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Loving-Kindness Meditation
Some contemplative practices have been designed to emphasize a practitioner's specific strengths and qualities. For example, in some Tibetan traditions, shinay, or tranquility meditation, is used to train the mind to be calm and focused, and is followed by lhatong, or analytical meditation, a focused inquiry into the nature of the self and the mind.
Metta bhavana, or loving-kindness meditation, is a method of developing compassion. It comes from the Buddhist tradition, but it can be adapted and practiced by anyone, regardless of religious affiliation; loving-kindness meditation is essentially about cultivating love.
Loving-Kindness Practice Instructions
based on a teaching by Steven Smith
Loving-kindness, or metta, as it in called in the Pali language, is unconditional, inclusive love, a love with wisdom. It has no conditions; it does not depend on whether one "deserves" it or not; it is not restricted to friends and family; it extends out from personal categories to include all living beings. There are no expectations of anything in return. This is the ideal, pure love, which everyone has in potential. We begin with loving ourselves, for unless we have a measure of this unconditional love and acceptance for ourselves, it is difficult to extend it to others. Then we include others who are special to us, and, ultimately, all living things. Gradually, both the visualization and the meditation phrases blend into the actual experience, the feeling of loving kindness.
This is a meditation of care, concern, tenderness, loving kindness, friendship--a feeling of warmth for oneself and others. The practice is the softening of the mind and heart, an opening to deeper and deeper levels of the feeling of kindness, of pure love. Loving kindness is without any desire to possess another. It is not a sentimental feeling of goodwill, not an obligation, but comes from a selfless place. It does not depend on relationships, on how the other person feels about us. The process is first one of softening, breaking down barriers that we feel inwardly toward ourselves, and then those that we feel toward others.
Take a very comfortable posture. One of the aims in this meditation is to feel good, so make your posture relaxed and comfortable. Begin to focus around the solar plexus, your chest area, your "heart center." Breathe in and out from that area, as if you are breathing from the heart center and as if all experience is happening from there. Anchor your mindfulness only on the sensations at your heart center.
Breathing in and out from the heart center, begin by generating this kind feeling toward yourself. Feel any areas of mental blockage or numbness, self-judgment, self-hatred. Then drop beneath that to the place where we care for ourselves, where we want strength and health and safety for ourselves.
Continuing to breathe in and out, use either these traditional phrases or ones you choose yourself. Say or think them several times.
May I be free from inner and outer harm and danger. May I be safe and protected.
May I be free of mental suffering or distress.
May I be happy.
May I be free of physical pain and suffering.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I be able to live in this world happily, peacefully, joyfully, with ease.
Next, move to a person who most invites the feeling of pure unconditional loving kindness, the love that does not depend on getting anything back. The first person is usually someone we consider a mentor, a benefactor, an elder. It might be a parent, grandparent, teacher, someone toward whom it takes no effort to feel respect and reverence, someone who immediately elicits the feeling of care. Repeat the phrases for this person: "May she be safe and protected..."
After feeling strong unconditional love for the benefactor, move to a person you regard as a dear friend and repeat the phrases again, breathing in and out of your heart center.
Now move to a neutral person, someone for whom you feel neither strong like nor dislike. As you repeat the phrases, allow yourself to feel tenderness, loving care for their welfare.
Now move to someone you have difficulty with--hostile feelings, resentments. Repeat the phrases for this person. If you have difficulty doing this, you can say before the phrases, "To the best of my ability I wish that you be...." If you begin to feel ill will toward this person, return to the benefactor and let the loving kindness arise again. Then return to this person.
Let the phrases spread through your whole body, mind, and heart.
After the difficult person, radiate loving kindness out to all beings. Stay in touch with the ember of warm, tender loving-kindness at the center of your being, and begin to visualize or engender a felt sense of all living beings. The traditional phrases are these:
May all beings be safe, happy, healthy, live joyously...
May all living beings be safe, happy, healthy, live joyously...
May all breathing beings be safe, happy, healthy, live joyously...
May all individuals be safe, happy, healthy, live joyously...
May all beings in existence be safe, happy, healthy, live joyously...
Allow the phrases to be simply a conduit for the force of loving-kindness. Empower your imagination through the five phrases to touch the hearts of all forms of life in the universe, unconditionally and inclusively. Stay with all beings until you feel a personal sense of the profound interconnectedness of all creatures, all life.
Then you can move on to specific categories of beings, such as:
All females of all species, or the feminine principle of the universe within us all.
All males of all species, or the masculine principle of the universe within us all.
All awakened ones.
All seekers.
All celestial beings.
All humans.
All animals and other beings in difficult places.
The two pairs and the triad above are three more ways of including every being in the universe.
Here is an alternative way to practice this meditation:
Begin with yourself. Calm the mind/heart and find the center of your being. Generate warm, gentle, loving feelings for yourself:
May I be safe from harm.
May I be happy just as I am.
May I be peaceful with whatever is happening.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I care for myself in this ever-changing world graciously, joyously.
From yourself, move out spaciously into your immediate surroundings. Include every living being within this circle:
May all beings in the air, on land, and in the water be safe, happy, healthy, and free from suffering.
Stay within your reach. As you feel your immediate surround fill with the power of loving kindness, move on, expanding the surround in concentric circles until you envelop the entire planet.
Expand your loving kindness until you are able to visualize Earth, spinning within the vast, mysterious universe. If you like, continue expanding the sense of your loving kindness, filling the endless emptiness of the universe.
May all living beings everywhere, on all planes of existence, known and unknown, be happy, be peaceful, be free from suffering.
Steven Smith has been a guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society, the Kyaswa Retreat Center in Burma, Vipassana Hawai'i, and founder of the MettaDana health and education project in Burma. As an advisor for the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, he developed and taught meditation programs to national environmental leaders, business executives, lawyers, and philanthropists.
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Boutari Santorini Kallisti 2000
Winemaker Notes
-Wines & Spirits
Golden yellow, complex aromas induced by aging (wood, almond, smoke and vanilla), which blend harmoniously with the varietal aroma of flowers. Soft, round and full-bodied with a lingering aromatic aftertaste.
FOOD PAIRING: Shellfish and grilled fish.
Critical AcclaimAll Vintages
The Boutari family has been crafting wines from Greek varietals since 1879, when Yiannis Boutari first started producing red wines in the small northern village of Naoussa. Since that first vintage the family has become a pioneer of Greek wines. From exporting the first bottled red wine from Greece to reviving lost varietals, Boutari now crafts wines from six different regions using varietals that are grown nowhere else in the world. In a constant quest for improvement Boutari maintains "demonstration" vineyards around Greece where local farmers are invited to learn new methods and techniques for improving their grapes. The results have been astounding: Boutari has been named an International Winery of the Year by Wine and Spirits 19 times – only 5 wineries in the world have received the award more times. Achievements such as developing the modern style of Santorini to reviving lost varietals have garnered lavish praise from the wine press and spawned a generation of high-quality Greek wines made by vintners who cut their teeth under the tutelage of the Boutari family.
A picturesque Mediterranean nation with a rich wine culture dating back to ancient times, Greece has so much more to offer than just retsina. Between the mainland and the country's many islands, a wealth of Greek wine styles exists, made mostly from Greece's plentiful indigenous varieties. After centuries of adversity after Ottoman rule, the modern Greek wine industry took off in the late 20th century with an influx of newly trained winemakers and investments in winemaking technology.
The climate—generally hot Mediterranean—can vary a bit with latitude and elevation, and is mostly moderated by cool maritime breezes. Drought can be an issue for Greek wine during the long, dry summers, sometimes necessitating irrigation.
Over 300 indigenous grapes have been identified throughout Greece, and though not all of them are suitable for wine production, future decades will likely see a significant revival and refinement of many of these native Greek wine varieties. Assyrtiko, the crisp, saline Greek wine variety of the island of Santorini, is one of the most important and popular white wine varieties, alongside Roditis, Robola, Moschofilero, and Malagousia. Muscat is also widely grown for both sweet and dry wines. Prominent red wine varieties include full-bodied and fruity Agiorghitiko, native to Nemea; Macedonia's savory, tannic Xinomavro; and Mavrodaphne, used commonly to produce a Port-like fortified wine in the Peloponnese.
With hundreds of white grape varieties to choose from, winemakers have the freedom to create a virtually endless assortment of blended white wines. In many European regions, strict laws are in place determining the set of varieties that may be used in white wine blends, but in the New World, experimentation is permitted and encouraged. Blending can be utilized to enhance balance or create complexity, lending different layers of flavors and aromas. For example, a variety that creates a soft and full-bodied white wine blend, like Chardonnay, would do well combined with one that is more fragrant and naturally high in acidity. Sometimes small amounts of a particular variety are added to boost color or aromatics. Blending can take place before or after fermentation, with the latter, more popular option giving more control to the winemaker over the final qualities of the wine.

subset: commoncrawl


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Jean Morehouse (left) and Loretta Horton (right) wait at Chicago O'Hare Airport to greet an international guest.
Horton and Morehouse greet Abdi Tadesse, Youth and Sunday School Leader, Gospel Ministries, Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, (EECMY)
Former ELCA presiding bishop, the Rev. H. George Anderson responds to a participant question at the forum.
Forum participants listen to a panel discussion.
Loretta Horton, ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries Social Ministries for Congregations program director (sitting), the Rev. Michael Russell, Jubilee! Faith Community Church, ELCA, Country Club Hills, Ill. (center), and Damu Smith coordinator for Black Voices for Peace, Washington, D.C., and a keynote presenter at the forum.
The Rev. Mark Moller-Gunderson, executive director, ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries, shared information on ELCA household incomes in a presentation "Wealth in the Church."
The Rev. Charles S. Miller, ELCA executive for administration and executive assistant to the presiding bishop, discussed the development of the ELCA's Ministry Among Person's in Poverty (MAPP).
Damu Smith delivers keynote presentation.
Youth participants Amado Cortes and Enrique Cortes Central City Lutheran Mission, San Bernardino, Calif., and the Rev. Nelson Rabell-Gonzalez, Getsemani Lutheran Church, Dorado, Puerto.


