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Many people ask Meg and I, "How is it that you ended up buying a hardware store in Missoula, Montana from Chicago?"
Frankly, it's a story that I really enjoy telling, for the past few years have proven to be the most rewarding of our lives. The following is our story.
In 1988, life was good. I married the most wonderful human being I'd ever met. And at Palatine Ace Hardware (Palatine is a Chicago suburb, about thirty-five miles northwest of the city), it was business as usual. Sales were brisk, and it seemed that we could do no wrong. We had our best year in 1988 with record sales.
Most of 1989 was at least as good. Sales continued to be strong, until Friday, November 24th, the day after Thanksgiving. That traditional kick-off day to the Christmas selling season, which had been so strong the previous several years was down twenty percent. Fear of recession had begun to have a direct impact on our customers' spending habits. And that was just the beginning of what was yet to come.
We finished 1989 with a slight sales decrease. 1990 was faltering from the starting gate. To make matters worse, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) began a major road construction project on the highway on which our store was located. We had heard of the horrors of road construction and its potentially devastating effects on business, and now we were getting a first-hand taste of this harsh reality. The first day of construction, traffic was backed up for miles in either direction. The second day, there were no lines at all. Commuters got the message in a big hurry: they needed to find alternate routes. In doing so, they also found somewhere else to buy their hardware. Years of building up a customer base were evaporating before our very eyes.
1990 was also the year that we successfully negotiated a new lease with our landlord, who had made a commitment to do some major remodeling to our thirty year-old, tired store. They would completely rebuild the storefront, replace the failing heating and air conditioning, install all new fluorescent lighting and a new ceiling, and remodel the restrooms and employee lounge.
We were also planning to enlarge our store by expanding into the vacant store adjacent to ours, which would be utilized for our business offices. We, too, were committed to participate in the remodeling effort. We would put in a new floor, all new store fixtures, furnish our new offices, and install a new, state-of-the-art computer system.
Between seven months of road construction, renovation of the exterior of our shopping center that took far too long to complete, and a recession gripping our country, we finished 1990 ten percent down in sales.
Our major focus for 1991 was our remodeling project. And IDOT's focus was once again, the highway on which we were located, only this time they were two blocks down from their previous location. Once again, we had to endure seven months of being quite inaccessible to our customers.
Our effort continued through most of '91. We were midway through our project when we learned that HomeBase, a home improvement giant from Southern California, and Menard's, another large home improvement retailer from Wisconsin, were both coming to town, each with a 125,000 square foot store and each about a one mile from us. That equals a quarter-million square feet of new hardware competition all within a mile of our store.
We proceeded to wrap up our remodeling project. We launched our new Ace Store-of-the-Future with a grand reopening in mid-November of gargantuan proportions. However, we finished 1991 another ten percent down, but at least now our remodeling was behind us, IDOT was done with our highway, and our landlord had completed the "facelift" of the shopping center.
1992 was a tough year to face. We were sinking, and we needed to take drastic action. We needed to go into "survival mode", which is an experience that one cannot possibly prepare for. It really causes you to lose all humility.
We fired our store manager, whose duties I took over. We literally removed thousands of dollars of expenses. Dad and I both took pay cuts. We let go a twenty-year employee whose productivity was marginal. We dug in like never before. We were at war, man. It was a matter of survival. My dad wanted to sell the business, almost from the time we first heard of HomeBase and Menard's coming to town, both of whom were now in full operation. And we were feeling their effects, too. Our sales were down over forty percent from the time they began their decline that Christmas season of 1989! Our dilemma was how to make our company profitable at this new, reduced volume, which was obviously here to stay, at least for a while. And it really began to seem as if it couldn't be done.
Unlike my father, I did not want to sell. I wanted to fight. In fact, my attitude was, if we were fighting, and still not making it, then we simply need to fight harder; work harder. By the end of 1992, were had made a lot of improvements to our store. In fact, we had laid the foundation for what looked like would be its ultimate survival.
However, we finished the year another one percent down. Think about that: The first full year "under our belt" with our newly remodeled Ace Store-of-the-Future and we finished one percent down as compared to 1991, when for most of that year our store looked like a war zone! We couldn't even achieve the "under-constructions sales numbers. It was not only disappointing, it was downright demoralizing!
By the beginning of 1993, Dad had persuaded me to at least explore the possibility of selling our store. I sure didn't know what I was going to do. My head was filled with thoughts of, "Where will I be a year from now? Where should I get a job? Where will I be working?" I began to see myself working at Ace Corporate, perhaps in the Retail Information Technology department. I even began to inquire about such a possibility.
On Thursday, February 25th, Dad and I had a meeting with Ace's National Real Estate Development Manager, Earl Primm. We sat down in Dad's office, and began by enlightening Earl about our situation. While chatting, Earl began to tell us of another store he'd been trying to sell. "It's a good store," he said, "but I'm not getting much interest."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because it's located in Missoula, Montana, and nobody wants to go to Montana!" It was almost as if he was telling a joke, and he had just delivered the punch line. But I wasn't laughing. In fact, I was on the intercom, paging Meg to come into the office so she could hear about this. Dad couldn't believe that I was interested, at least not at first. Meg came in, and I made Earl go through the entire story once again.
Two weeks later, Dad, Meg and I spent the weekend in Missoula to see if this was as good as it sounded. We all know what they say about when something sounds too good to be true and we felt like we had come to Missoula to find out why this was all too good to be true.
We met with Dale and Sue Mahlum, the owners of the store. We found Mahlum's Ace Hardware to be remarkably similar to Palatine Ace. Dale and Sue were pretty happy with Meg and me as the possible future owners of their thirty-three year old family business.
Meg and I were already dreaming about a new life in the mountains, west of the continental divide. But we had to keep telling ourselves not to get too excited. After all, we had so much that we had to make happen. At that point, it was still an extremely long shot at best.
Within a couple of weeks, we had a buyer for the Palatine store and on June 30, 1993, the deal on Palatine Ace Hardware closed.
Exactly sixty days later, the deal on Mahlum's Ace Hardware closed. Meg and I had within that past month, staged a massive garage sale, sold half of what we owned, including two cars, and packed up what was left. On Monday, August 23rd, as soon as the movers had finished loading, we drove off into the sunset on a one-way trip west. By the way, that two-day trip west was about the only relaxation we've had in the last year.
In the twenty one years since acquiring the store we've made many changes; more than I would have hoped for in this amount of time. We have found ourselves welcomed into the community with open arms, warmth and friendship. And the feeling is mutual. Missoula is home to the nicest, most wonderful people we've ever met.
Our employees really enjoy working for us, and we are extremely proud of each and every one of them. Our sales are strong and continue to grow. Our store has enjoyed a great reputation in town, thanks to the Mahlum's, and I'm proud to say that we've maintained it. It's a lot like Palatine was before 1989. But are we doing things differently? You bet we are! This entire experience has caused us to never, ever, take for granted any success that we realize, for it can change overnight.
In May 1998, Missoula Ace Hardware acquired a failing Trustworthy Hardware store located a short 2 ¼ miles away from the Tremper's location, at the northeast end of town in the Eastgate Shopping Center. Three months later, in July, Montana Ace Eastgate opened its doors, and thus became the Weis family's first "plunge" into the realm of multi-store operation.
August 2000 brought the acquisition of two additional Ace stores in Ronan and Polson, Montana, sixty and seventy-two miles north of Missoula, respectively. Ronan lies at the north end of the Mission Valley, back dropped by the stunning Mission Mountains. Polson lies at the south shore of Flathead Lake, the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River. Upon the acquisition of these two stores, our name was changed to "Montana Ace".
Opportunity fell into our lap once again as 2004 was drawing to a close, which resulted in the acquisition of the fifth Montana Ace location in Kalispell, a vibrant growing community that lies about ten miles north of Flathead Lake's north shore and is the gateway to Glacier National Park.
Montana Ace – Kalispell is our northern-most store as well as our newest and used to be the largest store at 30,000 square feet. Montana Ace – Kalispell opened its doors to the Kalispell community in May 2005.
Once again opportunity came knocking – more like pounding this time, as Sportsman's Surplus, a 40+ year Missoula fixture right next door to our main store in Tremper's Shopping Center, closed its doors due to its owner retiring. If our Tremper's store suffered from one thing, it was chronic overcrowding and lack of sufficient space. We successfully came to terms on a new lease with the Tremper family to include the old Sportsman's Surplus space. Our main store gained 14,000 square feet, bringing its total square footage to 38,500, making it one of the largest Ace Hardware stores in the nation. The community response to our newly expanded – and remodeled – Tremper's Ace store has been incredibly positive, confirming that the expansion was a wise strategy.
Probably the most significant change of all, though, is the reputation that the Montana Ace Team gained during those change-filled years. They've become known and to this day are still known, as the finest team of hardware professionals and the most caring people in retail, not just in Missoula, but anywhere in the country. In fact, in 1998 Missoula Ace Hardware was presented with the very highest award, Ace Hardware's President's Cup Award, which recognizes the very best Ace Hardware store in the entire Ace chain of over 5,200 stores!
Back in 1993 we made a trip to Missoula, Montana to learn the reason why this was all too good to be true. Almost twenty five years later and we're still looking for the reason why this is all too good to be true.
We thank the wonderful people of the communities of Missoula, Ronan, Polson, Kalispell and all of western Montana for their amazing support and we pledge to always do our very best to help you solve all your home repair and home improvement needs to the very best of our ability, and have fun doing it!
President and CEO
CRS Hardware
d/b/a Montana Ace


