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Reader Holidays - To Book By Phone Call 0844 477 4457
Reader Holidays - Portofino, Florence and Tuscany from South Wales Argus
Departing August 2016 - October 2017
From £629.00
*Price shown: 19 Oct 2016 - JJB
Enjoy a wonderful break in one of Tuscany's most celebrated spa resorts. Discover Santa Margherita, exclusive Portofino, exquisite Pisa and Florence - breathtaking Cradle of the Renaissance - on our included excursions. There is also an opportunity to visit Liguria's stunning Cinque Terre coastline.
Tour Highlights And Inclusions
- Enjoy a week's stay in one of Tuscany's most celebrated spa-resorts
- Discover Santa Margherita Ligure's scenic bay
- Pay a visit to Portofino, one of the Mediterranean's most exclusive corners
- Discover the wonderful cities of Pisa and Lucca
- Spend a day in beautiful Florence
- Seven nights' dinner, bed and breakfast accommodation at the three-star Hotel Belvedere, Montecatini (upgrades available)
- Return flights to Italy
- Comfortable, air-conditioned coach travel and transfers
- Fully escorted by a friendly, experienced Tour Manager
Single rooms are available for a supplement
Resort Information
A delightful Tuscan spa resort, Montecatini Terme is close to many of the province's greatest cities. As well as the spa baths, it boasts beautiful parks, countless eateries and bars. Above the main town, and reached by a historic funicular railway, medieval Montecatini Alto's piazza and winding streets are lined with ancient churches and elegant palazzos.
Day One
Fly to Italy and board the coach for the transfer through the Tuscan countryside to Montecatini.
Day Two
Today you're free to get to know the hotel and the many treasures of this historic spa resort, perhaps paying a first visit to Montecatini Alto for its stunning views.
Day Three
Discover the beautiful Ligurian coast, where some of Italy's most famous resorts are dotted along the shoreline. Explore elegant Santa Margherita Ligure, which overlooks a stunning bay, before enjoying a boat trip along the coast to its ultra-chic neighbour, Portofino, for a taste of "la dolce vita".
Day Four
Today, see the Italian gems of Pisa and Lucca. Discover Pisa's medieval delights - the famous 'leaning tower', circular Baptistery and mightly Duomo - on a guided tour before we continue to the elegant walled city of Lucca. Here the medieval clock tower, the Torre della Ore, and the exquisite Piazza Anfiteatro are just some of the must-see sights.
Day Five
Enjoy another day of gentle exploration in Montecatini, as you soak up the charming atmosphere of the spa-town.
Day Six
The magnificent Florentine skyline, dominated by the dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore greets you on today's excursion. Explore the splendour of Santa Croce and the medieval Ponte Vecchio, discover Italy's artistic past in the Accademia or the Uffizi (payable locally), and watch the world go by in one of the trattorie.
Day Seven
An optional excursion will return to the Ligurian coast, heading to the Cinque Terre (Five Lands). This entrancing quintet of ancient villages is squeezed into a series of tiny coves surrounded by celebrated vineyards. Overlooked by working fishing harbours, the breathtaking villages produce some of Liguria's most celebrated wines.
Day Eight
Journey back to the airport and check in for your flight home.
Further Information
Hotel transfer times
The transfer time from the airport to your hotel is approximately 45 minutes from Pisa, approximately two hours and 30 minutes from Verona, approximately three hours from Rome and approximately three hours 45 minutes from Malpensa.
Combining hotel transfers
We sometimes need to combine transfers to and from your hotel. We always try to keep any wait to a minimum, but you may be asked to wait at the airport for up to an hour, while other incoming flights arrive, before the transfer to your hotel. Similarly, we may need to transfer you back to the airport up to three hours before your flight home departs.
Entrance fees
Since some attractions visited offer free admission to visitors at certain times of year, we do not include entrance fees. These will be payable locally where applicable. This applies to excursions that are included in the price of your holiday and to excursions booked as optional extras.
Meals in Italy
Guests on half-board arrangements will be served a three-course evening meal, and can expect a first course of traditional pasta or soup, a main meat or fish course accompanied by one or two types of vegetable, and a simple dessert of fruit, cake or Italian ice cream. Breakfasts will usually consist of bread rolls, jam, cereal, ham, cheese, fruit juice, tea and coffee. Menus will vary from hotel to hotel, but choice will be more limited than in a normal restaurant. In some instances, individual guests who have booked with the hotel independently may be offered a different menu from those who are staying at the hotel as part of a package tour.
Special requirements
If you have notified us of any special requirements, please check that they have been noted and acknowledged. This is especially important with any dietary needs you may have.
Disabled access
The majority of our tours involve a certain amount of walking, including a short walk from the coach stop to the town, attraction or venue you're visiting. If you are bringing a wheelchair, please let us know at the time of booking so that appropriate arrangements can be made.
Italian hotel room tax
Some regions of Italy have introduced a room tax of between 1 EURO and 3 EURO per person per night, payable directly by the guest to the hotel on check-out. You will be advised by your tour manager in resort if a particular hotel is implementing this charge.
Airport development fees
An Airport Development Fee has been introduced at a few UK Airports. You will be required to pay this charge at the following airports prior to checking in for your flight: Blackpool, Durham Tees Valley, Newquay and Norwich. The amount varies from airport to airport, but it is generally between GBP5 and GBP10 per person. Please visit the airport's website for further information.
Itinerary changes
Occasionally, for operational reasons, we may have to change the order of the excursions on your holiday. The final day-by-day itinerary will be confirmed on your Final Travel Documents, which you will receive approximately three weeks prior to your departure.
*Low deposit of GBP50 applies to new bookings made between 1st July and 31st August 2016 (inclusive) only. This offer only applies to all 2016 to 2018 air breaks excluding the American Queen - Mississippi River Cruise; Deep South Rhythms, New Orleans and Caribbean Cruise; Five-Star Alaska Cruise and the Canadian Rockies; Highlights of China and Yangtze Cruise; Any world cruises or sectors aboard Magellan that include flights; Cruises aboard Norwegian Star that include flights; Cruises aboard Mendula that include flights; Cruises aboard Astoria that include flights; Cruises aboard Olympia that include flights; Cruises aboard Sound of Music that include flights and Daniel O'Donnell in Dublin by Air. This offer is subject to availability and may be withdrawn at any time.
The following hotels are offered with this holiday (subject to availability and supplementary pricing)
Hotel Belvedere
The Belvedere boasts an excellent location opposite the famous Tettuccio Spa.Further Hotel Information
The Belvedere boasts an excellent location opposite the famous Tettuccio Spa.Hide Hotel Information
Adua Hotel
This excellent, friendly, family-run four-star hotel is centrally located in Montecatini, just a short distance on foot from the resort's amenities, shops, bars and restaurants. It is also just a short walk from Terme Excelsior and Terme Leopoldine thermal baths.Further Hotel Information
This excellent, friendly, family-run four-star hotel is centrally located in Montecatini, just a short distance on foot from the resort's amenities, shops, bars and restaurants. It is also just a short walk from Terme Excelsior and Terme Leopoldine thermal baths.
Stylish accommodation Private facilities Air conditioning TV Telephone Hairdryer Mini-bar SafeHide Hotel Information

subset: commoncrawl


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Published July 26, 2013
Tourists cool off in the Goddess of Rome fountain, in Rome. A heat wave with temperatures as high 35 degrees Celsius, 95 Fahrenheit, is crossing Italy from north to south.
North Korean war veterans of the Korean War watch fireworks during the "Arirang" mass games song-and-dance ensemble on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Korean War armistice in Pyongyang.
A man looks at the train engine at the site of a crash that killed at least 80 people Wednesday in Santiago de Compostela, northwestern Spain.
People search for their names on lists that indicate where to vote, in Timbuktu. Mali will hold a presidential election on Sunday.
A man prepares balloons for supporters of the Cambodian People Party during an election rally on the last day of campaigning in central Phnom Penh. Cambodia will hold general elections on July 28.
Pope Francis greets people from his popemobile in the Gloria neighborhood on his way to the archbishops's palace in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
A member of the female punk band "Pussy Riot", Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, is escorted before a court hearing to appeal for parole at the Supreme Court of Mordovia in Saransk, Russia.
A Palestinian worshiper prays in front of the Dome of the Rock on the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City, during the holy month of Ramadan.
Hot air balloons are inflated during the 31st annual QuickChek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning, in Readington Township. Superstorm Sandy will be on the minds of participants at the event this weekend, which runs from Friday to Sunday and features 100 balloons. A 115-foot-tall flying lighthouse will pay respects to restore the shore efforts.
Paramilitary policemen jump as they practice during a summer drill in Bozhou, Anhui province, China.
Two girls walk past beach huts in the North Bay in Scarborough, northern England. The Grade 11 listed structures on the North Bay were introduced in 1911 and are still used today.
Street artists have a snack as they rest on a bench in the center of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.


