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It looks like an unlikely restaurant, McDonald's, will start deploying electric car charging stations at a few of its restaurants. (Full disclosure… I like anything that moves electric cars in to the now, still waiting for my Aptera) I like the idea of businesses having stuff like WiFi hotspots and electric car charging stations to entice customers to stick around a bit longer (and spend more money). Read on for details and the first McDonald's to get the NovaCharge ChargePoint EV charging stations.
McDonald's and NovaCharge Deploy ChargePoint Network EV Charging Stations
First "Green" McDonald's Restaurant in US to Include Networked EV Charging Stations from NovaCharge, LLC, and Coulomb Technologies.
Cary, NC, July 6, 2009 – McDonald's Corporation, the leading global foodservice retailer, and NovaCharge, a leader in the deployment of EV charging infrastructure, today announced the deployment of electric vehicle charging stations. McDonald's will open the first "green" restaurant, built with eco-friendly materials and technologies, including ChargePoint™ Networked Charging Stations for electric vehicles from Coulomb Technologies, making it the first of its kind in the United States.
Ric Richards, president of Richard's Advantage, Inc. and owner/operator of the new McDonald's, set a strategy in 2007 to build a state of the art restaurant dedicated to sustainability and reduced energy consumption. By partnering with NovaCharge, the new McDonald's will deliver yet another new facet of energy conservation by enabling EV drivers to have a place to recharge their vehicles, while enjoying their meal. NovaCharge, the exclusive distributor in the southeastern U.S. for the ChargePoint Network Charging Stations from Coulomb Technologies provided all aspects of sales and support for this installation.
"The networked grid-friendly charging stations are a perfect complement to the many innovative green features of the restaurant," said Ric Richards, "Our customers will have a dedicated place to park and recharge their vehicles. McDonalds is enabling a better environment for future generations by supporting zero-emissions transportation infrastructure, through the use of the ChargePointSM Network."
The use of green building technologies and electric vehicles are two key facets of America's efforts to transform the nation's economy and address environmental concerns. For EV's to become mainstream, they must be as easy to use and to fuel as their gasoline counterparts. To make this a reality, electric vehicle charging stations must be conveniently available where people work and play. The new "green" McDonald's, located at 1299 Kildaire Farm Road in Cary, NC, will open on July 14th at noon. The restaurant has installed EV charging stations for plug-in electric vehicles, which are enabled by the unique capabilities of the ChargePoint Network.
The ChargePoint Network enabled charging stations provide:
• A secure, safe, reliable way for consumers to charge their electric vehicles anywhere
they work and play.
• The ability for EV drivers to find, and navigate to, available open stations.
• Secure, authorized access charging, while eliminating energy theft and cord theft.
• An infrastructure that enables rapid growth of the market for plug-in electric vehicles
of all types.
• Administrative monitoring and control services to allow utilities to optimize grid use.
"McDonald's is an industry leader in environmental conservation and they are continually launching new initiatives to create a sustainable world" said Helda Rodriguez, president of NovaCharge. "We are pleased to be able to partner with them to deliver the ChargePoint Network system, and to provide safe, convenient, grid-friendly, charging stations for
electric vehicles."
About NovaCharge
NovaCharge enables a smart charging infrastructure for plug-in Electric Vehicles (EVs) by providing a seamless, scalable, reliable and cost-effective solution from Coulomb Technologies known as the ChargePoint Network. Together, we are committed to providing an exceptional user experience for the owner's of plug-in Electric Vehicles. NovaCharge provides sales, installation, commissioning and support for the ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations. With our network of Coulomb Technologies co-partner channels we can offer these products and services around the world. Through our growing network of re-sellers and installation partners, NovaCharge can deliver the critical services necessary to ensure the deployment of a high quality EV infrastructure for Government, Private Enterprise, and Electric Utility customers. For more information on NovaCharge please visit http://www.novacharge.net.
About McDonald's
McDonald's is the leading global foodservice retailer with more than 30,000 local restaurants in 118 countries. Approximately 70 percent of McDonald's restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local franchisees like Ric Richards. Please visit http://www.mcdonalds.com to learn more about the company.


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A new beta version of Google Chrome 0.3.154.9 is released, it is not yet pushed to users but it will updated in the next few days. However if you want to update now all you have to do is open up settings menu (small 'tool icon' on the right corner of the browser) and click "About Google Chrome", it will get updated to the latest version immediately.
This Google Chrome beta release fixes an issue with address spoofing in pop-ups and many other issues reported since the last release.
Issues Fixed
- Scrolling with laptop touchpads now works.
- Improved performance and reliability for plugins (like Flash, Silverlight, QuickTime, and Windows Media). We fixed issues with video not loading, stopping after a second, and slowing down or freezing Google Chrome (100% CPU usage).
- Fixed the 'chrome has crashed' message when you close a tab that was showing PDF using Adobe Reader 9.
- We no longer store data from secure sites (they use https: and show a lock in the address bar) in your history. You can still search your history for the site's address, but not the contents on the page.
- Improved performance and reliability for people who use web proxies (thanks to griffinz for the fixes).
Apart from these fixes there are some changes like, The new tab, new windows, new incognito windows options moved to chrome "wrench" menu. The spell checker works on text input fields and underlines misspelled words. Now you can add custom words to the dictionary. The download behavior for files like executables and bat files changed, now these will be downloaded to unconfirmed downloads and they will be removed once you exit google chrome unless you confirm the download.

subset: commoncrawl


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Free Mothers Day Photo Opportunity at Bass Pro Shops
Category: special offer
May 4th, 2019 by Keith Worrall 1083
Modified May 4th, 2019 at 11:08 AM
FREE Mothers Day Photo Saturday May 11th Noon- 5pm and Sunday May 12th Noon – 4pm. *Available ONLY at locations with a Bass Pro Shops signature restaurant. See restaurant for details.


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Dena DeRose ——- August 18, 1997 — photo by Mark Weber — some types of film drift over the years and get fuzzy, the center won't hold, as Yeats had it — looks okay, I wouldn't want a steady diet of those, but I do like —– Her first Outpost Performance Space appearance . . . .
The Thursday Jazz Radio Show
April 7, 2o16 Jazz @ Noon every Thursday (starts at 12:07 after the satellite news) Host MARK WEBER KUNM Albuquerque, USA 89.9 FM (Mountain Standard Time) also streaming on the web KUNM.org Current time zone offset: UTC*/GMT -6 hours (*Coordinated Universal Time)/Greenwich Mean Time)
Dena DeRose de la Gorra Azul
Why are people embarrassed to sing?
Like me, I'm reticent about such things,
although, I have sung, I sang on the Outpost
stage, once or twice, I was in this band
and I think I drew the short straw, so
it was me, I've sung other places, but
I can barely imagine it, that wasn't me,
it was someone else, I even sang at
my mother's funeral last year, but that
time it just came out when words
failed me, I hadn't planned it, there I
was riding the reverb, tuning into the
room, singing a wordless song, but why?
There's a theory that as we created a
language that flowed, we sung, that
sentences with connected words come
from singing, when before, we spoke
with a series of unconnected metaphors
"bird sky tree" see the bird in the sky,
now he's sitting in a tree —
they think we learned a lot about singing
from birds, chirp chirp,
but, why?
Singers must be from another world, some
other place, come from elsewhere . . . .
I'll ask our guest today why we sing (or
why some of us sing and others don't) what
ancient impulse brought about singing?
There's speculation that Neanderthals
sang, like a bunch of sinatras, singing
in the valleys of Europe, or gene kellys
singing in the rain, there was more rain
back then, splish splash I was takin' a bath
Our guest today, Dena DeRose, is one of those
other-worldly creatures that sings —
We'll ask her to tell us about it.
Kazzrie Jaxen, Joe Solomon and Alexa Fila (sitting) at Connie's loft in Williamsburg NYC — November 16, 2o14 — photo & line drawing by Mark Weber — We listen'd last week on the show to singer Alexa Fila's CD with her teacher Sal Mosca, in duet, A WORK OF ART (Zinnia Records) and I believe is her only formal release and superb
The new (1960s) Steinway B (7-foot) being renovated by Fred Sturm in the Outpost workshop & storage — January 20, 2o16 — This is the piano that will join the Steinway A on stage May 5 & 6 for dual piano workouts with Kazzrie Jaxen, Virg Dzurinko, and Carol Liebowitz — Donated to Outpost Performance Space by Bob & Anita Feld (Steve's parents) — photo by Mark Weber
Billy Higgins & Friends — July 17, 1984 Watts Towers Jazz Festival (8th Annual) — Oscar Brashear, trumpet; Azar Lawrence, tenor; Jeffrey Littleton, bass; William Henderson, piano —– photo by Mark Weber
A moment of stasis backstage at Hollywood Bowl during the Playboy Jazz Festival: the two guys in the middle are Lammar Wright Jr (hat) and Harold Howard, both trumpeters — the gentleman on the right might be with the Basie band — June 19, 1982 — photo by Mark Weber — Lammar was a complete crack-up to hang with, he was full of stories of the bebop days and so forth, me and Harold laughed for years, after Lammar was gone, over his retort when an old friend asked "Lammar, how come you didn't bring your horn!" and Lammar barked "BECAUSE I'M NOT PLAYING TODAY!"
Lou Donaldson Quartet made us all believers this night of May 27, 2o10 (has it been that long ago? the memory is closer) — Randy Johnston, guitar; Fukushi Tainaka, drums; Pat Bianchi, Hammond B3 — photo by Mark Weber at Outpost Performance Space, Albuquerque USA
Joan Jobe Smith, the poet, publisher, pie maker, and my friend — April 18, 1995 — photo by Mark Weber in Long Beach, California — Joan always has her shades on — Everywhere — She has a sensitivity to sunlight — I think she even wears them to bed
John Rangel and Patti Littlefield — soundcheck — March 5, 2o15 — photo by Mark Weber — Patti and her group with Arlen Asher (woodwinds), John Rangel (piano), Andy Zadrozny (bass), John Trentacosta (drums) will be appearing at an Outpost near you soon (April 14th)
Me and the poet Lyn Lifshin — March 18, 1995 (Lyn has my hat on) Washington DC
Art Pepper — April 27, 1977 — photo & line drawing by Mark Weber
Doug Lawrence ran a jam session at this Hell's Kitchen spot in the 90s — The Savoy Bar, 355 West 41st Street (at 9th Avenue) NYC — Valerie Ponomarev, trumpet; Paul Wells, drums; Doug, tenor; Kathy Farmer, Hammond B3 — June 28, 1997 — photo by Mark Weber
Dena DeRose in trio formation with Michael Zisman, bass, and local drummer Andy Poling — August 18, 1997 — photo by Mark Weber
Maybe we originally sang out of sadness? 1977, that's the year my Mom got sober, I don't know who took this photo because that's me behind Mom serving myself a bowl of chili in her kitchen


