excitingly it … Continue reading
The increasing use of social media and its applications have dramatically changed and continue to change the manner in which people communicate and exchange information. This has brought about significant developments as well as challenges for everyone including those not present on social media. Therefore, in today's debate we are pleased to have @BASW_UK as … Continue reading
Thank you for joining @SWSCmedia debate on Frontline and for sharing your views. We are very pleased to have offered the first public open debate about Frontline where all participants could express their views directly to Josh MacAlister (the Founder and project lead for Frontline). We also would like to thank Josh MacAlister for participating in … Continue reading
There has been much said about Frontline, the newly proposed fast-track social work qualifying programme, in different papers and media including the BBC, the Guardian, the Telegraph, and the Independent, and there have also been various consultations. However, there has never been the opportunity for professionals, social workers, users and providers of services, academics, organisation and … Continue reading


text: Broadcast 3037 Dr. Valerie Martindale Guest: Dr. Valerie Martindale; Co-host Dr. John Jurist; Topics: We discussed Dr. Martindale's to letters to the Aerospace Medical Association members as her President's Letters. For the first half of our 63 minute program, we focused on her Oct. 2017 letter, "When Does Practice Change." For the second part of the 63 minute program, we focused on her Dec. 2017 letter, "The Gene Therapy Frontier in Aerospace Medicine." Links for downloading both letters can be found on our blog for this show. Read more about Broadcast 3037 Dr. Valerie MartindaleComments

subset: commoncrawl


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The Asian casino boom is running hot and likely to continue, despite a few hiccups, although investors should be warned: the chips may move around the table from player to player.
Just three years ago, casino gambling came to Singapore. Now that country boasts two of the world's most profitable casinos: Genting Singapore's Resorts World Sentosa and Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s Marina Bay Sands. The trend is likely to continue; such prosperity has not gone unnoticed, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan indicating that he's open to legalizing resort gambling to promote economic growth.
As Abe rose to power in Japan, his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was revived as well. It had supported casino gambling in earlier days. Now the LDP is in a better position to legalize gambling as a way to promote tourism and boost the Japanese economy. While Abe's emergency stimulus measures did not specifically mention legalizing gambling, they did spell out the need to encourage business investment and create jobs; they also mentioned promoting tourism. Casino resorts would do all three.
Japan isn't the only country to consider casinos to boost income; the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam are also reviewing past attitudes toward gambling within their borders.
The issue isn't all rosy, of course. Singaporean casinos have had some issues with high-stakes Chinese gamblers, who make up some 50% of VIP players in Singapore, running out on gaming debts. While international market agents (a.k.a. IMAs or junket operators) take care of problem debts in Macau, Singapore has no such arrangement. It has only three licensed IMAs, compared with Macau's couple of hundred.
Macau, on the other hand, which, as recently as 10 years ago, was a gang paradise with a heavy triad presence that went after gambling debts very effectively, has worked hard to shake its unsavory aura in the wake of the Chinese government's strenuous efforts to clean the place up. It's been suffering its own press nightmare as the taint of Macau gang activity resurfaced in a lawsuit against the Sands, in testimony by Sheldon Adelson.
The suit concerned the casino license won by the Sands together with former Sands partner and casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group. Adelson alleged that Galaxy had said it would do business with people tied to, or reputedly tied to, triads, and that made it impossible for Sands to work with Galaxy. His Las Vegas courtroom testimony made front-page news in Macau, where its potential for reputational damage shocked casino owners. Macau gambling puts Las Vegas completely in the shade; the former brought in $38 billion in 2012. Las Vegas only managed $6 billion.
However, neither of these issues seems to deter the growth trend. In fact, according to Fitch Ratings, it is unlikely that either of these issues, although headline-making, will have any serious impact in the markets where they occurred.
Although stockholders may have been disturbed by Chinese gamblers abandoning their gaming debts, Vicky Melbourne, senior director, corporates at Fitch, said, "The concern here is to what extent this will impact earnings quality and cash flow generation. The Singapore regulatory regime prohibits [its three licensed] IMAs to extend credit to VIPs—which is very different from Macau, where the IMAs carry the credit and debt collection risk for the customers that they take to the casinos," she said.
Melbourne added, "…[I]t's unlikely that Chinese gamblers incurring bad debts at the Singapore casinos would trigger a change in the regulatory framework with respect to IMAs and VIPs. While the legal framework in Singapore does not aid bad gaming debt collection, not meeting your gaming debts at one facility will impact the player's ability to have credit extension at another facility. One area of coordination amongst the casinos is the level of credit extension and performance against these lines of credit."
Even the shady aura of triads doesn't appear to substantially threaten Macau's status as a gambling destination, according to Michael Paladino, senior director, corporates at Fitch. Paladino said of the potential for damage, either to the gaming business itself or to the concession license award process, "We broadly categorize these as regulatory and governance risks and characterize them as 'heightened tail risks.' Any reasonable fines, awards or settlements from any of LVS' lawsuits/investigations are manageable within the context of its strong financial profile." He added, "However, the major risk would be a loss of license or concession as a result of any of these issues, which we view as a low-probability event that has a sizable downside; hence 'heightened tail risk,' which can limit upward movement in ratings."
One other aspect of the boom in gaming investors should be aware of is the expansion of Asian casinos into the U.S. market. Genting Group, together with Malaysia-based parent Genting Berhad, has purchased Boyd Gaming's 87-acre Echelon site at Las Vegas, where it plans to develop, according to Fitch, "an integrated resort (Resorts World Las Vegas) with a 175,000-square-foot casino and 3,500-room hotel included in the first phase."
The move "is a negative consideration for the Las Vegas Strip's operating outlook," stated Paladino in research reports, at least partly because it will siphon off high-stakes Asian gamblers who have been fueling Las Vegas revenue growth since 2010. "A longer term and broader competitive concern is Genting's apparent willingness to be a more active participant in the domestic market," Paladino said. Genting also plans a gambling resort on property it already owns in Florida, should it win approval from the Florida Legislature.
"More broadly, we believe that Resorts World Las Vegas extends Genting's increasingly aggressive participation in the U.S. gaming market and gives the company potential marketing synergies," Paladino said in a report. "For instance, the Las Vegas resort could be used as an amenity to higher-value Resorts World New York customers and enables Genting to be a more effective competitor in the New York metro area (although the high tax rate in New York will limit the generosity of potential offers). Other potential markets that Genting may look to enter and grow its database are southeast Florida, Chicago, and/or Toronto."