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- This event has passed.
Friday Night Laughs with Eddy Brimson, Ryan Gleeson & more!
Fri, 23 June @ 19:00 - 22:30£13.00 – £15.50
It's Friday night at Blackpool's funniest night out. Join resident compere, Ryan Gleeson, for Friday Night Laughs, as he introduces three of the best comedians, from the U.K. comedy circuit. With comedians from shows, such as Mock the Week, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Live at the Apollo, Have I Got News for You and more, you can be sure of the biggest laughs and the best night out. Doors open at 7pm and the show starts at 8pm.


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Fisker's hybrid-electric Karma is being blamed for a house fire in Sugar Land, Texas that occurred last week. Three minutes after the owner pulled into his garage, his electric luxury sedan burst into flames, torching his two other cars and a sizable chunk of his house.
This is the second time the government-financed Fisker has had to deal with major technical problems and this particular model is reportedly a vehicle assembled after the last recall address vehicle fire risks.
The vehicle's owner claims he drove the Fisker Karma into the garage of his house in suburban Houston last week without plugging it in. A few minutes later he found the car on fire. Robert Baker, Fort Bend County's chief fire investigator, estimated the damage to the house to be $100,000, not including the Mercedes Benz SUV and Acura NSX destroyed in the blaze.
It's worth noting the car was less than two months old and was newer than the recall instigated to fix a potential fire issue.
If all of this sounds familiar it's because fire risks with EV and EV-like hybrids led to a wider investigation following the Chevy Volt fire at a testing facility last year.
Fisker, in a statement to AutoWeek, essentially said they're going to withhold comment until they learn more:
We have not yet seen any written report form the Fort Bend fire department and believe that their investigation is continuing. As of now, multiple insurance investigators are involved, and we have not ruled out possible fraud or malicious intent. We are aware that fireworks were found in the garage in or around the vehicles. Also, an electrical panel located in the garage next to the vehicles is also being examined by the investigators as well as fire department officials. Based on initial observations and inspections, the Karma's lithium ion battery pack was not being charged at the time and is still intact and does not appear to have been a contributing factor in this incident.
We've reached out to the fire marshall to get more details on why this car suddenly burst into flames.
Photo credit: AutoWeek


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Your Real Champion: A Most Valuable Patriot
Your Real Champion for the week of December 13, 2020 was Kenneth E. Hartman, PHD!
Episode 173 – Sleep Medicine Dr. Marianne T. Ritchie
Episode 172 – Genetic Testing Dr. Marianne T. Ritchie
Dr. Marianne T. Ritchie December 20, 2020 67 3
Your Real Champion: A Christmas Miracle Dr. Marianne T. Ritchie
Your Real Champion for the week of December 20, 2020 was Ms. Geralyn Ritter, the Executive Vice President for External Affairs and Corporate Governance of Organon & Co; a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc.
On May 12, 2015, Geralyn Ritter was a passenger on the ill-fated Amtrak train that was taking her home to central New Jersey after a long day of meetings in Washington, D.C. In an instant, this mother of three and international health care executive went from being a fast-paced globe trotter to a completely dependent patient. communities and their country.
Each week we highlight the #RealChampions in your life! Your family, friends or colleagues who go the extra mile to help others in their community.
Check out all of our past Champions →
Dr. Marianne T. Ritchie December 13, 2020
Your Real Champion for the week of December 13, 2020 was Kenneth E. Hartman, PHD!
Dr. Marianne T. Ritchie September 9, 2023
Dr. Marianne T. Ritchie August 19, 2023
Marianne T. Ritchie, MD was one of the first female gastroenterologists practicing in the Philadelphia area. An advocate for over 30 years, Dr. Ritchie developed the PINK PLUS triple cancer screening program, and the BLUE LIGHTS CAMPAIGN for Colon Cancer Awareness.
Disclaimer: The information provided on the Your Radio Doctor® show, social media, and website is intended for your general knowledge only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment for specific medical conditions. Always seek the advice of your physician or health care provider with questions about a specific medical condition and before starting any new treatment or discontinuing an existing treatment. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem without consulting your qualified healthcare provider. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor, go to the emergency department, or call 911 immediately. Your Radio Doctor® does not recommend or endorse any specific tests, physicians, products, procedures, opinions, or other information that may be mentioned on the show, social media, or website.


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Here's Jim Harbaugh's response to the 49ers' failed fourth-down play in the end zone, and for once, it's tough to really say he's overreacting. Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith probably held Michael Crabtree in the middle of his route, and when Crabtree laid out for the catch, he couldn't quite reach the ball. Phil Simms told America that football players just have to make plays in big-time situations like this; you can judge for yourself whether Crabtree really had a chance:
So that pretty much wraps up...
What, this?
Nah, forget about that. Whatever rules govern the holding calls that happen while punters are dancing around the endzone trying to avoid tacklers—time back on the clock? a safety anyway? teams switch jerseys? league folds?—we don't want to want to know. Ravens win. Go home.
Update: A note on the second play, in case you're curious.


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Those of us who love the sea and know its importance in supporting millions of people with its bounty want the sea itself to be supported by our individual choices.
With most of the world's fisheries now stressed to capacity, as consumers we need to stay informed on which fisheries are sustainable and which are not. We need to know which fish to buy and what progress is being made globally.
Here's where we'll keep you updated.
For now, you can download your own sustainable seafood guide and stay on top of fisheries issues as they develop, including the status of bluefin tuna.
Donate to Two Futures Society
Yes! I want to support the field work, projects and mission of Jean-Michel Cousteau and the OFS team. Make a tax-deductible donation now!
Become a Member
Yes! Sign me up for a free membership!


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Dubai: Every year Muslims wait patiently for a committee to sight the moon for Eid to be declared. And most often there is confusion. Now religious scholars say the traditional ways of moon-sighting must be stopped and scientific methods adopted. The new moon will be detected with pin-point precision with the aid of modern technology.
This year the confusion has come a bit earlier – on Ramadan 28. The Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia decided to meet yesterday evening to decide whether Eid would be today. As you read this the confusion may be sorted out, but if Eid has not been declared, you will have to brace yourself for another round of suspense. Will Eid be on Thursday or Friday?
The question religious scholars ask is why do Muslims put themselves through this confusion every year. Science and technology can detect the birth of the new moon.
Dr Ahmad Al Qubaisi, an expert on Islamic Sharia, told Gulf News that he has been calling upon the Muslim world to adopt scientific methods instead of depending on a committee to sight the moon. The committee faces a tough task which is made even more difficult if conditions are cloudy or hazy.
"We need to implement the achievements of science and perform our rituals. Development has been achieved by humanity. I have been calling for an end to this confusion – first at the start of Ramadan and then the declaration of Eids for years, but I admit that I have not succeeded," he said.
"The Islamic Sharia encourages us to implement science in our lives whenever possible. Those who refuse to implement the spirit of Sharia and stick to the words of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) are not helping in unifying the celebrations of Muslims around the world.
"I understand the reason behind some refusing to adopt scientific methods. Muslims have great love and respect for Prophet Mohammad's (PBUH) sayings which they call Sunna. Prophet Mohammad said: 'You [Muslims] have to fast when you see the moon of Ramadan and end your fast when you see the moon of the following month or complete fasting for 30 days if you cannot see the moon.' Those who believe in implementing what the Prophet ordered as a way of showing their respect and love for him will stick to moon sighting. The rest who prefer to use logic will adopt scientific calculations," Dr Al Qubaisi said.
Dr Ahmad Bin Abdul Aziz Al Haddad, Grand Mufti and Director of the Fatwa Department in Dubai, said this year, the beginning of the fast was based on the fact that the Ramadan crescent was not a confirmed sighting. Hence, Muslims completed 30 days of Sha'baan according to the instructions of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) said as narrated by Ibn Omar (a companion of the Prophet): "The month [can be] 29 nights [ie days], and do not fast till you see the moon, and if the sky is overcast, then complete Sha'baan as 30 days."
The Prophet said, as narrated by Abu Huraira (another companion of the Prophet), "Start fasting on seeing the crescent [of Ramadan], and give up fasting on seeing the crescent [of Shawwal], and if the sky is overcast [and you cannot see it], complete 30 days of Sha'baan."
He said instilling doubts in people's minds on whether the fast had begun on the correct day was not necessary because the decision was made based on Sunnah and consensus of the Ummah (nation). Most Muslims began their fast on the same day this year. Dr Al Haddad was referring to Saudi Arabia's decision to sight the moon yesterday, which meant that the fast had begun one day late.
He said the moon-sighting should not take place on Tuesday considering that Ramadan would not have been completed. Ramadan has to be a minimum of 29 days.
He said if it is possible to sight the Shawwal crescent on Tuesday night, then every Muslim will have to fast a day after Eid in compensation, because the month would have only completed 28 days. Today, Wednesday, will be Ramadan 29, not Ramadan 30 as published by some sections of the media.
"This error was not intentional. The day which Muslims began their fast was correct," Dr Al Haddad stressed.