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On a culinary voyage of discovery
In November and December, chef Joachim Wissler, holder of three Michelin stars, will entertain First Class passengers flying from Germany with his menu creations.
Born in 1963 in Nürtingen, near Stuttgart, Wissler had early experience of the best gourmet cuisine: he completed his professional in the famous 'Traube Tonbach' luxury hotel in Baiersbronn in the Black Forest. After that he expanded his culinary horizons working with other well-known top chefs.
Joachim Wissler is one of the leading proponents of 'New German Cuisine'. In 2006 he was awarded his third Michelin star and since then has been considered one of Germany's finest chefs. Ever since his colleagues, the 100 best chefs in the country, chose him as their 'Chef of Chefs', he has headed the restaurant rankings. It is his use of subtle and clear flavours that characterises his excellent style of cooking. He concentrates on the essentials; extravagant flourishes are not 'his thing'.
In the 'Vendôme' gourmet restaurant in the Grandhotel Schloss Bensberg, near Cologne, where Wissler currently works, he and his team of chefs and waiters produce a culinary voyage of discovery for guests.
Our First Class passengers on intercontinental flights from Germany will be able to enjoy his outstanding culinary creations at the end of the year.
For those passengers who prefer roast goose at this time of year, we will also be offering this dish again — prepared in the traditional way, served with red cabbage and dumplings.
Star Chefs 2010/11/12
Discover portraits of our Star Chefs from 2010/11/12 here:


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TEMPLE (November 1, 2012)--The Central Texas Veterans Health Care System will take part in National Prosthetics Day by displaying prosthetics for the public to view Thursday.
From 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., at the Olin E. Teague Veterans' Medical Center, the public can enjoy learning about services the center offers and the durable medical equipment available to those in need.
Vendors will display a myriad of devices for anyone interested in learning about the technology.
The first Thursday in November every year has been set aside to recognize the work of prosthetic and sensory aids employees who work to take care of wounded veterans.
The center is located at 1901 Veterans Memorial Drive.


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The Natuna Archipelago is Indonesia's most northerly islands in the South China Sea. If you are adventurous by nature and are looking for beaches that are free from other tourists, then the Natuna Archipelago could be the right place for you. It comprises some 270 islands and has amazing green-blue seas. Bunguran, Jemaja and Serasan are the three largest islands in this archipelago located in the South China Sea.
Natuna is a district in the province of the Riau Archipelago with Ranai as its capital city. Ranai is often translated as "Rantau Nan Indah" (beautiful panorama) because of its amazing vistas. Natuna is surrounded by deep seas that border the waters of Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore, and has many very beautiful white beaches to enjoy. Its beautiful pristine seas are ideal for snorkeling or diving .
Visitors can stay in hotels or inns available on Pramuka, H.R Subrantas Ranai Darat, Soekarno Hatta, or Dt. Kaya W.M Benteng streets
Since most of the tourist sites in Natuna are beaches, seas and islands, it is recommended that you prepare yourself for maritime tourist adventures.
Natuna has amazing scenery with natural beaches. You could travel to a number of beaches including Tanjung, Sebagul, Teluk Selahang or Setengar beach. You could also visit caves such as Batu Sindu, and Batu Kapal caves, or the stones of Alive Stone Park. In Natuna, tourists can also find an endangered species of primate called `Kekah`. This monkey only lives and breeds on Bunguran Island in areas that include the Gubung Sintu area (Pian Tengah, Sepang, Seberang), Mount Ranai, and Mount Ceruk. If you are lucky, you can find turtles laying eggs on several beaches. Don't forget to visit Tiga Island, which is famous for its coral reefs. This area is where the Napoleon fish lives and breeds.
To reach Natuna take a flight to Batam's Hang Nadim's airport. Or take a ferry to Batam from Singapore or Johor Bahru, Malaysia. From Batam, take another flight to Ranai airport in the Natuna archipelago, which takes about a one hour flight. Lion Air now flies Jakarta-Batam-Natuna daily. Alternatively, you can take a motorboat from Tanjung Pinang but it only sails once a week.


