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[A] Jew [is] of that most contemptible of religions, the most vile of faiths…They, both the ancient and modern [Jews], are altogether the worst liars…They are the filthiest and vilest of peoples, their unbelief horrid, their ignorance abominable.
The vilest infidel ape [i.e., Jews; per Koran 5:60, 2:65, 7:166]…Do not consider that killing them [Jews] is treachery.
I recalled those words (above) from my The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism in the aftermath of French Muslim jihadist Mehdi Nemmouche's arrest for the brutal jihad carnage Saturday, May 24, 2014, at the Brussels Jewish Museum. Today, June 6, 2014, a fourth victim, critically injured during the attack, died from their wounds.
Nemmouche—who had joined the anti-Assad regime jihad in Syria— recorded a celebratory video which displayed the weapons he used for the attack (unwrapped from within a white sheet scrawled with the name of the jihadist group, "The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant"), identified him as the killer of the Jews, and proclaimed his desire to lay waste to Brussels.
We also learned that Nemmouche, a recidivist criminal, during the last 2 years of a 5-year prison term before sojourning in Syria, was kept isolated because of his aggressive Islamic proselytism. He grew a beard, donned a djellaba (characteristic North African Muslim robe), and performed the five Muslim prayers a day. Nemmouche had no apparent interest in television while imprisoned until jihadist Muhammad Merah went on his killing spree—including, notably, March 19, 2012 in Toulouse, at the Ozar Hatorah day school, where Merah shot dead Rabbi Yonathan Sandler, 30, his sons Aryeh, 6, and Gabriel, 3, as well as Miriam Monsonego, 7, while critically wounding Brian Aaron Bijaoui, 15, who was protecting other pupils. Jubilant at Merah's murderous exploits, Nemmouche asked for a television set in his cell. When the Merah affair ended, Nemmouche told prison officials to remove the TV.
Consistent with the debased, cultural relativist Pavlovian conditioning about Islam which prevails throughout Europe, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve opined that pious Muslim Nemmouche's lethal rampage, targeting Jews, had "nothing to do with Islam." World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder, addressing the media after commemorative prayers for the slain Jews in Brussels, suggested ruefully—if perversely—that somehow Nemmouche's jihadist executions revealed a lack of understanding about The Holocaust, and pleaded for more education on the subject:
I understand more and more that the lessons of the Holocaust are not being taught because too often people say, "Well, how about the Palestinians?" They're all difficult problems, but the Holocaust was something very, very special, special here in Belgium and special throughout Europe. And I think it's important that this whole thing starts with education.
Even Ivan Riafoul, an exceedingly rare, but far more honest French commentator, willing to acknowledge some inculpatory role for Islam, asserted only "radical Islam" was responsible for "this new anti-semitism," which had allegedly just materialized "since the year 2000."
Past as prologue, the opening quotes I cited—within their appropriate doctrinal and historical context—underscore this pervasive modern ignorance (and/or denial) about the millennial legacy of canonical Islamic Jew-hatred, and jihadism, in Europe. Ibn Hazm (d. 1064), an important Muslim jurist, and Abu Ishaq el-Biri, a prominent mid-11th century Muslim poet, made the opening observations about Jews, while residing in mythically "ecumenical," Muslim-controlled Spain. Their inflammatory rhetoric, particularly the Koranic epithet "ape" for Jews, was common parlance, which ultimately precipitated the mass slaughter and destruction of the Jewish community in Granada, during a 1066 pogrom by rampaging Muslims. It is estimated that up to four thousand Jews perished. This figure equals or exceeds the number of Jews reportedly killed by the Crusaders during their pillage of the Rhineland, some thirty years later, at the outset of the First Crusade. A contemporary chronicle written by sultan Abd Allah (who became Sultan of Granada in 1073) confirms that a breach in the humiliating and discriminatory Sharia-based system of dhimmitude for non-Muslims, including Jews, also contributed to this outburst of anti-Jewish jihad violence by the Muslims of Granada:
Both the common people and the nobles were disgusted by the cunning of the Jews, the notorious changes they had brought in the order of things, and the positions they occupied in violation of their pact [i.e., the dhimma, per Koran 9:29, imposed by jihad]. Allah decreed their destruction on Saturday 10 Safar 459 (December 31, 1066). . . . The Jew [Joseph Ibn Naghrela; communal leader] fled into the interior of the palace, but the mob pursued him there, seized him, and killed him. They then put every Jew in the city to the sword and took vast quantities of their property.
Willful negation of this living legacy of "sacralized" Muslim bigotry and bellicosity—an acute physical threat to Europe's beleaguered (and preparing for flight) Jewish minority—is symptomatic of what has been wrought by the ugly "Eurabian" transformation of the continent.
The use of the term "Eurabia," as noted by historian Bat Ye'or, was first introduced, triumphantly, in the mid-1970s, as the title of a journal (i.e., Eurabia) produced by the Association for Franco-Arab Solidarity, and published in Geneva, Paris, and London. The articles and editorials in this publication called for common Euro-Arab positions, at every level—social, economic, and commercial—and were contingent upon the fundamental political condition of European support for the Arab (and non-Arab) Muslim umma's jihad against Israel. These concrete proposals were not the musings of isolated theorists—they in fact represented policy decisions conceived in conjunction with, and actualized by, European state leaders, their ministers of foreign affairs, and European Parliamentarians.
Ten years ago (in 2004), Bat Ye'or summarized the bitter harvest western Europe was reaping from the sociopolitical and cultural changes it had sown over the intervening three decades, the result,
of a global movement that is transforming Europe into a new continent of dhimmitude within a worldwide strategy of jihad and da'wa, the latter being the pacific method of Islamization . . . this policy of dhimmitude* for the Euro-Arabian continent . . . entitled "Dialogue between Peoples and Cultures in the Euro-Mediterranean Region" was accepted by the European Union in December 2003. Unfortunately, the policy of "Dialogue" with the Arab League nations, willfully pursued by Europe for the past three decades, has promoted European dhimmitude* and rabid Judeophobia.
*(Note: dhimmitude illustrated—Cover art for the Report by the High-Level Advisory Group established at the initiative of the President of the European Commission, "Dialogue between Peoples and Cultures in the Euro-Mediterranean Region," Brussels, October 2003, As the report observed, "The orientation of this map corresponds to the world view of the Arab cartographers [i.e., Idrisi, from 1154 C.E.] of the Middle Ages"—that is, reinforcing Islamic jihad supremacism, and reversing the true geographical orientation of the Mediterranean Sea, with the North African Mediterranean littoral on top of the Southern European Mediterranean littoral.)
And rabid Judeophobia, i.e., Jew-hatred, per Bat Ye'or's 2004 assessment, is an apposite characterization.
Two reports published in 2011 highlighted the antisemitic attitudes being broadly inculcated among European Muslim youth. Belgian Professor of Sociology Mark Elchardus co-authored a 426 pp. analysis of views within the young Belgian Muslim community, primarily, 12-18 year olds. Professor Elchardus summarized his findings in two lay press interviews (here; here), as follows:
[H]alf of the Muslim pupils can be describe as antisemitic, which is very high. Worse is that that anti-Jewish feelings have nothing to do with a low level of education or social deprivation, as is the case with native-born racists. The antisemitism among the Muslim youths is theologically inspired, and there is a direct link between Islam and antisemitic feelings… The sole relevant factor is Muslim traditionalism…There are few progressive [non-traditionalist]Muslims. For every 8 progressive Muslims, one finds 100 conservatives [traditionalists].
Elchardus added, with regard to Belgian Muslim community educational and advocacy organizations,
Muslim organizations are meant to play a major role in the integration of Muslims in society. It is regrettable that none of these organizations condemn anti-Semitism…Nor did any of them [Muslim organizations] announce that they would provide informal education for the Muslim youngsters who have these prejudices. In short: Muslim organizations either denied our studies' findings, or remained silent about them.