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Naum Il'ich Akhiezer
Quick Info
Cherikov, Ruussian Empire (now Belarus)
Kharkov, USSR
BiographyNaum Il'ich Akhiezer's father was the medical doctor for the district in and around Cherikov. The town of Cherikov, called Cherykau in Belarusian, had around 5500 inhabitants when Naum Il'ich was born. His brother Alexander Il'ich Akhiezer was ten years younger than Naum Il'ich and went on to become a famous theoretical physicist. Naum Il'ich attended the local Gymnasium in Cherikov, graduating in 1918. Then he taught mathematics and physics at the Lemelsk school-commune for four years before beginning his university studies. Perhaps we should make clear that, following the Revolution, Ukraine did not have any universities, but it contained Institutes of Public Education which filled a similar role.
Akhiezer studied at the Kiev Institute of Public Education, entering in 1922 on a three-year course of study. However, he was an exceptional student and was able to complete the full course of study by December 1923 having taken around eighteen months. This is even more remarkable when one realises that he was also teaching at one of the local Kiev schools during the time he was studying at the Institute. In many ways he went far beyond what was expected of any student [6]:-
While preparing for the examinations he was also able, in this short time, to prepare resumes of a number of the basic courses; these were subsequently used by many students. His accelerated passage through the course did not prevent him from taking an active part in a number of scientific seminars. To this same period dates his first enthusiasm for the theory of elliptic functions, which he studied from the original memoirs of Jacobi in Latin. Subsequently he was to return several times to this theory, and to make masterly use of it in various problems of analysis. At the same period he began studying the celebrated doctoral dissertation of N E Zolotarev, and certain other work by classic native authors.He met a fellow undergraduate Mark Grigorievich Krein who had entered the Kiev Institute of Public Education at the age of fourteen. Akhiezer and Krein became friends and around ten years later collaborated on mathematical projects. Akhiezer graduated from the Kiev Institute of Public Education in 1924. In addition to his school teaching, at this time Akhiezer was assisting Dmitry Aleksandrovich Grave by conducting practical classes for him at one of the Higher Educational Institutes in Kiev. Akhiezer became a research student of Grave's in 1925 and worked on his dissertation [6]:-
At that time Grave had begun to occupy himself with questions of mechanics and applied mathematics, and he led his pupils in the same direction. Akhiezer's research was on the theory of functions of a complex variable and its applications to aerodynamics. In March, 1928 he defended his dissertation 'Aerodynamical Investigations' (Ukrainian), which had appeared in the journal 'Trudy Piz.-Mat. Otdela Ukrain. Akad. Nauk.' We remark that it was in this paper that the formula was first given for mapping a doubly-connected domain, bounded by polygons, onto a circular annulus.After undertaking research with Grave, in 1928 he joined the staff at Kiev University and the Kiev Aviation Institute and taught there until 1933. During this period he worked on the theory of functions publishing many papers in Russian, French and German. Examples of his papers from his time in Kiev are: On polynomials deviating least from zero (Russian) (1930), On the extremal properties of certain fractional functions (Russian) (1930), On a minimum problem in the theory of functions, and on the number of roots of an algebraic equation which lie inside the unit circle (Russian) (1931), and Über einige Funktionen, welche in zwei gegebenen Intervallen am wenigsten von Null abweichen Ⓣ (3 parts, 1932-1933). In the first of these papers Akhiezer solved the problem of finding the polynomial with three fixed coefficients deviating least from zero on a given interval. This extended results by Chebyshev who had solved the problem for polynomials with one fixed coefficient, and by Zolotarev for polynomials with two fixed coefficients.
From 1933 Akhiezer worked at Kharkov University. There he joined the Kharkov School of function theory and soon became its leading member. He was appointed to the Chair of the Theory of Functions in 1933 and, two years later, was appointed director of the Mathematical and Mechanical Research Institute after Sergei Bernstein moved to Leningrad. He served as President of the Kharkov Mathematical Society for more than 25 years and was elected to the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in 1934. Akhiezer had never been awarded a doctorate since academic degrees of Master of Science and Doctor of Science had been abolished in the USSR in 1918. However, they were reintroduced in 1934 and, in 1936 Akhiezer was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Physical-Mathematical Sciences. In around 1935, Kolmogorov laid the foundation for a new study, namely that of the extremal problem for a class of functions. In 1937 Akhiezer, working with his friend M G Krein, solved the extremal problem for the class of differentiable periodic functions. The two mathematicians collaborated on writing the book On some problems of the theory of moments (Russian) published in 1938. Akhiezer continued to work on this topic and was later to solve the extremal problem for the class of analytic functions. He published The classical moment problem and some related topics in analysis in 1961 (Russian, English translation 1965). A review begins:-
The moment problem is of importance in several areas of mathematics, e.g., certain problems of analysis such as quadrature formulas, continued fractions, orthogonal polynomials, the interpolation problem for functions of a complex variable, quasi-analytic classes of functions and monotone functions, spectral theory of operators, etc. ... The present book serves as a solid foundation for the application of the moment problem to the above fields ...During World War II, as his contribution to war work, he moved to the Alma-Ata Mining and Metallurgy Institute in 1941 where he remained until 1943 when he transferred to the Moscow Power Institute. He returned to his Chair of the Theory of Functions at Kharkov University in 1947. Between 1941 and 1945 he did not publish any papers but from 1945 onwards he was able to publish again with papers such as On some inversion formulae for singular integrals (1945), The general theory of Chebyshev polynomials (1945), On some properties of entire transcendental functions of exponential type (1946) and the book Lectures on the Theory of Approximation in 1947. This important book was awarded the Chebyshev Prize in 1949. Antoni Zygmund writes:-
This is an interesting and valuable book representing various aspects of the theory of approximation of functions in the real domain. ... The presentation is clear and elegant.Andrey Kolmogorov, in a review of this book, described Akhiezer's monographs as:-
... masterpieces of mathematical literature, combining width and clarity of general conception with virtuosity in the handling of details.The book was translated into English and published in 1956, being reprinted in 1992.
His main work was on function theory and approximation theory, building on the results of Chebyshev, Zolotarev and Markov. Volodymyr Petryshyn comments that:-
His most outstanding work consisted of deep approximation results in the constructive function theory, including the solution of the problem of Zolotarev.Boris Verkin, the founder and first director of the Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, was a specialist in experimental physics and held mathematics in high esteem. He persuaded several mathematicians including Akhiezer to join the Institute in the early 1960's and Akhiezer became head of the Department of the Theory of Functions at this Institute.
Akhiezer's later work, in addition to that on the theory of moments, included joint work with Sergei Bernstein on completeness of sets of polynomials. Akhiezer wrote 150 papers and 10 books, one of which was the important Theory of Operators in Hilbert Space. This work, written jointly with Israel M Glazman, was first published in Russian in 1950. It was translated into English and published as two volumes, in 1961 and 1963. In 1966 the authors produced a major revision and augmentation of the text for a second Russian edition, and they produced a third edition in two volumes in 1977, 1978. This third Russian edition was translated into English and published in 1981. The two English volumes published in 1961 and 1963 were reprinted as a single volume in 1993.
He also contributed to the history of mathematics with an important book on Sergei Bernstein and his work. He also edited the collected works of Pafnuty Lvovich Chebyshev, Andrei Andreyevich Markov, Aleksandr Mikhailovich Lyapunov and Nikolay Yakovlevich Sonin.
Akhiezer was highly praised as a teacher [6]:-
He comes to his teaching with the greatest sense of responsibility, and thoroughly prepares his courses, usually in written form. He reads these lectures with great animation, infecting the audience with his unaffected enthusiasm and desire to reveal the beauty of mathematical constructions. His great personal charm, sparkling wit and cheerfulness, and his open and friendly attitude towards the young, have always attracted talented young people to Akhiezer, a great number of whom have developed into good mathematicians who are working in various cities of the USSR.In [3] some of his other contributions are mentioned:-
Naum Il'ich had a wide range of interests, never ceased to organise mathematician teams in Kharkov Polytechnical Institute and Kharkov University. More than that, he took many far reaching initiatives to raise the new generation of mathematicians (setting up the well known 27-th mathematics school, the Kharkov State University based External youth mathematics school). His pedagogical gift and lecturer's skill were famed in Kharkov higher education institutions.The authors of [5] write:-
Many generations of students at the University of Kharkov heard Akhiezer's remarkable lectures and were astonished by their elegance and originality. These lectures had a significant formative influence on many mathematicians. He was gladdened by the success of young mathematicians, who always found in him a supporter. He had a brilliant and fascinating personality; his intellectual interests were unusually wide, and his energy and enthusiasm did not forsake him until the very last day.
References (show)
- M Livsic, Biography in Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York 1970-1990). See THIS LINK.
- V A Marchenko, Nonlinear equations and operator algebra (Dordrecht and Boston, 1988).
- Akhiezer Naum Ilyich (1901-1980) http://kharkov.vbelous.net/english/politex1/ahiezer.htm
- Ju M Berezans'ki, A N Kolmogorov, M G Krein, B Ja Levin, B M Levitan and V A Marcenko, Naum Il'ic Akhiezer (on the occasion of his seventieth birthday) (Russian), Uspehi Mat. Nauk 26 (6) (162) (1971), 257-261.
- A N Kolmogorov, M G Krein, B Ya Levin, B M Levitan, Yu I Lyubich, V A Marchenko, I V Ostrovs'kii, A Ya Povzner and A V Pogorelov, Naum Il'ich Akhiezer: Obituary (Russian), Uspekhi Mat. Nauk 36 (4) (220) (1981), 183-184.
- M G Krein and B Ja Levin, Naum Il'ic Akhiezer (on his sixtieth birthday) (Russian), Uspehi Mat. Nauk 16 (4) (100) (1961), 223-234.
- Yu I Lyubich, Naum Il'ich Akhiezer (Russian), Teor. Funktsii Funktsional. Anal. i Prilozhen. 56 (1991), 3-14.
- Yu I Lyubich, Naum Il'ich Akhiezer, J. Math. Sci. 76 (4) (1995), 2441-2451.
- V A Marchenko, Yu A Mitropol'ski, A V Pogorelov, et al., Naum Il'ich Akhiezer (on the centenary of his birth) (Russian), Ukrain. Mat. Zh. 53 (3) (2001), 291-293
- V A Marchenko, Yu A Mitropol'ski, A V Pogorelov, et al., Naum Il'ich Akhiezer (on the centenary of his birth), Ukrainian Math. J. 53 (3) (2001), 333-335.
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Written by J J O'Connor and E F Robertson
Last Update April 2009
Last Update April 2009


