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Licensing Pet Shops
How to Apply for a Licence
The Pet Animals Act 1951 regulates the sale of pet animals from licensed pet shops and provides for powers of inspection by the City's Senior Animal Welfare Officer at all reasonable times.
One of the legislative provisions is that a pet animal, as defined, cannot be sold to a person under the age of 16 years.
To apply for a licence complete the Pet Shops Licence application form [pdf] attached below and return the form to the Animal Welfare Team - contact details are on the application form and are also provided at the bottom of this page. The registration form must be sent to the Animal Welfare Team at the address indicated, if it is sent to the wrong address this will delay determination of the application.
Invariably it is in the interests of all new applicants to discuss their proposals with the Senior Animal Welfare Officer (see contact details below) before completing an application.
Online Applications
Online Licence Application for Pet Shop
Refer to the Environmental Health fees and charges list to find the current charge for new or renewal licences.
Processing Timescale
Our target for dealing with applications is 25 days.
Tacit Consent
Tacit consent means that if we have not dealt with your application within the target period identified then your application will have been deemed to have been granted/approved.
Please note that tacit approval does not apply to applications for Pet Shop licences as it is in the public interest that the authority process your application before it can be granted. If you have not heard from us within a reasonable period please contact us.
First time applications at new or purpose built premises will require planning permission before being considered. If the premises concerned do not have planning permission this may result in the target period for considering such applications being extended.
Guidance and Advice
Regulations:- Pet Animals Act 1951
Public Register
To access information on pet shops operating in the city contact the Animal Welfare Team - see contact details below.
Complaints/Enquiries - Applicants or Licence Holders
Contact the Animal Welfare Team - contact details included below.
Consumer Complaints
This will be dependent on the nature of any complaint. Anyone who is concerned about the health, safety or welfare of any animal within a pet shop or any potential breach of licensing requirements should contact the Senior Animal Welfare officer - see contact details below.
Changes to Registration/Licence
Once you have registered you need to notify us of any change and in some circumstances this may result in a new licence application being required.
Animal Welfare,
Birmingham City Council,
Telephone: 0121 303 6007
Fax: 0121 303 9901
or using our Online Form.
Pet Shop Application 2016 (Size: 21.1 Kb Type: PDF )
Copyright: Copyright Restricted


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Basics of Car-Seat Safety
Convertible Seats
Theoretically, these are for children from birth to approximately 4 years old who weigh a maximum of 40 pounds. We say theoretically because some types don't work well for infants.
A convertible seat comes with one of three types of restraining harnesses:
- The five-point harness, which has straps connecting at the crotch, at each shoulder, and at each hip. This type is best for newborns because it fits them snugly.
- The T-shield, which has shoulder straps and a triangular shield that locks in front of the child's crotch.
- The tray-shield has a wide tray that swings down over the child's head. In some cars, the roof may be too low to allow you to raise the shield completely.
Some parents find shields easier to operate than the five-point harnesses, but shields often are too high up on a small infant's body or don't fit closely enough to secure him. If you're skipping purchasing an infant seat and going right to a convertible, buy a five-point harness model.
A few convertible seats can be used as rear-facing infant seats for babies up to 32 pounds. These are good for hefty kids who pass the 20-pound mark before their first birthday, but still must be placed in a rear-facing seat. When you buy a seat, it's smart to look for those with higher weight limits since your baby may be one who grows fast.
Give 'Em a Boost
Booster car seats are for kids who have reached 40 pounds and therefore have outgrown their convertible seats.
Safety Savvy
Be sure to return the registration card that comes with your seat. That way the manufacturer can notify you in case there is a recall.
Many parents let their children go right from convertible seats to using regular seat belts. This is unsafe, because these kids aren't yet tall enough to fit belts designed for adults.
Even if your state only requires younger kids to be restrained in safety seats, use a booster when he's older. No matter what your state allows, a child isn't ready for lap or lap/shoulder belts until the belts fit really well, usually when the child weighs 60 to 80 pounds, somewhere around age 8.
There are two basic kinds of booster seats. The belt-positioning booster, used with combination lap and shoulder belts, is preferable. The other type, the shield booster (which is used if you have only lap belts) doesn't offer as much protection for the upper body and only protects children up to 40 pounds. Some models come with a removable shield so you can use them as belt-positioning boosters, too. In that case, the weight limit rises to about 60 pounds, depending on the model.
Gadget Guide
Lap/shoulder belts are safer than lap belts alone (for adults as well as for children in boosters). Many cars and vans in use today have only lap belts in rear seats. If your vehicle doesn't have lap/shoulder belts, ask your car dealer about having them installed.
If your car has a low seat back and your child's ears are above it, choose a belt-positioning booster with a high back. This will protect her head.
When you think your child has outgrown the booster and is ready to wear seat belts, here's how to check for proper fit:
- The lap belt should fit low over the hips and upper thighs, not across the abdomen.
- The shoulder belt should fit snugly over the shoulder, not across the neck.
- The child should be tall enough that his knees bend at the edge of the seat without his having to slouch.
Watch Out!
The American Academy of Pediatrics warns that a shield-type booster should not be used by children under 40 pounds, even if the label says it can. Keep your child in his convertible seat until the scale reads 40 pounds.
Watch Out!
Never put shoulder belts under kids' arms or behind their backs. The child will not be restrained!
Some cars and vans can be equipped with optional, built-in child safety seats, sometimes called integrated safety seats. They can be used instead of a convertible seat or booster, but they don't work for babies under 1 year who need to ride in the rear-facing position. Depending on the car model, the harness works for kids from 20 to about 65 pounds. After 65 pounds, children can use the integrated seat as a booster with the car's lap and shoulder belt.
Built-in seats are simple to use because you never have to worry about installing them. When you don't need them, they can be folded away. Unfortunately, you'll still need to invest in a car seat for those occasions when your car is in the shop, your child is transported in another vehicle, or you want to use a safety seat on an airplane.
For information about using your car seat on an airplane trip, see Children and Airplane Safety.
More on: Childhood Safety
Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Child Safety © 2000 by Miriam Bacher Settle, Ph.D., and Susan Crites Price. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
To order this book visit Amazon's web site or call 1-800-253-6476.

