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Key Facts You Must Understand About MLM Ground Floor Opportunities
Developing a manufacturer is not an simple technique specially since the values of services and products continue being increasing high. That's why employing the very best person to execute the job is a must, so you can have ways to save your self some whole if they're qualified enough with regards to construction materials. You will find those who pretend they know everything in the long term, you will find on your own sinking with debts and you can't anymore control building the manufacturer since you may not have anymore finances for the continuation.
Choose usually the one who features a know-how on the job and on the very best services and products to be used. Resources require never to be also expensive but instead be contented on services and products with excellent and lengthier to utilize to save lots of some. Safety and simple action is the major effects of stage materials in a warehouse. Just since the way of corner docking, materials must manage to keeping different products and materials. Modern warehouses are made with the correct surface flatness. Homeowners used to trust a high limit makes a factory more substantial but they are wrong.
A building without stage materials can not succeed and cannot maintain any heavy duty function thus it is only going to attended waste. And today, they are aware that they should rely first on surface performance than on raising the limit of the building. Proper flatness of a floor is vital in the function of raise trucks specially when they are at maximum speed. A poor surface floor impact to bad performance of trucks and different gadgets involved.
A poor surface sparks bad shake to trucks and products that'll eventually injury them. Bad shake not merely influences the products involved but in addition the fitness of the patient operating it since lots of shake might pressure out the body. A level surface is the absolute most significant part in manufacturer construction. It enables vehicle to utilize easily, raising their achievement each day.
Flatness or levelness must certanly be calculated cautiously to attain their best performance. Which can be reached using the F-number measurement. F-number rating is used and prompted by many technicians to have the ability to attain the very best concrete site huiya elevated floor and design. It can be used to monitor their knowledge of changes due to day-to-day operations made. Floor examining must be integrated in the activities to steadfastly keep up their excellent, prevents problems, and stops risk of accidents. An excellent stage surface preserves you time, keeps your power, and best of all, preserves you revenue company operation.
In the first times of design with concrete, about fifty decades back, it had been stunning to find about a developing challenge when 5000 sq feet of concrete surface was located and completed all in a day of work. It had been huiya raised floor unusual to accomplish a mat load of 3000-cubic-yard in less than 24 hours. Medical developments in going that significantly improve putting possible all started in the 60s. Quality get a hold on and concluding techniques but nevertheless had big improvements to take.
Concrete design In the 1980s had noted on two exceptional developments. These developments have improved the team for quality and productivity on concrete surface flatness. A new strategy for surface flatness rating began to produce in 1979 by Allen Knowledge, the president of the Edward W. Knowledge Co. Allen Knowledge had shown a idea in his 1982 record and discovered something that may be used to data and check always surface pages instantly at along construction. Knowledge didn't make use of the term "F numbers" especially but it had offered begin to the proven fact that had served recognized the idea of f-number measurement.
It had been mentioned by Knowledge that there has been two industry types that had pushed the requisite for better concrete surface flatness. First is that numerous warehouses were utilizing new high-lifting material, small-profile in handling gear whereby don't purpose properly on a defective surface flatness. And the second reason is that the lightweight modular partition techniques, which have been trusted today in high-rise company houses, needed seriously to get solidly maintained clearances among the ground and the ceiling.
Face's F-number rating program had fast absorbed the typical 10-foot straightedge method. The shaking screeds had began to get status in the mid-50's. Three years later, a study had unveiled that new kinds of screeding unit that has laser receptors can really achieve off 240 sq feet of surface in an extraordinary speed of less than two minutes. That had permitted a team composed of seven people to screed a stunning 14,000-square-foot surface all in less than five hours. That screed was then produced by contractor in concrete concluding and could be acquired today in the market.
By year 2000, the laser screed was regarded by many to get transformed the way in which concrete is put and how different types of gear are utilized. Paul and Brian Somero, the concrete experts who're behind the development of laser screed, had noticed how of excellent use lasers are in handling graders and bulldozers. Several producers snubbed their strategy in order that they discover support from a technical produce and made the device themselves. A prototyped was built-in 1985 and annually later the first of their sort was sold. It has then easy method to the development of numerous related types that individuals see today.
In front of the Someros have created the device, the typical of day-to-day located concrete is around 5000 to 10,000 sq feet. In these times, it's regular to get 20,000 to 25,000 sq feet day-to-day with exactly the same period of working hours. Actually, the Someros' unit had a massive affect today's surface flatness and levelness.


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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's once solid support among Hispanics is showing a few cracks, a troubling sign for Democrats desperate to get this critical constituency excited about helping the party hold onto Congress in November's election.
Hispanics still overwhelmingly favor the Democratic Party over the Republicans, and a majority still think Obama is doing a good job, according to an Associated Press-Univision poll of more than 1,500 Hispanics. But the survey, also sponsored by The Nielsen Company and Stanford University, shows Obama gets only lukewarm ratings on issues important to Hispanics — and that could bode poorly for the president and his party.
For a group that supported Obama so heavily in 2008 and in his first year in office, only 43 percent of Hispanics surveyed said Obama is adequately addressing their needs, with the economy a major concern. Another 32 percent were on the fence, while 21 percent said he had done a poor job. That's somewhat understandable, given that far more Hispanics have faced job losses and financial stress than the U.S. population in general.
An unfulfilled promise to overhaul the nation's patchwork immigration system, which Hispanics overwhelmingly support, also may be to blame. That's despite the fact that Obama is challenging an Arizona law that requires police, while enforcing other laws, to question a person's immigration status if officers have a reasonable suspicion he or she is in the country illegally.
RELATED: Black & Latino Youths Are Vast Majority In Juvenile Prisons
Still, 57 percent of Hispanics approve of the president's overall job performance compared with 44 percent among the general population in the latest AP national polling. "It's been tough, but I think he's been doing a fair job," says Tony Marte, 33, a physical education teacher in Miami who is a Nicaraguan native. He voted for Obama in 2008 and, so far, likes how Obama has handled the economy.
But Marte's not satisfied with Obama's work on immigration reform. "Nothing has been done," he says and adds that between now and 2012, Obama should, "be looking out for the groups that put him up there. The Latinos. The minorities." He says he'll likely back Obama again but "we'll see."
Rising Clout
The political power of Hispanics now and in the future cannot be overstated. They are the fastest-growing minority group in the U.S. and the government projects they will account for 30 percent of the population by 2050, doubling in size from today. Democrats long have had an advantage among Hispanics and maintained it even as George W. Bush chipped away at that support. Obama erased the Republican inroads during his 2008 campaign, winning 67 percent of their vote to 31 percent for Republican nominee John McCain. And Hispanics consistently gave Obama exceptionally strong marks in his first year as president.
RELATED: Black And Hispanic Patients Experience Delays In Skin Cancer Diagnosis
With the first midterm congressional elections of Obama's presidency in three months, the poll shows a whopping 50 percent of Hispanic citizens call themselves Democrats, while just 15 percent say they are Republicans. Among Hispanics, 42 percent rate the economy and the recession as the country's biggest problem; unemployment and a lack of jobs come in at 23 percent.
Ascencion Menjivar, an Honduran native who is a cook in Washington, isn't sold on the administration's approach to creating jobs and is waiting for a solution to get the economy back on track. "I think it'll be a long process," says Menjivar, 30. Still, he says Obama — "a genius" — eventually will make it happen.
Patricia Hernandez Blanco of Miami, 38, is less confident that recovery is under way. "I'm not sure it's improving," she says. Even so, this Cuban who voted for McCain, says she would now cast a ballot for Obama.
Re-electing Obama would be "really stupid," counters Carlos Toledo of Puerto Rico, an independent voter, a clothing store manager and a self-defense instructor in Washington. Toledo, 35, disagrees with Obama's economic policies and says he worries about joblessness as budgets are cut and money is spent on wars despite the country's debt.
Behind economic woes, immigration comes in second in importance.
Since the controversy over the Arizona law erupted in April, Hispanics who mostly speak English at home gave Obama higher marks on his handling of their top issues than did Hispanics who primarily speak Spanish and who tend to be more recent immigrants or non-citizens. Analysts say it's possible that the more English-dominant
Hispanics rallied around the president following the enactment of the Arizona law and his challenge to it; some 40 percent of them approved of his performance on their key issues before Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the law in April but the figure rose to 52 percent in the weeks after.
A Woman First?
The poll also showed that two years after witnessing Hillary Rodham Clinton's White House bid, Hispanics are twice as likely to expect to see a woman than a fellow Hispanic become president. Some 59 percent said it is likely that a woman will be elected president sometime in the next two decades while just 29 percent thought it likely that a Hispanic will be elected president over that period. And, 34 percent of non-citizen Hispanics thought the country is likely to have a Hispanic president, compared with 27 percent of citizens.
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Also, a significant percentage of Latinos — 41 percent — said they are more likely to vote for a candidate who is Hispanic.
The AP-Univision Poll was conducted from March 11 to June 3 by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. Using a sample of Hispanic households provided by The Nielsen Company, 1,521 Hispanics were interviewed in English and Spanish, mostly by mail but also by telephone and the Internet. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Stanford University's participation in the study was made possible by a grant from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Tropical Storm Warning Issued Along East Coast, Here's How It Will Impact Maryland
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Memphis Jail Deputies Indicted For Beating Black Inmate To Death
NJ Airport Restaurant That David Brooks Falsely Complained About Is Black-Owned
Wisconsin County Leader Whines He Can't Get Grants Because His 'Skin Is Too White'
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'Go Back To Africa': Black Reporter's Lawsuit Claims NFL Owner Was Racist On Zoom Call

