text:
Are dreidels muktzah?
Sign up
- Anybody can ask a question
- Anybody can answer
- The best answers are voted up and rise to the top
Shemiras Shabbas Kehilchasah (16:32) says that "it is best to refrain" from playing games on Shabbos in which there is something to be gained or lost, and includes dreidel-playing in that category.
In the notes to the Hebrew edition, he references Rema's notes to Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 338:5 (where indeed he prohibits games involving winning something of value). Though Rema there goes on to say that "it is not necessary to protest against women or children [who play such games on Shabbos], since it's better for them to be doing so unknowingly rather than as a deliberate violation." So conceivably, especially when children commonly play with dreidels just for the fun of spinning them rather than for any stakes, then SSK's rationale might not apply.
Why do you think they would be? Unless you were to view them as a tool for gambling and therefore a kli shemelachto l'issur (quite a stretch, in my opinion), I see no reason they should be muktzah.
As has been noted, the Rama in Orach Chaim 338:5 reserves his restrictions on games to when thy are played for (financial) gain, and even then suggests one not correct women and children who do lest they come to transgress willingly. Chess and other similar games are allowed according to this opinion.
However the Mishneh Berurah 338:21 cites authorities who prohibit such game on Shabbos even if there is no gambling involved, and indeed they prohibit them during the week as well because of Moshav Leitzim. It seems that many/most are accustomed to be lenient about such games in general and even on Shabbos (so one should certainly consult their Rav before tossing such games out).
Dreidels are certainly associated with "playing for gain" so (as noted in the Shemiras Shabbos K'hilchos 16:32 cited by Alex) it is appropriate to refrain from playing them even according to the Rama. Since many often play without any real "playing for gain" perhaps there is room for leniency.
The question is whether or not a dreidel is muktzeh, however:
Therefore we are primarily concerned with whether or not it is a kli shemelachto l'issur, a utensil of prohibited use. This is why the opinions which would prohibit playing it on Shabbos are signficant.
Nevertheless, playing dreidel is primarily associated with children (see Nitei Gavriel, Channukah 51:1), and as such it is essentially a toy, and probably in the category that children of chinuch age are allowed to play (see Muktzeh, a Practical Guide by Rabbi Simcha Bunim Cohen, page 145-14. As such, while adults should not play such games/toys, they are not muktzeh. This is the thrust of the p'sak from the Igros Moshe cited in Gershon Gold's answer that "dice" and so forth are not muktzeh since they are intended for children to play with (Iggros Moshe O.C.5 22:10).
According to shtaygen.co.il, citing Sefer Luach Muktza Hashalem, a regular dreidel is permitted, but ones that light, make music, or draw aren't.


text:
UPDATE: Manatee runaway returns home
Published: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at 12:26 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at 3:15 p.m.
MANATEE COUNTY - Jacy Marx, the Palmetto 16-year-old, returned home unharmed on Tuesday, according to a news release from the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.
The Sheriff's Office provided no further information.
EARLIER: A 16-year-old girl has been reported missing and is believed to be endangered, says the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.
Jacy D. Marx was last seen in the 11000 block of 82nd St. East, Palmetto, according to a news release.
Deputies responded this morning to a reported runaway.
She is described as 5 feet 4 inches tall, with black hair and brown eyes. She was wearing several bracelets, although the sheriff's office had no further descriptive information about her dress.
Deputies searched the neighborhood and contacted her friends but were unable to locate her. The Manatee County Sheriff' Office is asking that anyone with information on her whereabouts call 941-747-3011.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
22 Dec 2012 6:39 AM #1
Are there examples, samples of projects ?
Hi! Are there examples, samples of projects ? Particularly I am interested in projects with videos, photos, audio.
Best Regards, Alexander
2 Jan 2013 9:44 AM #2
2 Jan 2013 9:58 AM #3
2 Jan 2013 10:00 AM #4
Hi! Thanks for your response!
I looked at your examples, including sample http://dev.sencha.com/animator/demos/cogs/, but they only work in the browser Google Chrome. In Mozilla Firefox does not work, and in Internet explorer shows an error loading.
Happy New Year!
2 Jan 2013 10:00 AM #5
Some of the demos might be webkit specific. Some of them will work on firefox. IE is not yet supported.
When exporting from Animator one can select if you want Firefox support.


text:
Eriksson: Ibrahimovic and Mourinho combo enough to win Premier League
Big things are expected of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who swapped Paris Saint-Germain for Manchester United as a free agent at the start of July. More »Omnisport - 5 hours ago
Championship: Italy legend Zenga appointed Wolves boss
Championship club Wolves have announced that Walter Zenga will take up the role of head coach on Monday. More »Omnisport - 2 hours 22 minutes ago
Picture this: England's record in major tournaments since 1966
It's exactly 50 years since England won the World Cup - their one and only major trophy - and Yahoo Sport looks back over the catalogue of failure since 1966. There have been 22 tournaments since July 30 1966, and England have qualified for 17 of them. Their record in that time is Played 70, Won 28, Drawn 18, Lost 24, Goals For 89, Goals Against 64.Fri, Jul 29, 2016 11:51 BST
We 'sat out' the 1974, 1978 and 1994 World Cups, and 'boycotted' the 1984 and 2008 Euros... More »
La Liga Leaks: Scouting for Everton special
Senor Rumor Andrew Gaffney on who Everton should look to snap up from the Spanish top flight More »Andrew Gaffney - 15 hours ago
La Liga: Atletico set to sign Gameiro
Kevin Gameiro will travel to Madrid on Saturday to undergo a medical ahead of a move from Sevilla to Atletico Madrid. More »Omnisport - 1 hour 53 minutes ago


text:
LittleBigPlanet Karting
Join Sackboy and Sackgirl on the starting grid for a new kart racing adventure coming soon to PlayStation 3. Fire up your engines, jump behind the steering wheel and take on your friends and foes in breathtakingly unpredictable battles through an ever-changing world of content.
If you're stuck in LittleBigPlanet Karting, ask your fellow GameFAQs members for help.
Game List Statistics
Now Playing
9 Users
Wish List
34 Users
Hot List
8 Users


text:
I am trying to understand how firewall works in linux... I have read documentation but i am not sure about some things....
Netfilters is included in the modern kernels which allows you using hooks to monitor packages without changing their content.
Iptables they say that it is a software that uses netfilter and ip_tables module maybe..
My questions are....
- Does IPTables userspace software register any hook ?
- What does ip_table module do?
- Who does the processing iptables or the module ?
- What things IPtable do ?(Just manages the rules in memory?? or it has hooks and proccesses the traffic?)?


text:
We work with the leaders in online security to ensure your personal information is safe.
Oxfam is a member of the Fundraising Standards Board.
Over the phone
By credit or debit card on 0300 200 1300
By post
By cheque (payable to Oxfam) to Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Oxford, OX4 2JY
In person
By any method (including cash) over the counter at any Oxfam shop
There is a small chance that we will raise more than we need for this project. If this happens your gift will be used wherever in the world the need is greatest.


text:
Russell-Silver syndrome
- Silver-Russell syndrome
- Silver-Russell dwarfism
Your QuestionAre there any other diseases with the same symptoms as Duchenne muscular dystrophy? Can Silver-Russell syndrome mimic muscular dystrophy?
Our Answer
We have identified the following information that we hope you find helpful. If you still have questions, please contact us.
Questions on this page
What conditions are part of the differential diagnosis for Duchenne muscular dystrophy?
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a type of dystrophinopathy, which is a group of muscle diseases caused by mutations in the DMD gene, which encodes the protein dystrophin; the other dystrophinopathies are Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) and DMD-associated dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).[3] Although these disorders are caused by mutations in the same gene, they do differ with regard to age of onset, course and pace of progression, symptoms, and life expectancy. DMD and BMD primarily affect the skeletal muscles, while DCM primarily affects the heart.[3]
Conditions that may be part of the differential diagnosis of the dystrophinopathies include:
- Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD): a group of disorders that are similar to DMD but occur in both sexes as a result of autosomal recessive and autosomal dominant inheritance. LGMD type 2I has symptoms that resemble DMD and/or BMD and is caused by mutations in the FKRP gene.
- Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD): characterized by joint contractures that begin in early childhood, slowly progressive muscle weakness and wasting that follows a specific distribution pattern over time, and cardiac (heart) involvement that may include palpitations, presyncope (feeling of faintness) and syncope (fainting), poor exercise tolerance, and congestive heart failure. Age of onset, severity, and progression of the muscle and cardiac involvement are variable. The two genes known to be associated with EDMD are EMD (X-linked EDMD) and LMNA (autosomal dominant EDMD and autosomal recessive EDMD).
- Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA): suspected in individuals with poor muscle tone, symmetric muscle weakness that does not affect the face and ocular (eye) muscles, and evidence of anterior horn cell involvement (a motor neuron in the spinal cord), including muscle twitches of the tongue and absence of deep tendon reflexes. SMA is caused by mutations in the SMN1 gene. Inheritance is autosomal recessive.
- Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM): can be familial or non-familial. Familial DCM can have autosomal dominant, autosomal recessive, or X-linked inheritance.[3]
Can Russell-Silver syndrome mimic muscular dystrophy?
- NINDS Muscular Dystrophy Information Page. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. 2016; http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/md/md.htm.
- Do TT. Muscular Dystrophy. Mescape Reference. 2015:http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1259041-overview#a0104.
- Basil T Darras, Bruce R Korf, David K Urion. Dystrophinopathies. GeneReviews. March 21, 2008; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK1119/#dbmd.Differential_Diagnos. Accessed 2/16/2011.
- Russell-Silver Syndrome. Genetics Home Reference. April 2008; http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/russell-silver-syndrome. Accessed 2/16/2011.
- Howard M Saal. Russell-Silver Syndrome. GeneReviews. March 9, 2007; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK1324/#rss.Differential_Diagnos. Accessed 2/16/2011.
- Silver-Russell syndrome
- Silver-Russell dwarfism


text:
Chicago Landmarks
10 of 12
Tribune Tower
The Neo-Gothic Tribune Tower is home to the Chicago Tribune. The tower was designed by John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood, who won the Tribune's international design competition in 1922. A vast collection of stones from sites around the world are set in the limestone foundation of the building's tower.
Fun Fact: Carvings of Robin Hood and a howling dog around the three-story entrance to the Tribune Tower commemorate the architects, Howell and Hood.
Photo source: Carol M. Highsmith
Provided by Infoplease—an authoritative, comprehensive reference website that offers an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas, and several almanacs. Visit Infoplease.com to find more resources endorsed by teachers and librarians.