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Oh, for Those Halcyon Days When Nuclear Weapons Were Scarier Than Reactors
Related Articles
- Introduction: US nuclear exit? Mecklin, John // Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists;Mar2013, Vol. 69 Issue 2, p9
An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses several topics appearing elsewhere in the issue, including information on the U.S. Department of Energy's decision to develop two nuclear reactors, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan.
- No More Nuclear in Germany. // Solutions Journal;2011, Vol. 2 Issue 5, p6
The article reports on the commitment of the German government to close its nuclear reactors by 2022 and to find alternative energy resources in the aftermath of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan in 2011.
- New nuclear in UK will be delayed. // TCE: The Chemical Engineer;May2011, Issue 839, p11
The article reports that the approval for new nuclear reactors in Great Britain will be delayed to give designers time to consider the recommendations from an investigation of the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan.
- India Is Not Japan: Nuke Reactors in Danger. Roy, Sandip // India -- West;4/8/2011, Vol. 36 Issue 20, pA8
In this article, the author discusses the issues concerning the nuclear reactors in India in the wake of the disaster in Japan that caused the Fukushima nuclear accident.
- Japan Recalls Nuclear Bomb. GOODMAN, AMY // Progressive Populist;4/15/2011, Vol. 17 Issue 7, p22
The article focuses on the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan and notes the existence of nuclear reactors in the U.S. that are identical or close to identical to the Fukushima reactor that exploded in the aftermath of the earthquake and the tsunami that followed in March 2011.
- blueprints: AFTER FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN SEEKS NON-NUCLEAR OPTION. Kratochwill, Lindsey // In These Times;Jul2012, Vol. 36 Issue 7, p11
The article reports that the people of Japan are strongly opposing the reopening of nuclear reactors in country after the Fukushima Nuclear Accident in Fukushima, Japan in March 2011.
- Lessons Learned from the Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station: Nuclear Security Perspectives. Kaoru Naito // Journal of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management;Fall2012, Vol. 41 Issue 1, p16
The nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (NPS), or the Fukushima Accident, was caused by the devastating tsunami associated with the Great East Japan Earthquake. It demonstrated that total station blackout and loss of core cooling and spent fuel pool cooling should be...
- Post-Fukushima, the Chinese nuclear reaction. Kidd, Stephen // Modern Power Systems;Aug2013, Vol. 33 Issue 8, p12
The article focuses on nuclear stress tests conducted by China after an incident took place at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan. It mentions that the China will require huge amount of electricity due to the power consumption surging by 11.7 per cent with power demand emanating from industry...
- Nuclear Energy Time-Out. Slater, Alice // Foreign Policy in Focus;3/15/2011, p2
The article discusses the impact of the earthquake-tsunami in Japan on modern humanity. According to the author, scientists and engineers have prepared for the earthquake, spending billions on infrastructure and building offices and factories on rubber shock absorbers. However, she says that the...

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Hello team,
I want to display popup from a plugin. I referenced the popup layout page with the code below from my plugin view.
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The above code throws the below exception:The layout page "_AdminRoot" could not be found at the following path: "~/Administration/Views/Shared/Layouts/_AdminRoot".
How do I resolve this?
Thanks in advance for your assistance.


