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I've heard SID referred to as sensory processing disorder. However, for this post I'm going to refer to it as SID since what I wrote below refers to it as such.
Even at 9 1/2 year old - four years after I wrote the article for the newsletter - SID can cause Olivia to have meltdowns. One of the most effective ways for calming is laying down under multiple layers of blankets in a dark or semi-dark room. Even at night, Olivia will sleep under about a dozen blankets and quilts. Literally. It's not that the house is cold...she just finds the weight of the blankets and quilts calming.
One of the things that I have wanted to get to help her when she has meltdowns is a weighted blanket. However, they are quite cost-prohibitive. As I was looking for an example of a weighted blanket, I came across a tutorial for a weighted blanket. Eight years ago, when SID was the most challenging, I couldn't find anything like this - now I can go ahead and make one for her.
Below is an article I wrote that provides some background about SID and Olivia's struggle with it. Although it focuses on Olivia, Sophia also has SID. Her issues within SID are somewhat different than Olivia's and not as severe, but there are some "triggers" that are similar for both of them.
Both the girls underwent an intensive therapy program at Special Children Center which was pivotal to seeing a vast improvement in so many different ways.
In sharing this, I'm hoping that it is helpful to parents who might see some of the same behavior and reactions with their children, and need some ideas about what to do to help calm a child.
(Noted November 21, 2003…four days after adopting Olivia from Dianjiang Social Welfare Institute in China.)
It took four days after adopting Olivia on November 17, 2003, to acknowledge to my family and friends that Olivia was different than who I imagined she would be.
I pictured a healthy, bubbly, laughing daughter – one who was eager to meet her forever family; and would have a few days (maximum) dealing with grieving issues. Sophia's (Olivia's sister) adoption went so smoothly two years earlier, so I anticipated a similar "easy" experience. Olivia's referral pictures and medical form indicated this could be expected.
In reality, my expectations were vastly different from the actual experience in China as well as to the present day.
"Olivia has significant development delays, and needs further testing…" (International Adoption Clinic Report, December 2003)
I reread that sentence a few times when I received the report. The entire report from the International Adoption Clinic at the University of Minnesota was quite sobering. There were many challenges and issues I simply wasn't prepared for or could comprehend what the lifelong impact was for Olivia.
Although it was sad to read the report, at least I knew that Olivia needed special care and therapy to help address her developmental delays.
The Next Step
I contacted Washington County's Early Intervention Network for a free evaluation of Olivia. At the appointment in February 2004, Olivia met with a special education therapist, occupational therapist, and physical therapist, it was very clear that she was significantly behind children her age.
In most skills – physical; fine and gross motor; communication and language; and cognitive – she easily qualified for services. Olivia was 14 months old and operating at a 6-8 month level.
In March 2004, weekly therapy sessions with an occupational therapist, special education therapist, and physical therapist began. During some weeks, Olivia had one session…other weeks she had up to three therapy sessions.
Continued Challenges
Despite great progress with OT, PT, and Special Education, there was still something that didn't "sit right" with me.
There were some troubling behaviors during the next year. For example, Olivia:
- Did not want to walk on grass and uneven surfaces. The majority of time she would take 2-3 steps, and simply collapse into a pile and sob and scream.
- Unleashed what can only be described as blood-curdling screams when placed in a bathtub for a bath and to have her hair washed.
- Stuffed her mouth full of certain types of food and often choked on them.
- Screamed and kicked while I washed her face, cleaned under her nose, cut her fingernails, or changed her diaper.
- Pointed constantly to ceiling fans and lights…and was almost pulled into a lull by them.
- Was drawn into a world of her own, and didn't hear and/or respond when her name was called.
- Had an extremely limited diet because she couldn't tolerate certain textures or food temperatures.
- Wanted to ride on the lawn tractor (despite the noise and the bumps) yet wasn't able to tolerate voices that were in a normal conversational tone.
- Tripped frequently over legs, dog tails, and toys that were in plain view. She had very poor balance and seemed almost clumsy.
- Yelled "Ow! Ow" and sobbed with each stroke as I brushed her hair gently…and, on a good day, managed to get it into pigtails or a ponytail so her hair would stay out of her eyes.
When I was at home and no one was witnessing her difficult behavior, I was okay. I could deal with it, but it certainly was frustrating, confusing, and overwhelming. It often made no sense; and, without Olivia's ability to communicate, often times I didn't know the triggers that were setting off her tantrums.
It was when I was in public and couldn't calm Olivia that I was very embarrassed, and began to question my ability as a parent.
Change in Therapist…A New Perspective
The EIN OT who had been working with Olivia went on maternity leave. She was replaced by a new therapist who believes that all children – to some degree – have challenges with Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID), and until those challenges are addressed, a child cannot master the skills with which they are struggling.
Sensory Integration (SID) is, simply put, the ability to take in information through one's senses (e.g., touch, movement, smell, taste, vision, hearing); put it together with prior information, memories, and knowledge stored in the brain; and make a meaningful response.
When a child has a dysfunction with SI, the central nervous system and mid-brain are not interacting properly. Thus, a number of areas are affected: coordination, attention, arousal levels, autonomic functioning, emotions, memory, and higher-level cognitive functions.
An analogy for SI could be: imagine that you are on a plane. You're hot, the lights hurt your eyes, people are talking loudly around you, the person in front of you has bad body odor, and the food you are attempting to eat is runny and cold…and it's not supposed to be like that. You're obviously trapped and this is one of the most miserable situations you've been in. Now multiple that experience by 100 and you get a sense of what a child with SI deals with on a daily basis.
Given the complexity of the various areas that are dependent upon and interact with each other, the OT met with Olivia for a few sessions before she recommended I complete a survey that could assess if Olivia had SI deficits. After "scoring" the answers, the OT said, "Olivia has significant sensory integration issues."
Some people may not want their child to be "labeled." For me, however, a "label" was (and is) extraordinarily helpful. I have a name for what Olivia struggles with each day. I can look for books, therapy, and information on the internet to help understand and address Olivia's SI.
I could change the home to make it more calming for Olivia, and make adaptive items to help her learn new skills and ways to manage SI on a daily basis.
Changes in Olivia as Progress is Made
Once SI was identified as being the root cause for other developmental delays, Olivia's progressed at an even greater rate. She was becoming closer to her peers in terms of the skills she was learning and acquiring.
After a one-year review, PT was reduced to once a quarter, OT to bi-weekly, and Special Education to bi-weekly. Still, Olivia was significantly delayed in speech and communication. This was becoming a concern even though she was communicating both in American Sign Language (ASL) and a few single words. The former was the more dominant way of communication, with her signs substantially outnumbering her words.
Therapeutic Horseback Riding
Olivia began therapeutic horseback riding sessions in Summer 2005 through the Courage Riders (a program through the Courage Center in Stillwater). During the weekly one-hour session, Olivia - who was 2 1/2 years old at the time - received a wide range of therapeutic benefits.
From "simple" activities for just one hour – such as grooming "her" horse and then riding on her around the ring or going on a trail ride – Olivia gained more physical strength in her lower body and began using more verbal skills.
She began putting two words together during the Courage Riders program. "Okay, Mama," were the first two words she put together. I cried. It was such a milestone for her. And I was so proud of her!
In Hindsight
Here are some ideas for others who may suspect their child may have SI:
- Note in a journal any behavior that seems unusual or doesn't "feel right." Include the date, time, and what precipitated it. At the one-month review with your social worker, share your observations.
- If there's any indication of SI, begin therapy immediately. Both child and parent benefit by working on your child's SI needs. Find therapists right away who can develop a sensory diet for your child to help her manage her SI.
- Realize that SI isn't a reflection of one's parenting skills. SI is something within a child that needs to be addressed, and you've been gifted with the skills to research and find out ways to help your child overcome the challenges she experiences each day with SI.
- Be ready for a change in direction in your life. Therapy for SI is intense and requires daily effort. Would it be easier to ignore it? Sure, in some ways. But ultimately you would be doing your daughter a disservice, and perhaps limiting her for the rest of her life. Your relationship with your daughter will deepen if you both work daily as a team to address SI issues.
- Make the time to create some of the items in The Out Of Sync Child Has Fun. Having a wide repertoire of supplies and materials to draw from to help a child with SI is very helpful.
- Take care of yourself. Seek support from family and friends as well as community resources. Arrange respite care at least once a week, if possible.
Closing Thoughts
Now, almost two years after Olivia's adoption, she is a very different child from who she was then. Her therapy sessions in OT, Special Education, and PT give her one-on-one time with talented and caring specialists who have helped her reach levels she couldn't have reached on her own.
Her personality has blossomed into one filled with laughs, smiles, a sense of humor, full of expression, goofiness, and a sense of determination. Her tantrums – which were multiple daily…sometimes 5-6 per day - are almost non-existent.
Is Olivia "cured?" No. Her journey has only begun. Next month, she will be evaluated at the Special Children Center in Hudson, Wisconsin, to determine what level her SI needs are at, and to design a sensory diet that will address her needs. She will continue learning American Sign Language along with trying to build her verbal skills to reach peer level. Olivia will continue weekly therapy sessions as well as therapeutic horseback riding.
Parenting a child with SI is very different than I imagined doing. It's meant some major life changes I've chosen to make to better address Olivia's needs on a daily basis. Today I'm a stay-at-home mom who is home-schooling Olivia and Sophia. Although my life is radically different than I pictured it even a few years, I couldn't be happier and feel more blessed.
Helpful Resources
Sensory Integration and the Child, A. Jean Ayres, Ph.D.
The Out of Sync Child, Carol Stock Kranow.
The Out of Sync Child Has Fun, Carol Stock Kranow.
Books from the Early Sign Language series (see www.garlicpress.com or local bookstores).
Community Organizations
- Courage Center and its Courage Riders Program (Stillwater)
- Early Intervention Network (through any school district)
- Family Means and its Respite Care Program (Stillwater)
- Special Children Center in Hudson (WI)