subset: commoncrawl


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Sweet dreams
|Rachel Fracassa, a 26-year-old mom of three young kids lost her husband in a car crash in September. Pictured is Rachel with children from left to right, Gwynneth, 10, Eliott, 7, and 17-month-old Arlo. (Jim Barcus/The Kansas City Star/MCT)
Last year, the couple built a homestead on a 16-acre plot of land in Urich, Mo. The one-room house was enveloped by three pastures, a winding creek and a spring-fed pond.
It was as beautiful as it was secluded, and it embodied the couple's biggest dream: to live as simply as possible so they could spend lots of time together and, someday, save enough money to take their kids all over the world.
Delivering their third child at home was wrapped up in that dream. But like many things in Rachel and Tyler's life, Arlo came early.
On a hot July day, Tyler raced his mom's minivan down Missouri 7 as Rachel, now 26, rode out worsening contractions in the passenger seat. Also in the jam-packed car: the couple's daughter, Gwynneth, now 10; son Eliott, 7; a cat; two dogs; an overflowing laundry basket; an infant car seat still in the box, and an inflated exercise ball.
Between contractions, the whole family laughed at the absurdity of the situation. But when the pain came, Rachel panicked. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.
"I don't want to have the baby in the car!" She remembers saying over and over as she squeezed Eliott's hand.
Just past Harrisonville, Tyler pulled into the empty parking lot of a meat market. He ran around the minivan, opened Rachel's door, saw a tiny arm and caught his baby boy.
What happened next was a blur. The cat bolted from the car, and Gwynneth stopped screaming to chase after him. Rachel cleaned the cat hair off of Arlo and wrapped him in towels from the laundry basket. Then the family, with its new addition, drove 17 miles home.
The Fracassas' life never went exactly as planned. But it was full and exciting and uniquely theirs. Knowing that comforts Rachel now that Tyler is gone.
On the night of his 27th birthday in September, Tyler was driving his Honda Element home from work at Michael Smith Restaurant in Kansas City when he dozed off and drifted onto the shoulder. He swerved left and then right before the SUV left the road and hit a tree.
Tyler's life ended about 10 miles from where his son's began.
Tyler and Rachel met when they were kids, at the Kansas City church their families attended. They started "going out" when they were 12.
"It was totally innocent," Rachel says. "It was nine months before we held hands and a year before we kissed."
She was outgoing, and he was more reserved. She never listened to the radio growing up — her favorite CD was the soundtrack to "The Sound of Music" — but he loved Jimi Hendrix and was always playing the guitar.
"He was just different," Rachel says. "The epitome of cool."
Even as a child, Tyler had so many layers, his mom, Rene Fracassa, says.
"It wasn't just that he was smart," Rene says. "He was artistic, he was sweet. He was a very deep soul."
Tyler and Rachel were on the phone so much that their parents had to get a second line, which was a big deal back then.
At that age, most relationships last a week or two, tops. But Rachel and Tyler were serious from the start. That worried his parents, who sent Tyler to live with missionaries in Peru for a whole summer when he was 14.
"It was horrible," Rachel says. "Horrible!"
They had no way of talking while he was away. But as soon as Tyler landed in the United States, he called Rachel. She still remembers how good it was to hear his voice.
Tyler came back with a composition notebook full of letters. He had written to Rachel every day he was away.
After that, Rachel says, "we were closer than we'd ever been before."
When Rachel was 16, she got pregnant. She and Tyler were ecstatic about the adventure ahead. It didn't matter that it was an accident — they wanted to get married right away.
Their parents were dumbstruck.
After the initial shock, Rachel's parents approved of the marriage idea. Tyler's thought he should wait until he turned 18, but that wasn't an option for the stubborn young couple.
"I would've married him at 14 if I could have," Rachel says. "But that's just not something that people do."
When Rachel was about 4 1/2 months pregnant, she and Tyler skipped school and flew to Georgia with her parents. It was one of the only states where they could get married without parental consent.
After a short courthouse ceremony, Rachel's parents drove the married couple to a hotel for a one-night honeymoon. The workers at the front desk almost turned them away because they were so young.
"That was extremely awkward," Rachel says.
When they returned home, Tyler's family disowned him, and Rachel's family was kicked out of their church. Rene Fracassa remembers it as an extremely difficult and painful time for everyone.
"He was our child, and then overnight he was gone," Rene says. "It was almost like we had to go through the grieving process then."
Everyone told Rachel and Tyler they were making a mistake. But even at that age, under so much pressure, they knew what they were doing was right.
"People looked at them and said, 'They're too immature to make that decision,'?" says Tyler's childhood friend Joe Chadwick. "They proved everybody wrong, because they were happy.
"Not everybody in life gets to experience that."
A couple of weeks after the wedding, the Fracassa family accepted Tyler and Rachel back into the family. Gwynneth's birth a few months later brought everyone even closer together.
"We committed at that point that we wanted to do whatever we could to help them make it," Rene says.
Tyler transferred to Rachel's high school their junior year.
When teachers at Raytown South mistook them for cousins or twins, they proudly announced that they were married.
They knew some people expected them to fail at their marriage, or at school, or both. The fact that they were happy and got good grades made them feel like they were defying the odds.
Tyler's quiet charisma won people over quickly. He was named Mr. Raytown South after he stood on stage in front of the whole school in his underwear, with a guitar, and sang the Britney Spears song ". Baby One More Time." He didn't have a lot of singing experience, but he joined choir with Rachel. They teamed up on a duet of the Blur song "Tender."
Come on, come on, come on,
Get through it
Come on, come on, come on,
Love's the greatest thing
Rachel says that before Tyler came to her school, she was an outsider who secretly wanted acceptance. She had problems people didn't know about.
"I was borderline anorexic," she says. "I was popping diet pills. I was a wreck."
Tyler helped her find confidence and happiness she'd never known before.
"He swooped in and rescued me," Rachel says.
"He turned me into a whole person when I was so broken."
Being together always felt like an adventure. In the spring of their junior year, she and Tyler checked themselves out of school, left Gwynneth with her grandparents and drove to Chicago for their first vacation together.
They slept in their car and showered at the YMCA. They walked for miles and miles through rain, exploring the city until their feet hurt.
Even then, they loved the thrill of doing something on their own.
Being married so young wasn't always easy.
When they were 18, Rachel and Tyler bought a house with their own money and decided to have another child.
Tyler enrolled in a competitive six-year medical program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He made excellent grades but didn't always make the most grown-up decisions.
One day after a snowstorm, Tyler dropped Rachel off at Price Chopper for groceries. When she came out, she saw a truck pulling their Honda Element out of a giant pile of snow. Tyler had rammed the pile like it was a ramp.
After Eliott was born, the family outgrew their house, so they moved to a larger town house where the rent was cheap. But the town house was infested with black mold that made the kids sick, so the family had to move in with Tyler's grandparents for a few months.
The Fracassas moved a lot — they also tried a loft in the River Market — but never felt truly settled.
Rachel couldn't settle on a career, either. She considered studying mortuary sciences before she signed up to attend a school for raw food chefs in California. After a couple of years as a chef, she became disillusioned with the raw food community, which she saw as too judgmental.
Figuring out what you want to do at that age is hard, and it's even harder when you have two young kids and a husband who's sick.
When Tyler was a kid, he took a trip to Mexico and came back with a mysterious illness that stumped doctors. It drained his energy and caused searing stomach ulcers that left him curled up in a ball for days.
Sometimes he'd go six months without getting sick. But it always came back, and living under that constant threat was exhausting in so many ways.
After 3?1/2 years in medical school, Tyler decided he wanted to drop out. Rene, his mom, admits she and Tyler's dad, Rusty, were disappointed, especially because he was doing so well in his classes. But they understood his motivation.
"He sacrificed being a doctor because he wanted to spend more time with his family," Rene says.
Eventually, the Fracassas supported their son in this decision, too.
"At this point," Rene says, "I feel very fortunate that we made the choices we made when life was not going exactly the way we wanted it to go."
In late 2008, Tyler got a job at Extra Virgin, a new restaurant in the Crossroads Arts District.
Until the restaurant opened, Rachel says, she and Tyler were "totally and completely broke."
They would scrounge in their parents' cabinets for food and sell music equipment on Craigslist for cash.
One night around the holidays, when the kids were with their grandparents, Tyler picked up his guitar and told Rachel to grab a scarf. They headed to the Plaza.
"We stood in the cold on the corner and sang our hearts out for about an hour," Rachel remembers.
By that time, they had enough to pay for dinner and a decadent Chocolate Bag dessert at McCormick & Schmick's. They even had money for movie tickets.
"We never did anything like that again," Rachel says, "but we were so pleased with ourselves for finding a way to have our date night."
Things got easier when Tyler started working at Extra Virgin.
Tyler loved his job — he was a hard worker who could talk to anyone and liked to keep his mind occupied, even when the restaurant was slow.
Nancy Smith, who co-owns and manages the restaurant with her husband, Michael Smith, says Tyler would read a book or work on the New York Times crossword puzzle during breaks.
He was calm, even in stressful situations. But he didn't smile much, and Nancy and Michael were always on him about that.
Tyler's mom says he was always reserved. As a kid, he would open presents with his tongue stuck in his cheek, like he was trying hard to suppress a grin from spreading across his face.
"That was part of his personality, not to give anything away," Rachel says. When Tyler did smile, he smiled big, with his face tipped up to the sky.
His co-workers say Tyler cracked them up all the time. One Halloween, he showed up to work dressed as Michael Smith, in glasses, a ponytail and a chef's coat. Nancy Smith still laughs when she remembers what Tyler said when she asked him to smile at a staff meeting.
"107.3 The Tyler," he said in a slick radio voice, "All Smiles, All the Time."
As Tyler grew more knowledgeable about food and wine, he started working next door, at the more expensive Michael Smith Restaurant. The Smiths also asked Tyler to perform on the patio on warm nights.
He would play his guitar and tambourine and sing along with Rachel. They called their two-person band Kiddo and the Condor.
The restaurant was like a family, says Extra Virgin server Aaron Couser.
"He was a nucleus," Aaron says. "He became like my brother."
Aaron and Tyler bonded over their love of the Chiefs and Boulevard's Tank 7 beer.
Rene Fracassa, who had previously worked with Michael Smith at the American Restaurant, became a manager at Extra Virgin in 2010. Working there with Tyler allowed Rene to watch as others discovered all the things she loved about her son. It allowed her to watch as he achieved his own kind of success.
"I remember one time," she says as emotion swells up, "I said, 'I'm so proud of you and the things you've done, and the way you love your family.'
"He put his arm around me and said, 'I'm so proud of you, too, Mom.'?"
After a few years at the restaurant, Tyler had saved more than $10,000.
He and Rachel planned to use it to take Gwynneth and Eliott to Peru for a year. They home-schooled the kids and believed that traveling and experiencing other cultures was the best education.
The couple also dreamed of expanding their family. When Rachel got pregnant with Arlo, she and Tyler decided to postpone their Peru plans and invest their money in a homestead.
They had already purchased the 16-acre plot in Urich. They bought a $15,000 kit with everything they needed to build a yurt, a type of portable dwelling modeled after the houses Mongolian nomads live in.
The yurt had no bathroom, electricity or running water.
"The first time I went out there, I thought he was out of his mind," says Tyler's friend Joe Chadwick.
Tyler and Rachel loved it there.
He was always working on a project, building a deck or a shelter for the generator. He taught his kids how to rig machines in new ways.
Gwynneth says her dad showed her how to build an "alarm system" out of a fan, string and golf balls. As she tells the story, her blue eyes light up, and her arm swings around in circles, like the golf balls did.
Tyler and Rachel planted apple trees and drew up plans for a well, a picket fence and a bathroom.
Tyler wasn't just sitting around dreaming up ideas, Michael Smith says. He was making them happen.
Because Tyler worked evenings, his days were spent with the family. At night, they all piled into the same bed, two twin mattresses pushed together on the floor of the yurt, and formed a cozy tangle of arms and legs.
Tyler felt good.
"When we were here, he was never sick," Rachel says. "He was the healthiest he'd ever been, the happiest he'd ever been."
In September, Rachel asked Tyler what he wanted for his 27th birthday. He told her he wanted the house to be really clean. Rachel, Gwynneth and Eliott stayed up until 10:30 mopping the floors and cleaning out every nook.
That night, Tyler worked at Michael Smith. He waited on his co-worker Aaron Couser, who was there with his girlfriend.
"It was his birthday, but he gave me a couple of gifts," Aaron says. Aaron liked to drink, so Tyler gave him a shirt with a mug of beer on it and a koozie for a wineglass.
After work, Tyler had one glass of wine with his co-workers, then headed home.
Tyler wasn't afraid of dying.
"He said regularly that he'd be lucky to make it to 30, and he definitely wouldn't make it to 40," Rachel says.
"Mom," Eliott interrupts. "How did he know he wasn't going to make it past 30?"
"I don't think it's that he knew," she tells her son. "I think it's that he was OK with that."
Maybe, Rachel says, it was because Tyler was used to being sick all the time. Or maybe it was because he had a near-death experience as a teenager.
Tyler was driving on Interstate 470 with Joe Chadwick when a truck ran their car off the road. The car flipped and landed in a creek.
Joe remembers hanging upside down from his seat belt as water poured into the car. He kicked out a window and helped pull Tyler through.
The boys survived with minimal injuries, but Joe says the experience made them both more determined to chase after what they wanted in life.
Joe loved cars, and now he runs a successful auto parts store in Shawnee. He says he thinks that for Tyler, happiness meant having the freedom to live a creative life. It meant having lots of time to spend with family. It meant Rachel.
"He wanted to be with her," Joe says. "There was no question about that."
Rachel never questioned being with Tyler, either. She pictured them growing old together. So when she lost him, she lost a spouse and so many dreams.
"It's so easy to wish that it was you instead of them," Rachel says. "It's way harder for whoever's left here."
She says love for him is her greatest source of strength.
"It's like," she starts, then pauses to find the right words: "I'll do this for you."
But the little family isn't alone. Rene takes care of the kids during the day so Rachel can go to massage therapy classes. Friends and co-workers from the restaurant came together to help Rachel construct a fence and finish a couple of other projects around the house.
After the accident, Michael and Nancy Smith held a benefit at Extra Virgin to raise money for the Fracassa family, and more than 300 friends, family members and customers showed up. The Smiths also created a website, tylerfracassa.org, with Tyler's photos and music, a message board for memories and a page for donations to a memorial fund that benefits his family.
Tyler's restaurant family is still healing.
"What happened after he died was extremely powerful for me," says Aaron Couser.
"I quit drinking," Aaron says. "I quit smoking. I go see a therapist every other week. I live my life in a much more positive way than I ever have before.
"I've had a lot of people die in my life, but there was something about Tyler and the way he lived. . He knew what he wanted, and he didn't care what anybody thought about him."
Rachel is glad that she and Tyler did everything so soon.
"Even though we had more plans, I feel like we did live a lot," she says. "It would be so much harder if you hadn't started your life yet."
At night, the young mom snuggles up with Gwynneth, Eliott and Arlo. She stretches her body over the empty spot on the bed so the kids don't feel it.
"He's missing, but nobody's alone," Rachel says.
The little family Tyler left behind is an enormous comfort to Rene.
"Most moms that lose a 26-year-old son, they have nothing except for memories," Rene says. "I have Rachel. I have her babies. To see his face every day . how lucky am I to have that?"
Rachel and Tyler were always remarkably open with their kids. That didn't change when Tyler died.
Before the funeral, Rachel and her kids combed and braided Tyler's long hair. Gwynneth and Eliott painted his casket, a simple pine box, with rainbows and flowers.
They buried him on the land, in the center of a field next to an oak sapling. About 100 people made the hourlong journey, past the spot where Arlo was born, past the spot where Tyler's car left the road, down a narrow road bordered by scarlet sumac bushes and cottonwoods with shimmering leaves.
The ceremony was short and simple and deeply meaningful.
The next day, Rachel took a pregnancy test. The baby is due in the spring.
©2013 The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.)
Visit The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) at www.kansascity.com
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- 'Cirque' is focus of Saint Mary's gala
- Sweet dreams
- Eulogizing a close friend who is still happily alive
- Mirror Michelle
- Resolve to make new friends in 2013
- A law against parity?
- Dark is fine, but no TV is a crisis
- Carnival of skiing in Salisbury
- Goodbye to baseball caps
- Gadgets: iNotebook transfers writing to iPad