subset: commoncrawl


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Mad Catz is unveiling their new controllers for Street Fighter IV, a HAWX compatible flight stick and their latest PC flight stick at this year's Consumer Electronics Show.
The Saitek Aviator Flight Stick comes in an Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 model, but both are fully PC compatible. The controllers include an oversized flat base for increased stability, three dedicated Fire Buttons, a Combat Trigger, POV (point-of-view) Analog Stick and a throttle lever. The controllers also include a two position mode switch.
The 360 version includes an integrated Live headset connector and an Xbox Guide button, while the PS3 version includes a Home button.
Mad Catz says the sticks are fully compatible with Ubisoft's upcoming flight sim Tom Clancy's: HAWX. The sticks, which ship later this month, will sell for $50.
The Street Fighter IV Arcade FightStick for the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 includes dual-speed Turbo functionality for each of the eight buttons complete with LED Indicators, and an integrated D-Pad switch. The start and select/back Buttons have been moved to the rear of the stick, which also includes a top panel that can hold character cards which show each character's special moves.
The Street Fighter IV FightPad for the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 includes an enlarged circular eight-way floating D-Pad and arcade style six-button configuration. An integrated D-Pad switch allows gamers to alternate between D-Pad and Analog Sticks.
The Street Fighter IV Arcade FightStick: Tournament Edition for the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 uses the same Japanese style ball-handled joystick and 30mm Action Buttons found in the official Street Fighter IV Vewlix arcade cabinet. The stick also has the D-Pad control switch, dual Turbo functionality for each button, and exact button layout matching the Vewlix Street Fighter IV arcade panel.
The Street Fighter IV Faceplate and Console Skinz for the Xbox 360and Playstation 3 lets gamers customize their consoles.
The Street Fighter IV Wall Scroll us basically a giant sticker you slap on your wall.
The Cyborg X Flight Stick is a PC flight stick with a trigger, eleven programmable buttons, a shift function to double the program options, two levers and a scroll wheel.
The X also uses some components which can be removed or folded away to make it easier to store the controller. The stick's handle attaches to the base with a secure screw collar and the left and right feet of the tripod base fold in and out of the body. When extended, the legs click into place to create a secure and stable platform for the stick.
The stick, set to hit in the first quarter, will sell for $50.
Am I the only one more than a little disturbed that Mad Catz still isn't telling us officially how much their Street Fighter gear is going to sell for?
Sure, we've heard that the gamepad may sell for $40, the stick for $70 and the collector's edition for $140, but why no mention in their press releases?


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The Independent Living Center and the Aging and Disability Resource Center offer information and consultation with attorneys specializing in Social Security, disability, military veterans and Medicaid issues. The attorneys visit from 9 a.m. to noon May 29 in the Homer Senior Center dining room annex. They will be available for consultations in the afternoon until 5 p.m. at the Independent Living Center. The symposium and consultations are free and open to the public.
Visiting and speaking are Paula Jacobson, an attorney specializing in Social Security, disability and veterans issues, and Amrit Kaur Khalsa, an attorney specializing in Medicaid, Medicaid qualifying trusts and guardianship issues.
To make appointments, call Kim Burrows at 235-7911.


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Quest Academy West Campus
Hitchcock Design Group led the project team in the design and implementation of improvements to the west campus of Quest Academy. These improvements included the development of a multi-use athletic field and multi-use sports court for basketball, badminton and paddle tennis; and the ability for added programming opportunities during winter months. Additional improvements to the west campus involved the creation of an amphitheater with seating for 100 people that not only provides a space for education opportunities but also performances and story-telling. Flexible outdoor classrooms and growing gardens were added to compliment the curriculum and allow students the ability to have a fully integrated learning experience with nature.
Let's build a relationship that helps you reach your planning and landscape architecture goals.
Craig Phillips
"One of Hitchcock's strengths is the amount of work they put in when they're getting to know a community. They show you they really understand the issues your community is considering. They're very thorough in their approach. It's clear they've done their homework."
Mike DeRouin
"With Hitchcock, I felt like they really went above and beyond, and they're extremely responsive. They take more of a leadership role, which is helpful, especially with a complicated project."
Steve Gulden
"Some architects will just say 'how dare you!' but Hitchcock encourages changes. Relationships and creativity is what it boils down to—it's why I like them the best and what sets them apart from others."
Cee Cee Hodgson
"Their work comes with a level of empathy with the user to say 'it's more than plants. How can this be an uplifting space? How can this invigorate someone?' That's different. That's unique."
Ann Ziegelmaier
"Communication, creativity, meeting timeliness, meeting institutional expectations; we're not an easy client. Hitchcock goes out of their way to work with us."
Tim Brennan
"What keeps coming back to me is their willingness, their ability, and their responsiveness to help manage the situation at hand."
Doug Sampson
"They've earned our trust. They listen to us and come back with solutions that really meet our needs. They let you start to dream …"
Jim Basala
"Hitchcock thinks beyond straight lines and 90-degree angles."
Jonathan Kubow
"Hitchcock goes out of their way to make sure they're responsive, helpful, and doing things that aren't necessarily their responsibility. They're just all-around quality. Any project that I do going forward they will always, always be included in my RFP, whether it's city or suburban."
Patrick Lyons
"They work in a very collaborative manner in discussions and presentations. They make sure you fully understand it. If there are any questions at all, they can help you with it."


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NEW DELHI (AFP) - India must stop its doctors from prescribing "irrational" treatments to cure tuberculosis, medical humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Saturday, warning the practice is increasing drug-resistant strains of the disease.
India is already home to the highest number of tuberculosis (TB) sufferers globally with two million cases every year and drug-resistant strains are on the rise, MSF said in a statement ahead of World TB day on Monday.
TB patients in India face a potentially "grave risk of developing drug-resistant TB due to irrational prescribing practices", MSF said.
While huge strides have been made in controlling TB worldwide, the emergence of deadly strains that cannot be cured with existing medicines has turned the illness into one of the globe's most urgent health concerns.
India's government has already said it seeking to tackle deepening TB drug resistance with a wide-ranging national diagnostic and treatment programme for the communicable, airborne disease that usually attacks the lungs.
But MSF urged health authorities to go farther and implement a "standardised first-line daily tuberculosis treatment regimen" in the public and private health sectors.
With public health care services overstretched, many TB patients turn to private doctors who have "never been trained to use TB drugs in a proper way", Leena Menghaney, India coordinator of MSF's Access Campaign, told AFP.
MSF said some prescriptions are "completely inappropriate".
"When the patients get to us, they have become resistant to the drugs and it becomes far harder to treat them," Menghaney said.
India, whose vast pharmaceutical industry churns out an ever-growing supply of copycat medicines to combat life-threatening diseases, has the largest private TB drug market.
There is "rampant proliferation" of TB drugs in a wide variety of dosages and combinations, and the emergence of drug-resistant strains in the country of 1.2 billion people is increasingly being linked to poor regulation, MSF said.
India's drug regulation is already under heavy fire from US authorities over another issue - worries about the quality of the country's medicines following a string of recalls.
Other countries have already taken steps to curb drug-resistant TB by ensuring drug regulators strictly regulate TB drugs in the private market, Menghaney said.
"Governments like Brazil have even taken the additional step of making the public sector the primary distributor of all TB drugs," Menghaney added.
TB is still the world's second most deadly infectious diseases among adults, after HIV/AIDS, and every year kills 1.3 million people and causes nearly nine million to fall ill, according to UN figures.
While TB is curable, one third of those who have it - some three million people - do not get the treatment they need, often because they are poor.
The World Health Organisation estimates India has 64,000 patients with drug-resistant TB.
"India can ill afford to delay" reforms in policies to treat TB, said Menghaney, calling the number of drug-resistant TB cases in the country "alarming".
Some doctors have warned drug-resistant TB could spin out of control.
Before modern treatments were developed in the 1940s, TB killed two-thirds of sufferers.


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"I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father's child has." . . . . President Abraham LincolnThere have been 44 presidents in the history of the United States.* Enjoy browsing around. Learn a little about the presidents, play some games, and vote for your favorite president. Find your way back to this page by clicking on BlackDog wearing the stove-pipe hat.
I thought Obama was President number 43?