text:
Addresses an important social issue through an interdisciplinary perspective, continues to build creative and critical skills, and focuses on the relationship between the individual and society.
We play as much as we work, but rarely do we think about play. Why do we play? How do we play? What are the meanings we attach to play, and how does play fit with the rest of what we do as humans? In this class we will explore the question of play. Starting with an investigation of the relation between play and work (and what this reveals about the mind), this class will look at play in a variety of forms: from joking , games, comedy, children's play, horseplay, fantasy, and on through organized sports, play is an everyday activity inseparable from what it is to be human.
This course will explore the question of where to locate the line between the human animal and non-human animal species. How intelligent are animals? How is their consciousness different from our own? Western scientific and philosophic traditions have defined "animal" to emphasize the differences between "higher" human and "lower" non-human species. Recent empirical research in animal behavior and paleontology, however, consistently challenges the assumption of a stark divide between humans and non-human animals. We'll learn about what scientists refer to as "theory of mind"; consider indigenous and traditional peoples' views of animals; investigate how artists and poets depict animals; explore current evolutionary theory and recent research in animal tool and language use; love and affection, and human-animal co-evolution and ESP. The class will also feature at least one visit by an 8-year-old Australian Cattle Dog named Lily. Classes will be built around daily discussions and activities both inside and outside the classroom, experiential learning, and a variety of writing assignments leading to the final term paper. Readings and other texts will range from poetry to scientific journal articles, paintings, and documentary films. The class will feature at least one visit by a clever and well-socialized 11-year-old Australian Cattle Dog named Lily.
August of 2005 will long be remembered for the largest natural disaster in the nation's history, Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans and numerous other areas of the Deep South continue to attempt recovery from this tragic storm. But how will the aftermath of this event be remembered? Was it a national failure by an ill-equipped emergency system? Was it a demonstration of institutional oppression in action? What about the clean up process? Who was contracted by the federal government and who performed the dangerous and dirty labor of rebuilding? What areas were cleaned up and what areas left in a state of complete destruction? How has the demographic of the Deep South been changed forever by this event? This course will examine the complex systemic failures and institutional oppressions revealed by this national disaster. Through an examination of multiple perspectives on the event students will gain a greater understanding of the multilayered crisis, conflict and the tensions brought to national attention by this tragedy.
Being a good researcher and writer is an integral part of being an effective filmmaker, media critic, and/or scholar. In this course we will focus on strengthening our research and writing skills in a variety of ways using the cinema as our focus. We will be expressing our knowledge through written essays and screenplays. Ultimately, we will tie scriptwriting and scholarship together by incorporating aspects of Classic Hollywood Narrative Structure into more traditional scholarly essays. This class is open to all levels of cineastes: from casual movie goers to serious cinephiles.
This course serves as a comprehensive introduction to the world's most popular religions. Here we will study the basic tenets of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Taoism and Confucianism. We will also discuss new developments in religion through movements such as Wicca, Santeria and other New Age religions. Our focus in studying religions in a comparative aspect will be to study the historical, social, cultural and political circumstances that led to the rise of each religion and understand their interaction with existing spiritual practices at that time. We will attempt to outline the basics of each religion, its spiritual practices, its relationship with divinity, rituals and beliefs and values that form the basis of each faith. While this course serves as a broad survey of each religion, we will also focus on understanding religion as a concept from a non-dominant, non-Western perspective. We will use illustrations from diverse faith-practices in the world to discover how, for example, Christianity functions as a minority religion in India or Egypt; or how the history of migration has endowed Judaism with certain religious practices. Our aim, in this course is to understand not only the basics of each religion we study but also how they interact and influence each other. The course will incorporate an important research element through ethnographic discovery of various religions, which will allow students to engage in site-visits, interviews, surveys etc. to understand religions unfamiliar to them. Most importantly the aim of this course is to trace the values of each religion that affect our daily lives. Through such a process we seek to understand how religion continues to influence the mundane aspects of culture, politics, spirituality and human values.
Addresses an important social issue through an interdisciplinary perspective; builds creative and critical skills of writing, analysis, and quantitative reasoning; and explores, through scientific methods, one aspect of the natural world.
This course will include a general overview of the greenhouse effect, carbon footprinting, sustainability, and the debate about anthropogenic climate change. We will cover scientific facts about global warming and the methods used to arrive at those conclusions. We will also touch on the climate policy challenges we face in an increasingly modernizing world.
This course explores both the physical and social dimensions of the Earth's water resources, with a focus on the role of water in the development and growth of the western United States. Ensuring safe and sustainable water resources requires not only a firm understanding of the physical-chemical characteristics of water, but also of its social and economic importance. This interdisciplinary course will look at water and the many places it touches our lives, including the unique properties and importance of water for human life and ecosystem function and the ways we use, abuse, revere, ignore and fight over water in human societies. The class will cover the intersections among our scientific understanding of water, our technological developments in controlling water, and our cultural attitudes and subsequent behavior toward this elemental resource. We will focus on case studies of a variety of environmental and human health problems resulting from human impacts on water resources, including power generation on the Columbia River and sewage disposal in Lake Washington, and contextualize them both in terms of their physical, chemical, and biological underpinnings and in terms of the societal needs and pressures that arise from the use of these water resources. Additional topics include floods, droughts, domestic water supply, dams and dam removal, habitat degradation, and climate change. Field studies of local streams and lakes will be used to introduce hydrological field methods and to illustrate fundamental principles and phenomena.
The course title is "Chemistry and Cars". We will cover practical chemistry related to cars- metallurgy and plastics, combustion, exhaust and pollution, fluids, friction, batteries, and more. In addition, we will discuss larger issues related to chemistry and transportation such as waste, recycling, mining and production, and social impacts of our car-centered society.
The course relies heavily on applications of chemistry, critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation of information and data. We will focus on academic research and research writing. This includes source topic selection, source evaluation and selection, and organization. We will cover this explicitly and you will practice it by writing a research paper and scientific paper based on experimental work.
There will be a significant reading and writing component to the class. You will also create, interpret, and apply numerical reasoning in the form of tables and graphs. Mathematics will be limited to basic calculations (averages and basic mathematics).
Engineering is the art and science of making useful things. More than that, it is turning ideas into reality, solving problems, making the best of the resources at one's disposal, and using human ingenuity to ease suffering and further well-being. Above all, it is a way of thinking, a frame of mind rooted in curiosity about how things work. This class introduces students to the practice of engineering, to what it's like to be and think like an engineer. It is geared for students who are considering a major in engineering, and who wish to learn more about it before making a commitment. Also welcome are students interested in exploring science and mathematics from the engineering perspective, and those wishing to engage the challenge of harnessing the work of the engineer to build socially just, democratic, and sustainable communities. These themes will be addressed through readings and problem-solving activities that introduce the mathematical tools and scientific concepts common to all engineering disciplines, develop ethical perspectives, and foster sensitivity to the environment and human needs in engineering design and deployment of new technologies.
Examines an important social issue such as ecology, art, political change, the power of media, educational reform, or the role of science in contemporary culture through interdisciplinary investigation and the lens of the visual, literary, and performing arts.
This course explores digital participatory media (Web 2.0) as socioeconomic and cultural phenomena that are being shaped by (mostly young) people and subcultures. Case studies of social media convergences in diverse cultural communities such as YouTube, Facebook, videogames, and Arab revolutionaries will be researched and critiqued. Students will learn to collaboratively and individually analyze, discuss, critique, and write about new interactive media forms, networks, and systems, and gain an understanding of the potential future trajectories of the expanding media environment.
n this class we will be exploring different types of performance as it relates to the development and presentation of research. Through readings, experiential activities, guest workshops, screenings and off-campus outings we will learn about different modes of contemporary performance ranging from spoken word, performance art, modern dance, and community-based performance. We will then use these modes as forms of investigation and research in the creation of original performance material to be shared with the class. Students will be expected to work collaboratively and independently in exploring these diverse modes of performance as well as reflect on their learning and personal exploration. Additionally, students will be expected to see at least one performance outside of class over the quarter to be mutually determined by professor and student.
Science Fiction (SF) has long served as a medium for imagining alternative worlds that invite us to think critically about our own, real world, and how we come to "know" it. This course will proceed along two parallel tracks. Firstly, students will get to know the SF genre directly by reading and viewing, in pairs, both printed SF texts and the films based upon them. Secondly, interspersed alongside those texts, we will read popular and scholarly writing about the distinctive characteristics of SF (as opposed to other kinds of literature) and how it works both as cultural critique, and as a "thought experiment" for how we produce knowledge. Taken as a whole, the course invites students to explore the relationship between this popular cultural form, which is mainly consumed as entertainment, and the philosophical and political issues that it engages with. The course will be organized around side-by-side pairings of printed texts with their film adaptations, in order to spark discussion about how the different forms of representation affect the reader/viewer's experience of the material. Possible text-film pairings include Frankenstein (including scenes from both the 1931 and 1994 film versions); A Scanner Darkly; and V for Vendetta (here, the print text is a graphic novel), though others may end up on the syllabus instead. Critical texts will engage ongoing debates about the SF genre, film studies, and the tension between popular vs. academic SF studies.
This course examines photography as a contemporary art form and its influences from other mediums. Students will develop technical photographic skills, learn about contemporary photographers, and research influences from art history, and build a photographic portfolio.
This course reintroduces you to the UWB student support services and the library, ensures your continued work on your e-portfolios, and includes a small undergraduate-level research element. It uses "Asian Cinema" as a concrete object of study in order to direct you towards achieving the above goals. The course focuses on Asian cinema from an interdisciplinary perspective and exposes you to a variety of emerging dynamic films being made in this vast geographical region of the world. You will study the cinemas of Central Asia, Hong Kong, China, Korea, South Asia, Japan, Southeast Asia, Asian Australia, as well as the Middle East. You will look at the various forms and genres of this cinema ranging from fantasy fiction, horror, comedy, drama, political, and anime. And finally you will use your knowledge of film language and theory to critically analyze films.
Entitled Crime & Punishment: Justice in Literature, Religion, and Philosophy, the 117E section of DCII guides students in examining the problems of justice and moral dilemmas across a wide historical range from ancient times to the present. How do we define justice, and from whose point of view? How does it relate to ideas of crime and punishment? To respond to these questions, we are going to broadly survey various texts and several rival theories of justice.
In Unit 1, we are going to draw a dynamic connection between the legal and moral dimensions of justice, in different cultural traditions. Themes include Ideas of Law and Moral Edicts; Mercy & Punishment; Forgiveness and Reflection. Readings include selections from The Bible and Plato's The Republic.
Unit 2 is on Moral Reasoning and Theories of Justice. The central guide is Michael J. Sandel's book, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
Unit 3 is on Consequences and Complexities with an emphasis on the importance of imaginative literature and imaginative empathy. Two plays are juxtaposed for critical examination: Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and Shakespeare's Hamlet. Additional readings include selected poems from some prominent poets.
While going outbound to identify sources of injustice out there in the world, this course also steers students' critical attention to the role of imaginative empathy and inward self-critique, a fundamental feature that distinguishes this class. What is especially revealing is the transformative nature of seeking justice as exemplified in the two plays.
Music in Everyday life (Winter 2013): Scholars of music tend to focus on one of two broad areas: either close readings of musical works or studies of the cultures from which these works emerged. Both approaches "center" the musical object and relegate personal encounters with that work to the periphery. Few scholars have studied the ways in which communities and individuals use music in their daily lives. Through readings from the scholarly literature, discussion, and self reflection, this class will attempt to shed light on how music structures our lives and influences our behavior. Simultaneously, we will consider how our daily lives shape our understanding of music. We will consider topics such as workout music, elevator music and Muzak, music in retail establishments, iPod culture, ringtones, and general music listening habits. A semester-long journal project will provide students with an opportunity to study their own individual listening habits.
In this class, we will get better at thinking about, talking about, writing about, and playing music. We will take some time to focus on some particularly philosophical issues connected to music, including: What IS music? What is the connection between music and emotion? What is the value of music? We will primarily learn by doing. We will learn how to be more sophisticated and articulate in our thinking and writing about music by doing a lot of writing about it, mostly in the form of music reviews. We will learn how to play music and make philosophy by creating them as we go. One needn't have any particular musical or philosophical talent, just the willingness to give music, thinking, and writing a try.
© University of Washington Bothell Privacy | Terms