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MR. MONCASTER (President and CEO, World Affairs Council of Seattle): Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome. My name is Ian Moncaster. I'm the President of the World Affairs Council. I'm very, very pleased to have you join us in our ongoing conversation about the world and our role in it.
The World Affairs Council wants to make a difference in how this community thinks and talks about global issues. We do this through our community programs, our International Visiting Leadership Program, and our Global Classroom, an award-winning program which teaches – talks about international education and the global community. We develop programs that explore the role of the US in the world, and we try very, very hard to focus on authentic voices.
Over the past couple years, the council has developed a number of programs exploring the US role with the Islamic world. We've done a whole program featuring women writers from the Arab world. We brought in women – three women from Palestine and Israel, an Arab, a Jew and a Muslim, talking about their hopes for peace and the future, and what are the commonalities and what's different.
We've done a whole curriculum looking at something called Beyond Islam, looking at Muslims in America, in Europe, in Pakistan and in China. How do we break down the perceptions? How do we have a broader conversation about the role of the U.S. in the world and where we fit?
We did some very, very interesting work looking at institutionalized racism, looking at the treatment of Japanese-Americans pre-World War II, bring it forward to Kosovo, Rwanda, Arab-Americans post-9/11, and put – were able to create conversations in which we had a 75-year-old Japanese man stand up in front of a classroom and say, "When I was 13, let me tell you what happened to me," and then bring it forward to explore that issue with the teachers and the students.
We do things like the World Citizen Essay Contest. You may have seen it. The question this year was, "If you were a diplomat, which country would you represent and what issue?" We've had hundreds of kids get involved in that conversation, and there are awards for kids grades three through six, seven through nine, 10 through 12.
We've done some particularly interesting things, I think, with International Visiting Leaders Program. We've had this group, for example, of imams from Uzbekistan who came over to learn about cultural and religious pluralism. How do we think about that in the United States? And although they met with various religious leaders and had an interface dialogue, we also took them down the Union Gospel Mission on a Friday night, where they served food, learning about all sides of the U.S. experience.
This afternoon, we're going to be able to explore the conversations about the Saudi and the U.S. relationships, looking at the potential for progress in developing the relationship and the kingdom's recent ascension to the World Trade Organization as well as the changes and challenges in Saudi society and culture, which will further integrate the kingdom into the global community. We're going to have this conversation with an authentic voice, His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al-Faisal, ambassador to the United States.
We were able to bring these programs to you because of our members and of our sponsors, and I'd like to thank today our sponsors, who are Aero Law Group, the Boeing Company and Microsoft for helping us to bring this conversation to us all.
We're going to start off, and we're going to start off by introducing our moderator, someone who's well known to everyone in this room, Governor Gary Locke. The bio is included in your program.
What I think is particularly interesting about Gary is that while he was in office, he was a strong proponent of education, strengthening the economy and improving the transportation system as well as the business climate. He's currently on the advisory council of the World Affairs Council to help us think about what are the issues about which we as a community need to be thinking. He also received a 2004 World Citizen Award from the World Affairs Council in particular for his role in shrinking the international business ties of Washington – (inaudible) – abroad, particularly with regard to Mexico and China.
Thank you, Gary, for being with us here today.
Our speaker is His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Ambassador to the United States. Prince Turki was born in Makkah, and he is the youngest son of the late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. After completing his education at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, the prince was appointed an advisor to the Royal Court of Saudi Arabia in 1973. We're fortunate that we have a number of Georgetown graduates here in the audience today.
The prince then served as a Director General of the General Intelligence Directorate, which is the Kingdom's foreign intelligence service, from 1977 to 2001. In 2003, Prince Turki was appointed Ambassador to the U.K. and Ireland, where he served until he was appointed the Ambassador to the United States on July 20th last year. He made an interesting comment in which he said, you know, the embassy staff keep on saying, "Well, you need to get out, you need get out."
So he's actually been in a number of communities exploring the US - Saudi relationship, and I know is particularly interested in the questions that we'll come up with this afternoon.
In addition to being a diplomat, his philanthropic interests include social justice and promoting understanding between religions through dialogue and discussion. He's a founding board member of the King Faisal Foundation, the chairman of the Board of the King Faisal Center for Religious and Islamic Studies, as well as the Prince Charles Visual Islamic and Traditional Art Center. He's the co-chair of the C-100 Group, an organization that is affiliated with the World Economic Forum, which strives to promote interfaith dialogue.
While Prince Turki speaks this afternoon, please jot down the questions on the little white question card that was in your program. After his formal presentation, Governor Locke will moderate the brief discussion up here, and then your questions will be brought forward. They'll be sorted into different categories to make sure that we get a broader conversation about the various issues in the US relationship – US-Saudi relationship.
At this point, please join me in welcoming His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al-Faisal of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the podium.
PRINCE TURKI Al-FAISAL: Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. (In Arabic.)
Ladies and gentlemen, tonight I shall be "Sleepless in Seattle." (Laughter.) But unlike Tom Hanks, actually I have a wife and she's in Saudi Arabia, and that's why I shall be pining for her tonight.
I'd also like to recognize the wonderful eighth-graders from one of our local schools who took the opportunity to come and join us today. (Applause.) And the Saudi students.
I would like to thank the Seattle World Affairs Council, as well as Boeing and the Aero Law Group and Microsoft, for putting this event together.
My thanks also go to Governor Locke for joining us and moderating this meeting. And also I would like to thank you for your kindness and hospitality.
As you may know, it is Saudi hospitality to greet our guests with our own Arabic coffee. And Seattle seems to have a similar tradition. In the Kingdom, we infuse ours with cardamom and serve it in very small cups. And at Starbucks, I believe you call it a Doppio.
Normally, as far afield Saudis go with our coffee is Turkish coffee, but in Seattle, though, everyone seems to have a very strong opinion about where their coffee beans are grown. Sumatra and Ethiopia seem to be popular. But I think you should try Arabic coffee. And that's a business tip for some of you here.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'll make sure to make my remarks brief so that there is plenty of time for any questions that you may have.
I first came to the United States at the age of 14. My parents sent me here to be educated at a boarding school in New Jersey. And I remember when I went to school on the first day, a young boy came up to me, slapped me on the back and introduced himself. I introduced myself in return, and from that point on, he just kept asking me questions: Where are you from? What is it like? How many members of the family you have? What kind of house do you live in? Do you ride a camel or not? Do you live in a tent or not?
And he was very much like the Bedouins when they meet in the desert – very engaging and very appealing and very inquisitive. But that interaction made me feel at home immediately.
I believe this is the type of feeling Saudis have had for Americans since we first developed our relations some 70 years ago. Long before our governments formed official and strategic relations, citizens of both our countries were forming friendships and business partnerships on their own. We found that despite some of the cultural differences we have, we are in fact a great deal alike. We're plainspoken and straightforward, and we both believe in the importance of faith and family.
In Washington State, there are many businesses that exhibit our shared values, and many of them do business in the kingdom. I mentioned Starbucks earlier, and Starbucks is a great example of a company that promotes a sense of community. They believe in the importance of building mutually beneficial relationships with their coffee farmers and local communities. The company brings with it a sense of global citizenship to every country in which it operates. And there are 40 Starbucks operating in the Kingdom.
But we also have Boeing operating in the Kingdom, and Boeing simply connects us. That is a metaphor unto itself. And over the years, literally hundreds of thousands of Saudis have connected with the US through education, health care, commerce, or simply to visit. The long-standing relationships we formed as a result of this have made all of the difference in bridging the gaps of understanding between our cultures when difficult times have arisen.
There is also Microsoft. Here is an example of a business pushing the forefront of education. The technology they develop improves how we communicate, do business and learn. They've also made commitments to provide technology access and skills training to people around the world underserved by technology.
King Abdullah has his own education vision. Saudi Arabia has undertaken a strategic multi-year program to improve the level of education in the kingdom to be competitive internationally. This program emphasizes critical thinking, mathematics and science.
We are also making investments in the information technology sector in Saudi Arabia to ensure our citizens are adequately prepared for living and doing business in the modern global economy.
We in Saudi Arabia understand the importance of our place in the global community and we are working diligently to enhance how we are contributing.
Recently we joined the World Trade Organization. This will not only bring many opportunities to the Saudi people by opening up our country to increased foreign trade, but it will also allows us to better combat poverty and destitution throughout the world, which is commensurate with the Islamic tradition of outreach and charity.
Today we are making investments to maintain the important people- to-people contact that has been the hallmark of the Saudi-U.S. relationship. The Saudi government is currently sending its students to attend colleges and universities abroad to learn, make friends, and experience foreign cultures. Already 10,000 students are signed up for full four-year scholarships, and most of them are coming to the United States. Such relationships will ensure that we continue to have positive and mutually beneficial relations now and in the future.
I thank you all for being so supporting of the relations between our countries and for joining me here today. It's quite a privilege to see so many of you in this hall, and I'm very gratified by that. And I would be glad to take any questions that you may have.
Thank you very much.
MR. LOCKE (Former Governor Gary Locke, D-Washington): Are our microphones on? I guess they are.
PRINCE TURKI: I guess so.
MR. LOCKE: Again, Your Royal Highness, welcome to the other Washington.
PRINCE TURKI: (Laughs.)
MR. LOCKE: You presented your credentials a few months ago in Washington, DC. Your assignment to the United States as Ambassador is not complete until you visit the true Washington – (laughter) – the real Washington and the real America.
I know that – encourage all of our audience members to start filling out any questions that you might have, and raise your hands, so that the people walking around the audience from the World Affairs Council can collect those cards. And we'll try to make sure that we get to those questions.
I'd like to just start while folks are preparing their questions.
PRINCE TURKI: Yes, sir.
MR. LOCKE: And perhaps I can be the foil or the fall guy and ask some of the obvious questions that people might have on their minds.
But one is, how does Saudi Arabia and some of the other countries in the Middle East feel about the possibility of Iran developing nuclear materials? And do you really believe that there's a threat of Iran developing nuclear weapons? And what threat could Iran pose for the rest of the region?
PRINCE TURKI: What I can tell you is our view on atomic weapons in the area. It would be remiss of me, as a diplomat, to consider another country's politics, particularly in relation to their relationship with the United States.
We view the presence of atomic weapons in our part of the world as totally unacceptable. And for many years we have proposed that the Middle East become a nuclear-free zone, and we ask all the countries in the Middle East to adhere to that policy, including Iran and including Israel and including Iraq and including Egypt and Saudi Arabia. And all of the countries in there should not have any nuclear weapons at all, not only nuclear weapons, but any weapons of mass destruction, whether they be chemical or biological, as well as nuclear.
And we would like to see international guarantees for the countries in the area to protect them from any threats that they may get from any nuclear power that is present in the world.
MR. LOCKE: Iran, on the other hand, counters and says that they're developing nuclear materials for power, for – not for weapons of mass destruction and not for nuclear weapons. What assurances do we have? And should we allow Iran to develop its nuclear power capabilities the way that other countries in the Middle East have done so – as you mentioned, Egypt, Israel – for power generation? How should we approach that delicate issue of peaceful purposes of nuclear material?
PRINCE TURKI: I believe in the proposal that I mentioned: having a nuclear-free Middle East with international guarantees. That is the guarantee that will prevent any country from developing ambitions about having nuclear weapons. And therefore, that will apply to all of the countries, including Iran.
MR. LOCKE: Well, does Saudi Arabia believe Iran when Iran's leaders say that they are not intent on developing nuclear weapons and that they only want to pursue peaceful use of nuclear material?
PRINCE TURKI: We talk to our Iranian neighbors as we talk to our Egyptian neighbors and other countries in the area, and other countries in the area talk to our Iranian neighbors as well. And I think if we are to guarantee that nobody can, if you like, get out of the mold of a peaceful and secure and safe geographic entity which is the Middle East, devoid of weapons of mass destruction, then we should give those guarantees to all the countries that there will be no weapons of mass destruction, including the nuclear weapons.
MR. LOCKE: I think another question that's on the minds of people is, given the historically close relationship between the Wahhabi school of Islam and the royal family of Saudi Arabia, how do you react to accusations that the Wahhabi school is the inspiration behind Islamic terrorism?
PRINCE TURKI: Well, I would say that that is based mostly on ignorance of and misunderstanding of where we come from. I give you a small example. A group like al Qaeda led by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri and others from various disciplines and walks of life in the Middle East and the Arab world, they believe, for example, in the killing of innocent life and the destruction of property and in overturning established orders in any country, whether Islamic or non- Islamic.
All of these three principal issues are not accepted by so- called – this will be in quotation marks – "Wahhabis and the followers of Sheikh Mohammed and Abd al Wahhab," who taught very Orthodox branch of Islam, which is called the Hanbali school. It is part of the four schools of Sunni Islam along with the Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanafi schools.
So most of the assertions that you mentioned, Governor, come out of, as I told you, ignorance of what – between quotation marks – "Wahhabi thought and Wahhabi teaching is," and I bet you all the experts who may have said that, if you ask them, have they read any book on Wahhabism, they will tell you no. And there are several good books on Wahhabism on the market today, and I would advise anybody who has an interest in that to read a book by a lady called [Natana] DeLong-Bas, and you will have her name passed onto you. She's an American lady. She did her research mostly in America, Saudi Arabia and other places, and she has a very definitive book on Sheikh Mohammed and Abd Al-Wahhab and his teachings.
MR. LOCKE: So finally, before I turn to the questions from the audience, in light of the social, political and economic advancements of Women's International and the increased number of women in positions of power all around the world, can you describe the role of women in Saudi society and the near absence of women in public office and in government?
PRINCE TURKI: I will say that historically speaking, men folk, if you like, have been very misogynistic towards women, and the oppression of women in all societies was a standard rather than an exception. And if I may refer to your own experience in the United States, when your Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, they paid no attention to the rights of women. They were not allowed to vote, they were not allowed to own property. In many cases they were not allowed to inherit even from their folks.
We in Saudi Arabia are moving forward on this issue. Our social structure was pretty much like your social structure when you did not recognize these rights for women. But if you look at today, for example, university graduates in Saudi Arabia, more than 55 percent of them now are women with a better record of academic achievements than their male counterparts. There are more than 40,000 businesses owned by women in Saudi Arabia. And the stock market, which is composed of nearly now 3 million Saudis investing directly in shares, and so on, a third of that number are women.
And in government positions, whether it is in the undersecretary of the Ministry of Education or in other institutions, women have taken their place, In some of our non- government organizations, like the Engineers Association or the Jeddah Chamber of Business Council, women have been elected to the director's office in these groups.
So women are moving forward in the Kingdom. We admit that we started a bit late on that issue, but we're going in the right direction. And I think pretty soon you will see more and more women even in the diplomatic service, because the Foreign Ministry has issued applications for lady diplomats to join the foreign service. And we will take it on from there.
MR. LOCKE: A question from the audience. What are one or two things that you think the United States can do to contribute to stability and cooperation in the Middle East that they're not doing right now?
PRINCE TURKI: I think the important thing not just for the United States, but for the world community, is to implement the various plans that have been drawn up over the years for Middle East peace.
If we go back to 1970, there was a plan put by William Rogers, who was then secretary of State under President Nixon, followed in the late '70s by the efforts of President Carter, which succeeded between Egypt and Israel, but left much to be accomplished along Palestine. In the 1980s, President Reagan presented several peace plans in our area. President Bush senior had the Madrid conference and what followed from there. Under President Clinton we had the Oslo agreements and then the discussions in Camp David and again in Sharm el-Sheikh and Taba. President Bush – the present President Bush drew up the two-state solution and the road map.
But none of these proposals or ideas have been implemented on the ground. Now, the road map has procedures for implementation, with responsibility on both Israel and the Palestinians to undertake certain actions to make sure that the road map is implemented, but nobody has taken – has made the efforts to implement it and put it in practice. I think that is what is needed for peace in the Middle East.
MR. LOCKE: If you were advising President Bush and the administration, if you were the secretary of State or Condoleezza Rice, how would you advise – what should the United States position be to the issue of Iraq? Is Iraq in the midst of a civil war? Should the United States withdraw as soon as possible?
PRINCE TURKI: I think the issue of Iraq is not an issue of definition. People say it's a civil war, others say it's a sectarian war, some in the administration say that it's simply an insurgency. What is important is for the Iraqi people to be allowed to achieve their own ambitions for security and stability.
And we've seen a process for that that started – lacking, if you like, in legitimacy – by the appointment through a foreign power, which was the United States, of an interim government. But then it became more legitimate as time went on and free elections were held, most recently last December, when most of the Iraqi people voted in those elections, nearly 70 percent of the Iraqi population voted for those elections. And they included participation by all factions in Iraq.
So we can say that the present Parliament in Iraq is the most legitimate and the most sovereign institution in Iraq today. And the government that will come out of this Parliament will, by the nature of the Parliament itself, will also be legitimate and sovereign. And I think it is for them, then, to enter into negotiations with the United States and the other allied countries who have troops in Iraq as to when those troops should be withdrawn.
Because let's not forget these troops came into Iraq uninvited, but I think it would be a tragedy and a catastrophe if they were to leave uninvited. I think they – the process for leaving Iraq should be negotiated between the Iraqi people and the countries that came into Iraq, like the United States, the UK and other countries.
MR. LOCKE: You mentioned the role of women – the emerging role of women – some of the greater freedoms in Saudi Arabia. There has been a lot of controversy about the Chinese government censoring the Internet, controlling and shutting down sites and so forth. What is the role of – or how does your government plan to allow more unrestricted Internet access for your citizens?
PRINCE TURKI: My government is pretty much like other governments. It tends to look upon itself as an arbiter of people's modes and people's cultures and people's ideas. And from that sense it is not any different, let's say, than the German government, which also places restrictions on access to the Internet. And I think even in your country there are certain restrictions when it comes to issues like pornography and particularly child pornography and things like that.
So in today's world, I think all bureaucracies don't appreciate that the electronic age is much quicker and more efficient than their ability to restrict. So I think whether it is in China or Saudi Arabia or the United States or Japan or Germany or whatever, people will find a way of finding – of getting to what they want on the Internet. Then government can be able to restrict them from it.
They just make it a bit harder, but in the end, I think you and I and others who are – though I wouldn't consider myself very conversant with the computer, but those who are really have no restrictions on them, and can get to whatever they want. So in the final analysis, I think it's basically the people who judge you that will make whether things are acceptable or not.
MR. LOCKE: What will it take for your country, Saudi Arabia, to recognize Israel?
PRINCE TURKI: Many things. King Abdullah has put a plan forward when he was conferenced in 2002 to the Arab Summit Conference in Beirut in which he proposed the following: The Arab world will recognize Israel, and extend diplomatic and normalization of relations with Israel, in return for Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and East Jerusalem. And that is where we stand by that issue. All the Arab countries, including the Palestinian Authority, have signed up for that plan, and it is still on the table.
MR. LOCKE: Do you think that the Dubai ports failure – the controversy over Dubai ports – will affect US relations with your country and the other countries of the Middle East?
PRINCE TURKI: It will inevitably leave residue of uncertainty, to say the least. It's not resentment. And I think President Bush put it in the right context when he said that this issue should not be an issue based on race. It should not be an issue of Arab or English or Chinese or whatever. And for that, many people in our part of the world have thanked the president for this position. Unfortunately, as I understand when I am traveling around your country and meeting with people like yourself, I hear from many of you that this time of year and just before the elections coming in November is called the "silly season." And I see –
MR. LOCKE: Some people say that silly season gets longer and longer every year.
PRINCE TURKI: (Laughs.) So I'm sure there people who are making politics out of this issue, but it is unfortunate. And today in the press I was reading about a Chinese company that is getting a contract to inspect for radiation in ports in the Bahamas, which are exporting to the United States. Why a Chinese company and not a Dubai company? Or, I don't know, an Italian company or a Polish company or whatever. It just leaves that bitter aftertaste when we hear that it is because an Arab company that it's been taken off the list.
MR. LOCKE: I'm sure the scrutiny will come with respect to that Chinese company.
PRINCE TURKI: What?
MR. LOCKE: That'll be next. (Laughter.) Like you said, it's the silly season, it's going to get longer. The elections are approaching.
Well, that brings up the issue of – you've been here for quite some time as a student, and now as an ambassador traveling the country. What have you noticed about America from your days as a student to now? What changes have you seen in America? And what are some of the things that you lament about America? Both the positive and the negative changes.
PRINCE TURKI: Well, I believe like all countries America has changed a great deal in the past 40 years. And as I understand from American friends as well, that the events of September 11 even made it more change than it was before then. And I think what I do appreciate very much about America is the renewability, if you like, of your society and your political system.
As I understand it, your democracy is still considered by yourself as a work in progress. It is not a definitive system of government, but rather a changing system of government that your society, as it develops, will evolve and develop with the society.
And that allows for one important issue that I think America is not necessarily unique in, but definitely has a lot of experience in, and that is the fact that Americans in general, I think, enjoy the issue of having recourse whenever there is a wrong or a mistreatment or misjudgment undertaken either by your government or even by your society.
And I think individual Americans, as we were talking over the table at lunch, for example, of Japanese origin who were mistreated during the Second World War – 40 years later, they had recourse, because there was somebody there in American society, whether officially or otherwise, who continued to carry the banner, if you like, of rectifying that mistake that took place during the Second World War.
And other developments in America, whether it is in the civil rights movement, in the treatment of women, in the treatment of minorities, and in business cycle, in politics, and so on, there is always a chance for someone to get their rights back if they have been either mistreated or those rights have been infringed upon by somebody.
And that is what I think makes America so attractive to so many people from all over the world who come to America as refugees or as immigrants and seekers of a better way of life. And we in our part of the world are learning to achieve that kind of system whereby nobody's rights and nobody's mishaps will go without recourse. This is, I think, the most positive thing, in my mind, of what makes America so great and the American people so open and welcome to the different varieties of people from the rest of the world.
What is to lament, I think, is, in my days, America was a much simpler place. (Chuckles.) I think this is probably true of the rest of the world – where things were much clearer, perhaps, in our minds. In those days, if you remember, in the '60s, it was a question of the rest of the world against the communist threat. And you could define that communist threat and, as it were, draw a line and put yourself on either side of it and be sure that you're clear about it.
Today it is less clear in outlook. People, in my view and in my country, at least, from my experience, are less certain about where they stand today than perhaps 40 years ago. But I think that's not unique to America, but it is something to lament.
MR. LOCKE: Following up on that, the relationships between the government of the United States and the Middle East are very strained, very tense, whether it's Israel and the Palestinian state, Iraq, Iran. And it has, as you said, made Americans more apprehensive, a little bit more cautious toward people of Islamic states.
How do you – how would you suggest that we bridge those divides and bring the peoples closer together?
PRINCE TURKI: Simply by doing that, by bringing people together. And your council here, as I heard, its activities in bringing Palestinian and Israeli ladies to talk about their problems, or other people from other issues.
We, as I said in my talk, enlarging our scholarship program for students to go abroad is one way of doing it. We're working now with your government on establishing a scholarship program also for American students to come to Saudi Arabia. And that is, I think, the best way of getting over the stereotypes that develop on both sides. Inasmuch as you have your stereotypes about us, we also have our stereotypes about you.
MR. LOCKE: What are some of those stereotypes of Americans that are – (laughter) –
PRINCE TURKI: (Laughs.) Well, you've put me in it now! (Laughter.)
MR. LOCKE: It's not YOUR stereotype –
PRINCE TURKI: I know.
MR. LOCKE: – it's the stereotypes held by some of the – of your citizens.
PRINCE TURKI: Well, I think it is not just about America, about the West in general. You have to start from the Crusades, you know, people who have come to occupy and to destroy and to kill and to pillage, and things like that. That's the historic and sort of way in the background that comes up – when there is a crisis, people will revert back to it and say, "Ah, you see, these are the Crusaders coming back again."
Another stereotype I think is from colonial days. And I can say that in Saudi Arabia we don't have that because we were never colonized. But in countries like Egypt, and the Fertile Crescent, and Iraq, and India, and Pakistan, and Indonesia, and so on, who were colonized, is the stereotype of the colonial who, in Rudyard Kipling's words, if you like, "came to carry the white man's burden," which is to civilize the uncivilized and barbaric natives of Africa or Asia or parts of Latin America. That's another stereotype that comes to the fore when things go bad.
More recently, of course, in our part of the world is the stereotype of the Israeli occupier of Palestine and the treatment of Palestinians at the hands of Israeli soldiers, and so on.
These are images that affect people of all ages in our part of the world.
There are some good stereotypes. Many people are still of the opinion that there was an opportunity, manque, if you like, when President Wilson presented his 14 points after the First World War, which really heightened the sense of hope and aspiration for the colonized countries in those days to seek independence from the colonialists, because President Wilson carried the banner of freedom for oppressed people and for occupied people and so on and human rights and so on. That stereotypes is also there for people to refer back to when things are going good for us.
In the Kingdom, we have a special affection for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who in 1945, being at the height of American power and just coming out of the Yalta agreement with Stalin and Churchill, made a point of getting on a ship in the Red Sea and meeting with our king at the time, King Abdulaziz. And for those of you who don't know this, he did it even though it was Valentine's Day – (chuckles) – February 14th. And the two of them meeting together on the Quincy, that naval ship, in the Bitter Lake in the Red Sea, has remained, if you like, almost a legendary picture of the king sitting opposite Roosevelt and talking about issues that affected the two countries. So that stereotype is alive and well.
And just as a sideline, if you like, on this February 14th back in Washington, although I was not there, the embassy managed to collect all the sailors who had been on the Quincy that are still alive today and bring them to Washington with their families to get together and reminisce about that situation. And it was a great occasion to see these 70- or 80-year-olds remembering how Roosevelt wheeled down the gangway and into the deck of the ship as he was waiting for King Abdulaziz to come from another ship that brought him to the Quincy, and the king walking down, and his robes and so on, and the impression that he left on them and so on. So it was a great occasion for all of us. And that picture is alive in many Saudis' minds still.
MR. LOCKE: Throughout your travels in the United States, what are the two or three things that you would like Americans to know about Saudi Arabia, your country?
PRINCE TURKI: The first, of course, is that we are pretty much human beings, we didn't come from Mars or Pluto – (laughter) – although we do wear skirts – (laughter) – but the skirt-wearers in America are a very important part of American society – and that we have similar ambitions to yours; we want a better life for our children and our grandchildren, to live in peace and harmony; that we want to be contributing to the betterment of the world, and we think we can be.
We have a long history and tradition, although we are still a young country. But that history and culture and background gives us the wherewithal to work with people like yourself in marching forward and meeting the challenges that face the world community, whether it is poverty or disease or terrorism or whatever.
MR. LOCKE: Thank you very much for coming to the real Washington and presenting your credentials.
PRINCE TURKI: (Chuckles.) Thank you, sir.
MR. LOCKE: And Your Royal Highness, Mr. Ambassador, thank you very much for a great discussion.
PRINCE TURKI: Thank you, Governor. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
MR. MONCASTER: We've gone from Iran and weapons, the role of women, Middle East peace, Internet access, Israel, the Dubai Ports and impressions of the United States.
Please remain seated.
This is the work of the World Affairs Council – creating these authentic voices and these authentic conversations in our community. We do this on behalf of our members and our sponsors, and I'd like to thank again Aero Law, Boeing and the Microsoft Corporation and all those of you in this room who are members. It's because of you that we're able to do this.
It's really important that we get good information, and I know that the ambassador would like to get feedback on his presentations. What did you learn? How do you think about these things differently? So I encourage you to take a look at this green form that's inside your program and ask that you fill this out. There will be someone collecting them as you go out the door. It's important for us to get this feedback.
And I want to draw your attention to a couple other programs with authentic voices. On April 3rd, we're having a conversation about what should the U.S. conversation be with regard to Israel and Palestine. We have Ed Abbington, who's represented the PLO in the United States, long-term foreign service employee. We have Jonathan Jacoby, who is the head of the Israeli Policy Forum, looking at two- state solutions. And how do we think about this conversation as we go forward?
On May 5th, we have the U.S. ambassador to Korea and the Korean ambassador to the U.S. – again, a series of authentic conversations about what should we be doing, how do we think about the world.
We're running discussion groups about the conversation between here and Brazil, and we have Mark Kimmit, who is from Central Command, coming to talk about human rights and terrorism. How do we think about those issues?
These are the kinds of issues that we want to be able to do, and we're particularly fortunate today to have an incredible conversation with Prince Turki with regard to the U.S. role and Saudi Arabia.
Thank you again, Governor Locke, for moderating, and thank you again, Prince Turki. (Applause.) Please remain seated. I ask that you all – the prince is on a very tight schedule. I ask you to remain – all remain seated until he is off to some media engagements.
Thank you.