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Use the form above to find your loved one. You can search using the name of your loved one, or any family name for current or past services entrusted to our firm.Click here to view all obituaries
Most of us want to plan ahead-- but when it comes to end-of-life planning, many have a difficult time starting the funeral pre-planning process.
We're here to help. In this section, you can learn why it's important, how it works, and exactly what's involved in pre-need funeral planning. Call us at 281-441-2171 with any questions you may have.
CLICK HERE for the advanced planning brochure from the Texas Department of Banking for purchasing prepaid funerals benefits,
OR copy and paste the link below in a separate browser:


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1-Mattis Justo Quam
1-consectetur. Curabitur blandit tempus porttitor. Praesent commodo cursus magna, vel scelerisque nisl consectetur et. Duis mollis, est non commodo luctus, nisi erat porttitor ligula, eget lacinia odio sem nec elit.
Need a Ride?
Karly Kolaja '11
In theory, everything in Chestertown is within walking distance. But when you've been up all night cramming for a psychology exam and are in serious need of an Alaskan from Play It Again Sam, you don't have time to go for a leisurely stroll. And if you're a few minutes late for a movie at the Chester Five, you have to get in your car.
Enter the Student Government Association (SGA)'s bike share program.
The brainchild of environmental studies major and SGA secretary of the environment Jenny Lee '13, the program gives members of the College community a new option.
"Chestertown has very limited public transportation, and many students rely on their cars," says Lee. "I wanted to start a program that would help lessen the dependence we have on cars, and provide people with a fun, safe, and convenient way to get around."
In order to get the program up and running, Lee did a little research. After studying bike shares at other colleges and universities, she came up with an approach tailored to meet Washington College's needs. Then, she enlisted the help of fellow environmental studies major and SGA parliamentarian Jeff Sullivan '14.
"Jenny and I met with Chester River Outfitters and ordered bikes, and then got the paperwork started with the school administration," says Sullivan.
"We really enjoy working with everyone doing this," says director of public safety Jerry Roderick. "It is a fantastic program and, as we have learned, it is very popular. We get a lot more traffic in the office these days."
After a trial period last spring, the bike share was ready for its debut.
So far, it's been a hit. Registration during the pilot period reached Sullivan and Lee's anticipated mark, and it's only continued to grow. In fact, the program's main challenge seems to stem from its popularity.
"We only have 12 bikes, so everyone cannot use them for as long as they want," says Lee. "Most people have been very cooperative, though."
And so has the SGA. The original 10 bikes the group purchased had 26-inch tires, which made them pretty uncomfortable for some of the shorter riders. But with the addition of two smaller bikes, the small in stature can take part too.
Interested riders (faculty and staff included) are encouraged to sign up. Participants simply have to pay a onetime fee, and can then go down to Public Safety and check out a bike whenever they like.


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Senator: Net neutrality may not happen
Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens seems lukewarm to mandatory Net neutrality, and analysts say it's not a good idea.
Ted Stevens, the Alaska Republican who chairs the Commerce Committee, told reporters that he supports the idea of Net neutrality--that is, legally requiring network providers to treat everyone equally--in principle.
"But I don't know yet what's going to be in the bill," Stevens added, according to a transcript. "It's going to take votes of the committee to put things in the bill. We're going to have an enormous number of items that people want to put in."
Because Stevens' committee is the Senate panel responsible for updating the 1996 Telecommunications Act, his lukewarm endorsement of Net neutrality could be a setback for companies that have been pressing for it to be mandated by law. Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, eBay, Amazon.com, Skype and liberal advocacy groups have been pressing Congress for strict laws in this area.
Net neutrality, also called network neutrality, is the idea that the companies that own the broadband pipes should not be able to configure their networks in a way that plays favorites--allowing them, for example, to transmit their own services at faster speeds, or to charge Net content and application companies a fee for similar fast delivery.
Executives at Verizon Communications, BellSouth and the newly merged AT&T and SBC Communications have recently talked about the desirability of a two-tiered Internet in which some services--especially video--would be favored over others. Those companies are spending billions to improve their networks and appear to be trying to find new sources of revenue.
During an afternoon hearing before Stevens' committee, some Wall Street analysts expressed skepticism that aggressive new laws on Net neutrality were necessary.
"The very idea that third parties who benefit from Internet infrastructure investments--say, Google and Yahoo--might economically contribute in some way to these costs has been roundly greeted as if it is a threat to basic liberties," said Craig Moffett, an equity research analyst at Sanford Bernstein who studies the cable and satellite sector.
If some of the current proposals for Net neutrality were enacted, it would, Moffett said, "likely trigger a host of unintended consequences. Mandated 'Net Neutrality' would further sour Wall Street's taste for broadband infrastructure investments, making it increasingly difficult to sustain the necessary capital investments."
Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, introduced a bill this month that would bar network providers from blocking or degrading Internet connections and favoring those of companies that pay for peppier access.
Aryeh Bourkoff, managing director and senior analyst at UBS who follows the cable TV, satellite and entertainment sectors, also testified that a welter of regulations would be premature.
"I believe that it is too early to introduce regulation on key issues such as a la carte packaging and pricing and on Net neutrality as the market is still in its early stages," Bourkoff said. "Instead, I feel that at this point it is essential that market forces and consumer demand drive the economic model."
In a statement released this month, Cisco Systems said it supported the general principles of Net neutrality but also warned that "imposing specific network neutrality rules now to address hypothetical problems would only compound the problem." Rather, Cisco said, the Federal Communications Commission could take specific actions if warranted--even without new legal authority.


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It was Michael Barone who, early in President Obama's first term, described the Obama administration as "gangster government." With Obama now re-elected, his administration's gangsterism has shifted into high gear. Consider the following news stories from just the last 24 hours:
* Dinesh D'Souza, who made a popular documentary film critical of Obama, has been indicted on felony charges by a U.S. Attorney in New York for using straw contributors to donate $20,000 to a friend's Senate campaign in 2012. I have no idea whether the allegations are truthful or not. But in both 2008 and 2012, the Obama campaign deliberately solicited and received illegal campaign contributions online. By disabling standard security measures, the Obama campaign invited, and undoubtedly received, contributions from foreign citizens, contributors who had already donated the maximum permissible amounts, felons, and others. Where is the criminal investigation of the Obama campaign, or, for that matter, of any Obama donor? There hasn't been one. Selective enforcement of the laws is a hallmark of gangster governments.
* For the last two years, Obama's IRS has been investigating the Friends of Abe, Hollywood's only conservative group, and has held up approval of the organization's 501(c)(3) status. The IRS has asked for information that would include the Friends' membership list, which would then allow it to harass individual conservatives. As far as I can tell from news accounts, the Friends of Abe have done nothing that isn't universal among 501(c)(3) organizations that relate to current events or political philosophy. And, as far as has been reported, the IRS isn't investigating any of Hollywood's many liberal groups.
* The U.S. Attorney's office in New Jersey has subpoenaed records from Chris Christie's reelection campaign and the state's Republican Party, seeking to keep the George Washington Bridge controversy alive. Bear in mind that U.S. Attorneys are political appointees of the president. Barack Obama and Eric Holder have politicized the Department of Justice to an extent never before seen.
* Obama's DOJ has sued Standard & Poor's. S&P's CEO says the lawsuit is retaliation for S&P's downgrade of U.S. bonds, and that Tim Geithner threatened him with such legal action as payback for S&P's failure to toe the Obama administration line. There is considerable circumstantial evidence, as well as sworn testimony, supporting that claim.
* I know from personal experience that the IRS harasses Republican campaign contributors and Holder's Department of Justice has groundlessly threatened Republican donors with criminal prosecution. These cases don't make headlines because DOJ backs off when they can't come up with even a "ham sandwich" indictment. But imagine how chilling it must be to be summoned before a grand jury, for absolutely no reason other than political retaliation, as the subject of a criminal investigation.
Then, of course, we have whole additional categories of lawlessness, such as Obama's illegal, extra-constitutional decrees altering the Affordable Care Act in a desperate effort to delay some of its more baleful effects until after the midterm elections. Taken together, the gangsterism currently on display in Washington should be of deep concern to all Americans of either party.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.


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17 New Cases of China Viral Outbreak
BEIJING (AP) -- Seventeen more people in central China have been diagnosed with a new form of viral pneumonia that has killed two patients and placed other countries on alert as millions of Chinese travel for Lunar New Year holidays.
In total, 62 cases of the novel coronavirus have been identified in the city of Wuhan, where the virus appears to have originated. The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission reported the new cases in a statement Sunday.
Nineteen of those individuals have been discharged from the hospital, while two men in their 60s — one with severe preexisting conditions — have died from the illness. Eight are in critical condition.
At least a half-dozen countries in Asia and three U.S. airports have started screening incoming airline passengers from central China. The list includes Thailand and Japan, which have together reported three cases of the disease in people who had come from Wuhan.
In the most recently diagnosed group, ages ranged between 30 and 79, Wuhan's health commission said. Their initial symptoms were fever and cough.
The health commission's statement did not say whether these patients had visited the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which has been suspended after many infected individuals reported having either worked at or visited the venue.
Li Gang, director and chief physician of the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told state broadcaster CCTV that "the infectivity of the new coronavirus is not strong." Infectivity refers to how rapidly the virus may spread between individuals.
Most patients are experiencing mild symptoms, Li said, and no related cases have been found in more than 700 people who came into close contact with infected patients.
This "does not rule out the possibility of limited human-to-human transmission, but the risk of continuous human-to-human transmission is low," Li said. "With the implementation of our various prevention and control measures, the epidemic can be prevented and controlled."
The Chinese government is keen to avoid a repeat of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, another coronavirus that started in southern China in late 2002 and spread to more than two dozen countries, killing nearly 800 people.