text:
The Community group contains problems contributed by Cody players. All other groups contain problems created by the Cody administrator.
MATLAB and Simulink resources for Arduino, LEGO, and Raspberry Pi testLearn more
Opportunities for recent engineering grads.Apply Today
New to MATLAB?Learn MATLAB today!
Search Problems
This problem is locked. You need to solve more problems from Cody Challenge group to unlock it.


text:
Addison® Collection
Addison's graceful curves provide a delicate beauty that adds a romantic touch to the kitchen.
Addison's graceful curves provide a delicate beauty that adds a romantic touch to the kitchen.
It doesn't matter if you have two full hands or 10 messy fingers, tap the touch faucet anywhere on the spout or handle, and the water is running.
A toggle on a Multi-Flow™ wand increases the stream to more quickly fill the sink or pots and vases.
Delta's exclusive DIAMOND™ Seal Technology uses a valve with a tough diamond coating to bring you a faucet built to last up to 5 million uses.
MagnaTite® docking keeps the kitchen pull-down spray wand firmly docked when not in use. A gentle tug releases the wand to give you complete flexibility.
Water efficient products in the bathroom and kitchen help you conserve water by providing a lower flow rate.
Only Delta faucets are equipped with Touch-Clean® soft, rubber nubbins that allow you to easily wipe away calcium and lime build-up with the touch of a finger.


text:
Cited: Anthony J. Tacozza Jr., 63, 225 Rockdale Road, Follansbee, speeding; Nathan D. Koust, 25, 389 county Road 12, Adena, speeding, driving with suspended license and no seat belt; Chriselda D. Delapena, 23, 43 McAlester Lane, Weirton, no seat belt; Leslie A. Canterbury, 37, 137 Lincoln Place, Follansbee, speeding and expired plates; and Tilal Johnson, 18, 702 Rosswell Ave., littering.
Arrested: Stacy Antill, 41, 507 Lincoln Blvd., bench warrant out of municipal court, Thursday.
Arrested: Jessica Greathouse, 31, 70 S. Byron Drive, Wintersville, possession of heroin, possession of drug abuse instrument and falsification, Thursday.
Arrested: Laquwala Kelly-Grant, 32, 725 Brady Ave., bench warrant out of municipal court, Thursday.
Arrested: Betty Turner, 50, Apartment 410, 180 N. Fourth St., bench warrant out of municipal court, Thursday.
Jefferson County
Break-in: House in the 100 block of Church Street, Rayland, broken into between Tuesday and Wednesday and jewelry and money taken.
Brooke County sheriff
Arrested: Ronald A. Yaussy, 860 Neville St., Follansbee, violation of a protective order, Tuesday.
Arrested: Richard C. Bauduin, 47, 166 Pot Rock Road, Wellsburg, brandishing a weapon, Wednesday.
Arrested: Desmond D. Pizer, 20, 228 Reeves Drive, Wellsburg, destruction of property, Thursday.


text:
The 6 Greatest Acts of Trolling in the History of Science
Science, we assume, involves stuffed-shirt intellectuals engaged in the noble pursuit of knowledge and discovery. And we tend to think of "trolls" as basement-dwelling hate machines who enjoy antagonistic lunacy as its own reward. You would think there wouldn't be much overlap between these two groups. You would be wrong.
Science has seen some epic trolling over the years, so much so that it at times makes 4chan look like a chamber of reasoned discourse.
#6. Johann Beringer Gets Trolled by Fake Fossils
In the early 18th century, giant-ass dinosaur bones and other fossils were being dug up all over the place, but people had no idea where the hell they came from. Religion still had a firm grip on the scientific community, so the notion that the fossils could belong to a species of animal that had since become extinct was rejected by many, and even considered blasphemous, since God would never allow any of his creations to simply die out. Some people even argued that God had buried the bones himself to test their faith, because rationality occasionally hangs by a very fine thread.
"What an odd shape the sand sometimes takes, huh?"
A particularly vocal supporter of this theory was Johann Beringer, the head of the natural history department of the University of Wurzburg in Germany. He was firmly convinced that all fossils were "hidden by the Author of Nature for his own pleasure," although a fair elaboration of what that "pleasure" might have been was never fully provided. And honestly, we don't understand why someone so devoutly religious would be so firmly adherent to the idea that God threw a bunch of bones down to Earth just to screw with people, because it sure makes the Almighty sound like a giant douchemungus.
Anyway, two colleagues of Beringer, J. Ignatz Roderick and Georg von Eckhart, decided they actually would carve strange fake fossils and bury them to screw with Beringer. Instead of calling bullshit the second he saw the obvious (we cannot stress that word enough) forgeries, Beringer couldn't believe his luck. Figuring he had won the fossil lottery (that's a thing, right?), he scooped them up and tossed them into his fossil sack (that's a thing, right?) to carry them home for further analysis. Heartened by this (a phrase here meaning "laughing their scientific dicks off"), Roderick and Eckhart made even more fossils for Beringer to find. These new ones were engraved with Syrian, Hebrew, and Babylonian inscriptions, including one engraved with the word "Jehovah," the Hebrew name for God.
"There's another one over here!"
Astonishingly, Beringer ate the whole thing up. He published a book cataloging his amazing finds in which he actually wrote that the fossils were "so exactly fitted to the dimensions of the stones, that one would swear that they are the work of a very meticulous sculptor." Even when Roderick and Eckhart tried to tell him they'd tricked him (their sides having been sufficiently split by joyous guffaws), he refused to believe them. Instead, Beringer accused them of trying to shake his faith and block the publication of his work.
It wasn't until after publishing his Lithographiae Wirceburgensis, when Beringer found yet another miraculous fossil with his own goddamn name on it, that he finally accepted that he'd been bamboozled. He spent the next few years in a legal battle with Roderick and Eckhart (who, in their defense, had tried to tell him), while simultaneously trying to buy up all the copies of his book to save his reputation. Bizarrely, it was Eckhart and Roderick who were disgraced for perpetrating the hoax, while Beringer kept his job and wrote several more books despite being a demonstrably terrible scientist.
These are some of the actual stones, displayed at Teylers Museum in Haarlem, Netherlands.
#5. Electricity Turns Everyone into Trolls
Before the 18th century, we had a tough time wrapping our minds around electricity (things like lightning were best described as "Zeus' space magic" and went no further than that). However, once electricity was better understood and batteries were finally constructed in the form of Leyden jars, one of the first practical applications people discovered for this newly harnessed energy was using it to shock the balls out of each other.
"There is no possible better use for this technology."
One of electricity's inaugural trollings was accomplished by Jean-Antoine Nollet, who had the Royal Guards of Louis XV line up while holding a length of wire between them for a demonstration to the royal court of France (the word "demonstration" here meaning "he electro-blasted the urine from their bladders"). Later, he repeated the "experiment" with 200 French monks, who lined up just like the Royal Guards and had their vows of silence zapped out of them. In neither case did he bother to explain to his volunteers what exactly he was about to do to them, presumably leaving it at "Stand here and hold this. Get ready for science."
Not to be outdone by the French, German physicist George Bose hosted parties where he would rig a beautiful young girl with a charge and then invite men to kiss her, giving them a shock that almost "knocked their teeth out." This setup apparently worked often enough, despite easily being the most suspicious thing of all time.
Evidently they were too blinded by boner fatigue to notice him hand-cranking an alternator.
Benjamin Franklin eventually got involved, because back then there was pretty much nothing that escaped his attention. Franklin focused on how electricity could be used for the betterment of society, which is another way of saying "the betterment of Ben Franklin's afternoons." One of his first antics was to electrify his front gate, presumably to confuse and terrify neighborhood children while he watched from the foyer and laughed his ass off. He then proceeded to electrify everything in his house, including metal spiders (for some reason), floor panels, and the wine glasses of dinner guests, burning their lips with white-hot electricity if they tried to take a sip. He even rigged the crown on a portrait of King George to give anyone touching it a "high-treason shock," because hijinks are the apogee of science.
His enthusiasm spread to fellow Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, who purchased a small Leyden jar that he could hide in his pocket to shock anyone who touched him, because apparently the impending revolution wasn't quite enough to occupy these gentlemen's time.
"Hey. Hey, Ben. Take this paper from me. Seriously, it's super important. Ben. Hey, Ben."
#4. Sir Richard Owen Trolls His Rival's Death
Sure, Sir Richard Owen once got into a bitter flame war with Charles Darwin that seriously devalued the discussion of evolution as a legitimate theory and brought about his own professional ruin. But that's not what makes him one of the greatest trolls science has ever seen.
Sir Richard Owen was a scientist who pioneered the field of paleontology by plagiarizing the work of a colleague named Gideon Mantell, then used his clout to crush Mantell, leaving the man to die poor, crippled, and unrecognized. And after Mantell was dead, Owen only stepped up his campaign.
Holy shit, that's Scrooge!
First, Mantell's obituary was written by Owen himself (under a pseudonym) and predictably boiled down to "Ha ha, look at this dead asshole." Then, Mantell's spine was placed in a museum for scientific study. He had badly broken his back years earlier in a carriage accident, and his lower vertebrae had twisted and fused back into place in a manner that can only be described as "tit-blastingly wrong." And who should be in charge of the museum that took control of Mantell's mutant spinal column? None other than Sir Richard "I shit on your grave" Owen, who immediately seized this opportunity to skip the rope of dickitry across Mantell's already belittled legacy.
After stealing Mantell's life's work and diminishing his career to the level of "sparse Wikipedia entry," Owen took the spine and had it pickled in a jar to demonstrate "the severest degree of deformity," where it was placed on display alongside other "monstrosities," presumably on a shelf labeled "TROLLOLOLOL."
"This is nothing compared to the size of the bone I gave your mother. I fucking dare you to haunt me."
Owen died in 1892, but as one final "kiss my ass" from beyond the grave, Mantell's spine was unceremoniously tossed in the garbage in the 1970s when the museum cleared out a bunch of old bullshit that nobody cared about anymore.