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I plan on running a brief Gamma World campaign with my group, and I am wondering if 4E monsters are compatible between systems without any sort of level adjustment? From a quick perusal, it seems like PCs are considerably more powerful than 4e characters of equivalent level: adding level rather than 1/2-level to rolls, alpha mutations/tech cards, major critical bonuses, hit points are restored with a short rest, etc. At the same time they are much less "survivable": the only reliable healing is through second wind, no specialized leader roles. To be equally challenging should I treat the party as a few levels higher when building an encounter with 4e monsters? Any advice would be appreciated!
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D&D 4E and Gamma World encounters can be used almost as is in the other game
Characters in Gamma World dish out more damage, and are a bit more brittle than their 4e equivalents, but that just makes fights a bit more swingy and a run a bit faster.
D&D 4E and Gamma World monsters can be used almost as is in the other game
Comparing some monsters in the two games
Gamma Word
D&D 4E, Monster Vault
Also see this Extreme Reskinning article for an example of reskinning a white dragon from the Monster Vault into a cyborg assassin for Gamma World.
GW plays loose where 4E is stricter about balance, so just wing it and see what happens. Maybe it's a cakewalk (add reinforcement baddies) or maybe it's a bloodbath (various options), but as long as everyone has fun it's all good.


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Part of the 2012-2013 Seminar Series on Contemporary Issues in Law and Political Economics organized by the Workers' Rights Student CoalitionSynopsis: An evening with top leadership of SYRIZA, Greece's leading opposition party, to discuss the challenges facing Greece and the Eurozone and SYRIZA's vision for economic and financial reform. Participants including SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras, Critic of the Opposition for the Economy George Stathakis, top Economic Advisor Yiannis Milios, Columbia Law Professor Katharina Pistor, University of Missouri-Kansas City Economics Professor Mathew Forstater, Levy Institute Senior Scholar Rania Antonopoulos and Center for Economic and Policy Research Director Mark Weisbrot.Cost: FreeRegistration: Seating is now at capacity, and waitlist registration is now available. here for planning purposes. For press registration, please contact Rohan Grey at email@example.com.
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6 Earliest Signs of Pregnancy
4 of 7
Tiredness and fatigue is a common sign of early pregnancy, and signifies that your body is hard at work creating a suitable environment to grow a baby. However, your changing hormones might also disrupt your sleep patterns, so don't be surprised if you find yourself waking up frequently at night during the first weeks of pregnancy. Nap and rest when you can, Mom — making a baby is hard work!
Next: Nausea


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- 22 Resorts
- Consistent Snow
- Diverse destinations
- Resorts open before those of many other states
- Home to Vail, Beaver Creek, Copper Mountain
Related Regions: Northern Alps, Savoie,
Let's meet up for the second instalment of this unique and colorful event. Share the occasion with family or friends, for the ultimate fusion of fun, ski and music, with an exceptional DJ set by PFEL from C2C! More