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01 Mar 1999 Latin American Nations Use U.S. Legal System for Profit
Greedy plaintiffs attorneys making back-room deals with elected officials, massive contingency fee deals, untested legal theories, multi-billion dollar claims – sounds like another day in the U.S. court system, doesn't it?
But this time the perpetrators are five Latin American nations – Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Venezuela1 – all intent on abusing the U.S. system at the expense of U.S. taxpayers.
Spurred on by the U.S. tobacco settlement, a handful of America's wealthiest personal injury lawyers have persuaded these Latin American governments to sue the tobacco industry in the U.S., using the U.S. court system to do it.
Why use the U.S. court system and not that of their own country?
One reason is that these governments have decided they would rather sue the U.S.-based multi-nationals than the local tobacco companies that actually sell cigarettes in their countries.
Apparently they don't want to upset their local economy, but upsetting ours is okay.
Another reason is that many Latin American countries have "loser pays" rules in their judiciaries. These rules, which work well in Britain and which some say the United States should adopt, make it possible for the winners of a lawsuit to get their expenses reimbursed by the losers. This procedure makes it less likely that someone will file a lawsuit if they are not sure that they have a good case.
Finally, the lawyers and the governments believe that U.S. juries are more likely to hand out fat awards. They aren't wrong there. CSX Transportation (formerly Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad) was once found liable for $2.5 billion in punitive damages by a New Orleans jury for a train tank-car fire in which no one was hurt on a train that CSX did not own, repair, transport or load.2 Tobacco litigation is so lucrative for lawyers that attorneys representing just three U.S. states in tobacco litigation will be paid $8.2 billion – with a "b."3
Will these Latin American governments succeed? Not necessarily. These governments probably believe U.S. tobacco companies would rather settle than fight. What they may not realize, however, is that the U.S. settlement was at least in part due to the fact that several U.S. states passed laws that removed legal defenses for the tobacco companies. But those laws won't help foreign countries.
The other circumstance these countries may not realize is that these were U.S.-based companies dealing with a U.S. problem. The tobacco settlement dealt with not only money, but with a whole host of regulatory concerns applicable to the U.S. as a whole.
The holes in these cases are a mile wide. By neglecting to name their local tobacco companies as defendants, and instead seeking to harm U.S.-based corporations, their employees, stockholders and, ultimately, U.S.-based suppliers and farmers, the Latin American governments underscore the absurdity of their cases.
On top of that, there is no statutory authority for these suits. These are sovereign nations who made local decisions about how to tax and regulate tobacco consumption in their own nations. The U.S. legal system doesn't cover them. But because the U.S. is rich, and our legal system not infrequently bestows incredibly high (some would say, abusively high) awards, these nations prefer try their luck in the U.S., hoping that the U.S. court system will deliver them an easy payday.
Most Americans are unlikely to be wild about the idea of U.S. companies, U.S. stockholders and U.S. employees paying the health care bills of foreign governments.
The hypocrisy of these suits is stunning. Most Latin American countries have rejected a U.S. style tort system with all of its attendant excesses, but now that they see the potential for a pot of gold they are all-too-willing to use the U.S. system to accomplish their ends.
Adding to the hypocrisy is that fact that for decades these governments have been the primary beneficiaries of tobacco sales in their own nations, collecting two dollars on average for every dollar collected in sales by the tobacco industry. Now they are saying that tobacco has cost them money, and they need to be reimbursed – but not from local tobacco merchants, but from the U.S.
Every Latin American country has the power to regulate and tax tobacco as it sees fit. Using the U.S. court system instead of their own costs U.S. taxpayers the expense of paying for their trials and the inevitable appeals.
American citizens are spending tax dollars right now to help Latin American nations clean up after Hurricane Mitch. Should they respond by hiring U.S. lawyers to help them clean up in American courts?
Amy Ridenour is president of The National Center for Public Policy Research. Comments may be sent to [email protected].
Footnotes:1 Saundra Torry, "New Attacks in the Tobacco Wars: Other Nations File Suit in U.S. Courts Seeking Damages from Industry," Newsday, January 20, 1999; "Another Latin American Country Files Suit in the U.S. Against Tobacco Companies," Business Wire, December 10, 1999; "Venezuela Latest to Sue U.S. Tobacco Firms," Business Wire, January 28, 1999; "Venezuela Sues Big Tobacco," UPI, January 27, 1999; "Venezuela Sues Tobacco Industry in Miami," Reuters, January 27, 1999.
2 "Firm Penalized $2.5 Billion for Accident They Did Not Cause and in Which No One Was Hurt," Legal Briefs newsletter, The National Center for Public Policy Research, Issue Eight, September 26, 1997.
3 Samuel Goldreich, "Lawyers in Tobacco Deal Win $8.2 Billion in Fees," Washington Times, December 12, 1998. See also: Amy Ridenour, "Billion-Dollar Legal Paydays Hurt Ordinary Americans," National Policy Analysis #230, The National Center for Public Policy Research, January 1999.


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A gifted actor who's lately been turning heads on both sides of the Atlantic, Harry Lloyd landed the role of Viserys Targaryen, the exiled prince yearning to restore his family to the rule of the Seven Kingdoms. As Daenerys's brother, he has been an antagonist who's dominated her entire life… until she marries Khal Drogo, and among the Dothraki finds independence and courage she didn't know she had before.
In the following interview, we discuss how Lloyd prepared for his role, the question he'd most like to ask author George R.R. Martin regarding the series, and more!
One of the things fans always seem to wonder about is if actors are fans of the genre they're working in. Would you say you're a fan of fantasy literature? If not, are there any particular genres of literature you're fond of?
I wouldn't say I was a fan of fantasy before but nor was I sceptic! I had read Tolkein and various fantasy children's books when I was little. But I have always been drawn to other worlds I suppose, be it a futuristic comic or a historical novel. I like it when a world unfamiliar to me is built from the ground up with the detail of my own.
When you auditioned for Viserys, what sort of research did you choose to do into the character? Did you take a look at the book right off, or just Googled a bit, or none of the above?
There wasn't time to do too much for my first audition. I only had sides from a few scenes from ep 1. I think I wikipedia'd him a bit and found out roughly what was going on but was intimidated by the scale of the story so I just stuck to the script and kept it simple. I didn't read the book until I had the part.
What were the aspects of the character that interested you most in him?
Just the more I found out about him the more I liked him. His relationship with his dead family, how he feels about his sister, how he sells himself, how he sees himself, his crazy cool hair, his his two amazing swords (which he's never used), his dragon ring. I just love the storyline – find it fascinating.
When you filmed for the pilot, Pentos was being filmed in Morocco. For the reshoots, it was Malta. How'd you find both locations? Did you find opportunities to play tourist?
Morocco was great but Malta was better. I had filmed in Ouarzazate in Morocco before and though beautiful is a bit of a ghost town in the desert with a film studio and a huge Ridley Scott set and not much else. So I came prepared with swimming trunks and books. Malta (despite the shitty weather we had when I was there) was more scenic and I did wander round a bit. Every Empire in Europe has been through it at some point and everyone's left their mark. Kind of interesting when you're playing a prince dreaming of invasion…
You've played Will Scarlett in the British _Robin Hood_ series, which looks like a first brush with this sort of medieval costume drama. How'd that experience compare with filming Game of Thrones?
My God it feels like a different world! I suppose there are visual similarities in terms of sets and extras dressed as peasants and horses etc.. But the way they were shot and the stories being told and the part I was playing couldn't be further apart!
How much did having a sense of the wider story, and the background of Viserys, his family, and their history, help you in your performance? You've mentioned in an interview with the Evening Standard that at one point you felt you had to really put the book aside to make the character your own.
Reading around the Book 1 storyline ended up comprising the bulk of my preparation I suppose. Being the last Targaryen left (almost) I thought it was really important that I knew where I came from and what I was trying to save. And by the time I had as full a picture as I could get, I found it very easy to be frustrated by the fact that NO-ONE CARES ABOUT ANY OF THIS!
There's a scene in the sixth episode which Linda and I thought very beautifully written and acted. It reminds us a bit of George's quote about each character being the hero of his own story. When someone's cast as something of a villain, how do you approach them, to humanize them? Do you try to justify their misdeeds?
I'm so glad you like that scene I think that was my favourite Viserys scene as well in the end. Every character, villain or not, is the hero of his own story. What's great about GoT is that the writing allows each actor to really explore that in their parts. Everyone's come from somewhere and going somewhere else and has obstacles to surmount. They're not on the whole tools for a mechanical plot. The plot is twisty and surprising because it is led by the actions of its really human characters.
For Viserys, once I knew his story, I never felt I had to justify his misdeeds. It all became very clear. Means to an end. What he's fighting for is bigger than everything else. It really doesn't matter if someone's feelings get hurt. Tough but fair I say!
When doing the pilot I did write a kind of personal history for V from life at court to exile to the present day. Just to piece together all the snippets of information I had. And once you see things from his point of view and the sheer trauma of it, you couldn't expect the guy to be a nice well-adjusted individual! That became my bible in the end and any time I got lost or couldn't remember why he was being such an asshole, I read that and it was all clear again. Think that's why I put the novel away after the pilot because I needed to read HIS book, not his sister's.
Were you relieved or envious that you didn't have lines in Dothraki?
Relieved! Though I did enjoy hearing Jason speak it.
You've a fun scene with Roxanne McKee part way through the series, in which you end up discussing dragons. But you're both sitting in a bath at the time. Did that require many takes? Actors tend to complain about getting stuck in cold water for hours on end…
You know what? The studio was bloody freezing but the water was really warm, they kept topping it up between setups. It was water and powdered milk to make it look like Dothraki mare's milk I think so the problem was more the way I smelt afterwards than the temperature during!
We've heard the shooting schedule was pretty strenuous on Malta. What do you do between takes when there was a long set up? Is it a time to relax, maybe read or listen to music, or is it all about going over lines?
It really depends on the scene. There was lots of hanging around during the 3 days on the wedding scene. And because of weather screwing us around I had to miss giving a reading at a friend's wedding in London. So on those days I went round the amazing looking extras and got loads of them plus the cast to record a line of my speech each into my laptop and stuck it all together and sent it off home. That was really fun – you gotta stay awake on those long crowd days because before you know it the camera will suddenly be on you! But most downtime not nearly so much fun…
What's the most memorable or intriguing aspect of the setting or the story for you?
I am really interested in the calsh of cultures between the Westerosi (esp the Targaryens) and the Dothraki. There's something very true and intriguing about that part of the story to me. And of course those mysterious eggs…
As you read it, there's various mysteries in the books, some of which have been answered, some which haven't. Have you spoiled yourself by Googling a bit, or did you ever come up with your own theories?
I have heard bits and bobs from beyond where I've read but I haven't purposefully sought it out. I do always love hearing about it though. Had a long chat with Gethin Anthony about Book 2 last week which he's just read where I sat down for an hour or two just saying 'Nooo!' and 'Shiiit!' And I did get a couple of juicy facts from GRRM himself…
If you could ask GRRM one question about the series that he _had_ to answer, what would it be?
Will Daenerys ever set foot in King's Landing? (Though I'm not sure I want to know…)
Some actors say they hate watching themselves perform on screen, and avoid doing so. Do you feel the same? If not, are you planning to watch the show to see how it all plays out on screen?
The first watch is always cringey for sure. I went to screening of eps 1 and 2 and everyone in the cast there said the same: 'Everyone looks great, but what the hell am I doing?!' I do find it helpful, and is good to learn from. Plus, with GoT I just want to see the 90% of it that I wasn't in!
When you enter a role knowing your character's going to die a gruesome death, is there excitement at the prospect of playing that out, or trepidation?
Both. Mainly excitement.
What was that makeup like for that final moment? Did it take long to get it all on? It certainly looked horrific.
The head-gold was a special piece they'd had made, made to fit a mould of my head and the little bits and bobs were done in a bit of a hurry on the day actually by the amazing Paul Engelen.
Viserys's relationship to Daenerys changes over the show, and this final episode really seems to encapsulate it as she more-or-less allows her brother to die. How did her growing independence from him affect Viserys?
He hates it. After she hits him, he knows he has no power over her anymore and if he has no power over her, he's got no power over anyone. So it's time to act.. After that smack in the face, he is never seen speaking to D again until he threatens her with his sword interestingly…
Overall, what will you remember most about your time with the production?
Wow so much. I remember it all really clearly. The cast I suppose. And the story. And this amazing sunset we had in Malta (which they shot the wedding night scene against – camera doesn't do it justice it was stupendous).
What's next on your plate?
Just wrapped on film called Iron Lady about Margaret Thatcher and now doing press and auditions, fishing for my next job.