text:
Europe and the US: The Next Four Years
BAIA - Business Association Italy America
Tuesday, February 5, 2013 from 6:15 PM to 8:20 PM (PST)
Event Details
Learn from a panel of Consuls General about the economies in their respective countries and the challenges facing Europe and the transatlantic partnership today.
After three difficult years, Europe seems to have turned the corner on the severe economic crisis. The imminent breakup of the Euro now seems unlikely. Borrowing costs are decreasing, stock markets are improving, and a slow but steady stabilization of the region's banking system is underway.
However, robust economic growth remains far off – current forecasts put it at just 0.1 percent in 2013 for the 17-nation Eurozone. The European business community is hoping that President Obama's second term will bring the growth that European companies so urgently need to counteract dismal national economies.
Despite the rise of China as a trading partner, the U.S. remains the biggest market for European exports. Leadership discussions between the EU and the US over the next fours years will also include eliminating barriers to trans-Atlantic trade, committing to multilateralism, and negotiating a deal with Iran.
BAIA invites you to join the Consuls General of five major European countries for a discussion on the trans-Atlantic relationship in this critical economic and political juncture at this extraordinary event.
- Dana King, News Anchor at CBS 5 (moderator)
- The Honorable Mauro Battocchi, Consul General of Italy
- The Honorable Priya Guha, Consul General of Great Britain
- The Honorable Jorge Montealegre, Consul General of Spain
- The Honorable Peter Rothen, Consul General of Germany
- The Honorable Romain Serman, Consul General of France
- 6:15 – 7:15pm Registration and Refreshments
- 7:15 – 8:20pm Panel Discussion and Q&A
Grazia Bennett, Sotheby's International Realty
Squire Sanders, an International law firm with 37 offices in 18 countries
Bank of the West, a well-capitalized and prudently managed bank for over 135 years.
Learn how to become a Supporter or Sponsor at http://www.baia-network.org/membership
When & Where
Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP
26th Floor
275 Battery Street
San Francisco,
Tuesday, February 5, 2013 from 6:15 PM to 8:20 PM (PST)
Add to my calendar
BAIA - Business Association Italy America
BAIA is an independent, volunteer-based, non-profit association whose mission is to promote an open ecosystem linking the Italian business communities in California and Italy. BAIA serves and aggregates the community of Italian professionals, managers, and entrepreneurs operating in the Bay Area.


text:
Gov. Paul Patton has signed a death warrant for condemned killer Vincent Stopher to be put to death on July 9.
No execution is expected. Stopher has several avenues of appeal available, but has not obtained a stay of execution while his case is pending. Patton's office has adopted a policy of signing death warrants to move cases along.
Stopher killed Jefferson County deputy sheriff Gregory Hans on March 10, 1997. Hans was responding to a report of a domestic dispute. During a struggle, Stopher took Hans' service pistol and shot him to death.
Stopher's conviction and sentence were upheld by the Kentucky Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review it.
The Corrections Department lists 36 people on death row in Kentucky.
Kentucky has executed two inmates since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.


text:
ETSU inducts six into hall of fame
The ETSU Department of Intercollegiate Athletics honored six Buccaneer greats Sunday evening at the Millennium Center in Johnson City.
The 2013 inductees into the ETSU Athletics Hall of Fame included standouts such as basketball All-American Keith "Mister" Jennings, football standout and current Atlanta Falcons' head coach Mike Smith, former men's basketball head coach Ed DeChellis, 1992 Southern Conference player of the year in women's tennis Kim Toohey (Reid), distance running standout and four-time Southern Conference cross country champion Seamus Power, and longtime ETSU public address announcer Norm Davis.
"This was a great opportunity to celebrate ETSU athletics, while also recognizing these special Buccaneers that have enjoyed so much success both during their time on campus and in their professional lives after college," said ETSU Interim Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Richard Sander.
"These six inductees strove for excellence and they stand as examples to our current student-athletes."
Copyright © 2014 by WCYB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text:
BELLAIRE - It's been an eventful few weeks for the Bellaire Police Department.
First, there was the incident at Eastern Division Court when Sylvester Walker took off out of the courtroom and had to be apprehended after Belmont County Sheriff's Deputies shot out a tire to his intended getaway vehicle and chase him down near McMahon's Creek.
Then, someone took the time to spray paint graffiti all over the courthouse, with taunting messages aimed at both the judges and members of the police department.
However, during that span, the department and Police Chief Mike Kovalyk have had to deal with the issues of tires ... flat tires to be exact.
"Last week, we had 24 incidents of vehicles with damage to their tires," Kovalyk said. "They were punctured, slashed.
"We have some info, some leads we're checking into.
"A lot of damage was done and tires are not cheap."
Kovalyk noted that it's more than just an inconvenience.
What if a family member had an emergency, he asked, and rushed out to their vehicle, only to discover a flat tire.
It's a thoughtless crime, but one the chief admitted happens all too often.
"It's a crime we've had time and time again and not just in Bellaire. Other towns in the area have had the same problem," Kovalyk said.
"Some people just have no consideration for others."
Kovalyk noted that the slashings took place on Trumbull, Noble and Jefferson streets, among others. He asked if anyone saw the incidents or has any information to contact the police department.
"The good people of Bellaire have helped us in the past in solving crimes and we're asking them to do the same this time for these cases of vandalism."
When asked about the graffiti, Kovalyk stated that there are a few leads being check into and that the department is working with the Bureau of Criminal Investigations, along with division court personnel.
Video is being examined from the businesses surrounding the courthouse to see if the tagger or taggers in questions can be identified.
The department did receive kudos and thanks in the form of a letter addressed to department and village council from Bill Shubat, the director of the Belmont County Board of Elections.
Officers from the Bellaire Police Department assisted at the polls during the recent special primary election, along with one officer being stationed at the election board office in St. Clairsville.
"We thank you for all the help given to the office throughout the years," Shubat wrote in his correspondence.
Hughes may be reached at email@example.com


text:
Print this page
Product Reviews
Zig Zag Disc Paper Lantern
Kids' paper lantern. Decoration for kids' rooms made of sturdy paper. Display the paper lantern alone or add electrical cord (sold separately) for a gentle light. Intricate accordion design with a handmade touch. Bright zig zag pattern in multi colors. Lantern measures 22" diameter. Additional paper lantern designs available separately. Simple assembly is required. Imported. Our brightly-colored disc paper lantern with zig zag design is a bold and beautiful accent for any kid's bedroom, living room, patio or dining room. Designed with accordion folds, each circular kids' paper lantern is cut from sturdy paper with a touch of handmade style. The lantern can be displayed alone or in combination with other paper lanterns in our collection. Even better—add our electrical cord (sold separately) to light from within and give the lantern a warm and festive glow. Easy to hang. Simple assembly is required. Our circular paper lantern is fun and funky. Hang the lantern indoors or out (in a sheltered, dry area) to create a luminous focal point in even the most simple space.
Customer Reviews for
Zig Zag Disc Paper Lantern
This product has not yet been reviewed.
Click here
to continue to the product details page.


