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Weed Control Services in Damascus, MD
Royal Greens provides environmentally friendly lawn care and weed control services in Damascus, MD. Our organic-based fertilizers and personalized service can get your yard looking greener and more lush than ever!
Crabgrass Control and Extermination
Crabgrass is a summer annual grassy weed. This means the plant itself only survives for a season. Towards the end of its growing season, usually July-August, it will produce seeds. The seeds will mature on the plant and fall off onto the ground. The seeds will remain in the soil until the following spring. Once soil temperatures reach 55-60 degrees and if there is adequate soil moisture and sun light, the seeds will germinate to start the life cycle all over. To prevent the seeds from germinating, a pre-emergent should be applied before the seeds germinate. This is why it is important to apply the pre-emergent in the early spring. Our core aeration will also breathe life back into your lawn after we get rid of the unwanted weed growth.
Japanese Stilt Grass
In recent years Japanese stilt grass has become very prevalent in and near the Montgomery County area. This summer-annual grassy weed differs from crabgrass in that it germinates earlier in the spring and it likes a more shaded environment. It commonly can be found encroaching into lawns from wooded areas. Control of Japanese stilt grass is more difficult than crabgrass. There are fewer materials labeled for its control and they are less effective. The pros at Royal Greens know how to tackle this hard to control weed, along with many others, so contact us today to keep your lawn looking its best all season long!
Read Nick R.'s review of Royal Greens on Yelp
Read Gaylen C.'s review of Royal Greens on Yelp


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Here is the first internal blog entry from Dedewilson.com.
The only thing this really means to you, the end user, is that when you click on the Dede's Blog link on the right hand side of the website, it will now take you directly to the internal blog, and not here. Don't worry, you won't miss any posts! I will make sure to tell you Here, whats going on There.

subset: commoncrawl


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Hello everyone,
In case you didn't know already, it in fact is Ford Mustang Week and we've been uploading some really spectacular Mustangs up on YouTube, giving them the works. If you didn't know, this Saturday, April 29th, is Ford Detailing Tech Day. If you happen to be in Southern California, stop by the Detail Garage from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. for our Monthly Rides & Coffee event, immediately followed by the Ford Detailing Tech Day event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. that will even have Detailing tech session to show you how to properly detail your car.
If you're a Ford owner or just a car enthusiast, this event is just for you! Come for the cars, stay for the training. Find your passion, and make it shine with Chemical Guys. Learn from the Chemical Guys team on how to take your shine to the next level and properly detail your car.
Get here early, the parking lot will be filled with great cars early so if you're driving in style and want to show off your ride, start driving by 9. Come share a day under the sun with the family at Chemical Guys. A plethora of Ford Cars, from vintage to modern, expect to catch it here this Saturday.
Where: 14108 S. Western Ave. Gardena,CA 90249
When: Saturday, April 29, 2017
Rides & Coffee - 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Ford Detailing Tech Day - 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.


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When we receive your application, we'll send you an email acknowledging we've got it. We'll then go through your application, to see if your experience and skills match the role. If they do, we'll invite you to an interview or an assessment event.
After that stage, if we think you'd be perfect for the job, we'll offer you the role. Equally, if we don't think you're quite right, we'll let you know and of course you have the option of feedback. National Express prides itself on providing an excellent candidate experience and will keep you notified at every stage of the process. Even if things don't work out we want you to grow and develop from our feedback and then maybe we'll hopefully see you again one day!
If you are interested in bus driver vacancies then view our current bus driver vacancies here
Thanks for your interest in National Express and the very best of luck.


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Now showing items 1-1 of 1
Single-wall carbon nanotubes and graphene oxide-based saturable absorbers for low phase noise mode-locked fiber lasers
Low phase noise mode-locked fiber laser finds important applications in telecommunication, ultrafast sciences, material science, and biology, etc. In this paper, two types of carbon nano-materials, i.e. single-wall carbon ...


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Certified 2019 Kia Sportage
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Mileage: 11,975
Odometer is 11698 miles below market average! 23/30 City/Highway MPG
Kia Certified Pre-Owned Details:
* Includes Rental Car and Trip Interruption Reimbursement
* Powertrain Limited Warranty: 120 Month/100,000 Mile (whichever comes first) from original in-service date
* Limited Warranty: 12 Month/12,000 Mile (whichever comes first) Platinum Coverage from certified purchase date
* 164 Point Inspection
* Vehicle History
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As you do your comparison shopping, you will see Stokes Kia offers some of the best values in the market. We will provide you a free Carfax Report, Comprehensive Vehicle Inspection, and how we arrived at the Market Value Price. Call or Stop by our location in Charleston, South Carolina today! Excludes tax, tag, registration and title and includes $399.50 Administrative Fee. Stokes Kia is proudly serving... Ashley Junction, Awendaw, Charleston, Charleston Heights, Deweys Hills, Folly Beach, James Island, Hollywood, Hunley Park, Isle of Palms, Kiawah Island, Lambs, Lincolnville, McClellanville, Meggett, Mount Pleasant, North Charleston, Ravenel, Rockville, Seabrook Island, Sherwood Forest, South Windermire, Sullivans Islands, Whipper-Barnoy, Goose Creek, Harleyville, Ridgeville, Saint George, Summerville, Reevesville, West Ashley and welcome the opportunity to earn the business from South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Dealer Information
Stokes Used Car Center
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text: It turns out that the only (so far) Mercedes-Benz model created specifically as an AMG, the SLS coupe with gullwing doors, was designed from day one to have either a hard or a soft top. The '12 SLS Roadster makes its North American debut this fall. If anyone took a look at the tin-top car and thought having hinges in the roof would probably affect its center of gravity, and not in a good way, then this iteration might well be the preferred choice. Extra compensatory bracing has made it only 88 pounds heavier than the coupe and it will still hit a top speed of 187 mph. The triple-layer fabric/magnesium/aluminum/steel roof can be opened or closed on the fly at speeds of up to 31 mph. Creature comforts include a Bang & Olufsen audio system and Benz's Airscarf feature that sends warm air wafting around the occupants' necks.


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ATHENS, Greece - Fireplaces were long a status symbol for Greece's up-and-coming middle class, like the second car and the flat-screen TV. Now, they are increasingly their owners' only defence against the encroaching winter cold.
A steep increase in heating costs has led many Greeks to switch from heating oil to wood-burning. But the price of using cheaper fuel is growing.
Illegal loggers are slashing through forests already devastated by years of summer wildfires. Air pollution from wood smoke is choking the country's main cities. And there has been an increase in blazes caused by carelessly attended woodstoves.
Three children died in a northern village last month when a fire gutted the home of their grandparents, who had recently changed from oil-fueled central heating to a wooden stove to save money.
In Athens, the capital, officials have warned of severe health risks from the low-lying smog that smothers the city at night, when fireplaces and woodstoves burn at full blast in poorly insulated homes. Greece's leading medical association is demanding urgent action to clean the air. But those warnings have largely been ignored for a simple reason: Burning wood provides the same warmth as heating oil, for roughly half the cost.
For the past three years, the country has been wracked by its worst financial crisis since the end of World War II. Living standards have plummeted, pensions have been slashed and a quarter of the workforce is unemployed, following deeply resented cutbacks demanded in return for international bailouts shielding Greece from total ruin.
The heating crisis was triggered by taxation changes, and made desperate by financial woes. For years, fuel for vehicles was taxed more heavily than heating oil. That encouraged crooked traders to sell heating fuel for use in vehicles and pocket the difference.
Hoping to boost faltering revenues and foil tax fraud, the government this year harmonized taxes on vehicle fuel and heating oil, which now costs about 40 per cent more than last winter, although lower-income residents of colder areas get a rebate. Critics say the move backfired due to a drastic decline in sales.
"The fact that the price of petrol has greatly increased, while incomes are shrinking to an unbearable extent, creates a vast problem with heating in Greece," said lawmaker Thomas Psyrras from the Democratic Left party — a junior partner in Greece's conservative-led coalition government. "People who live abroad imagine that we have sunshine all year round, but that's not the case."
Temperatures have dropped below freezing in much of the country this winter, while snow fell in central Athens this month.
Stratos Paradias, head of the Hellenic Property Federation that represents property owners, says many city dwellers have been left without any central heating. "There are some who are completely unable to pay the costs due to the crisis," he said.
But even those who can afford oil, or the slightly cheaper natural gas, can be left shivering, due to the communal nature of each apartment block's central heating. It means that if enough owners want to go without, their decision is binding for all residents.
While electric heating is another option, most consumers perceive wood as cheaper — especially since household power bills are set to increase about 10 per cent this year.
It's hard to estimate how many people have abandoned heating oil for wood. Distributors say sales of heating oil are nearly 80 per cent down this winter, and new firewood yards have mushroomed all over Athens.
"I used to have the only shop with firewood around here. Now another four have opened this year," said Grigoris Athanassakis, who has sold firewood for the past 15 years in the Athens district of Tavros.
"What's unprecedented this year is that we started selling firewood in August," he said. "People were terrified at the coming rise in fuel prices, and rushed to get their supplies in early."
Costas Tsakoyiannis, who runs a yard on a busy highway near a central cemetery, says he's seen a 20 per cent rise in demand this season.
"It used to be middle-class people who bought firewood, but now it's much more widespread," he said. "Many who only had fireplaces in their flats for decoration now use them for heating. Others have bought woodstoves."
The heating crisis has spawned some ingenious solutions, such as stoves in northern Greece that burn fuel as unlikely as peach stones and olive pits.
Officials say all the wood smoke poses a considerable public health risk. The state Center for Disease Control & Prevention warned that a single fireplace emits 30 times more dust particles than oil-burning central heating for 25 flats.
The problem gets much worse when instead of firewood people burn salvaged wood or broken-up furniture that contains noxious varnishes or synthetic coatings.
A University of Thessaloniki study found that the concentration of fine particles in the air of the country's second-largest city was on average twice the safety level from mid-November to mid-December 2012 — and considerably higher than a year earlier. Fine dust is particularly dangerous as it seeps deep into the lungs, potentially causing respiratory problems.
The Thessaloniki study estimated that the increase in pollution would lead to an extra €40 million ($52 million) burden in public health costs.
In Athens, the crisis had initially helped to improve air quality as high gasoline costs discouraged the use of private transport. That changed this winter, as people rushed to buy firewood — and the immediate outlook is bleak.
"We expect that as temperatures go down in January and February use of fireplaces will increase and the phenomenon will rise," said Evangelos Gerassopoulos, research director at the National Observatory.
The Environment Ministry said this month that while the smog "creates a serious problem for public health ... at this point the situation is not so acute as to allow taking emergency measures."
The Athens Medical Association, however, responded with an urgent appeal for action.
"We can't wait any longer," it said in a statement. "We have enough cancers in our country. The cost of treating people sickened from the effects of the smog will be much greater than that of (fully) subsidizing natural gas and heating oil."
The government has ruled out an expansion of the current heating oil rebate system. Meanwhile, the vast appetite for wood has encouraged extensive illegal logging — by local residents for private use but also by organized gangs. Reports of clandestinely felled trees have come in even from the suburbs of Athens and a town park in central Greece.
Forestry services, hit so severely by cutbacks that they sometimes lack enough gasoline for car patrols, face the daunting task of policing some 6.4 million hectares (16 million acres) of forest.
Georgios Amorgianniotis, a secretary for forests at the environment ministry, said illegal logging only became a serious problem during the crisis.
He said legal actions against clandestine loggers doubled in 2012 compared to the year before, although that's partly due to stricter policing. In the area of Mount Olympus, mythical home of the ancient Greek gods, 300 people were arrested last year for illegal logging — a five-fold increase from before the 2009 eruption of Greece's crisis.
In 2011, officials confiscated more than 6,500 tons of illegally cut firewood. That number doubled last year to 13,100 tons while more than 400 vehicles were impounded.
Forestry workers have even been attacked by illegal loggers wielding axes or guns.
After a shooting incident last year, a foresters' union weighed in with this judgment: "It's clearly turning into a Far West-style situation."
Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki contributed.