subset: commoncrawl


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Farmingdale State - 5, Southern Maine - 1
Farmingdale, N.Y. - The Farmingdale State baseball team earned a 5-1 victory over Southern Maine today in a non-conference game in Farmingdale, N.Y. The Rams improved to 6-8 overall with the win, while the Huskies fell to 3-1.
Southern Maine got on the board in the first with an RBI single to right by senior third baseman Nick Grady (Whitefield, Maine). The Rams came back in the bottom of the inning, scoring on a double steal by freshman dh Dalton McCarthy (Manorville, N.Y.) and sophomore second baseman Tom Rydzewski (Franklin Square, N.Y.), who slid under the tag at home to tie the game at 1-1.
In the second, Farmingdale State sat the Huskies down 1-2-3 and then took a 2-1 lead. Sophomore right fielder Michael Marino (Franklin Square, N.Y.) opened the inning with a double to right field, before advancing to third on a wild pitch. With one out, junior centerfielder Edward Bergmann (East Meadow, N.Y.) converted a suicide squeeze, scoring Marino.
The Rams went up 3-1 in the third after Rydzewski scored on McCarthy's single through the right side, then added another run in the fourth for the 4-1 advantage. Bergmann opened the inning with a single and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by junior pinch hitter Justin Steigerwald (Holbrook, N.Y.). Bergmann came home on a double to center by senior left fielder David Zilnicki (Riverhead, N.Y.).
Southern Maine had a chance in the sixth, with runners on first and second and the tying run at the plate. With a runner on first, freshman right hander Alex Weingarten (East Rockaway, N.Y.) relieved starter James Powers (Jamesport, N.Y.). Weingarten allowed one hit in the inning, but the Huskies stranded two runners on base.
Farmingdale State's Zilnicki scored in the seventh to give his team the 5-1 lead and the Rams allowed no hits over the final two innings to secure the win. Powers improved his record to 3-1 this season, surrendering just three hits and one run in five innings. Weingarten pitched four innings in relief, allowing one hit and striking out one.
Zilnicki finished 3-for-3 for the day, with one run scored and one RBI. Rydzewski went 2-for-5 with two runs scored.
For Southern Maine, Grady was 2-for-3 with an RBI.
The Rams will now host the College of Mount Saint Vincent on Saturday, March 23rd in a conference double-header starting at Noon.


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However, with the high degree of uncertainty in the broader markets, investors are seeking refuge in the midtier defense stocks as they have a low correlation to the overall economy and are viewed as defensive to the overall market. While the S&P 500 index has decreased approximately 35.1 percent during the past year, GTS stocks have increased 9.9 percent and DE stocks have increased 4.6 percent. Although midtier stocks have held their values well, the shares of large prime contractors have not. Valuations for the primes have decreased 31.4 percent during this time frame, largely because of concerns that budget cuts will significantly affect major weapons systems.
These circumstances have resulted in unique trends in the mergers and acquisitions market for defense companies. First, M&A valuations are not longer tied as closely to the valuation multiples derived by public companies. Increasingly, buyers have been willing to accept dilutive transactions for companies that bring contracts, capabilities and technology in expected high-growth areas such as the intelligence community; logistics; command, control, communications, computers, combat systems, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; unmanned aerial systems markets; and others.
This situation has led to a bifurcation in the market as an expanding universe of buyers flush with resources for acquisitions actively compete for fewer, highly specialized companies, thereby driving valuations well above the current trading multiples in the public markets. Conversely, they are paying less attention and offering less value for the many less specialized companies.
The implications of this market environment affect its constituencies in different ways. For example, highly specialized companies in the most attractive markets that aspire to become public in this environment will find a much higher value from an M&A process relative to an initial public offering. Digital Receiver Technology Inc. is a perfect example. DRT evaluated the merits of a public offering but concluded that its M&A value was so significantly in excess of the valuation it would receive from an IPO that company officials decided to sell to Boeing Co. in December 2008. The estimated premium for DRT shareholders was more than 80 percent above its estimated IPO value.
Another constituency of interest is nondefense companies with defense subsidiaries. As mentioned, although the GTS and DE public companies have maintained their values well, most industries have not. For example, commercial information technology companies trade at a 55 percent discount to their publicly held GTS peers. Essentially, their defense subsidiaries are trading at commercial IT multiples versus GTS multiples. Thus, increasingly, more boards of these companies are looking at their defense subsidiaries as possible divestiture candidates that could be sold at higher valuations when evaluating their strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value.
A third constituency of interest is midtier defense companies themselves. As large prime contractors seek to replace business lost from potential budget cuts, they look to the universe of publicly held midtier companies as targets. The balance sheets of the prime contractors are as strong as they have ever been to execute such transactions.
Consequently, with increasing interest from the prime contractors to aggressively pursue companies with the best customer bases and product sets and continued strength in M&A multiples for these companies, boards of directors of midtier contractors are likely to be faced with decisions in the next 12 to 18 months that could lead to significant contraction in the universe of publicly held midtier contractors.
About the Author
John Hagan is head of the defense and government services group at BB&T Capital Markets | Windsor Group.
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AlumniIn Memoriam: Legendary Coach Ed Sherman '36
Legendary Coach Edgar Sherman, class of 1936, passed away on September 29, 2009. Over the course of his 34-year career, Mr. Sherman served as football coach, athletic director and as a member of the faculty. One of the most successful coaches in the history of college football, Mr. Sherman was the first Division III coach inducted into the National Football Foundation's College Hall of Fame.
From 1967 to 1979, Mr. Sherman was a leading figure in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), serving as secretary and treasurer. He served as chairman of the committee that led the efforts to create the nationwide divisional structure – Divisions I, II, and III – within the NCAA.
In recognition of his contributions, in 1982 he received the White House Citation for Contributions to Athletics and the James C. Corbett Memorial Award, awarded by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) to the college administrator "who has worked unceasingly for the betterment of intercollegiate athletics."
Muskingum's football field was named in his honor in 1986. He was inducted into the NACDA Hall of Fame, as well as into the Halls of Fame of Muskingum University and Newark High School.
Mr. Sherman received the first Sport magazine award for special service in 1967. In 1975, he was awarded the Muskingum University Alumni Association's Distinguished Service Award and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1979.
In both 1955 and 1965, Coach Sherman was named the "Ohio Coach of the Year" by the Columbus, Ohio Dispatch.
Surviving is his wife, Marge Marstellar Sherman, a 1936 graduate of Muskingum; two sons, Roger '61 and Leigh '62, both Muskingum graduates; and a daughter, Linda.


