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Obama is "urging" Netanyahu to stop any planned ground invasion of Gaza…I'm hoping Netanyahu told him to get bent:
Though President Obama uttered immediate and firm public and private assurances that Israel has a right to defend itself from rocket attacks emanating from Gaza, administration officials have been privately urging Israeli officials not to extend the conflict, a move that many American officials believe could benefit Hamas.
A protracted escalation, the officials fear, could damage Israel's already fragile relationships with Egypt and Jordan at a time when both of those governments have been coming under pressure from their own populations.
Yes Prime Minister, please ignore the hundreds of missiles launched into your country. They really aren't hurting anybody right?
And for what? To "save" relationships with countries that want to see you obliterated from the face of the earth?
You gotta be kidding me.
This President and his policies have helped to completely destabilize the middle east and as a result Israel is completely surrounded:
• Libya is supplying Hamas with the most advanced weaponry it's ever had
• Iran's Green Revolution was crushed by the Mullahs with the tacit approval of Barack Obama
• Egypt — an ostensible ally of the U.S. and Israel — was thrown under the bus by Barack Obama, ceding control of the country to the erstwhile Nazi-aligned Muslim Brotherhood
• Algeria and Tunisia are likewise aligning with Al Qaeda
• Jordan, Israel's last regional ally — is also about to fall
• And Turkey, once a secular and stabilizing force in the Middle East, is now succumbing to a radical brand of Islamism. Even better: it's a member of NATO
Israel is surrounded.
Israel understands this better than anyone. Calling up 75,000 reserves shows the world that they are prepared to go to war, on two fronts, if need be. The last war with Hamas they buy cheap generic cialisrticle.aspx?id=292272″>only called up 10,000. You think they understand how different the landscape is now thanks to Obama?
Stratfor believes the second front, Iran and Hezbollah, isn't willing to do battle just yet tho:
Though Iran would welcome the opportunity to demonstrate the spectrum of its militant proxy strength, especially after supplying Hamas with the long-range Fajr-5 rockets that have been targeting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Hezbollah will likely be extremely cautious in deciding whether to participate in this war. The group's fate is linked to that of the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad; should Syria fracture along sectarian lines, Lebanon is likely to descend into civil war, and Hezbollah will have to conserve its strength and resources for a battle at home against its sectarian rivals. Indeed, Hezbollah has already been preparing for such a scenario by seizing control of villages along the Orontes River Basin in order to maintain connectivity with Syria's Alawite community.
Makes sense when all they have to do is to keep re-supplying Hamas anyways:
Lebanon's Al Akhbar, a site associated with Hezbollah, reports that Hezbollah is in contact with Hamas to replenish its arsenal of long-range rockets that has been reportedly decimated by Israeli airstrikes.
The report says that on Friday an alert was sounded in the ranks of Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. It was raised towards all those who know how to smuggle weapons from Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Sudan and other countries to the Gaza Strip.
During the first hours of the fighting, there was communication between Hezbollah and the terror factions in Gaza, especially Hamas, to determine the size of the damage done to the stores of long-range missiles. Lebanese and Palestinian terror groups along with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are working to supply groups in Gaza, in anticipation of a prolonged battle. According to the report, the focus is on the transfer of large amounts of long-range missiles.
But all hope isn't lost. Obama is just a phone call away to "urge" Israel to capitulate…er, I mean to promote a cease fire:
Israel is currently negotiating a cease-fire with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to take effect later in the night, sources told Channel 2 on Saturday night.
Egyptian President Mohamad Morsi gave credence to the report, saying there are "some indications" of a cease-fire in Gaza, but that there were not yet any guarantees.
…The agreement is backed by Turkey, Qatar, Egypt and the United States, according to Channel 2.
Oh wait:
…[Hamas leader Khaled] Mashaal, according to the sources, set his movement's conditions for a cease-fire. These include an Israeli pledge to stop "all forms of aggression, including assassinations, and lifting the blockade on the Gaza Strip."
More red lines for Israel it seems…ain't gonna happen, shouldn't happen.
"The world tells Israel 'wait, there's still time.' And I say, 'Wait for what? Wait until when…Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don't have a moral right to place a red light before Israel…"
– Prime Minister Netanyahu