Researcher Gunther Jikeli's 2011 report yielded concordant results. Jikeli conducted 117 interviews with Muslims from Berlin, Paris, and London, whose mean age was 19 years-old. He concluded,
The majority voiced some or strong antisemitic feelings. They openly express their negative viewpoints toward Jews. This is often done with aggression and sometimes includes intentions to carry out antisemitic acts. They usually do not differentiate at all between Jews and Israelis. Their view of the Middle East conflict can be used by them as a justification of a general, hostile attitude toward Jews including German, French and English Jews. They often claim that Jews have stolen Palestinian-Arab or alternatively, Muslim land. This is a major contention for them to delegitimize the State of Israel. The expression "Jews kill children" is also heard frequently. It is a supportive argument for their opinion that Israel is fundamentally evil. As they do not make any distinction between Israelis and Jews in general, this becomes further proof for the "vicious character" of Jews. It also makes them very emotive. The assumption of a general or even eternal enmity between Muslims and Jews is widespread.
Jikeli, a convert to Islam, with clear apologetic sympathies for Muslims, nevertheless added this critical observation, albeit in the most understated manner:
Antisemitism may be strengthened further by referring to a general negative attitude by the Muslim community toward Jews. References to the Koran or the Hadith may also be used with the implication that Allah agrees with this viewpoint.
Indeed, Islam's canonical texts—the Koran itself (see here), and the "traditions" of Islam's prophet Muhammad (the hadith, and sira; see here)—are redolent with Islamic Jew-hatred. This hateful material was catalogued—and extolled—by the late Sunni Muslim Papal equivalent, Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, who served as the Grand Imam of Sunni Islam's Vatican, Cairo's Al Azhar University, for 14 years, from 1996, till his death in March 2010. Tantawi's "academic" magnum opus, a 700 page treatise entitled, "Jews in the Koran and the Traditions", includes this summary Koranic rationalization for Muslim Jew-hatred:
[The] Koran describes the Jews with their own particular degenerate characteristics, i.e. killing the prophets of Allah [see Koran 2:61/ 3:112 ], [and see al-Azhar Sheikh Saqr's contemporary Koranic citations, "Jews' 20 Bad Traits As Described in the Qur'an"] corrupting His words by putting them in the wrong places, consuming the people's wealth frivolously, refusal to distance themselves from the evil they do, and other ugly characteristics caused by their deep-rooted lasciviousness…only a minority of the Jews keep their word…[A]ll Jews are not the same. The good ones become Muslims [Koran 3:113 ], the bad ones do not.
More ominously, Tantawi's exhaustive modern analysis of Islam's defining, canonical sources concluded by sanctioning these bigoted—even violent—Muslim behaviors towards Jews:
[T]he Jews always remain maleficent deniers….they should desist from their negative denial…some Jews went way overboard in their denying hostility, so gentle persuasion can do no good with them, so use force with them and treat them in the way you see as effective in ridding them of their evil. One may go so far as to ban their religion, their persons, their wealth, and their villages.
Tantawi's successor, Ahmad Al-Tayeb, current Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, has publicly reiterated this sacralized, Jew-hating bigotry. During an interview with Al-Tayeb, which aired on Channel 1, Egyptian TV, October 25, 2013, he gave a brief explanation of the ongoing relevance of the Koranic verse 5:82 which has been invoked—"successfully"—to inspire Muslim hatred of Jews since the advent of Islam:
A verse in the Koran explains the Muslims' relations with the Jews…This is an historical perspective, which has not changed to this day. See how we suffer today from global Zionism and Judaism…Since the inception of Islam 1,400 years ago, we have been suffering from Jewish and Zionist interference in Muslim affairs. This is a cause of great distress for the Muslims. The Koran said it and history has proven it: "You shall find the strongest among men in enmity to the believers to be the Jews…"
The impact of such sacralized, mainstream Islamic Jew-hatred on Western Europe's burgeoning Muslim community has been readily apparent. During February of 2008, then European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom, and Security, Franco Frattini, the European Union (EU) official responsible "for combating racism and Antisemitism in Europe," revealed that Muslims were responsible for fully half (50%) of the documented Antisemitic incidents on the European continent. Demographic data from 2007 indicated that the total number of Europeans then was 494.8 million; estimates of the number of Muslims in Europe ranged from 15-20 million, or some ~3.0-4.0% of the total European population. Thus, on a population percentage basis, Muslims in Europe at that time already accounted for roughly 24.0 to 32.3 times the number of Antisemitic incidents as their non-Muslim European counterparts! An even greater statistical disparity, i.e., Muslim far greater than non-Muslim, would have been evident then—and now—if comparisons were limited to severely injurious or murderous acts of antisemitic violence.
These 2007/2008 data were in turn consistent with previous findings from 2006 on the excess prevalence of frank Antisemitism reported amongst European Muslims, published in The Journal of Conflict Resolution by Yale University biostatistician Dr. Edward H. Kaplan, and Dr. Charles A. Small of the Yale Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism. ("Anti-Israel Sentiment Predicts Antisemitism in Europe," Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2006, Vol. 50, pp. 548-561.)
Drs. Kaplan and Small examined the views of 5004 Europeans, roughly 500 individuals sampled from each of 10 Western European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom). The authors' main publicized results confirmed their (rather commonsensical) a priori hypothesis: anti-Israel sentiments strongly and independently predicted the likelihood that an individual was Antisemitic in a graded manner, i.e., the more anti-Israel (on a scale of zero to 4), the more a person was likely to be Antisemitic.
But a much more striking and relevant finding by Kaplan and Small, given the burgeoning Jew hatred evident in Europe's Muslim communities, received far less attention: in a controlled comparison to European Christians (as the "referent" group), European Muslims were nearly eightfold (i.e., 800%) more likely to be overtly Antisemitic. ("Anti-Israel Sentiment Predicts Antisemitism in Europe," p. 557 and Table 3, p. 558.) Furthermore, in light of the Pew Global Attitudes Project data on Muslim attitudes toward Jews in Islamic countries, the Yale study likely underestimated the extent of Antisemitism amongst Europe's Muslim communities, had more poorly educated, less acclimated European Muslims been sampled. Pew's earlier international survey indicated ("The Great Divide: How Westerners and Muslims View Each Other," Pew Global Attitudes Project, June 22, 2006.),
In the Muslim world, attitudes toward Jews remain starkly negative, including virtually unanimous unfavorable ratings of 98% in Jordan and 97% in Egypt.
A month prior to the murderous jihadist attack on Brussels Jewry, May 24th, the Union of Islamic Organizations of France [UOIF], the French branch of the European Council for Fatwa and Research (led by Yusuf al Qaradawi) held its 31st annual conference in Le Bourget, north of Paris, between April 18-21. Professor Guy Milliere provided an overview of the proceedings:
As usual, jihadist and antisemitic books, which are banned in French bookstores but tolerated there, were offered in several booths. As usual also, speakers were invited to deliver fiery speeches.
Keynote speaker Hani Ramadan, intimately tied, like his better known brother, Tariq, to the Muslim Brotherhood, gave an address,
devoted to "global threats" facing Islam; he described them as having a single source: "the Jews and Zionist barbarism," an octopus "hiding in the shadows," a "power that holds the global finance and the media." He called on young French Muslims to "fight for Islam" and to go to Syria, where several hundred French youths have already joined jihadist groups.
Milliere concluded, aptly:
If UOIF had only a marginal influence, such statements would be already worrying. But UOIF is the leading French Muslim organization, and Hani Ramadan's speech, like Tariq Ramadan's speeches in 2012 and 2013, was listened to by an audience of 150,000 enthusiastic people, and viewed by hundred of thousands of others on UOIF-TV, the digital television channel established by the UOIF.
Shortly before Mehdi Nemmouche's apprehension, Tariq Ramadan speculated on his Facebook page that the Brussels Jewish Museum attack was perhaps a justifiable killing of "Israeli agents." Ramadan's invocation of thinly-veiled, anti-Jewish conspiracism was accompanied by a torrent of approving, if explicitly Jew-hating comments from his Muslim admirers, who (oblivious to their own hatred) denounced the alleged "stigmatization of Muslims." None of this raw bigotry was challenged by Tariq Ramadan.
Speaking at a reception to celebrate Israel's Independence Day, May 26, 2014, Czech Republic President Miloš Zeman, emerged as the lone European leader willing to identify and condemn, without equivocation, the jihadist, Jew-hating Islamic ideology responsible for the Brussels Jewish Museum carnage. Clearly not lost on President Zeman is the related hypocrisy of the European Union's Eurabian mindset which recognizes the newly spatchcocked Hamas-Fatah "unity government." Citing the Hamas Covenant—a document rife with canonical Islamic Jew-hatred and jihadism, from beginning to end—Zeman observed:
There was a hideous assassination in the flower of Europe in the heart of the European Union in a Jewish museum in Brussels. I will not let myself being calmed down by the declaration that there are only tiny fringe groups behind it… [L]et me quote one of their sacred texts to support this statement: "A tree says, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. A stone says, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him." [from, Sahih Muslim, Book 041, #6985] Do we really want to pretend that this is an extreme viewpoint? Do we really want to be politically correct and say that everyone is nice and only a small group of extremists and fundamentalists is committing such crimes?