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Benedict's farewell
News accounts of Pope Benedict's final general audience before his retirement have picked up on some of the key quotes, but it's worth reading the full text to get the flavor of it. Here, he gives an elegant reflection on his papal experience in light of the New Testament story of Jesus calming the storm at sea:
When, almost eight years ago, on April 19th, [2005], I agreed to take on the Petrine ministry, I held steadfast in this certainty, which has always accompanied me. In that moment, as I have already stated several times, the words that resounded in my heart were: Lord, what do you ask of me? It a great weight that You place on my shoulders, but, if You ask me, at your word I will throw out the nets, sure that you will guide me and the Lord really has guided me. He has been close to me: daily could I feel His presence. [These years] have been a stretch of the Churchs pilgrim way, which has seen moments joy and light, but also difficult moments. I have felt like St. Peter with the Apostles in the boat on the Sea of Galilee: the Lord has given us many days of sunshine and gentle breeze, days in which the catch has been abundant; [then] there have been times when the seas were rough and the wind against us, as in the whole history of the Church it has ever been - and the Lord seemed to sleep. Nevertheless, I always knew that the Lord is in the barque, that the barque of the Church is not mine, not ours, but His - and He shall not let her sink. It is He, who steers her: to be sure, he does so also through men of His choosing, for He desired that it be so. This was and is a certainty that nothing can tarnish. It is for this reason, that today my heart is filled with gratitude to God, for never did He leave me or the Church without His consolation, His light, His love.
Some news coverage is focusing on Benedict's remark that "the Lord seemed to sleep" during the stormy times he faced as pope. But there is more to it.
About the Author
Paul Moses, a professor of journalism at Brooklyn College/CUNY, is the author of The Saint and the Sultan: The Crusades, Islam and Francis of Assisi's Mission of Peace (Doubleday, 2009) and An Unlikely Union: The Love-Hate Story of New York's Irish and Italians (NYU Press, 2015).
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"daily could I feel His presence. [] never did He leave me [] without His consolation"Lucky man.
Although I feel impatience for some reforms in our church which may never come in my lifetime, I realize that in other parts of the world identification as a Christian is still a dicey proposition. I do hope the Pope who is elected will focus on one major problem from each continent and work for that reformation. Prayer from the faithful will be the biggest asset to the success of the upcoming papacy. May God give extaordinary blessings and insight to our yet to be elected Holy Father.
Not really what I had prayed to hear.
I was struck by the metaphor he used, of a church buffetted by storms and winds. It is the same image he used, preaching from Ephesians at the Mass in St. Peter's before entering the conclave that would elect him pope. On that occasion, he referred to the "dictatorship of relativism," of an antagonistic world that was the church's greatest enemy -- and it was that address that arguably helped get him elected. Now he uses a similar metaphor, only the storms and threats that capsized his papacy came from within the church. Perhaps there is another, somewhat different message that the pope is leaving with this next conclave.
Not too long ago I think perhaps in mid December, Fr. Komonchak offered a post that showed a lovely medieval illumination illustrating this scene in Mt. 8. Pictures don't seem to paste into the combox but here is what he said, in response to a comment by Ann Olivier:"Ann: I found the image in a manila folder of mine, along with many others that struck me at one time or another over the decades. Ive written on the back that it comes from an illuminated manuscript held in the Bavarian State Library in Munich, but a search there yesterday didnt find it, and so I have no other information. Its clearly medieval in date, part of a larger representation, it seems.Ive always liked the story and its lesson, already apparent in Matthews use of the tradition, that anyone who follows Jesus onto the boat is likely to encounter storms, that the Church may sometimes be in danger of being swamped, that it may at times seem that Christ is asleep.Augustines take on it was that when it seems that Christ is sleeping, its really we who are asleep, and that he awakens when we do, or, rather, that his awakening is ours."
"Augustines take on it was that when it seems that Christ is sleeping, its really we who are asleep, and that he awakens when we do, or, rather, that his awakening is ours.As usual, Fr. Komonchak (to say nothing of Augustine then and Susan Gannon now) beat me to it. In a sense, Benedict's is a lovely metaphor; but in another sense it is unfortunate, seeming to blame God (or indeed God's creation) for our own shortcomings, and our failures, lay and clerical, to allow ourselves to be liberated by obedience to the Lord. (see Fr. K's post on Ps. 119 elsewhere today).Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme -- listen to Bach's 140th cantata for more on this.
In that illumination, why are all the disciples turned towards Jesus instead of tending to their task of managing the sails and oars? The sea doesn't look very threatening, the waters are calm, but the problem is that every one is looking exclusively at Jesus instead of paying attention to the rest of the world; that's why the Church boat is drifting.
No great fan of this, now retired pope. But, his use of this image actually resonated with me and, IMO, was a deeply personal revelation of how he was feeling, thinking, and praying - would suggest that many of us have been at that same place at times.There is a whole other spiritual/theological emphasis that we are on a journey and the risen christ (unlike apostolic times) is *absent* or is felt that way.Yes, agree that it is also typical shifting blame tactic - not sure he meant that way given his decision to retire.
I can't help but think that Benedict had in mind -- even subconsciously -- a famous book about the current Catholic Church that was based on the same scriptural passage: A People Adrift, by our own Peter Steinfels.
"[I]f You ask me, at your word I will throw out the nets, sure that you will guide me."Um, did the Lord "guide" this soon-to-be-ex-pope in throwing out the nets to the SSPXers?
It is high irony that Ratzinger who railed against the "dictatorship of relativism" especially in Western democracies, as we have seen more evident following recent revelations regarding Cardinal Keith O'Brien, had his papacy collapse over a church hierarchy corrupted by its complicity in the most rank moral relativism and hypocrisy.I guess what goes around comes around. Watching the news reports of Ratzinger's flight into internal exile brings into sharp focus the dimensions of his failure at the restoration of a pre-councilar church.In today's NY Times, Hans Kung has called for a "Vatican Spring!" The aging priest, Ratzinger's mentor when they both were at the Council, still packs a punch: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/opinion/a-vatican-spring.html?nl=today... [I thought that the artwork that accompanied the op-ed was particularly appropriate.]I'm not as optimistic as Kung, but miracles do happen. All we need is for a CONSERVATIVE prelate who is humble enough to embrace: "Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men [and women] will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams." (Act 2:17)
Perhaps as part of his "farewell," BXVI has authorized exposition of the Shroud of Turin on Holy Saturday, March 30th, at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, the church where the Shroud is stored. Somewhat unusual is that the exposition will be a television-only showing of the Shroud for perhaps a few hours.
Farewell Pope Benedict. We can be grateful to him for a number of things:He forced Maciel out of active service.He repeatedly met with sexual abuse survivors.He wrote to the people of Ireland about the sexual abuse crisis, stating that Irish bishops should "carry out decisive action, with complete honesty and transparency", in order to regain people's respect.He declared Hildegard of Bingen doctor of the church, one of only 4 such women.He beatified Newman.He resigned.
"Now he uses a similar metaphor, only the storms and threats that capsized his papacy came from within the church."That reminded me of this:"He who travels in the barque of Peter had better not look too closely into the engine room." Msgr. Ronald Knox
" --- his use of this image actually resonated with me and, IMO, was a deeply personal revelation of how he was feeling, thinking, and praying would suggest that many of us have been at that same place at times."Similar, maybe, to how Mother Teresa felt? http://articles.cnn.com/2001-09-06/world/teresa.letters_1_mother-teresa-...
Another lake storm episode (Matthew 14:22-33; Mark 6:45-62 and John 6:16-21) has Jesus not asleep in the barque - with Peter and the others doing battle with the watery chaos threatening to swamp the craft. Rather Jesus, after a night of prayer following the feeding of the five thousand, comes to them, walking on the waters roiled by wind. "In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said "Let there be light, and there was light.'"(Genesis 1)In Jesus the One who sent him asks Peter to come to himself who as in the beginning orders chaos creatively - to come to him where he already is - through faith and steadfast love ever bringing order out of chaos in the world at large. Here Jesus is outside the boat "in the midst"; not in the boat asleep. In the one narrative Peter and the others can complain: "Is it nothing to you that we are perishing" (Mark 4:38); in the other narrative they have no such excuse. Peter's lack of faith is evident as he begins to slip below the waves; the Lord of chaos who is already there reaches out and saves him. No complaints here. In John's Gospel we will learn that Peter will be led to where he would not wish to go. No more bickering.Interesting how the passage to which Pope Benedict refers is the "Jesus in the boat asleep" narrative and not the complementary story - "Jesus walking on the watery chaos" - already out there calling Peter to come. "Be not afraid." Where do our real risks lie?
What would be useful to help the conclave: a list of papal contenders with, for each possible pope, links not merely to secondary sources (the Allen presentation, the wikipedia page,) but also to a few selected primary sources: a few remarkable homilies, pastoral letters, or other materials. Why? Because it's nice to see the synthesis done by journalists, but I'm sure that the cardinals will want to look up the actual words said or decisions taken by the contenders. Why only a few? Because cardinals won't have time to read more than a few pages by each contender.I have not seen that anywhere. It's not for the general public (too much information for us: we are happier with the pre-digested summary of each profile) but seems important for the electors. Do they have access to such a resource?
Claire: maybe it is felt that what you are calling for is not within our pay grade ... or spiritual grade. Sheep, you know.
Bye, pope Benedict. There was one thing I did like about him - his love of animals ... http://youtu.be/n_SQGYBF8oIBut so much of what he did was negative, at least in my eyes ... the missal translation, the Latin mass, wooing the SSPX, the reinterpretation of V2, his anti-ecumenical moves, his invention of the idea that gayness is an intrinsic evil, his silencing of theologians, attacks on the nuns, etc.
You guys are so negative. Right now we don't have a pope: rejoice!The weight of the hierarchy has been lifted, for a brief period: enjoy!If there is anything you really want the church to do and where you have been stifled, now is the window of opportunity: get to work!If you/we stick to cynicism and negativity, maybe it means that the problem is within you/us more than with the church hierarchy how's that as a thought for Lent?
Crystal --I agree that Benedict had some serious negatives. But -- as to the Latin Mass, yes, he supported it, but he didn't require it. He remained pro-vernacular Masses, at least in principle. As to his relationships with other religions he recovered from that serious gaffe about the ancient Muslim, and by the end he had established some healthy contacts with some of them. He also welcomed some of the Anglicans back, and he made some progress with the Lutherans. I don't think he invented the idea of homosexuality as intrinsically disordered. I think you can find it in Aquinas if not in so many words. He was just saying what others have said but, typically, more clearly. Clarity can get you into trouble.
Ann,I'm not as charitable as you, I guess :) About the Anglicans and the Lutherans - the idea that the ordinariates were a good thing was a conservative Catholic view, not the view of the Anglican Communion or the Lutheran Church - they were peeved and rightly so, I think.
This comment thread reminds me why I so seldom want to read them. Every time I do I feel like I'm sucked right back into 1978.
I think we should not idealize or romanticize Benedict XVI's resignation. I think he simply meant: "I quit! I cannot deal with this mess that is largely of my own making. Let somebody else take care of it!"
Crystal --I can understand the Anglicans who didn't change being peeved, but it really isn't their place to judge their co-religionists. And hasn't it always been the case that within the Anglican/Episcopalian groups there has been the high-church/low-church tension? As to the Lutherans, I was thinking of the agreement Benedict signed with at least some of them about the nature of grace. (Actually, I think Benedict is quite Lutheran in some ways -- on the nature of grace and on his de facto deep mistrust of logic.)