text: Lulu Miller Are Humans Biologically Programmed To Fear What They Don't Understand? By Lulu Miller • Apr 5, 2018 Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: Can You Psych Yourself Into Running A 4-Minute Mile? By Lulu Miller • Jun 23, 2016 Mike Marsella was a really competitive guy, a champion cross-country runner in high school. He got a running scholarship to college. Then a car hit him while he was riding a moped. He was left in a coma, with brain damage. And when his mind changed, his running changed, too. Would he ever be Mike Marsella again? And would he ever run a four-minute mile? Can A Computer Change The Essence Of Who You Are? By Lulu Miller • Feb 13, 2015 For the past month and a half, we've been exploring the invisible forces that shape our lives in NPR's newest program, Invisibilia. Now we're ending the pilot season with a visible twist — exploring the ways computers shape our behavior, and the way we see the world. Being With People Like You Offers Comfort Against Death's Chill By Lulu Miller • Feb 6, 2015 Iggy Ignatius was born in India. Even though he moved to the States in his 20s, he still felt that India was the place he belonged. He always thought he'd retire there. But when the time approached, there was a problem. "My daughters, my son, my grandchildren are all like chains that do not allow you to leave for India," Ignatius says. He couldn't imagine leaving them to go to the place he belonged. He was torn. And then one day it hit him. What if he built an Indian retirement community — in Florida? A Blind Woman Gains New Freedom, Click By Click By Click By Lulu Miller • Jan 23, 2015 For someone who is blind, a simple click can be the sound of sight. Trapped In His Body For 12 Years, A Man Breaks Free By Lulu Miller • Jan 9, 2015 What would you do if you were locked in your body, your brain intact but with no way to communicate? How do you survive emotionally when you are invisible to everyone you know and love? That's the first question asked by NPR's new program on human behavior, Invisibilia.


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The Russia House
A Site Dedicated to the Ministry of Orphan's Tree
with Older Orphans in Russia
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Orphan's Tree
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1. Russia Overview
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3. History of Orphan's Tree
4. Ministry Area Map
5. Orphan's Tree Programs
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At the Trinity Monastery in Kostroma
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This past Tuesday, in spite of torrential rain and tornado watches, ninety-four undeterred people gathered to hear from artist, writer, and professor Michael Corris. These faithful folks were rewarded with a sometimes dense, often funny, and consistently thoughtful presentation on issues concerning the use of text in contemporary art. While Art, Word and Image: 2,000 Years of Visual/Textual Interaction, the recently published book that Corris coauthored with John Dixon Hunt and David Lomas, spans centuries, for Tuesday Evenings he chose to begin with the role of text in Conceptual art and follow its use through postmodernism. Even with this truncated approach there wasn't enough time to cover everything he had in mind. Nevertheless, at the end of the lecture I shared the slightly overwhelmed feeling of the audience member who when asked by Corris if there were any questions, responded, "too many."
Now, however, I do have questions and I wonder if anyone else who was there does as well. One solution is to go back to the book, and while I think that will satisfy some of my inquiries, and probably create new ones, the lecture was thankfully unique, referencing the book but not regurgitating it. For example, the mention of R. B. Sheridan's Mrs. Malaprop from the 1775 comedy The Rivals in presenting the idea of malapropism in art was so funny but also profound in its application to the remaking of Art & Language's Index 01. The book doesn't take this on the way Corris did in the lecture. With more time I think I would have formed a question, or statement, requiring a response concerning the relationship between the early and late Art & Language pieces, and the possible statement being made about Conceptual art in general. But even now I feel like I need to give the entire lecture more thought and maybe even revisit Corris's points by listening to the podcast, which will be available soon.
I know this blog post is meandering and inconclusive, but its purpose is to encourage a timely conversation through which I hope to better form my thoughts on the use of text in art and more.
UPDATE: Want to learn more about the sublime in contemporary art? Tate Etc. has a great article on it here.


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GDP grew at a 3.3% rate in the second quarter, revised upward from the 2.8% initially reported, Reuters reports:
"It looks like the economy wasn't all that soft in the second quarter," said economist Gary Thayer of A.G. Edwards and Sons Inc. in St. Louis, Missouri. "Generally, it shows the economy healthy and seeing growth in most categories."
UPDATE: Reader Steve Reavis pointed us to this Associated Press story on the same second quarter data, titled "Economy Grows at Weakest Rate in Over Year."
Still, if you read to the end of the AP story, you find this:
The 3.3 percent overall growth rate in the second quarter followed four quarters of extraordinary growth as the economy expanded at rates of 4.1 percent in the spring of 2003 and then 7.4 percent in the summer, the largest surge in 20 years. The rate was 4.2 percent in the fourth quarter last year and 4.5 percent in the first three months of this year.
Which makes this statement by John Kerry's spokeswoman seem rather silly:


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Lounging around the neighborhood pool this summer, I am aware of how many people still choose to buy bottled water. True, it is convenient to toss a few in a cooler when heading out to the pool or beach, but there are so many better alternatives these days, so it still surprises me to see how many people still do it! The latest published statistics state that over half of all Americans drink bottled water!
I thought this might be a good time to remind myself as well as others why we need to "drop the bottle" and filter water at our homes instead:
Reason #1: Negative environmental impact. The production and transportation of bottled water wastes our precious fossil fuels. It takes a plastic water bottle 1,000 years to bio-degrade. Knowing that 80% of water bottles end up in our landfill; that's a pretty scary statistic! When not recycled, bottles produce mass amounts of litter, not only in landfills, but in our lakes, rivers and oceans.
Reason #2: Cost. The average American spends over $100 per year on bottled water (think $400 per 4 person family on WATER).
These are just my two top reasons to drop the bottle. There are obviously many more. You can find detailed reports and statistics at The Water Project. Or read 15 Outrageous Facts about Bottled Water.
Additionally, if you buy bottled water because you feel that it is safer and tastes better than general tap water, there are many alternative options available to you. Visit FiltersFast.com to find a full range of water filtration devices including whole house filtration systems, faucet mount filters, refrigerator filters, filtered water pitchers and water bottles (to throw in the cooler for the pool or beach). These days, home water filtration options are endless.
Aside from the better taste and smell that filtered water provides, there are other benefits to filtering water as well:
- More cost effective than buying bottled water
- Eliminates the environmental impact of bottled water
- Filtering removes unwanted, harmful contaminates from drinking water
This summer, when you head out to the pool, or pack a cooler for the beach, or venture out for a nice hike or picnic, forget the disposable water bottles! Use instead a reusable filtered water bottle or fill some other reusable container with clean filtered water from your refrigerator or other home filtration device.
Check FiltersFast.com for available options.


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Susofrick wrote:Have Zvezda's Phalanx, but still in the box. Some of my figures feel better that way. You did very nice with your ACW-work so this will be very nice to follow!
sansovino wrote:Interesting project! Yes they look really like anglers but I think this impression will changed quite soon in the process.
Did you buy their lances or it´s your own production?