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The 7 Ballsiest Ways Anyone Ever Quit Their Job
#3. In Front of an Audience
If you're going to quit, you might as well do it in front of a bunch of people so somebody can describe you in detail to the police. The below Moe's manager decided to dance to "Ice Ice Baby," a song that somehow expressed his desire to pursue better employment with lyrics like, "the girls were hot wearing less than bikinis," and "wax a chump like a candle."
It actually seems to be sort of entertaining until he rips open his shirt, at which point everyone in the dining room gets a little uncomfortable.
But the best part is, he doesn't clock out until afterward, which means he actually got paid for three minutes of poorly lip-syncing along with a bad song.
Then we have Inetta "The Mood Setta" Hinton, a DJ for an R&B and hip-hop station in Louisiana, who had an on-air meltdown, letting everyone know how much she hated her job. Probably because 16-year olds that sweep up popcorn and used condoms at the movie theater get paid more than she did. So she made a special announcement shitting on all her coworkers before literally declaring "I quit this bitch" and leaving the station, presumably to pursue the exciting career opportunities that await people unable to handle the demands of radio DJ-ing.
#2. With Twitter
Twitter is great for getting your ass fired, but it's also an effective method of offering up a resignation letter in 140 characters or less. Just ask Paula Abdul, who bailed on American Idol, the first televised plague in human history, via a post on her Twitter account, which in keeping with both Paula and American Idol is the most professional thing to do, ever.
Even MC Skat Kat would've at least called.
But hands down the best Twitter quitter is probably Heidi Lunde, who was working for a Norwegian news site where she was told that she'd be responsible for all the user-generated content coming to the site, pretty much meaning she'd have to sort her way through a huge pile of bullshit every single day to find something worth publishing.
So Heidi tweeted she'd just cleaned out her desk and was ready for new challenges, which sounds pretty vague but in actuality she just meant she had moved all her things upstairs to start her new position. That's when her boss called and asked why she resigned over Twitter without telling him first.
A formal meeting was set up to discuss the incident, but her boss promptly blew it off and told Heidi that she needed to submit a formal resignation. Realizing that her job sucked and her boss was about as intelligent as a moldy pancake, she quit for real.
#1. With a Novel
If you have access to a publisher, and the attention span to write a Fuck You that's a few million characters longer than the 140 characters allowed by Twitter. Writers have been insulting people for as long as anyone has been able to read, but some are especially adept at uppercutting their resignations into the taints of their former employers. Take Ernest Hemingway. He was trapped in a contract with a man named Horace Liverwright and wanted out of it for serious artistic reasons, namely because another publisher was offering him a shitload more money and he resented being trapped by anything less than a fire-breathing dinosaur.
"I said 'shitload,' Shitload! Didn't you hear me?!"
So Hemingway wrote his first novel The Torrents of Spring, clocking in at under 100 pages and featuring two protagonists, one that bones a young Native American woman and runs off with her into the wilderness and another that takes mescaline and hallucinates that he's the President of Mexico. In other words, he wrote a book that was completely unpublishable by the standards of the time. But he did it on purpose.
"Let's see him sell this piece of shit."
Horace promptly released Hemingway from the contract, freeing him to pursue the more favorable publishing deal and go on to write several classics of American literature, buy a house in Key West and have sex with countless women. This he also did on purpose.
Do you have something funny to say about a random topic? You could be on the front page of Cracked.com tomorrow. Go here and find out how to create a Topic Page.
To know when it's time to quit as awesomely as these people did, check out 6 Emails You Get When Your Company Is About to Go Under. Or find out about some people who probably shouldn't have been at their job to begin with, in The 6 Most Disastrous Uses of Work Email Ever.
And stop by our Top Picks (Updated 1.5.2010) to see what happens when you try to quit Cracked (the end result is your family receiving a bullet casing and a bill).
And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get dick jokes sent straight to your news feed.