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It's that time again – time for another round of Self Portrait Friday!
This week's theme is "me and a friend." I am feeling lazy and tired so I'm only posting two pics. :oP
This first one is of my sister (and good friend) Carrie and me taken in May 2005. (My God, we actually look kind of alike in that picture. Gasp!)
The second one is me (and Ava) and my friend Brandy (and her son Creed) taken in March 2005.
Go see who else has friends over at Katy's blog. 😉


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Hi, I'm a indie game developer and the creator of the RVE mod for supreme commander 2, I'm currently working on a open world survival game, I'm currently working with the unreal 4 engine for my current project, I also have 6 years experience in lua scripting with mods for supreme commander 2.
Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free - or sign in with your social account on the right) and join in the conversation.


text: Despite a heavy police presence at a Hells Angels funeral Saturday, a top bike-club enforcer nicknamed "Mr. 187'' after the state penal code number for murder was gunned down Saturday in front of stunned spectators. Multiple sources told this newspaper the victim was Steve Tausan, a notorious sergeant-at-arms for the Santa Cruz chapter of the club suspected of killing another biker years ago. Sources said the incident Saturday was an inter-club squabble set off when Tausan punched a fellow biker and the biker retaliated by shooting him. A photographer for this newspaper saw other Hells Angels jump the shooter. Police declined to comment, saying only that there had been a shooting at the Oak Hill Cemetery. The funeral at the cemetery was for fellow Hells Angel Jethro Pettigrew, president of the San Jose chapter of the club, who was shot in a Sparks, Nev., casino by a member of the rival Vagos club. Townsend told a reporter that shortly after Pettigrew was killed that he had received death threats. Police and Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office are now guarding the Hells Angels headquarters in San Jose, as well as other locations where bikers gather.


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DoorDash - Order Food Delivery
by: DoorDash, Inc. • 1.8M
All iPhone applications categories
by: DoorDash, Inc. • 1.8M
Food delivery anywhere you are, from a family picnic in the park to your date night at home. DoorDash offers the greatest selection of your favorite local and national restaurants — more than 110,000 menus across 800+ cities in the U.S. and Canada. New restaurants and delivery locations added daily. Spend more time doing the things you love — we'll take care of the rest.
Choose from a huge variety of cuisines, from your favorite sushi spot to the comfort food you crave.
Food is just a few taps away. Get your favorite meals faster with quick reordering. Plus, group ordering makes entertaining a breeze.
Advance ordering allows you to get your food when it's most convenient for you.
See when your order will arrive. From food quality to prep-times to traffic to weather, we've factored in all the elements that come between you and your food.
Order as little or as much as you want.
Conveniently pay via Apple Pay or credit card.
Five-star service gets you what you need, right when you need it.
DoorDash is a technology company that connects people with the best in their cities. We do this by empowering local businesses and in turn, generate new ways for people to earn, work and live. We started by facilitating door-to-door delivery, but we see this as just the beginning of connecting people with possibility — easier evenings, happier days, bigger savings accounts, wider nets and stronger communities.
Currently serving over 800 cities in 78+ markets in the U.S. and Canada including: Atlanta, Austin, Bellevue, Boston, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Fort Worth, Houston, Indianapolis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Manhattan, Minneapolis, Nashville, New York, Orange County, Pasadena, Palo Alto, Peninsula, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Silicon Valley, Washington DC, Toronto, and Vancouver.
National partners include: Chick-fil-A, Burger King, Wendy's, Chipotle, The Cheesecake Factory, Subway, Dunkin' Donuts, Jamba Juice, Panda Express, Moe's Southwest Grill, P.F. Chang's, Denny's, IHOP, Buffalo Wild Wings, Papa John's, California Pizza Kitchen, Papa Murphy's, Jack in the Box, Five Guys, Boston Market, Red Robin, Applebee's, TGI Friday's, Red Lobster, Qdoba Mexican Eats, El Pollo Loco, Noodles & Company, Buca di Beppo, White Castle, SmashBurger, Schlotzsky's, and many more.
Visit doordash.com to learn more.
$1 delivery terms and conditions: Valid only on orders with a minimum subtotal greater than $10. First-time users only. Offer valid for 30 days after customer's first order is delivered. Limit one per person. Other fees, taxes, and gratuity still apply. All deliveries subject to availability. Must have or create a valid DoorDash account with a valid form of accepted payment on file. No cash value. Non-transferable. See full terms and conditions at http://drd.sh/rtb7p2/
from 1.767.960 reviews
Download DoorDash - Order Food Delivery
Free - 3.1.20 - 93M
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Description:HP 6GB Modular Smart Array SC08e 2x4-PortExt PCIe SAS Host Bus Adapter (HBA)Part Number(s)
Manufacturer Part# 614988-B21
Spare Part# 615242-001
Spare Part# 617824-001
Overview:The HP SC08e Host Bus Adapter (HBA) is a 2X4 External Port HBA that provides customers with the flexibility and speed they have come to expect from HP . The SC08e Host Bus Adapter has been optimized for connection to the new SAS based HP StorageWorks P2000 G3 SAS Modular Smart Array and provides support for both 6 Gb SAS and 3 Gb SATA Hard Disk Drives..This SAS HBA doubles performance of the previous 3 Gb SAS HBAs and is ideal for driving cost-effective and reliable scalability in today's data centers. The HP SC08e Host Bus Adapter has been thoroughly tested to support many of the HP ProLiant servers.


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The 2013 Ford Fusion is one of the finest looking affordable sedans we have seen in years. With styling that can be considered Aston Martin-esque, it's something totally different from what the this sector of the car market has seen before.
But today, Ford introduced the Fusion's European cousin, the Mondeo. Somehow, they made the Fusion even better.
The 2013 Mondeo comes in a number of flavors, including a five door hatchback and wagon. The long sloping roofline of the five door just turns the sexy factor of the Fusion up to 11. Of course, we aren't expected to get either variant here in the states.
There is big news under the hood as well. Ford's 1.0 liter, three cylinder, EcoBoost engine is an option, and the tiniest/cutest in it's class.
But we keep coming back to the looks. Especially in five door guise, the Mondeo just looks sleek, smooth, and sexy. Basically, imagine Toni Braxton and R. Kelly got Sade pregnant and the child was a car. But instead of sexy sounds, it got sexy looks. And look at DAT ASS.
We approve.


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The Punishment Block is the only purpose built cell block in the Fort. It was built in response to the murder of Warder William Reddy in 1856.
Work began in 1858 using local limestone with military and convict labour and it was opened in 1860.
It consisted of twenty eight solitary confinement cells and housed the 'Penal Class', considered the most dangerous prisoners. They were heavily chained and clothed in black from head to toe, with a veil hiding all but their eyes.
Conditions inside the block were the harshest inside the prison. At first the cells were furnished with only a stool and convicts slept on the floor. Prisoner descriptions of medieval conditions in a Victorian prison outraged many. There were several suicide attempts and the block was the main reason that Spike Island was described as "Hell on earth" by the penal classes.
During the convict era 1847-1883, it housed political prisoners.
For several years it was referred to as the Mitchel Block as it was incorrectly believed that he was held there in 1848.
Today visitors can see the Guard room and learn how archaeologists worked on the site. The Dark Cells can be explored by torchlight while modern solitary cells are also on view. The cells of Patrick Tierney and John Mitchel are both interpreted and the upstairs rooms of the block contain an art exhibition of prisoners pieces from the modern era.