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Britney Spears reportedly to perform Tel Aviv concert in July
Published March 20, 2017
The one-night show by the American pop singer reportedly will take place at Yarkon Park and be part of her upcoming Asian tour. The final date and ticket sales have not been announced.
Rumors that Spears, 35, would play in Israel have circulated in the past, but the show's producers confirmed to Haaretz that the concert would be announced officially in the coming days.
Spears has sold more than 240 million albums, DVDs and singles since her debut in 1999.
Other big names scheduled to perform in Israel in the coming months include Gun N' Roses, Aerosmith, Justin Bieber, Radiohead and Tears for Fears.


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As a detective assigned to the NYPD's Intelligence Division of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Jeremy Fisk's primary task is to diffuse threats before they materialize. He knows he's done his job well when nothing happens—no bombs detonate, no bridges collapse, and citizens can continue their everyday routines in peace. Things quickly heat up for Fisk just before New York City's Fourth of July celebrations and the dedication of the new One World Trade Center building, when five passengers and a flight attendant bravely foil the hijacking of a commercial jet. "The Six" as they are quickly dubbed by the media, become overnight celebrities, iconic heroes that exemplify the highest ideals of patriotism and bravery. To the public, it seems as though the worst has been narrowly averted, but behind the scenes, Fisk and his partner Kirsten Gersten work feverishly to put all the pieces together—knowing something isn't quite right.
The would-be hijacker is immediately taken into questioning, and Fisk soon suspects that the episode aboard SAS Flight 903 may have just been a diversion designed to distract authorities so another passenger on board could sneak inside the United States amid the frenzy. Now that passenger, a Saudi Arabian national, has entered Manhattan and disappeared into thin air. It's up to Fisk and Gersten to track him down before the holiday ceremonies begin. But each time Fisk thinks he's found his man, he realizes his opponents are smarter and more agile than any we have faced before, that they have discovered yet another weakness in our defense, and are anticipating Fisk's every move.
Filled with electrifying plot twists, high-wire drama, and even a little romance—THE INTERCEPT is an adrenaline pumping story that could have been ripped from the headlines, yet is enticing and entertaining enough to keep readers wanting more. It is a debut of the highest caliber as only Dick Wolf can deliver it.
Ten days after the Mexican presidential election, twenty-three bodies are discovered beheaded on the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Leading the investigation for the Mexican intelligence agency is 35-year-old Cecilia Garza, a raven-haired beauty who's notorious for her intensity and take-no-prisoners demeanor. Garza has learned the hard way that a forgiving nature can be an officer's worst enemy.
Upon the bodies of the cartel's victims she finds a carved symbol—a Hummingbird—and recognizes it as the mark of an assassin known only as Chuparosa, a man both feared and celebrated for his brutality. Even Garza, who has been pursuing him for years, knows almost nothing about him. Except that he's now headed to New York.
Meanwhile, it is United Nations week in Manhattan and a grieving Jeremy Fisk is dealing with the loss of his partner and lover and the trial of the Swedish terrorist responsible for her death. There's no time for grief, though, when you're responsible for the safety and security of the world's most powerful leaders. Complicating matters is the startling news of a mass murder in nearby Rockaway, where a dozen people have been found dead.
Fisk may not like Garza, the pushy new arrival from Mexico, but they're going to need each other if they stand a chance of finding and stopping Chuparosa. Soon they both realize that there's more to this threat than meets the eye—and Fisk will have to learn the hard way that justice is not always blind.
Filled with electrifying plot twists, high-wire drama, and even a little romance—THE EXECUTION is an adrenaline pumping story that could have been ripped from the headlines, yet is enticing and entertaining enough to keep readers wanting more. As the mastermind behind one of the most successful and prolific television brands of all time—NBC's Law & Order—Dick Wolf uses his dynamic storytelling skills to captivate audiences with his Jeremy Fisk series.
January 9
Upstate New York
Half a mile from the Canadian border,
somewhere west of Lake Champlain
The explosive noise of the guns had set off a chain reaction, sheets of wet snow dropping from the limbs of the pine trees surrounding Jeremy Fisk. Even after the gunfire stopped, Fisk could hear limbs snapping, snow thudding to earth, a circular cataract expanding, fading away from him like ripples in a frigid pond.
And then the endless forest . . . went silent.
My God, thought Fisk. They're all dead.
Ten minutes earlier
The Swedes were late. Maybe they weren't even coming.
Detective Jeremy Fisk of the NYPD Intelligence Division hated upstate New York. Hated the whole idea of it. Even though he had lived all over the world during his childhood, he had spent most of his adult life in New York City and had the passion of the convert for his adopted home. And as a confirmed New Yorker, he despised upstate on principle. Upstate was hillbillies and trailer parks and suicidal deer that plunged heedlessly into the headlights of your car, forcing you to swerve into the nearest ditch. Upstate was country living. Upstate was wilderness.
People who didn't live in New York thought the entire state was paved from one end to the other. Far from it. In fact, the northern part of the state was as rural as Indiana or Kentucky. And right here, where Fisk and the feds were sitting, there weren't even hillbillies or trailer parks or deranged deer. Nothing but trees. Trees and snow. Trees and snow and four citified cops waiting to arrest a couple of Swedes sneaking over the border from Canada.
Fisk sat in the backseat of the unmarked Jeep, snow sifting down in heavy waves like shoals of tiny gray fish. The dirt road, now six inches deep in snow, was one of dozens of logging paths, unofficial border crossings that wormed back and forth like scars through the seemingly endless forest between the Saint Lawrence and Lake Champlain.
"They're not gonna show, Fisk." The driver of the car was an ICE agent by the name of Ralph Carver. "I guarantee you, those Swedish sons of bitches are sitting in a nice warm room at some Best Western in Montreal watching cable porn."
A DEA agent, Ari Schaefer, sat to Carver's right. FBI assistant Special Agent in Charge Mary Rose Palestrina sat in the backseat with Fisk, an empty Thermos and Fisk's holstered Glock between them.
It was the usual federal alphabet soup of agencies who didn't like or trust each other—the perfect recipe for a law enforcement disaster.
"That's assuming these jokers aren't just a figment of Fisk's imagination," the DEA agent, Schaefer, added.
The feds didn't believe that the NYPD was capable of scooping them on a solid international terrorism lead, so they'd been baiting him relentlessly for four hours. Thus far he'd managed to resist the urge to tell them to kiss off. It was his source, his information—his case if you got right down to it—but the mandate across law enforcement agencies was to cooperate, to share, if only to show the media and informed citizens that fighting terror was a team sport. It was Fisk's show, it was Intel's interdiction, but still ASAC Palestrina acted like she was running the show. They tried to treat Fisk like a guest at his own party.
"I mean, look at this crap," Carver said. "What kind of idiot would go out on a day like this?" He was running the wipers nonstop, the heater blowing full blast. They could see okay out the front window, but the side windows were starting to get choked with snow, obscuring their view of the road down which the Swedes would be approaching. The car was pulled off the shoulder slantwise, so their best view of the road was from the side windows.
"Goddammit," said the DEA guy. "I have no visual. Whose turn is it?"
"Mine," said Fisk. It wasn't, but he was tired of being cooped up in the car. He suspected it was the egos clouding up the windows as much as their breath. Carver handed him the fragile pink plastic windshield scraper that was their only defense against the heavy white blanket, and Fisk pushed open the door and climbed outside.
The door closed and the silence was a balm. He stood still, exhaling a plume of thick carbon dioxide, refreshed by the cold. The temperature was hovering just below freezing. Heavy, wet snow had formed a crust of ice over every surface of the car, and Fisk began hacking away at the windows.
Fisk was starting to worry. Two suspects were supposed to be making the run across the border from Canada into the States—Swedish Muslim militants smuggling radioactive isotopes for an explosive they planned to detonate in New York City sometime in the next three weeks. If anybody had told him six months ago that there was such a thing as a Swedish Muslim militant, he would have laughed.
But nobody was laughing now, not after Magnus Jenssen had come within an eyelash of blowing up President Obama at Ground Zero last year. Fisk himself had personally stopped the bomber. Now two more members of the same cell in Sweden, undeterred by their comrade's lack of success—and, in fact, motivated by his capture and pending trial—were on their way into the States carrying about half a gram of a highly toxic, highly radioactive isotope of the element polonium-210.
Half a gram didn't sound like much. But one ten-thousandth of a gram was enough to kill a human being.
The original plan for the takedown had included six members of the FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Team tactical unit, an Intel drone, a Border Patrol helicopter, and a team of ICE agents. But the HRT unit's van had encountered one of the aforementioned suicidal deer on the way up north, causing the driver to swerve and the van to slide off the road, where it overturned, putting one of the team members in the hospital with a dislocated shoulder and ending any chance of the HRT team participating in the bust. The helicopter full of ICE agents had to abort due to the miserable visibility, and the drone was grounded, according to the civilian contractor, "due to suboptimal control surface functionality," which was jargon for "remote control airplanes can't fly in snow."
So now it was down to the four people in the Jeep. On the positive front, the DEA guy had showed them the trunk guns he had requisitioned for the takedown: an AR-15 and a Remington 870 tricked out with so many lasers and flashlights and optical gizmos that it looked like something out of a science fiction movie. If things really went south, he'd said magnanimously, Fisk could grab the shotgun. "The AR's mine, though, bro," he'd added. "Nobody touches my AR. She's my sweetness." He'd picked up the carbine and dry-humped it comically. "Aren't you, baby? Aren't you? Huh? Yeah, talk to Daddy, you sweet little bitch."
This was the quality of agent they had dispatched to the Canadian border with Fisk.
After a minute of chopping away at the snow, the cheap pink snow scraper snapped in half, slicing Fisk's little finger. Fisk cursed and threw the broken scraper on the ground, then stared at the pieces, breathing hard. He would have traded half the gizmos in the trunk for one long-handled ice scraper.
For a moment Fisk vibrated with frustration. The extraordinary silence enveloped him, and he invited it in, hoping for some calming, some perspective. He stood motionless and just listened.
No motor noises coming from the direction of Canada. No voices. No nothing.
It occurred to him that he had never been anywhere quite this silent. Not once in his life. It wasn't just the remoteness of the place. It was the snow itself. It acted like the acoustical baffling in a recording studio, sucking up every scrap of sound in the universe. For a cosmopolitan guy like Fisk, it felt more than a little eerie. It felt like that part in a movie when the sound track drops out . . . when you know something big is about to happen.
But there was something about it that was beautiful, too. The sun was going down and the entire landscape had faded into a curtain of soft gray: a blanket of cold, clean fleece. He could see only a short distance in any direction. It was difficult to even judge just how far he could see. Fifteen yards? Thirty? He'd heard of whiteout blizzards where you couldn't see a car length in front of yourself. So this wasn't that bad.
But still.
It was no kind of day, he reflected, to be taking down bad guys.
Bank robbers love snowy days. Fisk remembered from his days as a rank-and-file NYPD cop, every snowstorm meant at least a half-dozen note jobs. Because the perp could walk into the bank wearing a ski mask or ski goggles without drawing undue attention, and once the alarm was hit the police response time was easily four times the norm. He remembered fondly the brilliant spray of orange against a pure white canvas of fallen snow in Murray Hill, from a dye pack that exploded: bank crime deterrence as public art.
The windows were still coated with icy snow. Fisk dug the broken pink stub of the plastic scraper back out of the snow. The end of the scraper had broken off into a knife-sharp point. It had sliced his finger pretty nicely, cutting right through his leather glove. Fat drops of blood fell one by one into the virgin snow. He made a fist to allow his ruined glove to soak up the blood, and stood there, absorbed by the silence.