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Clarveato Surname Ancestry Results
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Freedom in the World
You are here
2008 Scores
Freedom Rating (1 = best, 7 = worst)
Civil Liberties (1 = best, 7 = worst)
Political Rights (1 = best, 7 = worst)
In 2007, the Israeli government survived persistent domestic criticism over its management of the 2006 Lebanon war, though the controversy led to several high-profile resignations. The Knesset elected former prime minister Shimon Peres to the largely ceremonial presidency after former president Moshe Katsav pleaded guilty to sex crimes. Also during the year, the country was hit by a wave of corruption scandals involving high-ranking government officials, and Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations accelerated.
Israel was formed in 1948 from part of the British Mandate of Palestine, which had been created by the League of Nations following the defeat and breakup of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. The British relinquished control of Palestine to the United Nations in 1947; a UN partition plan dividing it into a Jewish and an Arab state was rejected by the Arab Higher Committee and the Arab League, and Israel's 1948 declaration of independence led to war with a coalition of Arab states. While Israel maintained its sovereignty and expanded its borders, Transjordan seized East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and Egypt took control of the Gaza Strip.
As a result of its 1967 war with Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967 and extended Israeli law to the Golan Heights in 1981. It returned the Sinai to Egypt in 1982 as part of a peace agreement between the two countries.
In 1993, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's Labor Party–led coalition government secured a breakthrough agreement with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The Declaration of Principles provided for a phased Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip and limited Palestinian autonomy in those areas, in exchange for Palestinian recognition of Israel and a renunciation of terrorism. In 1994, Israel and Jordan agreed to a U.S.-brokered peace agreement. The following year, a right-wing Jewish extremist assassinated Rabin in Tel Aviv.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Labor presided over the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon in 2000 and renewed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over the contours of a future Palestinian state. However, an extended summit at Camp David with the U.S., Israeli, and Palestinian leadership failed to produce a final settlement. Following the breakdown of negotiations and a controversial visit by Ariel Sharon—then leader of the right-wing Likud Party—to the Temple Mount in September 2000, the Palestinians launched an armed uprising, effectively ending the peace process.
Sharon defeated Barak for the premiership in a 2001 election. In March 2002, after a series of particularly devastating attacks by Palestinian militants, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reoccupied many of the West Bank areas that had been ceded to the Palestinian Authority (PA). Israel also began the construction of a security barrier roughly along the West Bank side of the 1949 armistice line, or Green Line, a move that was criticized for, among other things, creating hardships for Arabs living or working in the barrier's vicinity.
After the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in November 2004, Mahmoud Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen), a moderate PLO leader, was elected president of the PA in January 2005. A verbal ceasefire agreement between Sharon and Abbas led to a general decline in violence on both sides, but did not halt it. In September 2005, Sharon's government completed a unilateral withdrawal of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and four sites in the West Bank, overcoming fierce opposition from settler groups and many within Likud itself. Sharon subsequently left Likud and founded Kadima, a new centrist party. In January 2006, he suffered a massive stroke that left him in a coma. Then deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert became acting prime minister as well as acting Kadima chairman.
In the March 2006 elections, Kadima won 29 of the 120 seats in the Knesset (parliament), with 22 percent of the popular vote. Labor won 19 seats, while Shas (a religious party with strong support among Sephardic Jews) and Likud each took 12 seats, and the rightist Yisrael Beitenu, a party with strong support among Israel's Russian-speaking immigrants, won 11 seats. The remainder went to a wide range of smaller parties.
Israeli-Palestinian violence picked up in 2006 after the Islamist group Hamas won elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in January, displacing Abbas's Fatah party. Israel, the United States, and the European Union (EU) refused to recognize the resulting Hamas-led government, citing the group's refusal to recognize Israel or past Israel-PA agreements, as well as its involvement in terrorism. The year's violence included terrorist attacks in Israel; Qassam rocket fire from the Gaza Strip into Israel; destructive IDF incursions into the West Bank; and "targeted" attacks against militant leaders by the Israeli Air Force (IAF), mostly in Gaza. After the firing of an artillery shell that killed eight Palestinian civilians on a Gaza beach, Hamas declared an end to the 2005 truce. Israel denied firing the shell, and the event remains disputed.
In June 2006, Hamas and other militant groups carried out a raid on an IDF outpost near the Gaza Strip, killing two soldiers and capturing a third, Corporal Gilad Shalit. Israel responded by invading Gaza. While the IDF forces destroyed a large number of Qassam launchers and ammunition sites, they were unable to locate Shalit. Israel drew condemnation from human rights groups for destroying a major Gaza power plant and causing many civilian deaths in the course of the fighting. Israeli troops detained several Hamas lawmakers in June, adding to accusations that the true aim of the incursion was to topple the Hamas-led PA government.
The Gaza operation was largely eclipsed by fighting that began on Israel's northern border in July, when the Lebanese Islamist militia Hezbollah launched a cross-border attack in which eight Israeli soldiers were killed and two—Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev—were taken captive. The IDF's response was a naval blockade, aerial bombardment of both Hezbollah and civilian infrastructure, and ground operations aimed at destroying Hezbollah's military capabilities and forcing the return of the kidnapped soldiers. Meanwhile, Hezbollah kept up a barrage of Katyusha rocket fire into northern Israeli cities and towns; over 4,000 rockets were fired. Israel subsequently opened a wider ground offensive, and IDF forces by mid-August had pushed as far north as the Litani River. Following extensive diplomatic maneuvering by the United States, Britain, and other European governments, a UN-brokered ceasefire took effect on August 14. About 1,200 Lebanese were killed in the conflict, including many civilians; 116 IDF soldiers and 43 Israeli civilians were also killed. Israel was condemned for the disproportionate loss of civilian life on the Lebanese side, as well as its targeting of civilian infrastructure and the large-scale displacement of civilians from southern Lebanon. Israel insisted that Hezbollah's deliberate use of civilians and residential areas to shield their belligerent activities made civilian casualties inevitable. A July 2007 report by Israel's state comptroller described the government's efforts to protect civilians during the conflict as "a grave failure." In September 2007, Human Rights Watch condemned both Israel and Hezbollah for "indiscriminate" attacks on civilians.
The IDF's failure to destroy Hezbollah and rescue the kidnapped soldiers, as well as the fact that the ceasefire agreement did not ensure Hezbollah's disarmament, led to widespread domestic criticism of the government. IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz resigned in January 2007. In April, a government commission accused Olmert and his cabinet of engaging in the conflict without adequate preparation. Despite calls for his resignation, including by members of his own cabinet, Olmert and his government survived a confidence vote in May. In June, defense minister and Labor Party leader Amir Peretz was displaced from both of his positions by former prime minister Ehud Barak.
Separately, President Moshe Katsav resigned in June 2007 after pleading guilty to several sexual offenses. He had been under investigation for rape following a series of accusations by former female employees. That month, former prime minister Shimon Peres was elected president by the Knesset.
Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations accelerated in 2007, particularly after the fracturing of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in June between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the Fatah-controlled West Bank. A series of confidence-building measures between Israel and Abbas's faction—including the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel—preceded both sides' participation in a U.S.-brokered peace conference in late November; also attending were representatives nearly every Arab state and the Arab League. The conference culminated in a joint declaration by Olmert and Abbas to begin final status negotiations over a future Palestinian state and to try to complete those negotiations by the end of 2008. The agreement was immediately rejected by Hamas. In December, Hamas proposed a ceasefire and talks with Israeli officials; despite the support of some government ministers, Olmert rejected the offer unless Hamas recognized Israel.
Israel is an electoral democracy. Although there is no formal constitution, a series of basic laws have the force of constitutional principles. A largely ceremonial president is elected by the Knesset for seven-year terms. The prime minister is usually the leader of the largest party or coalition in 120-seat Knesset, members of which are elected by party-list proportional representation for four-year terms. Parties or candidates that deny the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, oppose the democratic system, or incite racism are prohibited. In April 2007, Knesset member Azmi Bishara resigned from the Knesset and eventually left Israel for fear of prosecution; Bishara, who expressed support for Hezbollah during visits to Syria and Lebanon, was under investigation for espionage and aiding an enemy during war. In November, the Knesset passed preliminary legislation aimed preventing Israelis who make unauthorized visits to "enemy states" from serving as lawmakers; the bill would require three additional approvals to become law.
The three main parties are the center-left Labor Party, the centrist Kadima, and the right-wing Likud. New special-interest parties typically emerge with each election cycle, but many of them dissolve quickly or merge with a larger bloc. All citizens aged 18 and over can vote.
Twelve members of the current Knesset are Arab Israelis, most representing majority-Arab political parties; in January 2007, Labor's Raleb Majadele became the first Arab Muslim to serve as a cabinet minister. An Arab Israeli judge also sits on the Supreme Court. While the Arab population votes heavily for Arab-oriented parties, the left-leaning and centrist Zionist parties also count on strong support from the Arab community. Arab residents of East Jerusalem, while not granted automatic citizenship, were issued Israeli identity cards after the 1967 war. However, Israeli law strips such Arabs of their Jerusalem residency if they remain outside the city for more than three months. They have the same rights as Israeli citizens, except the right to vote in national elections. They can vote in municipal as well as PA elections and are eligible to apply for Israeli citizenship. The city's Arab population does not receive a share of municipal services proportionate to its numbers.
Under the 1948 Law of Return, all Jewish immigrants and their immediate family are granted Israeli citizenship and residence rights; other immigrants must apply for these rights. In October 2007, Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit called for reform of the law and a five-year waiting period for new citizens.