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THURSDAY, Nov. 29, 2012 (HealthDay News) -- Noninvasive stimulation of nerves in the brain and wrist may temporarily improve hand movement in people with partial spinal cord injuries, an early study suggests.
The study, published Nov. 29 in the journal Current Biology, involved just 19 people with spinal cord injuries that had partially damaged their ability to move and feel their arms and hands. And it looked only at the short-term effects of the nerve stimulation technique.
But researchers say the findings are a step toward helping people regain better use of their hands after such injuries.
If further work pans out, they envision developing portable devices that people could use at home to stimulate nerves and promote longer-lasting improvements in their muscle function.
"But we're still far from that goal," cautioned Monica Perez, study co-author and an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Before the technique is used as an actual therapy, the researchers need to know if it can lead to lasting changes in hand function.
"We're trying to understand the mechanisms of this plasticity, and how we can make these changes more permanent," Perez said.
More than half of people who survive spinal cord injuries are left with damage to the cervical spine, the upper portion of the spinal cord. And that often causes impairments in the hands and arms, Perez noted.
For the current study, she and University of Pittsburgh colleague Karen Bunday paired two forms of noninvasive nerve stimulation. The first was electrical stimulation of the ulnar nerve in the wrist. The other was transcranial magnetic stimulation, where an electromagnetic coil is placed near the scalp to create electric currents that stimulate targeted nerve cells -- in this case, in the part of the brain connected to hand function.
The researchers tested the combination's effects on 19 people with cervical spinal cord injuries and 14 healthy people. Each participant received 100 paired electrical pulses over about 20 minutes.
Perez and Bunday found that when they precisely timed the stimulation of the brain and wrist nerves, temporary improvements occurred in the injured participants' hand muscle strength and their ability to grasp and move small pegs.
The effects lasted up to 80 minutes.
Other stimulation techniques are currently under study to help people recover from spinal cord injuries. Some are invasive: Last year, researchers at the University of Louisville in Kentucky reported in The Lancet that electrodes implanted along the spine had helped a paralyzed 25-year-old man learn to walk again.
The tactic used in the new study combines noninvasive nerve stimulation approaches and focuses on timing.
The researchers found that electrical pulses from the brain needed to be precisely timed to arrive at the spinal cord one to two milliseconds before pulses from the wrist nerve did. And to do that, the stimulation needed to be individualized for each study participant.
In the future, it might be possible to use the approach in formal rehab programs for people with partial spinal cord injuries -- or even create at-home devices that would do the job, according to Perez.
Dr. Robert Grossman, chairman of neurosurgery at the Methodist Neurological Institute in Houston, agreed that there is potential for this technique to "enhance the rehabilitation" of some patients. He was not associated with the study.
He said the findings confirm previous research suggesting benefits from "raising the excitability of motor neurons" -- spinal nerve cells that send impulses to muscle.
Like Perez, Grossman urged caution in interpreting the findings of an early study. But he said the work is encouraging.
"Scientists are making slow but steady progress toward helping [spinal cord injury] patients recover some of their function," Grossman said.
More information
Learn more about spinal cord injuries from the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.


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QA1 Rebuild Kits
QA1's Rebuild Kits allow you to rebuild your circle track racing shocks. QA1 shocks are not throw-away shocks like other brands. No longer do you have to send your shocks into a repair place to have them fixed.
Rebuild kits contain:
Kits include components for one shock.
QA1 Tuning Kits
QA1 offers Tuning Kits to revalve and repair a variety of circle track shocks, including large body, small body and monotube.


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• UAE's national airline to conduct national service medical examinations for its Emirati Staff
18 April 2105: The General Command of the Armed Forces, represented by the National Service and Reserve Authority (NRSA), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Etihad Airways.
The ceremony at Etihad Airways' Headquarters in Abu Dhabi also included a tour of the airline's Medical Centre which has been certified to conduct the National Service's medical examinations and screenings.
The MoU was signed by His Excellency Major General Pilot Sheikh Ahmed Bin Tahnoon, Chairman of National Service and Reserve Authority, and His Excellency Mohamed Mubarak Al Mazrouei, Etihad Airways Chairman. His Excellency Hamad Al Shamsi, Etihad Airways Deputy Chairman, and His Excellency Mohamed Hamad Al Mehairi, Etihad Airways board member, also attended, accompanied by James Hogan, Etihad Airways' President and Chief Executive Officer.
UAE nationals from across Etihad Airways have been undertaking national service training since the end of 2014 and more are expected to join the program during the year.
Under the MoU, the Etihad Airways Medical Center will conduct examinations for the airline's staff who are called upon for national service. The airline will comply with the agreed guidelines and report the results to the National Service and Reserve Authority.
Etihad Airways was applauded by His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed bin Tahnoon for its initiatives which show the airline's commitment and capabilities in promoting the national service program.
He said: "The MoU will ensure close collaboration and coordination between all parties, especially in the area of medical examinations, which will be conducted at the world class Etihad Airways Medical Centre."
Etihad Airways announced last week that it had received accreditation from the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) to operate the country's first Aeromedical Centre (AeMC), allowing the Medical Centre to perform functions on behalf of the GCAA.
His Excellency Mohamed Mubarak Al Mazrouei, Etihad Airways' Chairman said: "We are delighted today to build upon the partnership with the National Reserve and Service Authority and cement Etihad Airways commitment to UAE national service initiative, which has been approved under Federal Law No. 6 of 2014, issued by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE.
"We are proud of the role that UAE nationals play in the national airline and the crucial role they'll play as part of the national service program."
James Hogan said: "As the national carrier of the UAE, Etihad Airways is committed to growing and developing a highly qualified cadre of UAE nationals and empowering them to play an even greater role in the airline's world-class business.
"Since the launch of our UAE national development strategy in 2007 the composition of our UAE national workforce has increased from four to 23 per cent, and we now employ more than 2,200 UAE nationals across the spectrum of our operations."
Mr Hogan stated that Emiratis are now the number one nationality group in Etihad Airways as well as the number one nationality group at the manager and higher management levels.
Currently there are more than 150 UAE nationals working in positions at the airline's offices and airport destinations across the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas.
Many of them have also been placed on assignment with Etihad Airways' partner airlines worldwide. More than 6,000 UAE nationals are set to join the airline by 2020.
Mr Hogan added: "Etihad Airways will continue to utilise strategic collaborations with a wide a range of UAE government, educational and Emiratisation institutions, including the Abu Dhabi Tawteen Council, Higher Colleges of Technology, Ministry of Higher Education, and Abu Dhabi University."
UAE nationals also have the opportunity to join 21 Graduate Development Programs which are certified by the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM). These areas include cadet pilot training, technical engineering, information technology, finance, sales, airport operations and human resources.
The programs are designed to match the needs of the airline with career opportunities for the national workforce.
Upon completion Graduate Managers are also awarded an IATA diploma depending on their chosen specialisation.


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Red Faction II (PlayStation 2) review
"Without a doubt, Red Faction II is one of the PS2s most prized first-person shooters, and the plot is only one piece of a memorable experience. The pursuit of the fleeing Sopot will take Alias through government high-rises, into the streets, fortified military bases, and face to face with hundreds of the Commonwealths forces."
Staff review by Brian Rowe (September 07, 2007)
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2013 NAIA Wrestler of the Week ? No. 7
KANSAS CITY, Mo - Cameron Neiss of Montana State-Northern has been named the NAIA National Wrestler of the Week, announced Wednesday by the national office. Neiss was selected based on his performances from Feb. 11 - 17 and is the final honoree of 2013.
Neiss, a native of Ronan, Mont., was named Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament after going 3-0 en route to an individual crown and an automatic berth to the 2013 NAIA Wrestling National Championships at the NAIA West Qualifying Group Tournament on Feb. 16. The junior, who was seeded fourth at 133 pounds, opened the event with an 18-2 technical fall over Mason Saldana of Embry-Riddle (Ariz.). Neiss continued his run with a 10-8 victory over then-No. 1 Prescott Garner of Southern Oregon in the semifinals before knocking off second-ranked Angel Garcia of Menlo (Calif.), 4-2, in the finals.
Neiss has won 13-straight matches en route to a 30-8 record on the season.
For the complete Player of the Week calendar, click here.
Nominees: Brock Gutches, Southern Oregon; John Sievert, Morningside (Iowa); Michael Vassar, Great Falls (Mont.); Josh Manu, Missouri Valley; Mitchell Eichenauer, Oklahoma City; Jahsua Marsh, Midland (Neb.); Zeke Hunt, Cumberland (Tenn.); Ian Stephens, Lindsey Wilson (Ky.).
2013 Wrestlers of the Week
Week 1 (Jan. 9): Tyler Kacmarynski, Morningside (Iowa)
Week 2 (Jan. 16): Jarid Price, Baker (Kan.)
Week 3 (Jan. 23): Mitchell Lofstedt, Southern Oregon
Week 4 (Jan. 30): Eric Thompson, Grand View (Iowa)
Week 5 (Feb. 6): Mitchell Lofstedt, Southern Oregon
Week 6 (Feb. 13): Prescott Garner, Southern Oregon
Week 7 (Feb. 20): Cameron Neiss, Montana State-Northern