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VANCOUVER - B.C.'s teachers are threatening to picket summer school, a move that could keep as many as 50,000 students provincewide out of the classroom, if a deal isn't reached.
The announcement Wednesday by B.C. Teachers' Federation president Jim Iker comes as the Labour Relations Board considers a government application to designate as an essential service summer school for high school students who have failed classes. A ruling on that is expected by the end of this week.
"I still believe that a fair deal is attainable, but getting there will require new movement from government on the critical issues of class size, class composition, and staffing levels for specialist teachers," Iker said at a news conference. "This was not a decision we made lightly."
The wrinkle comes as the B.C. Teachers' Federation and its employer were about to sit down for exploratory talks Wednesday afternoon to discuss the union's call for mediation and how to move forward.
Education Minister Peter Fassbender responded to the BCTF announcement by saying the two sides are still "miles apart" and that "mediation will only work if you have the parties closer to a settlement.
"We are not going to go into deficit to fund what we think are unreasonable demands by the BCTF," Fassbender said.
Iker said the BCTF has only made a decision to picket summer schools and did not comment on the year-round or alternate education settings, which the government has also asked the LRB to designate as essential. Iker said all teachers will participate in the pickets, and said individual locals would determine how picket duty would affect individual teachers' holidays.
The province's largest districts, Surrey and Vancouver, are going to wait a few more days before deciding whether to cancel summer school.
"We won't make the decision to cancel until we no longer believe we can get the curriculum covered. Summer school starts July 2. We would not make a final decision until July 3," said Surrey school district spokesman Doug Strachan. "However, this always depends on the context, what information we have as we go."
Provincewide, about 50,000 students take summer school each summer, including about 27,500 in the two largest districts of Surrey and Vancouver. That includes students taking remedial courses, trying to improve grades and international students in special programs.
In Vancouver, there are more than 17,000 registrations for summer classes at eight Vancouver elementary schools and 10 secondary schools. A very small number are enrolled in remedial classes and there are 320 international students enrolled in academic summer school who have paid a total of $360,000 in tuition fees that would be lost if summer school is cancelled. There are 285 international student visitors who were enrolled in a summer camp program that has already been cancelled, meaning the district has lost $405,000.
In Surrey, there are 1,300 remedial students, 125 international students and 9,075 other students registered for summer school this year.
Summer school is generally free in B.C., though there may be a deposit or completion fee. International students pay between $620 and $1,300 per summer course in Vancouver and $800 per course in Surrey.
Of increasing concern is the potential damage to B.C.'s reputation as a destination for international students, especially if students have already booked flights or paid for their homestays.
"It's an incredibly competitive market for international students all over the world and if we have students arriving here to find they have no classes, that is going to do some harm to our ability in the future to attract students," said Patti Bacchus, Vancouver school board chairwoman.
In Surrey, revenue from international students for the current school year was about $9.5 million. In Vancouver, international students are expected to contribute $17.65 million in revenue next year — about 3.5 per cent of the district's budget.
While the school year is almost over, frustration is still growing among parents and school trustees.
The Vancouver school board wrote a letter to Premier Christy Clark, Education Minister Peter Fassbender and Jobs Minister Shirley Bond, saying that the dispute is eroding confidence in the public education system and urging them to appoint an Industrial Inquiry Commissioner to resolve the dispute and issue non-binding recommendations in a public report.
Earlier this week, the B.C. School Trustees Association and the B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Committees also wrote letters calling for the end of the dispute.
The government and BCTF have spent 16 months trying unsuccessfully to sign a new collective agreement. Teachers began rotating strikes last month and escalated action to a provincewide shutdown of schools last week.
With a file from Rob Shaw
Sun Education Reporter
Follow me: @TracySherlock


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Chambray – Old Navy (similar)| Sweater – Gap (similar)| Pants – Target | Shoes – Bandolino via DSW (similar flats) (similar heels)| Necklace – The Limited (similar)
Inspired by Jessica of Bows & Sequins I decided to keep myself warm on this chilly Chicago day by layering a sweater over a chambray shirt. Her outfit was for a casual day with the family during the holidays but I took my up a notch for work by wearing burgundy dress pants, heels, and some jewels.
To be honest, I saw an adorable gray snowflake sweater at H & M earlier this month and almost bought it. But, really, how often can you wear a snowflake sweater? Especially when you already have a perfectly serviceable gray sweater in your closet? See, look at me using things I already own!
Doesn't mean I'm not still thinking about that sweater.


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Is anyone heading down to the Night Drift this Saturday night?
If you are unaware
TEDA is holding a Night Drift event this saturday night at Hidden Valley (gates open at 6)
This will be a battle event with tandem elimination rounds.
also the track section has been moved to gravel pit corner through to the last turn.
i think entry's will be open up until saturday arvo. you will need to go down to hidden valley on saturday, fill out a form, pay and have your car looked over.
event is BYO for spectators
There is a fair bit going on but no Toyota's in the fleet sorry, well atleast till my 86 is done
here is some footage from October, full credit to Ed from High RPM, as above check www.highrpm.com.au for more vids on all NT motorsport.


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Custer Battles Royale
Our man in DC, David Phinney, has been covering the upstart private security contractor Custer Battles since long before the mainstream media had a clue who they were. Now the company, which has made millions in taxpayer money in Iraq, has been found guilty of federal contract fraud amounting to nearly $3 million. The firm was ordered pay nearly $10 million in restitution.
David has been at the trial in recent weeks, and sends us this post-verdict dispatch:
Scott Custer and Michael Battles discovered contracting business to be so good in Iraq for their new private security firm that they soon paid themselves bonuses between $3 million to $4 million in January 2004.
One month later company managers fired off internal memos warning the two entrepreneurs that the firm was regularly charging for goods and services never delivered or, if they were, at freakishly inflated prices.
That's just one of the tasty items to come out of the three-week trial that found their company, aptly named Custer Battles, liable for massive contract fraud while working for the Coalition Provisional Authority after the March 2003 invasion On Thursday, a federal jury in Alexandria, Va., determined that Custer Battles must now shell out more than $10 million in penalties and damages.
"What they did is treason," claims attorney Alan Grayson, the lead attorney for two former Custer Battles business associates who filed the fraud suit more than two years ago. "There's no other word for it."
The $10 million judgment addresses only part of the complaint filed by the two whistleblowers, Robert Isakson and William Baldwin, which accuses Custer Battles of orchestrating a sweeping swindling scheme on Iraq contracts with the use of bogus invoices, forgery and shell companies in the Cayman Islands to fraudulently pump up their billings.
Thursday's verdict rules on a CPA contract to protect the multi-billion currency exchange program that replaced money used by Saddam Hussein's regime with new Iraqi dinars. A second trial is expected on a $16 million security contract for Baghdad's airport. Damages for the airport contract could reach $40 million or more if the company is found of wrongdoing.
During the three-week trial, Grayson was able to tease out the tale of the $3-million-plus bonuses.
"On January 2nd, 2004, you took a bonus of $3 million out of the company, did you not?" Grayson asked Michael Battles as he sat on the witness stand.
"I didn't take a bonus necessarily, but I took a draw," Battles, a 2002 Republican candidate for Congress in Rhode Island, responded curtly.
Grayson: "What's a draw?"
Battles: "A draw is a disbursement of funds to the principals.... And I was happy to say that, yes, we were successful enough that I took a $3 million draw."
At one point Battles attempted to deflect any responsibility in the management of his company by insisting he was largely involved with business development and "strategic initiatives." He rarely took a hands-on executive role, he said.
"One thing I learned as lieutenant is that the secret to successful leadership is to surround yourself with people smarter than you are," he said.
Later, Battles shared another lesson: "In retrospect, one of the things I've learned is don't put your name on your company,"
Meanwhile, it looks as though Isakson and Baldwin will be counting their money. Individuals are allowed to sue on behalf of the government when they have knowledge that the government is being defrauded. They may receive up to 30 percent of the money paid by Custer Battles.
Those not counting their money will be the Iraqi people. Much of the money paid to Custer Battles was from seized Iraqi assets. Judge T. S. Ellis III, of the Federal District Court in Alexandria, Va., had ruled early in the trial preliminary proceedings that the False Claims Act applies only to bills paid directly from the American treasury.
- 23 Private Security