Israel was ranked 30 out of 180 countries surveyed in Transparency International's 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index. A wave of corruption scandals broke in 2007, continuing a recent trend. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert remained the focus of the cases. Initially investigated for the purchase of a Jerusalem property at a below-market price, he has also been scrutinized for extending favors during the 2005 privatization of Bank Leumi, when he was finance minister, and during his stint as industry and trade minister between 2003 and 2005. However, due to a lack of evidence, no charges have been filed. In February, Olmert aide Shula Zaken was suspended following allegations of tax-related bribe-taking. Tax authority chief Jackie Matza resigned over similar allegations that month, as did police chief Moshe Karadi. In July, Finance Minister Avraham Hirschon also resigned after police began investigating his role in the embezzlement of union funds.
Press freedom is respected in Israel, and the country enjoys a vibrant and independent media landscape. All Israeli newspapers are privately owned and freely criticize government policy. The Israel Broadcasting Authority operates public radio and television services, and commercial television networks and radio stations are widely available. Most Israelis subscribe to cable or satellite television; internet access is widespread and unrestricted. While newspaper and magazine articles on security matters are subject to a military censor, the scope of permissible reporting is wide. Reporting on an Israeli airstrike on a Syrian military facility in September 2007 was subject to a month-long media blackout. In addition, media access to details of the police investigation of Knesset member Azmi Bishara was similarly restricted until a court partially lifted the blackout in April. Nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu was sent back to jail in July after speaking to international journalists about his case, violating the terms of his release. In December, three journalists faced prosecution for traveling to Syria and Lebanon without official authorization, a move condemned by the International Federation of Journalists.
While the basic laws and the Declaration of Independence designate Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state," freedom of religion is respected. Christian, Muslim, and Baha'i communities have jurisdiction over their own members in matters of marriage, burial, and divorce. In the Jewish community, the Orthodox establishment generally handles these matters. As a result, civil marriages as well as marriages between Jews and non-Jews are not recognized by the state unless conducted abroad; many Israelis choose to marry in civil ceremonies outside the country rather than submit to a religious ceremony. In addition, Orthodox definitions of Jewish identity are used to determine whether immigrants are eligible for the citizenship and residency rights awarded to Jews under the Law of Return. However, the Orthodox monopoly on Jewish religious affairs has eroded steadily in recent years after the 2003 disbandment of the Religious Affairs Ministry, which effectively put rabbinic courts under the control of the Justice Ministry and freed up state resources to be allocated to non-Orthodox religious institutions. In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that the state must recognize as Jews people who undergo non-Orthodox conversions begun in Israel but formalized abroad. In addition, the courts in recent years have been supportive of property and child-custody claims by same-sex couples.
Muslim and Christian communities occasionally accuse the government of discrimination in resource allocation and upkeep of religious sites, though the official budget allocates funds according to need, regardless of faith or denomination. In 2007, controversy—including riots by Muslim residents—erupted over archaeological excavations and construction work near the Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif, in Jerusalem; the work was delayed to allow for public consultations. Israel, citing security concerns, occasionally restricts Muslim worshippers' access to the Haram al-Sharif.
Primary and secondary education are universal, with instruction for the Arab minority based on the common curriculum used by the Jewish majority, but conducted in Arabic. In July 2007, the government approved a textbook for use in Arab schools that presents the founding of the state from the typical Palestinian—and thus highly critical—perspective. Israel's universities are open to all students based on merit. The government generally does not interfere in faculty appointments or curriculum development at universities, which have been centers for dissent since the earliest days of the state. In May 2007, the University and College Union of the United Kingdom approved a plan to boycott Israeli academic institutions, accusing them of complicity in the state's abuse of Palestinians' human rights; the move was condemned by a wide range of international and Israeli scholars. Periodic road closures and other security measures in recent years have made it difficult for residents of the West Bank and Gaza to reach universities in Israel, particularly West Bank Palestinians who are enrolled at Jerusalem's Hebrew University.
Freedoms of assembly and association are respected. Israel hosts an active civil society that includes an array of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and demonstrations are widely permitted. Workers may join unions of their choice and enjoy the right to strike and bargain collectively. Three-quarters of the workforce either belong to unions affiliated with Histadrut, the national labor federation, or are covered under its social programs and bargaining agreements. Histadrut called two general strikes in 2007; neither lasted longer than 24 hours.
Legal foreign workers enjoy wage protections, medical insurance, and guarantees against employer exploitation. However, foreign workers who leave their original employers are shorn of these rights, considered illegal, and subject to deportation. Illegal workers are often at the mercy of employers, and many are exploited. The government has come under increasing pressure from civil society to better regulate the status of foreign workers.
The judiciary is independent and regularly rules against the government. The Supreme Court hears direct petitions from Israeli citizens and non-Israeli Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Most notably in recent years, the Supreme Court has ordered on numerous occasions that the proposed route of the security barrier under construction between Israel and the West Bank be changed to decrease its negative effects on Palestinian residents. The Ministry of Defense continues to alter the route of the barrier in response to Supreme Court rulings.
The Emergency Powers (Detention) Law of 1979 provides for indefinite administrative detention without trial. Most administrative detainees are Palestinian; there are approximately 8,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, though hundreds of prisoners were released in 2007. In May, the human rights groups B'Tselem and HaMoked Center reported that Palestinian prisoners are held in terrible conditions and are subject to abusive interrogation techniques, including instances of torture. The government disputed the accuracy of the report. In October, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Ketziot Prison clashed with guards, resulting in injuries to 15 prisoners and 15 guards; guards used rubber bullets to quell the riot.
While they have full political rights, the roughly one million Arab citizens of Israel (about 19 percent of the population) receive inferior education, housing, and social services relative to the Jewish population. Arab Israelis, except for the Druze minority, are not subject to the military draft, though they may serve voluntarily. Those who do not join the military are not eligible for financial benefits, including scholarships and housing loans, that are available to Israelis who have served. The Orr Commission—established to investigate a brief outbreak of violence among the Israeli Arab community in the initial days of the Palestinian uprising in 2000—cited the "neglectful and discriminatory" government handling of the Arab population, which over the course of decades led to "poverty, unemployment, a shortage of land, serious problems in the education system and substantially defective infrastructure." In 2004, then prime minister Ariel Sharon declared that every state-run company must have at least one Arab Israeli on its board of directors.
Many Arab and mixed Arab-Jewish towns and villages were struck by Hezbollah rocket fire during the 2006 Lebanon conflict, and one-third of those killed by the rockets were Arab Israelis. A July 2007 report by the state comptroller heavily criticized the government for failure to adequately protect Arab-Israeli villages—most of which do not have bomb shelters—during the conflict. In December, a polling study by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel found that anti-Arab sentiments among Israeli Jews had doubled in 2007, and that racist incidents were up 26 percent.
The state generally protects wide personal autonomy. However, the Law of Citizenship, passed in 2003, bars citizenship to Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza who marry Arab Israelis. The law would ostensibly lead to the separation of families or to their relocation from Israel. As the law is not retroactive, it does not affect Palestinians previously granted citizenship. Some human rights groups characterized it as racist. Israel maintained that the law was necessary because some Palestinians have opportunistically married Arab citizens of Israel so that they could more easily carry out terrorist attacks or slowly shift Israeli demographics in their favor. A controversial 5–6 Supreme Court decision upheld the law as constitutional in 2006. The justices in the majority cited the unique security concerns currently prevailing, as well as the desire to maintain Israel's Jewish character in a democratic way.
Most Bedouin housing settlements are not recognized by the government and are not provided with basic infrastructure and essential services. Separately, in September 2007, the government granted asylum to about 500 refugees from Darfur, Sudan. About 2,800 Africans have crossed into Israel from Egypt in recent years, and many were expelled in 2007.
Freedom of movement is affected by security alerts and emergency measures that can subject Israelis to delays at roadblocks and in public places. Israeli security forces and police sometimes carry out random identity checks of civilians. By law, all citizens must carry national identification cards. The security barrier restricts freedom of movement for some East Jerusalem residents. While violence continued to decrease in Israel in 2007, freedom of movement was undermined by rocket attacks and bombings. In January, a suicide bombing in an Eilat bakery killed three people. Hundreds of Qassam rockets were launched into Israel, causing significant damage to border towns such as Sderot and killing one woman in May; rockets were also launched from Lebanon at the northern town of Kiryat Shmona. In September, a Qassam rocket attack injured nearly 70 soldiers stationed near Gaza.
Women have achieved substantial parity at almost all levels of Israeli society. However, Arab women and religious Jewish women face some societal pressures and traditions that negatively affect their professional, political, and social lives. The rise of so-called "modesty buses"—on which women are forced to sit at the back, separate from men—in very religious Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem in 2007 fueled heated opposition from women's groups, some of which filed a brief at the Supreme Court. The trafficking of women for prostitution has become a problem in recent years. In 2005, a parliamentary report claimed that 3,000 to 5,000 women, mostly from the former Soviet Union, had been smuggled into the country as prostitutes over the previous four years. Both the United Nations and the U.S. State Department have named Israel as a top destination for trafficked women. The government has opened shelters for trafficked women and passed more stringent legislation; in 2006, the Knesset passed a law mandating prison terms of up to 20 years for human trafficking.
Sexual minorities have made significant strides in recent years. A 2005 Supreme Court decision granted guardianship rights to nonbiological parents in same-sex partnerships, and two lesbians were granted permission to legally adopt each other's biological children in 2006. Openly gay Israelis are permitted to serve in the armed forces.
The numerical ratings and status reflect the state of political rights and civil liberties within Israel itself. Separate reports examine political rights and civil liberties in the Israeli-occupied territories and in the Palestinian-administered areas.