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City Parks Foundation: CHARLIE PARKER JAZZ FESTIVAL, August 21 – 25
August 6, 2013 – New York, NY– City Parks Foundation proudly announces the 21st edition of the beloved late summer jazz favorite, the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival. In the world of modern music, few figures loom as large or cast as long a shadow as saxophonist Charlie Parker, best known as "Bird" (short for "Yardbird") to generations of musicians. He was born in 1920, and almost sixty years since his death in 1955, he is universally celebrated for single-handedly inventing bebop and bringing jazz into the modern era.
The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is an annual salute to the legendary saxophonist. City Parks Foundation is proud to produce this historic festival, and for the second year will have an expanded schedule featuring contemporaries of Charlie Parker as well as up and coming jazz musicians that continue to shape and drive the art form.
This year's festivities will begin at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music's Jazz Performance Space with screenings of two films important to jazz culture – "Beacons of Jazz" and "Girls in the Band."
An interactive family Jazz concert will kick off the festival's highlight: 3 days of brilliant jazz performances in the park, including the world premiere of a newly re-commissioned "Bird is the Word." The original piece was commissioned by the festival in 2004, and now nearly 10 years later returns reworked for and performed by Jimmy Heath and his Big Band.
This year the festival falls just days before Parker's birthday, with performances uptown on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon in historic Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park (in the Richard Rodgers Amphitheater), blocks from the clubs in which bebop was born; and downtown on Sunday afternoon in Tompkins Square Park, across the street from the apartment that Parker called home.
Join us to learn something new about Bird, listen to artists you love, discover some new favorites, and reconnect with old friends- but most of all to ENJOY the enduring legacy of Charlie Parker and jazz in New York City.
The complete Charlie Parker Jazz Festival schedule follows. For the most up-to-date scheduling and line-up for all SummerStage programming, follow SummerStage via the below links and visit www.SummerStage.org for festival information.
Twitter: @SummerStage
Facebook: www.facebook.com/summerstagenyc
Charlie Parker Jazz Festival Lineup
Wednesday, August 21
Screening: "Beacons of Jazz"
The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music's Jazz Performance Space
55 W. 13th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, 5th floor
Beginning in 1986, The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music has annually recognized jazz musicians and others who have "significantly contributed to the evolution of American music culture" with the Beacons in Jazz award. Recipients include Milt Hinton, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Joe Williams, Benny Carter, Max Roach, Chico Hamilton, and George and Joyce Wein. These gala events were attended by many musical luminaries and special guests, and prominently featured memorable performances by jazz legends.
In 1993, Cab Calloway was the recipient of the Beacons Award, and the evening's festivities were filmed for posterity. Hosted by Bill Cosby, Donald Byrd and Milt Hinton were also present and captured live in-performance. Now, for the first time ever, the footage from this historic concert will finally be screened. Don't miss this rare opportunity to view this fascinating piece of jazz history.
Free. Seating is first-come, first-served.
Thursday, August 22
Screening & Conversation: "The Girls in the Band"
The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music's Jazz Performance Space
55 W. 13th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, 5th floor
"The Girls in the Band" tells the poignant, untold stories of female jazz and big band instrumentalists and their fascinating, groundbreaking journeys from the late 30's to the present day. These incredibly talented women endured sexism, racism and diminished opportunities for decades, yet continue today to persevere, inspire and elevate their talents in a field that seldom welcomed them.
Conversation with: Sheila Jordan, Kim Thompson, and other special guests from the film.
Moderated by Dr. Lara Pellegrini
Following the screening, Sheila Jordan and Kim Thompson, along with special guest panelists, will join Dr. Lara Pellegrini in a discussion about women in jazz and share their take on woman's historic roles both in front and behind the scenes in the jazz world.
Free. Seating is first-come, first-served.
Friday, August 23
Family Jazz Concert Family Jazz Concert featuring Matt Wilson
The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music's Jazz Performance Space
55 W. 13th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, 5th floor
Charlie Parker Jazz Festival & The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music invite you to a free interactive concert for families with children ages 8 months – 5 years. Bring your kids to this fun introduction to jazz music.
New York based drummer and Grammy nominee Matt Wilson is one of todays most celebrated jazz artists. He is universally recognized for his musical and melodic drumming style as well as being a gifted composer, bandleader, producer, and teaching artist. Matt's positive energy, sense of humor and ability to explore a broad range of musical settings keeps him in constant demand. In addition, Wilson's dedication to jazz has helped establish him as a beloved world ambassador for the music, on and off the bandstand.
Free. Seating is first-come, first-served.
Friday, August 23
World Premiere of "Bird is the Word" by Jimmy Heath, performed by Jimmy Heath Big Band
Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem (Mount Morris Park West at West 122nd Street)
This exceptional night celebrates Charlie Parker's historic compositions and will feature a newly updated version of the 2004 commissioned work, "Bird is The Word" performed by jazz legend, Jimmy Heath and the Jimmy Heath Big Band in addition to Heath's special arrangements of Parker's classic works. Jimmy Heath has long been recognized as a brilliant saxophonist, magnificent composer and arranger. He has performed with nearly all the jazz greats of the past fifty years, including Charlie Parker himself, Howard McGhee, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Wynton Marsalis. Heath has written more than 125 compositions, many of which have become jazz standards. During his career, he has performed on more than 100 recordings, including the most recent live big band CD "Togetherness" Live at the Blue Note on Jazz Legacy Productions. In 2003, Heath was the recipient of the NEA Jazz Master Award.
Free. Seating is first-come, first-served.
Saturday, August 24
Kenny Garrett / Cécile McLorin Salvant / Kim Thompson / Jaleel Shaw
Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem (Mount Morris Park West at West 122nd Street)
Over the course of a stellar career that has spanned more than 30 years, saxophonist Kenny Garrett has become the preeminent alto saxophonist of his generation. Garrett has always brought a vigorous yet melodic, and truly distinctive, alto saxophone sound to each musical situation. Garret's latest album, Seeds from the Underground, is a powerful return for Garrett to the straight-ahead, acoustic and propulsive quartet format that showcases Garrett's extraordinary abilities. The Boston Globe raved of Garret's work saying he has a "generous, enthusiastic playing style that makes him a concert favorite, he has become a quintessential jazz musician who will take on any challenge, and make the result sound good."
Among many other awards, Garret is currently nominated for 2 GRAMMY Awards as well as an NAACP Image Award.
Cecile McLorin Salvant's unique interpretations of unknown and scarcely recorded jazz and blues compositions have helped her win the coveted Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 2010. She focuses on a theatrical portrayal of the Jazz standard and composes music and lyrics which she also sings in French, her native language as well as in Spanish. Stephen Holden of The New York Times describes: "Ms. Salvant has it all: perfect pitch and enunciation, a playful sense of humor, a rich and varied tonal palette, a supple sense of swing, exquisite taste in songs and phrasing, and a deep connection to lyrics." Salvant's official debut, WomanChild, was released in the U.S. in May, 2013.
World-renowned drummer Kim Thompson has taught and performed in over 33 countries, in addition to playing locally in many New York City's most prestigious jazz clubs. With many music credits to her name, including being a part of Beyoncé's all female band; Thompson has become the CEO of her own music production company, KT Music Productions. Thompson has also collaborated with Mike Stern in the album, Who Let The Cats Out?, which was nominated for a 2006 GRAMMY Award. In 2010, Thompson released her debut album, Like Clockwork, which features 33 songs written and produced by the drummer herself.
Alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw has quickly risen to become one of the premiere Jazz musicians today. The New York Times says Mr.Shaw's music showcases his "stout, self-assured alto saxophone playing and his smartly conceived original compositions, without the taint of commercial pressure." In 2005, Shaw joined world renowned drummer Roy Haynes' Quartet and recorded the GRAMMY Nominated CD, Whereas. In 2008, Jaleel was nominated as one of the Up and Coming Jazz Musicians of the year by the Jazz Journalist Association. Shaw has also received two ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Awards, and in March, 2013, Shaw released his newest album, The Soundtrack of Things to Come.
Free. Seating is first-come, first-served.
Sunday, August 25
Lee Konitz Quartet/ Sheila Jordan / Christian Scott / Aaron Diehl Quartet
Tompkins Square Park, East Village (East 7th Street between Avenues A and B)
Alto Saxophonist Lee Konitz has enjoyed one of the most creative and prolific careers in modern jazz. While remaining on the cutting edge of improvisation, Konitz has had the opportunity to lead several groups that has included the "who's who" of the jazz world. The New York Times declares Konitz "is able to erase context and preconceptions, and more or less blow your mind." Konitz was awarded the NEA Jazz Master Award in 2009, voted "Alto Saxophonist of the Year" by Downbeat Magazine's "Critics Poll" in 2010, and will also be recognized with the Germany Jazz Price Award in 2013. At a young 85 years old, Konitz is still selling out concerts all around the world as he continues showcase his unique, rhythmic style.
Sheila Jordan, an American singer and songwriter, has been a student of Jazz her whole life and has become one of the most respected musicians around. Jordan's first great influence and mentor was Charlie Parker. Jazz Times describes Jordan as "a one-of-a-kind artist who possesses the power to captivate audiences, inviting all to join her on a magical mystery tour of jazz history." In 2012, Jordan accepted the NEA Jazz Masters Award, which was given to her because of her lifelong commitment to Jazz and its teachings. Jordan has received several other honors, including the 2008 Mary Lou Williams Award for a Lifetime of Service to Jazz. In 2012, she released her latest album, Yesterdays, which blends imaginative music making and deeply felt, richly emotional story telling.
At a young age, trumpeter Christian Scott launched a music career that has positioned him as one of the great innovators of his generation. In 2006, Scott released Rewind That, which was a mixture of modern Jazz, Rock and R&B and garnered both criticism and praise – but ultimately a GRAMMY nomination. Yesterday You Said Tomorrow, Scott's 2010 release, reflects the legacy of some of his musical heroes of the 1960s, and at the same time wields the music as a tool to address some of the very important issues of contemporary culture. Scott's most recent album, Christian aTunde Adjuah, was released in 2012 and allmusic says it "creates a seamless, holistic 21st century jazz that confidently points toward new harmonic horizons."
Aaron Diehl is the 2011 Cole Porter Fellow in Jazz of the American Pianists Association. Hailed by The New York Times as a "Revelation," and the Chicago Tribune as "The most promising discovery that [Wynton] Marsalis has made since Eric Reed," Aaron Diehl's distinctive interpretations of the music of Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, Art Tatum, Duke Ellington, and other masters pays homage to the tradition while establishing his own original voice. Diehl has performed with the Wynton Marsalis Septet, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Benny Golson, Hank Jones, Wycliffe Gordon, and has been featured on Marian McPartland's NPR radio show Piano Jazz. His latest trio CD is entitled Live at the Players.
Free. Seating is first-come, first-served.
City Parks Foundation (CPF) is the only independent, nonprofit organization to offer park programs throughout the five boroughs of New York City. We work in over 750 parks citywide, presenting a broad range of free arts, sports, and education programs, and empowering citizens to support their parks on a local level. Our programs and community building initiatives reach more than 600,000 people each year, contributing to the revitalization of neighborhoods throughout New York City.
About the Jazz Foundation of America: For 23 years, the Jazz Foundation has kept Jazz and Blues alive. We are the only national organization dedicated to saving the lives and homes of elder Jazz and Blues musicians in crisis – musicians who have made our world richer through their music. JFA has grown to support over 6,000 cases a year with emergency assistance and work opportunities. Every day, we help clients in need who often have nowhere else to turn: our Emergency Assistance program keeps the electricity on, the rent or mortgage paid, and food on the table, in addition to providing counseling and referrals for pro bono services. We help to reestablish a musician's sense of dignity and purpose through performance opportunities with our Agnes Varis Jazz in the Schools program which brings music to schools, nursing homes, hospitals and other venues throughout the country. We also save lives through our partnership with Englewood Hospital and Medical Center doctors and staff who have been serving JFA clients for 18 years. With this network of caring professionals, JFA social workers provide crucial services that keep many of these accomplished music veterans alive and productive, doing what they love to do – make music.
About The New School: The New School, a leading progressive university in New York City, was founded in 1919 as a center of intellectual and artistic freedom. Today The New School is still in the vanguard of innovation and experimentation in higher education, with more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students in design and the social sciences, the humanities, management, and the performing arts and thousands of adult learners in continuing education courses. Committed to public engagement, The New School welcomes thousands of New Yorkers yearly to its celebrated public programs and maintains a global presence through its online learning programs, research institutes, and international partnerships.
Learn more at www.newschool.edu, and learn more about The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music
The 2013 SummerStage festival is presented by AT&T.
Additional funding for the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival generously provided by: Bloomberg; JPMorgan Chase; Forest City Ratner; JWT; Bloomberg Philanthropies; NYU Community Fund; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; New York State Council on the Arts; National Endowment for the Arts, through the Access to Artistic Excellence program; NYC Councilmember Rosie Mendez.
Media sponsors include:
Time Out New York, Metro, Relix, El Especial & El Especialito, Zoom Media & Marketing, WNYC, WFUV, WBGO, NBC New York, NY Moves, Big Screen Project, Fusicology, and Globe Star Media and Entertainment.
In all of its programming and activities, City Parks Foundation partners with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to improve neighborhood parks and the communities they serve.
City Parks Foundation (CPF) is the only independent, nonprofit organization to offer park programs throughout the five boroughs of New York City. We work in over 750 parks citywide, presenting a broad range of free arts, sports, and education programs, and empowering citizens to support their parks on a local level. Our programs and community building initiatives reach more than 600,000 people each year, contributing to the revitalization of neighborhoods throughout New York City.