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The gang continues their journey through Izabi Island, though they encounter a desert. Brock's map and Max's PokéNav have no data about the desert, and yet there are many holes around. They do notice every hole is the same size. Ash throws a rock into the hole and a Pokémon is seen eating the rock - a Trapinch. There must be more Trapinch, as there are many holes around. However, they hear a police alarm and a woman comes to them. The woman tells them they are trespassers, and they must leave, as the area is dangerous. Despite that, Brock flirts with her. The woman gets out of the flirting and introduces herself as Elisa. Brock does not stop flirting, so Max pulls his ear. Max and Ash apologize. Ash goes around and he falls down a hole.
Elisa gives him a rope and Elisa pulls him up. The holes underneath hide a cavern full of Trapinch. Elisa and the others wanted to move the Trapinch, but they dig more, so nothing could be done about it. Elisa takes them somewhere safe, but during the travel, they see a man running away from an angry Donphan. The man recognizes Elisa, for some reason. Elisa calls Meganium out, who uses Sweet Scent to calm Donphan down, so Elisa calls Meganium back. The man is grateful - Elisa introduces him as Hal, the Izabi Island researcher. Hal shows that it was looking for the Trapinch - with a transmitter. Hal begins to explain them the situation with Donphan, while Team Rocket spies under the earth, using a periscope from a Diglett machine.
Hal tells them that the transmitter will tell them the location of an underground lake. The gang wants to hear about this lake, so Hal tells them what it is. Hal tells them that one day he fell into a hole and when he woke up, Hal saw a large, beautiful underground lake - with a lot of Trapinch as well. However, he remembers that Trapinch evolved into Vibrava - he followed them and found himself out of the lake, but did not remember how he got out. The gang is amazed by the story, but Elisa thinks Hal made that up. Hal tells them he became a Trapinch researcher for that. However, Max spots Trapinch with the transmitter is gone. May spots it is going into the hole. Soon, they feel vibrations - Team Rocket appears in the machine, capturing Pikachu. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt, but with no use.
Brock sends Ludicolo (who dances with Max), who uses Water Gun on the machine. The machine begins to be destroyed, though Pikachu is dragged down as well. The Trapinch appear and eat the metal from the machine. The Trapinch eat the machine pretty damn quick, but Team Rocket and Pikachu are dragged down into the hole. Ash, Elisa and the Trapinch with the transmitter come down as well. Pikachu, Team Rocket and Ash, Trapinch and Elisa split. Brock, May and Max stay outside, though they need to find a way to help them. Hal discovers a signal of Trapinch, so he goes down. Despite the warnings, Hal falls down into the hole. Hal falls down and goes after the signal. Ash tries to find Pikahcu, but with no success. The Trapinch goes down a path, so they follow it. Team Rocket go down a path and see a Trapinch, so Meowth thinks it will open the nuts for the boss if he had one, so they go to capture one. However, it has gone away, so they hide when they heard some steps.
The steps are Hal's, so they go to follow him, going after the Trapinch he is following. Brock, Max and May are worried. Max goes to the edge and nearly falls, but May got him and Brock got her. However, they are both heavy, so they all fall down. Ash, Elisa and Trapinch go to find Pikahcu and see May, Max and Brock falling down. Ash asks where Hal is, so Brock tells him he was looking for the Trapinch with the transmitter. The Trapinch is eating rocks to make a path. Elisa hears something - it is the water going through the path! The gang runs, but the water gets them and leads them to the lake Hal spoke of. Pikachu arrived before, so Ash goes to him. They also see the Trapinch with the transmitter and Hal following it. Team Rocket hides and plans to take Pikachu as well.
Hal tells Elisa that it is the lake he spoke of. Elisa replies she thinks she is a fool not to trust him, but Hal tells her that she did believe him. The talk is interrupted when Brock sees the Trapinch gathering. The Trapinch evolve to Vibrava. Jessie and James are sad they couldn't capture them, but Meowth tells them they are part Dragon, so it means they are quite worth. The Vibrava fly off, though Team Rocket captures them all. Brock sends Ludicolo and Elisa Meganium. Ludicolo attacks with Bullet Seed and Meganium with Razor Leaf - the Vibrava are free.
Jessie sends Dustox and James Cacnea. Dustox attacks with Poison Sting and Cacnea with Pin Missile, though the Vibrava stand in their way, negating the attack with Supersonic. Pikachu blasts them off with Thunderbolt. Now, the gang would have to get out. However, they are carried up by the Vibrava. Vibrava fly off and the gang waves goodbye at them. At the end of the day, Elisa gives them directions to the nearest town. Hal decides to keep the lake a secret - he wanted to find it - along with Elisa.


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- This event has passed.
Exhibit: "The Garden of Earthly Delights: Recent Work by Mark Hoppmann"
October 8, 2018 @ 9:00 am - 9:00 pm
|Recurring Event (See all)
An event every day that begins at 9:00am, repeating until October 14, 2018
Working from his studio in Tacoma Washington, Mark Hoppmann is a multi-media artist working primarily in watercolor, India ink, and graphite. He studied art for one year in Florence, Italy, before graduating from Drake University in 1978 with a B.F.A. in graphic design and commercial art. An offset press operator in the graphic arts industry for twenty years, Hoppmann returned to art full time in 1999. Hoppmann has exhibited his watercolor paintings and drawings in multiple galleries across the Pacific Northwest.


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Dancing With The Stars Derek Hough So Busy, "Family Dance Off" Coverage And More
So much is happening in the world of Dancing With The Stars Derek Hough!! If you haven't see all the updates at Pure Derek Hough, be sure you do. Last night, was the premiere of "Family Dance Off" and Derek's first night of hosting it. Last week, there were new Extra and Access Hollywood interviews gearing up for it as well as new promos and commercials. Now there is a link to see the episode in full and fans weigh in on the night. Derek also spoke about his Emmy nominations and choreographing a new dance number for it. There was also news on his new movie "Make Your Move 3D"!! All this and more at Pure Derek Hough. Don't miss it!! And Heidi, if you read this, we miss you loads! Safe travels and see you soon!!
Pic above of Derek and Maria Menounos at The Grove for Extra courtesy of Zimbio Pictures. To see more, go here.


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Gigabyte Z87X UD4H Hands-On Preview!
The Red Devil
Published: 15th May 2013 | Source: Gigabyte |
Today we give a quick once over to the Gigabyte Z87X UD4H, which is soon to be released. Looking at the past, the UD4 boards have been Gigabyte's mid-range performance motherboards, settling itself rather logically between the UD3 and the UD5. However, in the history of all things UD4, nothing's looked quite as good as this.
Last generation's boards bucked the trend when it came to overclocking performance with price in mind, with boards in the £150 range beating those with a greater price tag. We can only hope that this happens with this board, just so that it gets the power as well as the looks. Only time will tell, but the board is already promising in our eyes.
Once again, let's take a look at some photos of the board before we get to the video.
Stunning. Just stunning.
A close up of the VRM heatsinks show even more good looks.
The first board that we've seen today which includes a PCI lane along with PCIe.
Oh me, oh my. If you haven't already caught on from the rest of this article, we're totally infatuated with the looks of this thing. Red and black is a new colour scheme for Gigabyte, and might we say that they've pulled it off flawlessly. The heatsinks show off their simplicity well, with no added logos or badges in the way of the sleek aesthetics.
Gravitating away from its looks towards what the board has to offer in terms of PCIe lanes, we see something different from the other boards we've covered recently - a PCI lane! Good for those of you who still rock older components; the PCI lane will still be good for many sound cards and, if you really wanted to, a video card. Moving on to the PCIe lanes we have three full sized lanes which are wired as 16x, 8x, and 4x, along with two 1x lanes. We have to be very clear here - we do not know yet how the chipset is going to use these lanes, as that's still covered under Intel's NDA.
This board, as it is a lower end item compared to the Snipers, does not benefit from the upgraded audio circuitry. It still offers its own onboard HD audio solution, but it won't be up to par with the others in terms of quality sound reproduction. This is most likely done to cut costs for the mid-range board, but it's still a shame that it's missing.
All together we can see this board being hugely popular among end users. Its breathtaking looks paired with what we hope to be great performance and price will set it up to be one of the top sellers in our eyes, and we really can't wait to see it being put into rigs after release.
A big thanks to Gigabyte for sending us this board for our hands-on preview. Discuss this topic further in the OC3D Forums.
Most Recent Comments
Black PCB's are the way forward.Quote
Hmm I really don't like the grey ram slots.Quote


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Fits QX80QX80 with 2nd Row Captains Chairs
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Spend $100-300 (MSRP)* SAVE 15%. Enter Coupon Code 15ACCY2020 at Online Checkout. Does not apply to employee orders.


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Chicken Shawarma with Green Beans and Zucchini
Adapted from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/chicken-shawarma-with-gre_n_1058298.html
1 pound(s) zucchini, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 pound(s) green beans
1/2 cup(s) extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoon(s) ground allspice
1 1/2 teaspoon(s) ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon(s) ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon(s) cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon(s) ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon(s) ground coriander
6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1 cup(s) plain low-fat yogurt
2 tablespoon(s) fresh lemon juice
6 6-inch pitas, split horizontally
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1. Preheat the oven to 425°. In a medium bowl, toss the zucchini and green beans with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and season with salt; spread on a baking sheet. In the same bowl, combine the allspice, black pepper, white pepper, cinnamon, cumin and coriander with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Rub the spice paste all over the chicken and season with salt. Arrange the chicken on another baking sheet.
2. Roast the chicken on the lower rack and the vegetables on the upper rack of the oven for 15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and the chicken is nearly cooked through. Remove the vegetables. Preheat the broiler and broil the chicken on the upper rack, turning once, until crisp and browned, 10 minutes; cut into strips.
3. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil in a small skillet. Add the garlic and cook over moderate heat until lightly browned, about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and whisk in the yogurt and lemon juice; season with salt.
4. Arrange the pitas cut side up on a work surface and brush each round with about 1 1/2 teaspoons of the yogurt sauce. Divide the chicken, roasted vegetables and red onion among the pitas and roll the bread around the filling into tight cylinders.
5. Heat a griddle over moderately high heat. Cook the rolls seam side down until golden and crisp, about 2 minutes. Turn and toast the other side. Cut each roll in half and serve with the remaining yogurt sauce.