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Rep. Kathleen Curry, who waged a write-in campaign to keep her seat in the state House, currently trails the Democrat in the race but hopes a legal challenge will change that.
She told supporters in an e-mail tonight that poll watchers witnessed clerks failing to count ballots where her name was written down but a box next it wasn't checked.
"The law does not require a box be filled in for write-in votes, but the (secretary of state) did require it so the clerks didn't count those," she said, adding she has asked a judge to require clerks to count all ballots with her name.
Curry switched her party affiliation from Democrat to unaffiliated too late to get on the ballot as an unaffiliated voter so she became a write-in candidate.
Roger Wilson of Glenwood Springs is leading with 9,495 votes, followed by Curry with 9,033 votes and Republican Luke Korkowski of Mt Crested Butte with 8,892 votes.
Democrats say Wilson is the winner in House District 61.


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TWAN Newsletter
8 February 2010
News and Report
- Photo Report: TWAN in the Land of Himalaya - The first TWAN mission to Nepal created amazing starry photos of the top of the World and resulted in an imaging workshop and promising collaborations with the country's growing astronomy community.
- Photo Report: The World at Night Across Chile - Chile was one of the most successful countries in hosting TWAN events during the IYA2009 with exhibitions in 30 locations across the country including the presidential palace in Santiago.
- Find new exhibitions and workshops around the world in TWAN Events Table.
- Shop framed prints, postcards, and other favorite TWAN promotional items in Cafe Press.
There are new stunning photos and time-lapse videos on TWAN website, featuring starry nights of the planet's landmarks from across the world.
- Mars and a Colorful Lunar Fog Bow by Wally Pacholka
- Galactic View by Wally Pacholka
- Starry Sky above Silversword by Wally Pacholka
- Moon and Jupiter over the Crater Rim by Wally Pacholka
- Crescent Descent by Doug Zubenel
- PlanetCatcher and Mars by Doug Zubenel
- Heavenly Halo by Doug Zubenel
- Newfoundland Milky Way by Yuichi Takasaka
- The Northern Lights by Kwon O Chul
- Aurora in Motion (time-lapse video) by Kwon O Chul
- Starry Motion above Easter Island (time-lapse video) by Stephane Guisard
- Gemini in Motion from Inside and Outside (time-lapse video) by Stephane Guisard
- Night in the Carnac Stones (VR) by Laurent Laveder
- Gemenid Meteors above Brittany (time-lapse video) by Laurent Laveder
- Conjunction Above Dancing Boats (time-lapse video) by Laurent Laveder
- Atmospheric Optics in Motion (time-lapse video) by P-M Heden
- Moonset in Scandinavia (time-lapse video) by P-M Heden
- Sweden Dark Sky by P-M Heden
- Around the Pole by P-M Heden
- Halos and Pillars at -34C by P-M Heden
- Baltic Seaside by P-M Heden
- Mars and Windmill by Tamas Ladanyi
- Winter Triangle by Tamas Ladanyi
- Winter in Moonlight by Tamas Ladanyi
- Athens Full Moon by Anthony Ayiomamitis
Asia and Middle East
- Desert under Moonlight by Babak A. Tafreshi
- Night in a Caravansary by Babak A. Tafreshi
- Peaceful Evening by Oshin D. Zakarian
- Stars of Silk Road by Oshin D. Zakarian
- Planets above Persian Heritage by Oshin D. Zakarian
- Snowland Sky by Oshin D. Zakarian
- Mediterranean Sky View in Virtual Reality (VR) by Tunc Tezel
- Winter Panorama by Tunc Tezel
- Light Galaxy by Tunc Tezel
- Seaside Planet by Tunc Tezel
- Conjunction in All-Sky View by Tunc Tezel
- Temple Night Hours by Babak A. Tafreshi
- Good Morning Kathmandu by Babak A. Tafreshi
- Moonrise above Nepal Heritage by Babak A. Tafreshi
- Beehive Above Himalaya by Oshin D. Zakarian
- TWAN Photographers in Nepal by Oshin D. Zakarian
- The Only Star of Shanghai by Tunc Tezel
- Southern Cross from Orchid Island by P.K. Chen
- Eclipsed Sun Sets above Seoul by Kwon O Chul
Guest Gallery is a well-received section on TWAN website to feature selected outstanding Earth and sky photos by non-TWAN creative photographers from around the globe. If you have such remarkable photos to share with TWAN Guest Gallery, please contact us. There are new featured photos on the Guest Gallery:
- Sounio Temple Star Trails (Greece) by Chris Kotsiopoulos
- Night at Pha Nom Rung (Thailand) by Pong Skuntanaga
- Stenness Aurora (UK) by Grant Privett
- Silent Night (Japan) by Kouji Ohnishi
- Leonid Meteor at Dawn (USA) by Tony Rowell
- Round and Round (Iran) by Niloofar Khavari
- Dark Sky Namibia (Africa) by Rudi Dobesberger
- Venus and Saturn above Rome (Italy) by Marco Meniero
- Star Trail over Haute Provence Observatory (France) by Alexandre Santerne
- Spring Night at Tololo (Chile) by Arturo Gomez / Jose Velasquez
- Monate Lake Old Moon and Morning Planets (Italy) by Stefano De Rosa
- Prandau-Normann Castle Star Trails (Croatia) by Ivica Skokic
- Rocky Star Trails (Iran) by Arman Golestaneh
- Enjoying the View (Iran) by Mostafa Kazemi Pour
- MIR Trails near the Beehive (Spain) by Vicente Aupi
Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD), a NASA's world-known website, has featured new TWAN photos:
- Mars and a Colorful Lunar Fog Bow by Wally Pacholka
- Eclipse over the Temple of Poseidon by Anthony Ayiomamitis
- Scenes from Two Hemispheres by Babak Tafreshi
TWAN is featuring six special galleries:
Latest Images
Dark Skies Importance
Cosmic Motions
World Heritage Sites
TWAN APODs
TWAN Podcast
TWAN is a global program of Astronomers Without Borders (www.astrowb.org) and a Special Project of International Year of Astronomy 2009, an initiative by IAU and UNESCO. The World at Night is to produce and present a collection of stunning photographs of the world's most beautiful and historic sites against the nighttime backdrop of stars, planets and celestial events. The eternally peaceful sky looks the same above all symbols of different nations and regions, attesting to the truly unified nature of Earth as a planet rather than an amalgam of human-designated territories.
Building bridges through the sky
The World at Night
Search IYA2009 Updates
National Nodes: 148
Organisational Nodes: 40
Organisational Associates:33
National Websites: 111
Cornerstone Projects: 12
Special Task Groups: 11
Special Projects:16
Official Products:8
Media Partners:22


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So, here's reason #245 we'll never attempt a triathlon: angry otters. A Minnesota woman was practicing for next month's Duluth Triathlon in a nearby lake, when she was set upon by an adorable furry little daggertoothed killing machine.
She suffered 25 bites, some of them two inches deep, even through her wet suit. She was only rescued after being pulled to shore by her father's boat, and was immediately taken to the hospital to clean her injuries and give her rabies shots. It's thought that the otter, or Death Weasel, was either rabid or a mother protecting her pups, but holy shit.
"It just kept coming after me," said Prudhomme, 33, of Anoka. "You never knew where it was going to bite next."
Fucking nature, man. Even the cute things are trying to kill you.