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Five days before 9/11, a famous Norwegian social anthropologist (and Norway may well be the only nation on Earth where there is such a thing as a famous social anthropologist) instructed her countrywomen that the way to bring down the high number of rapes – most of which, even way back then, were already being committed by "non-Western immigrants" – was for them to stop dressing in a manner that Muslim men found provocative. Norway, she lectured, was steadily becoming "a multicultural society," and Norwegian women, if they didn't want to wind up being brutally ravished in an alleyway by some Pakistani gang, should choose their wardrobes appropriately. Period.
That anthropologist, whose name is Unni Wikan, didn't score any points that day for heroically championing women's equality, but she was, at least, being honest. The rise in rapes in Norway – as throughout Western Europe – was almost entirely a product of Islamic immigration. That was a fact she didn't attempt to disguise.
Then, however, came 9/11. And in the years since, there's been a desperate effort by bien pensant types throughout Europe to deny that the ever-increasing incidence of rape on the continent has anything whatsoever to do with Islam. Some try to dismiss or explain away the numbers entirely; others grudgingly acknowledge them, while fiercely denying that there's any Islamic connection at all; some, while admitting that a disproportionate number of rapists are immigrants, attempt to blame the problem on ethnic European racism, the idea being that immigrants grow so frustrated over their mistreatment that they resort to rape.
All of which is absurd to anyone who's remotely aware of Islam teachings about sex and of the high incidence of rape in Muslim societies that is a direct consequence of those teachings. We're talking about a religion that treats the male sex drive as a virtually holy phenomenon, and that allows men to have multiple marriages and divorce at will, even as it demands that females deny themselves even the most innocuous sorts of human contact in the name of preserving family honor – and that punishes a single infraction with death. In the view of Islam, when a man rapes an immodestly dressed woman, the rape isn't his fault but hers; and when a Muslim rapes an infidel in the "House of War," it's recognized as a form of jihad. As forgiving as Islam is of virtually every imaginable heterosexual act that might be committed by a Muslim male, it's equally unforgiving of a Muslim woman who happens to be caught alone, doing nothing whatsoever, with a male who's unrelated to her, or who, for that matter, commits the inexcusable sin of being raped.
The only thing worse than being raped, moreover, is tattling about it. A couple of years ago, a Pakistani woman, Rooshanie Ejaz, contributed several very frank essays on rape in Muslim countries to the website of Norway's Human Rights Service. Noting in a March 2011 piece that "sexual abuse is actively hidden in Pakistani society, and in Muslim society generally," she said that "a large percentage of the people I have grown up with have experienced some form of it....Whether the act is committed by a cousin, uncle, house servant, or stranger, the victim is likely to be subjected to further abuse and emotional torment if she opens her mouth about it."
One distinctive aspect of Islamic theology is its prescription of rape as a punishment – a punishment usually imposed upon some innocent female to avenge a crime committed by a male relative. In another 2011 piece, Ejaz cited a Pakistani village court's recent decision in the case of a young man who'd been "seen with a young girl from a tribe superior to his": it ordered several of the girl's male relatives to gang-rape the guilty party's sister, Mukhataran – who afterwards (as if the gang-bang itself weren't enough) "was paraded nude" through the village. Sharia justice of this sort is commonplace in the Muslim world; the only thing special in this instance was that Mukhataran complained to the authorities and argued her case all the way up to the Pakistani Supreme Court – which, in the end, freed five of the six defendants, even as a chorus of prominent media figures and government leaders expressed sympathy for the rapists and dragged Mukhataran's name through the mud.
Pakistan did pass a Women's Protection Law in 2006 that allowed women to file rape charges even without the four male witnesses that sharia law requires. Before the law came along, 80% of Pakistani rape victims who dared to go to the cops ended up behind bars for adultery while their assailants remained free. Yet the law was a feeble instrument in a country drenched with Islam; and in late May, the Council of Islamic Ideology, an official body whose job it is to rule on the theological correctness of Pakistani legislation, announced that "DNA tests are not admissible as the main evidence in rape cases" and that, indeed, lacking those four male witnesses, you're better off keeping quiet.
This rule doesn't just apply to Pakistan, of course. In Afghanistan, where freedom from Taliban rule cost the U.S. and its allies thousands of lives and gazillions of dollars, the number of rape victims being sent to prison is actually on the rise. In April, the Daily Mail ran a harrowing account of a women's prison in Kabul that's full of inmates being punished for crimes of which they were the victims. (According to women's-rights activists, "life for women is almost the same" in Afghanistan as under the Taliban.) Then there's Iran, where, according to a 2010 Guardian article, the government uses "rape and the threat of rape as weapons against its opponents." A 2009 piece in the Huffington Post quoted a young Iranian woman's observation that rape victims in her country routinely keep silent about their victimization because "a young woman who has been raped can never be touched again."
What about Syria? An April headline in the Atlantic didn't pull punches: "Syria Has a Massive Rape Crisis." A Syrian psychologist who works with rape victims said that she always tells families rape is "a way to break the family" and that she urges them, "Don't let this break you – this is what they're trying to do." (To which the women respond: "Tell that to our husbands.") A Toronto Star piece acknowledged that rape victims in Syria risk "being cast out or even killed to protect the family's honour." – yet managed, as so many of these reports in the Western media do, to omit entirely the words "Muslim" and "Islam."
In wartime, Islam actively encourages the use of rape as a weapon and/or reward for the soldiers of Allah. On April 3, the Washington Times reported that Salafi Sheikh Yasir al-Ajlawni had issued a fatwa permitting Muslims who are fighting Assad's regime to "capture and have sex with" non-Sunni women. Raymond Ibrahim observed the next day at Front Page that Aljawni wasn't "the first cleric to legitimize the rape of infidel women in recent times": a top Saudi preacher had recently green-lighted the gang-rape of captives, and an Egyptian imam had explained how to turn captured infidels into sex slaves. Yes, rape is almost invariably a side effect of war; but rape instigated by clergy and carried out in the name of God is an Islamic specialty.
In Libya, the number of rapes rose during its revolution – and has kept rising ever since. "Gaddafi used rape as a weapon," one Libyan women's-rights activist told the Guardian this month. "It was organized and systematic." While rape victims aren't imprisoned quite as often now as under Gaddafi, "there are still strong disincentives against speaking out, making it hard for victims to access help or to seek justice." In March, two Pakistani-British women – who'd just participated in the latest convoy seeking to break Israel's Gaza blockade – were gang-raped in Benghazi by a pack of Libyan soldiers.
So it goes. And yet when the growing incidence of rape in an increasingly Muslim Europe is discussed by politicians, academics, and mainstream journalists, such data are almost never adduced, the theoligical and cultural background to these phenomena almost never mentioned. In the last year or two I've written here about Oslo, where everyone found guilty of rape assault between 2006 and 2010 was "non-Western" (i.e. Muslim), and Sweden, with Europe's second-highest percentage of Muslims and its highest rape figures; I've covered Britain's wave of Muslim "sex grooming" and Laurent Obertone's documentation of Muslim rape in France.
All these developments have, of course, a common root – which it's impossible to understand without a basic awareness of Islamic teachings about sex, gender roles, jihad, and so on. It's all there, in the Koran, the fatwas, the sermons and public statements by those European imams who aren't pretending to be building bridges and preaching love. No one who's reasonably well acquainted with Islamic belief and practice should be surprised in the slightest by Europe's rape epidemic. Unni Wikan (though her prescribed response to it was nothing but multicultural mush) saw it all quite clearly twelve years ago; Europe's elites, however, persist in their refusal to recognize this epidemic as part of their continent's transformation into a Muslim province. And so the statistics continue to soar.
Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: Click here.


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Meanwhile in India, where HPAI H5N8 turned up for the first time a couple of weeks ago, another Indian state has confirmed the presence of the virus.
This from the Times Of India.
Duck deaths at Hisar: Tests confirm first avian flu case(Continue . . . )
Vikram Jit Singh | TNN | Nov 4, 2016, 06.25 AM IST
CHANDIGARH: The incidence of avian flu of the strain, H5N8, has been confirmed in the mortality of domesticated ducks that perished at the Blue Bird Tourist Complex in Hisar, Haryana, on Tuesday and Wednesday after the samples were subjected to isolation and other advanced tests at National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal.
A senior official of the NIHSAD told TOI that this strain is the one which has been detected in all the confirmed flu cases in Punjab's Rajpura, Delhi, Gwalior and Kerala this season. "We have faxed and emailed Additional Chief Secretary and Director-General of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Government of Haryana, so that measures to contain the disease can be taken at the earliest," NIH SAD official added.


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Small RNA Sequencing Bioinformatics Capabilities
Seven point small
RNA quality filtering
- Trim 3' adapter from termini
- Base quality filter
- Remove reads <17 nt after trimming
- Remove untrimmed reads
- Remove reads containing 5' adapter
- Remove reads with unknown nucleotides
- Remove low-abundance reads
ORB maintains a well-established, thoroughly vetted, and highly parallelized computational pipeline for rapid and cost-effective processing of small RNA sequencing data from Illumina sequencing runs. Pre-processing small RNA sequencing reads is critical to achieve reliable mapping and quantification; thus ORB utilizes an 7-point quality filter on small RNA sequencing reads to ensure efficient and precise mapping to small RNA databases. Trimmed sequence reads that have passed all quality filters are aligned to genomic and mRNA sequences, and reads mapping to the genome are further mapped to 9 classes of small RNAs, including tRNA, rRNA, snoRNA, microRNA, microRNA precursor hairpins, piRNA, transcripts, retrotransposons, and YRNA.
Seven point small
RNA quality filtering
- Trim 3' adapter from termini
- Base quality filter
- Remove reads <17 nt after trimming
- Remove untrimmed reads
- Remove reads containing 5' adapter
- Remove reads with unknown nucleotides
- Remove low-abundance reads
A wide selection of customizable bioinformatics analysis services are offered to provide our clients with a comprehensive and all-inclusive package to support their data analysis requirements. Examples of customized small RNA analysis include prediction of novel microRNAs based on MirPara 6.2 software, target microRNA-gene pair prediction based on three databases including miRDB, TargetScan, and miRTarBase, and enriched pathway analysis of genes targeted by differentially expressed microRNAs.
ORB's Small RNA Sequencing Data Analysis Packages
- Full sequencing QC report
- Sequence read counts and alignment for known microRNAs
- Fold Changes, 1 and 2 - way ANOVA, t-tests
- Principal Component Analysis (PCA)
- Hierarchical clustering
- PowerPoint summary
- Raw FASTQ files
- Full statistical analysis
- Alignments for other small RNAs - piRNA, snoRNA, snRNA
- Sequence read counts, alignment and hierarchical clustering for novel microRNAs
- MicroRNA target prediction pathway analysis
- Linear and logistic regression
- Logistic regression
- Non-parametric testing
- Mixed-Effect models
- Correlation of microRNA and mRNA sequencing data
- Predictive modeling
Novel miRNA Prediction Pipeline
ORB has developed a comprehensive workflow for predicting novel microRNAs from small RNA sequencing reads using MiRPara.
Small RNA Sample Data Set
Results package of a sample dataset is provided in .zip archive format; to download the package click on the PowerPoint slide image below.
ORB's small RNA sequencing services are frequently utilized in biomarker discovery programs to identify screening, prognostic, and diagnostic markers, particularly with biofluids to support the use of minimally invasive sample collection strategies in the clinical setting. The the co-development of companion diagnostics and therapeutic agents are often supported with small RNA characterization studies and subsequent validation studies with real-time qPCR assays, which can be GLP certified as needed. ORB has created a highly customizable predictive modeling system to identify reproducible and sensitive microRNA biomarkers. Follow the links below for additional details on these applications.