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History makes clear that presidential election years are usually favorable for the securities markets. Here's hoping history repeats itself.
Amid uncertainties about the U. S. economy and widespread worries over the European banking crisis, this year's Research Roundtable of eminent investment experts is markedly mixed as to what the new year will bring.
Indeed, the market correction of this past summer and fall and the struggling economic recovery served only to raise the nation's angst quotient and refuel negative sentiment, even as contrarians say the latter could turn out to be a positive indicator for next year.
No doubt 2012 will be an important year for our country; and while it is particularly challenging to forecast the 12 months ahead, our panelists are confident that astute investment professionals using the right strategies can successfully steer clients through the choppy seas.
Once again, it will be a stock picker's year, according to the experts, with the accent on sectors that include industrials, technology, energy and health care. When it comes to bonds, the watchword is wariness.
In mid-October 2011, here's what our Roundtable guests predicted for the year ahead.
John Buckingham (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) Chief Investment Officer, Al Frank Asset Management, managing $500 million in assets. Editor, The Prudent Speculator newsletter. Manager, the $85 million Al Frank Fund, with an annualized 10-year return of 6.7 percent (through Sept. 30, 2011).
Kenneth L. Fisher (Woodside, Calif.) Chair-CEO, Fisher Investments, which manages $36 billion in assets. Forbes "Portfolio Strategy" columnist for 27 years. New book: Markets Never Forget: But People Do (Wiley, Nov. 2011).
Jeffrey Gundlach (Los Angeles) CEO-CIO, DoubleLine Capital, managing $17 billion in assets. The flagship Total Return Bond Fund's annualized total return since its April 2010 inception through Sept. 30, 2011 is 17.4 percent.
Robert Rodriguez (Los Angeles) CEO, First Pacific Advisors; advisor to FPA Capital, FPA New Income funds. Firm manages assets of $16.2 billion. FPA Capital's compounded rate of return from July 1984 launch to Sept. 30, 2011, is 14.39 percent. FPA New Income hasn't had a down year in 33.
What's the state of the market right now?
Gundlach: Half-way prepared for a hurricane, half-way hoping it doesn't land on shore. A kind of no-man's land.
Rodriguez: Tenuous.
Fisher: Sentiment disconnected from fundamentals. We've been through a major full-scale correction within a bull market.
Buckingham: Schizophrenic, driven by news out of Europe.
Tell me your outlook for the economy and stock market?
Rodriguez: From a standpoint of health care and fiscal policy, 2012 is the most important year in 80. I'm decidedly cautious. Europe is in or near recession. The odds are increasing north of 50 percent that we'll be in recession next year. Several quarters of economic growth will have a 1 percent handle. The stock market will be facing both profitability and governmental issues.
We've had the worst recovery on record. While [Federal Reserve chair] Ben Bernanke is trying to improve the situation, he's really harming it.
Fisher: Bernanke is nothing but a disaster. Where's duct tape when we need it!
So, do you agree with Mr. Rodriguez that we're on the road to recession?
Fisher: We're not in recession, nor are we headed into one in 2012. The economy will be okay but not gangbusters. The non-U.S. world on average will be stronger than the U.S. world. [But] our economy is much stronger than people think, quite robust. Leading economic indicators are high and rising; yield curves are steep. What's weak is our sentiment.
Next year we'll have a bull market with gusto. The aftermath of a correction is usually an up mode. It will be a nicely above-average year, a year to be invested in equities as you'd ever be.
Buckingham: We'll avoid recession. Economic indicators are not coincident with negative GDP growth. We've already discounted a mild recession. The economy is strong. I expect stocks to be up more than 10 percent. Next year should be a very good time to focus on dividend-paying value stocks since they've underperformed in the last couple of years.
Gundlach: With this economy, you have one foot on the pier and one foot in the rowboat, and the boat is drifting — so you're probably going to end up in the water. There are a lot of structural issues; and because of that, it's a difficult investment environment. That's not a very rosy outlook, but investing is about reality. Against this backdrop, the markets should be kind of cheap.
Are we headed toward another financial crisis?
Rodriguez: Unless there is fundamental structural budgetary reform in the Congress, I don't trust them.
What's the biggest threat to the markets next year?
Rodriguez: Continued political incompetence with regard to our fiscal issues.
Buckingham: An unpleasant event out of Europe. [Also] there's not a lot of confidence in the system, and there's fear that something could blow up. There are still unknowns on the balance sheets of many financial institutions.
Fisher: Probably something that creates geopolitical instability because we're not looking for it.
Gundlach: The collapse of the European banking system.
How do you see corporate earnings shaping up next year?
Rodriguez: [Forecasts] are too optimistic. [Considering] what a lot of corporations have done to enhance their profit margins over the last several years, there aren't many more rabbits in the hat.
Fisher: Earnings have been very strong and will continue strong.
Gundlach: I don't find it useful to predict corporate earnings in understanding the way the market goes. These days, it's based upon seismic shifts of policy and politics — choices made at a political level rather than: Is someone going to beat the Street by a few cents?
Do you expect inflation or deflation next year?
Rodriguez: Right now, we have deflation and inflation simultaneously: deflation in home prices and inflation in commodity prices. If we do not address our fiscal issues within no longer than three years, you could see long-term monetary inflation taking hold. Congress has been irresponsible.
Gundlach: The deflation forces are pretty [strong] — home prices deflating, unemployment high and global competition. Without inflation, nominal GDP growth isn't very high.
What's your outlook for bonds?
Rodriguez: They are absolutely terrible. We continue to run a very, very short duration bond fund, which is killing us. But we don't like the risk in the bond market and haven't for many years.
Gundlach: Government bonds are no longer what I would consider an investment; they're now a hedge. It's impossible to see yields fall on short-term bonds because they're at zero. Painfully low interest rates will be with us as long as there's economic malaise and rhetoric about addressing the deficit.
We've been focusing on the higher yields available in areas of the mortgage-related market. We made more money this year in government bonds than in anything else. But going forward, the yield isn't there in junk government bonds. Corporate bonds will be a good buy.
Next year is a presidential election. What will its impact be on markets?
Fisher: Election years are almost never negative for the stock market, and this one should be particularly good. Normally, when we initially elect a Republican, the market is gangbusters. When we reelect a Democrat, it's pretty darn good. And next year we'll do one or the other.
Gundlach: This election is going to be the most significant one for politics and financial markets in our lifetime. It's the taxes-are-too-darn-low party running against the spending-is-too-darn-high party. Whoever gets a mandate will have to start implementing it in February 2013, and either one will be problematic for the economy almost immediately: if you cut spending a lot, it leads to negative economic growth; raising taxes by a lot takes money out of the private economy, which has a similar effect.
Which sectors and stocks do you like for next year?
Buckingham: Companies that offer dividend yields above that of the benchmark 10-year Treasury. The sectors include industrials (Lockheed Martin, Eaton, Waste Management); energy (Total Energy, Enersis SA [ENI], Tsakos Energy Navigation); information technology (Seagate Technologies, Intel, United Online); consumer discretionary (Cooper Tire, Whirlpool, Staples); and healthcare (Abbott Laboratories, Merck, Novartis).
Fisher: Moving forward, the things that should do best are economically sensitive. The focus needs to be on stocks that will benefit from an improved perception about the economy — sectors such as materials, industrials, technology and energy.
Gundlach: I like producers of resource commodities. What really holds value are companies that produce things that are necessary, like copper, food, cement.
Rodriguez: No one sector shows up yet. [We've] invested in a couple of stocks in technology, one in financial services and one in health care. One stock [I'll mention] is Oshkosh Corp., a specialty vehicle manufacturer involved with the military and some municipalities. It's setting new lows.
What's your forecast for international investing?
Buckingham: Foreign markets have suffered bigger declines than the U.S. market, and that makes me a little more optimistic than I usually might be about foreign. That potential strength abroad can be played by investing in companies that trade on the U.S. exchanges.
Fisher: I'm not optimistic about emerging markets stocks because we had too much optimism, and people are looking for a bottom. If they don't get the bottom, they stop looking for it.
Gundlach: One of the most important things to look at is the Shanghai stock market. China is slowing down in growth, and you can see it in the Shanghai market — it seems to never go up. It's been dropping week by week pretty much all year.
Rodriguez: In the last month or so, some raw materials currencies, like the Australian dollar and Canadian dollar, have been getting hit. That signifies there is a perception of greater risk in raw materials internationally — and that implies slower growth.
What impact will increased financial regulation have on the markets in 2012?
Fisher: All bad. Our salvation has never been regulation. As Adam Smith said, the greatest regulator is competition itself.
Buckingham: I don't see it having real negative impact on the stock market, even if it does have a modest [negative] effect on profitability.
What investment strategy do you recommend for next year?
Rodriguez: Make real selection decisions. In this kind of slow-growth environment, a diversified portfolio of securities and being pretty much fully invested isn't going to get you there.
Much of what goes on in [professional] money management is a form of "closet indexing." If they're bullish on an industry and it represents 10 percent of the index, they'll own 11 percent or 12 percent. If negative, they'll own 8 percent. I'm being a little too critical about the percentages — but the diversified portfolio has not been a winner.
Gundlach: The strategy that has succeeded in our bond funds: a mix of assets where you have some government credit to hedge against volatility.
Do you expect the unusually high level of volatility to continue?
Buckingham: Yes, because these days we're dominated by the whims of speculators, and so much is driven by high-frequency traders. [But] I love volatility because that's what gives me the opportunity to buy. This kind of market will favor individual stock pickers who are nimble.