He realized that he didn't really want to get back in the car. A bunch of alpha personalities trying to top the others with stories of how tough they were, what great cops they were, how they'd been the best guy on their football team in high school, the toughest guy in their platoon in the army. Blah blah blah blah blah. That stuff got real old, real fast. And the FBI agent, Mary Rose, the fastest sprinter at Fordham and the top shooter in her class at Quantico: she was the worst one of all.
Fisk checked his watch. Theoretically the pair of Swedes should have been here more than half an hour ago. Maybe they just weren't coming. Waiting out the storm. Like reasonable people.
As he stood there stamping his feet in the cold, he felt pressure against his bladder. Another good reason to kill a few more minutes outside the car. He cocked his head and listened. No car engines, no sinister Volvo full of terrorists crunching down the road . . .
For a moment he considered the effect of warm urine on the ice-crusted windows. Kill two birds with one stone. He decided he wasn't that stir crazy yet. He hadn't cleared the windows on the other side of the car, but with the wipers going, they could still see out the front of the Jeep. And it would only take him a minute.
As he walked out into the snow, he was surprised at what a struggle it was to move. He felt ridiculous and awkward, high-kneeing his way through the drifts. But it was better than trying to piss in a Poland Spring bottle with Special Agent in Charge Mary Rose Palestrina sitting next to him bragging about her marksmanship.
The walking was slow, the snow forming around each deep footstep, gripping his boot. The high-stepping felt ridiculous, and he made a pledge to no longer make fun of people who wear snowshoes.
The trees stood brown and black just beyond the curtain of snow falling in front of him. He looked back once, the silver Jeep barely visible. He might have had trouble finding his way back if not for the stark red dots of blood he had left in the snow like a bread-crumb trail.
He reached the first trees and, after laying the broken ice scraper on the surface of the snowfall, made quick work of his belt and zipper. Afterward, zipping up, he felt better, determined to shake off the stasis of the stakeout and power through this job to the next. He looked at his finger, the cut starting to clot in the cold, and was stooping to retrieve the broken ice scraper when the gunshots ripped through the silence.
Fisk instinctively reached for his Glock. Of course it wasn't there. It was tucked away in the backseat of the silver Jeep some fifty yards away.
He felt a blinding surge of emotion—anger and self-recrimination and fear. Then more shots followed—a terrifying number of them, a fusillade of automatic weapons, burst after burst in efficient succession.
The shooting was accompanied by metallic thuds and the sound of shattering glass.
He had just started to run back when the sudden cascade of snow fell upon him, descending from the treetops, knocking more snow loose as it plunged to the ground with a hiss and a wet, inevitable thud. Fisk was half buried, and then more limbs cracked above and a second load of snow dropped, a chain reaction spreading all around him.
He dug himself out with his gloved hands. The top layer was loose, but the bottom was already compressed, and he chopped at it with the scraper, almost losing a boot as he pulled out his left leg. He picked up a jagged pine branch near him and charged out of the tree cover—into white blindness.
He knew he was looking in the right direction, but no silver Jeep. No noise either, nothing over his own rapid breaths: no gunshots, no screaming.
How many had he heard? Thirty? Forty? Fewer than ten seconds in duration, but the intensity had been shattering.
He was moving forward. Stumbling through the deep snow, assuming the worst.
It was an ambush. Had to be. Somehow the Swedes had caught the feds flat-footed, comparing war stories instead of watching for trouble.
He looked for his own footprints, already smoothing over under fresh snowfall. He saw a drop of blood, from his own finger, and knew he was headed in the right direction.
Then another controlled burst of gunfire. Fisk stopped and froze, listening. The sound was so crisp and near, everything seeming dislocated, eaten up quickly by the swirling snow.
Were those thumps behind him? Another small clump of snow dropped from the trees. He looked back at the dim black trunks. Then back in front of him.
Two figures. Barely visible. Slashes of color—black and brown—moving in the whiteness. Maybe a scarf, a cap . . . a weapon.
They were shooting at him now. They had seen his footprints leading away. They were following his blood trail. Their first burst had missed, two rounds thudding in the tree trunks behind him.
Fisk turned fast. He was vulnerable out in the open. Only distance would obscure him. He tossed the branch and tore back toward the trees, waiting for the next burst of gunfire.
It came just as he bladed himself behind the first tree. He looked back, unable to see them for the moment. Focus, dammit! He hadn't heard a car motor, or the crunching of tires. The only thing that made sense was that they had left their vehicle somewhere and come on foot.
The silence was excruciating. Because it told him that, regarding the feds, the fight was over. If they were still alive, he'd hear something, yelling, anything.
The three people he had just been sitting in the car with, swapping boasts and drinking coffee—Ari
Schaefer, Ralph Carver, and Mary Rose Palestrina—they were all dead. Of this much he was certain.
He had three brother law enforcement officers down.
And with this realization, his momentary confusion and self-disgust evaporated, replaced by a wave of cold, hard anger.
He glanced down at his hand. He was still clutching the sharp, broken stub of pink ice scraper. It wasn't exactly a Glock 17. But it was something.
A burst of nausea. That's how quickly the adrenaline surged. These two guys—if there were only two—were out to finish the job now.
Voices. Singsong, at least to Fisk's ears. Fisk spoke Arabic like a native, fluent Spanish, high school French, a little German, a little Thai, some Bahasa Indonesia. His father had been a diplomat; Fisk had traveled a lot as a kid and had a natural ear for languages.
But he didn't speak Swedish. He couldn't tell what they were saying.
One man's voice, low and terse. Another responding. They sounded near, almost on the other side of the tree . . . but it was a trick of the snow. They couldn't see Fisk if he couldn't see them.
They sounded like soldiers to him: calm, self-possessed. He could tell from the sound of the ambush that these two Swedes had military training, as opposed to being amateur goofballs who'd taken up jihad because they were bored with their jobs in IT.
His phone was in the car, too, charging. But it didn't matter. Zero cellular service here in the ass end of nowhere. Mary Rose had a satellite phone, didn't she? He needed that phone as much as he needed a handgun.
He saw the colors reappear, vague against the white. Under even sparse tree cover, their visibility would improve dramatically. Fisk tightened his grip on the broken plastic window scraper and took off running through the trees. The snow cover was more shallow here, around a foot deep. He expected gun reports at his back yet heard none.
He felt something expanding inside him, something he had experienced a half-dozen times before in his life but had never been able to put a word to. The threat of imminent death has a way of uniquely focusing the mind.
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text:
Story highlights
Parents compete for limited spots in kindergartens in Hong Kong
In October, some 2,000 parents queued to apply for 240 spaces in a one kindergarten
Parents pressured into taking measures so their children can stand out
Ryo Desmidt is in his first year at a kindergarten in Hong Kong and seems like an especially gifted child.
That's because his parents say he can communicate in three languages. He is three years old.
Since he was ten months old, his mother, Momoe, has been taking him to a language center five times a week where he is taught to listen, speak and interact in English, Mandarin and Japanese. He attends a language school in the city that offers courses for children as young as a few months old.
Some parents will even pay a tutor to speak in a particular language for an hour in the belief their baby will absorb this.
This is just one of the many examples of how parents in Hong Kong are trying to get ahead of the game by giving their children a competitive edge in the race for limited school places.
With a large expatriate community and an increase in mainland Chinese parents wishing to send their kids across the border to school, Hong Kong's world class educational system is under siege with applications. And this pressure is being felt by parents, many of whom are starting early and going to extraordinary lengths to outshine thousands of other applicants for limited pre-school opportunities, believing it will give them an advantage when it comes to securing a primary school place.
Queuing for places
At this time of the year, parents go into a frenzy queuing for application forms at schools across Hong Kong. In the city's northern district, which borders China, Hong Kong and mainland parents have even camped out overnight to get their hands on the right admission forms.
According to Fung Kai Kindergarten in the city's Sheung Shui district, around 2,000 people queued up to apply for only 240 available spaces on October 7 – police were even called in to deal with complaints about people cutting the queue.
There has also been growing animosity towards mainland parents, with local people arguing children living in Hong Kong should be given priority over places. Cross-border students, or children living in China who have gained the right of abode and free education in Hong Kong by birth, often travel up to five hours to go to school.
Currently, the Education Bureau (EDB) in Hong Kong estimates the number of cross-border students to be 17,000, with around half that number enrolled in kindergarten or day care centers.
Early planning
In Hong Kong, where formal pre-school education begins at the age of three, many prospective parents begin mapping out education plans before their children are born.
Desmidt, an expat mother living in Hong Kong, revealed she started looking for potential kindergartens and playgroups during her pregnancy.
"In Hong Kong, if you don't get into a good pre-nursery or kindergarten, it's really difficult to get into a good primary school, that's why you already have to have a plan when you are pregnant."
After attending numerous information sessions and preschool open days, she applied to a playgroup when she was eight months pregnant because the waiting list was already around a year.
Another mother, who preferred not to be named, said parents scour online education forums to identify the top popular school choices.
"It's the only topic that comes up when you go out for lunch, which school your kid got into, which school are you applying for and how are you preparing your child for it?" she said.
"My friends have sent me spreadsheets with a detailed timetable of when schools are available for applications and how to apply."
Pressure to perform
The stress doesn't end there for parents.
Some have even signed up their children for mock interview training so they would be able to perform well during kindergarten interviews.
"Some playgroup teachers who are familiar with the interview process in certain famous kindergartens, will help train the child to overcome shyness and get used to answering questions from strangers," explained the unnamed mother.
She recalled one of the interviews she took her son to, when he was only 18 months old.
"They (the children) were in a room with six to seven other kids with the parents sitting behind them. The teacher would ask them to point to an object in the picture or ask what color it is. Some kids didn't respond, or started crying and they would just have to move on to the next kid," she said.
"The whole thing lasted for seven minutes. I don't know what criteria they base their admissions on, but it's hard to figure out a kid at one and a half years old."
This comes as no surprise to Nicola Weir, Principal of the Early Childhood Education Section at Yew Chung International School.
"We've received CVs of little babies and portfolios listing their many talents," she said. "Parents are proud of their children, and they want the best for them."
While parents see interviews as a make or break moment for their children, Weir says there is no need for parents to panic.
"Many of the schools are competitive, but it's not about how perfect their child is, all children are special," she said. "We also look at families to see if they're congruent with our philosophy. It's not how well they can perform, but the relationship between home and school is really important too," she added.
Finding the best fit
Even after parents manage to successfully enroll their child in a kindergarten, the unnamed mother adds that they are constantly on the lookout for better schools.
"Parents in Hong Kong have the dilemma in choosing between local and international schools. I have friends who send their kids to a local kindergarten in the morning, and then an international kindergarten in the afternoon. So they'll nap or eat lunch in the car. They think both systems are flawed, but they want to get the best of both worlds."
Meanwhile, Desmidt's son, Ryo, takes a nap after attending school in the morning and the Le Beaumont Language Center afterwards.
"I'm half Japanese and half Chinese, and my husband is half British and half French. We wanted him to speak all the languages and it's convenient because it's all in one center," she said.
"We've stayed in the language center for more than two years, and for him it's for fun. I asked him this week if he wanted to go to Disneyland or the language center and he said 'I want to go see this teacher and that teacher.' He really enjoys it," she added.