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Start your day with five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere.
ICYMI click here for our
Benetton v Leinster writeup
Head coach Joe Schmidt has opted to hold back the likes of captain Rory Best and vice-captains Johnny Sexton and Peter O'Mahony
Nick Purewall - Irish Examiner
Like Ireland, Italy have placed a greater emphasis on next weekend's game, at home to Georgia
Cian Tracey - Irish Independent
"I signed a contract until the end of June 2020 with Munster. I'm loving every single moment of it."
Ryan Bailey - The42.ie
Of the many staff appointments made by Jones to date this one will prompt England's rivals to splutter most over their cornflakes.
Robert Kitson - The Guardian
"I think it is a problem when the bed is 5'11 and he's 6'11."
Feel free to share any interesting links you spot yourself about t'internet by email, Twitter, Facebook, blog comment or carrier pigeon – whatever works for you. JLP
Note - views expressed in "Front Five" links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby


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By Shelby
When I was 17, I found out I was pregnant. It was four days before my18th birthday. Despite how young I was my boyfriend and I
decided we were going to keep our baby. Telling our parents was a scary event. Even though there were some difficulties with his parents,
I went to my senior prom and graduated pregnant, without an ounce of shame.
I wanted the very best for my child. So I went to the best Obstetrician so I could deliver in the best hospital in my state. I never
missed a doctor's appointment and took good care of myself. I was in bed early every single night. I didn't drink or do drugs, I wouldn't
even be around someone who was smoking.
I had the test to check for the birth defects. I'll never forget the day I got the phone call saying that my baby was negative for Down
syndrome, Trisomy 18, and Spina Bifida*. I was ecstatic. It was like I had no worries left. I began counting down the days until we were
going to find out the sex of the baby. I was so excited. I knew I was having a girl though, I was just positive of it. I had already bought
cute little head bands and cheetah outfits, and even a Christmas outfit because she was suppose to be born on Thanksgiving day and
Christmas would be right around the corner.
I loved my baby so much and would do anything to protect her. On July fifth we went to have the sonogram done to find out the sex.
After waiting in the waiting room for what seemed like forever we were called in. The ultrasound tech seemed very cold and distant. As
for me, I was falling more in love seeing my beautiful baby on that screen. The tech then told us the doctor would be right in.
When he came in she was pointing on the screen to him "right there you see that?" my first thought was that she was just pointing
to a penis...I had nothing to be worried about....Right? At that point my world came crashing down. He told me that my baby had Spina
bifida and there was a severe amount of fluid on the brain. He said we should all go in this office and talk. He told us that she would
never be able to walk, crawl, use the bathroom on her own, and since there was such a severe amount of fluid on the brain he didn't
even know how functional the baby would be. He told us that the baby would have to be in surgery right after birth, and she never would
have a normal life.
I was devastated. Why did this happen? I had to make a decision at 18 that nobody should ever have to make. We choose to not
continue with the pregnancy because it was not fair to the baby. I would rather suffer every day of my life instead of making her suffer. I
did the only thing I could do for my baby, which was to take the pain away before it even started.
Although they said that they were setting up to have surgery the next morning, but I delivered my baby girl on July 10th at 8:40 pm.
She weighed 12.8 oz, was 10 inches long and she was absolutely gorgeous. We named her Alexia Paige. For the short amount of time
I had her with me, she changed me forever. I lost the most important person in my life and still struggle every single day with my loss.
The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that she isn't suffering and that we'll be together again one day.
My angel was buried right on top of my grandfather. I go down there everyday and read to her. I'm honestly heartbroken. I know I did
what was best for her and even though it hurts I'm going to make something of my life for her.
*Administrator's note: Many AFP screenings can come back with either false positive results or false negative results. "...even if the
results are negative, there's still a small chance that spina bifida is present." Source:
Screening tests are meant to identify the possibility of increased risks for certain disorders. If a positive result is found, then further
diagnostic tests can be preformed. A negative screening test result unfortunately does always not rule out birth defects. Please ask
your doctor about the kinds of Prenatal testing available to you. You can get more information here:
Aamericanpregnancy.org or here:
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.


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My professional career as a voiceover artist has started in 2003 in Poland at my town's local TV station. My work there has been mostly focused on the commercial read, although I also had a chance to narrate a great number of other projects.
But when I moved to UK few years ago, I went from local to world-wide with my voice.
I enrolled in multiple training courses with The Showreel / London and Gravy For the Brain team, to refresh and expand my VO skills. Through a combination of courses and mentoring I have been trained in all aspects of the Voiceover business to a professional level.
The skills taught include advanced techniques such as delivery speed, inflection and prosody patterns, and gaming techniques such as character creation, non-scripted vocals, and loop grouping. In addition, I am very proficient with complimentary skills such as self direction, copy writing, video production, and audio engineering skills, for example setting levels, advanced editing, and mastering.
Since being trained, I have worked freelance as a Voiceover, both actively finding new clients and using the casting websites. I consistently book work, am shortlisted, or asked to privately audition for roles on these sites.
Due to the quality of my voice and my accent,
I am frequently asked to voice gravely characters, or productions where authoritative native Polish language or non-native English accent is needed.
I specialise in gravely character voices for games and animations.
I'm highly capable of voicing for commercials, explainer videos and e-learning content.
I'm also trained in other aspects of voiceover.
The Showreel / London
· Intro To Voice Over Workshop
Gravy For the Brain Training Courses
· Home Recording Studio
· How to Compress Vocal Recordings
· Voiceover for Gaming
· How to Voice Commercials
· How to Voice Audiobooks
· Create Amazing Demo Reels - English Edition
· Advanced to Professional Standard Voiceover
Animated Storyboards Studio · UK
· corporate narration for Philips Saeco Xelsis brand
Future scenarios · UK / Silesian Museum Katowice · Poland
· artists film narration
Philips - Poland
· Voice of Seaco Xelsis digital advertising campaign
Daikin · Japan
· corporate narration
Noonee · Germany
· Chairless Chair 2.0 corporate campaign narration
Geo Games / Restless Corp.
· Thief's Shelter – 2 voices for the game characters
Folklore Sound And Music · Brisbane · AUS
· Voiceover for feature movie LOVELAND,
starring Hugo Weaving.
Lavello Sinks · Poland
· Voiceover for the company podcast
Kimberly-Clark Professional · UK
· Corporate narration
Stage23 · Russia
· Dominance – game character voiceover
PRS24 Polska Radio Stacja · Swindon · UK
· Radio imaging spots
· Commercials for numerous clients
· Promo spots
Master TV · Glogow · Poland
· A series of TV commercials for numerous clients.
Sound effects composer, Video editor.


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The British Establishment transformed itself into a lightning conductor to harness the visceral anger generated by the senseless killing of Lyra McKee in Derry on 18 April. It then redirected that energy as a debilitating shock into the heart of the New IRA. No less a figure than Britain's PM Theresa May turned up for Lyra McKee's funeral in Derry to highlight the disgust felt by the UK. Leo Varadkar performed the same task for the people of the Republic.
Arlene Foster and Michelle O'Neill were given a dressing down from the pulpit for not getting together, before shuffling up next to each other on a pew at the funeral and a new lease of life was injected into the talks to reinstate powersharing at Stormont. The much derided Secretary of State for NI must have thought all her birthdays had come as one.
Lyra's courageous friends took up her cause and were much admired on TV screens around the world as they daubed the walls of the political offices associated with the New IRA in Derry with blood red palm prints.
An anti-paramilitary slogan was sprayed across the famous Free Derry mural. 'Not in our name. RIP Lyra', it read.
While the New IRA reeled in shock, the PSNI and MI5 reaped a propaganda windfall they could never have dreamt of. All told, the riot on the night of 18 April not only failed to goad the Northern State into an overaction likely to alienate Nationalists in Derry as the New IRA hoped, it resulted in the latter organisation shooting itself in the foot.
The fact that Lyra McKee was a LGTB campaigner hoping to marry her partner was seized upon by the mainstream media, and raised her international profile to higher levels. The fact she came from a state where gay marriage is not permitted, generated more headlines.
No one anywhere had a single bad word to say about her.
Her friends have kept her LGBT flag flying. They recently appeared on Channel 4 News where they criticised the failures of the NI state to do anything to advance LGBT rights (aside from spend a miserable few hundred pounds).
On a professional level McKee was deservedly lauded on all sides for her journalistic instincts. She was described as an award-winning writer chosen as one of Forbes 30-under-30 most promising young journalists.
It couldn't have looked better from an anti-paramilitary propaganda perspective for the Establishment until suddenly this week news of the content of her book began to leak out. While no one at Village has seen it yet, it looks very much like it is going to open a door on the clandestine links between the Robert Bradford MP murder and the Kincora child sex abuse scandal.
What an irony therefore that the British Establishment is going to have to tear Lyra McKee's reputation apart or weather the fallout from her book. It is sure to become a bestseller. Will the Tory yeomanry who came out to defend Ted Heath after the Wiltshire police exposed him as a child abuser in 2018 now form up to villify Lyra as a gullible conspiracy theorist?
The Bradford murder may yet prove to be every bit as egregious as the infamous State sponsored murder of the solicitor Patrick Finucane in February 1989.
Why was Bradford really murdered? Lyra McKee's book may be about to shine a light over British State involvement in the killing and add a gruesome new chapter to the Kincora scandal. Kincora is arguably the most atrocious British excess of the Troubles. It is a hydra-headed monster that incorporates a multitude of crimes including decades of child abuse, blackmail, proxy terrorism and the perversion of justice. In more recent times MI5 and MI6 have lied to the Hart Inquiry (which swallowed the lies whole).
Kincora is a scandal that will not go away. Will Lyra McKee's forthcoming book raise uncomfortable questions of the State-sponsored assassination of a sitting Westminster MP by an MI5 agent inside the Provisional IRA?
We have only weeks left to find out precisely what Lyra McKee discovered, or more precisely what she unravelled about the lines of inquiry Bradford was probing. What was it he found out that led to his death?
All of the plaudits heaped on Lyra McKee may soon turn out to be an underestimation of her talent.