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Wall of Women (Students)
Women in Engineering (Students)
"Welcome to our "Wall of women". We have created this virtual wall to showcase some of the amazing women that are part of the Monash University engineering community. The women featured on this page share their stories about why they chose to study and work in one of the world's most diverse and exciting fields. We hope these experiences will inspire more women to choose a career in Engineering."


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Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, is caused by the presence of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). AIDS was first recognized as a disease in 1981, when it led to the deaths of 130 Americans. The number of annual AIDS-related deaths rose dramatically over the ensuing fourteen years, reaching a peak of 51,414 in 1995. Then, with the introduction of widely available antiretroviral (ARV) therapy in the mid-1990s, the incidence of AIDS deaths in the United States began to decline sharply. Since 1998, the yearly death toll has ranged mostly between 17,000 and 19,000 – with a low of 15,798 in 2004, the lowest total for any year since 1986.
According to UNAIDS, by the end of 2005 there were 1.2 million people infected with HIV/AIDS in North America, of which 43,000 had been diagnosed during that year. All told, between 1981 and 2004 some 944,306 people were diagnosed with AIDS. Fully 56 percent of those – or 529,113 – died of the disease. As a percentage of the overall adult population of the United States, the proportion of people infected with AIDS is 0.7%. The corresponding figures for other regions of the world are as follows:
The most notable crisis is in sub-Saharan Africa, where there are currently 25.8 million people (7.2% of the adult population) living with HIV/AIDS. Each year, there are 3.2 million newly diagnosed HIV/AIDS cases and 2.4 million AIDS-related deaths in that region.
Soon after AIDS was first recognized as a disease, it became the most highly politicized affliction in human history. Gay-rights organizations throughout the United States depicted AIDS victims, most of whom were homosexual men, as people who had been cast aside and forgotten by a "homophobic" society. Activists further contended that Americans, because of their bias against homosexuals, had chosen to devote only meager amounts of funding to scientific research aimed at finding a cure for AIDS. The reality, however, was quite different: As early as 1990, the Public Health Service (PHS) allocated approximately $1.6 billion for AIDS research and education -- more than what was allocated for any other cause of death. In 1990, the CDC spent $10,000 on prevention and education for each AIDS sufferer, as compared to $185 for each victim of cancer and a $3.50 for each cardiac patient.
Gay activists depicted early efforts to curtail the AIDS epidemic by means of public-health measures as further evidence of "homophobia" and "intolerance." Thus they rejected proposals for the closure of bathhouses which had become breeding grounds for AIDS. Likewise, they rejected the prospect of federal laws requiring testing for the AIDS virus or the reporting of AIDS infections. And they rejected public health officials' request that homosexuals not donate blood while the epidemic persisted, as an infringement on their "right" to give blood. Gay-rights activists also undertook a campaign to portray AIDS as an equal-opportunity killer that would soon afflict heterosexuals as much as homosexuals.
The RESOURCES column located on the right side of this page contains links to articles, essays, books, and videos that explore such topics as:
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text: I'm in the middle of reading Osa And Martin : For The Love Of Adventure. You may recall that the Sunset Overlook is dedicated to the adventures of Martin and Osa Johnson. As I work my way through the book we might have to visit here again for more Animal Kingdom Artifacts. :)


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Campa 1 i mBaile na Scrine. Bln8-12 – 4th-8th July
Campa Chormaic > Uncategorized > Campa 1
Join the team!
Interested in working with Campa Chormaic as a teacher or youth leader?
Do you have a passion for the Irish language and Gaelic Games?
We are recruiting for Campa 2019.
Contact Máirtín Ó Gormlaithe at: firstname.lastname@example.com for more details.
Please Note:
The O'Neill's jersey order was processed on Friday 19th May to ensure that all jerseys will be here in time for the camps. Due to this, we cannot guarantee that your son/daughter will get the exact size that they want.
What we are left with after those who registered pre the cut off date have been catered for will be distributed amongst our other participants.


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Uta Knoop / Sigurd Persson
Gross: Starbust candy. Not gross: starburst rings! Pictured above are delicate nylon and gemstone starbursts from Germany's Uta Knoop. Also pictured, in black and white, are silver starburst rings from the 1960s by late, great Swedish silversmith Sigurd Persson (here's a direct link to the rings).
Bonus link: I'm breaking my own "link only to designers' personal websites" rule for the second time in two weeks but how could I resist this Starburst candy wrapper ring? By CandyCalamity, US$9.
Even more jewellery:
- Mathias Bengtsson (London) - magnets & animals
- TriHand (Slovakia) - clear PVC
- Made By Me (Sweden) - briolette basics
- Lisa Leonard (California) - stamped silver
- Christine Pyman (Australia) - flying figures


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Add to Calendar
July 29, 2017 @ 7:30 pm – 11:00 pm
OFF SITE at Behind Courthouse in Nicholasville
Come on out for family fun! This FREE community event features inflatables, face painting, hot dogs and much more. There will also be a big-screen showing of Moana! Don't forget to bring a camping chair or picnic blanket. This evening is sponsored by First Southern National Bank, Jessamine County Public Library, Kentucky One Health Saint Joseph Jessamine, Parks and Recreation, visitnich.com and Chrysler of Lawrenceburg. Activities begin at 7:30 PM and the movie starts at dusk.