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Order in the Court?
Four esteemed constitutional law scholars discuss what's in store at the Supreme Court during President Obama's administration.
Moderated by Joseph Goldstein
On a snowy afternoon late last year, Professors Jamal Greene, Gillian Metzger, Henry Paul Monaghan, and Trevor Morrison gathered for a conversation about the cases, controversies, and conundrums sure to arrive at the Supreme Court during Barack Obama's presidency. The professors discussed an array of topics ranging from Guantanamo Bay to same-sex marriage, and engaged in some crystal ball–gazing about how the composition of the Court may change over the next four years. Although a dramatic shift in the Court's liberal-conservative balance of power seems to have become far less likely as a result of Obama's victory, the professors discussed several specific ways in which the new administration will almost certainly have an impact on the Court. An edited transcript of the conversation, which was moderated by veteran legal affairs reporter Joseph Goldstein, follows.
Goldstein: I'd like to start with the issue of Guantanamo Bay and then open it up from there for some crystal ball–gazing. If you close Guantanamo, as Obama says he intends to, what are some of the legal questions that might land before the Court?
Morrison: In Hamdan, [the Court] said that, on separation of powers grounds, the military commission system the president had established by executive order exceeded his authority. But because of the nature of that holding, it didn't say much about how individual rights questions might bear in the context of a military commission proceeding. So if the government were to try and prosecute individuals not in an Article III court, the way its attempt to do that might interact with criminal procedure rights familiar to us under the Bill of Rights, or other individual rights provisions, could potentially come to the Court.
If the government detains people without [attempting] to try them in any context, that could [also] bring questions to the Court. In fact, one is already on its way there, in the al-Marri case. The Supreme Court has said things about enemy combatant detention, but it has not given anything like a comprehensive answer. But al-Marri is really the product of Bush administration policies, and may not be reflective of the kinds of cases we'll see going forward. It's not at all clear that the Obama administration would adopt policies yielding additional cases of that sort.
Metzger: Do you think that, on al-Marri, it will make a difference what Obama does in terms of possible additional procedural protections for the determination of enemy combatant status? To some extent, one of the things the Obama administration does have in its power is [the ability to] preempt some of the constitutional issues by the regulations they adopt to govern any tribunals they hold or any determinations they make about enemy combatant status, and therefore the authority to hold.
Morrison: I think that's right. There are opportunities for the Obama administration to make it much less likely that the Court would have to reach a number of ultimate constitutional questions. In the Boumediene case last June, one of the most telling, under-remarked-upon passages in Justice Kennedy's opinion for the majority comes very near the end, where he says, for over 200 years we've gotten by without knowing what the outer boundaries of the government's war powers are. We might not be able to continue that, he says, going forward, if the war on terror persists—and if, I think he's suggesting, not very subtly, the executive and legislative branches insist on really pushing the constitutional envelope. I think he's also suggesting it would be a bad thing if the Court were forced to really clarify the outer boundaries of that constitutional power, because there is so little to go on. The Court's unsure itself how it would draw that line. And that's the context in which the Obama administration could make it that the Court doesn't have to offer final answers, by itself exercising some greater measure of restraint.
Goldstein: What other controversies might provoke the Court to map out, even against its own will, the outer limits of the president's war powers?
Morrison: If you go beyond detention, it's possible that the Court might be called upon to address how the Fourth Amendment applies to surveillance without a warrant in pursuit of some national security aims, where the target of the warrant, or at least one of the targets of the surveillance, is a foreign entity. That's the question the Supreme Court reserved in a case called Keith, which is its only important statement on how the Fourth Amendment interacts with national security surveillance.
Monaghan: I think very few of the issues you're talking about are ever going to see the light of day at the Supreme Court. The Obama administration is not confrontational. He's got a majority in both houses [of Congress]. So any legislation he wants to get, he can pass. The Supreme Court is not going to cripple the power of the executive to act swiftly and decisively. The problem of the [Bush] administration was that it wanted to go it alone. He could've gotten a lot of [his agenda] through legislation.
Greene: The other important point—and this is a corollary to what [Professor Monaghan is] saying—is that in the Obama administration, the Supreme Court is to the right of both the president and Congress. So it's not very likely that Obama and Congress are going to conspire to create some sort of Cheney-on-steroids regime that the Supreme Court is going to have to rein in.
Monaghan: One of the important actors in this is the Department of Justice. It's going to have a very different feel from its predecessor. It's going to be staffed by people who are critical of claims of unilateral executive power. When they get to Washington, they'll modify those views because there seems to be a virus inside the executive department. But, nonetheless, they're committed to a different attitude. I do think one of the issues that will reach the Supreme Court will affect the business community. Because of the change in character on the Court, [with Justices] Roberts and Alito, I think they are going to be more sympathetic to taking up securities cases, and that there will be a diminution, I hope, in their interest in refining the statutes that govern the availability of habeas corpus. So we could see a shift away from, perhaps, constitutional cases toward issues that are important to the business community.
Metzger: In thinking about areas where I see some potential for the Court pushing in a new direction, what about campaign finance and First Amendment? Buckley seems to me to be under siege. Conceivably, you might have a more favorable Congress for more regulation.
Goldstein: How will Obama's election inform the way the Court thinks about campaign finance reform?
Metzger: [One issue] I think will play a role here is the fact that Obama did not take [federal] funding, and the issues about the ability to garner sufficient funds. To some extent, I think it has changed the wisdom on campaign finance. He was able to generate massive amounts of money outside of the presidential funding system from a broad enough array of campaign donors that the corruption issues are harder to argue. I think it complicates some of the arguments in favor of campaign finance [reform].
Greene: I also think there's just no political appetite for campaign finance reform in this country. There are so many issues on the table that campaign finance is really at the bottom of everyone's list and requires way too much political capital to really have any traction in this administration.
Metzger: But whether they might do anything on the advertising front, I don't know.
Greene: The Supreme Court will push back very hard on that.
Metzger: Yes, exactly. They seem to have no sympathy for regulation there.
Monaghan: There are two models of campaign finance. There's [Justice Stephen] Breyer, who says this is an administrative law problem: If you're going to have elections, you're going to have to regulate them. And then you have people like [Justice Antonin] Scalia who think this is a free speech issue. Justice Thomas, also. And Kennedy. But that lineup is not going to change in our crystal ball.
Morrison: We may all be in agreement that our crystal ball says there is going to be less movement on the Court than is broadly predicted in the media.
Metzger: I think if the crystal ball only goes three years . . . one appointment.
Goldstein: If you could advise Obama on whom to appoint, what names would you float?
Monaghan: Well, we would differ on that. I think that the rest of the group and I are not in sympathy.
Morrison: That means you get to go first, Henry.
Monaghan: I'd appoint another judge—and this isn't going to happen—like Alito and Roberts. Those are my ideal judges.
Metzger: My crystal ball says that's not going to happen.
Monaghan: My crystal ball says it's not going to happen, too. I'm just afraid he's going to appoint people too far to the left.
Greene: I think we all agree it's fairly likely that his first appointment will be female. And given the additional qualification that he might want a [racial] minority, there is one female, Hispanic Court of Appeals judge, who is a Democrat, [likely to be considered].
Goldstein: Sonia Sotomayor.
Greene: She's probably on the short list.
Monaghan: She apparently is on the short list. And she happens to be very able. She's a hard, hard worker.
Metzger: So far, the one prediction I would have based on Obama's appointments to date is that clearly he will take . . .
Monaghan: Quality.
Metzger: Yes. He'll take the demographics into account, but he is not going to appoint somebody to satisfy a particular interest group or audience if he doesn't feel like the quality is up, particularly on the Court. It's just not what he's going to do.
Morrison: The very strong assumption that most people begin with is that it will be a judge. Speaking normatively, I think something is lost when a Court doesn't have people with experience within the institutions that it is the Court's business to regulate.
Monaghan: I think it's likely he will go outside [the judicial ranks]. Except for the [Sonia Sotomayor] case.
Greene: I think [he will do so] if he gets multiple appointments. But that's not clear.
Monaghan: One thing I don't like to see of people appointed to the Court [is] people who are not interested in law. We've got people trained as lawyers who go into public administration but are not really interested in law. I don't mind taking somebody in from the outside, so long as I think that person will be interested. So I'd like to take somebody from a law firm. That isn't going to happen either, [though] you could take someone like Seth Waxman, who you know is interested in the law.
Goldstein: I'd like to wrap things up by asking what sorts of cases you expect an Obama Civil Rights Division to bring? And what are some issues in civil rights law that may end up before the Court?
Monaghan: A set of cases I expect to see before the Court are disability cases. There's a lot of movement in the disability world, a lot of rethinking. And I think that will become a greater priority than it has been for the [Bush] administration.
Metzger: The other place I think you're going to see individual rights challenges involves abortion. The Court, with the Gonzales v. Carhart decision, basically invited as-applied challenges, but also suggested much more legislation [restricting the scope of the abortion right] is possible. As to how the Obama administration responds to that: My guess is that they file a brief at the amicus level probably opposing what they see as more restrictive measures, but aren't that active on the ground.
Greene: Another civil rights [area] I think it's important to bring up [is] voter rights and voter suppression, which I think is very much at the top of the agenda for the Obama Justice Department. A lot of the voter ID statutes that were passed in [Voting Rights Act] Section 5 jurisdictions, the Justice Department let go through. I think that's less likely to happen [in an Obama administration]. And I also think Section 2 [of the Voting Rights Act] might get more litigation than it has in the past several years in terms of voter suppression cases, and maybe even voter ID cases.
Metzger: And in two years, we've got a new census. So there will no doubt be redistricting issues coming out of that. My crystal ball says [there will be] at least one case there.
Monaghan: On the Court, there's not a lot of sympathy for the Voting Rights Act. It's in a state of recession. I, myself, think that [Section 5] of the act is unconstitutional and can't be reconciled with other decisions. The Court might weaken that, because the conservative majority will still be there.
Morrison: What do you think about a different issue that's broadly under civil rights: After Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, there was an explosion in litigation all at the state court level over same-sex marriage. There was a conscious decision made to plead those cases as state constitutional law cases, not federal. The thinking was that if they actually won a case at a state high court, they wanted to insulate it from review by the Supreme Court of the United States. It seems to me that that state strategy has just about run its course—that prospects for winning at the state level are being seriously cut back by passage of constitutional amendments at the state level, which should change the rational litigator's assessment of the risk . . . [and] should make it more likely that someone starts arguing this as a federal constitutional matter. [If so, is the Court likely to look at the issue in the foreseeable future?]
Metzger: I don't think [a case will make it to the Supreme Court very soon] on marriage.
Monaghan: The case that might get to the Supreme Court as a federal question is prohibiting adoption [by same-sex couples]. That's an interesting case.
Metzger: Yes. There's an 11th Circuit case on that. And you know what else might get [some attention from the Court]? There are some versions that are currently percolating of "don't ask, don't tell" challenges.
Goldstein: We are out of time, so that will have to be the last word. Thank you all for your insights and predictions. •