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Year 3 Teacher: Mr Wilkinson
Hello and welcome to our class page.
On this page, we will try to keep you updated with some of the work, class news, trips and exciting things we have been doing throughout the year. You may also find photographs in the 'Gallery' section which you can follow from the link above.
Below you will find a copy of our class newsletters and your child's home learning log, just click the link to download them.
In time, we will include class blogs and look to develop the site further but one step at a time. We hope to have more content uploaded soon, come back and check later...Mr Wilkinson.
Click Here to visit our Class Blog...


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Hey all,
if you haven't heard. Our last attempt at a LCC game ended without success.
But after after playing AOE 3 with blego7 for some time, we wanted to play Age of kings again.
So, blego7 scoured the internet looking for a solution, and he found one that really works!!
Download the free program and we'll be able to easily connect with other CCers and then we could have one Epic Game of AOE2!
Anybody interested?
Here's the list of CC GR folks
Mark the Great of LCC (I changed it to something more unique. )
Da Baer
I've added all you guys as friends.


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Destiny wrote:... and here too, with half an EV lower from RAW, stitched this time using PTGui.. Perfect.. Beautiful..! My new shooting pattern has made all the difference..
Destiny wrote:Hi I shot some new Pans of my local Antique Centre using my brand new shooting patter and new Tripod..
The stitching quality using PGTui as far as i can see is perfect.. So is the blending..
The stitching using APG has a couple of very small issues towards the Zenith.. Thats all I think but I will have to look closely later. The big issue now is, the blending. Just horrible.!!. Its all patchy. I will have to check the settings.. When opened APG his morning it prompted me to download the latest version. I think something has gone wrong with this new build..
Destiny wrote:
The VR Drive also generates XML code but this code is the settings for the VR Drive that users add to save the settings put in....
Destiny wrote:When I purchased LightRoom I bought V3, a week later V4 came out.
Destiny wrote:Many Adobe products have inherent bugs.. I have told them about the bugs but I never receive a response.
Destiny wrote:Adobe needs to begin to listen to its customers to provide basic function like Batch HDR and to fix bugs that have been apparent for years.. I have tried to use a Macro and create a Droplet to process HDR but that does not work.. Adobe have sent .. wasted a heap of time with 3D options in Photoshop that simply are issue related rather than fix old bugs which are more important...
Destiny wrote:Some have said to me that the 14-24mm is not the move appropriate lens for Spheres..
Destiny wrote:But this proves it can be..
Destiny wrote:Its on the previous page..." I settled with a shooting pattern of + 40 Degrees X 6 and -30 Degrees X6..
aaronpriest wrote:Hehe, lots of comments to reply to. I'll attempt it with a single long comment. ;-)
At 24mm, shooting on a manual head, I use 3 rows of 12 photos, turning every 30° horizontally, and +55°, 0°, -55° for vertical. This has a lot of horizontal overlap at 43% for deghosting / moving objects, and 25% vertical overlap. It's also easy to use PTGui's "align to grid" feature.
A more complicated pattern at 24mm requiring less photos for robotic heads or using a template with PTGui or APG is a 3 rows of 8 photos every 45° vertically at +50°, 0°, and -55°vertically, plus a dedicated zenith and nadir shot, for a total of 26 photos.
Nikon's 14-24mm f/2.8 is a beautiful lens for both spheres and architecture shooting. I've seen it used for many architectural shots. The very little distortion it has at 14-16mm is easily corrected with a lens profile. Of course, most serious architecture is shot with a tilt shift lens or medium format anyway. It also has very good nano-crystal lens coating for reducing glare and shooting into strong light sources. I have very little trouble with this, considering how wide an angle it is. Any wide angle makes this more challenging of course, but this lens is less prone to flaring than most others in it's focal range.
Photoshop has batching power, yes, but even Photoshop's Merge to HDR cannot be easily batched or scripted. Adobe really needs to add this to Lightroom as the whole point of Lightroom is to have a workflow that allows managing many images at the same time. Now that Lightroom has a panorama feature that saves as .DNG, and an HDR feature that also saves as .DNG, it only makes sense to make it easier to use them together.
Regarding Photoshop blending, I'm referring to moving clouds and water more than anything else, things that cannot be simply cloned out from an adjacent frame. I have a lot of trouble with even-looking sky and water from APG and PTGui. I tried clicking on your link, but I got a 404 Not Found.
aaronpriest wrote:Yup, that worked! That's a prime example of the banding and uneven sky I'm referring to. The rest of the pano is great though!
aaronpriest wrote:. . for MY work, the sky is very much a major part of the image,. . .
aaronpriest wrote:I really like APG's color correction, it's very good.
klausesser wrote:
Destiny - just for clearing things: did you shoot with your manual head or did you use theVR2 for that?
aaronpriest wrote:I just finished this one today:
http://www.aaronpriestphoto.com/panoram ... agleLodge/
Shot with a Nikon D810, Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8, Panoneed, Promote Control, and Really Right Stuff TVC-34L tripod w/ leveling base @ 14mm, f/11, ISO 64, and 1/5 to 1/50 shutter speeds; 2 rows of 7 columns plus 1 dedicated zenith shot, times 3 brackets of 1.7 EV stops, for a total of 45 photos. HDR blending to 16-bit DNGs was done with Lightroom, stitching of 16-bit TIFFs with PTGui Pro, and final blending with Photoshop. The finished panorama is 169 megapixels and measures 61" x 30".
klausesser wrote:Who cares much for the sky-blending @ 90° up? The theme was the artwork.
klausesser wrote:Besides i cannot agree relating to "bugs that have been apparent for years" (which bugs at all, btw?):
Destiny wrote:Well, bit off topic... If you use Recorded Macros.. Try this.. Record anything.. Try to recored changing the size of your images.. Then press the play to apply it to say 30 images in the folder.. Now at the end of Playing the Recorded Macro, count the final number of images.. Just one very long term bug, you will find there are only 29 images..
Destiny wrote:John has chatted to a guy on Linked, a senior engineer from Adobe, who confirmed the bug..
klausesser wrote:Destiny wrote:Well, bit off topic... If you use Recorded Macros.. Try this.. Record anything.. Try to recored changing the size of your images.. Then press the play to apply it to say 30 images in the folder.. Now at the end of Playing the Recorded Macro, count the final number of images.. Just one very long term bug, you will find there are only 29 images..
No - i found 30 images just as expected . . checked it just minutes ago. CS6.Destiny wrote:John has chatted to a guy on Linked, a senior engineer from Adobe, who confirmed the bug..
Mmmhh . . .
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In Somalia, a wives' tale that spreads measles
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Hawa Nor carried her visibly weakened son into the hospital's isolation ward. Like many sick children here, the 7-year-old boy is likely a victim of an old Somali wives' tale: A child with measles should be kept inside, and away from the doctor, for a week.
Abdullahi Hassan labored to breathe, and his eyesight is deteriorating.
"Even though we kept him at home for a week, he's getting weaker," Nor tells the pediatrician.
Somalia is suffering from an outbreak of measles that the World Health Organization and the U.N. children's agency labels "extremely alarming." UNICEF reported 1,350 suspected cases of measles in March and April, a figure four times higher than the same period last year. Another 1,000 cases were reported in May.
Many children in the country are malnourished and few have access to medical care, making an outbreak potentially dangerous for thousands of others. One additional danger that prevents early medical intervention is the belief by many parents that they should keep measles-infected children at home for a week for what they call an "incubation" period.
"Such delays cause clinical problems, including respiratory disorders, and in some cases they bring children malnourished who cannot survive without ventilation," Dr. Omar Abdi, a pediatrician at Banadir Hospital in Mogadishu, said in an interview on Tuesday.
Though mostly eradicated in the United States, measles remains a common disease in many parts of Asia, the Pacific and Africa because of a lack of vaccinations. Even the U.S., where the disease has technically been eliminated, has seen a record number of measles cases this year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the country has nearly 400 reported cases, more than twice as many as in all of 2013 and eight times as many as in all of 2012.
The measles is spreading in a handful of U.S. communities where pockets of unvaccinated people are found, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
In Somalia, the disease is spreading because of a lack of medical facilities. A measles vaccination costs only about $1, but millions of children remain exposed to the disease. Hunger and bad health add to the problem.
"We have a very high number of malnourished Somali children," said Sikander Khan, the UNICEF Somalia representative. "Malnourished children here are more susceptible to disease and are more likely to die or suffer lifelong disability such as blindness, deafness or brain damage as a result of contracting measles."
The World Health Organization says about 330 people, mostly children, die from measles every day globally. The Philippines is suffering from a severe outbreak this year. WHO says the country has about 40,000 cases.
In Somalia, the belief that treatment should be delayed sometimes causes rifts inside families. Halimo Hussein brought her 4-year-old girl into the hospital after defying her husband's order to keep her child home for at least a week.
"I'm here against his will," she said. "He even threatened me with divorce for defying him."
Two decades of conflict has devastated Somalia's health sector. An estimated one in five children dies before his or her fifth birthday, and measles is one of the main causes. Vaccination in areas controlled by al-Shabab militants is difficult. Health officials estimated only 15 percent of children there are protected against the disease.
The World Health Organization and UNICEF say a nationwide campaign to vaccinate about 5 million children at a cost of $9 million needs to be conducted to prevent thousands of avoidable deaths.
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Topic Page: Mbeki, Thabo (Jun 18, 1942 - )
(tä'bō mvʊyĕl'Ә mbĕk'ē), 1942–, South African political leader. Mbeki was born into a politically active family; his father, Govan Mbeki, an official with the African National Congress (ANC), was imprisoned (1964) at Robben Island along with Nelson Mandela, released (1987), and became (1994) deputy vice president of the South African senate. Thabo Mbeki joined the ANC in his teens and left Africa illegally at the movement's behest in 1962, studying economics at the Univ. of Sussex (M.A., 1966). He represented the ANC in England (1966–70) and received (1970) military training in the USSR.
Returning to Africa in 1971, he worked with the ANC in exile in Zambia. During the 1970s he traveled throughout Africa for the ANC and became (1978) political secretary to its president, Oliver Tambo. In the 1980s, Mbeki was the ANC's director of information, becoming director of international affairs in 1989. After South Africa's ban against the ANC was lifted (1990), Mbeki was a key ANC negotiator in the talks that led to the end of apartheid. He was also successful in persuading the leaders of the ANC to embrace free-market principles. He was named chairman of the ANC in 1993 and, after the 1994 elections, became South Africa's deputy president.
When South African president Mandela announced (1996) that he was stepping down, Mbeki was Mandela's choice as his successor as leader of the ANC, and he became the country's second postapartheid president after the ANC's landslide win in 1999. He adopted a conservative fiscal policy while denouncing racism in South Africa and calling for affirmative action and economic empowerment for black South Africans. His public questioning of HIV as the cause of AIDS and of the safety of anti-AIDS drugs, however, somewhat diminished his standing abroad and at home. He also has acted as a mediator in a number of conflicts in other African nations. His "quiet diplomacy" between the government and opposition in Zimbabwe, which was slow to bear fruit and came to be regarded as inadequate by many, led to a power-sharing agreement in 2008 and an uneasy national unity goverment in 2009. Mbeki was elected to a second term in 2004.
Unhappiness with his leadership, which was seen as aloof, and with continued widespread poverty led in 2007 to his loss of the ANC chairmanship to Jacob Zuma, who had been Mbeki's deputy president before he was dismissed in 2005 after being implicated in a corruption case. A judge's suggestion in 2008 that the prosecution of Zuma had been influenced by Mbeki's government led the ANC to call for Mbeki to resign. Although Mbeki denied the accusation and appealed the judge's findings, he resigned (Sept., 2008).
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Full text Article Mbeki, Thabo
(born June 18, 1942, Idutywa, Transkei) President of South Africa (1999–2008). The son of an antiapartheid activist, he joined the African National
Full text Article Mbeki, Thabo Mvuyelwa (1942-)
A key player in the struggle against apartheid and postapartheid political leader, Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki was South African president from 1999 until
Full text Article Mbeki, Thabo Mvuyelwa
1942- ♦ South African politician He was born in Idutywa, the son of Govan Mbeki (1910-2001). After serving as a youth organizer for the African Natio