Zeman courageously shattered a rigidly enforced European taboo which proscribes elucidating the direct nexus between canonical Islam, and the jihadist depredations against European Jewry. But Zeman's singular clarity also stands as a bitter reminder of how this requisite discourse is so glaringly absent across Europe cum Eurabia, and why conditions for Jews will continue to deteriorate as the Islamic onslaught continues virtually unopposed.
[Correction: Yonathan Sandler—shot dead by Merah—was a teacher, not a rabbi.]


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RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Cargo and vehicle screenings are on the rise in Latin America amid security fears over narcotics trade and large-scale migration from the poorer countries to emergent economies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia.
Last month Argentina created an internal security ministry to deal with gang wars between migrants from Paraguay and other neighboring countries and local slum dwellers.
Argentina, Brazil and Chile also bought border security software and hardware, including border patrol vehicles and river craft, to deal with illegal inflows of migrants drawn to their urban centers.
Governments in Latin America came under pressure from a group representing about 230 airlines from around the world that met in Germany in November and called for tougher security checks on all cargo, whether carried overland or by air.
Read More
International Air Transport Association President Giovanni Bisagnani said existing technology could help but accused governments of taking too long to approve its use.
The alerts followed attempts to set off bombs concealed in cargo shipped from Yemen and other Middle Eastern destinations.
American Science and Engineering, Inc., a leading supplier of X-ray detection solutions, announced Wednesday it received a multimillion-dollar order from a Latin American country for its Z Portal vehicle screening system. It didn't name its customer.
The system was recently deployed by U.S. immigration authorities on southwestern borders of the United States.
AS&E said the Latin American country will deploy the Z Portal system for customs applications to safely and effectively screen cars and trucks for explosive threats, drugs and other contraband.
"The Z Portal system offers a proven high-throughput solution for customs officials to safely, efficiently, and effectively screen vehicles to find hidden threats and contraband," AS&E President and Chief Executive Officer Anthony Fabiano said.
He said the order was the first Z Portal system sold in Latin America.
"The multi-view, drive-through system will be an ideal security tool for high-traffic areas," he said.
The company says the Z Portal system is safe for drivers, operators, cargo and the environment. The screening system sells in two sizes -- one for large trucks, buses and cargo vehicles and a smaller version for passenger vehicles.
Z Portal customers include the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Abu Dhabi Customs and NATO.
AS&E has an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract from the U.S. government for multiple Z Portal vehicle screening systems to be deployed on multiple border crossings. The installation follows the successful deployment of the Z Portal system on the U.S. Southwest border in 2008.
Security threat awareness has turned body scanner and cargo screening industries into a huge business. The market potential is vast, analysts said, because only a handful of corporations and governments worldwide have adopted the advanced -- and expensive -- screening systems.
Most Latin American countries are responding to people traffic according to resources available. The International Organization for Migration said human trafficking for sexual exploitation alone generated more than $16 billion a year for criminal gangs. Figures for the trafficking of migrant labor, a problem familiar to southern U.S. states, are also believed by experts to be substantial.

subset: commoncrawl


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MCAD Modeling Methods--3D Rapid Prototyping31 Mar, 2006 By: IDSA ,Mike Hudspeth
New Models Expand Options for Materials and Resolution.
First it was "Go west, young man," then "Plastics are the future," now, at least for me, it's "Rapid prototyping!" For those of you not familiar with rapid prototyping, I'll briefly go over the basics. After you create or otherwise acquire a 3D model of whatever it is you want, you create an STL file, a format originally designed for stereolithography machines. It's a faceted representation of the model so it's much simpler than an engineering model (figure 1). You used to have to move your model so it occupied all positive space (positive x, positiv e y, positive z), but in today's programs that usually doesn't matter. Most modern 3D modeling programs provide some way to generate this kind of file. (If a vendor makes you pay for a translator for this basic file format, you should really question why you're using its software.) Some programs export models, some Save As. Once you have an STL file, the real fun begins.
Figure 1. An STL file is a simplified representation of your model made of myriad tiny triangles. Because rapid prototyping apparatus limits, the STL file doesn't have to be quite as exact as your engineering model.
Resolution's the Thing
Some programs can import STL files for rough space checking, but you usually can't measure to them very accurately. When you create an STL file, pay close attention to the resolution you specify, as it will affect your build time. Most rapid prototyping machines top out at a resolution of 0.0050 but are more comfortable at a less exact 0.0070 or even 0.010. Depending on the rapid prototyping machine, the details may be somewhat different, but the gist is the same. You open or import the STL file into the control program for the rapid prototyping machine. The program likely will position the faceted model on a virtual base. You then tell the program how you want the model oriented. What direction you face your model directly affects your rapid prototype. The program breaks your model down into very thin layers and sends them one at a time to the rapid prototyping machine. Each layer is traced out in the modeling material by the process the machine uses. Some machines use lasers to cure a polymer. Others extrude actual engineering materials. Some even cut thin sheets of various materials and adhere them together. Whatever the construction method, the model is built up one layer at a time until your prototype is finished. It's an amazing process!
Earlier I said orientation is important—now I'll explain why. If you build a snap feature vertically, it will have weld lines between the layers stacking horizontally up the feature. When you flex the feature, the weld lines aren't going to hold up very well. Snap! There goes your model. But if you build the model so the snap feature runs horizontally, the weld lines go up and down the length of the feature and don't separate when flexed (figure 2). It's the same as your basic metallurgy. Forged tools are always tougher than cast because of the structure induced in the metal by pounding it into shape.
Figure 2. Whenever possible, try to orient the model so that the layers strengthen the part instead of weakening it. When the layers follow the shape of the feature, they reinforce each other and make the model stronger.
The Garden of Eden
At the high end of rapid prototyping machines is the brand-new Objet Eden 350/350V. The Eden 350/350V lays down its layers in 16-micrometer thicknesses. Put into the same units as other machines, that's 0.0006299210 resolution, an order of magnitude smaller than what we are used to. This resolution means that stair-stepping will be much less noticeable (figure 3). Again, orientation is all-important because it's only in the z-axis that the Eden achieves that resolution. The x and y axes are still closer in resolution to what competitors offer.
Figure 3. The Eden 350/350V has a resolution of 16 micrometers, so it lays down such fine layers that the stair-stepping that plagues other systems is barely noticeable.
The material used in the Eden 350/350V is acrylic, available in several colors. That may not sound appealing, but Objet does some interesting stuff with that material. Objet offers a flexible acrylic material in 65 and 75 durometers. Not only can you model rubber-like parts, but you can produce fully functional parts made of actual engineering materials. How's that, you ask? You can rapid prototype a rubber mold and cast your parts. The Objet Eden 350/350V is available in the United States exclusively through Stratasys.
Testing Your Metal
Plastic parts are all well and good, but what if you need metal? You used to have to make special porous models and infiltrate them with metal, usually a copper-filled alloy. Well, no more. Arcam, a Swedish company, has come out with the Arcam EBM S12 system. This rapid prototyping machine uses actual metal (titanium!) to build its models (figure 4). The machine uses layers of powdered metal melted by an electron beam. Parts are built in a vacuum chamber to minimize impurities and to give the electron beam a clear path. The vacuum also provides better stability and thermal balance. You can go directly into manufacturing with the resulting models—they are real metal and very solid. You might have to do a little final finishing work to clean up any stair-steps the process may leave on the model, but think of the lead-time gains! You could even run prototype molds and shoot plastic parts. Stratasys is selling the Arcam EBM S12 system in the United States.
Figure 4. Metal parts can be made on the Arcam EBM S12machine, so you can test your prototypes just as you would real parts. In fact, you can even go right into production with them.
Visions of Grandeur
Perhaps you don't need all these bells and whistles, or you're just not sure what you need. Maybe you're just starting out with rapid prototyping.