text:
Disability Sport - Outdoor Activities
Skiing & Uphill Ski Club
The club is based at the Ackers Dry Ski Slope and has adapted equipment and fully-qualified instructors to enable disabled people to learn to ski.
For further information contact:
The Ackers Trust
Goldern Hillock Road
Small Heath
Tel: 0121 772 5111
Fax: 0121 766 7870
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Website: www.ackers-adventure.co.uk
Birmingham Wheels Park
The park gives young people the chance to drive and ride motor vehicles and try other wheeled activities and sports safely, including roller skating, karting, skateboarding and cycling.
Dual-control cars are available and have been used verysuccessfullyby organisations working with visually-impaired people.
For more information contact:
Birmingham Wheels Park
Adderley Road South
Tel: 0121 771 0725
Fax: 0121 771 2167
Email: email@example.com
Website: www.birminghamwheelspark.org
RYA Sailability
RYA Sailability is a charity for disabled people wanting to sail or take part in boating activities. .
For your nearest club contact:
Martyn Collis
Tel: 07890 519 269
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Website: www.rya.org.uk/sailability
Riding for the Disabled Association
The Riding for the Disabled Association gives disabled people the chance to learn how to ride horses and/or carriage driving.
There are a number of riding venues across the West Midlands. To find one contact the Riding for the Disabled Association headquarters or visit their website:
Tel: 0845 658 1082
Website: www.riding-for-disabled.org.uk
Related Links
Disability Sport


text:
5 Myths That People Don't Realize Are Admitted Hoaxes
#3. The Priory of Sion
The Priory of Sion, a secret society founded by crusaders at Jerusalem's Mt. Zion, was pretty damn cool. Existing since the 11th century, it boasted members such as Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo and Master Splinter. The organization's goals were to restore the ancient Merovingian dynasty to the throne in France, and also to be hardcore secretive and have members that were so famous people would still recognize them 900 years later.
Really, the only uncool thing about the Priory of Sion was that it didn't exist.
In court in 1993, Pierre Plantard, a convicted con artist and Frenchman, confessed that he had created the organization in 1965 and named it after Mt. Sion near Annemasse, France, presumably as part of a pitch to ABC for a new prime time action series.
He went to extreme lengths to perpetuate his lie, hiring people to create medieval-looking documents and plant them in France's national library. Why? Well, there was no Society of Creative Anachronism back then and Star Trek didn't go on the air until 1966, so people had to make their own fun.
And Yet...
Nobody paid attention to Plantard's confession. The forgeries had, by this time, been picked up and repeated in a 1982 book called The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, whose authors were fooled by the fake documents planted in the French library.
They insisted that the Merovingians were related to Jesus himself, an idea in turn picked up by Dan Brown for his novel The Da Vinci Code. One inexplicable Tom Hanks haircut later and there was no turning back.
So Why Do They Still Believe?
This sort of thing has the same attraction as any good conspiracy theory: the "I am special because I have secret knowledge the common sheeple never will!" principle.
How better to impress your dull traditional friends than revealing to them the suppressed truth that will totally blow their closed suburban minds? And you only had to spend six bucks in an airport bookstore to get it!
And, like any conspiracy theory, it's difficult or impossible to disprove. After all, if you were a secret organization of the Priory's caliber, couldn't you just fake the fact that the documents were faked?
#2. The Fox Sisters
The other hoaxers here might have found themselves in over their heads, but at least they didn't accidentally create their own religion. Which is what happened to Margaret, Kate and Leah Fox from upstate New York in the 19th century.
The Fox Sisters rightfully made it onto our list of the ballsiest con artist ever. The story goes that when the two younger sisters, Kate and Margaret, were children and living at home in the mid-19th century, banging noises started in their bedroom at night. Like any good parent, their mother assumed the noise in her young girls' room was a ghost and not a sexual predator, so she communicated with the spirit by means of a code, who revealed that he was a man who had been murdered there and buried under the floor in the cellar.
Still, though, yikes. Bet that picture's the only time those chicks were ever nailed if you know what we're saying.
A search revealed no body, although one was eventually discovered in the walls more than 50 years later, leading us to wonder whether the banging was just some carpenter trying to get out.
The girls moved away after the haunting, but their reputation followed them. Under the direction of their sister Leah, they began holding seances in which they continued to communicate with the dead by means of rapping noises, and became hugely famous in the process.
Finally, on a specially booked stage at the New York Auditorium of Music in 1888, Margaret Fox confessed to the audience that she and her sisters produced the rapping noises themselves by cracking their knuckles and joints, which evidently in the dark sounds exactly like a ghost. Shunned by those around them after the admission, the girls drank themselves to death.
And Yet...
These famous (and completely faked) seances played a major part in the development of Spiritualism, an offshoot of Quakerism which believed in communication with the dead. It managed to gather over eight-million followers by the end of the 19th century, including Mary Todd Lincoln who held seances in the White House in an effort to communicate with her three dead sons.
So Why Do They Still Believe?
If you just read the sentence about Ms. Lincoln and her dead sons, you know the sad reason why people cling to something like this, no matter how ridiculous.
It's not enough to believe in life after death, people need to believe the dead are at peace and that we can reach out to them as if they were just at the other end of a phone call. After all, Ouija boards are portable in way that Black Mass altars just aren't.
"Dammit, it's going to take like two hours to pack this thing up."
As any cult can tell you, personal tragedy and depression leaves people open to believe basically anything. Besides, it's nice to think that if ghosts are around, they actually want to help rather than possess us, or fling plates at us, or fool us into giving them hitchhiking rides on lonely roads.
#1. Crop Circles
The phenomenon of those large circles of flattened crops mysteriously appearing in fields goes back to the 1970s, in Southern England. Soon it spread all over the world, with crop circles reported as far away as Australia, America and Japan. Various explanations were given, such as aliens, ball lightning and large-scale unregistered hootenannies.
Thousands of these crop circles were reported over the decades, gaining a massive following among UFO enthusiasts who worked tirelessly to try to decipher what was clearly messages from another world. After all, the perfect patterns could clearly not be replicated by, say, a couple of dumbasses in their spare time.
"Hey, Couple of Dumbasses. Good to meet you."
We're sure the ufology community's faces were red when, in 1991, pranksters Doug Bower and Dave Chorley from Southampton, England confessed to creating the original circles. They even demonstrated to journalists how they produced the perfect shapes by flattening them in the crops using planks and ropes, and crude surveying techniques.
The confession was prompted when Bower's wife noticed unexplained high mileage on his car and began to suspect him of having an affair, though Cracked feels that after learning the truth--that Bower was actually going out at night with another man to flatten hectares of wheat--she may actually have wished that adultery was to blame.
And Yet...
Bower and Chorley found themselves widely ignored. After all, they didn't confess to doing all the crop circles, right? Maybe they just started the prank and then real aliens came and joined in.
"Dude, we have got to get in on this."
Feverish study of the circles continued unabated, and M. Night Shyamalan even featured them in Signs, more than a decade later.
So Why Do They Still Believe?
As with the Fox Sisters and spiritualism, it goes beyond simply wanting to believe in invisible, transcendental beings. It's believing in such beings who also are 1) wise communicators who care enough about us to want to reach out and 2) are not particularly dangerous or even effective at what they do.
These aliens aren't blowing up the White House or shoving probes into Randy Quaid's ass. They're sneaking into our fields at night and quietly stamping down our wheat. The little guys are almost shy. Almost... afraid of us.
And really, isn't that what we're secretly hoping the universe turns out to be? A place full of intelligent aliens who care about us, but who immediately recognize that we can destroy them at any moment?
Read more from C. Coville at http://bloodslides.livejournal.com
For "hoaxes" that turned out to be true, check out The 5 Creepiest Urban Legends (That Happen to be True) and 6 MORE Creepy Urban Legends (That Happen to be True).
And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get dick jokes sent straight to your news feed.


text:
Weddings at Maho
weddings home | marry me for free | wedding reception packages | wedding venues | testimonials
Any wedding set on the beautiful island of St. Maarten is destined to be special. Combine this natural oasis with the services and location of the Sonesta Maho Beach and your wonderful day is certain to be perfect. Located throughout our ten acre ocean front location are numerous venues to host your nuptials, including the spectacular Wedding Gazebo overlooking the turquoise waters of St. Maarten.
MARRY ME FOR FREE! Say "I do" for free at our beautiful oceanfront resort. Book as few as 10 rooms for five nights or more at a group rate and receive a FREE destination wedding at Sonesta Maho Beach Resort. Suite upgrade for bride and groom, plated dinner, open bar, wedding cake and much more! Learn more »
WEDDING RECEPTION PACKAGES. Not staying at the resort or not booked directly through our wedding sales department? You are still welcome to host your wedding ceremony and reception at our resort. View available wedding packages here. These packages are also available as upgrades for the free wedding package. Learn more »
For more information, contact our Wedding Sales Coordinator. Call (800) 223-0757 or email email@example.com.


text:
Is it true that $\sum_kk\binom{n}{k}^2=n\binom{2n-1}{n-1}$? (I proved it using generating functions). Could you help me to prove it combinatorially? please
To obtain this combinatorially write left hand side as $\sum_k k {n \choose k} {n \choose n-k}$. This sum can be interpreted as the number of ways to choose $n$ children from a group of $n$ boys and $n$ girls ($2n$ children) and then choosing "leader" from, e.g., chosen boys.
On the other way it can be done as follows: choose a "leader" from boys group and then choose $n-1$ children from whole group of $2n-1$. That is $n {2n-1 \choose n-1}$.
$\sum_k k\binom{n}{k}^2$ and $n\binom{2n-1}{n-1}$ both count
This is most easily seen for $n\binom{2n-1}{n-1}$ -- the factor of $n$ is for deciding where the red ball goes, and the binomial coefficient then distributes the black and white ones among the non-red places.
On the other hand, for $\sum_k k\binom{n}{k}^2$ choose, in order:
For a combinatorial argument, imagine that you have $n$ men and $n$ women. From this group of $2n$ people you want to pick a team of $n$ people and choose one of the women on the team as captain. The two sides count the number of ways to do this. (On the lefthand side you'll want to change one of the factors of $\binom{n}k$ to $\binom{n}{n-k}$.)