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Our Extra Virgin Coconut Oil Products.
Our Ghee (Clarified Butter) and 50/50 Blend Products
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Success all the way. Using coconut oil instead of butter was a great idea, gave my dish a nutty flavor without overpowering the flavors. I have so much coconut goodness in my mind, mmmm, can't wait to experiment.
- Roxana,
A little bit of everything: Baking and telling
I'm a huge fan of coconut oil. And it always helps when it is organic and fair trade like Kelapo.
- Emily,
A Nutritionist Eats
Kelapo coconut oil gets two thumbs up from me! I really enjoyed it raw, but it also tasted great with my scrambled eggs too. Excited to use it with my next batch of granola.
- Adrienne,
Adrienneats: A holistic perspective on eating, cooking & living
Mmmm, coconutty goodness!
- Carolyn,
All Day I Dream About Food http://www.alldayidreamaboutfood.com
I'm a big fan of extremely-coconutty coconut oils, and Kelapo does not disappoint. I love it when product quality and great taste align. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to start by slathering this on my skin like lotion, or sampling it with a spoon - so I did both.
- Amber,
Almost Vegan Chef
Frequently Asked Questions
What is coconut oil?
Coconut oil is a liquid substance extracted from the meat of a mature coconut. A very stable substance with a long shelf life, it is used around the world as a safe, flavorful cooking oil, often substituting butter. Many believe that coconut oil offers health benefits, such as boosting the body's natural metabolism. Although historically popular in tropical countries, millions of people throughout the Western world are including this versatile oil in their cooking regimens.
What does Kelapo stand for?
We credit our name, Kelapo, as a loose translation of "Coconut Tree" in the Malay language. 'Kelapa' being the word for coconut, and 'Pohak' the word for tree. Malaysia is home to tropical weather year-round, which makes for the perfect climate for coconut palms.
Is a coconut a nut or a fruit?
Coconuts are classified as fibrous, one-seeded drupes. A drupe is a fruit with a hard, stony covering enclosing the seed (similar to a peach or olive). Although a coconut does meet the official definition of a nut (a one- seeded fruit), it is not considered a true nut because its seeds are released when the fruit wall decays or is eaten.
How is coconut oil made?
There are two main techniques used to produce coconut oil:
Wet process: The fruit is removed from the husk, moistened with water, and then squeezed to produce a mixture of coconut milk and oil. The oil naturally separates from the milk within 12-24 hours. There are other methods that can be used (such as heating, cooling, or centrifugal force) to expedite the separation. The wet process is often used by those who make coconut oil at home.
Dry process: The coconut kernel is removed, shredded, and dried, after which a press is used to extract the extra virgin coconut oil.


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The Bible is the only source to properly understand our need for government and its real nature.
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Spiritual Group Cultivation is a weekly session in English for Buddhists to come together to learn and practise the Dharma.
SGC serves as a sanctuary of love, peace and tranquillity in urban Singapore regardless of your age, gender or race.
Join us every Sunday for some learning, laughing, meditating and sharing! ^_^
√ Short Chanting
√ Short Guided Meditation
√ Not so Short Sharing led by Ven. Chuan Guan
Connect with us| SGC
Facebook: https://facebook.com/SGCultivation
Youtube: https://youtube.com/SGCultivation
Events: https://alaya.littledharma.works
#buddhism #dharma


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I've recently discovered Google Alerts. All I did was spend three minutes teaching it my name, the name of my blog, and the phrases "˜marching band' and "˜synesthesia' and "" poof "" every day, like magic, something new and wonderful pops into my email inbox.
First, let me just say how ridiculously thrilling it is to read other blogs where people refer to you in complimentary ways. Ridiculously. Thrilling.
Second, it's also thrilling when I know I can provide help to some other blogger.
Case in point …I was alerted to a blog written by an 18-year-old former marching band student. He attended the Penang Free School which my extraordinarily mad detective skillz, ie, Wikipedia, found to be located in Malaysia. It's been in continuous operation since 1816 and many famous people went there. Here are three that jumped out at me:
• Tunku Abdul Rahman, First Prime Minister and founding father of Malaysia.
• Tun Dr. Lim Chong Eu, second Chief Minister of Penang.
• Dato' Eddy Choong, former All-England Badminton champion.
This young man's blog linked to the PFS band blog which has a ton of fun photos.
It also has a YouTube video of one of their competitions that I just loved so I'm posting it here for your viewing pleasure. Watch for fantastic, crowd-pleasing drum major stick tosses. And notice … no percussion pit.
It's nice to know "woohoo" means exactly the same thing on every continent. (Well, maybe not Antarctica.) It kinda makes me feel like I speak a second language.
And the band experience translates as well. This is what he says:
In the band, you push yourself worse than military cadets. Ironically, you love doing it! Pushing yourself further when you are dead tired, telling yourself to force that note out despite your breathlessness. You do push because that very passion in you pumps you further. You know that you will enjoy the ecstasy of the note you play although there is no room for thought in your mind for the suffocation is oppressing your brain to dead stop. Still, the satisfaction of a good show, especially in a competition will not only make you feel good, but it is very, very possible to reduce you to tears once you hear the audience cheer endlessly for your band. Tears not of joy, nor of pain. But tears of being extremely proud of being a member of the PFS Band. That feeling, my friends, cannot be matched even by flooding your system with endorphin!
But here's the cry for help. This young man is asking for help in naming his saxophone. So, everybody …. Hop over there and give him some ideas.
"Becky" would be a lovely name for a saxophone, don't you think?


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SPRING CITY - A 20-year-old borough man was arrested after being linked to multiple incidents of thefts from cars.
John Richard Wade Jr. was arrested March 24 by the Spring City Police after an investigation allegedly turned up stolen items at the front of his Poplar Street residence. Police responded to the area earlier for reports of vehicle thefts on the 100 block of Poplar Street.
Police determined Wade was 'involved in other thefts from vehicles overnight.' Additionally, Wade will face charges for another incident March 8. According to court paperwork, that incident involved the attempted break-in of a vehicle.
When Wade was arrested, police said he was also in possession of drug paraphernalia.
Wade will face five felony charges of theft from a motor vehicle in the March 24 incident. He'll also face five misdemeanor charges each of theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, loitering and prowling at night, and disorderly conduct. He's also charged with possessing drug paraphernalia.
In the March 8 incident, misdemeanor charges of attempted theft from a vehicle, loitering and prowling at night and disorderly conduct were filed.
Bail information for the March 8 incident was unavailable but for the alleged March 24 thefts, Wade's bail was set at $30,000 cash.
He did not post it and was remanded to Chester County Prison.
Since his arrest, police said Wade has been linked to three additional criminal cases.
According to court paperwork, Wade has been arrested before on drug-related charges.
Anyone who believes they're a victim of a theft from their vehicle is encouraged to contact the Spring City Police to report it. Additional information may help their investigations, police said.
This story is from www.pottsmerc.com.


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Whether you're heading out to lunch with friends or setting out to explore a new part of the city, chambray is always the perfect go to. It's that cool, casual piece that says you're care free, but have great style. Pair with a burgundy Midi Short for a pop of color and a floral print sneaker for the perfect combination of comfort and chic.
Shop the Look:
AEO Chambray Shirt
AE Midi Short
AEO Lace-Up Sneaker
This season it's all about individual style. Every girl has classic pieces in her closet, but the true test is how you style them. Denim is eternal, so why not start there? Unleash your inner artist by grabbing your favorite pair of distressed denim overalls and pair them with a flowy tank and preppy beanie. You may need to keep your day job, but at least your outfit will scream creative genius.
Click here to check out the men's Made to Wander trend video!
We want to see your #AEOSTYLE. Share a photo on Instagram or Twitter with #AEOSTYLE for a chance to be featured on AE.com.


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Drinking something delicious, straight from the dispenser is often frowned upon, and while we don't believe this happens often, it's important that you have essential beverage supplies on hand for when some crazy customer tries to lock lips with your nozzles. All jokes aside, beverage supplies, like pitchers, creamers, and decanters, are extremely convenient in both the commercial kitchen and at home. Delivering drinks to the dining room is made easy and safe when you've got the right beverage supplies in your catering kit or kitchen cupboards.
Exclusive offers and product updates will be arriving to your inbox soon.


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I'm sorry if you are a die-hard fan of MJ, but I have to say that you should not get your hopes up for this game as you will be disappointed. This game sucks don't waste your time!
Lowly Worm
Nintendo DS
I'm sorry if you are a die-hard fan of MJ, but I have to say that you should not get your hopes up for this game as you will be disappointed Although the game carries the gold- sprinkled name of MJ, Ubisoft has definitely made a wrong timing in making this game as great hand and eye coordination games like guitar hero and rock band are in dominance at the moment.
Of course there has got to be some form of recognition for MJ's sake, but for the game itself, we wish that they added more to the challenge of following the moves of the back-up dancers. Challenge in the sense that we wished the game was able to recognize that you made the whole movement with just one hand. I mean c'mon, dancing involves more than just one hand right? Dance - dance revolution does a better job in making you "Dance," than just by waving your hand like a traffic enforcer. Not to mention that the game gives you the feeling of being tripped as it gives you the idea that you are MJ with what's that word again? Right, single hand movements.
As for the content, there is a menu that features some aspects of the game to be discovered by passing some levels. And since it's a dancing game and it's got MJ's name attached to it, you can be sure that most popular songs by the king of pop are the songs that you are going to dance to, some of the songs are: 'Thriller', 'Billie Jean', 'Smooth Criminal' and 'Beat It' there are also 22 other songs apart from these great hits and also a bonus track. In one way, we hoped that this game had more than just 26 + songs. Having 26 songs doesn't mean that people will dance on all 26 songs. People can get picky as they can get and believe me, not all of these songs are going to be enjoyed by most players. There has got to be more than just that. Thriller? Not really.
To be honest about the whole idea, I think that it is pretty much offensive in a way, especially for a man who has already passed away to get a tribute that then turns out to be a pathetic attempt. The only thing that this game has as a pillar of hope for franchise is the name attached to it. But without it, it's going to be a dancing game sure to be put in the end of the list. Producers are hoping that fans will pick up soon enough, but even though most fans will, the games reputation is not going to get far into the various game platforms out there if it performs so badly.
Overall, another step can prove to be a great leap for this games success if producers made it a point that this game would be a great package without relying on the name printed on it, by making it an equal or an even better version of games that are popular in the same genre. This game sucks don't waste your time!
|Submitted by
|Cheat Title


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I know this is quite long incomparison to other posts and that I'm most likely being quite inappropriate (I felt like laying out the background story for you, so it doesn't seem like I just want you to check my homework for me; already have the mark, no way to alter it, so it's purely for my own satisfaction/disappointment). But still I'd really appreciate some comments as to whether this really is a "Fail" essay or not. The subject matter is quite irrelivant in this case since I couldn't care less about politics, it's just the usual kind of topic we are given.
Student or Learner


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WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The man convicted of killing government intern Chandra Levy in 2001 was returned to a Washington courtroom to ask a judge for a new trial, officials said.
Ingmar Guandique accompanied his public defenders who told Superior Court Judge Gerald I. Fisher Thursday new information about a key witness warrants a new trial, The Washington Post reported.
It was unclear what the new information is, and prosecutors said it should be sealed because of safety concerns for the witness.
At the request of the prosecution, hearings will be closed and the attorneys in the case are under a gag order, the Post reported.
Guandique's hearing Thursday was his first since being sentenced to 60 years in prison, the report said.
Guandique, 30, was escorted into the courtroom in shackles and appeared thinner than he did at his eight-week 2010 trial, the Post said.
The Salvadoran was convicted of first-degree murder.
Levy's remains were found in Washington's Rock Creek Park in 2002, the year after the Federal Bureau of Prisons intern disappeared.