The InVision LD 3D printer from 3D Systems is a desktop modeler (figure 5). It sits on your desk, right there in your office. At $14,900, approximately one-third the price of larger systems, it's a great place to start. It's relatively quiet (though I can't say I've ever heard a terribly noisy rapid prototying machine), doesn't smell bad and needs no additional equipment for postfinishing models. You can take them right out of the machine and put them to use. Interestingly, the InVision LD 3D printer uses sheet lamination to build its models, much like the old LOMs (laminated object modelers). It uses a plastic sheet, though, not paper. What comes out looks a lot like a stereolithography part.
Figure 5. Having a great rapid prototyping system right on your desk helps you refine designs quickly and efficiently.
Also in the entry-level range is Z Corp.'s latest model, the ZPrinter 310 Plus, which adopts features first implemented in the higher-end Spectrum Z 510 printer. These additions include a heated build chamber for higher printing speeds.
Resources to get you started
Take Part
It's never been a better time to get into rapid prototyping. It's a powerful tool that can help you to produce better designs and sell them to upper management or clients. With new machines pushing the frontiers of capability, it's only going to get better!
Mike Hudspeth, IDSA, is an industrial designer, artist and author based in St. Louis, Missouri.
About the Author: IDSA
About the Author: Mike Hudspeth
For Mold Designers! Cadalyst has an area of our site focused on technologies and resources specific to the mold design professional. Sponsored by Siemens NX. Visit the Equipped Mold Designer here!
For Architects! Cadalyst has an area of our site focused on technologies and resources specific to the building design professional. Sponsored by HP. Visit the Equipped Architect here!


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Whirlpool 24" Front Load Washer/Dryer Stack Kit. Read More
Maximize laundry space by stacking the compact dryer on top of the compact washer with the stack kit. Installation instructions are included, and all that is needed are basic tools to complete the installation.
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Monsanto, the oft-vilified company known for hawking genetically modified seeds and suing farmers, is putting genetically modified sweet corn on supermarket shelves this fall.
Monsanto's corn will look like any regular corn on the shelf, but it will be genetically altered to carry Bt toxin, which messes with insect's digestive systems and kills them, allowing farmers to forego pesticides.
Are you afraid of eating genetically modified food? Should you be? Maybe, but chances are you already eat it.
This isn't a first: Syngenta, a Monsanto rival, has been selling genetically modified sweet corn for 10 years, and Seminis, which Monsanto acquired in 2005, sells genetically modified squash. Plus, most soy, a common ingredient in processed foods, is genetically modified.
Didn't know you were possibly shoving those genetically modified crops in your mouth? That's because labeling genetically modified foods isn't required in the United States like it is in Europe and Japan. The industry learned its lesson in the early '90s when Calgene labeled their Flavr Savr tomatoes as genetically modified and hardly anyone bought them.
The science on whether the Bt toxin trait in food is dangerous to humans who eat it is still pretty unclear. A recent study found the toxin in the maternal and fetal blood of pregnant women, although it's still not certain that poses any threat. Opponents say GMOs might cause allergies and cite the fact that many weeds have become resistant to the crops.
Until now, Monsanto products have been mostly found in animal feed and processed foods. So consumers weren't grabbing whole Monsanto-made fruits and veggies off supermarket shelves (except for that squash). But with that about to change, the assumption is that consumers will be ingesting more and purer genetically modified ingredients - whether it's Bt toxin or something else - than they would in processed foods.
Monsanto, DuPont and other companies that sell genetically modified foods maintain that their products are "nutritionally identical" to regular food. They even argue it's healthier because GMOs don't require pesticides to grow. The U.S. Government so far agrees. Monsanto probably won't flood supermarket shelves with other genetically modified veggies, even if their corn is a success. Groups like GMWatch who lobby heavily for labeling aren't going anywhere, so Monsanto, et al, will likely tread cautiously.
Meanwhile, if you want to avoid eating anything genetically modified, your best bet is to shell out at Whole Foods or another outlet that certifies groceries using the Non-GMO Project's 99.1 percent GMO-free standards.
Image: Shutterstock.com
You can keep up with Kristen Philipkoski, the author of this post, on Twitter, Facebook, and occasionally Google+


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He's probably afraid of Draghi's policies?
Or got long gold in his personal account, has his CB run it up for him to sell?
No telling!
Why is Putin stockpiling gold?
By Brett Arends
September 5 (WSJ) — I can't imagine it means anything cheerful that Vladimir Putin, the Russian czar, is stockpiling gold as fast as he can get his hands on it.
According to the World Gold Council, Russia has more than doubled its gold reserves in the past five years. Putin has taken advantage of the financial crisis to build the world's fifth-biggest gold pile in a handful of years, and is buying about half a billion dollars' worth every month.
It emerged last month that financial gurus George Soros and John Paulson had also increased their bullion exposure, but it's Putin that's really caught my eye.
No one else in the world plays global power politics as ruthlessly as Russia's chilling strongman, the man who effectively stole a Super Bowl ring from Bob Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, when they met in Russia some years ago.
Putin's moves may matter to your finances, because there are two ways to look at gold.
On the one hand, it's an investment that by most modern standards seems to make no sense. It generates no cash flow and serves no practical purpose. Warren Buffett has pointed out that we dig it out of one hole in the ground only to stick it in another, and anyone watching this from Mars would be very confused.
You can forget claims that it's "real" money. There's no such thing. Money is just an accounting device, a way of keeping track of how much each of us produces and consumes. Gold is a shiny and somewhat tacky looking metal that is malleable, durable and heavy. A recent research paper by Duke University's Campbell Harvey and co-author Claude Erb raised serious questions about most of the arguments in favor of gold as an investment.
But there's another way to look at gold: As the most liquid reserve in times of turmoil, or worse.
The big story of our era is not that the Spanish government is broke, nor is it that Paul Ryan apparently feels the need to embellish his running record. It's that the United States, which has dominated the world's economy for several lifetimes, is in relative decline.
As was first reported here in April of last year, according to International Monetary Fund calculations, the U.S. is on track to lose its status as the world's biggest economy—when measured in real, purchasing-power terms—to China by 2017.
We will soon be the first people in two hundred years to live in a world not dominated by either Pax Americana or Pax Britannica. This sort of changing of the guard has never been peaceful. The declines of the Spanish, French and British empires were all accompanied by conflict. The decline of British hegemony was a leading cause of the First and Second World Wars.
What will happen as the U.S. loses its pre-eminence?
Maybe this will turn out better than similar episodes in the past. Maybe the Chinese will embrace an open society and the rule of law. If you believe that, there is probably no reason to hold any gold.


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Supporting Innovation and Exports in the Bay AreaJuly 24, 2012
This post contains external links. Please review our external linking policy.
Francisco Sánchez is the Under Secretary for International Trade
I was excited to travel to San Francisco and the Bay Area on Monday. As the Under Secretary of International Trade, this area has special importance because it is home to some key industries for America's economy, especially knowledge-based and clean-technology (cleantech) industries.
The Bay Area is also on the forefront of American innovation. The region produces more patents than any other area of the United States and attracts 36 percent of the nation's total venture capital investment. In addition, the Bay Area boasts more Ph.D. scientists and engineers than any other metropolitan area in the U.S.
Innovation leads to new ways to use technology and capital that make American workers more productive, leading to new job opportunities. It also helps U.S. companies stay competitive abroad, allowing them to deliver better quality products for less. Innovation is good for the economy and for American workers.
The Bay Area is a good example of how innovation can help create jobs. According to the Progressive Policy Institute, there are an estimated 311,000 people employed making applications, games and other tools for smartphones and devices and for social networking sites like Facebook.
The Department of Commerce has long recognized this and recently we have undertaken several new initiatives to help encourage innovation. Most recently, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced they would open four new branch offices in Detroit, Denver, Dallas and one right here in San Jose. The new branch offices will help speed up the patent and trademark process, allowing local entrepreneurs to innovate faster.
As part of the effort, Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank was just in the Bay Area two weeks ago to promote the office and detail Commerce initiatives to help spur innovation.
While in the Bay Area, I hosted an insourcing roundtable with five local companies who are making insourcing a reality. Insourcing is a growing trend in the U.S. where U.S. companies are bringing manufacturing jobs – once outsourced- back to American soil. More and more businesses are realizing the best place to grow their capacity is right here in America. To help encourage the process, the Department of Commerce has started new initiatives such as SelectUSA to attract business investment back to the United States.