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Medical school: A school with a curriculum leading to a medical degree. The mission of every medical school includes medical teaching, research, and patient care. All medical schools share the goal of preparing students in the art and science of medicine, and providing them with the background necessary to enter the period of graduate medical education. The years of medical school preceding graduate medical education are typically divided into a preclinical phase and a clinical phase.
Although medical students have clinical experiences throughout medical school, the first two years are often called the "preclinical" phase. The preclinical phase typically occupies the first two years after matriculation. The normal structure and function of human systems are taught through gross and microscopic anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, behavioral science, and neuroscience. The educational focus then shifts to abnormalities of the body's structure and function, disease, and general therapeutic principles through courses in microbiology, immunology, pharmacology, and pathology.
Throughout the first two years, the clinical significance of basic science material is stressed. The preclinical phase always includes a course introducing students to the concepts of physical examination and interviewing. Students often interview "standardized patients" (people with actual physical findings or people trained to simulate particular cases or findings) in their introduction to clinical medicine courses.
Lectures now account for less than half of the scheduled contact time at the majority of medical schools. Small-group discussion, self-instruction, laboratories, case studies and other educational experiences make up the remainder of the scheduled time. The use of computer technology and computer-assisted instruction in the preclinical phase of medical student education have also introduced new approaches to the delivery and acquisition of the sciences basic to medicine.
Most schools include small-group tutorial/discussion sessions organized around patient cases that emphasize problem solving. This approach requires students to take responsibility for obtaining information themselves and encourages students to become active learners. It also prepares them for continuous learning throughout their professional lives.
The clinical phase of the curriculum usually occurs during the last two years of medical school and is devoted to education in the clinical setting. The periods of instruction are called clerkships, and may range in length from approximately 4 to 12 weeks. During clerkships, students work with patients and their families in inpatient and outpatient settings.
Required "core" clerkships in all schools include internal medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, and family medicine. Depending on the school, required clerkships can also include family medicine, primary care, neurology, and community or rural medicine.
While in a hospital setting or a hospital clinic, students work under the supervision of physician faculty members (known as "attending physicians") and residents, and work with other members of the health care team. Students frequently do "preceptorships" --that is, they are assigned to community physicians' offices to gain first hand knowledge about how a practice of medicine functions.
Whether in a hospital or community setting, students are responsible for "working-up" a number of patient cases during the clerkship, by collecting relevant data and information from patients, and presenting the data to fellow students, attending physicians, faculty members and residents. Students are assigned to a medical team, and participate in the ongoing clinical care of patients, and they gain skills in clinical decision-making and patient management.
Ideally, students follow their patients over time, either during hospitalizations, in their preceptorships, or through the course of outpatient treatment. Standardized patients (SPs) are used during the clinical years to supplement the kinds of diseases and conditions the students observe. SPs are also used for assessment of student knowledge, attitudes and skills. Other teaching methods in the clinical phase include "rounds" (discussion of inpatient cases), bedside teaching, case-based lectures and small group discussions.
All accredited medical schools in the US and Canada are represented by the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC). Further information about medical school in the US and Canada may be obtained from the AAMC.


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NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycles
Harley-Davidson Screamin' Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Ed Krawiec left the O'Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals leading the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle series after winning one round of eliminations.
Krawiec took over the series lead after winning the last event in Norwalk, Ohio, but could not build on that momentum in the heat and humidity at Route 66 Raceway.
Ed Krawiec (Harley-Davidson Screamin' Eagle V-Rod) says: "We still don't have a good hot-weather tune-up for the Screamin' Eagle V-Rod, and that's something we've been working on for a few seasons. So we'll keep working on it. It wasn't a terrible outing for us. We got one win and keep the points lead."
Krawiec qualified fifth for the event with an elapsed time (ET) of 6.988 seconds. Harley-Davidson® Screamin' Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Andrew Hines qualified the team's other Harley V-Rod in 11th position with a 7.029-second pass. Lucas Oil Buell rider Hector Arana Jr. led all qualifiers with an ET of 6.950 seconds.
Hines was done on Sunday after a first-round loss to VRoom Racing Buell rider David Hope. Hines ran 7.099 to 7.040 for Hope.
Andrew Hines (Harley-Davidson Screamin' Eagle V-Rod) says: "My bike was struggling this weekend, and on Sunday we went back to the set-up we used for Eddie's bike, but we were off on the tune-up. We are going to stay here and test on Monday and try to find a better combination for this hot weather that we can use later this season, and then go right to Denver for the next event. We need to find some consistency."
Krawiec opened the Sunday elimination rounds with a 7.014-second run and a win after the Suzuki ridden by Steve Johnson broke at the starting line. Krawiec ran 7.094 and lost to the 7.065 effort of Kuryakyn Buell rider Chip Ellis in round two.
Nitrofish Suzuki rider LE Tonglet defeated Ellis in the final round to win the event.
After six of 16 scheduled Pro Stock Motorcycle events, Krawiec leads the series with 485 points. Karen Stoffer, who won one round at Route 66, stays in second place with 479 points. Matt Smith moves up to third with 424 points after winning two rounds at Route 66. Hines and Tonglet are tied for fourth with 401 points.
The Pro Stock Motorcycles will next race at the 32nd annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals, July 22-24 at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo.


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August 21, 2010 – Dharamsala
His Holiness Gyalwang Karmapa led a special prayer at Tsuklag Khang temple in Mcleodgunj.
Hundreds of devotees including Tibetan Government officials, monks, nuns, and lay followers came to pay their respects and express their condolences and sympathy towards the victims and families of those affected by the natural calamity in the Drug Chu Zong area of Tibet. The calamity occurred on the 8th of August, 2010.
The prayer lasted two hours. All the attendees made deep prayers and were touched by the presence of His Holiness who was leading the prayer.


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A badly injured sea turtle's prospects are looking up — thanks to a new prosthetic fin designed by an Israeli team and modeled after the wings of a U.S. fighter jet.
View: Photos of the Day: Turtle's Prosthetic Fin Modeled After F-22 Raptor Warplane
The green sea turtle, named "Hofesh," the Hebrew word for "freedom," was caught in a fishing net off Israel's Mediterranean coast in early 2009. With his two left flippers badly wounded, rescuers had to amputate, leaving him with a pair of stumps that made it difficult to swim.
Yaniv Levy, director of Israel's Sea Turtle Rescue Center, said Hofesh was initially fitted with a diver's fin, but it provided little relief and he bumped into things as he tried to swim.
Shlomi Gez, an industrial design student at Jerusalem's Hadassah College, read about the animal on the Internet and wanted to help. He designed a prosthetic based on a fish's dorsal fin. The contraption provided some improvement, but Hofesh still had trouble breathing and rising to the surface.
Then, inspired by the design of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s F-22 Raptor warplane, Gez designed a new prosthetic with two fins. The device, somewhat resembling the aircraft's wings, was strapped onto Hofesh's back on Thursday, allowing him to move easily around his tank.
"I discovered it worked better than one fin on the back," Gez explained. "With two fins, he keeps relatively balanced, even above the water."
Levy said that Hofesh will never be able to return to the wild.
But he shares a tank with a blind female turtle named Tsurit, and researchers are optimistic the pair will mate, potentially adding to the local population of the endangered green sea turtles. He said it is difficult to say exactly how old the two turtles are, but they are estimated to be between the ages of 20 and 25, and approaching the age of sexual maturity.
"We have great plans for this guy," Levy said.
"They will never go back to the wild, but their offspring will be released the minute they hatch and go immediately into the sea and live normally in the wild," he added.
Filed Under: Motion control • motor controls


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Looking to make the leap: Mirco Mueller
Like most things in San Jose last year, Mirco Mueller's progression didn't go exactly to plan.
Mueller, the 20-year-old blueliner San Jose took 18th overall in 2013, started out the year in the NHL as part of GM Doug Wilson's "tomorrow team" movement, only to see his ice time dwindle by early December.
From there, he was loaned to Team Switzerland for the World Juniors and, upon returning, was shuffled back and forth between San Jose and the club's AHL affiliate in Worcester, before a thumb injury in late March ended his year.
All told, Mueller appeared in just 39 games for the Sharks, three for Worcester and six for Switzerland -- not a ton of hockey for a youngster that needs all the reps he can get.
Which begs the question -- where will he get them this year?
On paper, Mueller appears to be part of the club's six-man defensive unit, along with Brent Burns, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Justin Braun, Brenden Dillon and newly acquired Paul Martin. But the Swiss rearguard will have some pretty heady competition for that spot, particularly in the form of Matt Tennyson, who appeared in a career-high 27 games last year, and Dylan DeMelo, a 22-year-old prospect who, according to AHL bench boss Roy Sommer, is ready to make the leap himself.
Speaking of the American League, it could end up being the place where Mueller starts this season.
There were worries San Jose rushed him to the NHL last year and it's important to remember that, of all the d-men taken in the first round in '13, only Seth Jones and Rasmus Ristolainen have emerged as regulars; some have argued that Nikita Zadorov, taken two spots ahead of Mueller, was also rushed to the NHL (and has since been traded to Colorado).
What's more, the likes of Philly's Samuel Morin (No. 11), Winnipeg's Josh Morrissey (No. 13) and the Islanders' Ryan Pulock (No. 15) have yet to even make their big-league debuts.
Mueller knows that, based on his age and number of players looking to stick with the Sharks, this fall's training camp will go a long way in deciding his fate.
And he knows the challenge will be difficult.
"It's always competitive," he said, per the San Jose Mercury News. "A lot of jobs are on the line."