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|Pasadena, CA
|High School:
|Pasadena HS
JUNIOR (2008-09): Finished 5-23 overall in singles play, including a 4-19 mark in dual matches... posted her best record at No. 4 singles, finishing 3-8... posted dual match wins over Chapman's Roxanne Kaiden (6-1, 6-1), Siena's Lauren Moy (6-2, 6-2), Cal State Bakersfield's Kaydee Graham (7-6, 1-6, 10-6), and Santa Clara's Kimi Cox (7-5, 6-1)... posted a 6-21 mark in doubles play with three different partners... finished 5-17 overall with teammate Brandy Andrews at both the No. 2 (3-11) and No. 3 (0-3) doubles positions.
SOPHOMORE (2007-08): Split time between the No. 3 and No. 4 singles positions... posted a 4-22 overall record in singles play, including a 4-17 mark in dual matches... went 1-7 at the No. 3 spot and 3-10 at the No. 4 position... won back-to-back matches against Cal State Bakersfield and Portland on March 5 and March 8... posted a combined 4-13 record in doubles play with three different partners... competed mainly at the No. 2 position with teammate Erin Weisener, posting a 2-11 record.
FRESHMAN (2006-07): Posted a 4-16 overall record in singles play and a 4-12 mark in dual matches for the Titans at the Nos. 5 and 6 positions... won three of her final five singles matches, including back-to-back wins over Cal State Bakersfield's Leslie Bagley (6-1, 6-2) and UC San Diego's Yekaterina Milvidskaia (6-4, 3-6, 10-6)... split time with three partners in doubles play, but saw the most success with Katrina Domela at the No. 3 spot, posting a 7-10 record... finished a combined 7-13 overall in doubles play.
Cruz hails from Pasadena, where she attended Pasadena HS and was the Pacific League Champion in 2004... She also has played extensively in the SCTA junior ranks and achieved a ranking of 64 in the 18 and under division... Cruz is majoring in kinesiology and wants to be a physical therapist.


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wu-tang clan
4th Disciple Interview
- 2003-03-06 11:39:29
© The Wu-Tang Corp.
- 2003-03-06
[wimg=left]../images/news/03_03_06_4thdisciple.jpg[/wimg]BallerStatus.net recently conducted an interview with
4th Disciple
. He gets into a little about his youth, he "grew up in Ohio. In the home town of Dean Martin called Steubenville. It was a small town, but wild. It has a lot of interesting history."
He claims that he isn't signed to a label right now, he's a free agent. But he's looking for a deal though. The next big thing to look out for coming from 4th Disciple is the Ghetto Government project.
Hell Razah
and 4th D put together the group and they say the album is finished. "But we would love to have some major features on it. The shit is super hot."
Also look out for a compilation album. "But also need big major features on that too. I don't want it to be just a Wu Family album, so if anybody listening? I mean major heat holders in the industry. Contact BallerStatus.net on subject if you are interested in working with a brother.
As far as being close with the rest of the Wu: "There's still love, but I haven't spoke to brothers in a while. The way I see it some things might not be meant to last forever. I feel like its time for me to move on as an individual & producer. We grown men, not children no more, u know. I developed as much as I could on that level.
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New Wii Ware games educational and fun
The fun and frivolity of holiday festivities has ended. Kids are back in school, seriously counting the down the days to the last big hiatus before summer – spring break.
Help them stay in serious mode with games that combine fun with education. Look no further than your Wii for games that are not just good for them but engaging, easy for you to access and cost effective.
Your Wii has what's called a Wii Shop Channel, which connects you to Wii Ware, a virtual console with about 130 games of all varieties for instant downloading. Of course, your Wii has to be connected to the Internet. Connecting is easy, especially if you have wireless in your home. However directions for wireless and wired connections are available online at us.wii.com/connect. You can watch a tutorial and within minutes (took me less than three minutes) transform your Wii from a single-function gaming device to a multi-dimensional entertainment center where you can surf the Web, access more games, get news, weather and even Netflix connectivity.
Once you have Wii connectivity to the Internet, you need a Nintendo Club membership (club.nintendo.com), which requires username, password and the serial number of any Nintendo product. You then link your Club membership with your Wii and can start purchasing points and downloading games.
I purchased 2000 points for $20 and downloaded the newest educational Wii Ware game (released Dec. 29, 2011), Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math: The Big Ben Burglary for 600 points, or $6 (100 points =$1).
This is a mathematic and geographic learning game under the guise of a whodunit mystery. Players (up to 6) are challenged to travel the globe searching for the most villainous of them all, Carmen Sandiego. Through hints and puzzle solving, discover who the real thief of London's largest landmark, Big Ben, really is – Carmen and/or one of her gang.
Each player is a sleuth with ACME detective agency. Using a phone with a map identifying where you've been and where you might need to go, scan for highlighting clues and track your hint points, used to buy hints and collect information as you solve parts of the mystery. You also acquire reputation points that increase your title from detective to full blown agent.
The Wii Remote is the only Wii device needed. Most of the game is played with "A," but "B" is required occasionally. There's some clicking and dragging, too. Players have to solve math equations including fractions and use logic to achieve higher levels of play. It's cute, fun, entertaining and really good for fourth and fifth graders.
I also downloaded Around the World released Dec. 27, 2011, for 500 points ($5). This is a basic geography game for up to four players that offers three modes of play.
First, there's Point to the Closet, which gives players category choices – big city, geography, wonders, capitals of the United States and all. Get points for getting close to the location provided. This is probably the funniest mode to play with multi-players.
Second, there is Quiz mode, which asks questions within the same categories. It's geography trivial pursuit, essentially.
Third, Stop Off mode gives you the name of two location and four choices for you to determine the best point between the two original locations to create a direct route.
Wii Remote is the only device required and "A" is the main button of operation.
For gamers, even young ones, used to storylines, lots of characters and fast action, Around the World will disappoint. It's educational, and there's no hiding it. However, if kids need to learn geography, Around the World beats the heck out of staring at maps in one-dimensional textbooks.
Enhance your Wii with Wii Shop Channel by connecting to the Internet and gaining access to Wii Ware. It could enhance your kiddo's learning.


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In a very last minute, last ditch opportunity, I found myself sailing for Lady Gaga's artRAVE concert extravaganza to celebrate her album, ARTPOP at the Brooklyn Navy Yards.
Artist Jeff Koons co-hosted the event, showing off his larger-than-life sculpture of Lady Gaga – a breathtaking and hypnotizing piece of art. You can sense Lady Gaga's aura through the work.
Prior to the concert, there were extremely polished video projections of her new music video, her studies at the Marina Abramovic Insitute, and a 3-channel video projection of herself being tortured. Although difficult to watch, especially surrounded by the merriest "Little Monsters" in the world, it was very well done.
Art world royalty was also in attendance including Yoko Ono, Simon de Pury, and Klaus Biesenbach.
What I came away with from the event is that Lady Gaga is a true artist. She has surrounded herself with great artists and she has learned their craft. The most noticeable influence is that of Marina Abramovic, with whom Lady Gaga has been studying. There is a new focus, a new concentration to her. I also saw references to the Fluxus Movement and to Robert Wilson with his iconic gestures. She is wholly devoting herself to her craft, to her art, exposing her body and giving herself to the audience.
But aside from the flawlessness of the evening, there was also an overall sense of peace and happiness and acceptance. Strangers were telling me that I was beautiful and I made friends with a few people around me.
How could you not be happy in Gaga's world? And it is her world. She sits atop a throne, legs apart, commanding attention.
After the concert ended, I shook Jeff Koons' hand and told him that the sculpture was stunning.
And then I locked eyes with Darren Criss. A beautiful end to my memorable night.