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Delivered Sunday, May 6, 2007
at Holland Municipal Stadium
by Prof. Dianne Porfleet
Adjunct Associate Professor of English
Families, friends, colleagues, and, especially, the graduating class of 2007. I want to mention a very special group also, since I'm they're advisor: the Mortar Board group of 2007, and Lisa [C. Smith], our president, congratulations to all of you.
The father of an author I really enjoy reading once wrote her a postcard. And there was only one short line on the postcard. And on it he said, "Never forget, even if you win at the rat race of life, you are still a rat." And that quote is very significant: "Even if you win at the rat race of life, you're still a rat." This afternoon you will walk out of here with a well earned degree from an excellent college, but, you know what? There are going to be hundreds and thousands of people out there with that degree; and there are going to be hundreds and thousands of people in that career you have chosen. And if you're not careful, there's going to be all sorts of tension and pressure put on you to run that rat race
to get the promotion, the biggest salary, the largest home, to get the most toys, and these will all threaten to consume you. And if you join this rat race of life - those of you that had to read Dante for me, you're going to wake up some day in the middle of that dark wood, and you're going to say, "How did I get here?" Or like Mitch Albom in Tuesdays with Morrie, sixteen years after his college graduation, "What happened to me? What happened to me? What happened to me?" In a few moments you're going to walk out of here with your college degree...
But you're also going walk out of here this afternoon with one thing that nobody else has- and that is your true self, your unique personality - you are the only person who has sole custody of your life, your unique potential; and only you can fight your individual battle to live a real life, to become the most human you can be, to live the joyful, abundant life that Christ has offered to each of us. And my advice to each of you today - and anybody who has had me in class will know what I'm going to say--is "get a life." Get a real life, not the artificial life, the rat race life, but get a real life. Henry David Thoreau in Walden once said he went to the woods because he wished to learn to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and find out what he had to learn, and not to come to die and find out he had never lived, living is so precious. Or as Morrie Schwartz stated, dying is only one thing to be sad about - living unhappily is much worse. And this is what I'm urging you: get a life, a real life. Frederick Buechner wrote it quite differently: "Each of us needs to discover what makes him or her most joyful, most alive, for this is the true battle of life - to become fully human, and this is the battle we all can win because this is the battle that God wants us to win." As Jesus said, I have come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly. God wants each of us to find this life, to live deliberately, to live consciously, as sons and daughters of God, and to achieve that joyful, abundant life. And each of you graduates has been given unique abilities, unique skills, unique personalities. I've told many of you this: that I've prayed for so many of you when you're in my classes. I don't pray about your intellectual problems, not usually. You know what I think about? I think about your uniqueness, your strangeness, that thing that makes you "you." I could name so many of you in this spot here - those things that stick out, that unique you that makes you that human, that very special human.
Society, friends, graduate school, and maybe even family sometimes will constantly be pulling you away from the real life to the wealthy life, the successful life, maybe the safe life, the life that will make them proud of you, the life our culture tells you you're supposed to live. And there may be hardly any voices actually applauding you as you consciously make that effort to become truly human and open yourself up to every precious moment of every precious day that you live: becoming the person God has created you to be.
Right now, this particular moment will never be repeated. You will never again be with this group of friends, surrounded with your family and your friends, graduating from Hope College. I want you just each to stop for one moment and look around you. This will never happen again. And I know that some of you earlier had tears in your eyes as you suddenly realized, "This is it." It will never happen again. This moment, feel the breeze, feel the sunshine, think about this unique, wonderful moment. When Renita Weems visited a dying woman, the woman asked her a question. And the question was, "Is today tomorrow?" And Renita says that that particular question has haunted her: "What kind of a question was that?" "Is today tomorrow?" And she said, "I was standing over her bed as she was dying, my mind racing with all the things I should be doing. And suddenly I felt the brush of an angel on my shoulder: Is today tomorrow? No, today is today. And tomorrow is out there somewhere and unknowable. I think of this woman's dying question every time I think I ought to be doing something I'm not doing right at this particular moment, or I should be somewhere where I'm not right at this particular moment."
Henri Nouwen approached this same idea from a different perspective- Are we so worried about tomorrow or so wishing we could undo the past that we never truly live in the present? Are our roommates always the "what ifs" and the "if onlys" -- The "what if this had happened?" "If only this hadn't happened." "If only I hadn't done it this way." And do any of us ever live, Henri Nouwen asks, in the here and now?
Some of you are going to achieve excellence in your careers - you're well on your way. Some of you have been accepted into wonderful graduate schools, you have wonderful careers out there ahead of you. And many of you will get wealthy, and you're going to get a lot of human praise as you go through your life. But....if you never truly learn to live in the present moment, never learn to savor the unique flavor of every day of your life (both the painful ones and the joyful ones), if you never really follow the voice of your joy and become that unique person you were created to become, you will miss out on the real life, and you will die having never lived - and living is too precious for that. There is something more sad than being diagnosed with a terminal illness and that is never living - only participating in the shadow our culture tells us is the good life.
For the true battle we should be fighting every day of our lives is to find peace within our skins, to regain the awe and the wonder of each moment of life. Larry Kushner once told me: "I ask God every morning for awe and wonder for that day, and I have never been disappointed yet." This is the battle for our human soul - the battle that God wants each of us to win. People in our culture don't talk about the soul very much. It's so much easier to study, to work at our careers, or to stay busy than it is to craft a human soul. But the best career in the world, the highest paying job, the biggest house are cold comforts on days in your life's journey when everything seems dark and dreary, or when you are depressed, or when you're lonely, or when you've gotten back the medical test results, and they're not good, or when you've gotten that phone call that someone you love dearly has just died. Of course, we all want to do well in our careers, and we want our resumes to be filled with degrees and experiences that will help us advance in this world.
But this is how I want my resume to read, and I hope when I come to die it will read this way: I am a friend to my husband and a loving mother, and I have tried never to let my career or my self centeredness stand in the way of my being a good parent, a loving friend, or the human God wants me to become. I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I have learned to pay attention to each moment and to each person who crosses my path. I show up for each day of my life - I really show up for each day of my life, I'm there; I try to listen to its voice and its uniqueness and enter fully into it; I have at times experienced deep joy and deep sorrow, and I have learned to be content in all circumstances realizing that the cup of life which God gives us to drink has both sorrow and sweetness in it. I have learned to laugh, to love, to cry, to play. And throughout the day to listen to the still, quiet voice of God, and I genuinely attempt to love God with all my heart, my mind, and my being, and I try to love my neighbor unconditionally. I have learned to treasure every moment I have with each person, to savor each sunrise and each sunset, and to thoroughly immerse myself in the joy and wonder of living.
I hope I have stopped worrying about the past and the future, and I am learning to live in the present - in the here and now.
And I would urge each of you, unique, wonderful individuals, all of you - get a life. Get a real life, not a manic pursuit of your next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house, the busier life. Do you think those things are going to matter if you get cancer? Do you think those things are going to matter when everything seems to have fallen out of your world? Each time you look at your diploma, I want you to stop and remember that you are still a student and you always will be a student --still learning how to love God, to love others, to live fully. Always maintain a childlike amazement at and openness to life. Frederick Buechner once wrote that the worst sentence in the world is "I'm just killing time because time is all we have, and it's not time we are killing." It's our own lives we're killing. Never get bored with your life. Live your life, live it fully.
And remember that this life is the only one you get in this world, and you have no business taking it for granted or wasting it in trivialities. When I was diagnosed with cancer, something really happened to me eleven years ago - a deep sense of how fragile life is entered my consciousness, and a few years later when my husband of forty years was diagnosed also with cancer, this sense of the fragility of life surfaced again. When my father died of a massive heart attack, and four years later my mother died of cancer, when I held a former student who was dying of AIDS at the age of 27 and sobbing over his lost life, I learned something. I learned today, this moment is all I'm ever really going to have. The recent events of 9-11 and Virginia Tech have reinforced this for each of you: you never know when that last moment will be, no matter how young we are. But through all these events I learned to love the journey of life, and I determined to tell each of those, especially you students who have heard it so many times in these four years, and to tell everybody who has helped me in so many ways, how much they mean to me as our lives touch one another. I hope I am learning to share my life with others, including each of you my students, urging you to slow down and savor life, that I am learning how to give something back to this world, to, perhaps, touch a life through kindness, give courage to a wavering, fearful soul, and to care deeply for those who come into my life. We try to make living for God so complicated when all He asks is that we love Him with all our hearts and that we encourage one another, help one another, weep with one another, rejoice with one another, and love one another wherever we find ourselves.
It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I hope that I learned to live many years ago and am still learning each day. And I urge you to treasure your friends, your family, the breath of air you inhale every moment, treasure this moment. And work at loving others and expressing that love to them. Okay, I want each of you today to do this for me: write a letter to somebody and tell them you appreciate them, kiss your mother or your father or your grandparents, hug your friends. Tell those friends who have touched you how much they have meant to you. Tell that classroom member how much he or she has meant to you. Tell those people who have touched you - "thank you." Get a life in which you are generous to those around you.
A poem I read to many of my students at the beginning of each semester says it this way:
"If I had my life to live over again, I would try to make more mistakes the next time. I would relax. I would take more chances. I would take more trips. I would be sillier than I have been and more crazy. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers and watch more sunsets...I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies." And those of you that know me, I would ride more roller coasters and I would have rappelled down more mine shafts, and I would have started before I was in my mid-50s to do so, and be crazier next time around.
So I want you to go out from graduation this day and face life deliberately. Find the true life and embrace it. Don't come to die and suddenly realize you have never truly lived - living is so precious.
As Walter Wangerin Jr., my favorite author, who has advanced lung cancer, wrote me a few weeks ago: "Go for it. Go for it. Go hard for it."
So I say to each of you today: "Go for true life- the abundant life that Christ wants for you. Go for it. Go for it. Go hard for it."
God bless you each and everyone this graduation day, and thank you. You have shared part of your journey with me. Thank you so much - you'll never know how much you have meant to me. And I and all the faculty members who have been privileged to walk with you during this part of your life's journey thank you.