Insourcing represents many new opportunities to create good-paying manufacturing jobs, and we've created a fact sheet to let you know how we're supporting American manufacturers.
After our insourcing roundtable, I met with executives from Cureline Inc. and toured their facilities. Cureline is a biomedical research group that works with medical centers in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
We consider biotech an emerging industry at ITA, and because of that they have unique needs to succeed abroad. Cureline participated in a Commerce sponsored health IT trade mission to Mexico in May and with the help of the U.S. Export Assistance Center in San Francisco has successfully found clients in Europe in Japan. Cureline also plans to open a new research facility in South San Francisco within a year, which means more local jobs. This is an exciting new industry that shows great promise for the future.
While I was in San Francisco, I also had the pleasure of meeting Nikolas Weinstein, founder of Nikolas Weinstein Studios and presenting him with an Export Achievement Award for all the work he's done abroad. Nicholas Weinstein Studios creates unique architectural glass installations in the Mission District of San Francisco, although over 90 percent of their work is sold abroad. For example, in 2010, the studio designed, manufactured and installed a 300-foot long glass sculpture in the lobby of the Hotel Intercontinental in Shanghai. In 2009, they began working with the U.S. Commercial Service in San Francisco to seek counseling on international markets in Japan, China and Hong Kong.
Nicholas Weinstein Studios is the perfect example of a small business using exports as a way to support good-paying jobs in America. The bottom line is: exports equals jobs. To find out more about how to use the resources we have at ITA to help your business export, I urge everyone to visit www.export.gov.


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Read Time:1 Minute, 6 Second
JONESBORO, Arkansas (AP) — A gunman shot six people at an Arkansas home Saturday, killing a man and a teenager and critically wounding two boys, before fatally shooting a worker at a nearby business, police said.
The suspected gunman was later found dead of a gunshot wound in the driver's seat of a stopped car, Jonesboro Sgt. Doug Formon said at an evening news conference. It was not immediately clear if the gunshot was self-inflicted.
Formon said a man and a 13-year-old girl were killed Saturday afternoon inside the home in east Jonesboro, Arkansas, where it appeared a family was having a party or gathering.
Four other people were injured and were taken to hospitals in Memphis, Tennessee. Formon said the children, ages 8 and 10, were transported in critical condition.
Police received a 911 call about the shooting at the home around 1:00 p.m. Police responded at 1:22 p.m. to a report of a second shooting at a business near a U.S. highway. Forman said the worker was found shot to death at the site, where construction and lawn work had been ongoing.
Forman said police did not know of a motive as of Saturday evening and that the investigation is ongoing.


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Ashera has not received any gifts yet
My name is Missy and I am also a member of the Mom Bloggers Club. I have a blog,www.luxurybeautyproducts.blogspot.com and I also run the blog hop network.
I wanted to let you know that I am following you, and hoping when you get a chance you can follow me back. I also want to invite you to join my groups, The Blog Hop Network, Beauty Bloggers, and Children's businesses. Also, I would love to place a link to your site on my blog if you want to do the same with my blog on yours. Please let me know by sending me an email regarding this and it has been nice meeting you via the web.
Welcome to MBC!
Just wanted to share my blogs with you :)
Leave me a comment and I will you follow back!
Little Boys are Made of Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails
Don't forget to check out my current giveaways!
You can also find me on Facebook and Twitter
I look forward to reading your blog :)
Hi Ashera! Welcome to the club and feel free to check out my blog: Swanky Baby at swankybaby.net. I'm looking forward to checking yours out too!
Welcome and hi there! Time is precious & I know this may seem so overwhelming with every one vying for your attention. Hope your stay here is awesome and if you're a petite woman 5'4" and under & would love to read some fun articles geared towards you and everything petite, come on over for a visit & stay a spell ... we'd love to have you and also show you our beautiful selection of stylish shoes sizes 2 - 5 1/2.http://cinderellaofboston.blogspot.com


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NatureBox is offering a free 6 month subscription to 2 different winners! To enter, all you have to do is visit NatureBox and leave a comment here sharing what snack(s) you are most interested in trying. The girls knocked out those Whole Wheat Blueberry Figgy Bars in a matter of days.
The winners for this giveaway are:
**If you are interested in getting your NatureBox now, use the code SKUNKBOY for 50% off your first box!


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FP now includes 7894 eBooks in its collection.
This book is a member of the special collection Periodicals Collection
Book Details
|The Canadian Horticulturist Volume 06, No. 11
|Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario
|Canadiana, gardening, horticulture, non-fiction, periodical
This edition features Vegetables, Experiments in Tree Growing and Deciduous Flowering Shrubs and Perennial Plants with articles about Oil from Sunflower Seeds, Bananas, Insecticides, Hardy Ferns for Shaded Gardens, and Autumn Hints for Kitchen Garden to name a few. [Suggest a different description.]
Author Bio for Beadle, D. W. (Delos White)
Delos White Beadle (October 17, 1823—August 30, 1905) was a horticulturist, journalist and municipal politician from St. Catharines, Ontario. He edited the Canadian Horticulturist from 1878 to late 1886, and was the author of Canada's first gardening guide, Canadian fruit, flower, and kitchen gardener.
As a horticultural journalist, Beadle was active from the 1860s through the turn of the century. He took charge in 1864 of the horticultural department of George Brown's new Canada Farmer, edited by William Fletcher Clarke, and held the position for about ten years. From its inception in 1878 to late 1886, he served as editor of the Canadian Horticulturist, the long-lived monthly of the Fruit Growers' Association. His extensive writing for these publications ranged from discussions of apple cultivation and grape hybridization, through analyses of scores of fruit cultivars, to advice on growing flowers in urban conservatories and farmhouse dooryards. In 1885, for example, he favourably assessed the now famous "McIntosh red apples" sent him by Allan McIntosh of Dundela, Ont., son of John McIntosh. Beadle's most important work, designed "to furnish the Canadian cultivator with a reliable guide," was Canadian fruit, flower, and kitchen gardener . . . , whose nearly 400 pages of advice were thoroughly grounded in the experience of its author and his correspondents. Published in Toronto in 1872 and embellished with chromolithographic plates, this text was the first truly Canadian book on both the utilitarian and the ornamental branches of horticulture and, for this reason, it continues to be a valuable resource in the study of Canadian garden history.
—Dictionary of Canadian Biography
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Job Details
Specimen Technician I
Job Description
Specimen Technician I - Cleveland, OH - Tuesday-Saturday 3:00PM-11:30PM
Basic Purpose:
The SPT I is responsible for general support functions within the Specimen Processing Department. This position requires passing a data entry assessment. Functions performed may include but are not limited to data entry of test orders, presort, pickup and delivery of processed specimens to the laboratory, centrifugation and aliquoting. Department is a production environment, with emphasis on productivity/quality standards and departmental completion times. All functions must be performed with confidence, accuracy and in a timely manner. Job is complex and requires that employee have good organization skills and ability to learn and understand specimen types related to test(s) ordered by client. The SPT I must have the ability learn and understand the compliance regulations related to test ordering which may change on a daily basis. This position is critical to quality for customer satisfaction. Additionally, since many changes do occur from day to day, great flexibility on the part of the SPT I is required. Majority of SPT I work, on the nightshift, but based on staffing needs weekends, holidays, on call and overtime is a requirement.
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Able to perform all responsibilities of the Specimen Preparation Assistant
- Demonstrates an ability to learn the job duties assigned to the SPT I, and develops an understanding of how all the functions in Specimen Processing fit together
- Identifies problems and in some cases, may resolve issues with specimen types such as missing information etc.
- Demonstrates an understanding of the compliance policies related to test ordering, which requires developing ability to research test ordering information on translation tables, computer system, and the directory of services
- Meets standards for production and accuracy within 6 months
- Understands the complex relationship between test(s) ordered and specimen received
- Completes all required written documentation, legibly and within the assigned timeframe
- Meets or exceeds all performance expectations to include attendance, adherence to work schedule and demonstrates Quest values and behaviors through work performance and peer and team interaction
- Is open to learning additional functions within Specimen Processing to allow timely progression to the next level
- Performs other duties as assigned
Education Preferred:
- HS diploma or equivalent
Work Experience:
- Medical background preferred which includes medical terminology applicable to a clinical laboratory
- Previous experience in a production environment preferred
Physical and Mental Requirements:
- Position requires data background with abilities to enter 6,000 alphanumeric keystrokes/hour
- Works in a biohazard environment, practicing good safety habits
- Able to sit or stand for long periods
- Handles multiple tasks simultaneously and works in a production environment
- Communicates effectively with all levels of staff
- Maintains composure while working under pressure
- Reflects good judgment at all times when determining what action to take when resolving problems
- Adheres to Quest Diagnostics core values, safety and compliance policies and procedures
- Keeps work area neat and clean
- Demonstrates strong interpersonal skills that foster a positive environment.