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Hi John, > I didn't disagree with rich messages. All manner of enriched text could/should be > available through host language constructs. > > For me it breaks when the "rich" in "rich message" becomes so rich that it isn't a > message anymore. Because then message isn't a base class for whatever you are > ending up with. I think to be worthy of inclusion in XForms, 'message' needs to be a bit 'richer' than just supporting bold text. I specifically chose repeat and group in my comments because they are constructs that 'enrich' the message, whilst still leaving the message in a form that fits your definition of a message (i.e., purely 'output'). For example: Orders #344, #345 and #346 will be sent in one shipment. Please note that the iPod, garden shears and spaghetti drainer are out of stock. Two repeats are needed there. > As you'll see in my response to Leigh, we have to say something about the > semantics of message because it has to do something, but I don't think we > say more than is necessary. My point was that because all you can really say about message is what it does, then we only need to say something about its behaviour in a general, device-independent, sense. You are trying to retrofit semantics onto something which never had any, which is always going to cause problems. > It is a display-only device. This is no different than claiming that the output > element is for display only. We're dealing with abstract controls, so never say 'never'. :) For example, it is trivial to create an output control that renders a Google Map centred on the long/lat value that is contained in the instance node bound to the control. Should the user be prevented from navigating around that map, zooming in and zooming out, adding pushpins, and planning routes? Of course not. So given that an output control can have user interaction, just about all you can say about 'output' is that it should be used in situations where the user should not modify the underlying instance data. The alternative definition--that output "is for display only"--is extremely difficult to pin down when dealing with abstract, device-independent controls. > You say that message is "something that can appear and disappear" whereas > I claim it is "a message that can appear and disappear". If you had defined "message" in the glossary section of XForms 1.0 that would be fine. But to now restrospectively try to impose semantics onto something that has never had any is only going to cause problems. > Moreover, the content > model for message was defined to be only chardata and output elements, not repeats. We've discussed many times that the host language can include its own elements which in turn can include XForms. To see why that is the only way you can really approach this just try the opposite approach: In the XML Schemas we have for compound documents, which support XForms and SVG within XHTML, we allow svg:svg and the XForms model and UI elements inside xh:div and xh:span. We then further allow xh:div inside of xf:message; how do we now *stop* the use of these XForms elements, only when the div and span are inside message? And that is not just a technical question relating to XML Schemas--what is the basis on which we disallow it? How do we define something in XForms that places a limitation on the host language? (I'd have no problems with defining XForms Basic in such a way that you limit what the host language can do.) But I don't even accept that a 'message' is simply 'some output'. The following simple mark-up shows a message--in the sense of 'some output'--but it also collects some information from the user in the process. The 'message' does not 'return' this data; as I've said before, all a message does is render itself, and then wait for the user to dismiss it: <xf:bind nodeset="dontshowagain" type="xsd:boolean" /> <xf:message if="not(dontshowagain)" ev:event="..."> You've done something dumb. <xf:input ref="dontshowagain"> <xf:label>Don't show me this message again</xf:label> </xf:input> </xf:message> We've allowed this kind of functionality in formsPlayer for years, and I'd argue that far from going *against* the spirit of the spec, it is *exactly* the kind of thing that you want from a flexible, declarative, forms language. > So, at the XForms level, a message is a simple textual string created by > concatenating char data with the results of output elements evaluated at > the time the message action is invoked. The host language is free to add > host language constructs that help beautify that text. But form controls are > not text. That is your view, and not one supported by the XForms specification. With respect John, I think you're going to find it very difficult to define such a prescriptive behaviour. Should 'message' also prevent SVG content? If it allows it, should it prevent script handlers from running so that clicking on a red rectangle does not cause a script to execute that updates the instance data? > Finally, note that by erratum, the material relating help to message was removed. Indeed. My point though is that we have a 'container' that has behaviour, and we can build on that conceptually. It's all very well constantly redefining things to be understandable only in their own terms, rather than in relation to other things, but that makes it much more difficult to learn the language. Regards, Mark -- Mark Birbeck CEO x-port.net Ltd. e: firstname.lastname@example.com t: +44 (0) 20 7689 9232 w: http://www.formsPlayer.com/ b: http://internet-apps.blogspot.com/ Download our XForms processor from http://www.formsPlayer.com/Received on Wednesday, 10 January 2007 12:14:13 UTC
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AfriGeneas States Research Forum
[FL] Ponce de Leon, Juan
Ponce de Leon, Juan (1474- July 1521), Spanish explorer and discoverer
Ponce sailed as a gentleman volunteer on Christopher Columbus's
On 23 February 1512 Ferdinand the Catholic signed an agreement
While repairing one of the ships, Ponce and his men traded with
After partially putting down a native rebellion on Puerto Rico,
On 15 February 1521 Ponce again sailed for La Florida with two
Ponce married Leonor Ponce de Leon, perhaps a cousin, while
Robert Weddle, Spanish Sea: The Gulf of Mexico in North American
Paul E. Hoffman
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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said publicly that Iran "doesn't directly threaten the United States." Her momentary lapse came while answering a question at the U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar, on Feb. 14.
Fortunately for her, most of her Fawning Corporate Media (FCM) fellow travelers must have been either jet-lagged or sunning themselves poolside when she made her unusual admission.
And those who were present did Clinton the favor of disappearing her gaffe and ignoring its significance. (All one happy traveling family, you know.)
But she said it: it's on the State Department Web site. Those who had been poolside could even have read the text after showering. They might have recognized a real story there — but, granted, it was one so off-message that it would probably not we welcomed by editors back home.
In a rambling comment, Clinton had lamented that, despite President Barack Obama's reaching out to the Iranian leaders, he had elicited no sign they were willing to engage:
"Part of the goal -- not the only goal, but part of the goal -- that we were pursuing was to try to influence the Iranian decision regarding whether or not to pursue a nuclear weapon. And, as I said in my speech, you know, the evidence is accumulating that that [pursuing a nuclear weapon] is exactly what they are trying to do, which is deeply concerning, because it doesn't directly threaten the United States, but it directly threatens a lot of our friends, allies, and partners here in this region and beyond." (Emphasis added)
The moderator turned to Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Al-Thani and invited him to give his perspective on "the danger that the Secretary just alluded to...if Iran gets the bomb."
Al-Thani pointed to Iran's "official answer" that it is not seeking to have a nuclear bomb; instead, the Iranians "explain to us that their intention is to use these facilities for their peaceful reactors for electricity and medical use...
"We have good relations with Iran," he added. "And we have continuous dialogue with the Iranians."
The prime minister added, "the best thing for this problem is a direct dialogue between the United States and Iran," and "dialogue through messenger is not good."
Al-Thani stressed that, "For a small country, stability and peace are very important," and intimated — diplomatically but clearly — that he was at least as afraid of what Israel and the U.S. might do, as what Iran might do.
All right. Secretary Clinton concedes that Iran does not directly threaten the United States; so who are these "friends" to whom she refers? First and foremost, Israel, of course.
How often have we heard the Israelis say they would consider nuclear weapons in Iran's hands an "existential" threat? But let's try a reality check.
Former French President Jacques Chirac is perhaps the best-known statesman to hold up to ridicule the notion that Israel, with between 200 and 300 nuclear weapons in its arsenal, would consider Iran's possession of a nuclear bomb an existential threat.
In a recorded interview with the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, and Le Nouvel Observateur, on Jan. 29, 2007, Chirac put it this way:
"Where will it drop it, this bomb? On Israel?" Chirac asked. "It would not have gone 200 meters into the atmosphere before Tehran would be razed." Thus, Iran's possession of a nuclear bomb would not be "very dangerous."
Soon, the former French president found himself caught between Chirac and a hard place. He was immediately forced to retract, but did so in what seemed to be so clumsy a way as to deliberately demonstrate that his initial candor was spot on.
On Jan. 30, Chirac told the New York Times:
"I should rather have paid attention to what I was saying and understood that perhaps I was on record. ... I don't think I spoke about Israel yesterday. Maybe I did so, but I don't think so. I have no recollection of that."
The Israeli leaders must have been laughing up their sleeve at that. Their continued ability to intimidate presidents of other countries — including President Barack Obama — is truly remarkable, particularly when it comes to helping to keep Israel's precious "secret," that it possesses one of the world's most sophisticated nuclear arsenals.
Shortly after Obama became U.S. President, veteran reporter Helen Thomas asked him if he knew of any country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons, and Obama awkwardly responded that he didn't want to "speculate."
On April 13, 2010, Obama looked like a deer caught in the headlights when the Washington Post's Scott Wilson, taking a leaf out of Helen Thomas' book, asked him if he would "call on Israel to declare its nuclear program and sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty."
Watch the video, unless you have no stomach for watching our normally articulate President stutter his way through with a mini-filibuster answer, the highlight of which was, "And, as far as Israel goes, I'm not going to comment on their program..."
The following day the Jerusalem Post smirked, "President Dodges Question About Israel's Nuclear Program." The article continued: "Obama took a few seconds to formulate his response, but quickly took the weight off Israel and called on all countries to abide by the NPT."
The Jerusalem Post added that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak chose that same day to send a clear message "also to those who are our friends and allies," that Israel will not be pressured into signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
(Also the following day, the Washington Post made no reference to the question from its own reporter or Obama's stumbling non-answer.)
In his response to Scott Wilson, Obama felt it necessary to tack on the observation that his words regarding the NPT represented the "consistent policy" of prior U.S. administrations, presumably to avert any adverse reaction from the Likud Lobby to even the slightest suggestion that Obama might be ratcheting up, even a notch or two, any pressure on Israel to acknowledge its nuclear arsenal and sign the NPT.
The greatest consistency to the policy, however, has been the U.S. obsequiousness to this double standard. Clearly, Washington and the FCM find it easier to draw black-and-white distinctions between noble Israel and evil Iran if there's no acknowledgement that Israel already has nukes and Iran has disavowed any intention of getting them.