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By Jon Kelly
Vancouver, BC – In a new interview published to YouTube July 1, 2018, NewsInsideOut.com's Jon Kelly cited historic security breaches that publicly exposed global intelligence activities of three nuclear powers (U.S., Russia and Israel) while suggesting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's ongoing negotiations with the United States will only succeed where the spirit of dictum meum pactum (Latin: "My word is my bond") prevails. In an episode titled "Future is Granular" End of Days host Michael Decon led a fascinating conversation exploring neurological origins of consciousness, the role of skepticism in evaluating new instrumental data, evolving frontiers of political free speech in the workplace and how massive investment in nuclear weapons and intelligence security infrastructure are not enough to ensure North Korea's success on the world stage.
Regarding U.S., Russian and Israeli state models the former CBS Radio feature producer claimed "The perimeter that secures the intelligence of their operations is breached acoustically. It's not enough to be a nuclear power. It's not enough to have a huge spy infrastructure. Natural human behavior is exposing more information than any of these governments would want. They have no ability to defend against that or to codify behaviors that prevent that from occurring. If they had been trained effectively to prevent that kind of behavior it wouldn't be possible to expose these operations as late as 2016 (decades after the applied granular speech synthesis investigative technique described in detail during the interview became a matter of widespread public knowledge via U.S. talk radio)."
"Future is Granular: Manually Decrypting Future Intelligence," a supplementary video published May 24, 2018, uses the PO-35 Speak to explore samples from U.S. President George W. Bush, BTK Killer Dennis Rader, Russia Spy Anna Chapman and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
In spite of a long-established precedent involving terrestrial radio, television and online editions of major international newspapers, by June 2018, publishing sensitive information of global significance to social media exposed NewsInsideOut.com reporters to potential censorship in the form of multiple takedown attempts against the site's Facebook page. Without notice NewsInsideOut.com was informed starting June 12, 2018, of alleged non-compliance with the social media giant's terms of service and unpublishing of the Facebook-hosted page.
"NewsInsideOut.com on Facebook was unpublished. Your Page has been unpublished. It looks like recent activity on your Page doesn't follow the Facebook Pages Terms. If you think your Page was unpublished in error, you can appeal and we'll take another look."
After three appeals over a number of weeks the page was restored with vague notices of restrictions and limitations attached. Below is the text of the third and final successful appeal published to Facebook on June 25, 2018.
"Allegations of non-compliance are unsubstantiated and have been overruled by FB staff twice this month. User feedback for previous month shows very low number of users choosing to Hide Post and that Likes far exceed other types of Reactions. Based upon these data we find no grounds for Facebook to impose restrictions upon this news and journalism page whose activities are protected by international law. Google Analytics reveals NewsInsideOut.com serves news and information to more than two dozen departments and agencies of the U.S. federal government. Wouldn't it be awful if those readers were unable to find our page on Facebook, or if upon finding it, that page was somehow handicapped by unconstitutional, unfair and unjustified restrictions? Please advise how best to proceed :)"
In an online bio Michael Decon describes himself as a Long-time radio enthusiast and a natural skeptic. End of Days is based on seeking knowledge in esoteric wisdom, humor & social political commentary. His YouTube channel emphasizes how "This is a different kind of a show, a place where we don't feel so alone."
Recommended Reading
Future is Granular: Cognitive Recalibration in the Digital Era with Jon Kelly on Late Night in the Midlands
Revived CIA Phoenix assassination program reported three years before Snowden's Intercept: Maidan Conspiracy Redux (British black ops in Kiev sniper attacks)
Anna Chapman's secret messages named youth accomplice, anticipated handler's betrayal
Mossad named in Brussels attacks according to new analysis of second witness to Zaventem airport explosions testimony
Erica Lukes: An Emerging Scientific Universalism for UFOlogy's Racist Neo-Fascist Times


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Nutan Bahl
Born:4 June 1936
Died:21 February 1991
- She was better known as Nutan, was an Indian film actress.
- In a career spanning nearly four decades, she appeared in more than 70 Hindi films, many in starring roles.
- Regarded as one of the finest female actors in the history of Indian cinema, she was noted for playing unconventional parts and her performances often received praise and accolades.
- She holds the record of five wins of the Best Actress award at Filmfare, which was held only by her for over 30 years until it was matched by her niece Kajol in 2011.
- In 1974, she was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.
- The daughter of filmmaker Kumarsen Samarth and film actress Shobhna Samarth, Nutan started her career at the age of 14 in the 1950 film Hamari Beti, directed by her mother.
- In the 1980s, she started playing character roles and continued working until shortly before her death.
- She portrayed mostly motherly roles in such films as Saajan Ki Saheli (1981), Meri Jung (1985) and Naam (1986).
- Her performance in Meri Jung earned her a sixth and last Filmfare Award, this time in the Best Supporting Actress category.
- She died in 1991 from breast cancer.
- She was noted for her willingness to play unconventional roles and several of her roles were labelled "path-breaking".
- M.L. Dhawan from The Tribune wrote: "When squeakers and screamers ruled the roost, she fine-tuned her dialogue delivery with an evocative voice.
- A natural throw was the hallmark of her dialogue delivery.
click here for more details
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June 4, 2019


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The LF-NX reinforces Lexus's leadership in hybrid power in the premium market, being powered by a new variation of the Lexus Hybrid Drive full hybrid system, tuned for SUV performance.
The powerfully sculpted styling reflects a further evolution of the L-finesse design language that influences the look of all today's Lexus models.
The car's frontal appearance is dominated by a strong interpretation of Lexus's spindle grille and a signature arrangement of the front lights. The daytime running lights are given added visual emphasis by being positioned independent from the headlamps, in a similar fashion to the new Lexus IS. The LF-NX also displays a distinctive treatment of the front corners, which separate the bumper from the front wings with a sharp vertical cut line.
In profile, the LF-NX concept presents muscular wheel arches, edged with a black protective finish that expresses its urban crossover character. Above the pronounced diamond shape of the belt line, the side glazing is arranged in the classic Lexus profile, which works with the steep rake of the tailgate to create an athletic coupe-like silhouette.
At the rear the highly articulated lamp clusters project down the full depth of the bumper, creating a sharp, aerodynamic trailing edge to the vehicle that mirrors the detailing of the front wing design.
The concept is being presented in a new Brushed Metal Silver exterior finish that creates a striking impression of the car having been carved from a single piece of solid metal.
The interior mirrors the highly sculpted approach to the exterior with powerful forms and a highly ergonomic driver's cockpit.
The cabin follows the "Human Oriented" element of Lexus's L-finesse design, presenting a dashboard divided between an upper display zone and lower operation zone – a format perfected in successive generations of Lexus models. This enables intuitive interaction with the concept vehicle's next generation technology, including touch-sensitive electrostatic switches and a new touchpad Remote Touch Interface design.
The concept's status as a premium crossover is reinforced by carved metal surfacing around the interior, sophisticated blue instrument lighting and yellow and black leather upholstery with contrast stitching.
Lexus Press


text:
August 18, 2020
For Those Grieving Loss Due To Suicide, The Miss Lou Community Support Group Will Meet On September 1st 2020 at 6:30 P.M. This Meeting Will Be Located At Grace United Methodist Church In Their Fellowship Hall. The Address Is 2 Fatherland Road Natchez MS 39120. PLEASE WEAR YOUR FACE MASKS & PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING. If You Have Any Further Questions, Contact Jan & Pete Mills @ 210-737-4759.


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by Dave Feingold / October 2006 issue of Socialist Action Newspaper
BREAKING NEWS, Oct. 16—As we go to press, Lynne Stewart has been sentenced in a New York City federal courtroom to 28 months in prison, far less than the 30 years the government was seeking.
NEW YORK—Mackler's campaign has championed the defense efforts of progressive attorney Lynne Stewart, who faces a 30-year prison sentence as a result of her frame-up trial and conviction on charges of "conspiracy to aid and abet terrorism."
The charges stemmed from Stewart's 1995 courtroom defense of the "blind sheik," Omar Abdel Rachman, and Stewart's associated issuance of a press release relating Rachman's views on the U.S.-backed Egyptian dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak.
Stewart is out on bail pending her Oct. 16 sentencing hearing. She twice joined Mackler at Socialist Action-sponsored meetings in New York to lend support to his Senate campaign.
"Lynne's only 'crime'," said Mackler, "was to courageously defend her client. The real criminals in Lynne's case are the government prosecutors, modern-day witch hunters who trampled on her rights, illegally wiretapped Stewart and her co-defendents some 80,000 times, and used the hysteria surrounding the 9/11 events to in effect associate Stewart with bin Laden and railroad her to prison.
"My opponent, Dianne Feinstein," said Mackler, "co-sponsored new and reactionary Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act wire-tapping legislation that was approved by Congress on Sept. 13, 2006.
"What we're seeing today, with Lynne's case and government spying more generally, is an unprecedented war on civil liberties at home matched by the murderous wars abroad in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's that way with every U.S. war for plunder and profit. Repression abroad means repression at home."
While in New York Mackler attended a Sept. 25 Federal District Court hearing presided over by Judge John Koeltl. The hearing concerned motions filed by Lynne Stewart concerning her request to the government to affirm or deny that it had illegally spied on Stewart's strategy sessions with her attorneys as she prepared for her trial. Three federal district courts have already affirmed that such spying is patently in violation of constitutionally protected rights regarding attorney-client relations.
The government prosecutor responded to Stewart's demands by refusing to either affirm or deny that the government has spied on Stewart. To do so, said the government's attorneys, would be to reveal details of the government's secret surveillance programs and thereby threaten the "national security interests" of the United States.
Citing chapter and verse from various new and reactionary laws, the prosecutor insisted on the government's right to unimpeded spying on virtually everyone.
If Stewart's motions to compel the government to admit that it spied on her during her preparations for trial are successful, the result could be the nullification of the guilty verdict that resulted from Stewart's 2005 frame-up trial. A decision from Judge Koeltl, who queried both attorneys as to the relevance of the laws and cases in dispute, is expected momentarily.
Meanwhile, Stewart's Oct. 16 sentencing hearing will witness Judge Koeltl decision to either affirm the government's recommendation that Stewart be sentenced to 30 years in prison or to accept the recommendation of Lynne's defense team that she receive no prison time or a "non-custodial" sentence.
Current law allows for Koeltl to use his "discretion" as to the length of Stewart's sentence and as to whether she will be granted bail pending her appeal to the next level of the federal courts.
Mackler, West Coast coordinator of Stewart's defense, will return to New York to attend Stewart's sentencing hearing and to speak at a 4-6 p.m. rally for Stewart at Riverside Church on Oct. 15. He will be joined on the platform by a long list of prominent defenders of civil and democratic rights.