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Independent MP Rob Oakeshott has lambasted the Joint Committee on the National Broadband Network (JCNBN) for becoming more about party politics than about the roll out of the NBN.
Oakeshott, chair of the committee, wrote in its fourth report [PDF] that the role of parliamentary committees is to leave party politics at the door.
However, he wrote it was a concerning trend "where sensitivities of our oversight work as compared to political party election platforms has made the work of the committee much more difficult than it need be.
"In my view, this is an early warning sign that the topic of higher speed broadband technology is likely to feature strongly in political debate throughout 2013, an election year."
Oakeshott said the committee was becoming stuck on "policy dispute" about which technology was the most appropriate for the NBN roll out.
"Despite the opportunities to report and provide oversight on a number of important aspects of the current roll-out, there is every chance the next report will be nothing more than a compendium of political statements and election promises," he said.
"If this is all we can produce, I could write it now, and it makes the entire committee process worthless and a waste of time for all involved."
Committee recommendations
The JCNBN made eight recommendations in its report, among them calls for greater transparency from NBN Co, with the committee asking for performance indicators on business plan targets and actual results of the rollout progress every six months.
The JCNBN has also suggested private equity interest in the network should be explored at an earlier date – in its 2012-15 corporate plan, NBN Co said around $13.7 billion in funding would come from peak debt, with NBN Co's initial corporate plan indicating additional debt funding would "involve private sector investment".
Oakeshott previously told Computerworld Australia there was interest from domestic and international companies investing in the NBN but the private sector was reluctant to invest too early.
Other recommendations from the JCNBN report include requirements for NBN Co to provide annual statements on where workforce demand and training was needed for the NBN.
The JCNBN also cautioned the federal government on ensuring the NBN remained affordable to all Australians.
Dissenting report
The Coalition has used a dissenting statement in the parliamentary report to slam the federal government's handling of the NBN rollout.
Malcolm Turnbull, Shadow Communications Minister, said the project is a "black box", with Turnbull calling for greater transparency around rollout data, capital expenditure and take-up rates.
He also reiterated his call for a cost benefit analysis of the NBN to provide details on construction costs, revenue and any implications for end user prices based on NBN Co's current SAU, which freezes wholesale prices of NBN products for five years.
The JCNBN is required to report to parliament every six months "until the NBN is complete and operational".
Oakeshott challenged committee members to prove that the committee could provide valid commentary and recommendations on advancing the NBN policy.
"Somewhat naively, I live in hope!" he said.
JCNBN hearings
NBN Co downgrades construction targets
NBN Co still working out how to connect apartments to the NBN
NBN delay is NBN Co's fault, not ours: ACCC
Parliamentary report: NBN Co should prioritise funding models
Follow Stephanie McDonald on Twitter: @stephmcdonald0
Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU


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John Hennessey's Venom GT is an insane car. Starting with the 1,224 hp 7.0-liter twin-turbo V8 that's basically the whole point, it's an amazing feat of high power engineering.
So Hennessey, the twin turbo touting Texan whose snarling creations we adore so much, has been back at the airstrip to road test the Venom GT's traction control system. That's a pretty important bit when you're trying to pump that much power through two relatively small patches of rubber and onto the pavement.
But the results look good. The car hit 124 mph in 7.96 seconds, 186 mph in 13.48 seconds, and 230 mph in 19.96 seconds. Here's what Hennessey had to say about the test:
The following video shows our first instrumented test (VBox) as we test our new engine management system. This system integrates traction and boost control. And in the process allows the driver to easily control all 1244 bhp. As you will hear during the video, the traction control system is still working well into 3rd gear (over 100 mph) at which point the full power of the car is unleashed.
But don't take anyone's word for it. You can try one out for yourself if you can come up with the $1.1 million purchase price. But for something that'll slay Ferraris, dragons, and any manner of other scary beasts, that's not really all that bad of a deal.
Photo credit: Hennessey