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8 Hilarious Brain Farts (That Endangered National Security)
#4. MI6 Wife Uses Facebook
There are some things that you just shouldn't need to be told. For example, if you're taking over one of the most sensitive secret service positions in the country, try to keep personal information about yourself from being posted on the Internet. Would-be assassins will have a lot harder time locating you that way, what with no address to plug into Google Maps and all.
Sir John Sawer, soon-to-be Chief of the British MI6 almost certainly understood this. Unfortunately, his wife didn't.
After finding out that John had been given the position of "C" (the real life equivalent of "M" from James Bond), Lady Sawer decided to post the good news on her Facebook account. Her Facebook account that, remarkably, had almost no privacy features enabled.
This meant that basically any Facebook user could log on and find Sawer's address, favorite vacation spots and, most chillingly, photos of John rocking a Speedo.
To be fair, John looks quite sophisticated in a suit.
All of this information could then be passed along to the entire spectrum of Bond villains, even the shitty ones from the Timothy Dalton movies.
He could be anywhere.
To make matters worse, the page also revealed that Sawer's brother was a researcher for David Irving, a prominent Holocaust denier, which puts the MI6's top man approximately three degrees of separation from the crazy rascal who runs Iran.
#3. Bob Quick Reveals Secret Raids
We can come up with killer robots programmed using technology that won't be available for decades; armored vehicles that repel the strongest of missiles; firewall protection that can block the nastiest of viruses; and a thousand different ways to avoid embarrassing security leaks. But it isn't often that you can say a simple manila folder would have would have sufficed.
A sombrero would have worked too. Anything opaque, really.
Bob Quick, the now resigned English Assistant Commissioner, was less than careful when he approached the Prime Minister's office with secret plans for several raids in plain sight of the press.
The plans, which could be seen clearly resting on top of two folders, detailed raids to take place against several Pakistani terror suspects, and were snapped up by photographers who apparently sit around waiting for shit like this to happen. The company that owned the rights to the photo, Getty Images, decided this shit looked serious, and probably compromised national security. Then, they promptly published the images on their website, because that's just how the Internet do.
"Come on, guys. Honor system."
It's pretty clear how this could have been a problem. Imagine you're a terrorist, and you wake up and find your picture on the front page of the newspaper under the heading "12 Terror Suspects to be Caught In Surprise Raids... Sometime Later This Month." Chances are you're not going to stick around just to act surprised like it's some kind of poorly planned surprise party. No, chances are you're going to flee the country and conduct your terrorist activities elsewhere, which is exactly why police had to conduct their raids much earlier than they had planned.
While the government issued a notice preventing any British media from publishing the images, this did not prevent foreign media outlets from publishing it. Cracked, speaking on behalf of all non-British media outlets, would like to make it clear that we are responsible. We take national security very seriously. After asking around, we've come to the conclusion that British-based terrorists don't read Cracked (commenters, please don't prove us wrong) so yes, we would have published the images and turned them into a hilarious list without a second thought.
The 9 Best Secret Hiding Spots (That are 'Bout to Get Raided).
#2. Canadian Prime Minister Almost Murdered by Random Crazy Person
We understand that the Canadian Prime Minister doesn't need the constant protection from suicidal bombers, gun-wielding mad men and shoe-wielding journalists that the US President has; but when a schizophrenic man bent on killing the Prime Minister manages to walk into his house after spending 20 minutes on the lawn waving and throwing rocks at security cameras, then we are inclined to believe that there may have been a slight screw-up in national security.
Historians call it the most interesting thing to ever happen in Canada.
Now, we could forgive the security for failing to see an aspiring murderer on the front lawn of the Gorffwysfa for 20 minutes, or even the fact that he spent 30 minutes in the basement of the house without anyone noticing. But when he finally got the nerve to go and kill the Prime Minister, the first officer on the scene forgot his key, leaving the most powerful man in Canada to fend off a nutbag for another seven minutes.
Perhaps if the Mounties weren't all moose, this could have been avoided.
You know who also had no key? The schizophrenic guy who broke a window to get in. Also, we take it back, there is no reason for a crazy guy to be allowed to frolic around the Gorffwysfa unabated for 20 minutes. That's golf course security type shit.
Canadian golf.
Officers from the security company in question later admitted that protecting the Prime Minister is rather boring, and so they don't always send their best people to guard the property. Meanwhile, that douche from Nickelback has nary a security incident to his name. Way to keep you priorities straight, Canada.
#1. Bill Clinton Almost Loses the Nuclear Football
While it may sound like the most extreme sport ever, the Nuclear Football is, in fact, the most extreme briefcase ever made.
In it, you have all the launch codes you could possibly need to send America into nuclear war. The President doesn't actually carry the Football, a military aide accompanies him at all times with the briefcase chained to his wrist. But when you consider all of the insane security the President gets, and that little case of Mutually Assured Destructive goodness is practically untouchable. So what could possibly go wrong? Well, how about this:
After a NATO Summit in 1999, Clinton decided he was finished 45 minutes before the scheduled departure time and left in a speeding motorcade, presumably to get somewhere Hillary wasn't and horny interns were.
He had somewhere important to be.
Unbeknownst to him, his aide and the Football had been left behind at the summit shifting nervously from side to side while eying foreign delegates and mouthing the words "give me a reason."
I'll burn this motherfucker to the ground.
Deciding that the President wasn't coming back to get him, nor were they going to send a car out to pick him up, he walked back half a mile, roughly four and a half blocks, alone to the White House carrying the most explosive briefcase in the history of mankind. Entire seasons of 24 have been launched on less implausible scenarios than this.
The White House later remarked that the suitcase made it back safely and, seemingly shrugging off the incident, that "These things happen," which couldn't be more true. Aside from Clinton, nuclear bomb codes have been misplaced by Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan (to be fair, he was being shot at the time) and Jimmy Carter, who once left the doomsday codes in his dry cleaning. Comforting!
Do you have something funny to say about a random topic? You could be on the front page of Cracked.com tomorrow. Go here and find out how to create a Topic Page.
And for colossal fuck-ups that did come to fruition, check out 5 Battlefield Screw Ups That Were Hilarious (Until People Died) and The 7 Most Bizarre Fast Food Industry Lawsuits.
And stop by our Top Picks (Updated 1.19.2010) to see Jack O'Brien's secret plans for world domination.
And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get dick jokes sent straight to your news feed.