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Some colleges have eliminated trays in an effort to get students to take, and waste, less food. At Portland's Reed College, students are cutting waste by taking more–of fellow students' leftovers. The school of about 1,500 undergrads has a tradition where "scroungers" scrape together a meal from what paying students don't eat.
Before busing their trays, meal plan students drop off edible remains at the counter where scroungers, mostly upperclassmen who live off-campus, stand. Often the plates are surprisingly full. Mid-90's scrounger Alexander Stein recalled the practice in a phone interview:
There's a surprising amount of food that gets thrown away that isn't even touched. If you stand there long enough you'll get a plate full of untouched food.
Scrounging is an established practice, dating back decades. The dining service workers' attitudes on the practice "range from disgusted to hostile to ambivalent," said Mark Evans, class of '05.
They don't like us. But they can't really do much about it because we're in the common area eating food that's already been paid for.
In all likelihood, scrounging could only happen at an ultra-liberal college like Reed. In fact, the scroungers I spoke with hadn't heard of it happening anywhere else.
Of course, scrounging wouldn't work well in the real world. If someone was picking through remains at a restaurant, he or she would be asked to leave.
Nor is scrounging the healthiest practice. While etiquette dictates that sick students will warn scroungers before dropping off leftovers, germ-sharing is inevitable. Said Stein:
There definitely is kind of a disgusting element to it. That year when I scrounged, I spent about half that year really ill. Any time there was something going around campus, we'd all get it.
Evans agrees: "You have to either be really cavalier or a little stupid to participate."
Stein, a biochemistry major with a Ph.D. in neurobiology, knew exactly what kind of risks he was taking. He said Reedies, himself included, scrounged not for philosophical reasons but to save money.
In its practicality, scrounging is kind of the opposite of the Freegan thing. We call philosophical dumpster divers Freegans. The practical ones are labeled bums. What would you call a college student who openly eats others' leftovers? Scrounger works for me.
— —
Head's Up: Be sure to check in tomorrow for a food waste Q & A with Ted Lee, co-author of The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook. The book won the 2007 James Beard Award for best cookbook and Lee doesn't hold his tongue about food waste.


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When life hands you lemons, there's so much more you can do than just make lemonade. Lemons are great for cooking, but they can also help with a variety of things within the home, including cleaning, removing foul odors, and helping cure stomach aches.
Lemons are great to keep around, as they are readily available, inexpensive and extremely versatile. Next time you need to find an easy solution to a household problem, consider these seven creative uses for lemon.
1. Preserve Produce
To prevent fruits and vegetables like apples, avocado, and lettuce from turning brown or going bad, squeeze a little lemon over them to help keep them preserved for longer. The acsorbic acid in the lemon helps protect produce from oxygen, which is what causes them to turn brown.
2. Remove Tarnish From Jewelry
Spruce up your metals using just a mixture of lemon juice and water. This works well with silver and copper, but it's not recommended for gold or pearls. The acid in the lemon juice helps to remove tarnish.
3. Restore Furniture
Lemon juice helps to restore old furniture by removing stains and helping to add moisture. Create your own furniture polish by mixing together lemon juice, olive oil, vinegar, and gently apply using a soft cloth.
4. Create A Natural Air Freshener
Instead of using chemical-filled air fresheners, which can have negative health effects, create your own using lemon.
Use the leftover peels to create a natural deodorizer by boiling them in a pot of hot water. You can also stick a piece of lemon down the garbage disposal to help get rid of any unwanted smells.
5. Improve Digestion
Most of us have heard that we should begin our day with a glass of warm water and lemon; this is because lemon water can help slow the absorption of your food and improve digestion. It is also a good way to get in vitamin C without ingesting too much sugar.
6. Relieve Mosquito Bites
If you're experience discomfort and itchiness from a mosquito bite, rub a little lemon on it. The citric acid helps numb the itch, and the lemon also helps to cleanse and heal the skin.
7. Whiten Nails
Freshen up dull and yellow nails by mixing lemon juice with baking soda. Allow the lemon juice to sit on your nails, and it will work as a natural bleaching agent to lighten up your nails.
Photo by Growing a Green Family
Photo by Muffet