- Demonstrates flexibility and ability to adapt to change


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And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. – John 8:32
I recently realized that because the prohibitionists have a set of stock lies they can repeat in an article or internet comment, someone trying to refute them is forced to link to a number of different sources to debunk those lies. In order to make things easier, I've decided to consolidate responses in one place; in a few days I'll replicate this column as a static page, to which I can add new lies which may appear and new statistics with which to debunk them. This column only covers factual claims; emotional arguments of the "no little girl dreams of being a prostitute" variety are covered in "Amazingly Stupid Statements".
LIE: The average age at which a woman enters prostitution is 13.
TRUTH: If this were true, there would have to be huge numbers of toddler-prostitutes to balance the many, many women who start later in life, such as to support themselves after divorce. Even underage prostitutes start at an average of 15-16, and only 15% of teen hookers (themselves a small minority of all sex workers) enter at an age below 13. A conservative estimate for the average age at which women enter the trade is 25. The "average debut at 13" lie was a purposeful distortion by anti-sex crusader Melissa Farley, who misrepresented the average age of first noncommercial sexual contact (which could include kissing, petting, etc) reported by underage girls in one 1982 study as though it were the age they first reported selling sex; the actual average age at which the girls in that study began prostitution was 16.
LIE: The average age of death for a prostitute is 34.
TRUTH: That figure was derived from a 2003 study which examined all of the reports of murdered street workers in Colorado Springs from 1967-1999, and discovered that the average age of death of those victims was 34. In other words, nobody who wasn't murdered was included in the figure. It's like using the average age of dead soldiers in a war to proclaim "the average man who joins the military dies at 21".
LIE: The demonstrable problems with legalization schemes in places like Nevada and the Netherlands constitute an argument in favor of criminalization.
TRUTH: The demonstrable problems with those legalization schemes constitute an argument in favor of decriminalization. No sex worker rights organization in the world favors the Dutch or Nevada models, precisely because they do give rise to a host of problems which are prevented by treating sex work as work.
LIE: 85% of prostitutes report childhood sexual abuse.
TRUTH: The original source for this claim was a 2004 study of incarcerated street workers which actually claimed that 45% reported sexual abuse and 85% physical abuse. Furthermore, there are serious methodological problems with the study, which is typical when biased researchers use an unrepresentative convenience sample and then extrapolate the results to a much larger population with which it does not correlate to any meaningful extent.
LIE: "End Demand" tactics are an effective means of reducing prostitution.
TRUTH: Economic analysis demonstrates that "end demand" tactics increase the number of sales of sex, especially at the street level.
LIE: "Human trafficking" is the world's second most profitable criminal enterprise (or the third most, or most recently the most).
TRUTH: This myth originated in a UNODC meeting where Kevin Bales (see "27 million" below) said, "…it's impossible to answer that question. If I had to guess I would say it was third…" Ann Jordan surmised that the original source of the myth (later revealed as Bales) was probably thinking about smuggling, certainly a more credible candidate for the position.
LIE: Most of the violence to which sex workers are subjected is at the hands of clients or pimps.
TRUTH: Most of the violence suffered by sex workers in regimes where the work is fully or partially criminalized is at the hands of police.
LIE: Most or nearly all prostitutes are controlled by pimps and forced to work.
TRUTH: In nearly every stable modern society, the rate of coercion for adult prostitutes is about 2% or less, and for underage ones about 8-10%; this is roughly the same as the rate of non-sex-working women who report an abusive or controlling boyfriend or husband.
LIE: Most prostitutes are driven to it by financial need, and 9 out of 10 prostitutes would like to exit prostitution immediately.
TRUTH: These statements are probably true, but if there is any normal job (not an elite career occupied by a tiny fraction of the population) to which they do not apply, I'd like to know what it might be. What makes this a lie is the pretense that it applies to sex work to a higher degree than to other jobs, which it does not; one Australian study found that half of all prostitutes ranked their work as a "major source of satisfaction" in their lives, and 70% said they would definitely choose prostitution again if they had their lives to live over.
LIE: Most prostitutes are "recruited" into the work by pimps.
TRUTH: Most adult sex workers start due to pragmatic concerns, and most underage ones either think of it on their own or are recruited by friends.
LIE: Most prostitutes suffer symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
TRUTH: This is another of Melissa Farley's pet lies. She claims to be able to diagnose PTSD with a 15-minute self-administered questionnaire, despite the fact that the National Center for PTSD states that "brief, single-item, closed-ended questions for each PTSD symptom are…no more valid for making a diagnosis than self-report measures…Proper assessment of PTSD is complex…" In short, she is not qualified to diagnose this condition, and her method would be quackery even if she were.
LIE: Nearly all men buy sex OR a small, pathological group of men buys sex.
TRUTH: Though a slight majority of men have paid for sex at least once in their lives, about 20% of them do it "occasionally" (several times per year) and 6% "frequently" (several times per month).
LIE: 100,000-300,000 children are "trafficked" every year in the United States.
TRUTH: That myth is a distortion of an absurd estimate from the Estes & Weiner study of 2001, which estimated that number of "children, adolescents and youth (up to 21) at risk of sexual exploitation". "Sex trafficking" was the least prevalent form of "exploitation" in their definition; other things they classed as "exploitation" included stripping, consensual homosexual relations and merely viewing porn. Two of the so-called "risk factors" were access to a car and proximity to the Canadian or Mexican border. When interviewed by reporters in 2011, Estes himself estimated the number of legal minors actually abducted into "sex slavery" as "very small…We're talking about a few hundred people."
LIE: Prostitutes only do the work because they have no meaningful choices.
TRUTH: 93% of escorts say they like their work for the money, 72% for the independence and 67% for meeting people. And a 2011 study demonstrated that most American escorts are women with "high opportunity cost", in other words those who have many other meaningful options.
LIE: Prostitutes spread disease.
TRUTH: Only about 3-5% of all STIs can be attributed to either side of a sex work transaction, and the rates of infection among professionals are much (often dramatically) lower than among promiscuous amateurs.
LIE: Prostitution destroys the self-esteem of women involved in it.
TRUTH: Though only a small fraction of street workers report an increase in self-esteem after entering harlotry, they represent less than 15% of all prostitutes. 97% of escorts in one study reported an increase in self-esteem, compared with 50% of Nevada brothel workers; another study found that 75% of escorts felt their lives had improved since starting the work, 25% reported no change and 0% said their lives were worse. Anyone who has ever personally known any sex workers of any kind knows that if anything, their self-esteem is often too high.
LIE: Prostitution is associated with crime.
TRUTH: Criminalization is associated with crime. When "authorities" criminalize a consensual activity, they shouldn't be too surprised when criminals are then attracted to it. When's the last time you heard of anyone arrested for bootlegging or rum-running?
LIE: "Sex trafficking" increases when prostitution is legalized.
TRUTH: This claim is based on the deeply-flawed Neumayer, Cho and Dreher study, which failed to even define the term "trafficking" in any way which would allow statistical comparison. The lie was further developed by a report in Der Spiegel which used figures for exploitation among illegal prostitutes to argue against legalization. In any legalization regime, those sex workers who are defined as being outside the legal structure (i.e. still criminal) are always those at greatest risk of violence and exploitation; to the extent that "trafficking" actually exists, it is generally the illegal nature of sex work which supplies the greatest tool for coercion. In the decriminalized structures of New Zealand and New South Wales, coercion is virtually nonexistent.
LIE: Sex work causes rape.
TRUTH: The evidence suggests that sex work of all kinds actually decreases the rates of rape, sexual assault, divorce and several other sex-related social ills.
LIE: The Swedish model has dramatically reduced prostitution and sex trafficking in Sweden.
TRUTH: The Swedish model cannot be shown to have had any effect on rates of prostitution at all, though it has made the lives of sex workers much more difficult and dangerous. Norwegian studies demonstrate that their version of the law has increased sex trafficking and the number of prostitutes, and also promoted pimping.