subset: commoncrawl


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OVPR Proposal Development Workshop - STEM Fields
|January 9, 2014
|8:00 am - 5:00 pm
|Baylor Sciences Building, room E.231
The OVPR Proposal Development Workshop is designed to help faculty members compete more successfully for external funding.
Faculty will attend one of the two sessions depending on their academic area and desired funding source. Faculty in science disciplines (typically those interested in applying to NSF, NIH, Dept. of Energy, etc.) will attend the session on Thursday, January 9. Faculty in arts and humanities (typically those interested in applying to NEH, NEA, Dept. of Education, private foundations, etc.) will attend on Friday, January 10.
Our presenter for the workshop is Dr. Peg AtKisson of Grant Writers' Seminars and Workshops. Dr. AtKisson is a neuroscientist by training and has many years of experience preparing successful applications for funding from a wide range of sponsors. Click here to learn more about our presenter.
Contact Blake Thomas at 710-3153 for more information.
Click here to register for the event.
|More Information
|Read More »
|zz (old) Research @ Baylor
|Download this event


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The Duffle coat (or toggle coat, depending on who you ask) was an Ivy League staple whenever the campus turned cold back in the 1950s and '60s. The name is derived from Duffel, a town in Belgium where the thick, woolen material originates. And like any good classic, it never really went out of style. This fall, the coat seems to be everywhere—from modern, shrunken versions by Company of We and D Collection, to more traditional takes by Tommy Hilfiger and Hickey. Layer one over a suit for a crisp All-American feel, or sport it on the weekend to pull together your worn-out jeans and a sweater.
Band of Outsiders
Company of We
Steven Alan
D Collection
Tommy Hilfiger
Jack Spade
Brooks Brothers
Retro gray sweats. The easiest trend to try this fall.
Meet the new man behind Jack Spade's clothing line.
Navajo patterns pop up everywhere.
The duffle coat, a prep school favorite from the '60s, is everywhere this fall.
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Ethanol takes off in the West
But is it a wonder fuel — or an energy-losing proposition?
The grain-based alcohol called ethanol has been burned in cars since the days of Henry Ford. But thanks to unforeseen consequences of the Clean Air Act — and to perks in the energy bill — it's enjoying a renaissance as an air-pollution-reducing gasoline additive.
The 1990 Clean Air Act mandated that fuel sold in highly polluted areas meet strict emissions standards. To do that, gasoline companies began "oxygenating" their fuel by adding a chemical known as MTBE. But MTBE, a suspected cancer-causer, leaked out of underground tanks and fouled drinking water supplies in hundreds of communities. Now, with over a dozen states banning MTBE — and with ethanol as the only alternative approved for use in California, New York and Connecticut — grain fuel is booming. In November 2003, the ethanol industry set an all-time monthly production record of 194,000 barrels per day.
The darling of farm-state politicians, including Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., ethanol has hung on throughout the years primarily due to heavy government support. Since 1983, ethanol producers have enjoyed a federal subsidy of no less than 50 cents per gallon. In addition, corn producers have a subsidy in the form of a federally backed price floor of $1.89 per bushel. The energy bill now being debated in Congress would extend the ethanol subsidy for about a decade and require ethanol refiners to double production. Ethanol could grow from its current 2.75 billion gallons per year level to 10 billion gallons.
Strong demand — coupled with powerful incentives — has pushed producers to expand westward, out of the traditional ethanol terrain of Iowa and Illinois. But while ethanol is being touted as an ecologically friendly, renewable wonder fuel, some critics are questioning whether it's a source of energy, or a drain.
Economic godsend?
In the Rocky Mountain West, ethanol production is taking off. A Spanish-owned company has a plant operating in Portales, N.M., and Wyoming Ethanol in Torrington, Wyo., plans to double its capacity in the next two years. American Ethanol wants to build a high-protein wheat gluten/ethanol plant in Helena, Mont., and another company has been given all the permits necessary to build a $130 million wheat and barley ethanol/gluten facility in Moses Lake, Wash. At least five developers are considering building ethanol plants in Oregon, and Idaho is also poised to expand.
But producers say it is hard to make money from ethanol alone, even with federal subsidies and the tax incentives offered by almost all the states. "We don't make our margins on ethanol," says Dan Schwartzkapf of Wyoming Ethanol. "We make it on our byproducts."
To tap markets for those byproducts — including spent grain and gluten products, which are used as animal feed — ethanol producers build their plants near the feedlots and mega-dairy operations that are sprouting up around the rural West.
"B-level sites (such as those in the West) start to become very profitable," says Monte Shaw, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, a Washington, D.C.-based ethanol lobby. "A plant in Wyoming (where corn is more expensive) is never going to have as good economics as a plant in Iowa, but that doesn't mean it can't be a profitable plant."
Nonetheless, there still are big questions about the economic viability of ethanol. In 1984, when gas prices were high, the number of ethanol plants in the U.S. peaked at 163. Two years later, when the bottom fell out of the energy market and gas prices plummeted, only 74 survived. Montana once had six ethanol plants; all of them have faded away or gone bankrupt. During the 1980s, New Mexico had 16 ethanol plants, most using irrigated milo, another grain. Now, it is down to the one in Portales.
And although ethanol is touted as a boon to farmer cooperatives, the real beneficiary may be big agribusiness. Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), the world's largest grain processor, produces around 40 percent of the nation's ethanol, and benefits handsomely from the support and subsidies.
"I think what most plants hope is that if they build and run a decent plant with appropriate costs, somebody like ADM will eventually come along and buy them up," says Montana State University's Kevin McNew.
Gas and water
A debate is also raging over whether the energy required to produce a gallon of ethanol exceeds the energy that a gallon of it can offer. A recent U.S. Department of Agriculture study declared that "the production of corn-ethanol is energy efficient, in that it yields 34 percent more energy than it takes to produce it, including growing the corn, harvesting it, transporting it, and distilling it into ethanol."
But critics say that ethanol production wastes fossil-fuel energy. In a study published last year, Cornell University agricultural ecologist David Pimentel found that "about 29 percent more energy is used to produce a gallon of ethanol than the energy in a gallon of ethanol." Because corn production causes extensive erosion and uses large amounts of fertilizer and pesticides, Pimentel said, "subsidized ethanol production from U.S. corn is not a renewable energy source."
"(The USDA study) is flawed because they omit about half the inputs in corn production," says Pimentel. That includes fossil fuel used by farm machinery, nitrogen fertilizer, and labor-intensive hybrid seed production. Such "inputs" can be especially high in the dry West. Nebraska, for example, irrigates about 80 percent of its corn, and uses natural gas to power its irrigation pumps. The USDA study found that Nebraska used twice the diesel and more than twice the amount of natural gas as a nine-state weighted average. And most of the water, according to University of Nebraska farm management specialist Doug Jose, comes from the Ogallala Aquifer, which is dropping 3-5 feet a year in some places.
Research is being done into making ethanol from less energy-intensive crops, such as switchgrass and poplar trees, but critics like Pimentel say ethanol will never be an answer to energy needs. "It's a loser all the way around," he says. "The money would be better spent on research in renewable energy technologies like wind or (solar) energy."
The author is a freelance writer in Sheridan, Wyoming.
Renewable Fuels Association 202-289-3835
Tad Patzek, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 510-486-5322, [email protected].
The Energy Balance of Corn Ethanol: An Update (USDA). For more information about this report, contact James Duffield, 202-401-0523, [email protected].
American Bioenergy Association www.biomass.org.