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If you've always yearned for a washboard stomach, and you can do a thousand crunches but you still aren't seeing results, you're not alone. But never fear! Everyone has a six pack under there (somewhere), you've just got to know what to do to get it out in the open.
Welcome to Fitmodo, Gizmodo's gym for your brain and backbone. Don't suffer through life as a sniveling, sickly weakling—brace up, man, get the blood pumping! Check back on Wednesdays for the latest in fitness science, workout gear, exercise techniques, and enough vim and vigor to whip you into shape.
The Bummer
Let's get this out of the way. There's a saying in the fitness community that "six packs are made in the kitchen, not the gym." That's an oversimplification, but it's mostly true. The fact is that we all have abdominal muscles, it's just that most of us can't see them under that lil' bit of extra padding. If you really want to expose those deep cuts that separate the muscles, you've got to burn off the fat.
You might think that 1,000 crunches a day is the key to burning that fat off. It's not. While they won't hurt, 1,000 crunches isn't generally the best cardio. In order to burn fat you need to create a caloric deficit. In other words, you need to use more calories than you consume so that your body is forced to burn the excess calories you have stored as fat. You know. Eat right and exercise.
Size Matters
While diet is arguably the most important factor, there is one other thing you can do (that's right, just one): you can make your abs bigger. Looks aside, there are actually a lot of functional benefits to bulking up your abdominals. As with any other muscle group, size equals power. Having a more powerful core will help you align your posture, it will reduce fatigue in repetitious physical tasks, and it can go a long way in reducing injuries, especially to your back. Plus, you'll be able to lift more, which may come in handy in emergencies, or life in general.
Larger, more powerful muscles also tend to atrophy slower. In other words, you retain the benefits longer, generally speaking. And muscles burn calories, so the more muscle you have the more efficient you are at burning fat and/or keeping it off. If you're worried about more abs making you look too bulky, don't. The fact is, it's not easy to grow muscle, and it's really, really hard to over-grow it. Those scary-looking bodybuilders don't get like that by accident, and neither will you.
Okay, so we want to add some lean muscle mass to our abs. But how?
High Reps vs High Weight
At a certain point, working your abs leads to diminishing returns. One of the best pieces of advice I've ever heard on the subject came from a trainer at a gym I joined a decade ago. To paraphrase:
If you wanted to get bigger biceps, you wouldn't lift a one pound weight 500 times, would you? No, it would take forever and it might make the muscle stronger and firmer, but it wouldn't make it bigger (editor's note: remember you can't see firmness through the padding, only size). Abs are just like any other muscle: if you want to increase size and power, add weight.
Somehow, it had never occurred to me to treat my abs like my other muscles. People will tell you that you can work your abs every day. But just because you can, doesn't mean you should. If you're trying to grow muscle, you need to give the little microscopic tears you cause in your muscle fibers with every work out time to heal, rebuild, and grow.
Starting slowly, so you know your limits and don't injure yourself, try moving over to a routine where instead of, say, three sets of one hundred crunches, you're adding weight to a sit-up, leg lift, or other abdominal exercise to the point where you can only do a set of eight to twelve reps. Then do three sets of those. This applies to your lower abs and your obliques (your side muscles, used for twisting) as well.
I recommend doing an exercise that focuses on your upper and middle abs, then an exercise that focuses on your obliques, then an exercise that focuses on your lower abs (in whatever order you choose). That will basically cover your whole six-pack zone. Bonus tip: with most ab exercises, adding a bit of a twist will help engage your obliques and transverse abdominal muscles, but again, be careful when you're starting out and adding weight.
This is not to say that high-rep exercises have no value. Quite the opposite, in fact. All of this is the subject of much debate in the fitness community, but it's generally agreed that high-rep/low-weight exercises are great for building endurance and stamina (jogging is a pretty good example). Those exercises will make your abs stronger and harder, and if you do a freaking ton of them (to the point of failure, just about) they can increase muscle size as well. In other words, it has tangible benefits, but it's not the most efficient way to reveal the washboard.
Ultimately, it's generally best to build a routine that favors higher-weight/fewer reps, working bit of low-weight/high-reps in there every now and then (though you may find your own special formula). That will get your six pack poking through and will increase strength and longevity. In other words, the best of both worlds.
Oh, and diet. Always diet. Sigh.
Image credit: Shutterstock/Straight 8 Photography