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Janet Holder, leader of Canada's most controversial oil project, says she knew last week's federal approval of the Northern Gateway pipeline would be controversial.
But she said she didn't expect anti-pipeline politicians in Ottawa to show so much anger and bitterness toward her $7.9-billion baby.
"We expected a big reaction, but I don't think I ever quite expected this," said Holder, the B.C.-born vice-president of Calgary-based Enbridge and the public face of the company's proposed Alberta-to-B.C. pipeline.
"The tone of the reaction, the level of reaction," she said. "Obviously we knew there was still opposition. It's just that the loudness and the language chosen by the opposition has been a bit surprising."
What tone is she referring to?
How about this quote from federal NDP leader Thomas Mulcair: "We're talking about a severe threat to social order, social peace, not only in British Columbia, but across Canada, if Mr. Harper continues to ignore science, continues to ignore First Nations, continues to ignore communities."
How about this one from federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau: "This prime minister seems to think he can emit a decree from Ottawa and have things happen on the ground. What we need to make sure we're doing is getting support from the communities affected … not simply rubber-stamping a project from Ottawa."
Holder emits a sigh in response, and insists Prime Minister Stephen Harper didn't rubber-stamp the pipeline project.
"It was an independent review, not a partisan one," she said of the lengthy public hearings conducted by the federal Joint Review Panel that recommended acceptance of the heavy-oil project and resulted in last Tuesday's cabinet approval.
"It was the most extensive environmental review in the history of Canada. It was a four-year process, 180 hearing days, 80 experts. The process couldn't have been more exhaustive and comprehensive.
"And then you have people coming in saying it wasn't adequate, it was not sufficient. We are a democratic country. We are known to have one of the very best regulatory review processes around the world. And yet that process can be beaten up on as much as it was in the last couple of days."
I've interviewed Janet Holder several times now and she's usually a lot more upbeat, so I suggest to her that she sounds a little down after such a hard-fought victory.
"Just tired," she replied, but one of her fiercest opponents sees it a different way.
"They're not nearly as cocky as you would expect," said Art Sterritt, head of the staunchly anti-pipeline Coastal First Nations. "This may be the most profound reaction we've seen to any project in the history of Canada. But the federal government doesn't seem to be helping them. Enbridge is out there on their own now. They must be thinking, 'Holy crap, what have we got ourselves into?' That's why they're down."
The Conservative government announced its approval of the pipeline in the most low-key manner possible — posting a dryly worded legal notice on a website — and Harper and his cabinet ministers have not yet launched a public sales pitch of the project to Canadians.
Instead, the government emphasized the pipeline was recommended by the science-focused review panel, and it will be up to "the proponent" to meet the panel's 209 conditions (recommended in December) before the pipeline can be built and operated.
Holder said she was in Vancouver with another Enbridge executive, John Carruthers, when they learned about the approval on Twitter.
"We were in the same room and someone said, 'It's out. No additional conditions.' We sort of looked at one another and said, 'Oh wow.' We were pleased, but the next steps in some respects are as complicated as what we've been doing to date."
Did the Enbridge team pop the champagne?
"No," Holder said. "We worked relatively late that night. We went over to an individual's house afterwards and had some food and a glass of wine, I admit. But we were also up first thing the next morning and doing more media. We haven't had the chance to sit back and go, 'We have accomplished this milestone.' It has been a whirlwind.
"But it's not like we get a reprieve now and the next year ahead of us is any easier. In some regards, it's going to be tougher."
She said the company will now embark on a massive pre-construction phase that will include satisfying 113 of the conditions and meeting with communities, the provincial government and First Nations to get them on side.
Christy Clark's B.C. government is currently opposed to the project unless it meets five separate conditions that include addressing the legal rights and economic opportunities of First Nations, "world-leading" safety standards against oil spills and a "fair share" of pipeline profits for B.C.
Holder re-confirmed Enbridge intends to meet all the conditions, though she said the company is still waiting for more information from the province, including what a "fair share" of the profits would be.
"We haven't got an idea at this time what that's going to look like," she said. "I suspect the B.C. government probably has some ideas, but that hasn't been shared with us."
She said one of the main priorities is to win the confidence of B.C. First Nations, many of which are fiercely opposed to the project and have launched lawsuits against it.
"We are going to engage with all the First Nations impacted by this project to demonstrate there is value to them, as well as to us, in working with us. Over the last three weeks alone, we have over 25 aboriginal businesses that are in the queue for pre-approval for work during construction."
But Sterritt chuckles at the claim.
"There are lots of people around with a truck or a backhoe who would like to get a job and want to be first in line," the First Nations leader said. "But they're not the people holding the social licence that First Nations are requiring. We want safety. We want a guarantee they can clean up an oil spill and that's not what they're offering."
The environmental movement, meanwhile, is gearing up for the biggest fight B.C. has ever seen, warning the project is fraught with risk of a pipeline rupture or super-tanker accident.
"Enbridge cannot be trusted to build and operate a pipeline that exposes some of our most precious watersheds and ecosystems to the risk of a catastrophic oil spill," said Nikki Skuce of Forest Ethics Advocacy, one of many critics predicting the pipeline will never be built.
But Holder, sounding more upbeat as she talks about the future, predicted the opposite.
"The silent majority is starting to speak out," she said. "As people start to see things unfold, as we meet all our conditions, they will say, 'Oh, yeah. I have more confidence now. I'm willing to put my hand up and say this should happen, provided it's done right.' It's the environment first, no question."
When will construction begin? Holder said the company expects to defeat its opponents in court, satisfy all pre-construction conditions, and get shovels in the ground by the fall of 2015.
"That's our plan," she said. "We believe we can get there."
Many others have their doubts.
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Over the next several months, library staff will be "migrating" the library's catalog and integrated library system (ILS) to a new open source system. The library has maintained the same ILS since 1998. The ILS manages the life of a book, journal, database or other resource from the moment it is ordered until it is removed from the library's collection. The ILS is also used to establish a database of library borrowers, to check out and renew print books and journals, and to manage fines.
The new ILS will be an open source system called Koha. Koha is a Maori word meaning gift or donation, somewhat in keeping with the concept of sharing that occurs in open source environments. Koha is used by thousands of libraries around the world, each adding features and functions to improve the capabilities of the system. The UT Health Science Center Library has contracted with Bywater Solutions to manage and host the library's implementation of Koha.
In March, librarians transferred files to Bywater Solutions to begin the process of mapping records from the library's current ILS to Koha. Library staff will receive intensive training on the new system in May, and the UT Health Science Center Library's Koha implementation is set to go live on June 8, if all goes as planned.
What does all this mean for library users? In a nutshell, if you have used Amazon or other web based systems, the look and feel of Koha should seem familiar. The first time you check out a book after June 8, you will need to set up a new library borrower record because the database of library borrowers is not being transferred to Koha. This will allow library staff to clear out many old borrower records that are no longer in use. For library users with a UTHSCSA network domain username and password, access to the library's electronic resources will not be affected. However, clinical faculty or other authorized library users who do not have a network login will need to register with the library and set a password on their account before resources can be accessed from off-campus.
Stay tuned for more information about Koha in the coming months. For questions about migrating to the new system, contact John Weed, Head of Collection Resources, firstname.lastname@example.com.
Tags: April 2015