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Official: Cadaver dogs search in Kansas City blast
KANSAS CITY: Cadaver dogs searched through the smoldering rubble of a Kansas City restaurant after a gas explosion sparked a massive blaze Tuesday evening in an upscale shopping district.
More than a dozen people were injured in the blast and resulting fire, which occurred just after 6 p.m. and completely destroyed JJ's restaurant. There were no reports of fatalities by Tuesday night, though authorities cautioned that could change because it was unclear how many people were inside at the time of the blast.
Kansas City Fire Chief Paul Berardi said cadaver dogs were called to the scene because of the size of the conflagration.
"I would always fear there are fatalities in a scene like this," Berardi said.
He said results of the search would take hours and that he expected his crews would be working the scene through the night.
City Manager Troy Schulte said it appeared an accident by a utility contractor had caused the blast, and a statement from utility Missouri Gas Energy late Tuesday reiterated that possibility, butBerardi and others cautioned that the cause was still being investigated.
"This investigation is ongoing," Berardi said. "We do have reports that there was an odor of gas earlier. But, again, this investigation needs to be concluded before we want to speculate on any of that."
Indeed, the smell of gas was very strong in the area hours after the blast. Berardi said the utility stopped the flow of gas about 8 p.m., and utility crews could be seen working in the area after the blast.
Witnesses noted street signs indicated utility work was being done in the area, and a JJ's employee said the restaurant was open but undergoing renovations.
Mayor Sly James was at the scene after the blast, praising the work of first responders.
"The first thing we need to be concerned about is the people that are injured," James said.
Police Sgt. Tony Sanders said the manager of JJ's restaurant was unable to account for three people, but it was unclear whether they were caught in the blaze or had left earlier.
The University of Kansas Hospital was treating six people injured in the blast, said spokesman Bob Hallinan. He said one person was in critical condition, two were in serious condition and two others were expected to be released. He said all of those injuries were traumatic, such as broken bones, rather than burns or smoke inhalation. The final patient there was a burn victim who was transferred from Truman Medical Center, Hallinan said.
Dr. Marc Larsen, medical director of the emergency room at St. Luke's Hospital, which is near the scene of the fire, said they had treated eight people, six of whom were walk-ins with minor injuries. He said two males were in critical condition and would be kept overnight. He said one had extensive burns and another had facial trauma.
Jim Ligon, a JJ's bartender, said he wasn't working Tuesday night but started getting texts and calls from co-workers minutes after the explosion. He said the incident happened during the peak of weekday happy hour, when there is typically anywhere from 15 to 45 people in the bar area as well as three to five tables of diners at the restaurant.
"JJ's has a small staff, a family feel," said Ligon, 45, of Kansas City, Mo. "You see the same 100 people all the time — a bar and restaurant for regulars. We're just really hoping we come out of here OK in terms of injuries."
Ligon said he was on his way Tuesday night to meet up with co-workers at another bar in town to talk about the incident.
The shopping area was established in 1922 by J.C. Nichols. Based on the architecture of Seville, Spain, it includes retail, restaurants, apartments and offices.


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No Yolks® Broad Enriched Egg White Pasta 12 oz. Bag
Enriched egg white pasta. Cholesterol free. Low fat. Low sodium. In your hands is a bag of No Yolks. Are you excited? You should be. Because these delicious noodles are the perfect companion for your savory chicken noodle soup, your hearty beef stroganoff, or your spicy buffalo chicken casserole. No Yolks are made with egg whites, giving it a fluffy, smooth texture and tasty, buttery flavor that compliments any dish. www.noyolks.com. Question or comments, visit out website or call 1-800-730-5957. If you need a little help getting started you can find some fun inspiration to noodle on at www.noyolks.com


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The Kings Bay As Seen On.. (multiple prop orders) NBC Studios TV show called 100 questions (See our bar stools and lighted lettering) Jewel music video...Many of our products are heavily discounted, overstocks and/or one-of-a-kinds. Once an items sells out it might not be available in the future. How can you sell items for so little?
We are bulk buyers and direct importers and pass the saving along to you! Check (5 to 7 days clearing time).
All payments must be received within 5 calendar days of the listing end date unless prior arrangements are made. Please call or message us to arrange this by appointment. Islands and locations which require a ferry toll.
You can expect a reply usually within 24 hours. During office hours a response will usually be made within the hour as we check our messages quite frequently.The item "Drug Store Trade Sign Stamped Tin Cigar Vintage Style Soda Fountain" is in sale since Monday, December 21, 2020. This item is in the category "Business & Industrial\Restaurant & Food Service\Furniture, Signs & Décor\Restaurant Décor". The seller is "the-kings-bay" and is located in Hardeeville, South Carolina.
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PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Matt Harvey wants to surpass the 200-inning mark this season, but to do that, he'll need a lot of outings like his third start of the spring.
The Mets right-hander was nearly perfect while tossing 4 1-3 shutout innings in a 4-1 win over the Marlins on Thursday.
Harvey's only baserunner reached on an error. He struck out five batters and threw 35 of 48 pitches for strikes.
"When you talk about if this guy can pitch 215 innings, that means he is getting deep into games, and the only way to do that is by doing what he did today and that is pitching to contact, knowing you've got to get a strikeout but could get some easy outs," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "He's on a mission to be real good."
Harvey said he wasn't happy with the number of balls he threw in his last outing – when he gave up a run and three hits in 2 2-3 innings – so he focused on throwing more strikes Thursday and relying on some help from his teammates.
"After looking at last week's poor strike-to-ball ratio, I definitely wanted to go out and pound the zone. All the guys, they made every play, so throwing strikes was kind of easy when they are out there making every play," Harvey said. "It was just staying in line a little better. Watching film from last week, I was rushing a little bit, kind of crossing my body a little bit, throwing across, but today, I was on the line pretty much every single time. That's definitely a plus and a good start for the next six or seven months, whatever it is."
Marlins starter Ricky Nolasco was almost as impressive, giving up an unearned run and three hits, while striking out six batters over 3 2-3 innings.
His only blip came in the second inning when he gave up singles to Marlon Byrd and Anthony Recker with Recker's bringing in a run.
"Just trying to stretch out and get a feel for all my pitches," Nolasco said. "My breaking pitches are sharper than normal early in the camp. I've been working on it and expect it to get better. All is good so far. I threw everything, got a lot of swings and misses on a lot of different pitches."
Manager Mike Redmond officially chose Nolasco as the Marlins' opening day starter.
"He's done a nice job over his starts of throwing strikes and commanding his off-speed pitches," Redmond said.
The Marlins have more to be concerned about offensively, as they managed just two hits against the Mets – one of them coming on J.T. Realmuto's home run in the ninth inning.
New York finished with nine hits, including two each from Ike Davis and Matt den Dekker. Davis had a double and den Dekker homered in the fifth inning.
Mets lefthander Pedro Feliciano, who continues to wear a monitor on his chest to keep track of an irregular heartbeat, retired the two lefty batters he faced after replacing Harvey in the fifth.
NOTES: Redmond said Justin Ruggiano is aiming to make his first spring training appearance on Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Ruggiano, originally considered the front-runner to start in center field, has been sidelined with a tight back. . Marlins outfield prospect Jake Marisnick might still be out a couple of days from playing after getting hit in the left hand by a pitch Wednesday. . Mets closer Frank Francisco said he expects to throw from a mound for the first time this spring in "two or three days." Francisco was shut down at the beginning of camp with the same right elbow inflammation that ended his season Sept. 16 and ultimately led to December surgery to remove bone spurs. He resumed throwing Feb. 25 from flat ground and completed a long toss session from 130 feet on Thursday. . Mets prospect Zack Wheeler got on a mound Thursday for the first time since he was scratched from a start eight days earlier with a strained oblique muscle. He threw 35 pitches and said he felt good. . Collins said Jenrry Mejia (thyroid issue) "is fine" and will have no limitations upon returning to camp. He was scratched from a B game Tuesday and flown to New York for testing after his physical was flagged for an irregularity.