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New 1.5HP Swimming Pool Pump SP2810 In Ground Super Pump 110V 2 Inch Port. The swimming pool pump SP2810 is a series of large capacity, high technology pumps that blend cost-efficient design with durable corrosion-proof construction.
Super performance and safe, quiet operation, our pool pump SP2810 is the best choice for you. Heavy-duty high performance motor with airflow ventilation for quieter, cooler operation. See-thru strainer cover lets you see when basket needs cleaning. Exclusive swing-aside handle makes strainer cover removal easy. Super-size filter basket has extra leaf-holding capacity and extends time between cleanings.
Rigid construction with load-extender ribbing assures free flowing operation for heavy debris loads. All components are made of corrosion proof for extra durability and long life. Service-ease design gives simple access to all internal parts. Designed for in ground pools and spas of all types and sizes, the swimming pool pump SP2810 features a large see-through strainer cover, super-size debris basket, and exclusive service-ease design for extra convenience.
1.5HP 18 m3/h 3450 rpm with 2 inch port. Large see-through strainer cover and super-size filter basket. Handle makes strainer cover removal easy.
Load-extender ribbing ensures free flowing operation. Corrosion proof for extra durability and long life.For in ground pools of all types and sizes. Brand new with top quality. Voltage: 110 V, 60 Hz.
Max head: 19 m (62 ft). Port size: 50.8 mm (2 inch).
Package size: 69 x 37 x 29 cm (27 x 15 x 12 inch). Gross weight: 20.54 kg (45.28 lbs). As a leading and emerging company in manufactory and exporting business, we are specialized in Business and Industrial Products, Sporting Goods, Pet Products, Home and Garden products for more than 10 years. We believe that it is our vision and mission to provide innovative products with best service and competitive price to satisfy you. Our goal is to make sure that you can find exactly what you are looking for and make it easy for you to place your orders.
If you have any changes, pls inform us. These charges are the buyers responsibility. If you need to return, please check twice to confirm the item not work and contact our customer service representative, let us know the detailed problem and send us some pictures for confirmation. Please make sure that item has NO man-made sabotage. Used items will not be accepted for return.
All emails will be responded to within. You want to cancel an order. If you need further assembly instructions for a product. Any other unspecified questions or concerns.
Special circumstances will be listed clearly in the listing. Please do check everything carefully after you received the parcel, any the damage except DOA (Dead-On-Arrival) would not be covered if it's your fault. A: The item ships from Rancho Cucamonga, CA, United States. A: Please log on your account. Q: How do I return an item?
Please contact our customer service before you return an item. The item "Hayward SP2610X15 Super Pump 1.5 HP Inground Swimming Pool Pump Complete" is in sale since Friday, October 19, 2018.
This item is in the category "Home & Garden\Yard, Garden & Outdoor Living\Pools & Spas\Pool Equipment & Parts\Pool Pumps". The seller is "technology-etrade" and is located in Ontario, California. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, Mexico.


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Fred Humphries does not fit the stereotype of an FBI agent as cool and unemotional. In person, the man who helped initiate the investigation of CIA Director David Petraeus comes across as a passionate and empathetic person.
Until this week, Humphries was best known as the FBI agent who gleaned critical intelligence from an al-Qaida trained bomber in months of interrogations before the World Trade Center attack. Both a federal prosecutor and defense lawyer praised Humphries for the rapport he developed with Ahmed Ressam, the man convicted of a plot to detonate a bomb in the Los Angeles International Airport.
Humphries interrogations are credited with saving lives, most notably in helping authorities defuse the shoe bomb smuggled onto a commercial jet by Richard Reid. But Humphries raised a few eyebrows when he was called by defense lawyers to testify at sentencing that Ressam provided useful information.
with a reporter from the Center for Public Integrity last year to talk about his personal beliefs opposing the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques employed after 9/11. Humphries described torture as both immoral and ineffective.
In the interview, Humphries said brutal techniques only lead to bad information. While he stressed that he does not condone Ressam's actions, he said the key to getting cooperation was to try to put himself in Ressam's shoes.
"As an agent, it's not my position to judge," he said. "I'm just there to find facts."
Humphries's empathy may have worked against him in the Petraeus investigation. Humphries and his wife became friends with Jill Kelley, a socialite who along with her husband hosted events for top military brass in Tampa. Kelley went to Humphries last May when she received suspicious anonymous emails.
The New York Times reports that the emails raised concerns within the FBI that someone might be stalking senior US officials.
Initial stories reported that Humphries had previously sent a shirtless photo to Kelley. But the Seattle Times reports today that Humphries sent the same photo as a joke to dozens of friends in 2010, including a Seattle Times reporter and Humphries's former boss at the FBI. The Seattle Times reported that the snapshot shows Humphries, muscular and bare-chested, between two equally buff target dummies on a shooting range.
Humphries also sent friends an email after attending a party with Petraeus, in which he described him and another general as "great leaders," the Seattle Times reported.
It's not clear if Humphries realized that the investigation might lead to Petraeus's resignation or raise questions about numerous flirtatious emails between Kelley and Gen. John Allen, top commander in Afghanistan. Other agents in Tampa reportedly kept Humphries out of the investigation because of his intense interest in it. Left out of the loop, Humphries reportedly feared that the case was being blocked politically. So late last month he went to Congressman Dave Reichert, R-Wa., a former sheriff in Seattle where Humphries had been stationed. News that Humphries went to members of Congress got back to the FBI director.
Within days, the FBI briefed James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, about its probe. He persuaded Petraeus to resign.
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André Gaudelette began his career in the 1940s, working as an illustrator for publishers like Les Éditeurs Réunis on collections such as France d'Abord. Under the pseudonym André Joy, André Gaudelette drew the 'P'tit Joc' series. This series about a little orphan boy was written by Jean Ollivier and appeared in Vaillant from 1952 to 1957. He then briefly drew 'Jojo des Rues' for the magazine. Joy left Vaillant in 1957 to make the title comic of Lombard's Line magazine under his own name with Charles Nugue for a while.
Rachel, reine du theatre (Line 113, 1957)
He began a collaboration with Fleurus publishers in 1961. There, he created 'Frank et Siméon' for Coeurs Vaillants/J2 Jeunes and 'Les Enquêtes de Nicole' for Ames Vaillantes/J2 Magazine. Later on, he illustrated 'Judy' for the magazines Djinn and Triolo. He additionally drew comics for Francs-Jeux, Nade, Lisette and Amis Coop, before retiring in 1987. André Gaudelette is the father of comic artist Michel Gaudelette.