text:
National Black College Alumni Reunion Inc
Rating: 0 stars 0 0 review 23
PO Box 69 3502 Miami FL 33269 USA
Filter Reviews by Role
Promote This Nonprofit
GreatNonprofits badges allow you to raise awareness of your favorite nonprofits on your own web sites!
Donor & Volunteer Advisory
This organization's nonprofit status may be in question. You'll need to check recent news about this organization. For more information please visit https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/forwardToRevokeDownload.do
GreatNonprofits, as an impartial aggregator of reviews, takes no position on allegations made or issues raised by third parties. However, donors and volunteers can read recent news about this organization and determine for themselves whether such information is relevant.
Reviews for National Black College Alumni Reunion Inc
Get discovered. Invite people to share their experiences about this nonprofit!
Women of Tomorrow Mentor & Scholarship Program
Maggie96 wrote:
I love Women Of Tomorrow. It has helped me in so many ways. I feel blessed that I had the mentors I had. They helped me then and... more »
Take Stock in Children
Suetlo wrote:
I am Kayla & I would like tone volunteer in order to serve this country. As I had an experience as a volunteer in Canada, this... more »
American Childrens Orchestras for Peace
marta wrote:
im a mother and i love this program for my son .he's always looking forward to get to class its a great jot to go to this program.... more »
Art Studio Inc
CHAILA wrote:
I have been a volunteer with Art Studio World: MIAMI for years now and love working with the team and the students... Creative-Holistic... more »
Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Greater Miami
Joey E. wrote:
Fantastic organization that matched me with a perfect child which makes the experience easy and fantastic! They follow up all... more »


text:
Assume a horizontal scrollview is being populated with 2 views, leaving 80% of the scroller empty.
Should scrolling be disabled? Allowing the user to scroll makes the 2 views move without a purpose.
Yes. An accidental click on your scroll bar (or other scroll trigger) will leave your user staring a blank screen.
I would let it scroll, but with some kind of bouncing like iOS does. That is a nice way to inform that you have reached the end of the scroll.
Not disabling the scrollbar tells the user "scroll there might be more" even if there is nothing more. I have user tested a product recently where the scrollbar appears enabled and people did click the scrollbar even when the page wasn't filled with the items completely. You could also hide the scrollbar to make it more obvious that there is nothing more.


text:
We appreciate you taking the time to help us.
We've provided these handy seat maps so that you can see the layout of each cabin on the different aircraft types. You'll also see which seats have moveable armrests. Please remember that these are representative of the seating configuration, but may vary according to aircraft.
You will see that the maps are split by cabin, so please select the particular travel class you are interested in:
OpenSkies, our wholly owned subsidiary, offers three comfortable cabins in their Boeing 757 aircraft - Eco, Prem Plus and Biz Bed.


text:
Explore AreaRESERVE ▼▲
Revisar o cambiar una reserva existente:
Regístrese para ver todas las reservas en su cuenta
Explore from downtown Kalamazoo hotel's location
Whether you're visiting on business or vacationing with your family, the Radisson Plaza offers the perfect accommodation in the heart of downtown Kalamazoo. Our hotel's on-site Concierge Service makes it easy to explore nearby attractions like the Bell's Brewery, the Kalamazoo Mall and Climb Kalamazoo, and our central location between Detroit and Chicago makes us ideal for guests on the road.
We are also close to top companies like Eaton Corporation, Stryker Corporation and Pfizer, and we offer complimentary hotel shuttle service to the nearby Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport (AZO), which is only 10 minutes away.
Check out these attractions near our hotel:
We are also close to top companies like Eaton Corporation, Stryker Corporation and Pfizer, and we offer complimentary hotel shuttle service to the nearby Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport (AZO), which is only 10 minutes away.
Check out these attractions near our hotel:
- Climb Kalamazoo (430 ft)
Climb Kalamazoo is Southwest Michigan's premier indoor climbing gym with more than 10,500 square feet of climbing surface.
Phone: +1 (269) 385-9891
- Kalamazoo Mall (walking distance)
This popular walking mall boasts an impressive array of shops that sell gifts, clothing, jewelry and home furnishings.
- Arcadia Creek Festival (0.2 miles)
Arcadia Creek Festival is home to Greek Fest, Kalamazoo Pride, Island Fest, Irish Fest, Blues Fest, Taste of Kalamazoo, Black Arts Fest and Rib Fest.
- Waldo Stadium (1.6 miles)
Waldo Stadium is the home field of the Western Michigan University Broncos.
Phone +1 (269) 387-3061
- Entertainment District (0.2 miles)
The Entertainment District has an array of nightlife, including five different venues: Monaco Bay Piano Bar and Grill, Wild Bull Saloon, Sky|Deck, The Gatsby and District Square.
Phone: +1 (269) 312-7246
- Kalamazoo State Theatre (0.2 miles)
Catch live concerts or other productions at this historic theater.
Phone: +1 (269) 345-6500
- Kalamazoo Valley Museum (0.2 miles)
The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is a hands-on museum, mainly aimed at families, that focuses on science, technology and history.
Phone: +1 (269) 373-7990
- Bronson Park (0.5 miles)
This park, which is located near the center of Kalamazoo, offers plenty of outdoor activities.
- Civic Theatre (0.5 miles)
Built in 1929, the Civic Theatre is a well-renowned community theater offering regular productions.
Phone: +1 (269) 343-1313
- Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (0.5 miles)
See works by artists like Ansel Adams and Andy Warhol at this highly regarded institution, which is known for its collection of 20th-century American art.
Phone: +1 (269) 349-7775
- Chenery Auditorium (0.8 miles)
Chenery Auditorium serves the diverse needs of dozens of area organizations for music, dance concerts, recitals, lectures and theatrical performances.
Phone: +1 (269) 337-0440
- Homer Stryker Field (1 mile)
See the Kalamazoo Growers Northwoods League baseball team in action at Homer Stryker Field.
Phone: + 1 (269) 492-9966
- Western Michigan University (1.6 miles)
Western Michigan University specializes in research and offers a wide range of majors and concentrations.
Phone: +1 (269) 387-1000
- Miller Auditorium (2.6 miles)
Miller Auditorium, home to the Kalamazoo Symphony, features live concerts, comedy events, family shows and touring productions straight from Broadway.
Phone: +1 (269)387-2300
- Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds (2.7 miles)
The Kalamazoo County Expo Center and Fairgrounds offers a variety of events, from trade shows and conferences to outdoor events, festivals with group camping, livestock shows and a 4,500-seat grandstand.
Phone +1 (269) 373-5181
- Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport (4.2 miles)
For your convenience, our hotel is located near the Kalamazoo airport and offers a free shuttle service to get you to your flight on time.
Phone: +1 (269) 388-3668
- Wings Stadium (4.9 miles)
Cheer on the Kalamazoo K-Wings hockey team at the team's home venue.
Phone: +1 (269) 345-1125
- Kalamazoo Air Zoo (5.1 miles)
An excellent attraction for the whole family, the Kalamazoo Air Zoo is home to more than 70 vintage airplanes and flight simulators.
Phone: +1 (269) 382-6555
- Crossroad Mall (5.4 miles)
This mall features four anchor stores, as well as 100 stores and a food court.
Phone: +1 (269) 327-3500
- Kalamazoo Nature Center (5.5 miles)
The Kalamazoo Nature Center features interactive exhibits, live animals, an indoor tropical forest, and 1,100 acres of nature with miles of trails to explore.
Phone: +1 (269) 381-1574
- Gull Lake View Golf Club (7.5 miles)
Choose from five beautiful courses at this nearby golfing club.
Phone +1 855-391-4301
- Gilmore Car Museum (14.8 miles)
The Gilmore Car Museum collects, preserves, exhibits and interprets more than 300 extraordinary cars and motorcycles from all eras.
Phone: +1 (269) 671-5089
- Binder Park Zoo (26.5 miles)
The Binder Park Zoo is a 433-acre zoo, featuring animals and plants, including the Wild Africa Exhibit.
Phone: +1 (269) 979-1351