This never-ending hypocrisy shows itself in various telling ways. I am reminded of an early Sunday morning talk show over five years ago at which Sen. Richard Lugar, then chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was asked why Iran would think it has to acquire nuclear weapons. Perhaps Lugar had not yet had his morning coffee, because he almost blew it with his answer:
"Well, you know, Israel has..." Oops. At that point he caught himself and abruptly stopped. The pause was embarrassing, but he then recovered and tried to limit the damage.
Aware that he could not simply leave the words "Israel has" twisting in the wind, Lugar began again: "Well, Israel is alleged to have a nuclear capability."
Is "alleged" to have? Lugar was chair of the Foreign Relations Committee from 1985 to 1987; and then again from 2003 to 2007. No one told him that Israel has nuclear weapons? But, of course, he did know, but he also knew that U.S. policy on disclosure of this "secret" – over four decades -- has been to protect Israel's nuclear "ambiguity."
Small wonder that our most senior officials and lawmakers — and Lugar, remember, is one of the more honest among them — are widely seen as hypocritical, the word Scott Wilson used to frame his question.
The Fawning Corporate Media, of course, ignores this hypocrisy, which is their standard operating procedure when the word "Israel" is spoken in unflattering contexts. But the Iranians, Syrians and others in the Middle East pay closer attention.
As for Obama, the die was cast during the presidential campaign when, on June 3, 2008, in the obligatory appearance before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), he threw raw red meat to the Likud Lobby.
Someone wrote into his speech: "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided." This obsequious gesture went well beyond the policy of prior U.S. administrations on this highly sensitive issue, and Obama had to backtrack two days later.
"Well, obviously, it's going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations," Obama said when asked if he was saying the Palestinians had no future claim to the city.
The person who inserted the offending sentence into his speech was not identified nor fired, as he or she should have been. My guess is that the sentence inserter has only risen in power within the Obama administration.
So, why am I reprising this sorry history? Because this is what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees as the context of the U.S.-Israeli relationship.
Even when Israel acts in a manner that flies in the face of stated U.S. policy – calling on all nations to sign the NPT and to submit to transparency in their nuclear programs – Netanyahu has every reason to believe that Washington's power-players will back down and the U.S. FCM will intuitively understand its role in the cover-up.
L'Affaire Biden – when the Vice President was humiliated by having Israel announce new Jewish construction in East Jerusalem as he arrived to reaffirm U.S. solidarity with Israel -- was dismissed as a mere "spat" by the neoconservative editorial page of the Washington Post.
Rather than Israel making amends to the United States, it has been vice versa.
Obama's national security adviser, James Jones, trudged over to an affair organized by the AIPAC offshoot think tank, Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), last Wednesday to make a major address.
I got to wondering, after reading his text, which planet Jones lives on. He devoted his first nine paragraphs to fulsome praise for WINEP's "objective analysis" and scholarship, adding that "our nation — and indeed the world — needs institutions like yours now more than ever."
Most importantly, Jones gave pride of place to "preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them," and only then tacking on the need to forge "lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians." He was particularly effusive in stating:
"There is no space — no space — between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel's security."
Those were the exact words used by Vice President Joe Biden in Israel on March 9, before he was mouse-trapped by the announcement of Israel's plans for East Jerusalem.
The message is inescapably clear: Netanyahu has every reason to believe that the Siamese-twin relationship with the United States is back to normal, despite the suggestion from CENTCOM Commander, Gen. David Petraeus, earlier this year that total identification with Israel costs the lives of American troops.
Petraeus's main message was that this identification fosters the widespread impression that the U.S. is incapable of standing up to Israel. The briefing that he sponsored reportedly noted, "America was not only viewed as weak, but there was a growing perception that its military posture in the region was eroding."
However, in the address to WINEP, National Security Adviser Jones evidenced no concern on that score. Worse still, in hyping the threat from Iran, he seemed to be channeling Dick Cheney's rhetoric before the attack on Iraq, simply substituting an "n" for the "q." Thus:
"Iran's continued defiance of its international obligations on its nuclear program and its support of terrorism represents (sic) a significant regional and global threat. A nuclear-armed Iran could transform the landscape of the Middle East...fatally wounding the global non-proliferation regime, and emboldening terrorists and extremists who threaten the United States and our allies."
Jacques Chirac may have gone a bit too far in belittling Israel's concern over the possibility of Iran acquiring a small nuclear capability, but it is truly hard to imagine that Israel would feel incapable of deterring what would be a suicidal Iranian attack.
The real threat to Israel's "security interests" would be something quite different. If Iran acquired one or two nuclear weapons, Israel might be deprived of the full freedom of action it now enjoys in attacking its Arab neighbors.
Even a rudimentary Iranian capability could work as a deterrent the next time the Israelis decide they would like to attack Lebanon, Syria or Gaza. Clearly, the Israelis would prefer not to have to look over their shoulder at what Tehran might contemplate doing in the way of retaliation.
However, there has been a big downside for Israel in hyping the "existential threat" supposedly posed by Iran. This exaggerated danger and the fear it engenders have caused many highly qualified Israelis, who find a ready market for their skills abroad, to emigrate.
That could well become a true "existential threat" to a small country traditionally dependent on immigration to populate it and on its skilled population to make its economy function.
The departure of well-educated secular Jews also could tip the country's political balance more in favor of the ultra-conservative settlers who are already an important part of Netanyahu's Likud coalition.
Still, at this point, Netanyahu has the initiative regarding what will happen next with Iran, assuming Tehran doesn't fully capitulate to the U.S.-led pressure campaign. Netanyahu could decide if and when to launch a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, thus forcing Washington's hand in deciding whether to back Israel if Iran retaliates.
Netanyahu may not be impressed – or deterred – by anything short of a public pronouncement from Obama that the U.S. will not support Israel if it provokes war with Iran. The more Obama avoids such blunt language, the more Netanyahu is likely to view Obama as a weakling who can be played politically.
If Netanyahu feels himself in the catbird seat, then an Israeli attack on Iran seems to me more likely than not. For instance, would Netanyahu judge that Obama lacked the political spine to have U.S. forces in control of Iraqi airspace shoot down Israeli aircraft on their way to Iran? Many analysts feel that Obama would back down and let the warplanes proceed to their targets.
Then, if Iran sought to retaliate, would Obama feel compelled to come to Israel's defense and "finish the job" by devastating what was left of Iran's nuclear and military capacity? Again, many analysts believe that Obama would see little choice, politically.
Yet, whatever we think the answers are, the only calculation that matters is Israel's. My guess is Netanyahu would not anticipate a strong reaction from President Obama, who has, time and again, showed himself to be more politician than statesman.
James Jones is, after all, Obama's national security adviser, and is throwing off signals that can only encourage Netanyahu to believe that Jones's boss would scurry to find some way to avoid the domestic political opprobrium that would accrue, were he to seem less than fully supportive of Israel.
Netanyahu has other reasons to take heart with the political directions of Washington.
According to Sunday's Washington Post, the U.S. intelligence community is preparing what is called "a memorandum to holders of Iran Estimate," in other words an update to the full-scale National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) completed in November 2007, which downplayed Iran's nuclear capabilities and intentions.
The NIE's update is now projected for completion this August, delayed from last fall reportedly because of new incoming information.
The Post article recalls that the 2007 NIE presented the "startling conclusion" that Iran had halted work on developing a nuclear warhead. Why "startling?" Because this contradicted what President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney had been saying during the previous months.
It is a hopeful thing that senior intelligence officials from both CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency have, the way the Post puts it, "avoided contradicting the language used in the 2007 NIE," although some are said to privately assert that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon.
The Post says there is an expectation that the previous NIE "will be corrected" to indicate a darker interpretation of Iranian nuclear intentions.
It seems a safe, if sad, bet that the same Likud-friendly forces that attacked experienced diplomat Chas Freeman as a "realist" and got him "un-appointed," after National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair had named him Director of the National Intelligence Council, will try to Netanyahu-ize the upcoming Memorandum to Holders.
The National Intelligence Council has purview over such memoranda, as well as over NIEs. Without Freeman, or anyone similarly substantive and strong, it seems likely that the intelligence community will not be able to resist the political pressures to conform.
Nevertheless, the intelligence admirals, generals and other high officials seem to be avoiding the temptation to play games, so far.
The Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Gen. Ronald Burgess, and the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. James Cartwright, hewed to the intelligence analysts' judgments in their testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee last Wednesday.
Indeed, their answer to the question as to how soon Iran could have a deliverable nuclear weapon, if fact, sounded familiar:
"Experience says it is going to take you three to five years" to move from having enough highly enriched uranium to having a "deliverable weapon that is usable... something that can actually create a detonation, an explosion that would be considered a nuclear weapon," Cartwright told the panel.
What makes Cartwright's assessment familiar – and relatively reassuring – is that five years ago, the director of DIA told Congress that Iran is not likely to have a nuclear weapon until "early in the next decade" — this decade. Now, we're early in that decade and Iran's nuclear timetable, assuming it does intend to build a bomb, has been pushed back to the middle of this decade at the earliest.
Indeed, the Iranians have been about five years away from a nuclear weapon for several decades now, according to periodic intelligence estimates. They just never seem to get much closer. But there's not a trace of embarrassment among U.S. policymakers or any notice of this slipping timetable by the FCM.
Not that NIEs – or U.S. officials – matter much in terms of a potential military showdown with Iran. The "decider" here is Netanyahu, unless Obama stands up and tells him, publicly, "If you attack Iran, you're on your own."
But don't hold your breath.
Ray McGovern served as an Army Infantry/Intelligence officer in the early Sixties before beginning a 27-year career as a Soviet analyst for the CIA, where he worked in all four main directorates. He serves on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) and works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington's inner city.
This article is republished in the Baltimore Chronicle with permission of the author.
Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent.
Baltimore News Network, Inc., sponsor of this web site, is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed in stories posted on this web site are the authors' own.
This story was published on April 26, 2010.