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While confined at him during Corona Virus (like many of you!) and trying to be creative with my time, I got to thinking about one of the most difficult illusions for magicians to make realistic, self levitation. Only D Copperfield and C Angel have really made this look beautiful with elaborate theater riggings…
I spent a few days looking into simpler methods (and MUCH less expensive!), trying to see if could add to any… The video below shows 5 different methods/attempts at self levitation. I dont expect these to amaze you, but perhaps amuse or better yet, inspire you?!
I believe as bad as conditions presently are worldwide, in a way it's unifying society and even the world, because everyone is equal to this virus! Now is a rare opportunity to create something new. I say opportunity as it may never come again. Hopefully, at least not in the form of a pandemic!
For those that aren't sick, and have down time from work, NOW is the time to do what you've always wanted to do. (Besides that house project you've always wanted to get done) If you dont know what, child hood dreams are a good place to start…
On the other side of this, things will be different. Many business will never be the same, however that's what drives NEW creations. In earlier times us humans had to adapt to rapidly changing environmental conditions. We've been spoiled.
They say necessity is the mother of all invention. And now we really have the necessity.
God bless all.
Self Levitation Video. Magical Motivation by Long Island Magician, NY, NJ, CT. Corona Virus Magic.
PS Thanks and RIP Tom Petty for another great song
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While much of this story has been previously reported, it has been in pieces. Here's the picture that's emerging, from Merit Commission testimony, police transcripts, court documents and other research.
Dr. David Stidham had completed his day, seeing the young patients he comforted with toys, and enjoying an office visit with his wife and their two young kids. He had called the parents of one of his surgery patients to check on her condition. He lectured to University of Arizona medical students.
It wasn't unusual for Stidham, a beloved children's ophthalmologist, to zip back to his North First Avenue office in the evening to use a computer. Stidham set his office alarm at 7:24 p.m.
When a cleaning crew found him outside, his scrubs were drenched in blood.
Stidham, 37, was ready to drive home in his 12-year-old Lexus coupe when an assailant thrust a knife into him 16 times and bashed his skull, leaving a two-inch fracture. Pima County Sheriff's Det. Maurice Othic arrived at the medical plaza, 4741 N. First Ave., at 11:11 p.m., some 21 minutes after he was called by the deputies who were already at the scene. The white Lexus was gone, but deputies found the car registration near Stidham's body.
At a Thai restaurant on East Grant Road, Dr. Bradley A. Schwartz, the ophthalmologist who had recruited Stidham from Houston, dined with a date, Pima County sheriff's deputies say. Reports from detectives say they were joined at the dinner, between 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., by a man Schwartz introduced as "Bruce." The date reportedly said Schwartz asked Bruce how the scrubs worked out, and then took him to the Hilton on East Broadway Boulevard, where he paid for Bruce's room with his American Express card. This all came after a call, according to deputies, from a convenience store near Stidham's office, when a man fitting Bruce's description used the store phone, saying his car was "broke." Records show calls from the store to Schwartz's cell phone at 6:57 p.m.
Bruce is Ronald Bruce Bigger.
Sheriff's detectives and Pinal County prosecutors say that Schwartz, infuriated that Stidham left their practice in 2002 and took a flood of special-needs patients with him after Schwartz's federal indictment on drug charges, hired Bigger, a homeless, drug-using criminal from Indiana, to kill Stidham.
Schwartz, 40, and Bigger, 38, were arrested Oct. 15. They are in the Pima County Jail; Schwartz's bond is $2 million; Bigger's is $1.5 million. Both assert that they are innocent. After initial representation by the talented and expensive Michael Piccarreta, Schwartz, like Bigger, has a publicly provided defense lawyer.
Brick Storts has begun a spirited campaign to plant seeds of doubt on behalf of Schwartz, positing theories of other killers based on statements from witnesses in jail and within Tucson's criminal scene. He and Richard Lougee, appointed to represent Bigger, will be in court with Schwartz and Bigger on May 13 for a hearing on several motions, including one that seeks to compel the release of a tape of an inmate who says he has information to show, in the inmate's words, the "Doc is innocent."
With an anticipated seven-week trial set to begin Nov. 8 before Judge Nanette Warner of Pima County Superior Court, details of the murder and what people--including what Schwartz's former lover and her friends in the Pima County Attorney's Office--knew before Stidham was killed are coming into sharper focus through a county civil service hearing and volumes of investigative transcripts. Testimony before the Merit Commission, which is being asked to determine if County Attorney Barbara LaWall acted properly in firing one prosecutor and suspending three others, has exposed claims that Schwartz harbored such a grudge against Stidham that he obsessively talked about wanting Stidham dead.
On the night Stidham was murdered, Det. Othic got a briefing at the scene and then met with two deputies before driving to Stidham's Via Ventana home near Sabino Canyon. Two more deputies joined them. The front door was unlocked, but had a safety chain. Nobody responded to repeated rings of the bell, to loud knocks or loud pronouncements. Deputies opened an unlocked garage door and went into the home, and then opened the front door. Using a flashlight, two deputies went into the master bedroom.
Daphne Stidham was asleep. She was awakened, shortly after midnight, when a deputy pointed his flashlight at her.
"Is my husband OK?" she asked deputies, according to their reports. "Was he shot?"
Deputies, according to their reports, were struck by that question, because they said they had not yet told her he was dead. They also noted that the house phone was unplugged and that a copy of Stidham's last will and testament was on a couch in the bedroom.
The morning news on Oct. 6 was full of reports of the murder of a pediatric ophthalmologist, and Lourdes Salomón Lopez had a sick feeling that day. A former prosecutor who was indicted along with Schwartz in 2002, Lopez had not completely severed her volatile relationship with Schwartz. She said, according to interviews with sheriff's detectives and in Merit Commission testimony, that Schwartz repeatedly vowed to see Stidham dead. She asked at least two friends to secretly warn Stidham.
Lopez was occupied with depositions the day after the murder.
"I heard, you know, somebody's been, a man has been identified as, you know, killed outside of a medical plaza on First and River and thought, wow," Lopez told sheriff's Det. Jill Murphy on Oct. 28. "And then they said his white Lexus is missing. I said that's Dr. Stidham.
"That's Dr. Stidham and Brad did it, so I was flipping out internally."
In an interview with Murphy and Det. Dawn Barkman, the sheriff's spokeswoman, on Oct. 8, Lopez said she made her own inquiry the day after the murder.
"As I was coming back to my office, I called Dr. Stidham's office. I hadn't heard who had been identified, and I called his office pretending to be a parent that needed to see the doctor, just to see if it was him," Lopez said, according to transcripts of the taped interview. "And I was hopin' to God it wasn't gonna be him, and sure enough, they said there was a tragedy, and that Dr. Stidham had been killed. So I immediately knew that it was, it was probably Brad, and uh, and I don't believe that Brad Schwartz actually killed Dr. Stidham. I believe that Dr. Schwartz had somebody or a couple of people kill him. And that's because he had said to me over the last several months that he was gonna kill him. He was very upset about the fact that Dr. Stidham had left the practice and took his entire pediatric ophthalmology practice."
Under indictment, with his license and prescription-writing authority suspended, Schwartz saw his practice plummet.
"He was losing money and he was ashamed and he was upset and he was angry and he was, and he repeatedly--and I have to be really careful about my words, I don't want to mislead you--repeatedly told me that he was going to kill Dr. Stidham. And I never thought that he would actually do that," Lopez said.
Lopez told Murphy and Barkman that she "confided in a good friend of mine, and I had told him, I said, 'You have to do me a favor. You have to call Dr. Stidham's office anonymously and just tell him to watch out.' And this friend of mine said, 'Are you sure, Lourdes?' And I said, I don't, I don't want to, but I think you should do it. And then one thing led to another, and, you know you get busy, and I figured maybe I'm overreacting, so I'm not gonna scare him."
Lopez had pleaded with Jeff Fairbanks, a part-time Rural Metro firefighter and construction worker. He balked.
She also said she told another friend, but in that Oct. 8 talk with Det. Murphy and Det. Barkman, Lopez declined to provide his name, because it would cause her friend trouble at work.
Partly in response to prodding from David Berkman, the chief criminal deputy county attorney who was conducting his own administrative probe of which deputy county attorneys knew about Lopez's suspicions, Murphy called Lopez again. They spoke for a second time on Oct. 28, 13 days after deputies arrested Schwartz and Bigger.
"You asked me how I'm doing. I'm not doing well because mostly because of the predicaments that they've (friends at the Pima County Attorney's Office) put themselves in," Lopez told Murphy, according to a transcript of the taped telephone interview on Oct. 28. "And of course I feel responsible although it's not my fault, but you know, it's like a cost of being my friend, people's lives get ..."
"Yeah," Murphy cut in. "And along those lines I need to ask you again ... who else did you tell prior to the death?"
Lopez: "Just, just Jeffrey."
Murphy: "Well, you had told me that you told somebody else."
Lopez: "Yeah, I told Paul, Paul Skitzki."
For Berkman, and his boss, LaWall, the Democrat who has been in office since 1997, Murphy's mission was accomplished. LaWall fired Skitzki and suspended Janet Altschuler, Nicki DiCampli and Brad Roach. Skitzki has since moved on to a job in the public defender's office at $71,406 a year, nearly $10,000 more than what he was getting as a prosecutor who had been honored for his high volume of felony trials. Altschuler resigned, the first to go, from her $63,857-a-year job. She is in private practice in an office in the same complex where Stidham was murdered. (Altschuler's parents are partners in the corporation that owns the office complex. Her father, Dr. Gerald Altschuler, has his medical office there.) DiCampli resigned from her $53,455-a-year job last month. And Roach, praised for his work in sex crime prosecution, resigned last week. He had been paid $62,192 a year.
Each has appealed the discipline. Altschuler has agreed to keep her hearing closed. But Skitzki, DiCampli and Roach are pressing their appeals in open session before three members of the five-member Merit Commission, Pima County's civil service panel. The hearings are providing a framework in the criminal case and a $20 million claim Tucson lawyer Gerald Maltz has filed on behalf of Daphne Stidham and her children. For those purposes, as well as the personnel actions, the hearings are amplifying the questions of: What did you know? When did you know it? And what did you do about it?
Skitzki, DiCampli and Roach, all close of friends of Lopez, contend that LaWall acted in retribution and retaliation for having to give up a high-profile case that was conflicted out and handed to prosecutors in neighboring Pinal County. They say LaWall is obsessed with her public image and fretted over losing out on the case's attendant publicity to such a degree that she delayed announcing the conflict until after the Nov. 2 election. LaWall, however, faced minimal opposition for her third term, with weak and underfunded challenges from Green Party candidate Claudia Ellquist and Libertarian David Euchner. LaWall, even with a modest campaign budget, won each of the county's 400 precincts while piling up 77 percent of the 369,321 votes.
LaWall appeared before the Merit Commission for parts of two days, led through narratives by one of her civil division lawyers, Wendy Petersen, and then facing questions from Roach, who is representing himself, and Chris Kimminau, the attorney representing DiCampli, and Leo "Chip" Plowman Jr., the former assistant public defender who is representing Skitzki.
It was Roach who pressed the issue of the Stidham murder case presenting a conflict for the Pima County attorney. He believed he had a conflict, partly because of his intense dislike for Schwartz. Others in the office, including Skitzki and DiCampli, who have a 20-month old child together but are not married, could be called as witnesses for Schwartz. That status as possible witnesses would trigger a conflict of interest.
LaWall repeatedly said DiCampli, Roach and Skitzki put their friendship and loyalty to Lopez above their duties and responsibilities as deputy county attorneys. Skitzki asked his supervisor if he could visit Schwartz in jail. He believed it to be an act of returning simple human kindness. Schwartz visited Skitzki in the hospital after Skitzki suffered a heart attack in late January 2004 and helped as a conduit between Skitzki and his doctors. He also previously checked Skitzki's eyes and examined Skitzki's children.
The three should have come forward, LaWall said, with information about what they knew from Lopez about Schwartz before and after the murder. LaWall was unaware of the extent of the friendships and was unaware of conflict questions. She was out of state for a prosecutors' conference. When she returned, she was incensed, as were the supervisors in her office, that Skitzki asked to visit Schwartz in jail and that Roach had invited to Lopez to his Halloween Party. Berkman told him to "uninvite" Lopez. LaWall said Skitzki, Roach and DiCampli should have come forward with information about what they knew from Lopez about Schwartz's alleged threats. DiCampli said she never was privy to that information. And Kimminau got LaWall to concede that she had no direct evidence that DiCampli received from Skitzki what Lopez told him about her suspicions concerning Schwartz.
Their position, on the value of information after the murder, was helped somewhat by Det. Murphy, who testified that while any information could be helpful, it wasn't necessary in zeroing in on Schwartz and Bigger. And Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, a Democrat, said after the two were arrested that Schwartz was the top suspect beginning Oct. 6, the day after Stidham was murdered.
At the Merit Commission, Lopez was the most anticipated and star witness, a position she'll likely retain for the criminal trial because of her troubled relationship with Schwartz.
She came with her own lawyer, Richard Martinez, after they had a quick consult in the county cafeteria, six floors below the commission's hearing room. Witness counsel may be a rarity before a civil service panel that routinely rules on cases involving sewer plant operators, street pavers and jail guards, but it wasn't unexpected because of what Lopez may later say in the criminal and civil cases. Martinez is politically connected, long a friend and adviser to U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva. Lopez retained Martinez the night before her appearance.