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All around, the fabric of peace and order is fraying. The leaders of Russia and Ukraine escalate their apocalyptic rhetoric. The Sunni-Shiite split worsens as Syria and Iraq slide into chaos. China pushes its weight around in the Pacific.
I help teach a grand strategy course at Yale, and I asked my colleagues to make sense of what's going on. Charles Hill, who was a legendary State Department officer before going to Yale, wrote back:
"The 'category error' of our experts is to tell us that our system is doing just fine and proceeding on its eternal course toward ever-greater progress and global goodness. This is whistling past the graveyard.
"The lesson-category within grand strategic history is that when an established international system enters its phase of deterioration, many leaders nonetheless respond with insouciance, obliviousness, and self-congratulation. When the wolves of the world sense this, they, of course, will begin to make their moves to probe the ambiguities of the aging system and pick off choice pieces to devour at their leisure.
"This is what Putin is doing; this is what China has been moving toward doing in the maritime waters of Asia; this is what in the largest sense the upheavals of the Middle East are all about: i.e., who and what politico-ideological force will emerge as hegemon over the region in the new order to come. The old order, once known as 'the American Century' has been situated within 'the modern era,' an era which appears to be stalling out after some 300-plus years. The replacement era will not be modern and will not be a nice one."
When Hill talks about the modern order he is referring to a state system that restrained the two great vices of foreign affairs: the desire for regional dominance and the desire to eliminate diversity. Throughout recorded history, large regional powers have generally gobbled up little nations. Powerful people have generally tried to impose their version of the Truth on less powerful people.
But, over these centuries, civilized leaders have banded together to restrain these vices. As far back as the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, dominant powers tried to establish procedures and norms to secure national borders and protect diversity. Hegemons like the Nazis or the Communists tried to challenge this system, but the other powers fought back.
Today that system is under assault not by a single empire but by a hundred big and little foes. As Walter Russell Mead argues in a superb article in Foreign Affairs, geopolitics is back with a vengeance. Whether it's Russia seizing Crimea or China asserting itself, old-fashioned power plays are back in vogue. Meanwhile, pre-modern movements and people try to eliminate ethnic and religious diversity in Egypt, Ukraine and beyond.
China, Russia and Iran have different values, but all oppose this system of liberal pluralism. The U.S. faces a death by a thousand cuts dilemma. No individual problem is worth devoting giant resources to. It's not worth it to spend huge amounts of treasure to establish stability in Syria or defend a Western-oriented Ukraine. But, collectively, all the little problems can undermine the modern system. No individual ailment is worth the expense of treating it, but, collectively, they can kill you.
John Gaddis, another grand strategy professor, directs us to George Kennan's insights from the early Cold War, which he feels are still relevant as a corrective to the death-by-a-thousand-cuts mentality. He argues that we should contain these menaces until they collapse internally. The Moscow regime requires a hostile outside world to maintain its own internal stability. That's a weakness. By not behaving stupidly, by not overextending ourselves for example, we can, Gaddis argues, "make sure Putin's seeds of self-destruction are more deeply rooted than our own."
That's smart, but I think I'm less sure that time is on our side. The weakness with any democratic foreign policy is the problem of motivation. How do you get the electorate to support the constant burden of defending the liberal system?
It was barely possible when we were facing an obviously menacing foe like the Soviet Union. But it's harder when the system is being gouged by a hundred sub-threshold threats. The Republicans seem to have given up global agreements that form the fabric of that system, while Democrats are slashing the defense budget that undergirds it.
Moreover, people will die for Mother Russia or Allah. But it is harder to get people to die for a set of pluralistic procedures to protect faraway places. It's been pulling teeth to get people to accept commercial pain and impose sanctions.
The liberal pluralistic system is not a spontaneous natural thing. Preserving that hard-earned ecosystem requires an ever-advancing fabric of alliances, clear lines about what behavior is unacceptably system-disrupting, and the credible threat of political, financial and hard power enforcement.


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Location Waialua, United States of America
Distance 5 km
Date 17 Oct 2020
The race information has been found on the official website of the event or through publicly available sources. Always refer to the official website the latest race information. Please let us know if any data is wrong or missing, by emailing us.