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Movies in the Parks: The Pacifier
This event occurred in the past.
Map | Find Parking
When an elite Navy SEAL fails to keep a scientist safe, he gets a new task: protect the man's five children. Movies begin at dusk, weather permitting. Call for daily listings and weather-related cancellations.


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The Future
I. The basics of the "Last Days" are important to review.
A. The Empires of the Seven Headed Beast set the basic framework for the end times (Revelation 13; 17).
1. Five Empires "are fallen" at the time of the Apostle John: Egypt > Assyria > Babylon > Media and Persia > Grecia
2. One Empire "is" at the time of the Apostle John – Rome
3. One "is not yet come" and is the "Seventh Head" who continues for a "short space," and is "wounded to death" – this empire is still in the future.
4. One is "healed" who "was, and is not," and is the "Eighth Head" – this empire follows the 7th Head, and appears to be after the 1000 year period, during the "little season" in which Satan is "loosed" from the bottomless pit (Revelation 20).
B. The "Great Harlot" sits astride the Beast is the False Churches and False Religious systems of the world which are "riding" the Beast throughout the centuries (Revelation 17:1-6, 16-18).
1. She is satiated with her success and is "the Mother of Harlots and of the abominations of the Earth" and as "the great city which rules the kings" (Revelation 17:4-5, 18).
2. She "sits" on "7 mountains" which are the "7 heads" (17:9).
a. Since Revelation identifies these 7 heads as 7 kings and empires (5 of which are fallen, 1 is, and 1 yet to come), it is clear that this "Great Harlot" has been around since the beginning of this Age.
b. The beginning in this Age was with Nimrod (Genesis 10:8-9) and continues with influence throughout each of the "heads" (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Media and Persia, Greece, Rome, and the 7th and 8th head of the Beast).
3. She is sitting on "waters" here identified as "peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues" (17:15).
C. There are parallel passages in Daniel that identify the key process and players as the future unfolds.
1. Daniel 2:31-45 unveils the "Image" that represents the progress of empires that eventually end with the "stone" that takes over the world.
2. Daniel 7:3-26 provides insight to the character of the empires and focuses on a "little horn" that comes to power prior to the "Son of Man" setting up an everlasting dominion.
3. Daniel 8:3-26 gives another view of the same key empires, but with an emphasis on a "little horn" that has a limited rule (2,300 days).
4. Daniel 9:24-27 specifies "70 weeks" that apply to the nation of Israel – ending with the "consummation." This passage is the pivot upon which the timing of the rapture hinges.
5. Daniel 11:2-4 reiterates the sequence of empires from Babylon. Daniel 11:5 through 12:4 describes a sequence of "north" and "south" battles that end in a final resurrection and eternity.
II. There are several events that are must be completed before the Millennium is ushered in.
A. The "Seventh Head" of the Beast, who has yet to be identified in this Age, is described in Revelation 13:1-3 and 17:10.
1. This is the Empire that "is not yet" and will continue for a "short time."
a. He has the characteristics of the Four Beasts of Daniel 7 and comes into power after the time of the Sixth Head (Revelation 13:1-3)
b. He has power for "short space" (Revelation 17:10)
c. He is wounded "unto death" (Revelation 13:3).
d. He is later "revived" as the "Eight Head" (Revelation 17:11) – probably after the 1,000 years of Revelation 20 when Satan is "loosed" again.
e. He is probably the next "Antichrist" that we will encounter prior to the Millennial Kingdom.
2. This ruler and his empire appear to be synonymous with the "little horn" of Daniel 8:8-14; 20-25.
a. He comes out of the broken empire of Greece, from among the "four horns" that take over from "the great horn" – likely Alexander the Great (Daniel 8:9, 22).
b. He extends his power over the South (Egypt), the East (Iran, Iraq), and the "pleasant land" (Israel). (Daniel 8:9).
c. He will throw down some of the "stars" (Daniel 8:10), take away the "daily sacrifice," and make himself greater than the "Prince of the Host" (Daniel 8:11).
d. He will cause truth to be thrown to the ground (Daniel 8:12).
e. He is a master of intrigue and a "ruler of a fierce countenance" (Daniel 8:23).
f. He will prosper by deceit and will destroy many when they feel most secure (Daniel 8:25).
g. He will continue in power for 2,300 days (Daniel 8:14).
B. The intense time of "Jacob's trouble" is to be expected and endured by the Jewish Nation (Jeremiah 30:7).
1. There will be a war in Palestine that will engulf the region in destruction.
a. Jerusalem is terribly devastated by a "devouring fire" (Isaiah 29:1-6).
b. Damascus and Syria becomes a "ruinous heap" (Isaiah 17:1-9).
c. Moab (Jordan) is "laid waste" (Isaiah 15:1-9).
2. There will be special destruction in Egypt.
a. Egypt will be ruled by a "cruel lord" (Isaiah 19:4).
b. The river will be "wasted and dried up" (Isaiah 19:5-6; Ezekiel 30:11-12).
c. The people will be led away captives to Assyria (Isaiah 20:4-5)
d. The land will be deserted and uninhabited for 40 years (Ezekiel 29:10-12; 30:7).
e. A fire from God destroys (Ezekiel 30:8, 14, 16).
f. The Land to be sold to the wicked (Ezekiel 30:12 see also Daniel 11:39)
g. Ethiopia, Libya and all "that uphold Egypt" are defeated (Ezekiel 30:5-7)
h. Egypt has never had such captivity in history, which makes the fulfillment of these prophecies still future. The time of such an event could only fit in some period that would overlap the beginning of the Millennial Age.
C. This is the time of Gog and Magog who come against Israel (Ezekiel 39).
1. "Gog" (the land) and "Magog" (the people) and "Rosh" (chief prince) is Russia et al. The population also includes those who are "from the remotest parts of the north." (Ezekiel 39:2).
2. Gog and allies are destroyed in an "open field" (Ezekiel 39:5) by a "fire" (39:6) and those who "inhabit the coastlands" will share in the devastation.
3. They are, at least in leadership, composed of the "north parts" (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and perhaps other territories like the Balkans and those associated with "Islamic" rule).
4. Victory for Israel ensures that "the nations will know" that He is the LORD and has stood up for His people (Ezekiel 39:22-29).
III. The probable series of events may proceed as follows:
A. The "Harlot" will grow more powerful and be more clearly "in bed" with the "kings of the earth."
1. This would include some form of widely accepted Ecumenical movement.
2. This would further include "other" religions of the world's worship – at least as far as acceptance and tolerance by Christianity is concerned.
3. This would probably involve inclusion of the "religious" head(s) in some political body like a World Court to provide "membership" – e.g. the Vatican is now a "country" and is recognized by formal diplomatic offices from most of the world powers, including the United States.
4. This would likely formalize an alliance between Egypt and Israel, in spite of the many warnings in Scripture.
a. Israel seeks counsel from Egypt (Isaiah 30:1-2; 31:1-3).
b. Egypt will not provide sufficient help (Isaiah 30:3-7: 31:3; 36:6; Ezekiel 29:6).
B. The 7th Head of the Beast will become recognized by the world media and by the world political powers.
1. If this "head" is the same as the "little horn" of the "rough goat" (Greece) identified in Daniel 8, then his country of origin would be from among the four empires broken off of the Grecian Empire under Alexander the Great.
a. He could be from as far West as Italy.
b. He could be from as far North as Armenia and Azerbaijan.
c. He could be from as far South as Egypt and Ethiopia.
d. He could be from as far East as Iraq and Iran.
2. The likely scenario would involve Iraq (home of Babylon over the centuries), and the country that has had most active ties with the "Gog" and "Magog" of Scripture in modern times.
C. The 7th Head will grow in power, and begin to consolidate his authority, having as an ultimate end, the destruction of Israel.
1. The hallmark of this reign will be the ability to consolidate power without any formal basis from which to rule (Daniel 8:24). It also appears that he may be from an "occult" background with the ability to "understand mysteries" (Daniel 8:23).
2. The nations and leaders who oppose this ruler and his reign, will be destroyed "wonderfully" (by surprise ? - by "unusual means ? - by supernatural means ?) in such a way that "the mighty men" and "the holy people" will be dreadfully ravished (Daniel 8:24).
3. The destruction may well be a combined assault on the entire region.
4. The land of Egypt will be attacked and plundered by "Assyria" (Iran and Iraq), led and inspired by the leadership of the 7th Head (Isaiah 20:3-6; Ezekiel 29-30).
a. The resulting devastation will impact Libya and Ethiopia, and the lands of Arabia – Saudi Arabia today (Ezekiel 30:5).
b. The population, whatever remains, will be led away captive into the lands of "Assyria" (Iran and Iraq) as well as into other nations (Ezekiel 29:12; 30:23; Isaiah 20:3-6).
c. The impact of the attack and plunder will result in a forty-year desolation of the land and captivity of the people (Ezekiel 29:11-12).
D. The nation of Israel will be restored to their land, both politically and spiritually.
1. Israel's conversion and "grafting in" will be like a "resurrection" of the gospel (Romans 11:12, 15)
a. Zechariah 12 & 13 describes this sudden turn around.
b. Ezekiel 36:36-38 – Israel will be increased and waste cities will be filled
d. Zechariah 12:9-14 – each person and family will repent and be saved
2. Israel will be won partially through the mercy of the Gentile churches (Romans 11:30) but will, in turn, be used of God to show "mercy" to the Gentiles (Romans 11:31)
3. Israel's conversion will signal the beginning of the Millennium time.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ
16 The Future
Check out ICR's newest resources!
Unlocking the Mysteries of Genesis is a groundbreaking 12-part DVD series that offers scientific evidence that confirms Genesis as a chronological record of God's creation.
The Book of Beginnings, Vol. 1: Creation, Fall, and the First Age covers early Earth history from creation until just before the Flood, including evidence supporting the accuracy of these foundational chapters of Scripture.
The Book of Beginnings, Vol. 2: Noah, the Flood, and the New World defends the historicity of the biblical account of the Flood and the resulting new world up through the time of Abraham.
The Book of Beginnings, Vol. 3: The Patriarchs, a Promised Nation, and the Dawning of the Second Age traces the events in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph as God begins building the nation through whom He will work out His great plan of redemption.
Living in His Light and His Love
A Life of Loving God's Word in Psalm 119
The Power and Perseverance of Grace
A New You and a New Life
A series of lessons on chapters 1-11 of Genesis
The People and Power of Christ
A series of lessons on the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph
A series on the book of Revelation
Loving God and Loving Others in Exodus 20