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Censorship Protest Gains Support in China
Outcry Rises in Street, Print and Online, After Journalists Cry Foul Over Propaganda Chief's Alleged Rewrite of Editorial
BEIJING—Protests by journalists over alleged heavy-handed censorship at one of China's most daring newspapers have garnered high-profile support in the media and blogosphere, with prominent academics, bloggers and even movie stars joining in.
The outburst has been fueled in part by expectations of change under new Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping, who has stirred up hopes since taking office in November with optimistic comments about the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."
On Monday, several hundred protesters gathered outside the headquarters of the Southern Weekly newspaper in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, to vent their anger at the reworking of a New Year's editorial that originally called for greater legal rights but ended up as a celebration of the government's achievements.
"Abandon press censorship. Chinese people want freedom!" read a handwritten placard attached to a bouquet of flowers left in front of the main gates of the building.
Demonstrators laid bunches of chrysanthemums, a flower associated with funerals, outside the newspaper's offices, in mock mourning for the demise of the newspaper's hard-hitting style, photographs posted on Sina Corp.'s SINA -2.05 % Weibo microblogging service showed.
Online reports said Southern Weekly's news staff had staged a strike to protest the rewriting of the editorial, but the accounts couldn't be confirmed. Calls to the news department rang unanswered on Monday, suggesting the newsroom was empty. "That has never happened before," a receptionist who tried to put a call through said.
Mr. Xi, China's new leader, hasn't said he intends to pursue meaningful political overhauls. But he has adopted an informal style and dispensed with wooden Communist Party rhetoric, an approach that some see as a signal that he plans to make his administration more open and responsive to people's concerns.
More on Dissent in China
In the kind of statement that has fed hopes that Mr. Xi will soften the edges of an authoritarian government, China's official Xinhua news agency on Monday announced planned reforms to China's system of "re-education through labor."
The system allows police to sentence people suspected of minor offenses such as petty theft or prostitution, as well as petitioners and others who create a political nuisance for authorities, to up to four years of forced labor without judicial review.
The forced-labor system came under fire last summer after it was revealed that a woman named Tang Hui had been sentenced to 1½ years in a labor camp after "disturbing social order" by protesting for tougher punishment of seven men who raped her daughter and forced her into prostitution.
A group of lawyers issued an open letter calling for reform of the system amid public anger over the treatment of Ms. Tang, who was released shortly after the details of her case emerged.
A number of media organizations have rallied behind journalists at Southern Weekly by posting veiled messages of support on social media and their own websites. Sina Corp.'s Tianjin news portal, for example, arranged its front page so that the first character in each headline spelled out an acrostic message: "Go Southern Weekly."
Chinese writer and race-car driver Han Han described in his popular blog Monday how Chinese writers live in constant uncertainty over what they can and can't say.
"Even if you want to talk about the regulations, they won't clearly tell you what they are, so every person more or less is in violation of the 'regulations,' " he wrote. He lamented what he described as the anonymity of an invisible Chinese censor. "He covers your mouth and tells everyone you're cheerful," the post read.
Southern Weekly's problems are also attracting attention from celebrities who normally avoid political commentary. Film actress Yao Chen, a social-media star with more than 31 million followers on Sina Weibo, posted a quote from Alexander Solzhenitsyn—"One word of truth outweighs the whole world"—over the Southern Weekly logo.
Even the Communist Party's flagship People's Daily appeared to argue for a softer approach, saying that a stable society "must rest on a healthy public opinion environment for support."
The commentary argued that challenges facing China's propaganda officials were unprecedented, and said "blunt preaching" must be rejected.
The Southern Weekly protests are an unusually direct challenge to provincial government and party leaders in Guangdong province, China's export-manufacturing powerhouse and a trailblazer for economic overhauls.
A draft of the editorial that sparked the furor called on authorities to respect the constitution, which guarantees the right of free speech and assembly.
Southern Weekly employees said Guangdong provincial propaganda chief Tuo Zhen rewrote the editorial. Employees at the newspaper are demanding his resignation. Mr. Tuo couldn't be reached, and local propaganda officials declined to comment.
"Readers should decide whether content is good or bad. It isn't for officials to judge," said Ah Qiang, a writer and public-rights activist who attended Monday's protest. "Everyone knows about media censorship, and for the most part everyone has learned to deal with it. But this time they crossed a line and that caused people to unleash a lot of pent-up frustration."
Adding to the public anger was a message posted to the newspaper's Sina Weibo account late Sunday night that denied censorship of the editorial, saying "the relevant online rumors aren't true." A short while later, several dozen Southern Weekly employees released a statement that the account had been forcibly taken over and that the message denying the censorship was untrue.
The protests outside the newspaper's offices on Monday were orderly, with police intervening to keep traffic flowing outside the newspaper's offices but otherwise standing aside, demonstrators said. The crowd included elderly retirees as well as middle-school-aged children, according to the witnesses.
"I was deeply moved," said Ye Du, a dissident writer who spent 2½ hours at the protest before being forcibly taken home by state security agents. "This wasn't just about Southern Weekly. It was about Chinese peoples' desire for more political freedom."
Some journalists affiliated with Southern Weekly have portrayed the protests as targeting Mr. Tuo rather than the political system as a whole.
"Tuo set up a prepublication censorship system that Guangzhou didn't have previously. There was censorship before, but it wasn't institutionalized," said Xiao Shu, a former senior commentator at the newspaper. "If Tuo steps down, everyone wins. Southern Weekly wins, and so does the party."
Write to Josh Chin at email@example.com and Brian Spegele at email@example.com
A photograph posted on Sina Corp.'s Weibo microblogging service showing a protester wrapped head-to-toe in newspapers as if bandaged appears to have been taken in South Korea. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said it was taken at Monday's protest in Guangzhou.