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When Ignorance Is No Longer Bliss
The saying, "ignorance is bliss," is what is known as an idiom. It refers to the refusal to acknowledge the reality of a situation. Some people hide in that "ignorance" because the truth is unpleasant or too overwhelming or they just do not want to worry about it. They prefer someone else take the burden of dealing with whatever the issue is, in other words, that someone else stands-in for them as the adult. Being an adult means you recognize and deal with circumstances as they exist; that you do not ignore the truth of those circumstances.
Adults know that government handouts are not truly free. Being adult means that you know that the fictitious "free" ride eventually ends, that the money eventually runs out if half the people take without contributing, that if you do not have a strong military freedom is eventually taken from you and that if you have a press that is aligned with the government, ignorance is the result.
Ignorance is not necessarily a reflection of lack of intellect. Consider all of the Think Tanks, ivy-league graduates and media analysts who either choose to ignore or cannot see the internal and global assault upon our great nation. Other Americans do not perceive the threat because lower educational standards have dulled their analytical processes. Such is the infertile ground that has allowed the perpetrators to rush forward towards America's demise as they pursue their quest to bring down a republic of free people and repress speech that is counter to their own. History records that their well-worn ideology, the religion of socialism that drives their actions, has torn nations asunder or rendered them defenseless. The alarm bells to warn a free and self-sufficient nation of Americans have long been sounding. Many have chosen to ignore the reality at hand.
What has kept the American people in the dark – which is a metaphor of things to come – is lack of knowledge. What is coming quickly is a change that the people, their families, their neighbors, their employers and their clergy are ill-prepared for or they simply choose to ignore. Those who remain cowered behind "ignorance is bliss" will have a rude awakening. The thought of the coming hardships, regardless of political differences, that will be imposed on all Americans is deeply distressing. There is a great grouping of citizens in the middle of extremist ideologies that firmly believe we are all one people and that even those who are remiss, incapable or faulty in their duty to their country and their fellow Americans, that they must also remain protected by the very freedoms and rights upon which this nation was founded.
Millions of Americans cast their vote to receive from the government largesse. What that vote delivers is a temporary micro impact with macro consequences. Promises for free contraception to life-long welfare to cross-dressing in the workplace distracted voters from the bigger picture. An already in-play strategy involves, in due course, sacrificing their money, their health, their rights and their freedoms to a force at work beyond their limited view. They have become willing targets. For those of us who care about all of them and their freedoms and rights as much as we do our own, they must understand that there is no safe haven outside our shores.
America's future cannot be entrusted to those who someday will wake up and wonder what happened to their freedoms. Whether it is their rights under the Constitution to exercise freedom of speech and freedom to worship to more implicit freedoms not to pay international taxes, freedom to have a say in your child's education, freedom to vote out zealous regulators of your personal life, energy usage, childbearing or even current access to the Internet, the following YouTube link provides some insight into what is already happening and what is to come. If you have tuned-in to this YouTube, listen again as a fresh reminder, then pass it along to others regardless of their political stance. Everyone deserves to know the truth. There is a current time stamp on how long hapless ignorance can remain bliss. That clock is ticking.
Sharon Sebastian (www.DarwinsRacists.com) is an author, writer, and contributor to various forms of media including cultural and political broadcasts, print, and online websites. In addition to the heated global debate on creation vs. evolution, her second book, Darwin's Racists - Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, highlights the impact of Social Darwinism's Marxist/Socialist underpinnings on the culture, the faith and current policy out of Washington.
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Google is looking at ways to bring its Wi-Fi networks to cities where it offers Google Fiber, the high-speed Internet service it offers selected metro areas in the U.S., starting with a free plan and ranging up to $120 per month bundled with TV services. The Google Wi-Fi networks that currently are deployed in test markets including Mountain View offer free access to users who want to connect, though Google recently switched its Mountain View project from being a city-wide deployment to being one focused on just the downtown core.
The plans for Wi-Fi network expansion to Fiber cities was uncovered by IDG News Service (via 9to5Google), which found language in a document Google is sending around to 34 cities which it is targeting for Fiber deployment in 2015. It has a section about "discussing [Google's] Wi-Fi plans and related requirements" for the cities in question as being part of the Fiber deployment planning process. Google also provided IDG with a statement saying it would indeed "love to be able to bring Wi-Fi access to all of [its] Fiber cities," but also noted that it had no specific plans to disclose at the moment.
Providing free Wi-Fi is something that Google has seemed keen on for some time. It partnered with the city of San Francisco to deploy free hotspots in parks around the city last year, and it entered into a partnership with Starbucks to replace AT&T as the provider of free Wi-Fi hotspots last year, too. There's a lot of mounting evidence to suggest one of its long-term aims is to blanket the U.S. with free basic connectivity, if it can manage to do so in a cost-effective manner. That has huge potential upside for the search giant, as it means providing greater access to its sites and services to users who might otherwise not be able to reach them.
Google also recently acquired drone maker Titan Aerospace, which will help with its Project Loon, an ambitious attempt to bring Internet to remote locations the world over. Google shares a vision of blanket connectivity with Facebook, which is using its own sub-orbital robots with lasers to try to bring the web to the un-webbed. Both the drones and Google Fiber are two sides of the same coin – coin that Google wants to use to grow its already-considerable bank.


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AutoNation Ford Burleson carries new and used Ford vehicles. While many of those cars, trucks, and SUVs are powered by conventional gas or diesel internal combustion engines (ICE), a lot of them use other ways to get you where you need to go. In this quick guide, we break down some of the major differences between hybrids and electric vehicles (EVs).
The Basics
Similar to how the adorable Havapoo is a cross between a Havenese and a Poodle, a hybrid is a cross between a traditional ICE vehicle and an EV. There are a few different types of hybrids on the market.
Full hybrids have a gas ICE, electric motor, and high-voltage battery pack, but function in different ways. Some draw on electric power for moving at low speeds and under low load conditions; when more thrust is required, they can switch to the ICE. Others are capable of running on gas and electric power at the same time.
Ford offers plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), including the Escape. PHEVs can run on gas just like a vehicle with an ICE, but can provide the increased efficiency of hybrids and be driven for a commute-friendly distance without using a drop of gasoline. EVs are just what they sound like. They're electric vehicles. There's no ICE, just an electric motor (or two or three) and a large battery pack. That means there's no need to change oil or spark plugs or certain other consumables that ICEs require.


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The farce that is the Supreme Court of the United States has now taken up a new cause: same-sex marriage. To push that cause, the anti-Constitutional members of the Supreme Court prepared to declare that the federal government cannot define marriage for the purpose of federal benefits under the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). This is the same Supreme Court that declared last year that the federal government (SET ITAL) can (END ITAL) force individuals to buy health insurance. To simplify, then: The federal government can't define how federal cash gets spent, but it can define how (SET ITAL) your (END ITAL) cash gets spent.
There is no logical principle that undergirds any of this. Little or no legal argument took place at the Supreme Court this week. Justice Elena Kagan instead made a moral argument, stating that it was unthinkable for anyone to consider homosexuality immoral, and adding that morality could not be the basis for law (which should come as a shock to every major political philosopher for the last several millennia). Justice Anthony Kennedy made the argument that marriage has traditionally been the purview of the states, even though he argued just a decade ago that homosexual sodomy could not be regulated by the states based on tradition.
Apparently, the limits on federal power are no longer enshrined in the Constitution. They're arbitrarily enshrined in the heads of the wise men and women (or "wise Latinas," in the words of Justice Sonia Sotomayor) who bring the law from on high.
This is the danger of the Supreme Court being tasked with the exclusive interpretation of the Constitution. The Constitutional system originally relied on the people of the United States standing up for their rights and tossing out anyone who violated them. Now, the Constitution relies on a group of people who couldn't care less about it, and who have been granted life terms to impose their wills on the American people. Forget whether you're pro-same-sex marriage or anti-same-sex marriage. It should frighten you that one branch of government has the power to overrule millions of people's basic moral beliefs simply because they think differently.
And these folks think differently. Ensconced in their cushy perches in the Supreme Court building, the justices while away the hours justifying to themselves how their political proclivities fit into the words of the Constitution. They somehow turn nine states enshrining same-sex marriage into a sweeping movement, and somehow turn a sweeping movement into a Constitutional case for action. They pretend that the founders' words were irrelevant with regard to the Constitution, and that only their Magic 8 Balls of wisdom can divine the true meaning of an eminently clear document.
And we obey.
The abdication of Constitutional responsibility to the Supreme Court has created a ground shift in the way our elected leaders think of their responsibilities. In fact, our elected leaders no longer think they have responsibilities at all under the Constitution. They can toss the Constitutional questions to the wise ones in black robes and ignore their own oaths of office. When queried about abortion, they can point to the justices and shout "But Roe v. Wade!" even though the founders would be appalled at that lawless decision. When queried about citizens' rights to choose healthcare, they point at Chief Justice Roberts' empty and asinine Obamacare decision and shout, "But the Supreme Court!"
The Supreme Court's role in our system fundamentally undermines the concept of human nature the founders saw at the root of our system of checks and balances. The justices assume superhuman stature as Deciders of The Right. The founders would have wept at such hubris.
Ben Shapiro, 29, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, a radio host on KRLA 870 Los Angeles, and Editor-At-Large for Breitbart News. He is the New York Times bestselling author of "Bullies: How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America."