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Today is July 29, 2016 -
Tuesday, July 19th
Posted on July 20, 2011
The group spent the morning in Eilat. They had free time at the mall and visited the stone factory. After lunch they took a long drive to Mitzpe Ramon. They began a 24-hour outdoor desert experience. They went repelling down the side of a cliff, and encouraged each other to challenge themselves. This evening they went on a short hike, prepared their own dinner, and went stargazing before going to sleep under the stars.


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The 9 Most Insane Board Games of All Time
We realize that advertising should be taken with a whole shaker of salt, especially when it comes to toys, where there's a long history of making products look better than they are (as multiple generations of Sea Monkeys owners can testify). These board game boxes, though, go beyond deceptive advertising and right into the realm of "See, this is why your industry collapsed."
After all, we would have never stopped playing if these games had lived up to the depiction on their boxes. Just look at ...
#9. The Backbone
Via Boardgamegeek.com
Just only for intelligent people who grammar like us.
What It Looks Like:
Ah, yeah! This may be the best thing, ever. You convince a lady friend to take off her clothes and lie down, then you paint the game board -- surely the paints are included -- on her back! Or, if you're a serial killer, like the guy on the box, you could use a dead hooker. To win, you ... oh, who cares? It's a naked woman! And paint!
What It Is:
Via Boardgamegeek.com
Wait, are those ... nipples? We don't get it.
It's a damned geometry game. The goal is to place your pawns in each color row until you form a polygon ... and, we can't stress this enough ... not on a naked woman.
There isn't even any nude art anywhere on the game board, and the pieces don't have tiny boobs. The only way this game could be worse would be if you had to talk about your feelings while making polygons.
Here, take the ceremonial protractor and tell me about your father.
#8. 15 Love
Via Etsy.com
"Given, he was playing against a corpse, and they had to go to a tie breaker, but still."
What It Looks Like:
A part-time tennis hustler and full-time sex-offender-registry member named Biggs Calderhead is running roughshod over the Eastern seaboard, separating unsuspecting tennis amateurs from their hard-earned cash and unsuspecting girls from their hard-earned innocence. And this fun-filled game shows you how to be just like him! Awesome?
What It Is:
Via Boardgamegeek.com
Orange for his pedostache, yellow for that beer gut and white for that creepy leer. The green dice are amphetamines.
Yes, it's a board game for people who find tennis too thrilling to watch. Each player gets two dice, and the rolls determine what kind of shot you make. So, you roll dice, pretend to hit a lob, roll dice, pretend to hit a passing shot, and so on and so on until someone wins or you doze off. Not only does the concrete block mentioned on the cover never make an appearance, but it looks like there isn't even a net, for the love of God. Damn it, you've hustled us again, famous tennis hustler Biggs Calderhead!
#7. Mixed Pickles
Via Boardgamegeek.com
No chance in hell that those aren't Andy Richter's ancestors.
What It Looks Like:
Uh-oh! The family dog, Pickles, is on a tear! Nothing is safe from this rampaging little doggie and his appetite for destruction. You and up to three friends play as the family's insanely creepy, stone-faced children and try to tame this wild pup by beating the shit out of him with a boot. We won't tell PETA if you don't!
What It Is:
Via Boardgames
Oh, it's ... words.
It's a 19th century card game with three sentence fragments on each card. You mix them up, make silly sentences and hilarity ensues! How riotous do things get? Check out this potential sentence:
"I'm always in for hunting buffalo at a wedding."
You're just going to have to take our word for it, but we promise jokes like that absolutely killed back in 1890.
#6. Morron Terror
Via Boardgamegeek.com
Wait, is this the German equivalent to the Scary Movie franchise?
What It Looks Like:
The inhabitants of an orphanage face daily TERROR at the hands of an alcoholic, cross-dressing caretaker named Benedict MORRON. Players compete to see who can respond to a series of loudly slurred commands the fastest. Don't be last, or else you'll get locked in a closet and deprived of food, daylight and human interaction for six days!
What It Is:
Via Boardgamegeek.com
Mostly naked child. Playing this online lands you in prison.
Freddy, who looks downright happy inside the box, needs to get dressed for the day. That's it. You follow the instructions on a cassette tape (the black thing in the middle of the box, kids), and the winner is whoever can put the clothing cards on Freddy in the right combination. So we were kind of correct, provided you remove anything remotely interesting we said in the previous description. Question: Does "terror" mean "boring" in German?
#5. Narro
Via Boardgamegeek.com
Those aren't bruises. They're eggs.
What It Looks Like:
Clowns would never hurt anybody, every kid knows that! But when a small town is overrun by impostor clowns intent on eating children in their sleep, you're the last line of defense against evil fakers that want to devour every soul in sight. But how can you tell the evil clowns from the non-evil clowns? Trick question, they're all evil. But killing the ones that have disgusting, pulsating purple orbs on their heads earns you extra points! Kill them all! For the sake of the children!
What It Is:
Via Boardgamegeek.com
If you look at it through the special clown glasses, it tells you to kill your parents.
Fucking checkers. One player uses the round pieces, one the square pieces, and you capture the other player's pieces by jumping over them. Super original gameplay, Narro. They did stick outlines of clown heads on the pieces, but besides that, there doesn't even seem to be anything clown-themed about the game -- you just have to use your imagination to picture in your mind the clowns "jumping" their victims and sending their "souls" to "hell."