Lopez, 36, met Schwartz in 2000, and the relationship turned romantic and intimate in the early part of 2001. She told investigators that she liked Stidham, who treated her nicely.
"He just wasn't a bad guy," Lopez told Murphy and Barkman three days after Stidham was killed. "You know, he wasn't the kind of person that talked about other people or, you know, I realize now how uncomfortable it must have been for Dr. Stidham, because I was there in the beginning, and I didn't know Brad was married. And here he is having an affair with me and this, I mean, I can imagine that poor guy, what he felt like. But he never, he's just a nice man. You know, he was a nice man."
A Brooklyn native, Schwartz by all accounts had sophisticated and high-level training. He performed exceptionally well in medical school and won coveted fellowships in ophthalmology surgery. He and his wife, Joan, were married in New York City in 1991. Schwartz worked at the Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh before he, his wife and their son and daughter moved to Tucson. They had another daughter in July 2000.
Schwartz worked for a Phoenix-based group, but that relationship ended badly. He and Joan bought a Pinnacle Ridge home in the Catalina Foothills in July 2001 for $583,375. And they used a real estate company they created to buy a building for his office, Arizona Specialty Eye Care, in the Tucson Medical Park on 5190 E. Farness St.
He recruited Stidham, Harvard-educated and also highly trained in pediatric eye care and specialties, in November 2001.
Eleven months later, Joan Schwartz filed for divorce. In the split, she was awarded $9,200 a month in spousal maintenance and $2,000 a month in child support, court records show.
Lopez joined the county attorney's office in 1999, a year before she met Schwartz. They became engaged and she took classes to convert to Judaism for the marriage. Her career as a prosecutor ended in the fall of 2002, when her federal indictment was pending.
Lopez's own marriage, to Daniel Lopez, ended after less than six years in early 1995. She was then a student at the UA and had worked as a receptionist. He worked as a carpenter and at an auto-detailing shop. They had a daughter and son, now 15 and 13. Court papers show she received between $200 and $265 a month in child support. They lived on South Westmoreland Avenue, in one of Menlo Park's rougher blocks, and divided minimal debts, a 16-year-old Pinto wagon and a 6-year-old Nissan Sentra.
Her friends say that Schwartz held money over her as power. She also pointed out to Det. Murphy that Schwartz provided the furniture for her law office. She told investigators how he bought her a car, only to park at her Barrio Viejo office one day to wait for her return. He then took the car from her, leaving her unable to pick up her kids. After one fight in the summer of 2003, they were both cited for domestic violence, a day when she called her friend Brad Roach to pick her up where she was dumped out near the Carl's Jr. restaurant at Congress Street and Interstate 10.
Schwartz, according to Lopez's friends and her comments to detectives, lied to her and repeatedly cheated on her. He got popped for shoplifting at the Tucson Mall while she was with him. He demanded from another woman an exclusive relationship while he was engaged to Lopez. He cruised Internet dating sites. When his drug addiction spun out of control, he enlisted Lopez and his office manager, Laurie Espinoza. He would write prescriptions to them, and they would turn over drugs--pain killers, Vicodin and hydrocodone.
The Drug Enforcement Agency raided Schwartz's office in December 2001. Schwartz was indicted in September 2002 on 77 federal counts, Lopez was charged with two counts, Espinoza with 36. Espinoza had other complaints against and disputes with Schwartz.
Lopez and Espinoza took plea agreements that resulted in diversion--the completion of requirements such as community service and a fine during a probation period that ended with a clean slate and no conviction. Lopez retained Walter Nash, Tucson's top drug lawyer, and pleaded guilty to one charge of receiving hydrocodone fraudulently and paid a $2,500 fine and put in 100 hours of community service. Her case was dismissed on Nov. 1, 2004, a fact she noted with trepidation when talking to Det. Murphy on Oct. 28. Lopez hoped that Murphy wouldn't have to notify the county attorney's office of her comments about the Stidham murder until after the federal drug case was closed.
Under repeated questioning at the Merit Commission, Lopez said shortly before her indictment she was called into a meeting with LaWall and Rich Unkelsbay, then the top prosecutor, and told that she would need to resign or be fired. She immediately quit.
It was after the drug raid that Stidham bailed, setting up his own practice.
Asked at the Merit Commission to characterize her relationship with Schwartz, Lopez, in measured tones, said several times: "My relationship with Dr. Schwartz had its ups and downs."
As part of the conditions imposed by Magistrate Bernardo Velasco of U.S. District Court, Lopez was to have no contact with Schwartz during her probation. But during the Merit Commission, she acknowledged that not only did she have contact with Schwartz, she represented him on two legal matters: a traffic citation in City Court and a personal injury claim. She said the same to Schwartz's lawyer, Brick Storts, who is arguing in court papers that Lopez violated the attorney-client privilege when she talked to sheriff's detectives and others about Schwartz.
In a letter that Storts included in the criminal court file, Lopez stated on March 4, 2005, that she represented Schwartz on the personal injury matter beginning Aug. 17, 2004, and until March 3, 2005. She represented Schwartz on the traffic case from June 16, 2004 through Sept. 27, 2004. Velasco, according to the federal court file, ordered Lopez and Schwartz on July 2003 to "refrain from having contact of any kind" with one another until the cases were closed, which for Lopez was last November.
Responding to Skitzki's lawyer, Chip Plowman, at the Merit Commission, Lopez said Schwartz didn't "specifically" tell her of plans to kill Stidham.
Plowman: "Did he ever drive you to the scene?"
Lopez: "No!"
Plowman: "Did he ever tell you how it would happen?"
Lopez: "Not specifically, no."
Plowman: "Did he ever tell you he would hire a hit man?"
Lopez: "He indicated that he would have another individual do it"
Plowman: "Did he ever tell you that he would make it look like a car jacking?"
Lopez: "He did say that to me on at least one occasion."
Plowman: "When was that?"
Lopez: "I don't know, sir."
Plowman: "You don't remember when that was?"
Lopez: "I don't know specifically when that was, sir."
Petersen, there to defend LaWall's actions, directed Lopez back to the statement she gave sheriff's detectives.
Lopez told Murphy and Barkman that she didn't believe Schwartz, although "these conversations that I'm talking about, about him saying he's gonna kill him, were constant."
Lopez told the detectives that Schwartz "blames Brian (Stidham's middle name and the name his family and friends used) for taking his practice, for taking his role here, for kinda coming in and being like the new guy, who everybody loves and trusts and, and he's angry. He's just, he's angry as can be. He's just angry."
Murphy: "So you know Brad Schwartz pretty much better than anybody I've talked to."
Lopez: "I know him better than anyone in this whole world."
Murphy then asked how frequently Schwartz talked about wanting Stidham dead.
"I would imagine that when we were together, and remember, we broke up in May (2004), it was, there was a period of time where it was pretty much every night when we could get ready to go to bed, I just, it was constant," Lopez said. "It was like, 'I'm gonna fucking get him. That fucking guy's gonna die. He's gonna fucking die.' And, you know, he always asked me about evidence. I used to be a prosecutor."
Lopez said she tried to reason with Schwartz when he said he would just pay someone to do it. "I would have conversations with him like, 'Morally, you can't do that. You're not God. You don't get to decide who dies.' That one didn't work. So then I would go, 'Well, Brad, you know what happens in the movies when people get hired to kill? They always want more money. ... They always have something over you. There's always gonna be somebody pressing you when you least expect it. The police always have an angle you never think of.'"
Murphy asked about specifics.
"He definitely said it was gonna be in the office," Lopez said. "It was definitely gonna be robbery or a car jacking, so that it would appear as though it was random, and it was just, you know, a victim and it wasn't anything else."
Lopez admitted to Murphy, in the interview three days after Stidham was murdered, that she still loved Schwartz.
"Of course I love him," Lopez said. "I, I know that I can't ever trust him or be married to him, but I love him to death."
Murphy: "Yes."
Lopez: "I wouldn't do anything to hurt him, not one thing. If there was anything at all that I could do, I would protect him, but Dr. Stidham is dead, and he didn't deserve to die. He didn't."
In the Oct. 28 interview, Lopez acknowledged that she put money ($200) into Schwartz's jail account, reasoning that it was done as a favor for and at the request of his ex-wife, Joan, who would repay Lopez.
She also told Murphy that she and Skitzki, the only prosecutor to be fired as a result of this case, talked about what people say when they are upset.
"How many times," Skitzki asked her once, "have you said you wish so and so was dead?"
"Well," Lopez responded, "I'm sure I've said that many times about people. I said that about my ex-husband one time, you know, 'I wish he was dead,' because I was so pissed at him."
Lopez's voice cracked for the only time during her Merit Commission testimony, and she briefly got teary, when she was asked to read that statement, given to detectives earlier. She quickly bottled the emotion.
Her ex-husband, Danny Lopez, is dead, shot in the head during a violent drug battle on the southside of Omaha, Neb., on March 9, 2004, along with another Tucsonan, Maria Ojeda, 33. The killers were convicted last month.
Lourdes Lopez told sheriff's detectives that Schwartz and her ex-husband "were becoming better friends." Schwartz, she said, gave Danny Lopez the money, including for a rental car, to go to Nebraska last year to see the baby he had with his girlfriend.
Danny Lopez's girlfriend suspected "Danny and him have something going on where Danny was gonna kill Dr. Stidham," Lourdes Lopez said. "And I was shocked. ... She never said for sure. And then when you start thinking about it afterwards, you start thinking about conversations that he had, Brad had said he and Danny went to Brad's office with another guy who had degenerative eye disease of some sort. The guy had just gotten out of prison. And Brad was gonna help him by treating him. I think that was the guy that was gonna help either kill Dr. Stidham with Danny, and I'm sick to my stomach to think that I was married to somebody that would do that. And that guy was either gonna do it, or Danny was gonna do it with him."
Lourdes Lopez spoke to Skitzki about Schwartz and the great frequency of the threats. She recalled, in the Oct. 28 interview by Murphy, that Skitzki told her: "Lourdes, come on, we're talking about fucking killing somebody!"
Lawyers had her repeat the line during the Merit Commission hearing and she repeatedly explained: "I relayed to Mr. Skitzki my concerns; it was in the context of telling a friend about my suspicions. We discussed it. We both came to the same agreement that it was impossible that that would happen. ... We both came to the same agreement and the some conclusion that it was impossible that Dr. Schwartz would actually kill Dr. Stidham."
Lopez told Det. Murphy that she saw Schwartz two days before Stidham was killed, and he spoke to her in the days after. He went to her rented house, in the central foothills about a mile-and-a-half from his Summerlin Village Villas apartment at Paseo de los Rios, at Swan and Camp Lowell roads.
"That night he called me and said, 'I need to come over to your house to show you something. By this time, I was pretty hysterical inside, and I was really worried that he was gonna come to my house and sorta look at me to see how I was doing," Lopez said.
"See, Brad trusts me. He doesn't trust anybody. He trusts me partially because of what's happened between the both of us, and I never took a plea to testify against him. ... And Brad showed up at my house, and he saw my brother-in-law. He knows him. He walked into my house, went onto the computer. He went onto, like, uh, the newspaper and pulled up the article that said, it identified his name and he goes, 'I didn't have anything to do with that, Lourdes.' And I looked at him, and I said, 'I need you to leave my house.' And he asked me to please go outside with him. And I only went as far as my brother-in-law could see me and he said, 'I had nothing to do with it. Look at me in the eyes. I didn't do anything.'"
Schwartz called her three times the following night to "tell me he didn't do it."
Detectives considered having Lopez wear a wire, according to the transcript from the Oct. 8 interview.
For the Merit Commission, the issue is not the criminal case, but if Skitzki, DiCampli, Roach and, later, Altschuler broke county rules and policies in the County Attorney's Office. Plowman said there are no policies, written or otherwise, to violate. Skitzki, Roach and DiCampli contend they are being treated differently from other prosecutors who also socialized with Lopez.
LaWall condemned the four for having "messy personal lives," and at one point called them an "insidious group of friends," a phrase she later conceded she didn't fully understand. She said she could not believe Skitzki, in part, because he had lied to two women in his personal relationships. She zeroed in what Skitzki knew, and--in LaWall's mind--passed onto DiCampli and Altschuler.
E-mails buttressed her case.
Lopez and Skitzki shared e-mail conversations on the day after Stidham's murder, but they apparently only discussed his request for a job recommendation at the Pascua Yaqui tribe. It was his e-mails to others that show he knew about Lopez's suspicions.
To Altschuler on Oct. 7, Skitzki wrote: "Spoke to Lourdes she is convinced he had some involvement. Says he described the exact scenario. HE came over to tell her he had nothing to do w/it."
In testimony, Skitzki said he meant nothing by capitalizing "he," and that, given his poor typing skills, probably just hit the shift key.
DiCampli, in an Oct. 7 e-mail to Anne Elsberry, a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge William Browning, wrote: "I had no idea it was that doctor and yes I am thinking same thing you are. Called Paul (Skitzki) who said did not want to talk about it but yes she is ok. So Lourdes come close to 85-90% with Paul and he says she is ok."
Skitzki said he told Lopez after the murder that she must go to the police, and that he would if she didn't. He later called 88-Crime, the anonymous crime tip line, a move roundly criticized by LaWall.
Georgia Brousseau, the retired TUSD principal who has been on the Merit Commission since 1991 and now is its chair, closed the session with her own questions for Lopez.
Said Brousseau: "Well, none of us believes that we know a person who would murder anyone, and none of us believes that when words are uttered in passion that they necessarily will happen. I understand that, but the question that is being raised in this case is hindsight. Given the fact that you had this theoretical conversation with Mr. Skitzki prior to an actual murder, should he have then become immediately concerned and taken you by the hand and taken you to the police?"
"I understand," Lopez said. "I guess hindsight, Mrs. Brousseau, is the best way to put it. Certainly if I had the knowledge that I have today, things would have been remarkably different."