text:
[TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE GAZETTE OF INDIA, EXTRAORDINARY, PART II, SECTION 3, SUB-SECTION (i)]
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
(Department of Revenue)
New Delhi, the 22nd June , 2010
Notification No. 06/2010-Clean Energy Cess
G.S.R. (E).- In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 84 of the Finance Act, 2010 (14 of 2010), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules, namely:-
Chapter 1
1. Short title, extent and commencement.- (1) These rules may be called the Clean Energy Cess Rules, 2010.
(2) They extend to the whole of India.
(3) They shall come into force on the 1st day of July, 2010.
2. Definitions. - In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires, –
(a) "Act" means the Finance Act, 2010 (14 of 2010);
(b) "Board" means the Central Board of Excise and Customs constituted under the Central Boards of Revenue Act, 1963 (54 of 1963);
(c) "cess" means the Clean Energy Cess levied under section 83 of the Act;
(d) "Central Excise Officer" shall have the meaning assigned to it in the Central Excise Act, 1944(1 of 1944);
(e) "mine" shall have the meaning assigned to it under Mines Act,1952 (32 of 1952);
(f) "producer" means any person engaged in the production of specified goods and includes a owner or agent as defined under section 2 of the Mines Act, 1952 (32 of 1952);
(g) "removal" means despatch of specified goods from a mine and shall include despatch of such goods for captive consumption within that mine for any purpose other than for raising of such goods;
(h) "specified goods " means raw coal, raw lignite and raw peat.
Chapter 2
3. Registration.- Every producer who is liable to pay cess shall get registered immediately with the jurisdictional Central Excise Officer but not later than a period of thirty days from the date of commencement of these rules by making an application to the jurisdictional Central Excise Officer :
Provided that where a producer commences production of the specified goods at any time after the commencement of these rules, such producer shall obtain registration within thirty days from the commencement of such production ;
Provided further that where a producer has a centralized billing or accounting system in respect of such specified goods produced at different mines, he may, instead, opt for registering only the premises or office from where such centralized billing or accounting is done.
4. Cess payable on removal.- Every producer shall pay the cess leviable on the removal of the specified goods in the manner provided in rule 6.
5. Assessment of cess.- The producer shall himself assess the cess payable on the specified goods.
6. Manner of payment.- (1) Cess on the specified goods removed from the mine during a month shall be paid by the 5th of the second month, following the month in which the removals were made:
Illustration.- Cess payable on specified goods removed from the factory for the month of July, 2010 shall be paid by the 5th of September, 2010.
(2) A producer who has opted for centralized registration in respect of its mines located at different places under rule 3, shall discharge the cess liability in respect of the aggregate removal of specified goods from all such mines effected during a month by the stipulated period specified in sub-rule (1)
(3) Where a producer has paid to the credit of the Central Government any amount in excess of the amount required to be paid towards cess liability for a month, such producer may adjust such excess amount paid by him against the cess liability for the next month:
Provided that the adjustment of excess amount paid under sub-rule (2) shall be subject to the condition that such excess amount paid is on account of reasons not involving interpretation of law, taxability, or applicability of any exemption notification;
Provided further that the producer may, instead, file a refund claim for any excess amount of cess paid if such producer fails to adjust the excess amount against the cess liability for the next month.
(4) Where any producer fails to pay the cess by the due date, he shall be liable to pay the outstanding amount along with interest at the rate specified by the Central Government under section 11AB of the Central Excise, 1944 (1 of 1944) on the outstanding amount for the period starting from the first day after the due date till the date of the actual payment of the outstanding amount.
(5) Where any producer defaults in payment beyond thirty days from the due date as specified in rule 6, such specified goods shall be deemed to have been cleared without payment of cess and the consequences and penalties under these rules and provisions of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944) as have been made applicable, shall follow in addition to payment of interest under sub-rule (4).
(6) The provisions of section 11 of the Central Excise Act , 1944 (1 of 1944) shall be applicable for recovery of the cess as assessed under rule 5 and the interest under sub-rule (4) in the same manner as they are applicable for recovery of any sums payable to the Central Government.
Explanation.- For the purposes of this rule, -
(i) Cess liability shall be deemed to be discharged only if the amount payable is credited to the account of the Central Government by the specified date;
(ii) Where the registered person deposits cess by cheque, the date of presentation of the cheque in the bank designated by the Board for this purpose shall be deemed to be the date on which the cess has been paid subject to realization of the cheque.
7. Maintenance of records.- (1) Every producer shall maintain accounts showing the quantity of specified goods actually removed during a month, particulars to whom these were removed, the amount of cess payable during a month and the total amount of cess paid:
Provided that where a producer has opted for centralized registration under rule 3, such producer shall maintain mine wise details mentioned in the sub-rule (1).
(2) The amount of cess payable on any removals shall be rounded off to the nearest rupee and the actual weight of a consignment shall be rounded off to the nearest tonne.
8. Access to registered premises or mine.- (1) An officer empowered by the Commissioner in this behalf shall have access to any mine or premises registered under these rules for the purpose of carrying out any scrutiny, verification and checks as may be considered necessary to safeguard the interest of revenue.
(2) Every producer shall furnish to the officer empowered under sub-rule (1) ,-
(i) all records prepared and maintained for accounting of transactions in regard to production, storage or removal of specified goods; and
(ii) financial records and statements including cost audit reports etc.
9. Goods to be removed under proper documents.- (1) No specified goods leviable to cess shall be removed from a mine except under cover of a document indicating the quantity of specified goods and the name and address of the consignee.
10. Cess shall be shown separately in the invoice or bill.- Cess shall be shown separately by the producer in the bill or invoice raised in respect of specified goods.
11. Filing of return.- Every producer shall submit to the Jurisdictional Central Excise Officer, a return in Form - I showing the quantities of specified goods removed during the month in respect of which the payment has been made, the amount paid under rule 6 and other particulars specified in that form enclosing the evidence of payment of cess not later than 10th day of the month in which the payment has been made:
Provided that in the case of a producer who has obtained centralized registration under rule 3 , the return in Form- I shall contain mine-wise information.
12. General penalty.- Whoever contravenes any of the provisions of these rules shall be liable to pay a penalty which may extend to ten thousand rupees and confiscation of the goods in question in respect of which the contravention is made, if no penalty is provided elsewhere.
[F. No. 354/72/2010-TRU]
(K.S.V.V. Prasad)
Under Secretary to the Government of India
Monthly return for removal of specified goods
(See Rule 11)
Name of Producer :
Full address :
Registration Number :
Month :
Description of specified goods:
Quantity of specified goods removed during the month
(in MT)
Rate of cess per tonne
(Rs. per tonne)
Total cess payable as per billing
(Rs. )
Total cess paid
( Rs.)
Note: In case where a producer has obtained centralised registration under rule 3, he shall provide the above details in respect of each mine.
I /we hereby solemnly declare that the information given in this return is true, correct and complete in every respect.
(Name in capital letters and signature of the registered person or his authorised agent)
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