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"We work with clients to create activities and events to engage and challenge stakeholders. Identifying what works well, creating a preferred future, designing valued actions to prompt real change and carry through to successful endings and new beginnings"
Here are examples of our work, always seeking the appreciative and strengths-focused routes to assisting clients to develop their capacity for long-term change and service improvement.
Norwich City Council
We worked closely with Council officers, introducing them to Appreciative Inquiry, to support and elaborate a new Council vision and create leadership and management competencies.
AI Written Works: Stories from the field. Norwich City Council – Supporting a Vision
Hull City Council
In Hull, we worked alongside officers to add more pace and energy to a strong transformation effort, adopting Appreciative Inquiry to shape hundreds of conversations across the Council and a 'summit' event involving employees.
AI Written Works: Stories from the Field – Hull City Council
Walsall Local Strategic Partnership
We worked with a metropolitan borough council to develop a vision of 2021 for its communities. We created an AI conversation master guide that helped people to carry out detailed AI conversations with a wide range of organisations and interests in the borough. The conversation material was shared at a major conference of the local strategic partnership (LSP) for the borough and more widely via the LSP's website.
Walsall Borough Strategic Partnership – A Vision for Walsall
West Midlands Fire Service
The West Midlands Fire Service engaged us to work with its senior managers using several Appreciative Inquiry-based 4-D events to create material for the service's vision project. At the same time Oi was asked to equip those officers with sufficient knowledge and confidence of AI to take a more leading role in later visioning activities, including developing and running a vision summit.
AI Written Works: Stories from the Field – Creating a Vision with the West Midlands Fire Service
Require more to help you make decisions about your preferred future? Please contact us.


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Husker Irrigation, LLC. leads in locally owned and operated since 2007. We service all electric brands of pivots, underground pipe sales & installation. We want our customers to continuously grow high quality and profitable crops while also cutting down on man-hours through reduced maintenance issues and minimal monitoring. Our irrigation systems help growers reach their crop yield, energy savings, and water conservation goals. Irrigation systems come with many options that let growers customize their systems to meet their needs and budget. With summer quickly approaching, we want to make sure you are prepared for anything the Nebraska weather brings.
Company details
- Business Type:
- Distributor
- Industry Type:
- Agriculture - Irrigation
- Market Focus:
- Locally (one state or province)