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Boxed Kit (5.5×5.5 inches, 32 pages)
Tuttle Publishing
Michael LaFosse is an acknowledged master of the paper-folding arts, but his origami butterflies have won him special acclaim. Hundreds of LaFosse's winged creations are featured in exhibitions around the world, and his iconic butterfly designs are admired by origami enthusiasts everywhere. In this collection, LaFosse presents six exclusive, all-new butterfly designs specifically created with the paper crafts novice in mind. This fun and instructive origami kit will kickstart your creativity with:
Whether you're a beginner or a more seasoned origami practioner, you will learn to hone your folding skills and achieve consistent results while creating your own stunning collection of paper butterfly models.


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Tuesday will mark the one year anniversary of the immigration raid at the kosher meatpacking plant in Postville where 389 people were arrested. Sister Mary McCauley had worked for the Catholic church in Postville at the time of the raid, and is one of the organizers of events to remember the anniversary.
McCauley says they are calling people to come to Postville for a special prayer vigil and walk that will begin at 3:30 with at St. Bridget's Church. They will walk to Agriprocessors and have a special blessing, and then return to the church. Sister McCauley explains why they think this is important.
She says the goal is to "stand in solidarity" with the 389 people who were arrested and everyone that was hurt by the raid. McCauley says they are also asking that the immigration laws be changed. McCauley says Postville should serve as an example for change.
McCauley says they hope Postville will be the impetus for lawmakers to make changes in current immigration law and begin comprehensive reform with emphasis on just practices, family unity, and an end to raids. McCauley says Postville had been adapting to the influx of immigrants before the raid.
She says the raids "devastated" the town and right afterwards the town was "shattered" and then pulled together and strengthened itself as the town tried to help the people involved. But, she says the recovery did not last long after the raid.
McCauley says other people were brought into the plant that were just as needy and when the plant was shut down for a few days, those people depended on the community.
"It was just like almost too much need for the town to handle," McCauley says. She says business then started to shut down and the town was "really hurt." McCauley says invitations were sent to people throughout the country inviting them to join in the remembrance of the raid.


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Yet another big endeavor is almost completed in Berlin. The new 'U-Bahn' line U5 will help commuters and tourists, once they return to the city of cities. It opened as soon as today.
Berlin, December 4th, 2020, update 10:27 a.m. (The Berlin Spectator) — Everyone knows the German language has some rather long words. Untergrundbahn is one of them. It means underground, tube, metro or subway, depending on the country or city people are talking about. Because even the Germans themselves like shorter words and abbreviations, they say 'U-Bahn' instead.
Complicated Endeavor
There is a lot of talk about the Berlin 'U-Bahn' these days, for a good reason: The U5 line was just extended. It will now go from Hönow station, located at the border between Berlin and Brandenburg province, all the way to Berlin's central station. The stretch between Alexanderplatz and Brandenburg Gate had to be constructed. It was a rather complicated endeavor. And it was not free, by the way.
The new stretch:
>> (Alexanderplatz):
A large station that already existed, with multiple 'U-Bahn' and 'S-Bahn' lines.
>> Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall)
New station, located at Red City Hall, opened today.
>> Museumsinsel (Museum Island)
New station underneath Museum Island. This one will not open until next year.
>> Unter den Linden
New station with entrances on Friedrichstrasse and Unter den Linden. This is where the U5 connects to the U6.
>> (Brandenburg Gate)
This one already existed.
Commuters and Tourists
One U6 station, Französische Strasse is closed now, for good, because it is only a few steps away from Unter den Linden station, meaning it will not be needed anymore. On Thursday, some young people who wore jackets with the logo of Berlin's public transport provider BVG, but no masks, spoke to passengers who entered or left the station. They informed some of them about the changes that apply from today. But they said most people already knew.
Most of Berlin, including the Senate, is happy to have the new U5 stretch. Not only will it help commuters, but also tourists. At this stage, there are none of the latter. Once they are back, they will not see a lot down there in the 'U-Bahn' tunnel, apart from three elegant new stations. But the U5 will help them get from one sightseeing spot to the next in case they do not want to walk.
Short Inauguration Ceremony
The big moment arrive this morning, when Governing Mayor Michael Müller, the BVG's CEO Eva Kreienkamp and others took that first U-Bahn ride. At about noon, the first regular trains were going to race back and forth. During and around business hours, trains will be coming every 5 minutes. Since Museum Island station will not be ready until the summer of 2021, the 'U-Bahn' will not stop there for now.
During the little inauguration ceremony, Governing Mayor Michael Müller said the gap closure was important for the city. He was very happy the project, with all of its challenges, had been completed after a long construction phase. The new stations were beautiful, Müller stated. He took part in an 'U-Bahn' ride from Red City Hall station to Unter den Linden.
Berlin vs. Sofia
Berlin has a new airport now. Well, it is sharing it with Brandenburg. And it has the U5 which now contains the missing link. Everyone is happy. Well, almost everyone. A new study reportedly came to the conclusion that the construction of new 'U-Bahn' lines generally causes a lot of air pollution. In order to make up for the CO2 that is being blown out, a metro line needs to be run for 100 years. If that is the case, the U5 will be climate-neutral in 2120. Maybe those environmental NGOs will be happy then.
There is something neither the U5 nor any other train line in Berlin has: safety walls. Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, just inaugurated its third metro line the stations of which feature glass walls on both sides of their platforms. Once a train arrives, its doors align with the doors in those safety walls. A pretty good feature, right?


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For the adoptive mom who feels hopeless, frustrated, or crazy
That, my friends, is eloquent talk for how frustrated I sometimes feel in this life as an adoptive mom. It's exhausting, and I'm not talking about the usual parenting-is-tiring stuff, which all moms know can be plenty challenging, especially at certain stages of life.
Remember that movie "Groundhog Day," where Bill Murray's character repeats the same day over and over? Days with my kids often feel that way because it seems like we should've made more progress by now. It feels like nothing will ever change, and that makes me weary.
A feeling of isolation adds to the exhaustion when other people don't "get it."
Teachers and friends mean well but no one can understand a situation they don't live and it's unrealistic to expect them to. Ken gets it, of course, but it can be hard on a marriage to have kids' behavior as the primary topic of conversation.
The kicker for me last week was a visit to a pediatrician who is clueless about adoption-related trauma. I went to discuss the possibility of trying a medication recommended by our therapist; I'm generally not in favor of that, but I wanted an intelligent pros-and-cons conversation in hopes of making an informed decision and knowing our options. Instead, he dismissed the whole thing and gave me cliche parenting advice like limit the use of electronics and offer incentives for good behavior. I tried hard not to roll my eyes, and on the inside I was thinking,
"Do you think I haven't TRIED all that?!? Or that I'd even be ASKING about this if those things solved these problems?!?"
That conversation with the doctor made me feel straight-up CRAZY. Like maybe it's not the early trauma and how that affects brain development. Maybe it's not attachment disorder. Maybe prenatal drug use didn't create any issues. Maybe it's all me; maybe I'm just not cut out for this.
However, even on the crazy days when I leave the doctor's office feeling like either crying or punching a wall, there's Sane Jamie deep inside. The Jamie who reads and researches extensively, who has facilitated groups of adoptive parents, and who has some darn good life experience. That's the Jamie with sound advice for the lost and frustrated adoptive parents — myself included.
Helpful tips for adoptive moms feeling frustrated, hopeless, or crazy:
1- Keep a journal.
Write down little details because you're actually probably making progress it's hard to see in the middle of things, and looking back over a year or so can help you find that progress.
2- Find a therapist with adoption/trauma experience.
We haven't seen much change since our child started working with a therapist (somewhat recently), but I drive an hour to get to one with extensive experience with adoption issues and childhood trauma. Possibly the biggest benefit so far: she has helped me see it's NOT just me.
3- Talk to a non-judgemental friend.
Preferably someone who has dealt with at least some similar issues. When possible, try to BE that friend to others, too.
4- Take care of your SELF.
Eat well, make time to exercise, schedule your own routine medical care (dentist, chiropractor, mammogram, etc.), and do things you enjoy (reading, creative hobbies, etc.).
5- Make date night a priority.
One day the kids will be grown, and it'd be a good idea to still like the person you spent all that time parenting with. Remember why you fell in love, and make sure conversations include hopes and dreams and laughs. If necessary, do date night at home after kids are in bed; there are ways to make it work.
6- Remember who YOU are outside of motherhood.
Before you became a parent, you were a whole person. Look for ways to get to know that woman again.
–> Above all, remind yourself of this: you are trying, day in and day out, and that counts for a lot.
*photos courtesy of unsplash.com
Wife, mom, J-ma. Introvert who enjoys good books, sunshine, and authentic conversation. Often seen with a steaming mug of tea in hand – unless it's lost yet again in the microwave. Read more »


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Jakarta Globe, Feb 11, 2015
Jakarta. North Korea has lodged a diplomatic protest with the Indonesian government over a South Korean symposium on human rights in the secretive dictatorship held in a Jakarta hotel on Tuesday.
North Korea's ambassador to Indonesia, Ri Jong Ryul, said he had filed a protest with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Palace as well as Joko Widodo's political party and even Interpol.
"Indonesia and North Korea have been very close so far, please stop such symposiums that denounce our country. We respect the dignity and sovereignty of other countries," Ri said in Jakarta on Wednesday, as quoted by Indonesian news portal Tempo.co.
The international symposium hosted by the South Korean Human Rights Commission, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), was held in the Sultan hotel on Tuesday.
The symposium was attended by the South Korean ambassador to Indonesia, Cho Tai-young.
Ri said he has filed a protest before the event began.
"However, prior to the symposium commencing at 11 a.m [the government of Indonesia] had not responded to our diplomatic note," Ri said.
Ri said that a repeat of such an event could damage bilateral ties between Indonesia and North Korea, adding that Tuesday's event promoted rumors and hatred against North Korea.
Rafendi Djamin of AICHR said he had been informed of North Korean's objection and that a North Korean diplomat came to the symposium to read a protest statement in front of journalists covering the event.
"I heard North Korea was disappointed they were not invited to this event," Rafendi said.