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10 February 2014 Released detainees from the sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) must be part of the national political dialogue in South Sudan, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the country reiterated today as anti- and pro-Government representatives prepare to meet for a new round of peace talks.
The UN Mission in South sudan (UNMISS) "underscores the necessity of the national political dialogue to continue without delay to reach a comprehensive peace agreement, with the participation of all South Sudanese political and civil society representatives," a UN spokesperson told journalists in New York.
Anti- and pro-Government representatives are expected to meet today in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. The two sides signed a ceasefire last month following peace talks mediated by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), leading to a relative lull.
Over the weekend, UNMISS facilitated the travel of an IGAD needs assessment team to Malakal, some 600 kilometres north of the capital Juba in the oil-bearing state of Upper Nile. The team travelled to move forward on a Monitoring and Verification Mechanism, part of the cessation of hostilities agreement, and to meet with IGAD officials. Earlier today, an IGAD team also visited Bor in Jonglei State, a UN spokesperson confirmed.
Meanwhile, the Mission continues its military and police patrols in locations around the country. In Nassir, in Upper Nile state, the Mission reports the situation to be volatile. The Mission has received reports of fighting between the SPLM and anti-government forces in Thorgwang in Manyo County.
In Bor, Jonglei State, the Mission notes that some government officials have begun returning to the town, as have civilians, but in limited numbers.
Thousands of people are believed to have been killed and more than 870,000 others have fled their homes since fighting broke out on 15 December between the forces of President Salva Kiir and deputy president Riek Machar, 75,000 of them seeking refuge on 10 UN bases throughout the country.
Source: UN News Centre – Africa
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New Tremors in Egypt-Israel Relations
The recent flare up of hostilities along the Israel-Egypt border signals a hardening of Egypt's stance toward Israel and further difficulties for the sluggish Mideast peace process, says expert David Makovsky.
August 23, 2011 9:55 am (EST)
- Interview
- To help readers better understand the nuances of foreign policy, CFR staff writers and Consulting Editor Bernard Gwertzman conduct in-depth interviews with a wide range of international experts, as well as newsmakers.
Renewed hostilities along Israel's border with Egypt's Sinai are leading to questions about the future of the flailing Middle East peace process, says expert David Makovsky. The political climate in Egypt has shifted in favor of the country's various Islamist groups, Makovsky says, and the Egyptian military fears "mid-level officers are going to be unable to enforce discipline among their rank and file troops to impose order and stop terrorist acts and infiltration into Israel." He also says Middle East diplomacy is stalled over EU reluctance to back President Obama's May peace proposals, which stress a return to 1967 boundaries, with land swaps, as well as Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.
What do you make of the recent round of violence?
We don't have all of the answers right now. Here are some elements, though, to think about. The Sinai desert, which has been patrolled routinely by Egypt for years, could now be used as a launching pad by non-state actors--whether they are offshoots of Hamas with Hamas acquiescence, or al-Qaeda, or other elements that would like to provoke a profound deterioration in Israeli-Egyptian relations leading to an abrogation of the 1979 peace treaty and perhaps even war. It would have sounded fanciful if I had said this a year ago.
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What's of concern is that Israel has agreed quietly to acquiesce to an Egyptian request (JPost) to allow eleven hundred Egyptian soldiers into the Sinai, on top of the eight hundred allowed in January. Under the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty, Egypt was obliged to keep the Sinai demilitarized. Yet the fact that they have eleven hundred more troops has not stopped the smuggling. What's more concerning is that the Egyptian military seems to fear that mid-level officers are going to be unable to enforce discipline among their rank and file troops to impose order and stop terrorist acts and infiltration into Israel.
Amid the terrorist attacks, five Egyptian security guards were killed, possibly by Israeli gunfire. This led to widespread protests (Reuters) in Egypt against Israel. Do you detect growing anti-Israel sentiment in Egypt?
I have been concerned for many months that the political context in Egypt, when it comes to peace with Israel, might be changing; that the public senses that, when there are elections, Islamist parties--led by the Muslim Brotherhood but not exclusively--could be a dominant political block in Egypt. That would mean that you would have a military that has had excellent relations with the Israelis but does not want to be in a confrontation with the public. Therefore, the political context for the Egyptian-Israeli military-to-military relations, which have been very good, are very much liable to deteriorate.
It's not just these parties. A former foreign minister, Amr Moussa, is running for president, and since he wants to win, suddenly there is political capital to be made in saying: We're going to take a tougher position toward Israel. Even though he's not part of that Islamic cluster of parties, he wants their votes in the presidential elections. To be fair to him, he has defended the Egypt-Israel peace treaty, but the disorder this weekend shows that things on the ground can be very fragile, and if it wasn't for a lot of behind-the-scenes diplomacy over the weekend, things could have deteriorated much faster. My fear is there are non-state actors out there--whether it's Hamas, this Popular Resistance Committee (PRC), al-Qaeda--that see lawlessness in the Sinai as a way to ignite a deterioration in the Egyptian-Israeli relationship.
It's often been said that the Palestinians shoot themselves in the foot. With the Palestinian Authority ready to go to the UN in about a month to seek recognition as a state, will this terrorist act by the PRC set back that effort?
I have been concerned that the political context in Egypt, when it comes to peace with Israel, might be changing; that the public senses that, when there are elections, Islamist parties--led by the Muslim Brotherhood but not exclusively--could be a dominant political block in Egypt.
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People recognize the Palestinian Authority doesn't control Gaza, and the military wing of Hamas has never been much interested in diplomacy anyway and sees it as futile. The idea of Palestinian statehood now is misguided, because there is a way forward with the Quartet--the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations--trying to broker a resumption of peace talks based on Obama's speeches to Congress of May 19, 2011 and to the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee on May 22, 2011. The president offered something that the Palestinians dreamed of for a long time: borders based on the pre-1967 war borders, with mutual swaps. Now that they have it, they seem to be indifferent toward it. That's where they're shooting themselves in the foot.
Obama is preoccupied with U.S. economic problems. Does he have a plan for negotiations?
While [Obama's speeches] were not a radical departure in U.S. policy, it was still something different. What the United States has tried to do is go to the Quartet and say, "We have now articulated a new American policy. Are we going to be able to unite around it?" The United States is trying to get the Quartet to agree on a text and facilitate the resumption of peace talks. Now the United States has asked Tony Blair, the Quartet representative, to finalize the differences over the text. I'm told by the administration that this will come to a head next week, one way or another.
But you asked an important question, which is where is the United States now? What has happened is that President Obama has paid a domestic political price for his Middle East speeches. He got virtually no support from Democrats in Congress. I think his view is: I've stepped up to the plate and paid the domestic political price, but where are the others? So we're in this unusual situation where Tony Blair is the person trying to narrow the differences over the text. It probably demonstrates that until after next year's presidential elections, the United States is not going to be leading the charge on the issue.
Why are the Europeans not enthusiastic about it?
It was hard for Obama to say Israel should negotiate based on the pre-1967 borders, plus swaps. But he also said that the Palestinians should recognize Israel as a Jewish state with equal rights for all its citizens and a Palestinian state with equal rights for all its citizens. You're having elements within the EU and the Russians who are nervous about using that language because they don't want to do anything at odds with the Palestinians [who don't want to publicly acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state]. It's very odd because the Palestinian Declaration of Independence of 1988 very clearly cites the UN partition of 1947 where the plan was to have both a Jewish state and an Arab state. Why the Palestinians can't affirm the premise set in 1988 is odd to me.
So, it's really the issue of whether the Palestinians would agree to call Israel a Jewish state?
Some Palestinians say that to accept Israel as a Jewish state would prejudice the issue of Palestinians' right to return to homes formerly in Israel. This is not true, as the issue can be dealt with on its own merits and without prejudice to other issues. Israel has come a distance this summer in saying that if the Quartet came out with a statement, it would view the statement as a way to launch negotiations. While there has been no media attention to this, a Quartet formula is a way to relaunch talks to basically help reshape the discourse.
President Obama has paid a domestic political price for his Middle East speeches. He got virtually no support from Democrats in Congress for his speeches. I think his view is: I've stepped up to the plate and paid the domestic political price, but where are the others?
There seem to be eight European states that say they would support it and eight that say they would oppose it, and others are in between. And many of them are nervous about a Palestinian statehood declaration because they have separatist movements in Europe, and what is the precedent if the United Nations leap-frogs any negotiations? Many of them are looking for a way out; they want an exit ramp off this whole September at the UN business. It might be that the Europeans have to take a position that is not fully to the Palestinian liking, just as the United States took a position that was not exactly to [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's liking in May.
There have been unprecedented rallies of unhappy Israelis. Has Netanyahu weathered this?
A lot of the polling is preliminary, so it's hard to know. But this is the biggest protest movement Israel has seen that has not been directed by political forces from above. This is a spontaneous outpouring of the middle class in Israel that believes that it is being squeezed--that on its shoulders is the bulk of the military reserve duty; on its shoulders are the taxes. They're concerned about excessive taxing, as they see it, and about a concentration of power at the very top, in the hands of certain Israeli tycoons or oligarchs, with a weak anti-trust system that needs to be sharply improved.
This is a middle class mass protest movement that believes the system is skewed against them. It's not a coincidence that the biggest numbers have come out in the Tel Aviv area. They have been very careful not to make this a protest against the ultra-Orthodox or against the settlements. But it's hard to escape that this is about trying to reorder the country's national priorities. And look at how Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin won in 1992: It was about reordering national priorities. While the opposition movement has not been totally able to take advantage of this, this is something that Netanyahu has to take seriously. And the fact that he put forward an [informal] commission (AFP) led by an academic, Manual Trachtenberg, who has very high credibility and is seen as someone who is not a rubber stamp for Netanyahu, is a sign that Netanyahu realizes there has to be a credible response.


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Art Of The Ancient Americas
Permanent Collection
Mint Museum Randolph
Permanent Collection
Mint Museum Randolph
The ancient New World, one of the illustrious cradles of human civilization, is featured at The Mint Museum, the wide-ranging collection showcasing more than 2,500 artworks from the ancient Americas.
The ancient New World, one of the illustrious cradles of human civilization, is featured at The Mint Museum. This wide-ranging collection showcases more than 2,500 artworks from the ancient Americas. The museum's collection, the majority having been donated by Dr. and Mrs. Francis Robicsek, is one of the largest in the United States, spanning 4,300 years of artistic creativity from 2800 BCE to 1500 CE, and presenting more than forty of the major societies from ancient Mesoamerica (Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador), Central America (Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama), and Andean South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile).
Two galleries are dedicated to the arts of the ancient Americas at Mint Museum Randolph , exploring the works from two viewpoints. First, the objects are viewed as windows into the society that created them, borrowing the "material culture" approach from anthropology and archaeology. As such, artworks reveal a people's daily routines, social practices, politics, intellectual accomplishments, and spiritual beliefs. The museum equally views these pieces as art–that is, manifestations of human creativity and technical expertise that highlight the universal impulse to produce well-crafted, emotion-filled objects. The aesthetics and creative techniques developed by the ancient artists of the Americas are equally explored in the galleries. These works–in earthenware, jadeite and other stones, gold and silver, shell, and fiber–personify and preserve these now-lost civilizations whose descendants are the foundations of the modern nations of Latin America.
Want to see more? Click below to begin exploring and be inspired by The Mint Museum's permanent collection of American Art.