LIE: There are 27,000,000 people enslaved in the world today.
TRUTH: That number was developed by a "trafficking" fanatic named Kevin Bales using media reports multiplied by arbitrary numbers of his own devising; the more the hysteria, the higher the number of articles and thus the higher Bales' number grows. "Trafficking" estimates are all over the map; the official UNODC estimate is less than a tenth as much (2.4 million), and even with vague, loose and ever-expanding definitions of "trafficking" the office has evidence for only about 40,000 in the entire world.
LIE: A very large fraction of sex workers are below 18.
TRUTH: In legal forms of sex work, virtually none are; in illegal forms the fraction is still very small. Only about 3.5 % of prostitutes in Western countries are under 18.
That's all I can think of for now; post any others you've seen in the comments and I'll add them to the static page.


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In a sign of growing opposition by U.S. internet companies in China to assisting the Chinese government in imposing censorship on Chinese computer users, GoDaddy has announced it is curtailing its activities in China and will no longer host new sites with "cn" domain names. Silicon Valley's leading newspaper, the San Jose Mercury News reports:
A second prominent Internet company has joined Google in rejecting Chinese surveillance and censorship rules, as Google's move to stop filtering its Chinese search results draws more attention to Internet freedom in Washington.
Saying it hosts many individual Web sites considered politically sensitive by the Chinese government, the Go Daddy Group said Wednesday it would stop hosting new sites with ".cn" domain names, rather than comply with government requirements to provide increasingly detailed information about its Chinese customers.
The world's largest Internet domain name registrar told a congressional panel that its China operations had come under increasingly stringent surveillance rules since December. Chinese authorities demanded in February that Go Daddy, which hosts Web sites tied to Tibet and the Tiananmen Square uprising of 1989, provide color photographs and signed registration forms for all Chinese owners of its 27,000 .cn domain sites, said Go Daddy general counsel Christine Jones.
Suspending new .cn Web sites "was a decision we made in our own right, based on our experience of having to contact Chinese nationals, collect their personal information and return that information to the government," Jones told the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. "We made a decision we didn't want to act as an agent for the Chinese government."
–Mike Swift, "Joining Google, GoDaddy.com will halt some services in China," San Jose Mercury News, March 25, 2010
GoDaddy.com officials testfied before a Congressional Committee on Wednesday. The Washington Post provides additional details:
GoDaddy.com, the world's largest domain name registration company, told lawmakers Wednesday that it will cease registering Web sites in China in response to intrusive new government rules that require applicants to provide extensive personal data, including photographs of themselves.
The rules, the company said, are an effort by China to increase monitoring and surveillance of Web site content and could put individuals who register their sites with the firm at risk. The company also said the rules will have a "chilling effect" on new domain name registrations.
GoDaddy's move follows Google's announcement Monday that it will no longer censor search results on its site in China….
In December, China began to enforce a new policy that required any registrant of a new .cn domain name to provide a color, head-and-shoulders photograph and other business identification, including a Chinese business registration number and physical, signed registration forms. That data was to be forwarded to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), a quasi-governmental agency. Most domain name registries require only a name, address, telephone number and e-mail address.
"We were immediately concerned about the motives behind the increased level of registrant verification being required," Christine N. Jones, general counsel of the Go Daddy Group, told the Congressional-Executive Commission on China on Wednesday. "The intent of the procedures appeared, to us, to be based on a desire by the Chinese authorities to exercise increased control over the subject matter of domain name registrations by Chinese nationals."
GoDaddy has been registering domain names since 2000 and has more than 40 million under management.
Jones said GoDaddy's decision to stop registering new domains was unrelated to Google's recent decision…."We decided we didn't want to be agents of China," she said.
–John Pomfret, Ellen Nakashima and Cecilia Kang, "China censors searches on Google's Hong Kong-based search engine," Washington Post, March 23, 2010
On Monday, March 22, Google ceased filtering search results within mainland China, redirecting searches to its Hong Kong site which had operated under fewer restrictions. By Tuesday, China was blocking access to "sensitive" sites on Google in Hong Kong as well.
China's new restrictions on GoDaddy.com and Google reflect a worsening climate for U.S. businesses operating in China. But their signficance and importance go far beyond that. They are likely to become a source of growing friction between the United States and China, as the Obama administration has increasingly embraced a policy of support for the free flow of information over the internet.
Hillary Clinton's Speech on Internet Freedom
In an important speech on internet freedom on January 21, 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed what she termed "the freedom to connect". She expressed the new policy forthrightly, saying in part:
Franklin Roosevelt built on these ideas when he delivered his Four Freedoms speech in 1941. Now, at the time, Americans faced a cavalcade of crises and a crisis of confidence. But the vision of a world in which all people enjoyed freedom of expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear transcended the troubles of his day. And years later, one of my heroes, Eleanor Roosevelt, worked to have these principles adopted as a cornerstone of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They have provided a lodestar to every succeeding generation, guiding us, galvanizing us, and enabling us to move forward in the face of uncertainty.
So as technology hurtles forward, we must think back to that legacy. We need to synchronize our technological progress with our principles. In accepting the Nobel Prize, President Obama spoke about the need to build a world in which peace rests on the inherent rights and dignities of every individual. And in my speech on human rights at Georgetown a few days later, I talked about how we must find ways to make human rights a reality. Today, we find an urgent need to protect these freedoms on the digital frontiers of the 21st century.
There are many other networks in the world. Some aid in the movement of people or resources, and some facilitate exchanges between individuals with the same work or interests. But the internet is a network that magnifies the power and potential of all others. And that's why we believe it's critical that its users are assured certain basic freedoms. Freedom of expression is first among them. This freedom is no longer defined solely by whether citizens can go into the town square and criticize their government without fear of retribution. Blogs, emails, social networks, and text messages have opened up new forums for exchanging ideas, and created new targets for censorship.
Some countries have erected electronic barriers that prevent their people from accessing portions of the world's networks. They've expunged words, names, and phrases from search engine results. They have violated the privacy of citizens who engage in non-violent political speech. These actions contravene the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which tells us that all people have the right "to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." With the spread of these restrictive practices, a new information curtain is descending across much of the world….
As in the dictatorships of the past, governments are targeting independent thinkers who use these tools. In the demonstrations that followed Iran's presidential elections, grainy cell phone footage of a young woman's bloody murder provided a digital indictment of the government's brutality. We've seen reports that when Iranians living overseas posted online criticism of their nation's leaders, their family members in Iran were singled out for retribution. And despite an intense campaign of government intimidation, brave citizen journalists in Iran continue using technology to show the world and their fellow citizens what is happening inside their country. In speaking out on behalf of their own human rights, the Iranian people have inspired the world. And their courage is redefining how technology is used to spread truth and expose injustice.
A connection to global information networks is like an on-ramp to modernity. In the early years of these technologies, many believed that they would divide the world between haves and have-nots. But that hasn't happened. There are 4 billion cell phones in use today. Many of them are in the hands of market vendors, rickshaw drivers, and others who've historically lacked access to education and opportunity. Information networks have become a great leveler, and we should use them together to help lift people out of poverty and give them a freedom from want.
The final freedom, one that was probably inherent in what both President and Mrs. Roosevelt thought about and wrote about all those years ago, is one that flows from the four I've already mentioned: the freedom to connect – the idea that governments should not prevent people from connecting to the internet, to websites, or to each other. The freedom to connect is like the freedom of assembly, only in cyberspace. It allows individuals to get online, come together, and hopefully cooperate. Once you're on the internet, you don't need to be a tycoon or a rock star to have a huge impact on society.
Increasingly, U.S. companies are making the issue of internet and information freedom a greater consideration in their business decisions. I hope that their competitors and foreign governments will pay close attention to this trend. The most recent situation involving Google has attracted a great deal of interest. And we look to the Chinese authorities to conduct a thorough review of the cyber intrusions that led Google to make its announcement. And we also look for that investigation and its results to be transparent.
The internet has already been a source of tremendous progress in China, and it is fabulous. There are so many people in China now online. But countries that restrict free access to information or violate the basic rights of internet users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century. Now, the United States and China have different views on this issue, and we intend to address those differences candidly and consistently in the context of our positive, cooperative, and comprehensive relationship.