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I don't want to be flooded and descend into chaos. I want to build a prison that lasts.
Currently, the alpha version will continually send you new prisoners each and every day. It's meant to ratchet up the pressure each and every day, dealing with your new inmates.
That said, you CAN avoid gaining new prisoners by removing your delivery area next to the road. Just click the Rooms button, and use right click to remove the delivery designation. You still need a delivery area, though, so move it further away from the road. The game logic has no idea where to put the prisoners, so they don't get off the truck, and just continue on. The To-Do List will still show you how many prisoners will get sent the next day, and they'll keep trying. But without that delivery area, they just keep going.
That should allow you to stabilize your current bunch of prisoners without gathering new problems. Once you're ready for new prisoners, just put the delivery area back!
Fun note: your guards will still attempt to escort your "new" prisoners to the holding cell, even when they're on the truck. I had a couple guards chasing the truck until it left the area, so hopefully riots and whatnot are not brewing prior to getting your delivery.
In Alpha 2, as noted by @Crowbeak, any new prisons you create have an option to only send prisoners when you have room for them. For anyone using a save game from Alpha 1, though, this trick still works.
Another thing to note, though, is that your holding cell now counts for how many prisoners you can hold. I believe for every six squares your holding cell has, your prisoner space is increased by one, in addition to whatever cells you have created. So if you have the new option set, keep that in mind.
As of Alpha 2, there is an option when creating a new prison to have new prisoners sent only when there are cells for them.
Now you can open or close prisoner security categories (min, normal, max). If you close them all, you will receive no prisoners that day.
Alpha 30 removed the
You can see the new intake system demonstrated in the Alpha 30 video.
Alpha 30 also changed the way you get paid for inmates:
You can open up the save file with Notepad or something and change "Intake.numPrisoners" to whatever you want (Greater than 0, Less than 1000000). Save the file and exit out of Notepad. Open the game and load the save you just edited.


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Black Detachable Key Ring Lanyard
3/8" Lanyard With Detachable KeyringLANS18 BLK
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Students can snap their keys on and off easily with these lanyards! Choose 3/8 inch or 1 inch wide lanyards that are all 36 inches long. Personalize with your school imprint.
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text:
Phat Farm Premium Cologne
Refine Your Selection
- Your Selections:
Phat Farm (Designer)
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1 size available50% OFF
2 sizes availableUp to 77% OFF
Reviews (8)
1 - 5 (of 8 Reviews)
I bought this cologne when it first came out in 2001, being that I was a huge Phat Farm Clothing it was only right to purchase this fragrance. I was extremely satisfied and the complements was through the roof. You guys need to get this cologne back, since you are the only site that carries it. I definitely recommend it!!
Written by Elacido on July 13, 2014
Phat Farm Premium was a purchase I made for myself as a Father's Day gift. I took a chance on it and glad I did. I had not smelled it before the purchase and I am so glad. I have gotten so many compliments on it. The scent lasts for hours. I definitely would recommend it.
Written by RClark on June 29, 2014
1 - 5 (of 8 Reviews)


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Is there a best-practice way of dealing with a system crash or a system freeze? I know of the "force-quit" keyboard shortcut. But what if it doesn't work? I just bought a MacBookPro and I am switching from Linux. In Linux there is a possibility to shutdown the X window system, and log in from a text console, or one can communicate with the kernel directly via magic SysRq-key, and for example, remount a hard disk read-only or reboot the system.
If force-quitting doesn't work you have a few options:
The relationship between Mac OS X and the Unix underpinnings aren't the same as they are between X window/GNOME and the kernel. It isn't nearly as open, so there is really no messing with the kernel near as I can tell in Mac OS X. I usually go the route I mentioned above and as long as I maintain the system properly and regularly I always seem to get back on my feet without any problems.


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TORONTO - Jefferson County Commissioner Tom Graham was the guest speaker during the chamber of commerce's Thursday luncheon meeting at the North River Avenue Christian Church.
Graham began by telling chamber members the county's fiscal health is good.
"We are financially healthy," said the commissioner, adding the county had a $1.2 million surplus carryover from 2012. "It wasn't always that way in Jefferson County."
Graham said the county's health insurance plan once had a deficit, but commissioners have fixed the problems.
"We have three commissioners now who are all very business-oriented, and we try to run the county as a business," he said. "We have 60-plus departments we fund. We can't tell them how to run their departments."
Graham did say the commissioners hold the purse strings for each department except for one - the county juvenile court. He said by law the county juvenile court can mandate from commissioners how they are funded, but "that's never happened here. We work very well with (Juvenile Court Judge Sam) Kerr."
Graham said the county's industrial park is growing as well.
"We now have seven businesses at the industrial park," he said, adding the park may have to be expanded because of more businesses interested in locating there. "We used to have just one, and that (business) was leaving."
The commissioner said Jefferson County has a $14 million budget for 2013. He added individual departments present commissioners with a "wish list" for budgets for the year. Commissioners then take the recommendations and decide what individual departments should be budgeted for the upcoming year.
"We have downsized (in the county) through attrition and some layoffs," said Graham. "We also just created a port authority. No elected officials can sit on the port authority board."
Graham said the authority will give the region more clout in trying to expand its business potential as well as acquiring grants and loans tied to economic growth. He added those affiliated with economic development understand what a port authority does.
"We think we will be better off with (a port authority) in the long run," he said.
In other business, the chamber once again will host its annual fashion show, this year set for April 6 at Karaffa Elementary School. The chamber is seeking sponsors and volunteers for the event. To volunteer or sponsor, call Dani Swearingen, event coordinator, at (740) 537-1250.


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From Michigan to Mumbai, iPhone helps keep this silicone giant running smoothly.
They're in your car, in your computer, even in your clothes. From sealants to shampoos, silicones make countless products last longer and work better. As a leader in silicone technologies, Dow Corning specializes in finding new applications for these multifaceted compounds. With operations in 60 countries and an ever-growing product line, this extensive enterprise uses iPhone to help track and evaluate a world's worth of business intelligence.
Dow Corning offers more than 7,000 products and services for consumer and industrial applications, from adhesives to lubricants, delivered as fluids, solids, gels, and powders. "Whether you're driving a car, talking on a phone, working on a computer, or getting ready in the morning, you're coming into contact with our products," says Don Sheets, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
iPhone enables Dow Corning executives to review sales, financial, and operational data whenever and wherever the need arises. "Our customers are global, our activities are global," says Stephanie Burns, Dow Corning's Chief Executive Officer, President, and Chairman. "iPhone connects us not only globally in our jobs, but globally with businesses around the world. It's this global connectivity that's so powerful."
Effortless Integration
Incorporating iPhone into Dow Corning's existing network was "absolutely seamless," Sheets says. "The integration of iPhone is tremendous. It's incredible how the device allows you to simply learn as you use it."
iPhone also meets the company's stringent security requirements, allowing managers to access proprietary corporate resources with confidence. "It was very important that we had secure iPhones," Duly notes. "The ActiveSync integration, password protection, device encryption, and remote wipe really let us lock down our content."
Thanks to built-in compatibility with Microsoft Exchange, iPhone keeps Dow Corning executives up to date on the latest business developments wherever they go. "iPhone synchronizes seamlessly with our software," says Burns. "Our calendars, contacts, frequent call information. That's the advantage."
Endless Apps
Whether in Dow Corning's Midland, Michigan headquarters or satellite locations around the world, the thousands of business apps available from the App Store make iPhone invaluable as a management tool.
"Soon after we started using iPhone, we had this 'a-ha' moment about how many applications are available that pertain to Dow Corning and its business," Duly says.
"iPhone has been a tipping point," Burns agrees, "and I think it's mainly due to all the apps. I can get numbers at five o'clock in the morning, whereas two years ago I'd have to physically get in to work and have someone provide them to me. This information is right at your fingertips. That's the big change."
The Roambi – Visualizer app lets Dow Corning executives quickly view and analyze real-time data from their SAP system via iPhone, including sales figures, trends, and projections. "Roambi hooks up to the business intelligence platform here at Dow Corning," Duly explains. "It allows us to make simple, intuitive dashboards of complex data."
"It's the right data, and it's protected," Sheets adds. "In 15 seconds I can get a sense of whether there's a financial performance issue I need to get involved with."
Another iPhone must-have is Analytics App, which lets Dow Corning monitor website traffic and online sales for the XIAMETER brand of standard silicone products. "Analytics App interfaces with Google Analytics," says Duly. "So when we roll out XIAMETER websites across the globe, we can monitor what content is and isn't being used. We can do this from home, while traveling, and at the office."
Ongoing Innovation
From the beginning, iPhone has enabled Dow Corning to move faster and stay in touch more effectively. As the company expands into new ventures, iPhone and its huge array of useful apps keep pace with the demands of this thriving international business. "iPhone allows us to be a part of a phenomenon," Sheets says. "It's a revolution in the way information is handled."
Using iPhone to access and transmit essential business information helps speed innovation at Dow Corning while minimizing waste. "Sustainability is one of our core values," Burns says. "Profit, the planet, and the impact on people are all taken into consideration when we decide where our research efforts are going to go. IPhone is crucial to that. With iPhone, data can be managed better globally, moving us more quickly to that end point."
"iPhone has unleashed the creativity and excitement of millions of people," says Sheets. "We want our employees to be part of that international network and community. iPhone is fundamental to the competitiveness and the success of this enterprise going into the future."
Company Snapshot
- Based in Midland, Michigan
- Founded in 1943
- Revenues over $5 billion per year
- www.dowcorning.com
"iPhone connects us not only globally in our jobs, but globally with businesses around the world. It's this global connectivity that's so powerful."
Stephanie Burns, CEO, President, and Chairman, Dow Corning
"Soon after we started using iPhone, we had this 'a-ha' moment about how many applications are available that pertain to our business."
Jeff Duly, Enterprise Architect, Dow Corning
"iPhone allows us to be a part of a phenomenon that's taking place.
It's a revolution in the way information is handled."
Don Sheets, Executive Vice President and CFO, Dow Corning