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Adventures in Publishing Contracts
Some months back I received a contract from a Certain University Press for an article that I've got forthcoming in what's going to be a super cool edited volume. I was a little taken aback, on reading the contract, to discover that I was being asked to sign over 100% of my copyright to the press, and that I was promising to refrain from doing anything with the article other than simply handing it over to them. No provisions for depositing a pre-print in an institutional repository, not even with an embargo. Nothing.
(Let us just say that the topic — heck, the title — of my article made this situation a little ironic.)
So with the support of the volume's editors, I edited the agreement to add in the phrase "except as provided for in the attached addendum," and then attached a version of the CIC Author's Copyright Contract Addendum. And thought, well, we'll see what happens.
I heard nothing for months, until today, when I received a revised contract from the Press. This contract:
1. Leaves all copyright with me. (Yay!)
2. Grants to the Press a license to publish the article in this volume, as well as to republish it in any derivative works, in all languages, in any media ("now or hereafter known"), throughout the world. (Perfectly fine with me. They could even have included the entirety of the universe, known and unknown, as a recent contract received by a friend of mine did.)
3. Says that I agree not to "license, publish, transmit, post (or permit the license, publication, transmission or posting)" of the article for a period of 1 year after publication without prior written permission, after which I can do whatever I want to with it.
And that's the one I have a question about. Because as I read it, they've given me both more and less than I've asked for. The CIC agreement has a six-month embargo, rather than a year, it separates out uses of the text by the author's home institution (for posting in an institutional repository, for instance) from general republishing, and retains for myself immediate and perpetual rights to use the article in any way I'd like in conjunction with my teaching, conference presentations, lectures, and the like.
On the other hand, all of those latter two uses seem subsumed within the fact that this version of the contract leaves all copyright with me, merely licensing it to the Press. The only thing I'm giving up is that additional six months of being able to republish it however I like.
So… I'm curious how you read this? Would you be willing to sign off on the contract now? Are there other issues I ought to consider here?
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No mentions yet.


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The dog park is open again. Should you use it?
Evidence unclear whether dogs can transmit virus to other animals — or back to humans
For those who have been living under lockdown the past nine weeks or so, the isolation has, in some cases, included the family dog.
Many provinces and cities closed off-leash dog parks in March to lessen the risk of overcrowding by the dogs' humans and to encourage physical distancing.
But over the past two weeks, as restrictions on businesses and public spaces have begun easing, off-leash areas have reopened too — including in Vancouver and other parts of B.C., Edmonton, Saskatchewan and Halifax. Ontario, including Toronto, reopened off-leash parks on Tuesday.
That's a good thing, says Dr. Scott Weese, a veterinary microbiologist at the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph, Ont., in terms of people getting out and dogs getting exercise again, while still maintaining physical distancing measures.
But Weese says the reopening should come with some precautions.
"We can't just go back to normal. There's going to be a new normal for quite a while," he said.
There is little definitive information to date about dogs possibly passing COVID-19 to humans, or vice versa. The journal Nature recently published the early findings of one research team which suggested there is evidence of human-to-animal transmission of the strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, but that it is unclear whether an infected dog can infect another dog or give it back to a human.
Dr. Rebecca Archer, a clinical instructor of small animal medicine at the University of Calgary, is on a task force that's reviewing the available research on COVID-19 and pets.
"What we know right now is that we have zero, absolutely zero, cases of any dogs ever giving coronavirus, COVID-19, to a person," she said. There is also no evidence of dogs giving COVID-19 to each other.
"The only evidence we have is of people who have transferred their COVID-19 to their dog," Archer said.
Those cases involved two dogs in Hong Kong, both of which tested positive for the coronavirus after being in contact with their infected owners.
Transmission by fur?
What's not clear either is whether a dog's fur or hair can carry the virus from one human to another.
"That potential exists in the theoretical realm," said Archer.
Researchers have determined that the coronavirus can persist on surfaces for days. There has been no documented case of a human catching it by touching a dog previously handled by an infected person. But, said Archer, "Is it possible? Yes."
Which is part of the reason Weese has, for the past two months, been recommending people physically distance their dogs, too.
"If I wouldn't go up and shake someone's hand or give them a hug, do I want them interacting with my dog and then me doing that to my dog?" He says it would be no different from a handshake.
The U.S. Centres for Disease Control also recommends people consider their pets like any other member of their household, advising them not to let their pets interact with people or animals from outside.
But for Canadians who live in areas where lockdown restrictions are beginning to ease, you can safely take your dog to the park again. The experts advise to just choose your time wisely.
"I would be very careful to ensure that there either aren't other people there," said Dr. Jason Stull, assistant professor at the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown. "Or, if there are, there's very few."
And most important — don't let other people touch your dog.
"We're trying to keep animals out of the equation," said Weese.
High-touch surfaces
Another reason municipalities closed parks was to help people avoid contact with high-touch surfaces. The gate on the dog park — opened and closed dozens of times every day — is a high-touch surface.
The city of Regina recognized that. And when it reopened its two, year-round dog parks last week, it warned people that the gates would be left open at all times.
"This is being done to adhere to the public health orders as the gates are considered high touch points," city spokesperson Janine Daradich said at the time.
In Toronto, where the rate of infection is still relatively high compared to other parts of the country, gates are not being left open.
Asked if such a move was considered, Toronto's Associate Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Vinita Dubey, simply said in an email that "Proper hand hygiene after touching a frequently touched surface is an important way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 from surfaces."
Hoses and water faucets at the park would also be considered high-touch surfaces to avoid. But sharing common items does not appear to be as much of an issue for dogs.
"Shared toys, water bowls, things like that would be a lower risk than having contact with a person," said Weese. "But we can't say no risk at this point."
And if you live in an area which still has a high rate of COVID-19 infection, your chances of catching it by going to the dog park is going to be higher than for someone living in an area with a low or zero rate of transmission.
Other risks to consider
When it comes to letting your dog play with other dogs at the park, the consensus among the vets when it comes to coronavirus transmission is that it's probably not an issue.
But Stull says, there is another important factor to consider: Most veterinarians have been prevented from providing preventative care to their clients during the lockdown.
As a result, dogs have missed annual exams, and may be behind in several areas of disease prevention — including vaccination, deworming, or flea and tick prevention.
"And if we are taking our pets to places where we're going to have contact with other dogs... then we put them at risk for infectious diseases," Stull said, some of which are a concern for dogs — but also for people.


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Thu, 12 September 2019
The United States military has been active in Afghanistan for over 18 years. Why are we there in the first place? Why are are we still there and should we? FFF president Jacob Hornberger and Citadel professor and Richard Ebeling discuss.
Direct download: 2019-09-13_LA_Afghanistan_Audio.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:44pm EDT


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Nadya is on a mission to deliver business change by harnessing the power of creative thinking. As the co-founder of Utopia she is doing exactly that - Utopia 'Re-wires Business for Age of Creativity'.
Nadya is also the co-founder of Innovation Social which is an affiliation of innovation leaders from agency, brand and startup worlds who believe that innovation will disrupt UK business for the better.
Additionally, she co-founded two Diversity networks and initiatives: https://www.thegreatbritishdiversityexperiment.com/ which seeks to drive diversity in communications; https://thesowhiteproject.com/ which drives global media attention to the lack of diverse imagery in communications.
Nadya is on the Executive Committee of the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA) as the chair of their Diversity Committee and Awards Group, on the Advisory Council of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and this year was a judge for the Cannes Innovation Lions.


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Located south of Alifu Alifu, Alifu Dhaalu Atoll is also regared South Ari. Collectively both atolls are regarded as Ari Atoll. This is one of the most densely developed atolls in terms of resorts. Here is the map of Alifu Dhaalu Atoll.
This is the map of Alifu Dhaalu Atoll, just one of the 26 natural atolls in Maldives. If you want to see map of entire Maldives or the world map we have covered this topic on a separate post.
The only domestic airport in this atoll is in Maamigili island. Most of the resorts in this atoll take advantage of this airport as it is cheaper than seaplane which flies only day time. Therefore, the domestic flight is very ideal for tourists who visit Maldives at night. Otherwise, to take seaplane you will have to wait for next day. Staying overnight near Male' or Ibrahim Nasir International Airport is most convenient at Hulhule' island which is just 5 minutes drive and the hotel is located on the same island as airport. A lot cheaper but smaller hotels are in Hulhumale island, about 10 minutes drive. Hulhumale' is another island but connect to airport by a roadway. Usually the hotel arrange they own shuttle bus to pick you up and also to drop you back.
A unique feature of Alif Dhaalu Atoll is its whale shark point. This is one of the few spots where you see whale sharks all year round. Hanifaru Bay in Baa Atoll is also popular for whale sharks and manta ways but it is seasonal. In Alifu Dhaalu Atoll, whale sharks are seen near Dhigurah, in some seasons they are seen near Maagili. It seems they move around between these spots based on season.
Wherever you see whale sharks you also see manta rays. Because these two species feed on tiny planktons. At least this is the case in Maldives.
Alifu Dhaalu Atoll also takes the advantage of its close distance from Ibrahim Nasir International Airport. The most frequent mode of transfer is seaplane. Regular speedboat ferries are operated from Male' to local islands. There are guesthouses that usually offer $120 – $150 per night per room packages, transfer costs $25 – $35 person per way. There is a good demand for these guesthouse holidays.


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Join us at Fashion Night on Brickell to benefit The Woman's Cancer Association. Featuring world famous designers. Don't miss this opportunity to show your products and services at this fashionable event.
The event attracts the presence of prominent members of the legal community, politicians, foreign consulates, Miami socialites, fashionistas, and well-known TV personalities. Guests enjoy live entertainment and exquisite food pairings by local restaurants.
ONE (1) Table to showcase your products and services