text:
Algerian Army Secures Complex; 23 Hostages Reported Dead
The Algerian army stormed a natural-gas complex deep in the Sahara desert Saturday, ending a lethal and often chaotic four-day siege by suspected Islamist militants that Algeria said left 23 hostages and 32 militants dead.
The episode has fueled concerns about the growing threat posed by North Africa-based terror groups. It gripped populations and world leaders from Washington to London to Tokyo because citizens from as many as 12 different nationalities were involved and, until late Saturday, little information seeped out of the deep desert.
Seven hostages, all foreigners, and 11 militants were killed in the final raid of the complex on Saturday, one Algerian government official said. The Algerian army launched the final assault when it believed militants had started to kill the remaining hostages, he said.
Algeria's Interior Ministry cautioned the death toll it announced late Saturday was still provisional. Algerian authorities did not disclose the nationality of the 23 hostage victims. The Algerians also indicated that a cache of weapons was recovered from the site, including machine guns, rifles, shotguns, rocket-propelled grenades, missiles, grenades and explosive belts.
By late Saturday, governments around the world were releasing grim statements indicating how many of their citizens were still unaccounted for after the siege's conclusion.
"One British citizen has already been killed in this brutal attack and we now fear the worst for the lives of five others who are not yet accounted for," U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said in a statement late Saturday. Other statements came from leaders in places like Norway and Colombia.
The oil companies that operate the site were also bracing for bad news. BP BP 1.21 % PLC said 14 of its 18 expatriate workers at the site were safe, but Chief Executive Bob Dudley added: "Tragically, we have grave fears that we are likely to have suffered one or more fatalities."
In a statement issued by the White House, President Barack Obama called the attack "another reminder of the threat posed by al Qaeda and other violent extremist groups in North Africa" and said Washington will work "closely with all of our partners to combat the scourge of terrorism in the region."
He also sought to ease tension with the government of Algeria, whose initial military response to the hostage crisis and lack of coordination upset the White House and other governments.
"The blame for this tragedy rests with the terrorists who carried it out, and the United States condemns their actions in the strongest possible terms," Mr. Obama said. "We have been in constant contact with Algerian officials and stand ready to provide whatever assistance they need in the aftermath of this attack."
The Algerian rescue mission—launched Thursday without prior consultation with Western leaders—is sure to be point of discussion in days to come. Some accounts from the scene have indicated that the rescue itself resulted in hostage deaths. It isn't known what prompted the Algerian military to move in without prior notice to other nations.
The Algerian government—which had ben virtually silent until late Saturday—has been emphasizing the number of lives saved in he mission.
An estimated 700 people worked at the In Amenas gas installation in southeast Algeria near the Libyan border. Some hostages were freed during a previous assault attempt by Algerian forces while others managed to escape. According to the Algerian Interior Ministry, 685 Algerian workers and 107 foreigners were freed during the course of the incident.
Earlier Saturday, speaking in London, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta vowed to go after the perpetrators of the Algerian attacks as well as Islamist militants fighting in Northern Mali.
"Just as we cannot accept terrorist attacks against our cities, we cannot accept attacks against our citizens and our interests abroad," Mr. Panetta said. "Neither we can accept an al Qaeda safe haven anywhere in the world."
As of late Saturday, Algerian soldiers were still combing the site to search for explosives allegedly planted in the facility by militants.
"An important mine sweeping operation is underway" at the In Amenas plant, Algeria's state energy company Sonatrach told employees on Saturday in a memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Sonatrach, which operates the In Amenas gas facility with U.K.'s BP PLC and Norway's Statoil ASA, STO 0.44 % said the Algerian army found the plant had been mined after conducting the final assault, the memo said.
The final raid marks a bloody end to the siege by militants with suspected ties to al Qaeda's regional affiliate, who attacked the site at dawn on Wednesday, taking dozens of hostages from at least 12 different countries, including the U.K., U.S., Norway and Japan.
Playing out deep in Algeria's desert, the drama focused international attention on al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, and related groups that have spread across a vast territory that encompasses parts of Mali, Algeria, Libya and Chad. The militants who claimed responsibility for seizing the Algeria complex said it was retaliation for France's decision to send combat troops to support neighboring Mali in its battle against an al Qaeda-backed insurgency.
Although the al Qaeda franchise remains nebulous, the mastermind behind the In Amenas attack has a name: Mokhtar Belmokhtar, according to Algerian officials and Western intelligence sources.
An Algerian national now about 40, Mr. Belmokhtar first enrolled in an insurgency which sought to seize power and set up a radical Islamic government in the African country during a protracted, deadly war.
In late 2006, he and other Algerian militants pledged allegiance to al Qaeda and started focusing on hitting Western targets in the Sahara desert. Criss-crossing borders between Algeria, Mauritania, Mali, Libya and Niger, these insurgents have claimed responsibility for the killing of several Europeans.
Since France engaged troops in Mali, the al Qaeda militants have vowed to spread the conflict to neighboring nations.
Until last week, In Amenas appeared on maps as one of the many gas-processing facilities that dot Algeria's desert: a scenery of sand dunes interrupted by the occasional tall metal crane and chimney, where employees work round the clock in shifts.
But at 5 a.m. on Wednesday, a group of about 30 to 40 militants arrived at the plant's gate with pickup trucks.
Their first target was a police-escorted bus carrying 19 foreigners to the nearby airport; Their first victims were an Algerian and a British security guards, Algeria's Interior Ministry said.
Before dying of his wounds, the Algerian worker succeeded in activating the plant's anti-terror alarm, which at least one hostage—Frenchman Alexandre Berceaux—said gave him time to hide under his bed and emerge alive on Friday.
The militants splintered in two groups as they made their way into the industrial facility, according to several statements by employees.
One seized the base's living quarters, where Mr. Berceaux hid for 40 hours, and the other took control of the gas processing plant, half a mile away.
A Japanese hostage told the Yomiuri Shimbun that he locked himself in his room and turned the lights off, but militants shot through the door and took him away. The man was handcuffed and taken to a place with lights on where other foreign staff were being held. The militants were talking to some of the Algerian staff in Arabic. Immediately after their conversation stopped, two of the Algerians were suddenly shot dead right in front of the Japanese hostage. "I braced myself for death," he said.
Many time zones away, in Tokyo, the Japanese government was anxious because several of its nationals were present at the facility and urged Algerian authorities to give priority to saving the lives of civilians.
Algerian authorities quickly surrounded the base with tanks and Russian-made helicopters to ensure militants could not escape with hostages in the desert. They also made their position clear: "We won't respond to any claim by terrorists and refuse any negotiations," Algeria's Interior Minister Dahou Ould Kablia said.
The siege moved into a new phase on Thursday, when the Algerian helicopters opened fire on a column of pickup trucks driven by militants with hostages. The Algerian Interior Ministry said the militants were trying to escape into the desert, something the government could not tolerate. That episode caused chaos and casualties. For example, 36-year-old Stephen McFaul, an electrical engineer from Belfast, told his family that he was traveling in a convoy of five vehicles that was hit when Algerian forces tried to stop them, a family spokesman said. Mr. McFaul escaped, but he told family others weren't so lucky.
At the end of Friday, the situation remained unclear, with Algerian officials silent on the number of deaths, remaining hostages and the state of the rescue mission. Western government officials scrambled for information and hinted that they were not certain what was happening on the ground.
That began to change early Saturday afternoon, when reports of what the Algerians called a "final assault" filtered out. By nightfall on Saturday, it was clear the siege had come to an end, as government officials like Mr. Cameron began to touch base with the Algerians. Saturday evening, the Algerian government released its provisional death toll.
—Selina Williams, Julian E. Barnes, Adam Entous and Jacob Schlesinger contributed to this article.


text:
Why did New York become the financial hub of America, rather than one of the other big cities?
I think the best way to answer this question is to ask: Why did Philadelphia lose its position as the hub of American finance? Philadelphia had first mover's advantage over New York in terms of finance. Unfortunately for Philadelphia, national politics would erase Philly's advantage in the 1830s and 1840s, setting the stage for New York to begin to establish itself as the center of American finance.
Philadelphia's Early Dominance of American Finance
Philadelphia was home to the nation's most important banks before the Civil War: the Bank of Pennsylvania, the Bank of North America, the First Bank of the United States, and the Second Bank of the United States.
Similarly, most of the most important bankers and financiers of that era were Philadelphians (or ended up in Philadelphia): Robert Morris, Haym Salomon, Stephen Girard, and Nicholas Biddle. As I discuss below, Jay Cooke and the Drexels also deserve serious attention.
Jackson, Van Buren, and Philadelphia's Long Slow Fall from Grace
As one New York Jacksonian put it, "The general place of the deposit of the revenues of the government must become the money market of the nation" (Bray Hammond, p. 392). As long as the Second Bank of the United States survived as that "general place of deposit," this meant that Philadelphia would reign as the money market of the nation.
Andrew Jackson's determination to kill the Second Bank for ideological reasons is well known. Jackson received invaluable assistance from his Secretary of State (and later Vice President) Martin Van Buren. Van Buren's plans did not involve creating any replacement for the bank--in part because Van Buren hoped that much of that money would flow to New York's banking system.
During his incredibly short stint as governor of New York, Van Buren had helped to pass the Safety Fund Act of 1829. The Safety Fund is a remarkably influential piece of economic regulation, and its influence is still felt in the modern FDIC. New York's banks were awful prior to this act, and the Safety Fund provided some stability to New York banking until 1843, but even when the Safety Fund faltered it was soon replaced by a well-regarded Free Banking Law. So by the 1840s, New York arguably had the best-regulated banking system in the nation. New York's banking stability was further enhanced by the New York Clearing House, organized in the 1850s.
But the important thing for the Bank War is that the Safety Fund system united the power and interests of all of New York's banks into one "mighty influence" that answered to the leadership of the Democrats in the "Albany Regency." As Erastus Root reported of the New York banks,
Yet the alliance of dozens of New York state banks seemed less threatening to most Americans than one large bank in Philadelphia:
To some extent, bankers in all the states of the Union (other than Pennsylvania) saw that the destruction of the Second Bank of the United States would redound to their financial benefit. They all threw their weight behind Jackson's effort to kill the bank. But only the bankers of New York were well organized enough to step in and take control of this opportunity.
What about Buttonwood and the New York Stock Exchange?
Philadelphia is home to the oldest stock exchange in the US, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, founded in 1790. The Buttonwood Agreement was signed in New York two years later, but financial markets there were relatively sleepy in their early years. New Yorkers mostly traded old war bonds and Philadelphia-based Bank of the United States stock. In 1817, New York stockbrokers sent delegates to Philadelphia to learn from the original stock. On their return, they founded the NYSE.
So the NYSE is an imitation of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and it relied on Philadelphia-based financial institutions for a non-trivial portion of its capitalization. Thus "path dependency" type arguments do not explain New York's current dominance in American finance.
What About the Morgans and Investment Banking?
Modern investment banking also has its origins in Philadelphia. Jay Cooke joined the Philadelphia banking house E.W. Clark & Co. in 1842. In 1861, he founded Jay Cooke & Company, a Philadelphia-based firm that helped underwrite the Union's Civil War effort and innovated many of the most important techniques in modern investment banking.
Even the House of Morgan--the greatest New York financial house in the US in the late 19th century--had important Philadelphia origins. Francis Martin Drexel founded Drexel & Co. in Philadelphia in 1837. Drexel was second only to Cooke in terms of government finance in the 1860s. In 1871, Anthony Drexel approached Junius Morgan about affiliating their houses. The Philadelphia-based Drexel had the money, but the New York-based Morgan had the London connections. As Drexel, Morgan, and Co., the Morgans would go on to dominate American finance for the next half century. (Source: Ron Chernow's House of Morgan)
Dutch Heritage?
Respectfully, there is little evidence that Dutch heritage or connections to Amsterdam mattered much to New York's success in finance. I've already argued that New Yorkers in the antebellum era borrowed regulatory structures from non-Dutchmen in Philadelphia. The Dutch character of New York was rather diluted by the 1870s, when the city was beginning to irreversibly eclipse Philadelphia as the American financial center. And during the 1870s, New York finance is largely associated with two non-Dutch ethnic groups: German-Jews and New England Yankees. European Jews and prominent Yankees both had one major advantage in finance: they had overseas ties to bankers in London, Paris, and the rest of Europe. The United States was industrializing so quickly that overseas capital was greatly needed, and so these two groups were able to act as channels for European capital. So New York owes some of its later banking preeminence to its centrality in immigration and thus its many European connections.
Van Buren, of course, was Dutch-American, but his magic was political, not financial.
After the Second Bank
The Second Bank of the United States was liquidated in 1838, and government funds began trickling from Philadelphia to the rest of the country. Much of this money found its way to New York's stable and well-regarded banking system, thus beginning the shift of financial power northward. If Jackson had not killed the bank, Philadelphia likely would have maintained its preeminence longer. (Philadelphia was in the process of improving its connections to domestic markets in the west, which would have gone a long way toward mitigating New York's advantage in trade.) If the Bank had survived, Drexel may never have approached Morgan, or at least the Drexels might have remained the dominant partners in that relationship. German-Jews interested in finance may have immigrated to Philadelphia, not New York City. In the end, however, the Bank did die, and New York had the wealth, the financial infrastructure, and the foreign connections to take over as America's financial hub in the wake of the Bank War.
There are several reasons:
New York was a natural trade center for a few key reasons.
Access to Upstate NY
Upstate NY was very important place in commercial history. The settlement of New York was driven by access to beaver and other furs, and the Hudson River was the 16th century equivalent to an interstate highway, leading right to the port of New York City.
Later, as fertile land in New England was accounted for, agriculture became a huge force. The feudal-style Dutch Patroonships produced all sorts of goods, and the Schoharie Valley was called "the breadbasket of the american revolution", and much of the agricultural surplus was shipped down the river to New York. Later, the construction of turnpikes opened up the interior of Central NY, which meant more farming, more credit & banking activity in Albany and NYC and more economic activity.
Dutch Heritage
Most of the English Colonies were formed by relatively homogeneous, religiously-oriented communities. New Amsterdam was totally different -- it was a commercial venture of the Dutch West India Company. Being motivated by money vs. god, there was a diversity of religious backgrounds, languages, etc.
The Erie Canal
The construction of the Erie Canal brought New York to a whole new level -- the flow of goods from Western New York and Ohio all came through New York to be shipped all over the world.
All of this stuff created a scenario where New York City became this dense concentration point or hub for wealth and trade. Until the later half of the 20th century, this proximity made the New York metro region a premier industrial center -- which further strengthened it's role as a financial center.
I would add that Holland was the financial centre of the Earth in 17-18th centuries. NY, having the best specialists in finances simply couldn't fail.