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At the heart of So L.A. (hell, at the heart of most every Los Angeles story) is the story of a single woman's struggle to reinvent herself while navigating the blinding glare of perpetual sunshine in the southland. More specifically, Magdalena de la Cruz , the female protagonist of So L.A., seeks an escape from the traumatic and sudden death of her twin brother, Junah, and so she uses her body as a canvas of reinvention. "When Junah died I stopped wanting to be me," Magdalena says as she literally cuts any resemblance between herself and her brother "out with sleek scalpels." In Magdalena's own words she "refashion[ed] myself in skin temporarily scarred with puffy red staples. I doused my face in designer tonics to erase the light brown spots of San Joaquin sun. I surrender[ed] to filthy, exorbitant whims…". As Magdalena takes refuge in boutiques and Botox—seeking desperately for something to fill the void her brother has left—her marriage to Ricky, a socially conscious first-generation Mexican-American, is in jeopardy; her few friendships begin to unravel; and Diamond Myst, her booming designer water business, is drying up. A physically, and more importantly socially augmented version of her former self, Magdalena hits bottom and uses installation art to symbolically (and literally) peel back the layers of her designer body. As she does so she tries desperately to remember, "what it means to be me."
I'm not a visual artist myself, so I, like Magdalea, had to do a lot of research. With Florine Stettheimer, Gwen John and Tamara de Lempicka, I poured over portraits, studying brush strokes, chin lines and the proportion of parts. With the Jennys—Saville and Holzer—I poured over attitude, extremity and exhibition. With Cindy Sherman, I fell back in love with the still. And of course, the French performance artist Orlan and the feminist exhibitionist Valie Export have long been my favorites, especially when exploring the "cosmetic undoing" of Magdalena.
Looking for physical documents of the "how" and "where" of Los Angeles, I went "old school" and used a lot of maps. While mapping Magdalena's body (and bodily movement) across the terrain of Los Angeles proper I was also able to map her psychological condition and her physical healing. So you can imagine my intense JOY when I discovered, just last week, the insanely brilliant work of Arzu Arda Kosar. Featured in the current exhibit RE:Present L.A. (at the Vincent Price Art Museum until July 27, 2012) Arzu Arda Kosar work, LA Count Potted, features a mapped installation wherein the soci-economic and ethnic diversity of Los Angeles is plotted (and potted) with flowers.
From the Artist: Arzu Arda Kosar
flowers in pots, water, plug in floral fragrance
17′ x 16′
In "LA County Potted", I actively took over the role of the conservator as I nursed a temporal map of the Los Angeles County. My map mimicked the ethnographical data through its use of potted flowers chosen based on their price, place of origin, form and characteristics such as hardy or tender, desirable versus weed. All of the plants had different needs, one group required full sun exposure, another was shade tolerant, yet others were indoor plants. By design, the conditions inside the gallery favored certain species while it doomed the survival of others.
For the duration of the installation, I was on site to maintain this floral garden, trying my best to keep the flowers in their most perfect appearance. Equal care was given to all. For instance, individual pots were watered for 10 seconds each. Yet, despite this painstakingly careful equal treatment, certain flowers died within a few days while others thrived throughout the show. The installation was further enhanced by plug-in floral fragrances to intensify elements of artificiality, allure and concealment.