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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 3
Are there any performance enhancing mods for GTA IV?
I got a vehicle mod working and fixed the error thats common with them. I heard someone say its because of the fact that the modded vehicles are larger sizes and the game thinks it cant load that many in the memory. However. Im getting gnar lag and missing textures and such. Does anyone know of a better performance mod or perphaps a way to tune the graphics on GTA IV?
Registered User
Newbie Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Leicestershire, UK
Posts: 7
You could try RealizmIV. It supposedly has better textures at better framerates. CLICK HERE to get it. Unless you are running an ENB setup, in which case you should not use a full install of Realizm IV, although you can use some of the textures if you wish.
Other than that, lower the view distance, detail distance, vehicle density and shadow density settings (especially view distance and shadow density, these two have a huge impact on performance). If you are running an ENB setup, you might try running with Ambient Occlusion Off, just edit the enbseries.ini/iceconfig.ini and switch EnableAmbientOcclusion to false. If the ENB setup you are using came with Anti Aliasing turned on and you are running at a high resolution, try turning this down or off altogether. The settings in enbseries.ini/iceconfig.ini for this are ForceAntiAliasing (set to false to turn off) and AntiAliasingUpscale (set it to 0.87 for a performance boost if anti aliasing is on).
If you still can't get performance you are happy with, maybe you should uninstall a few mods. Unfortunately, all these cool mods, especially enb mods, increase the performance requirements of GTA IV somewhat. Nearly all mods give you higher polly models, better pixel shaders etc. and this is always going to cost you in terms of performance.
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 8
Do you have the latest update of GTA IV? Mine was unplayable until the last update, now its on full graphics with lots of mods
Check out L3-e's Movies at:
Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 18
when you start to get taxi bugs, missing textures, ped bugs, or any time of texture or actor/object loading bug it's because the game is running out of memory and is trying to compensate for the loss of memory by the mods. the rage engine is neat in that since the engine doesn't understand where the extra memory weight is coming from (i.e. car packs and enbs) it compensates and tries to continue on and make the game playable by shortening the amount of actors and objects it needs to load and process. the best remedy is to buy a graphics card that has 2GB or 3GB of dedicated memory so you can use up 1GB for all the bells and whistles of the game in it's vanilla form, and then use the rest of the memory for car packs and enb effects. you might have memory left over to, you know, run background stuff on your desktop.
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The Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association (CPCA) has informed Saskatoon Prairieland Park that they will be cancelling their 2012 Saskatoon meet, scheduled to be held August 9 – 12 at Marquis Downs. The ... More
Beat the heat with local singer/songwriters at the PotashCorp Country Music Week Mall Concert Series on Saturdays Aug. 11-Sept. 1
The PotashCorp Country Music Week Mall Concert Series will bring together some of ... More
Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan is down to its final two weeks of performance. The Festival's 28th season of "Heroes and Villains" officially wraps up on the 26th of August.
For those that have yet to attend ... More
Attendance at the annual Saskatoon Exhibition broke records this year, with 32,984 people attending the event on Sunday, culminating in a six day event total of 221,154, breaking the 2011 record by 4,298 people ... More
Hamlet and As You Like It played to great audiences for the closing performances over the weekend. The crew is now busy taking the festival down and preparing for 2013's productions.
Reviews and audience ... More
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – The PotashCorp Fireworks Festival is back this weekend – Friday August 31st and Saturday September 1st. With Country Music Week and the Country Music Awards closely following ... More
Saskatoon, SK -- Following a comprehensive national search, the Saskatoon Airport Authority Board of Directors has appointed Stephen Maybury as its next President and Chief Executive Officer. Maybury will take over ... More
Country Music Week in Saskatoon and Canada
Saskatoon, SK – This Labour Day Weekend (Friday August 31st and Saturday September 1st) will see Saskatoon's South Saskatchewan River Banks come alive with music song, dance ... More


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I am trying to understand the difference between
grep -e and
grep -E. Now from
grep manpage I got:
-E, --extended-regexp
Interpret PATTERN as an extended regular expression (see below).
-e PATTERN, --regexp=PATTERN
Use PATTERN as the pattern; useful to protect patterns beginning with -
The above explanation might be clear to a regex/grep experienced user but for a beginner like me it makes no sense.
So, can someone explain it to me using
examples what is the difference between the two and when to use which option.
PS: Version: grep (GNU grep) 2.10


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mGeoTotal: 3
mSummaryPageListingCount: 3
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Marvel Assembles an Official Title for Third "Avengers" Movie
Comic Books, Film
Showing results 836-875 of 2555
NYC had hoped to enlist Disney and Marvel in a crackdown on troublesome costumed characters in Times Square, but the entertainment giants "want no part of it."
Mads Mikkelsen, the star of "Hannibal" who is also appearing in "Star Wars: Rogue One," is reportedly in talks to join the "Doctor Strange" cast.
Based on reports of how the sides break down in "Captain America: Civil War," which side are you rooting for?
"Captain America: Civil War" star Jeremy Renner Tweeted about his new Hawkeye outfit, confirming the concept art's authenticity.
Viola Davis' Amanda Waller may appear in multiple DC films; Jessica Lucas and James Frain bring "Gotham's" Galavans to life and more.
A new behind-the-scenes video takes viewers through the steps and processes behind the visual effects of Marvel's smash-hit Netflix series.
RunDisney has unveiled medals for the annual Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon Weekend that will have many Marvel fans wishing they'd registered.
A "Flash" and "Arrow" poster flies outside of WB Studios; "Captain America" could feature a surprise partnership and more.
Hot Toys is celebrating the S.H.I.E.L.D. director with a 1/6th-scale collectible figure, based on the likeness of Samuel L. Jackson.
Grant Gustin talks "Flash's" mind-blowing new season; Chiwetel Ejiofor is ready to work with Cumberbatch and Swinton and more.
The latest rumor from the "Captain America" set states that another iconic Marvel character could appear in the massive movie.
Ben McKenzie teases exactly when we'll see the cape and cowl on "Gotham"; "Legends of Tomorrow" EP talks Atom's costly armor and more.
Disney XD and Marvel Animation have released a new, 2-part origin explaining how the future Guardian of the Galaxy found himself in prison.
Filming is officially over for the May 6, 2016 film, while new set photos show Ant-Man and War Machine getting ready for action.
Woodward will star alongside Mike Colter in "Luke Cage" as a character named Minetta, a powerful local politician.
Melissa Benoist posed for pics with an Oklahoma Girl Scout troop; Ike Barinholtz drops a hint about his "Suicide Squad" character and more.
Ming-Na Wen's superspy may switch careers in "S.H.I.E.L.D." season 3; Jay Hernandez posts new "Suicide Squad" set pics and more.
A tweet from the official "Daredevil" account got fans speculating about the second season costume, but it's actually an image from season one.
The "Mallrats" director shared his support for Ronda Rousey and explained why she would make a great superhero.
A possible Netflix glitch may have revealed the names of all thirteen episodes of Netflix's "Jessica Jones" series.
Sabretooth actor Liev Schreiber drops a possible hint about "Wolverine 3"; the "Mission: Impossible" actress joins another film and more.
Jon Bernthal was spotted on set with cuts on his face and wearing a bulletproof vest reminiscent of past Punisher designs.
Spider-Man actor Tom Holland has been spotted in Germany; director David Ayer reveals his hardcover "Suicide Squad" script.
Get a clear look at Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie in action on "Captain America: Civil War's" Berlin set.
During a Facebook Q&A, the "Ant-Man" star fielded questions about the film's mid-credits sequence, her costume and more.
Footage from the D23 Expo presentations feature Chris Evans, Anthony Mackie, J.J. Abrams, Dwayne Johnson and more.
An unverified set visit claims Blob will appear in the next X-film; Grant Gustin won the award for Choice TV Breakout Star and more.
UFC fighter and actress Ronda Rousey shared fan art illustrating her as Captain Marvel. Is she making a play for the part?
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens," "Captain America: Civil War" and more get the spotlight at D23, with plenty of stars and surprises in store.
"Arrow's" Wendy Mericle reveals if their Constantine is NBC's; Captain America, Black Panther and Winter Soldier seen on Berlin set and more.
Additional photos of Chadwick Boseman's costume have surfaced online, showing the actor performing stunts on set in Berlin.
An alleged photo of Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther costume, snapped during "Captain America: Civil War" filming in Berlin, has surfaced online.
Hasbro's classic country- and time-devouring strategy game, has released a Marvel Cinematic Universe edition that pits five factions against each other.
"Captain America: Civil War" may start with a bang; Marc Guggenheim says Felicity will return to her old self in season 4 and more.
Undefeated UFC women's bantamweight champion and burgeoning movie star Ronda Rousey expressed interest in playing a Marvel superhero on screen.
"Supergirl" is said to be similar in tone to Richard Donner's "Superman"; Chris Evans goes undercover on "Civil War" set and more.
It's been nearly three decades: Howard's rested and ready for another chance at big-screen stardom in this fake trailer for a Marvel reboot.
Marc Guggenheim and Phil Klemmer talk Booster Gold in the CW spinoff; a rumor posits that Fox may trade "FF2" for "Deadpool 2" and more.
Photos of Jon Bernthal filming a scene for "Daredevil" season two have emerged, and they show the Punisher doing what he does best.
Could these be the two team lineups facing off against each other in Marvel's giant-sized sequel?
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First of all, hi everyone.
In the beginning of an anime episode I often see a message to turn on the lights in the room and not to sit too close to the screen. Leaving some stuff out it looks like this:
Note the bolded parts. I have 2 questions.
I looked up づき in the dictionary, it's like "to be attached, to be included". Does づき make it a verb? An adverb? Or what is it? Is it a state "being attached to a TV"? Or is it an action "do not attach yourself to a TV"?
2nd question about ようにして見る. As I understand ようにする is "to try". So as て-form + みる. Doesn't it make it kind of redundant to use both at the same time? Is it common?
Thanks guys.