text:
Love is a werewolf, influenced by the moon and terror, and always about to change.
Liv has a secret.
Something happened to her when she was thirteen. Something that changed everything. Liv knows she doesn t belong anymore not in her own skin, not in her family . . . not anywhere. The only time she truly feels like herself is when she's with her boyfriend, Corey, and in the woods that surround her town.
But in the woods, a mysterious woman watches Liv. In the woods, a pack of wild boys lurks. In the woods, Liv learns about the curse that will haunt her forever. The curse that caused the frenzy four years ago. And that may cause it again, all too soon.
While Corey and Liv's love binds them together, Liv's dark secret threatens to tear them apart as she struggles to understand who or what she really is. And by the light of the full moon, the most dangerous secrets bare their claws. . . .
About the Author
Francesca Lia Block, winner of the prestigious Margaret A. Edwards Award, is the author of many acclaimed and bestselling books, including Weetzie Bat; the book collections Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books and Roses and Bones: Myths, Tales, and Secrets; the illustrated novella House of Dolls; the vampire romance novel Pretty Dead; and the gothic werewolf novel The Frenzy. Her work is published around the world.
Praise For…
"A passionate, dreamy, brief paranormal, with a breath-of-fresh-air monstrous heroine and enjoyably surreal set dressing."
"Block puts her own spin on werewolves in this romantic thriller."
-The Horn Book
"A true original…[Block] has created something psychologically complex, erotically charged, and unusually poignant."
-Booklist (starred review)
"I love the lush, melancholy world of this novel, and its heroine, with her century of secrets."
-Claudia Gray, New York Times bestselling author of Evernight
"Will be gobbled like candy by teen readers."
-The Horn Book
"With her characteristic flair and seductive prose, Block makes this tangled story of betrayal and love a standout. Sensuous and heartbreaking, sure to both satisfy and challenge fans of the supernatural romance."
-Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books


text:
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria have formulated a working paper aimed at activating Arab solidarity and strengthening the League of Arab States. The leaders of the three countries will decide how the paper, drafted during a tripartite meeting in Cairo yesterday by Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Ahmed Maher of Egypt, and Farouq Al-Shara of Syria, will be presented to the other Arab leaders in order to forge a joint Arab stance prior to the convening of the 2004 Arab Summit scheduled for Tunisia. The meeting arose from directives from the three Arab leaders, who have been in contact over the past few days.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz left Cairo yesterday for Casablanca on a state visit to Morocco, the third leg of a four-nation tour that has already taken him to Syria and Egypt, and will conclude with a visit to the Russian Federation. Crown Prince Abdullah held talks with King Muhammad VI at the airport, to discuss developments in the Palestinian issue and efforts to implement the roadmap as well as the situation in Iraq, before proceeding to his guesthouse.


text:
Murdered ambassador sent cable warning of threats on day of Benghazi attack
posted at 8:41 am on October 8, 2012 by Ed Morrissey
A number of media sources have fresh looks at the Obama administration's handling of security in the weeks before the terrorist attack on our consulate in Benghazi drove us out of eastern Libya and killed four Americans, including US Ambassador J. Christopher Stephens. First, Fox News reported yesterday that the State Department decided to stick to its schedule of rotating out a 16-man Special Ops team assigned to diplomatic security in Benghazi, just weeks before the attack in August. They were joined in their exit by a six-man security team from the State Department itself:
ABC News follows this up with a report this morning that Stevens himself wanted the special forces team to stay in Libya, but apparently were overruled:
U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens wanted a Security Support Team, made up of 16 special operations soldiers, to stay with him in Libya after their deployment was scheduled to end in August, the commander of that security team told ABC News.
The embassy staff's "first choice was for us to stay," Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, 55, told ABC News in an interview. "That would have been the choice of the embassy people in Tripoli." …
Asked for comment to the memo and Wood's comments, a spokesman for the House Oversight Committee told ABC News: "Diplomats working in Libya viewed security provided by highly trained Americans as critical to their safety and mission. The Oversight Committee's investigation continues to seek answers about why — even as threats against Americans increased — senior State Department officials erroneously decided such security was no longer needed."
Investigators are exploring whether anyone at the State Department told the Embassy specifically not to request another extension.
The State Department responded this morning by claiming that Stevens had requested a specific level of security which matched what he already had. However, Eli Lake's report from the Daily Beast today underscores just how fragile those security arrangements were. Thanks to Obama administration efforts in Libya, Stevens sent a cable the morning of the attack warning State that their support of a Libyan candidate for Prime Minister threatened to alienate the militias that protected the Benghazi consulate:
Just two days before the 9/11 anniversary attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, two leaders of the Libyan militias responsible for keeping order in the city threatened to withdraw their men.
The brinksmanship is detailed in a cable approved by Ambassador Chris Stevens and sent on the day he died in the attack, the worst assault on a U.S. diplomatic mission since the 1979 hostage crisis in Iran. The dispatch, which was marked "sensitive" but not "classified," contained a number of other updates on the chaotic situation on the ground in post-Gaddafi Libya.
The cable, reviewed by The Daily Beast, recounts how the two militia leaders, Wissam bin Ahmed and Muhammad al-Gharabi, accused the United States of supporting Mahmoud Jibril, the head of the Libyan transitional government, to be the country's first elected prime minister. Jibril's centrist National Forces Alliance won the popular vote in Libyan elections in July, but he lost the prime minister vote in the country's Parliament on Sept. 12 by 94 to 92. Had he won, bin Ahmed and al-Gharabi warned they "would not continue to guarantee security in Benghazi, a critical function they asserted they were currently providing," the cable reads. The man who beat Jibril, Mustafa Abushagur, lost a vote of no-confidence Sunday, throwing Libyan politics back into further uncertainty.
The threat from the militias underscores the dangers of relying on local Libyan forces for security in the run-up to the 9/11 military-style assault. The U.S. consulate in Benghazi employed a militia called the "February 17 Martyrs Brigade" for security of the four-building compound. In addition, there were five Americans serving as diplomatic security and a group of former special operations forces that acted as a quick reaction force on the day of the 9/11 attack. Members of the militias led by bin-Ahmed and al-Gharabi overlapped with the February 17 militia, the cable says.
Lake notes that the overall tone of the cable was positive about improving security in Libya. However, it's also rather interesting that the cable makes no mention at all of the 14-minute YouTube video that the White House insisted for more than a week was the reason for the assault on the consulate. Instead, Stevens notified Washington of a rise in Islamist forces in the region, including morality brigades enforcing sharia law at the local university. Less than 24 hours later, Stevens would be murdered while the militias turned out to be ineffective at best in the coordinated terrorist attack on the consulate.
The House Oversight Committee hearing on the attack begins on Wednesday. Will the White House story change yet again between then and now?
Related Posts:
Breaking on Hot Air
- Complicity: noun: association or participation in or as if in a wrongful act. This entire administration must be brought before a court of law, for the murder of four Americans.. « et cetera*
- More Serious Unanswered Questions Mounting Over Benghazi – UPDATED | Babalú Blog
- Chandler's Watch » Blog Archive » A Mountain of Unanswered Questions About the 9/11 Benghazi Attack
- Ambassador Stevens Warned State Dept. of Imminent Threats | theflyingcameldotorg
- Exclusive: Libya Cable Detailed Threats | THE JEENYUS CORNER « The Jeenyus Corner
- Must Watch Video: The White House Disinformation Campaign On Libya « Tammy Bruce « RubinoWorld
- Libya in 3 Minutes « saneromeo
- Hillary takes the fall for "take no responsibility" Obama « moralmatters.org
- Obama's huge terrorism debate lie: Moderator Muppet Crowley's Infatuation with Obama the Frog « moralmatters.org
- The Benghazi Lie « DeHavelle.com
- The Coalition Of The Swilling » Why Are Non-US Military Forces Providing Security?
- Editorial: Benghazi Cover-Up – The Buck Stops Here! | Gerard Direct