Now, ultimately, this issue isn't just about information freedom; it is about what kind of world we want and what kind of world we will inhabit. It's about whether we live on a planet with one internet, one global community, and a common body of knowledge that benefits and unites us all, or a fragmented planet in which access to information and opportunity is dependent on where you live and the whims of censors.
–Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, "Remarks on Internet Freedom," (The Newseum, Washington, D.C.), January 21, 2010.
Transcripts of Clinton's remarks are available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Persian, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu, on the State Department website (at the link above).
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Hey, let's make a goddamn cheesesteak. If we do it quickly, we can get finished before the city of Philadelphia declares war.
Everybody loves a cheesesteak. Maybe not the vegetarians so much. Everybody else loves a cheesesteak. The city of Philadelphia, having invented the thing and adopted it as its signature foodstuff, particularly loves the cheesesteak—nearly as much as it loves telling everybody else that their cheesesteaks suck. This municipal chauvinism is understandable, totally common (witness upstate New Yorkers asserting the unique greatness of their chicken wings, Marylanders and Pacific Northwesterners snobbing at each others' crabs, and Ohioans taking up truncheons in defense of their very horrible cheese-buried diarrhea pasta), and also kind of silly. It's a steak sandwich. There's nothing in it that can't be found or made damn near anywhere else in the United States, nor any particular culinary discipline or technique unique to Philadelphia that makes its cheesesteaks special. Philadelphians invented the thing, and for that we should all be grateful, because the cheesesteak is a goddamn marvel. On the other hand, if you want a great cheesesteak, you don't need to go to Philadelphia. You need to go to the grocery store. Your cheesesteak is gonna be amazing.
The first thing to do is acquire steak. A pound or so of it, to be not very precise at all. Choose for yourself the particular variety of steak you want to work with: Strip steak is fine; ribeye is even better; by contrast, the tougher, leaner, cheaper wads of cow will (rather predictably) yield a tougher, chewier bite of cheesesteak, but nevertheless are a better option than punching yourself in the ear, anyway. If you're especially in the mood to simplify the process, and are willing to sacrifice some of the cheesesteakiness of your cheesesteak in exchange, you can go to the deli counter at your local supermarket (or, um, deli), and ask for some rare roast beef, sliced as thinly as humanly possible. The deli guy will pull a face at you for this, because he can tell right away what you're up to, and rightly wonders what kind of a corner-cutting sack of crap swaps in roast beef for steak in a cheesesteak—but fuck him, anyway. It's your goddamn sandwich, and so help you God you will fill it with parboiled shoe-leather if you goddamn well want to, no one tells you how to live your life, et cetera.
(Don't do the roast beef thing, though. Or, do it next time. This time, use real steak, and cook it yourself. You'll be glad you did.)
So you've got your pound-or-so of steak. Take it home, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and toss that fucker in the freezer for 45 minutes. Slicing raw, room-temperature steak is a goddamn nightmare: it flattens and bulges and slides around and generally makes you want to turn the knife on yourself; 45 minutes in the freezer will firm the steak up without freezing it into a meat-brick, and, more crucially, let it know exactly who is the goddamn boss around here.
This gives you 45 minutes of free time. Don't sock both your index fingers into your sinuses just yet, though! First, take a couple of minutes and chop some stuff. Slice a big yellow onion and a green bell pepper (or two) into strips. Chop half a head or so of iceberg lettuce into shreds. Set this stuff aside. You may now pick your nose. Be back in 40 minutes.
OK, so, your steak has done its 45 minutes of hard time. Yank it out of the freezer, unwrap it, and prepare the steak for cooking. This is the most work-intensive part of the whole process. First, haul out your most terrifying knife and trim off any big, obvious globs of delicious fat around the edge of the steak; these will cook into chewy misery if you leave them on, so chop 'em off, and drop them into the trash with your most heartfelt and tearful apology. Now, while the steak is still very cold, slice it as thinly as you can. I'm very sorry to say that, even after all that time your steak spent in the freezer, this is still going to be a moderate ass-pain, and you will pause at least once or twice to rake your hand down your face and mutter expletives and consider the temptation to just hack that stupid fucking steak into a bunch of cubes and cook them in the goddamn microwave ... but, stick with it. The final result will redeem all this work, or anyway if it doesn't, that will be your own goddamn fault.
Finished slicing? Huzzah! If you'd like to take a moment to loom over your wrecked steak, laugh maniacally, and shriek I beat youuuuuu! at it, that's fine. And now, cook things. If you have a flat griddle you can use for this, that's great; if not, your widest skillet ought to work, unless your widest skillet is some friggin' Scrambled Eggs For One Very Sad Person deal with a five-inch diameter, in which case the thing to do is hit yourself over the head with that skillet until you don't feel anything anymore. You'll want enough cooking surface to get a portion of onions and peppers going in one spot, and a portion of steak going in another—if you can't manage that, cook the onions and peppers first, then set them aside.
Here's what to do. Over medium or medium-high heat, lay down a drizzle of oil under a wee fistful of onions and peppers, sprinkle them with salt, and cook them for just a few minutes until they've softened and the onions have begun to turn translucent. In another spot on the griddle or skillet (or after you've removed that portion of the vegetation from your sad little Playskool pan), get a fistful of the steak cooking. Sprinkle the steak with a tiny pinch of salt and some freshly cracked black pepper, and toss it around a little bit with a spatula—if you're using a cast-iron or stainless steel skillet, you can use a metal spatula; turn the spatula on its side and give the steak a few chops with the edge of it. This'll break it up a little and make your eventual cheesesteak somewhat easier to bite through.
That little portion steak is going to cook quickly. After a minute or two, it'll have gone all (or nearly all) the way from pink to brown. Combine it with the portion of cooked onions and peppers right there in the skillet, prod this stuff into a neat little pile in one spot, and top the steak and vegetation with two slices of provolone cheese. Yes, damn you: provolone! Provolone and not Cheez Whiz. Provolone and not Velveeta. Provolone and not goddamn American oil-flaps. Provolone! Provolone is what belongs on your cheesesteak. It was the first cheese ever to grace a cheesesteak, and it has always been the best, and you can give friggin' jarred Mystery Taste Mud a shot next time to prove it to yourself, but this time use provolone and shut up about it.
Lower the heat a tad and let that stuff hang out for a minute so the cheese can get melty. In the meantime, prepare bread. Ideally this will be an Italian sandwich roll; these are gently crusty on the outside and mildly chewy on this inside but do not require you to saw your goddamn teeth through them like a great white shark taking a hunk out of a friggin' walrus. French bread is generally a bit tougher, but also very satisfying. If you can't get your hands on either of these, your nearest depressingly generic supermarket will likely have some variety of utterly character-free sub rolls; these will have absolutely no crunch to them whatsoever, but, what the hell—if all they supply is a starchy edible oven mitt so that you can get the hot steak and melty cheese to your head without scalding your hands, that's better than nothing. In any case, slice your bread open, slather it with real by-God mayonnaise on the inside, and lay down a modest bed of that crunchy shredded lettuce.
By now that cheese has melted and, if it wasn't already, the steak is fully cooked. Assemble your goddamn cheesesteak! Slide a spatula under that adorable little heap of cooked food in the skillet, get it out of the pan, set it gently on the bed of lettuce in the opened bread roll, and slide the spatula back out from under it. There. A cheesesteak. Maybe toss a couple of pickled jalapeño slices in there? Sure, what the hell. Repeat as needed.
There's a lot going on in your cheesesteak: the meaty, pleasingly greasy steak, engagingly chewy but not rubbery and annoying; the smooth, rich, melty cheese; the mild sharpness of the onions and peppers; the (hopefully) crunchy bread—it'd be nice to go slow and appreciate all this stuff, in some other universe in which your eyes did not roll over white and your capacity for rational thought flatten to nothing beneath a rushing wave of primal greed at the first bite. In this universe, it'll be a triumph of self-control if you can remember to chew the goddamn thing instead of just wedging it into your throat with the end of a broom handle. In all this frenzied mindless consumption, you will not notice: the copious grease running down your fingers and forearms and gnashing jaw; the dumb pickle slice you stuck on the plate in a futile gesture of nutritional balance; and the horde of dipshit Eagles fans beating down your door to mewl about how bork bork that's not how we do it in Phiwwy bork bork! Good for you. This is how you make a cheesesteak, and it is goddamn perfect.
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