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The concept of privatization is relatively simple: a shifting of a government-provided service or aspects of it to a private business subject to the rigors of a competitive marketplace. In many cases, similar services are already being provided more efficiently in the private sector.
Privatization is an important option for state and local governments facing massive budget deficits. Privatization has been successful in streamlining government services, reducing costs, and creating more private-sector jobs. State and local governments across the country already have privatized thousands of services and have successfully made government services more effective and efficient.
A study by the Reason Foundation found privatization typically brings a cost savings of 20 to 50 percent. It can help remedy deficits while preventing deeper service cuts or tax hikes, providing better-quality services at a lower cost.
The Heartland Institute's "Ten Principles of Privatization" cautions that "privatization is just a policy tool—a means of accomplishing a goal in changing services from public to private. Like any tool, you get the right result if you use it the right way. If badly conceived, structured, or executed, privatization can fail, like any other policy, with great cost to the taxpayers."
State and local government officials should seriously consider privatization as part of the solution to their fiscal problems and to make existing services more efficient.
For more information, read The Heartland Institute's Ten Principles of Privatization (PDF).


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In GTD method, one important thing is to clean the inbox tasks once time everyday.
But what is the best moment to do it? First at the morning? When come back from work? Before to go to the bed?
I know that it could be different for every person, but I'm wondering if there is "best moment" to do it, and why.


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Nicole M. Santos weds Michael J. Guerrera
|Wedding, Nicole Santos and Michael Guerrera, July 14
Nicole M. Santos and Michael J. Guerrera were married July 14 at St. John of the Cross in Middlebury, by Rev. William Considine and Deacon Mike Walsh. A reception followed at Candlewood Inn in Brookfield
The bride is the daughter of Louis Santos of Terryville and Mary Ann Santos of Waterbury.
Read more of this story and more!
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EcoAccess helps you find and share environmental information online, providing access to the knowledge you need to make informed decisions about environmental issues.
Information about Tibetan ecology and effects on it of Chinese occupation.
Kailash Forum
A Tibetan initiative to celebrate the natural environment.
Online Burma/Myanmar Library
Annotated and classified links to thousands of full text documents on Burma. The Online Burma/Myanmar Library also holds the 17MB archive of the Burma Press Summary (1987-1996) compiled and edited by Hugh C. MacDougall and the 200MB archive of the…
Tags: Agriculture, Arts and Recreation, Biography, Buddhism, Burmese, Earth Sciences, Ecology, Economics, Education, Ethics, Geography, Geography - Burma, History, Human Rights, International Relations, Language, Law, Literature, Medical Sciences, Military, Natural Science and Mathematics, Philosophy and Psychology, Photography & Film, Political Science, Religion and Theology, Slavery, Social Issues & Services, Social Sciences, Technology and Applied Sciences
Soil And Health Library
This is a free public library of holistic agriculture, holistic health, self-sufficient living, and personal development. It offers you the opportunity to read accurately rendered, unabridged texts of carefully-selected older books whose importance…
An enormous collection of all things pertaining to ecology and farming: aquaculture, beekeeping, biocontrol, biodynamics, bioremediation, botany,certification, communications, community gardening, companion planting, composting, cover crops, csa, new…
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Air pollution is increasing in all areas of North Carolina, both urban and rural From industrial emissions to car exhaust, the air that North Carolinians breathe is getting worse. Learn about ozone, acid rain, air pollution, and asthma.
Haw River
Examine the Haw River, its inhabitants and its users. A Flash (require plug-in) presentation with interactive pages on pollution, sedimentation, critters, water allocation, and helping the river. Includes photo galleries and videos. Site is intended…
InterGarden is a website with archives of information, active discussion forums and extensive collections of links, all developed for and co-evolving with an international community interested in biological, regenerative,…
Sustainable Farming Connection
Where farmers find and share information, Sustainable Farming Connection helps farmers cut costs, protect the environment, build healthy soil, add value to what they sell, and stay abreast of the latest news and farm policy info of interest to the…


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The Bump Baby Registry
Now is the perfect time to start your Baby Registry!START A REGISTRY
Congratulations on your pregnancy! We're here to guide you through the ins and outs of all nine months. We've got everything you need, from pregnancy nutrition tips to dealing with all of your symptoms. Plus, essential tools, such as our Pregnancy Calendar, to keep track of everything pregnancy and baby. You won't miss a thing!


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I have a LinearLayout view that I am trying to add a divider to so that it looks exactly the same as the default ListView control. I am trying to replicate the edit contact within the default Android (Nexus S 2.3.3) Contacts app and I believe a LinearLayout would be best for performance.
I am using the code to replicate the divider as shown below:
How can I access the default divider color or drawable and also the divider height? I would like this to match the ListViews I have setup, so using the Android system attributes would be best I think. The above code crashes as shown below so I assume I can't access those attributes or am going about this incorrectly.
03-13 22:59:38.851: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3575): Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: Binary XML file line #26: You must supply a layout_height attribute.


text:
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My DM wants me to pick a couple of backgrounds for my character for a 4e game. Where can I find them?
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One good source is the "Backgrounds section on this page. It lists major sources and summarizes the mechanical implications of the backgrounds.
DDI Character builder has a complete list and the demo is free.
Many backgrounds are specific to a particular setting. So the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide, Eberron Player's Guide, and the Dark Sun Campaign Setting each have a set. If you're playing in a particular setting, ask to borrow the campaign guide to get access to the list. That's probably the easiest route.
The various X Power books (Martial Power, Primal Power, Psionic Power, etc) include backgrounds relevant to the book's focus. The Player's Handbook Races: X books (e.g. Player's Handbook Races: Dragonborn, Player's Handbook Races: Tiefling) have backgrounds relevant to those races. There are also some in the Player's Handbook 2 and 3, as well as the
Going through all of those books is difficult. Many people use Dungeons & Dragons Insider to get the information, where it's all collected in one place. If you have a D&D Insider account, the DDI Character Builder and the D&D Compendium both offer a nearly complete list of backgrounds and will note which book they are originally from. DDI is a bit expensive, so if you don't have an account, see if your GM does and ask to borrow him computer for a bit to browse the compendium.
Finally, if all of that is too complex, I recommend just telling the GM you want the Akanûl background from Forgotten Realms. +2 resist cold, fire, and thunder. Hard to go wrong with that. :-)