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STROBRIDGE (Strowbridge), JAMES GORDON, civil engineer and contractor; b. 1788 in Solon, N.Y.; m. Nancy Mayberry, and they had six sons and two daughters; d. 10 March 1833 in Hamilton, Upper Canada.
An engineer, James Gordon Strobridge moved from the United States to Upper Canada in 1824 to become a contractor on the Burlington Bay Canal. This project, authorized and financed by the provincial government and under the supervision of canal commissioners, was to create a cut across Burlington Beach to provide the hinterland around Dundas with direct access to Lake Ontario. Although only a third of a mile long, the canal was to be of superior construction with piers on both Burlington Bay (Hamilton Harbour) and Lake Ontario.
Strobridge, in partnership with Captain John McKeen, began work on the cut during the summer of 1824. William Lyon Mackenzie* inspected their progress and was dismayed to find the "Goths and Vandals" despoiling the adjacent forests. In September Captain McKeen contracted typhus and died, leaving Strobridge solely responsible for the canal. Nevertheless, by October a cut had been made down to the level of the lake.
Throughout 1825 dredging machinery was used to dig the cut down to the specified 12 feet. It only remained to complete the two piers and install the decking and handrails. However, disquieting reports were surfacing about Strobridge's ability to complete the project. The superintendent engineer, Francis Hall, reported to the canal commissioners in February 1826 that the construction of the breakwater alone had already cost nearly one-half the original contract price for the whole project. According to Hall, the breakwater on Lake Ontario faced such strong currents and waves that its construction had proved "hazardous and expensive, beyond all calculations." Nevertheless, Strobridge had used the weather to his advantage and during the winter of 1825–26 he had had stone hauled across the frozen lake to the work site. Eventually, he overcame the engineering difficulties in constructing the piers and breakwater.
Financial difficulties were another matter. In February 1827 the provincial government authorized a further £8,000 for the project. But in the spring of that year the canal was abruptly taken out of Strobridge's hands, and he was required to give securities to the government before any additional monies were paid to him. Attorney General John Beverley Robinson* prepared the securities for Strobridge. It is a comment on the prevailing business morality that in March Strobridge sent him £4 in the hope of "more favours at your hands." Somewhat higher standards prevailed in the government; Robinson retained one pound for preparing the bond and returned the rest.
The valuation of the works became a continual matter of contention between Strobridge and the government. In 1828 arbitrators were appointed to determine the value of construction. They arrived at a figure of £3,000, which the canal commissioners proved reluctant to pay. After unsuccessfully invoking the courts in his behalf, Strobridge was sued by his own creditors and forced into debtors' jail by April 1829. From these unpleasant confines he petitioned Lieutenant Governor John Colborne*, who finally authorized the payment. In 1831 the legislature allowed him an additional £2,356.
During the course of his struggle for compensation, Strobridge had developed an interest in reform politics. In January 1829 he actively solicited names for a petition in favour of Francis Collins, a journalist who had been imprisoned for libel and an implacable foe of the provincial administration. He was called before the House of Assembly to explain his part in the so-called "Hamilton Outrage" of 29 Jan. 1829 – the hanging in effigy of the lieutenant governor allegedly over his refusal to release Collins. George Gurnett*'s pro-government Gore Gazette, in a reference to Strobridge, asked why "foreigners who came into the province, as it were, but yesterday" were allowed to undermine legitimate authoritet the government did not consider Strobridge dangerous and, in fact, welcomed debate on the canal. Robinson hoped it would "create a diversion from the Alien question and divide the interest during the session – a pleasing variety!"
Not satisfied with the 1831 settlement, Strobridge, with Collins's encouragement, went to York in 1833 to petition the legislature for interest on the unpaid amount. While there, he was seized by the sheriff for failing to pay outstanding debts and was once again cast into jail. Collins secured his release, but only two days later Strobridge succumbed to a fever contracted while in prison. His widow, Nancy, pursued the claims unsuccessfully, up to 1836.
The tenacity which James Strobridge brought to his crusade for just payment was also reflected in his work as an engineer. When in 1826 a hostile Lake Ontario threatened to smash the unfinished breakwater, Strobridge, watching grimly, saw that the caissons had been sunk deep enough to withstand the pounding. Francis Hall observed that "every part thereof, has been so severely tested, that the practicability of the measure and permanence of the works even in their unfinished state is now beyond doubt."
AO, RG 4, A-1, Strobridge to J. B. Robinson, 3 March 1827; RG 22, ser.204, no.177, 11 May 1833. PAC, RG 5, A1, J. G. Strobridge to Sir John Colborne, 10 April 1829; J. B. Robinson to –, n.d. "Ancaster parish records, 1830–1838," comp. John Miller, OH, 5 (1904): 122–23. U.C., House of Assembly, Journal, 1829: 31; 1831–32, app.: 178; Statutes, 1827, c.19; 1828, c.12; 1831, c.21. Colonial Advocate, 27 May, 29 July, 27 Oct. 1824; 29 Dec. 1825; 2 March, 1 June 1826; 21 March 1833. Gore Gazette, and Ancaster, Hamilton, Dundas and Flamborough Advertiser (Ancaster, [Ont.]), 24 Jan. 1829. Death notices of Ont. (Reid), 258.
© 1987–2023 University of Toronto/Université Laval
Cite This Article
Patrick Brode, "STROBRIDGE, JAMES GORDON," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed October 2, 2023, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/strobridge_james_gordon_6E.html.
The citation above shows the format for footnotes and endnotes according to the Chicago manual of style (16th edition). Information to be used in other citation formats:
|Author of Article:
|Patrick Brode
|Title of Article:
|Publication Name:
|Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6
|University of Toronto/Université Laval
|Year of publication:
|Year of revision:
|Access Date:
|October 2, 2023


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VirtualBox 6.1.16 Build 140961
Latest Version:
Mac OS X
User Rating:Click to vote
Author / Product:
Old Versions:
Some of the new features of Oracle VM VirtualBox are:
Paravirtualization support for modern Windows and Linux guests
Oracle VM VirtualBox for macOS is able to expose a paravirtualization interface to facilitate accurate and efficient execution of software. Once the virtual machine platform is defined, the app improves guest OS performances by leveraging built-in virtualization support (KVM on Linux guests and Hyper-V on Windows guests).
xHCI controller to support USB 3.0 devices
Guest operating systems are now able to directly recognize USB 3.0 devices and operate at full 3.0 speeds. Guest can now be configured to use USB 1.1, 2.0 and 3.0 devices.
Improved Drag & Drop support
Starting from the app improved the support of a bi-directional drag&drop between guest and host operating system; drag and drop support is available with latest guest-additions installed.
Disk image encryption
The software allows for encrypted virtual disk images by leveraging AES algorithm in XTS mode (128-bit or 256-bit); since the DEK is stored as part of the virtual machine configuration file, encryption introduces a further security feature that will ask for a password while starting the virtual machine.
Headless and Detachable start options
Oracle VM Virtual Box now supports starting virtual machines in the background with a separate front-end process that can be closed while the virtual machine continues to work.
Also Available: Download VirtualBox for Windows


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(JTA) — Norwegian Cruise Lines dropped Tunisia from its itineraries after the country refused to allow Israeli citizens to disembark in the Port of Tunis.
About 20 Israelis were quietly told before disembarking from the Norwegian Jade over the weekend that they were not welcome per the Tunisian government.
The cruise line's decision to drop Tunisia was first reported by Cruise Critic, an online cruise information site.
"We want to send a strong message to Tunisia and ports around the world that we will not tolerate such random acts of discrimination against our guests," Kevin Sheehan, Norwegian Cruise Line's CEO, said in a statement Tuesday.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) praised Norwegian Cruise Line for its "courageous and responsible" decision.
"We applaud the courageous and responsible decision of Norwegian Cruise Line in standing up to the discriminatory policy of the Tunisian government," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "They have sent a clear message to Tunisia and other governments that discriminatory practices against Israelis and other nationals will have a negative impact on tourism."
ADL wrote Monday to Kevin Sheehan, Norwegian Cruise Line's CEO, expressing concern over complaints from passengers aboard the Norwegian Jade who had been informed informed they would be barred from disembarking just before the ship's scheduled stop in Tunis. According to a Norwegian Cruise Line statement issued Tuesday, the company was not informed of the new Tunisian policy in advance. The statement made clear that Norwegian Cruise Line "…will not tolerate such random acts of discrimination against our guests," and indicated the company "has cancelled all remaining calls to Tunisia and will not return."
The Norwegian Jade had been stopping in Tunisia every three weeks during the winter, according to Cruise Critic.