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Almost a hundred years ago, at half past eight on the evening of December 27, 1904, the curtain went up at the Duke of York's Theatre, in London, to reveal, among other things, a man dressed as a dog. The man was an actor named Arthur Lupino, suffering for his art in a shaggy costume, and the dog was called Nana. Most plays enjoy a fitful life, at best, but we can be fairly sure that this winter grown men will once again drop on all fours and work up a canine sweat, while grown women will crop their hair, pull on green tights, and turn into temporary boys. The play is "Peter Pan," and, like its eponymous hero, it gives freakishly little sign of growing old.
The author was J. M. Barrie: Jimmy to some of his friends, and, in his later pomp, Sir James. He was short and slight, with bags under his eyes and a pale, protuberant brow, like a clever schoolboy who has stayed up late reading books under the bedclothes. He had a heavy mustache and a pipe smoker's percussive cough. Of humble origins, he grew rich, yet his choice of overcoat remained several sizes too large, as if he were wearing a father's hand-me-down. Both in face and in body—and, it became apparent, in the lineaments of his soul—Barrie seemed ill-suited to adult life, and those neat, child-friendly features sank all too readily into the caved-in sadness of old age.
Up to his death, in 1937, Barrie, as a result of his novels and plays, was one of the most famous men of his day; when Chaplin, on a trip to London in 1921, was asked whom he most wanted to meet, the answer was J. M. Barrie. Not even Barrie's ardent admirers, however, would have described him as a matinée idol, and he would have been wryly flattered to find himself reincarnated, for the centenary of "Peter Pan," in the beauteous person of Johnny Depp. A new film, entitled "Finding Neverland," tells the story—or a decorated version of the story—of J. M. Barrie and the circumstances under which Peter Pan leaped into existence. Depp resembles Barrie in no way, except in his slenderness of form. We get a passable, soft stab at a Scottish burr but no mustache; we see more of the sweet side of Barrie than the insidious flip side; and the harshest coughing in the film comes not from Depp but from Kate Winslet, who plays Barrie's friend Sylvia Llewellyn Davies.
Sylvia was one of a number of strong, rather Shakespearean female figures who ringed the life of Barrie—a dominance that began, unsurprisingly, with his mother. She was Margaret Ogilvy, a stonemason's daughter who hailed from a particularly hard outcrop of the Presbyterian Church. James was born in 1860, the son of Margaret and a weaver named Alexander Barrie, in the Scottish town of Kirriemuir, and, until the age of six, he played in the shadow of his gifted and handsome older brother, David. Then, in the winter of 1867, David was killed; he was hit by a fellow ice-skater, fell, and cracked his skull. Margaret took to her bed under the onslaught of grief, and young James was dispatched to offer comfort:
The room was dark, and when I heard the door shut and no sound come from the bed I was afraid, and I stood still. I suppose I was breathing hard, or perhaps I was crying, for after a time I heard a listless voice that had never been listless before say, "Is that you?" I think the tone hurt me, for I made no answer, and then the voice said more anxiously "Is that you?" again. I thought it was the dead boy she was speaking to, and I said in a little lonely voice, "No, it's no' him, it's just me." Then I heard a cry, and my mother turned in bed, and though it was dark I knew that she was holding out her arms.
From here on, James worshipped his dead brother with a devotion that carried the taint of jealousy. Once, he even entered his mother's presence wearing a suit of David's clothes. The residue of the calamity, as it eventually seeped into Barrie's art, was the conviction that a perfect child who dies on the eve of his fourteenth birthday will be spared the degradation of growing up, and that the death will be outshone by the thought of the perfection—so blindingly, perhaps, that the boy will seem scarcely to have passed away at all.
We think of Barrie as one of the chief explorers—or, in a gloomier light, invaders—of childhood. Yet the childhood that gripped him most tightly was not his own but that of other people; it is almost as if his own did not exist. The souls around him were like books, ripe for perusal, and he preferred their opening chapters. Hence "Margaret Ogilvy" (1896), which in part is a memoir of his mother's youth. One of Barrie's biographers, Denis Mackail, calls it "that distressingly human and inhuman book," presumably because it demonstrates, even more than "Peter Pan," the weird twinning of Barrie's gifts—an almost telepathic self-spiriting into the emotions of others, and a professional shamelessness about baring them in public. Listen to his proud recital of Margaret Ogilvy's deprivations: "She was eight when her mother's death made her mistress of the house and mother to her little brother, and from that time she scrubbed and mended and baked and sewed." At once we see that image skipping the generations, from mother to son, and from the son to the Wendy of "Peter Pan," who was obliged, when she flew to Neverland and found a host of unclaimed children, to become a mother before her time.
The Barrie family—James was one of ten children, two of whom died in infancy—was ardently ambitious for its sons, the tool of that ambition was education, and Barrie duly studied at Dumfries Academy and at Edinburgh University. He emerged timid but industrious, and plowed a path into local and then national journalism. He moved to London, and, in 1887, produced his first novel, which bore the title "Better Dead." Within a few years, thanks largely to some sharp, rosy fictions set in Scotland and to "The Little Minister," a quaint tale of a minister who falls in love with a Gypsy, he had acquired not just a solid readership but a serious reputation; all of a sudden, we find him in correspondence with Thomas Hardy and Robert Louis Stevenson. He started writing for the theatre, kicking off with a parody of Ibsen, and indulging in the traditional sport of losing his heart to the leading ladies. His most acute biographer, Andrew Birkin—whose "J. M. Barrie and the Lost Boys" has been granted a timely reissue (Yale; $18.95)—digs up some astounding entries from Barrie's private notebooks. Some are composed in the third person, as jottings toward a possible novel:
—Greatest horror—dream I am married—wake up shrieking.
—Even while proposing, the thought of how it wd read go thro' him.
—He never has contact with a woman—If he had this might have made him exult less in making women love him.
In 1894, ignoring these self-cautions, Barrie married an actress named Mary Ansell, bestowing upon her, by way of a wedding present, a St. Bernard dog. The saga of Barrie is full of long-sufferers, the longest being Barrie himself, but nobody could follow its course and not spare a wealth of pity for Mary. Her husband loved many women, but the evidence suggests that the actual making of love lay outside his interests, or beyond his grasp. The creator of "Peter Pan" never had a child of his own. To us, the bewildering thing (and to Mary, surely the roughest insult) was that Barrie, far from burying his secret incapacities, dug them up like a pirate uncovering a treasure chest: "Grizel, I seem to be different from all other men; there seems to be some curse upon me… . You are the only woman I ever wanted to love, but apparently I can't." That comes from "Tommy and Grizel," the tale of a devastated marriage which was published six years into Barrie's own. At one point, the narrator says of Tommy, the fruitless husband, "He was a boy who could not grow up," adding, of Grizel, "He gave her all his affection, but his passion, like an outlaw, had ever to hunt alone." So where did the distinguished author like to hunt?
The answer is specific: Kensington Gardens, the broad, half-empty stretch of greenery next to Hyde Park. Here, in 1898, Barrie met a pair of boys, George and Jack Llewellyn Davies, aged five and four, who walked there with their nurse. They were amused by the small Scotsman with the enormous dog. Barrie talked with children, rather than at or down to them, and the meetings with George and Jack became drawn into the rhythm of their days. To our panicked eyes, such a relationship would be unthinkable—or, if thought about, nipped in the bud. We assume that a strange man, nearing forty, in a public place can offer only one thing to children still in knickerbockers, and that is harm. We would call the police, or, at least, call our children away. If we discovered the man to be a celebrity, we might call our lawyers, or, if we were feeling spiteful, the newspapers. And, if we were later to read what he wrote about our children, in an account so lightly ornamented as hardly to count as fiction, we might not be responsible for our actions:
I returned to David, and asked him in a low voice whether he would give me a kiss. He shook his head about six times, and I was in despair. Then the smile came, and I knew that he was teasing me only. He now nodded his head about six times.
That was the prettiest of all his exploits.
The tone of this, written in 1902, grates nastily on modern ears. Ever since "Lolita," we have realized that one of the pleasures of the child-seeker is not merely to play games with the victim but to pretend that the victim is complicit in that game, or even pulling the strings; thus is the burden of guilt shifted smoothly away from the raptor. Did readers of 1902 feel nothing of the sort, or are we the guilty party, unable to conjure a time when playfulness was its own reward, rather than an alibi or a ruse? The passage comes from "The Little White Bird," Barrie's half-disguised novel about George Llewellyn Davies. In the book, George becomes David—note the name of Barrie's dead brother—and is befriended by the bachelor narrator, who pretends to have a son of his own. This son, he then declares, has died (somewhere around here, the sheer weirdness of Barrie starts to multiply out of control), and he uses the nonexistent death to ingratiate himself further with David's parents. He is especially pleased that David's mother, Mary—note the name of Barrie's wife—is "culpably obtuse to my sinister design," the design being "to burrow under Mary's influence with the boy, expose her to him in all his vagaries, take him utterly from her and make him mine." Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you may retire to consider your verdict.
Yet the stubborn fact remains: J. M. Barrie was innocent. He no more sought sex from children than he did from women. Andrew Birkin, who knows more about Barrie than anybody else (the last Llewellyn Davies boy, Nico, having died in 1980), has arrived at the balanced conclusion that the author of "Peter Pan" was "a lover of childhood, but was not in any sexual sense the paedophile that some claim him to have been." His sinister design, it turns out, was not to corrupt boys with the murk of adult desire but to slough off any corruptions of his own, rejoin the unadulterated—the very word shows up the impurities in grownup life—and shrink once more, as best he could, into boyhood. This plan of Barrie's may have been creepy and pathetic, but it was not a crime, and, as weaknesses go, it may be the most widespread in the world, haunting every harassed male who lies awake and tells himself how much simpler everything was as a kid.
At the heart of "The Little White Bird" is a story that the narrator slowly invents not only for David's entertainment but with David's help. It is about a boy named Peter Pan, who lives in Kensington Gardens. The first name is a direct allusion to the fact that George Llewellyn Davies now had another brother, Peter, born in 1897. There would be two more: Michael, born in 1900, and Nicholas (or Nico), born in 1903; a sisterless five in all, rather than the four of "Finding Neverland." The film also opts for Peter Llewellyn Davies as the focus of Barrie's attention—a not unnatural choice, given his name, but the wrong one, for it was really the whole gang of them whom Barrie loved. If he had a favorite, it was Michael, but, as the notorious preface to "Peter Pan"—dedicated "To the Five"—explains, "I always knew that I made Peter by rubbing the five of you violently together, as savages with two sticks produce a flame…. That is all he is, the spark I got from you."
The course of the flame is a tricky one to trace, and what matters is that in Peter Pan Barrie achieved the rarest alchemy of all, the one that no writer can plan or predict: he invented a myth. The idea of Peter seems to have been flying around forever, a constant of humanity, and all that Barrie had to do was reach up and pluck the boy out of the air. After his first appearance, in "The Little White Bird," Peter outgrew the nest; the passages about him were revised and republished, with illustrations of delicate grotesquerie by Arthur Rackham, under the title "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens," in 1906. In the meantime, the play, after its London début, was triumphantly staged in New York in the winter of 1905. The novel we now think of as "Peter Pan" is actually called "Peter and Wendy," and it first saw the light in 1911. It is worth emphasizing that much of this material is close to unreadable—sometimes because it is sappy with sentiment but mostly because it is just too gnarled and knotted for current taste (increasing one's reverence for Rackham, who saw its warpings at once), let alone for that of our children. What on earth will they make, for instance, of the opening pages of the novel, in which Mr. and Mrs. Darling, Wendy's parents, are seen deciding whether they can afford to have more babies—literally adding up the doctors' fees for the infant diseases ("measles one five, German measles half a guinea") that they will be called upon to nurse?
Barrie would remonstrate severely on this point. He would claim that children cleave naturally to the misshapen and the morbid; like Roald Dahl, he admired the heartlessness and cunning of the young far more than he did their good behavior, and, for every mention of skipping fairies in "Peter Pan," there will be some dashed-off sketch of alarming and sanguinary malice. Look between the cracks of the play, in the stage directions, and you will find his prose hardening and cooling into casual sadism, as in this line about Tootles, one of the pirate boys in Neverland:
He has been in fewer adventures than any of them because the big things constantly happen while he has stepped round the corner; he will go off, for instance, in some quiet hour to gather firewood, and then when he returns the others will be sweeping up the blood.
The most unfeeling child of all, needless to say, is Peter Pan himself. He flits through the play and the novels, and he has flitted through a century of stage productions and movies, and one result of those flittings is that we regard him as airy and innocuous. In truth, he is mean and green, a mini-monster of capering egotism; could there be any more dazzling proof of self-regard than a boy who first shows up in pursuit of his own shadow? In the early versions of the play, there is no Captain Hook, because there is no need for him; Peter supplies all the cruelty that is required. As "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens" makes clear, our hero escaped from his parents as a baby and, after much prevarication, decided to forsake them for the unwithering plea-sure gardens of Kensington. He would fly back like a bird to watch his sleeping mother, but, once the decision was made, his way was barred—"When we reach the window it is Lock-out Time. The iron bars are up for life." Such is Peter's tragedy, but only because it was also his choice, and we should recall the terrifying title that Barrie appended to an early draft of the story: "The Boy Who Hated Mothers."
And what of the real mother? Sylvia Llewellyn Davies first met Barrie at a dinner party in 1897; as the evening progressed, she realized that he was the man who wiggled his eyebrows at her children in the park. This revelation seems to have charmed rather than offended her; Barrie and she would be intimate friends for the rest of her life. Kate Winslet, who plays Sylvia in "Finding Neverland," is ideal for the role, because she radiates that peculiar ease which starts to appear in photographs toward the end of the nineteenth century—no longer prim and straitened but open-faced, trusting, educated, and not without flickers of fire. In short, Sylvia (the daughter of a fast-witted literary clan, the du Mauriers) was altogether more modern than her husband, Arthur—scholar, lawyer, and stiff. Yet he, too, adored his boys, and it may be unfair of "Finding Neverland" to elide him, for streamlining purposes, from the scene; by the time that Johnny Depp meets Kate Winslet, she is already a widow, whereas Arthur was very much alive when Barrie first entered the consciousness—and, little by little, the home—of the Llewellyn Davies family. Soon, he was staying for tea, and then to wish the boys good night, and before long the Llewellyn Davieses were invited down to the Barries' house in the country for idyllic vacations. He began as Mr. Barrie the author, and grew into Uncle Jim. It was all too much for Barrie's wife, who, in the end, sought understandable consolation in the arms of another man; Barrie, in turn, sought a divorce, which was granted in 1909.
"Finding Neverland" is a weepie, and some viewers will mock it on that score, but it needs to be defended. First, because these days a good weepie is hard to find. And, second, because there is so much to weep about—far more, in fact, than you would gather from the film, which closes decorously after the death of Sylvia. (If you want a more accurate and leisurely testament, you could go online and order the DVD of "J. M. Barrie and the Lost Boys"—a wonderful TV drama, written by Andrew Birkin and running to four and a half hours, that the BBC produced in 1978, with Ian Holm providing the definitive Barrie.) From the moment that Barrie met George and Jack, and started to ponder the means by which they might be rendered immortal, the story becomes a dismal catalogue of mortality:
1907—Arthur Llewellyn Davies dies from cancer of the jaw.
1910—Sylvia dies of lung cancer. The five boys are orphaned; Barrie is made their guardian.
1915—George is killed in the First World War, fighting with his regiment in Flanders.
1921—Michael, an undergraduate at Oxford, is drowned while swimming with a friend. The two bodies, when recovered, are found clinging together.
All of this was enough to wreck Barrie, or, at least, to throw intolerable shadows over the remainder of his life. Few of his works, aside from "Peter Pan" and his desert-island comedy of class conflict, "The Admirable Crichton," are remembered now, yet in 1922 he was invested with the Order of Merit, the grandest of British honors. He died in 1937, and we should be thankful that he didn't live to be a hundred, and so to witness the terrible final act. On April 5, 1960, Peter Llewellyn Davies, by then an esteemed publisher, threw himself under a subway train in London. We should not presume to read a mind in torment, but we may note in passing that, if he had lived another month, he would have reached the centenary of Barrie's birth and thus, one imagines, a fresh flurry of interest in "Peter Pan"—"that terrible masterpiece," in the words of Peter Llewellyn Davies. His numerous comments on the genesis of the work, as quoted in Janet Dunbar's 1970 biography of Barrie, are judicious, amused, and apparently unperturbed. But the effect of "Peter Pan" was like that of those iron bars on the hero's family home; it is a kind of prison drama played onstage as a slice of festive cheer, and it locked the Llewellyn Davies boys into the garden of pre-puberty as surely as Pan himself is locked out from his mother's embrace.
Does that make Barrie the bringer of mischance, after all? Peter "is never touched by any one in the play," a stage direction in "Peter Pan" reads, and Barrie never touched his young charges—as Peter Llewellyn Davies confirmed—with anything more than affection. Once Arthur and Sylvia had died, Barrie, in loco parentis, fulfilled his duties with diligence and pride. But the damage, unwitting as it was, had been done long before, not by Barrie the middle-aged man but by Barrie the successful author; in making the Five the tinder for Peter Pan, he treated them as ideal spirits made flesh, and no child should be freighted with such an embarrassing burden. Their innocence was imperilled from the moment that it became prime-quality material for his elaborate public fantasies, and there may never have been a more desperate or acquisitive dedication than the one at the start of "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens": "To Sylvia and Arthur Llewellyn Davies and their boys (my boys)."
Barrie was a wounded creature, from his earliest youth, and his probing of that wound is what makes "Peter Pan" so enduringly painful to read. Toward the end of the novel, an immutable Peter drops in to find the adult Wendy, now a mother herself, as if he were the ghost of David Barrie, still cold from that skating accident, alighting beside Margaret Ogilvy. The tensions are bald and excruciating:
He was a little boy, and she was grown up. She huddled by the fire not daring to move, helpless and guilty, a big woman.
"Hullo, Wendy," he said, not noticing any difference, for he was thinking chiefly of himself; and in the dim light her white dress might have been the nightgown in which he had seen her first.
"Hullo, Peter," she replied faintly, squeezing herself as small as possible. Something inside of her was crying, "Woman, woman, let go of me."
Is this really the stuff of classic children's fiction? Do people still read "Peter Pan," or has Peter shrunk to a brand by now, a chirping Disney figure wrenched from the unsettling landscapes where he originally appeared? If so, he demands restitution, for he sprang from the mind of an oddball, and he is not alone. Consider Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, and J. M. Barrie: the stammerer with the camera, the wandering epileptic, and the coughing frequenter of playgrounds. The great dreamers of English children's literature were not, as it happens, dreamy types at all but exacting, even pedantic, in the dramatizing of their fathomless unhappiness. If their characters are pricked by a helpless urge to travel—down a rabbit hole, to sea in a sieve, second star to the right and straight on till morning—it is because there is always something, a drab existence or a dreadful past, that begs to be fled. Open a page of "Harry Potter," by contrast, and you know that it was written by a clever, funny woman of sound mind, with a keen commercial eye and a Barrie-like love of the fizzing narratives for which children naturally thirst; but there is nothing smarting beneath, no ominous beat of the heartsick. Harry will grow up, and we think it only proper that he should; but will he continue to taunt and haunt us, a hundred years from now, like the boy who never did? ♦