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Or rather, what function can be parametrized with some value t in [0,1] such that f(x, t= 0) = x, f(x, t = 1) = e^x, and f(x, 0 < t < 1) is a principled interpolation between those two, kind of like the gamma function is a principled interpolation for the discrete factorial.
Obviously, many functions fit the bill, like f(x,t) = x^(1 + t*(x/ln(x)-1) ), but that seems kind of arbitrary.
What mathematically useful/elegant function exists?


text:
Anyone knows where I can get a keyboard to buy with the Ubuntu logo on the super key? If not where can I get some durable small plastic Ubuntu logos about 8 to 9 mm in diameter that I can use to glue on my keyboard?
You could buy one from ZaReason.com, but they are out of stock right now.
System76 gives away free Ubuntu stickers, including ones for the Super key, instructions on how to get them: http://www.system76.com/community/stickers/
I don't know of any with the Ubuntu logo, but I do know that Das Keyboards sell Linux Keycaps for their super keys (with Tux on it) on their keyboards. http://www.daskeyboard.com/products/. Canonical also sell an Ubuntu flexible keyboard in their store (with the Ubuntu logo along the side) but the super keys still contain the windows logo. http://shop.canonical.com/product_info.php?products_id=800. Hope this helps.
The Canonical store sells packs of stickers here that you can use to replace all the standard Windows branding on your machine, including two that you can choose from to cover the Windows logo on your super key--one orange-on-white, and one white-on-orange. Many of the other stickers come in these two variants, too.
Here is a place you can order custom keys for mechanical keyboards:
Pair that with the Ubuntu logo: http://design.ubuntu.com/wp-content/uploads/logo-ubuntu_cof-black-hex.svg and this could be very cool!
If you are into mechanical keyboards, you can get Ubuntu Logo keys for Cherry MX switches from KeyboardCo.


text:
You are here
Snatam Kaur Khalsa
Primary tabs
Snatam is one of the most popular New Age artists of our time, selling over 70,000 albums a year. She has an amazing ability to transform traditional chants into contemporary sounds that appeal to the modern ear and awaken an ancient yearning in the soul. Sacred Sounds Radio calls her music "spiritually uplifting and deeply soul cleansing." Ram Dass, celebrated author of Be Here Now, says, "In Snatam's voice…there is purity, clarity, and love."
Her music can be heard around the world in yoga studios, schools, Hollywood films, and the homes of her fans worldwide. An international favorite with fans across the U.S, Europe, Asia, South America and the South Pacific, Snatam Kaur performs at over 60 venues each year, from the Bahamas to Russia. One fan spoke for all when he admitted, "We come to Snatam's concerts to experience the beautiful atmosphere her voice creates, to heal and grow."
Dressed in distinctive Sikh garb, Snatam Kaur embodies the Sikh message of strength through inner serenity. Snatam plays the harmonium and violin, and along with her voice delivers a universal message of peace. Accompanied by Todd Boston, a gifted guitar player and musician, her band is an alchemy of eastern and western musical sounds. While traveling the world on tour she also teaches yoga and meditation to children and adults alike, as a part of her commitment to give people tools for a daily experience of inner peace.
She lives with her husband Sopurkh Singh and daughter Jap Preet Kaur in Santa Cruz, California.
For more information about Snatam Kaur's music, tour dates, and mission of peace, please visit www.SnatamKaur.com.
Notes from the Road
Kirtan Sohila: The Golden Gift of Peaceful SleepBy Snatam Kaur Khalsa Posted July 26, 2012
Because Kirtan Sohila is recited before going to sleep it can work at a very deep level and set the vibration not only for your... Read »
What I Know about the Aquarian SadhanaBy Snatam Kaur Khalsa Posted May 4, 2012
The following is what I know and have experienced personally from these chants. I hope that you enjoy reading this and that it in... Read »
Sunrise Chanting at Summer SolsticeBy Snatam Kaur Khalsa Posted April 6, 2012
By Snatam Kaur: "Then it was only in the morning as we sat chanting with over a thousand yogis with the sun rising above us that... Read »
Snatam's Oprah StoryBy Snatam Kaur Khalsa Posted March 23, 2012
By Snatam Kaur: "At 5:45 pm we found ourselves on the second floor of Oprah's house hiding in a room, and were asked to come down... Read »
I was Not Chanting, I was the ChantBy Snatam Kaur Khalsa Posted March 2, 2012
"That is the moment when I went completely into the chanting. I was not chanting, I was the chant." Read »
Snatam to record Khalsa Youth Camp's Greatest HitsBy Snatam Kaur Khalsa Posted December 13, 2011
"It is so incredible because the children just own the space. They are singing with full gusto. You feel their hearts, you feel... Read »
Snatam Kaur Sings in GermanyBy Snatam Kaur Khalsa Posted October 18, 2011
Snatam Kaur writes from Germany about her Celebrate Peace World tour. She chants Chattr Chakkra Vaartee, a chant by Guru Gobind... Read »


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- Applying to the Law School
- Full–Time and Part–Time Programs
- Entering Class Profile
- Minority Student Program
- Financial Aid Overview
- Paying for Law School
- Admitted Students
Contact Nicky Fornarotto in the financial aid office, Room 229, at 973-353-1702 or email@example.com
Rutgers University participates in the Federal Direct Student Loan Program. Under this program, federal student loans are disbursed directly from the U.S. Department of Education into the borrower's student account at the university. This eliminates the need for outside lenders, such as banks or other third-party providers. Students must either be U.S. citizens or permanent residents and must file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to access these loans. In addition, they must be enrolled at least half time per semester; not be in default on prior loans or owe refunds to a federal grant program; have a valid Social Security number; and register with the U.S. Selective Service Administration, if required. Rutgers Financial Aid Office will advise students of their eligibility for these loans in their financial aid package, and will assist in processing this funding.
The following loans are available through this program:
William D. Ford Federal Direct Subsidized Stafford Loan. This loan is based on financial need. The interest rate is fixed at 6.8 percent for loans disbursed after July 1, 2006. However the government subsidizes this loan and pays the interest while the student is attending school and for a 6 month grace period following graduation or dropping below half-time enrollment. An origination fee of 1% will be charged. Graduate students may borrow a maximum of $8,500 each year. Total Subsidized Stafford Loan debt may not exceed $65,500, including loans for undergraduate years. This loan is no longer available for graduate students as of the 2012-2013 academic year.
William D. Ford Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan. This loan is not based on need. All students who meet the eligibility requirements can receive this funding. The interest rate is fixed at 6.8%, and all interest charges must be paid by the student. Interest will begin to accrue as soon as the funds are disbursed. Students may elect to pay the monthly interest charges or to defer those payments until 6 months after graduation or dropping below half-time enrollment. An origination fee of 1% will be charged. Students may borrow up to $20,500 per year. The aggregate lifetime limit for Federal Direct Stafford Loans, including both subsidized and unsubsidized amounts, is $138,500 for a graduate or professional student (including loans for undergraduate study).
Federal Graduate PLUS Loan. The Federal Graduate PLUS Program is a low-interest loan made to law students enrolled at least half-time. Students may borrow up to the cost of attendance minus any other financial assistance. The interest rate is fixed at 7.9% through the Direct Lending Program and there is a 4% origination fee that will be deducted from the amount borrowed. Students will be granted an In School deferment. This loan will go into repayment nine months following graduation or dropping below half-time enrollment. Students with adverse credit or who have filed bankruptcy in the past may be denied.
Federal Perkins Loan. The Federal Perkins Loan is awarded to students who demonstrate the highest level of need through the FAFSA. The amount of the loan is contingent upon available funds. Interest at the rate of 5% begins nine months after graduation, or after the borrower ceases to be enrolled for a minimum of 6 credits per semester; repayment extends over a maximum period of 10 years. Deferment of repayment is permitted for certain kinds of federal service, and cancellation of loans is permitted for certain public service work. Due to federal funding cuts, Rutgers University does not currently offer Perkins Loans to graduate students.
Additional sources of loans are:
Private Educational Loan Programs. Private educational loans, or alternative educational loans, are available to bridge the gap between a student's financial aid award package and the university's stated cost of attendance. These loans are credit-based and must be certified by the university. Students should carefully consider the interest rates, loan fees, and terms of the program before selecting a private loan. Since these private loans depend on the credit-worthiness of the borrower and/or co-signer, students should know their credit score, and do everything possible to improve their score before applying. Students can obtain a free copy of their credit report at http://www.annualcreditreport.com/. Additional information is available at the law school, at all university financial aid offices, and online at https://studentaid.rutgers.edu/alc.aspx under "Private Loans."
Law School Emergency Loan. Students experiencing unexpected financial difficulties may request assistance through the law school's short-term emergency loan. This loan is interest-free, but must be repaid within 90 days. Loans must be certified by the law school's coordinator of financial aid, and are subject to the availability of funds.
University Emergency Loans. Students who are experiencing a financial emergency may apply for a university loan of up to $500. The interest rate is 3 percent, and the loan must be repaid within the same semester. Emergency need must be demonstrated and funds must be available.