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"Dictators are like weeds you kill one and another just takes its place"
" Yeeah, but if yo country got weed, you gotta smoke dat weed know what i'm sayin'?"
A Dictator, is defined as one who screws the fuckin country over. He (led the glorious revolution/overturned the legitimate government) 37 years ago, and ever since then has led in a style best described by the motto (Faith, Harmony, and Country/I Hate Puppies/I do what is best for my beloved people unless it is not in my best interests). His closest advisors are (the most brilliant minds our nation has to offer/a bunch of syphillitic thugs who are really good at sucking up) whose only interest is (the well-being of the people/the eradication of good from the Earth).
Dictators can often be detected by their tell-tale tendency to initiate five-year plans to (deal with the issues of overpopulation/remove those opposing their evil rule). These policies are sure to be a (success/sign of a pact with Satan.)
Dictators can also be recognized by their ability to simultaneously divide and unify the people depending on whether or not they are in the presence of him or his thugs. All (hail/spit upon the name of) the dictator!
If you do not have a dictator (follow ours, hes great perfect and magnificent/ensure that one of those satan worshipping, puppy hating people never comes to your country)!
Dictatorships do not exist. The Authorities have been given power by God and want the best for you.
If You Suspect Your Country Has Been Taken Over By A Dictator[edit]
First off, breathe. Don't panic. You're probably hallucinating. If you have access to the Internet, then chances are you are not enslaved under a dictatorship.
If you cannot seem to convince yourself that these are just delusions, commit suicide. Society needs fewer people like you.
If you cannot bring yourself to commit suicide, report to the authorities and they will shoot you themselves.
If You'd Like To Be A Dictator ( or rather a maniacal retard who cares for no one but him/herself )[edit]
Warning: Becoming a dictator will drastically reduce most decent people's inhibition to shoot you on sight. The road to becoming a dictator is a long and strenuous one, as dictators are comprised of vast quantities of dicks and potatos. Further yet, owning your very own dictatorship is an even further challenge; it requires a person made wholly of the previous ingredients to own and drive a large boat, to the end of eventually merging their soul with it. However, this practice seems to be much less complicated in third world countries because they're filled to the brim with dicks, potatos (for their prolific appearance in alcohol), and large boats (Africans have a long history of experience with boats, albeit mainly as passengers).
- The most important thing is to never use the word "dictator". You will never become anything that way.
- Talk about "freedom" and "strength" or "Hope and Change" in the same sentence a lot.
- Say that the "greatest human right" is "the right to be protected".
- Say that the "most important freedom" is "freedom from fear".
- Somehow manage to imply that "most important" has the same meaning as "only".
- Cheat. Lie. Steal. Manipulate....But just don't call it that.
- Don't be hesitant. Murder everyone in your way or send them to prison for being unpatriotic.
- Kill anyone who is educated. Make sure that your country's gene pool can never produce anyone smart enough to challenge your rule.
- Spend your country into oblivion, blame it on greedy capitalists, kill them and give their money to people who purchased cars/boats/flat-screens/houses that they couldn't afford (which will be everyone after you follow the previous recommendation), and kill off anyone smart enough to explain to your people what you are really doing.
- Avoid suspicion until it's too late.
- Become a benevolent leader and govern your people well.
Famous dictators[edit]
Adolf Hitler (Germany), Josif Stalin (Soviet Union), Barack Obama (U.S.S.A.), Xi Jinping (Communist Republic Of China) Mao Zeodong (Communist Republic Of China) Nyan Cat (Japan) and Admiral General Aladeen of the Dictatorship of Wadiya
See also[edit]


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Changing hormones cause the queasiness and vomiting some women experience during pregnancy. What's it called?
Not all women experience morning sickness, but it's the most common pregnancy-related ailment. Although it usually disappears by the 14th week, some women like Kate Middleton experience hyperemesis gravidarum, severe morning sickness, that can be debilitating.


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LOS ANGELES, CA – Risque photos of Miss USA runner-up and "opposite marriage" defender Carrie Prejean have surfaced on the Internet, but Ms. Prejean is defending her Christian honor.
Prejean shot to stardom last month after declaring at the Miss USA pageant that she was against legalizing same-sex marriage. Due to heavy criticism from blogger Perez Hilton and gay rights groups, Prejean retaliated by becoming the face for the "traditional marriage" movement.
But the website TheDirty.com claims they have fully nude photos of Miss California, and have already released one partially-nude photo to prove it. If it is true, these photos would heavily conflict with her evangelical Christian stance.
"I am a Christian, and I am a model," Prejean said in a press statement. "Models pose for pictures, including lingerie and swimwear photos. Recently, photos taken of me as a teenager have been released surreptitiously to a tabloid Web site that openly mocks me for my Christian faith.
"What that website has failed to state is that those photos were for a special charity calendar. It was to be called, 'God's Children', and was to feature Christians of all different colors, shapes and sizes. There were fat people, deformed people, old people and me. We were celebrating the diversity of God's creation, so it was important to show us in the nude, imperfections and all.
"If these vicious opponents of traditional marriage wish to sexualize an innocent photo spread, then so be it. But I am not ashamed of my continuing commitment to our Lord and his plan for us."
Weekly World News researchers were not able to find evidence of the calendar. It is speculated the project was cancelled after an audience for naked unattractive models could not be found.
[polldaddy poll=1595569]


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McLaren Engines was created in 1969 when the New Zealand-born company founder and racing legend Bruce McLaren established a North American base to support his initiatives in the Can-Am and Indy racing series. McLaren won five Can-Am championships in the nine years the series was run. Team McLaren won the Indy 500 in both 1974 and 1976 with Johnny Rutherford behind the wheel. By the end of that decade, McLaren racing efforts were re-concentrated in Europe with a focus on F1. Today, the two McLaren entities co-exist in name only. McLaren Engineering, as it is known today, has remained in the Detroit area as a leading powertrain engineering and development service to the North American automotive industry.
Throughout the 1980s and 90s, McLaren operated as a specialty prototype and niche vehicle fabrication and engine development and testing service. The Livonia, Michigan headquarters was a centre for turbocharged racing engines from 1000 hp Offenhausers to Cosworth V-8s, Buick V-6s for Indy/IMSA and compact 2 liter BMWs that produced up to 900 hp. In addition, McLaren built turbocharged V-8s in support of Cadillac's LeMans effort. An instant legend was created when McLaren Engines designed and developed the awe-inspiring Buick GNX as the powertrain partner to ASC Inc. along with the McLaren Mustang and the Pontiac GTP Turbo to follow. Other projects included the Ford FR 500/200/100 concept vehicles and the modified Ford Focus featured in the original "Fast and the Furious" movie. In 1998, a management team purchased the assets of McLaren Engines and re-named it McLaren Engineering which was acquired by Linamar in 2003.
Today, the racing heritage and commitment to powertrain performance still resonate within McLaren, though it has evolved to become a design, development, testing and prototype operation with a focus on original equipment manufacturing. McLaren is fully integrated into the Linamar family as a vital resource in the engineering and development cycle for the systems and components Linamar provides to OEMs. McLaren's capabilities offer a full complement of services that can take the form of any three of the primary functions including fully owned product with black box design responsibilities, collaborative grey box design, development, testing and prototyping, and contract testing, prototyping, and build services. In 2016, Linamar unveiled a new state-of-the-art facility housing an Advanced Gear Lab, Rapid Prototype Manufacturing Cell, & Production Scale Manufacturing Simulation Cell.
- Frank Hasenfratz