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Chinese "Nessie" in Tianchi Lake?
Soldiers spot 'Chinese Nessie'
BBC News: Thursday, 31 July, 2003
The soldiers may have seen their 'monster' somewhere before.... BBC
A group of Chinese soldiers say they have caught a glimpse of a local version of the Loch Ness Monster.
In a country known for its dragons, the 12 servicemen said they saw a black-headed creature with 10cm (four inch) horns and a scaled back rising out of Tianchi Lake in the north-eastern Jilin province.
The creature swam around for about two minutes before disappearing, according to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
Reports of the sighting come only days after a BBC investigation "proved" that Nessie - as the Loch Ness Monster is affectionately known - did not exist. It is not the first time a monster has been seen from the banks of Tianchi Lake.
Xinhua says a similar-looking animal was seen five times during a period of about 50 minutes earlier this month.
Deadly salmon
July seems to be a prime season for spotting China's "Nessie", as hundreds of sightseers were reported to have seen it at the same time last year. As in Scotland, rumours that the Chinese volcanic lake, which is 373 metres deep (1,243 feet), is home to some sort of monster have been circulating for more than a century.
The BBC investigation concluded there was no such thing as Nessie
But scientists say the lake is too cold for large creatures and volcanic eruptions happening as recently as 300 years ago would make life extremely hazardous for any animal making the lake its home. Science used similar arguments to pour cold water on the Loch Ness Monster myth.
The BBC team originally believed there was a chance a marine reptile called a plesiosaur, which died out with the dinosaurs, could have survived the icy Scottish waters.
But an investigation using 600 separate sonar beams and satellite navigation technology surveyed the whole loch, finding no trace of a monster.
China, at least, has a choice of popular monster sighting locations. The Hanas Lake in the northwestern Xinjiang region is said to harbour species of salmon measuring 10 metres (33 feet) in length that attacks both people and cattle. A BBC spokeswoman, however, said the corporation had no current plans to investigate the existence of Chinese lake monsters.
Article 2: Lake Monster Sighted AgainBeijing - A black monster with a horse-like head has been spotted by hundreds of sightseers visiting a deep volcanic lake near China's border with North Korea, state media reported on Wednesday.
Reports - eagerly passed on by the local tourism authorities - have said the Chinese "Loch Ness monster" appeared twice recently in Tianchi Lake in north-eastern Jilin province, said the China Daily.
In the latest sighting, the creature appeared just 10 metres from the bank, jumping out of the water from time to time "like a seal", the paper said, quoting local tourism official Meng Fanying.
Rumours that the 373 metre-deep lake harbours some sort of monster have been circulating for more than a century, the paper said.
However, scientists have dismissed the reports, saying volcanic eruptions happening as recently as 300 years ago would make life extremely hazardous for any animal making the lake its home.
Local monster aficionados are unfazed by the skepticism and have even organised themselves in the Tianchi Monster Society, the paper reported.
The Tianchi monster is not the only "Nessie" said to be living in China.
The marine life of Hanas Lake in north-western Xinjiang region reputedly includes a 10 metre-long salmon species that attacks both people and cattle.
Source:– Sapa-AFP
Article 3: "Monster" Of Tianchi Lake SightedSource: China Daily July 11, 2005
A local tourist claims to have seen and videotaped the Tianchi Lake monster in the Changbai Mountain, in Jilin Province, Xinhua reported yesterday.
On Thursday morning, 52-year-old Zheng Changchun and his daughter and son-in-law were standing enjoying the scenery in the western side of the mountain. Suddenly, towards the middle of the lake, Zheng saw a strange, black object emerging from the water and disturbing the calm surface.
"I was so excited and shouted loudly that there was a monster in the lake," said Zheng.
"All the tourists by the lake stared at it."
Keen video buff Zheng grabbed his family camcorder and managed to get the whole sighting on film, until whatever it is in the lake vanished beneath the water. His son-in-law also took some pictures with his zoom lens.
Zheng said that when they climbed to the top of the mountain above Lake Tianchi at about 10 am, it was covered with thick fog that suddenly gave way to bright sunshine. The water emerged as clear as a mirror, ideal for photography.
Zheng's film lasts almost a minute, and in it a black object can be seen emerging from the water in the same place three times, each time lasting just a few seconds, before it finally vanishes and does not reappear.
"We were more than 1,000 metres away so it's difficult, but I would say what we saw above water was about the size of the head of an adult ox," Zheng was quoted as saying.
"But I did notice that every time it was above water, there were huge ripples in the water, suggesting the rest of it was enormous."
The Changbai Mountain is the highest mountain in Northeast Asia, at 2,189 metres above sea level. Tianchi is honoured as the deepest mountain lake and the largest crater lake in China.
Legends about the monster hidden in this 373-metre deep lake go back more than a century.
There have been more than 30 reported sightings by tourists from home and abroad over the past 20 years. There are quite a few pictures and videos of this creature, but none is clear enough to give a good enough clue as to what it is.
"Some enthusiasts are coming up with computer images of it based on interviews. I do hope this will be helpful to unveil this century-old mystery, " said Wu Guangxiao, who is investigating the Tianchi Lake monster.
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Red Dotted Floral Leafy Ceramic Bulb Knob
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Handmade Ceramic Furniture Knobs. Ideal for Drawer, Dresser, Cabinet, Wardrobe, Cupboard and Almirah.
- No Additional Hardware Required.
- Pack of One Piece
- Material: Ceramic and Metal
- 1.4 Inches Diameter Approx.
- 1.4 Inches Projection Approx.
- Bolt can be Trimmed to Size
- Handmade
As It Appears
Posted in: Knobs & Handles, Ceramic knobs, Ceramic bulb shape knob
Product Code: FBK-08/2635
Size: 1.40
Material: Ceramic
Color: Red
Diameter: 3.55 CM,
Projection: 3.55 CM,


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Newsletter and Journal of Neohumanist Schools and Institutes
Gurukula Network is published by the Ananda Marga Gurukula
Global Liaison Office
Two yearly issues, published January and July, serve as a means of communication for Neohumanist projects around the world.
It is the spirit of Gurukula Network to encourage a free sharing of ideas and to stimulate discussion on educational and global issues facing our world. All articles express the views of the author, and not necessarily those of AMGK.
Gurukula Network is open to any and all NHE related projects and faculties of AMGK.
Please send submissions to:
Gurukula Network
AM Gurukula Global Liaison Office
Arete Brim
Editorial Assistance
Lee Hamilton
Cover Design
Avtk Ananda Advaeta Ac
Cover Photo
Yurt Rope in Ananda Daksina Master Unit, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Electronic Version
Michele Montenegro
Printing and Mailing
Yun Chin Ko, I-hua Chiu
Tseui-Jiuan Li
Ananda Marga Gurukula
Neohumanist Education
Global Association of Neohumanist Educators
All NHE educators and projects are encouraged to join
Headquarters of Ananda Marga Gurukula
Anandanagar, Dist Purulia, West Bengal, India
Universal Love and Values
Holistic Development
Astaunga Yoga
Ecological and Social Consciousness
Academic, Practical and Personal Skills
Knowledge of Self and World Applied for Universal Welfare
Joyful Learning through the Arts
Culturally Sensitive and Inclusive Approach
Integrated Curriculum
Exemplary Role of the EducatorsShrii Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar inspired the establishment of the global network of Neohumanist schools and institutions. In 1990 he founded Ananda Marga Gurukula (AMGK) as the Board of Education for Neohumanist schools and institutes around the world.
The Sanskrit word "Gurukula" (pronounced gurukul) has the following etymology: Gu: darkness; ru: dispeller; kula: an institution. Gurukula is an institution which helps students dispel the darkness of the mind and leads to total emancipation of the individual and society at large.
Ananda Marga Gurukula is engaged in creating an international network of Neohumanist Schools and Institutes to hasten the advent of a society in which there is love, peace, understanding, inspiration, justice and health for all beings.
- To serve humanity with neohumanist spirit and to acquire knowledge for that purpose.
- To establish a strong base in Anandanagar and around the world in order to carry on the legacy of its founder for the benefit of future generations.
- To provide a sound and conducive environment for students for their physical, social, intellectual, creative and spiritual well-being.
- To promote ethical values in individuals and implement these values in the management of projects, schools and institutions.
- To establish and maintain schools and special academic institutions around the world as well as a cyber-university.
- To initiate teacher education programs to improve and upgrade the quality of education on all academic levels.
- To promote Tantra, Neohumanism and PROUT (Progressive Utilization Theory) as the foundation for building a universal society.
- To initiate intellectual dialogues and research for all-round renaissance of society.
- To facilitate the placement of volunteers across cultures to help build meaningful relationships and to support community and social change projects.
- To support the building of a global eco-village network (Master Units)
- To encourage the development of micro-enterprises for sustainability of social service projects.
Chancellor of Ananda Marga Gurukula
Ac. Shambhushivananda Avt., Kulapati
Sa' vidya' ya' vimuktaye
Education is that which liberates