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Building the Revolution. Soviet Art and Architecture 1915-1935. CaixaForum Barcelona
Barcelona, 3 February 2011
The Soviet State that emerged from the 1917 Russian Revolution fostered a new visual language aimed at building a new society based on the socialist ideal. The decade and a half that followed the Revolution was a period of intense activity and innovation in the field of the arts, particularly amongst architects, marked by the use of pure geometric forms. The new State required new types of building, from commune houses, clubs and sports facilities for the victorious proletariat, factories and power stations in order to bring ambitious plans for industrialisation to fruition, and operations centres from which to implement State policy and to broadcast propaganda, as well as such outstanding monuments as Lenin's Mausoleum.
Building the Revolution. Soviet Art and Architecture 1915-1935 illustrates one of the most exceptional periods in the history of architecture and the visual arts, one that is reflected in the engagement of such constructivist artists as Lyubov Popova, Alexander Rodchenko and Kazimir Malevich and Russian architects like Konstantin Melnikov, Moisei Ginzburg and Alexander Vesnin, as well as the European architects Le Corbusier and Mendelsohn. The exhibition features some 230 works, including models, artworks (paintings and drawings) and photographs, featuring both vintage prints from the 1920s and 30s and contemporary images by the British photographer Richard Pare. Building the Revolution. Soviet Art and Architecture 1915-1935, which is organised by the Royal Academy of Arts of London in cooperation with Fundació "la Caixa" and the SMCA-Costakis Collection of Thessaloniki, forms part of the 2011 Dual Year Programme from Spain to Russia and from Russia to Spain.
The exhibition Building the Revolution. Soviet Art and Architecture, 1915-1935 will be open to the public at CaixaForum Barcelona (Av. Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, 6-8) from 4 February to 17 April 2011. It will later travel to CaixaForum Madrid (May 27 – September 18) and the Royal Academy of Arts, London (October 2011 ? January 2012).
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CHICAGO – The head of the NHL players' union said Monday that negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement will begin "very quickly" — perhaps as early as this week — and didn't rule out talks stretching into the season.
New NHL Players Association executive director Donald Fehr said negotiations will begin after Wednesday's meeting of the NHLPA's executive board, though he did not specify a date. He was in Chicago for three days of union talks.
The NHL canceled the 2004-05 season before a labor deal was reached that included a salary cap for the first time. That agreement expires on Sept. 15.
Fehr was asked whether a work stoppage was inevitable.
"None of that is coming from our side," he said. "That's the first thing. Secondly, we have not made a proposal. We haven't heard an owners' proposal."
He also shrugged off concerns about having a deal in place by the time the season begins.
"There's nothing magic about Sept. 15. The law is that if you don't have a new agreement, and as long as both sides are willing to keep negotiating, you can continue to play under the terms of the old one until you reach an agreement," he said.
Asked if that could happen in this instance, Fehr said, "All I know is that in baseball, there were any number of occasions in which we played while the parties were continuing to negotiate."
A work stoppage, he said, would be a "last resort."
"The problem that we've had in the salary-cap sports going back 20-plus years now is that in many instances, historically — I'm not saying it'll be true this time — a lockout has been the negotiation strategy of choice," Fehr added. "It's unfortunate because it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hopefully, that's not going to be true this time."
The league declined comment.
Fehr said he expected 40 to 60 players to attend the meetings, and some of the game's biggest stars were in attendance on Monday, including Washington's Alex Ovechkin and Chicago's Jonathan Toews.
"I think everybody has to be involved," Ovechkin said. "It's our lives."
Toews said, "I think it's important for all of us."
He called it a "learning process," particularly for players who were not around for the lockout, and he senses an urgency to reach an agreement.
"I don't see why not," he said. "That's obviously what everyone wants."
Commissioner Gary Bettman said during the Stanley Cup finals last month that he believes the labor scene is different this time around. One big change is that the players are now being led by Fehr, the former head of the powerful baseball union.
Fehr is working with a group that was in disarray following the lockout and went through several changes in leadership including a scandal that led to the demise of former executive director Ted Saskin, who was accused of ordering spying of player e-mail.
Fehr was brought in as an adviser before becoming the union's head about a year and a half ago. He has since spent time catching up on hockey and his members' needs. He has been having informal discussions with Bettman for some time.
"From our standpoint, the starting place is the players made enormous concessions the last time around," Fehr said. "The second item that comes to mind is the game generates a lot more revenue than it did before. And you put those two things together, it ought to point you in the direction as to where this negotiation should go."
Bettman said last month that the league had record revenues in excess of $3.1 billion, but he refused to say how much of that was profit. How to divide the revenue is a huge issue, with owners wanting to cut the players' share from 57 percent.
"We want to keep it where it is and they want to probably bring it down," Phoenix's Shane Doan said. "I understand that's the way it is. ... Everybody wants more. I'm sure they do, too. It's part of labor. That's the way it is."
How deep the sides dig in could go a long way toward determining whether the NHL becomes the third major sports league in the past two years to go through a work stoppage. The NBA played a shortened season with a condensed schedule after a labor dispute pushed the start of the season back to late December, and the NFL went through a lockout that wiped out most of the offseason training program a year ago and delayed training camp.
Fehr is already showing signs he won't be a pushover.
The union scuttled the NHL's plans to realign and switch from two three-division conferences to four seven- or eight-team conferences in January, because it was not consulted.
Another issue is the Olympics.
The players want to compete. Bettman has long made it clear that he doesn't see the benefit in it for the league, even though it provides many players to the Olympics right in the midst of the NHL season.
For now, the league wasn't conceding that a stoppage is inevitable.
"I don't know if it's inevitable," Doan said. "That threat's there. That's what's going to get everything done. Everything tends to go to the deadline of what's going to cost people the most. We'll just have to deal with that."
Notes: Toews said he's no longer experiencing any symptoms after missing the final 22 regular-season games because of a concussion. "I'm feeling great," he said. He also said he texted teammate Patrick Kane after photos of the young star partying in Madison, Wis., surfaced on the Internet after the season. He was also arrested in his hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., three years ago after an altercation with a cab driver. "People want to get to know him off the ice, see what he's like, and the next thing you know he's under a microscope," Toews said. "There's a lot of 23-, 24-year-old kids out there having a great time, and they don't have to worry about that sort of thing. He does. It's tough. I know it's tough on him. ... His teammates support him. Bringing him back to focusing on hockey, that's the main thing we want him to do."
AP Sports Writer John Wawrow in Buffalo, N.Y., contributed to this report.


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The TP-Link 3G Mobile WiFi and 5200 mAh Power Bank (M5360) combines two of the handiest portable accessories – a 3G wireless hotspot and a USB battery pack – into a single unit. Sounds good on paper, but convergence doesn't always work out. Let's take a look.
The M5360 comes neatly packaged in a slide-out box. Included with the 3G Mobile WiFi are instructions, a charger, USB-to-microUSB cable and some SIM adaptors which hold the smaller SIM sizes. The 3G Mobile WiFi itself is larger than the average mobile hotspot but this hardly unexpected given that there's an additional 5200 mAh battery stashed in there. Overall, it's 44 x 29 x 100 mm and while the weight isn't officially given, my kitchen scales say 150g.
As you'll see, the 3G Mobile WiFi is white with a clear plastic cover over the OLED screen. Moving round the unit, at the top there is a microUSB socket to charge up the Power Bank. On the right side, a power button turns the unit on, off and toggles between charging only and simultaneous 3G sharing and charging. There's a reset button (that I never had to use) and covered slots for the SIM and micro SD cards. Finally on the bottom is USB socket that can be used for charging other devices. It's only rated at 1A, so it's more suited to charging smartphones and media players than 10″ tablets.
Getting going is simple – slip a SIM in and power the 3G Mobile WiFi up. As the unit is not network-locked you can use whatever SIM you choose, and helpfully on the rear of the device is all the information necessary for connecting to the WiFi network, including SSID and password. The 3G Mobile WiFi generally self-configures, but if you need to change anything, you can log on to the unit via a web browser and make changes.
With a 3 SIM everything went smoothly but I also tried the unit with a SIM from MVNO Giffgaff, which actually uses the O2 network. In this instance, I had to log on to the 3G Mobile WiFi and make some changes to the profile. To be perfectly clear, this reconfiguration is needed because of the MVNO nature of Giffgaff and illustrates the flexibility of the 3G Power Bank.
The small screen gives the usual information about the 3G Mobile WiFi side of things, including signal strength, connectivity, client number, battery and SMS messages. The download rate, upload rate and data volume are shown too. The unit supports the usual GSM protocols up to HSPA+ so in theory the max download rate is 21.6 Mb/s with 5.76 Mb/s upload, but local conditions are likely to significantly reduce this. With respect to WiFi, it's 11b/g/n and up to 10 clients can connect at once.
Now for the best bit….using the internal battery, the M5360 will run for over two (working days) without recharging. TP-Link quote 16-17 hours under heavy use by a single person and up to 26 hours will lighter use. I'm inclined to agree with TP-Link as I was able to use the 3G Power Bank for two and a half working days of relatively light use before recharging. Sweet.
In addition to powering the 3G Mobile WiFi, the battery can be used to charge another device as well. There are two options, wireless sharing and charging, and charging only; a quick double press of the power button toggles between the two modes. The 5200 mAh battery is roughly double the size of a smartphone battery, so expect to fully recharge your phone twice from the Power Bank.
Any problems? No, not really. My only feedback is the the positioning of the charging USB port on the top seems a bit odd as it simply looks funny when the 3G Power Bank is standing on its end. I would have preferred the socket on the side towards the bottom, or even on the bottom with an optional charging dock. Minor points, I know.
Overall, the TP-Link 3G Mobile WiFi and 5200 mAh Power Bank is a useful combination of the two. The ability to run the hotspot for a full working day (and then some) with several connected clients is attractive. The only downside is that the M5360 is heavier than a normal WiFi hotspot but that's the price you pay for a bigger battery, but if it's sitting on a desk, there's no issue anyway.
Speaking of price, expect to pay somewhere around GB£70 for the M5360.
Thanks to TP-Link for supplying the review unit.