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World weighs in on UN Palestine vote
World headlines showed a mix of emotions – but a lot of common ground on how much impact this may have on prospects for peace.
• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.
United Nations member countries voted overwhelmingly to change the Palestinian status from an observer to a non-member observer state yesterday, but how this will play out in terms of Israeli-Palestinian relations, and prospects for peace, is still an open question.
Held on the 65th anniversary of the "birth" of Israel – when the UN voted to partition the British mandate of Palestine into one Jewish state and one Arab state – there is no question that yesterday's vote was symbolic for Palestinians and their supporters, according to The New York Times. The vote passed 138 to 9, with 41 states abstaining.
"The General Assembly is being asked today to issue the birth certificate of Palestine," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in his speech before the vote.
The new UN status doesn't change borders, or give Palestinians control of "their borders, airspace or trade"; they still have "separate and competing governments in Gaza and the West Bank, and they have no unified army or police," according to CBS News.
But it does grant Palestinian officials greater tools to "challenge Israel in international legal forums for its occupation activities in the West Bank, including settlement-building, and it helped bolster the Palestinian Authority, weakened after eight days of battle between its rival Hamas and Israel," reports The New York Times.
In the lead-up to the vote, world headlines showed the mix of emotion surrounding the UN vote. In the Palestinian territories, hope was evident. The Arabic daily Al-Hayat al-Jadida had a map on its front page showing how UN member countries voted for the Palestinian bid for full membership to UNESCO in 2011, and a headline that read "Palestine the state …Tonight."
In the United States, one of the most outspoken against the bid, the tone was different. Headlines ranged from "Israel: UN can't break 4,000-year-old bond between the people of Israel and land of Israel" to "New York Pols: U.N. Vote On Palestine A 'Distraction' And 'Mistake'." The Washington Post's headline read: "Israel braces for Palestinian victory in UN status vote", and The Christian Science Monitor asked, "Who backs Palestine UN bid? Ehud Olmert, among others."
Directly following the vote, the US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice said, "Today's unfortunate and counterproductive resolution places further obstacles in the path of peace…. Today's grand pronouncements will soon fade and the Palestinian people will wake up tomorrow and find that little about their lives has changed save that the prospects of a durable peace have only receded."
According to the Palestinian Ma'an News Agency, "The Palestinian Authority foreign ministry said Thursday it would re-evaluate ties with countries that oppose Palestine's bid to upgrade its status at the UN."
Even with the vote secured, uncertainty prevails about how this affects Palestinian-Israeli relations, as well as those between President Abbas's administration and the Hamas movement in Gaza.
The Washington Post's editorial board wrote ahead of the vote that the Palestinian Authority's victory "will be a pale triumph for President Mahmoud Abbas and his West Bank-based Fatah movement."
So weak has his administration become, especially in contrast to its rival, the Gaza-based Hamas movement, that some governments, such as Britain, are considering voting for the resolution, even though they oppose it in principle, out of fear that the authority is fading into irrelevance. Israel, too, appears to have toned down its plans for reacting, with officials saying they will wait and see what Mr. Abbas does after the vote.
The United Kingdom abstained from casting a vote in the end.
Kenneth Bandler, the American Jewish Committee's director of media relations, wrote in a commentary for Fox News that Abbas's UN bid distracted from the threat of Hamas:
Upgrading the status of Palestine at the U.N. will be a transitory victory for an increasingly beleaguered Abbas. It is an unhelpful diversion from the reality on the ground, the growing danger of a terrorist regime ensconced in Gaza that threatens Israel and any Palestinian who aspires to achieve sustainable peace.
And many walked the line that the Palestinian win was a bad omen for progress and peace with Israel.
In Australia, opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop echoed the sentiments of many of the nine countries that voted against the resolution (those included the US, Israel, Canada, the Czech Republic, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, and Panama), and the 41 who abstained, which includes Australia.
"I do not believe that passing this vote will resolve the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians, in fact it could well cause an escalation of the conflict or prolong the situation by taking it into the realm of the international court," Ms. Bishop said, according to the Australian newspaper.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Abbas of spreading "mendacious propaganda" against Israel, and said the vote "won't change anything on the ground … It won't advance the establishment of a Palestinian state, but rather, put it further off," reports CBS.
The Council on Foreign Relations' Robert M. Danin echoed that sentiment, writing that, "The fundamental problem with Abbas' approach is that rather than encourage such talks, his U.N. gambit is more likely to delay, if not undermine, the prospects for negotiations that would lead to genuine Palestinian statehood and peace with Israel anytime in the immediate future." However, Mr. Danin notes:
Given all the downsides of pursuing this statehood gambit, why is Abbas moving forward with this less than airtight strategy? Clearly, he calculates that the costs of inaction are even greater than all the moves' inherent risks. With Hamas having just confronted Israel with short and medium term missiles, backing down from the diplomatic effort he has pursued over the year and a half, could be politically suicidal. … Such an accomplishment is likely to be pyrrhic and short lived. The challenge then will be to prevent the action in New York from further damaging the prospects for a more coherent approach that could lead to a lasting peace between Israel and a genuine Palestinian state.
But others, like Yehudit Oppenheimer, the executive director of Ir Amim, an NGO dedicated to establishing an "equitable and stable Jerusalem with a negotiated political future" believe the Palestinian bid is "not an anti-Israeli step." Mr. Oppenheimer wrote in Haaretz that:
In the wake of its leaders' insistence that Israel's calls for a return to negotiations have gone unheeded, the Israeli public, most of which aspires to peace, has stopped believing in the possibility of a solution, and for that reason doesn't press those leaders to strive toward one. What happened to those leaders is what often happens in a prolonged conflict: They are gradually assuming the image of the "other" that they themselves created. It is the Israeli leadership that has stopped being a partner to a solution.
The connection between the retirement of Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the Palestinian initiative at the UN could mark the advent of new paradigms, something that is as vital for Israel as it is for the Palestinians. As opposed to the impression created in Israel, the Palestinian move is not an anti-Israeli step, but rather a rational measure for promoting the two-state solution delineated by the outlines of the Oslo Accords, which is acceptable to the public on both sides, and to which Israeli leaders, including those from the right, have already agreed in the past.
The initiative is based on a desire for a final-status solution, in which a Palestinian state would exist side by side with the State of Israel - a vision to which all of Israel's leaders have committed themselves in the past decade. The political vacuum that gave rise to the initiative is not a decree of fate. A smart Israeli leadership can and must embrace the initiative in a meaningful way. That is what the Israeli public should demand of its leaders.


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You take a couple of Norwex Reusable Face Masks everywhere you go, to help filter potentially harmful particles from the air you breathe. But you need a place to store your used and unused masks.
The dual-pocketed Wristlet is the perfect travel companion for our Reusable Face Masks. One side has a charcoal zipper and one has a blue zipper. Use one side to store clean masks, and the other for used ones.


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Diesel Service Near You in Chantilly, VA
Quality Diesel Service for Fairfax County Drivers
You've chosen to drive a diesel-powered vehicle for a reason. From incredibly reliable performance, to exceptional torque and towing power, to high fuel efficiency, you've made a smart decision. Even with fewer moving parts, diesel engines require specific and regular servicing to prevent issues. Because of the specialized nature of diesel engines, you'll want an expert to handle all your diesel service matters.
For diesel services in and around Chantilly, your trusted source is Viking Automotive. Since 1998, our team has set a high standard for customer service, while completing your diesel service needs with integrity and expertise.
Expert Technicians for All Diesel Service
When you bring your diesel-powered vehicle to Viking Automotive in Chantilly, rest assured that only ASE-Certified, experienced technicians will perform your diesel service. Whether you need fuel filter replacement, engine maintenance, or cooling system service, count on us for a full range of diesel services. Using cutting-edge tools and equipment for all diesel service, we ensure the best results every time.
Your Ford might require maintenance. Perhaps your Chevy needs the Check Engine light diagnosed. In any case, we'll get the job done correctly. For diesel service that will last, we always use OEM and top-shelf aftermarket parts for all diesel services and repairs at Viking Automotive, backed by our 1[Empty] nationwide warranty.
For long-lasting diesel service and repairs you can trust, visit Viking Automotive in Chantilly, VA.


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Thursday, January 12, 2012
Be Not Puffed Up
8 comments:
This is a serious word from the Lord. We must not attack eachother in any way. I thank the Lord Glynda for everything that the Lord has given to you. God Bless you alway's.ReplyDelete
Wow - check out this video just posted by my friend - she had this vision TWO YEARS AGO, yall!!ReplyDelete
Thanks for the message Glynda =).ReplyDelete
When I read 'Be not puffed up in your knowledge of My word but walk in My ways and be a light in the lost and dying world in which you live.' it reminded me of a few Bible verses that came up when I was in a discussion the other day having to do with being a light in the world, and so I wanted to share those verses with everyone:
Mathew 5:14-16:
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Eric - Thank you for adding those scriptures! :-)ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 14, 2012 at 8:21 PM
I think we all should study 1 and 2 timothy about the difference between contending for the faith and vain babblings.ReplyDelete
We do need to reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering having a love for the truth.
However we do deal with each other as brothers and sisters.
I ask Father for mercy, and I ask that the Holy Spirit teach us the difference between the two. Our heart shall be judged.
It just goes to show why pride is such a grievous sin and one we too easily dismiss in the church. Not onyl may we think we are better than someone else or others, but we feel justified in our attacks/slander, continued cruelty and the like along with the judgments. We woudl be truly stunned if we saw just how much an abomination that is to God--the antithesis of Christianity and having the Lord's heart.ReplyDelete
In my early days of being a beliver I was extreemely judgemental (youthful zeal) as I have gotten older. when I see things I try to pray rather than criticize right away. I see things and I shake my head but I have to remember Yah was and continues to be long suffereing with me. We do need balnace and not go from one extreeme to another. We cannot go around condeming people to hell for sneezing in church but at the same time wink at serious situations that need to be addressed like teens having sex in the bathroom during wed night serivce. (That happened in a church I attended in the 90's).ReplyDelete
Demita - Very good point and very well said!ReplyDelete