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Chelsea Physic Garden
Situated in the heart of Chelsea, this 'Secret Garden' is a centre of education, beauty and relaxation. Founded in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, it continues to research the properties, origins and conservation of over 5000 species.
Venue Type:
Science centre, Garden, parklands or rural site
Winter Opening Hours
From 1 November 2014 – 31 March 2015, the Garden only will be open (the cafe and shop are closed) Mondays – Fridays, 9.30am – 4pm or dusk (whichever arrives earlier)
Snowdrop Days 31 January – 8 February, the cafe and shop will also be open for our annual Snowdrop Days
Summer Opening Hours
From 1 April – 31 October 2015, the Garden, Café and Shop will be open Tuesdays – Fridays, Sundays & Bank Holidays:
Adults & Senior Citizens £9.90
Students, unemployed people & children (5-15 yrs old)* £6.60
Companions of those with disabilities FREE
*Proof required for concessions
Additional info
Disabled access via 66 Royal Hospital Road
The Garden holds approximately 5000 taxa, the collection concentrates on medicinal plants and those of ethnobotanical interest, as well as rare and endangered species. We also grow plants named or introduced by people associated with the Garden's history. The mild microclimate created by the shelter of the city and the Garden's south facing aspect allows us to grow many tender plants, especially from the Mediterranean region and the Canary Islands. The glasshouse range holds a collection of tropical, sub-tropical and Mediterranean species as well as back-up plants of those grown outdoors that may not survive a cold or wet winter.
Collection details
Agriculture, Medicine
Chelsea Physic Garden
66 Royal Hospital Road
Greater London
Group bookings
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When lactation consultant Faith Ploude heard that babies in Haiti might need donated breast milk, she made sure to get the word out to her classes at Mercy Hospital in Miami — and her database of more than 1,000 nursing moms.
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"Everybody is moved because Haiti is so devastated," she said.
But it turns out that Ploude and a bevy of United States breast-feeding advocates may have unleashed a well-meaning but misguided flood of mothers' milk to the earthquake-shattered nation, one that aid workers in Haiti say was not requested — and is not needed.
"Tell them not to send it," said Eric Porterfield, a spokesman for the American Red Cross. "I'm 100 percent sure we didn't ask for that."
The international Emergency Nutrition Network has asked one group, the Human Milk Banking Association of North America, to retract a press release this week that issued an "urgent call" for breast milk for orphaned and premature infants in Haiti, saying the donations contradict best practices for babies in emergencies.
Such donations pose problems of transportation, screening, supply and storage and create an "unfeasible and unsafe intervention," according to a statement from the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, or OFDA.
Simply trying to fill a need
Pauline Sakamoto, executive director of HMBANA, said the group was simply trying to help fill a need, if not in Haiti, then elsewhere. Donated milk that doesn't make it to Haitian babies will be diverted for use in the U.S. and Canada, she said.
"We don't want to waste an ounce of milk. It's very precious," she said, adding.
The confusion started earlier this week when the milk bank group and several organizations — including heavy hitters like La Leche League International — urged nursing mothers to donate milk. While representatives for aid agencies such as the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and World Vision said there never was a need for donated milk, some agencies said they heard from workers at orphanages in Haiti who indicated that babies were going hungry.
"This was very grass roots," said Amanda Nickerson, executive director of the International Breast Milk Project.
That group arranged for donation and transport of 500 ounces of breast milk to the U.S. Navy ship Comfort, the hospital ship parked off the coast of Haiti. The ship is equipped with a neonatal intensive care unit and freezer space. That's enough milk to feed a newborn for a couple of weeks.
Donated milk remains unused
But the staff on the U.S. Navy ship said they haven't used the milk out of concerns raised by OFDA and other agencies. Mothers aboard the Comfort are urged to nurse their own babies and there's infant formula available to children whose mothers cannot or will not breast-feed, said Lt. David Shark, a U.S. Navy spokesman.
But that hasn't stopped the flood of would-be donations in the U.S. Fueled by posts on parenting blogs and e-mail chains, hundreds of women across America began calling local milk bank agencies to ask about donating milk to Haiti babies.
"It's sort of taken on a life of its own," said Dr. Joan Younger-Meek, chairwoman of the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee.
Now the challenge is to quell the response of well-meaning mothers while still retaining support and awareness for breast milk donations to feed premature babies in the U.S. or to help those whose mothers can't nurse.
"Breast-feeding women want to do something to help these babies in Haiti," Younger-Meek said. "But the relief workers don't have the infrastructure to support that need right now."
© 2013 msnbc.com Reprints


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BALTIMORE – After four dual meets in October and November, the UMBC swimming and diving team closes the fall portion of its 2013-14 schedule with the three-day Patriot Invitational which begins Thursday at George Mason. The multi-day competition will commence at 10:00 a.m. each morning with event prelims, and then reconvene at 6:00 p.m. for the finals of each competition.
The Retriever men enter the three-day competition with a 3-1 mark in dual meets so far, recording victories over Rider, George Washington, and Old Dominion, while dropping a close decision to Navy. Last season, UMBC placed third at the Patriot Invitational, snapping the Retrievers' string of six-straight victories at the George Mason meet.
This season, senior Mohamed Hussein (Cairo, Egypt/Victory College), an NCAA competitor last season, has been named the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA) Swimmer of the Week twice while compiling a team-best ten event wins. In addition, Hussein has helped UMBC capture five relay victories so far.
Classmate Johan Rohtla (Tallinn, Estonia/Tallinn Secondary Science) has bolstered the squad, picking up six dual meet wins this season, including two at ODU to propel him to earning the CCSA weekly honor.
Sophomore Leo Endres (Bamberg, Germany/Kaiser Heinrich Gymnasium) has equaled Rohtla with his six wins, splitting them evenly between the 100 and 200 breast events. Senior Evan Carey (Ponte Vedra, Fla./Grand Island) and freshman Gregor Sporlein (Bamberg, Germany/Clavius-Gymnasium) have led the sprinters, claiming five wins between them.
On the diving boards, senior Tim Perkins (Frederick, Md./Tuscarora) qualified for the NCAA Zones Meet with his score of 323.62 in the 3-meter competition against George Washington and has won four events this season. Perkins has been named the conference Diver of the Week twice this season while junior Carson Wong (Hong Kong/Kowloon Technical School) received the honor on Nov. 6 following his victory in the 3-meter competition versus Old Dominion.
For the women, a mix of veteran leadership and youthful energy has pushed UMBC to a 2-2 dual meet mark with wins against Rider and GW. The Retrievers have won seven of the eight relay competitions this season, dropping only the 200 medley at ODU.
Senior Talor Tadena (Orangevale, Calif./Bella Vista) has racked up seven wins this season, despite missing the season-opener at Rider. Tadena claimed the 100-yd. breast, 100-yd. free, and 100-yd. fly against the Monarchs and was rewarded with the America East Swimmer of the Week award on Nov. 5. In addition, the senior has contributed to five of UMBC's seven relay wins.
Rookie Emily Escobedo (New Rochelle, N.Y./Maria Regina) has led a talented group of freshman so far this season and paces the entire UMBC squad with eight event wins. Showing versatility, Escobedo has captured the 100-yd. breast, 200-yd. breast, and 200-yd. IM events this season. Classmate Hannah Sutherland (Kingston, Ontario/Holy Cross Secondary), meanwhile, has collected two wins apiece in the 100-yd. and 200-yd. butterfly disciplines.
Sophomore Corinna Darelius (Rye, N.Y./Rye) has already earned three victories on the diving boards this season, winning the 3-meter against Navy and then sweeping the events during the Retrievers' meet with GW. She posted a season-best 3-meter score of 243.75 in her win versus Navy and she looks to qualify once again for the NCAA Zones.