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I've been pondering a contradiction about racism. On the one hand, I've argued here and in my book that racist hate speech, including on the Internet, is something that we should take seriously. On the other hand, Internet culture in general is one where humor is the prevailing norm and racist hate speech often gets treated as a joke. One of the students at Johns Hopkins University earlier this week raised this point in the Q&A following a talk I gave there. It's also a nuanced point that Lisa Nakamura made in her talk about "Enlightened Racism" in online games at Harvard's Berkman Center a few months ago.
Part of the reason I (and other critical race theorists) argue that it's important to take racist hate speech seriously is that words harm people. Everyone living in a democracy has a right to be equally protected from harm and to not be subjected to a particular kind of harm just because of their race, religion or other identity status. In the U.S., that's known as "equal protection" and it's covered by the 14th Amendment, among other laws. As a recent example of how racist hate speech harms people, there's a story out of Roanoke, Virginia about a notorious white supremacist with the rather un-ironic name of William A. White. White recently lost a lawsuit – and fined over half a million dollars – for his racist hate speech. The lawsuit was filed by five African American women who had the bad luck to be tenants in a Virginia Beach apartment complex where White was the landlord. White wrote threatening letters to the women, saying they were "Section 8 N—s" and elsewhere referred to all blacks as "parasites."
These words had an impact. During testimony in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, the five black women described their reactions to getting the threatening letters from White: one said she began to suffer seizures; another developed an ulcer. Yet another woman testified that she no longer lets her 10-year-old grandson outside to play or ride his bike alone. "I didn't know what was around the corner waiting for us because of him," she said. All five of the women testified that they still live in fear of White based on the racist hate speech he sent in that letter. Although White used a traditional form of letter for this round of racist hate speech, he's used the Internet in other attacks.
The jury did the right thing when they found in favor of the women suing White (it was a civil case, so he was not found "guilty"). Part of what this jury did was take hate speech, and the harm it caused, seriously. That kind of racist hate speech is not, as many Americans assume, protected as "free speech" under the first amendment. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled (Virginia v. Black, 2003) that a "burning-cross is not protected speech" because it's not speech that's intended to contribute to democracy, but is intended to terrorize people.
I know, I know – not very funny so far. Where are the lulz in this story?
The second part of this contradiction I'm pondering is that the culture of the Internet is all about what's funny. Lisa Nakamura made the excellent point in her talk about the "racist griefing" that goes on in online games which often makes explicit use of racist epithets, which she explains this way: "The n-word is funny because it is so extreme that no one could really mean it. And humor is all about 'not meaning it.' If you take humor and the n-word, you get enlightened racism online and attention." She calls this "enlightened racism." Nakamura goes on to argue that paradoxically, "the worse the racism and sexism are, the more extreme and cartoonish it is, the harder it is to take seriously, and the harder it is to call it out."
She points out, quite astutely I think, that for those within gaming culture, calling out racism in this context signals you as someone "not of the gaming culture" and thus, as someone who is taking racism "too seriously" and doesn't have a good sense of humor. Yet, this sort of humor is a "confusing discursive mode for young people," she observes, because they are "unable to separate enlightened racism from regular racism." And, indeed, I think this is a real problem here. As Nakamura notes, the image of the "humorless feminist" is now joined with the image of a "humorless" old(er) person who takes race too seriously. I'm going to have to plead guilty to this. Racism, in my view, is serious business, but that stance is antithetical to mainstream Internet culture.
There are some people, far more talented than I am, who can take racism – even racist hate speech – and make it funny. No, really. Let me introduce you to Elon James White (no relation to William A. White, that I know of), and his video blog series, "This Week in Blackness"(TWIB). His take on Dr. Laura's racist rant a few weeks ago (Season 3, Episode #8) is one of the funniest things I've heard in awhile. In addition to being funny, Elon's routines are scathing, and much needed, critiques of white privilege and white culture. I'm a fan of Elon's (even downloaded the iPhone app of TWIB) and I think what he does is valuable and entertaining.
I think it's the racism as entertainment meme where we need to be careful here. Chauncey de Vega (of We are Respectable Negroes) has a thoughtful piece about Slavery as Entertainment, in which he highlights two role-playing games in which people can reenact some aspects of slavery ("I wonder if visitors can be whipped, branded, physically disfigured, manacled, or raped and defiled to complete the "historical" experience?"). He notes that these types of "reenactments" can go oh so wrong because they trivialize the experience of what was until then an unimaginable historical tragedy. If you look at historical accounts of lynchings, those were considered entertaining by whites at the time. Whites often packed picnics and smiled when they had their photo taken at those vigilante lynching "parties."
And, I see I've veered right back into the unfunny material. I'm old school like that.
I'm not sure there's a way out of this contradiction. In some ways, this contradiction speaks to the "both/and" quality of racism that characterizes the current historical moment. We have both the vitriolic racist hate speech, often spread via the Internet; and, we have a dominant culture in which humor is the prevailing norm, often making racism into entertainment. Just because some of us are laughing doesn't necessarily mean we're making progress.


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EROS ~ A Sensual Yuri On Ice Playlist
By 桃 On December 19, 2016 · Leave a Comment · In Immersion, Resources
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A sensual, electronic pop playlist fresh (2016) from Japan inspired by Yuri On Ice.
I've become obsessed.
EROS ~ A Sensual Yuri On Ice Viktori Playlist from kanjiandtea on 8tracks Radio.
A sensual, electronic pop playlist fresh (2016) from Japan inspired by Yuri On Ice.
We were born to ship #Vikturi.
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The Baltimore Ravens announced Tuesday that the Pro Bowl fullback was released, evidently after the team was unable to locate a trade partner for the nine-year NFL veteran.
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Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome didn't dismiss the idea of Leach resurfacing on the roster at a later time, saying, "There could be an opportunity for him to return to the Ravens once he explores the free-agent market."
It's a move that remains surprising to some. Leach was voted to the Pro Bowl after both of his past two seasons with the Ravens. He is arguably the NFL's most reliable fullback and boosted Baltimore's ground game last season after blasting holes for Arian Foster with the Houston Texans.
NFL.com's Steve Wyche reported that Leach and the Ravens could not come to terms on the restructuring of his contract. The Ravens reportedly wanted Leach to take a pay cut from his $3 million base salary after they nabbed Harvard fullback Kyle Juszczyk in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft.
"It's just part of the business," Leach said. "I have no animosity against the Ravens. They are a first-class organization. They can't pay everybody."
Newsome isn't in the habit of overpaying aging veterans. Leach is on the wrong side of 30, and we're not surprised a trade failed to materialize. Still, this bruiser -- graded heads and tails above his peers last season by ProFootballFocus.com -- won't be out of work for long.


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Baharat Spice Mix
4 tablespoons black peppercorns
2 tablespoons ground coriander OR whole seeds
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons cloves
3 tablespoons cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamon OR whole seeds
4 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
4 teaspoons paprika
OPTIONAL crushed, dried kaffir lime leaves
Very simple.
1) Crush the black peppercorns, the cloves, and the cardamon and coriander seeds, if you're not to use the pre-ground type in a morter and pestle until you have a soft, fairly fine powder.
2) If you like kaffir leaves, crumble them finely and add to the powder.
3) Stir in the ground cinnamon, cumin, the paprika and the ground cardamon and ground coriander if you chose to use pre-ground types. If you added the seeds in step one, do not add more cardamon and coriander in the ground form. Grate the nutmeg and add.
4) Jar and keep for when you need it. It makes a reasonable amount and keeps for a good length of time.
Baharat is used a lot in much middle-eastern cooking and can be used in such recipes, as a seasoning or condiment, or to spice up couscous or even rice (just stir in to taste). A friend likes to add lemon juice (or lime) and olive oil to make a sauce or marinade or simply to make it less dry. I would personally suggest omitting the kaffir leaves (if you even want to add them) and using lemon juice rather than lime.
Source of recipe: Recipe from my mother, modified to allow for easily bought supermarket spices
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Below is the January 14, 2022 report from the Essex County Executive's Office on the total number of diagnosed coronavirus cases and COVID-19-related deaths as of 9 a.m. today.
Editor's note: there is sometimes a discrepancy between the county reports and reports from municipalities. The most recent reports from Maplewood and South Orange, which you can find on Village Green, are the most accurate counts, as the individual towns are the ones actually investigating reported cases.
Statewide there are 1,653,736 cases of COVID-19 reported yesterday. Today's reported cases are pending.
Read more public health-related coverage here.


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In 1974, after an appeal from the Pakistani Government, UNESCO launched the International Safeguarding Campaign for Moenjodaro. It lasted until 1997 and mobilized around 8 million US $ from its Member States for large scale conservation measures which aimed at protecting the site from flooding, implementation of national capacity building activities and for the installation of a conservation and monitoring laboratory.
The safeguarding campaign comprised of groundwater control through the installation of tube wells, river training, conservation of structural remains, landscaping and plantation. These activities were conducted by national and international experts with the involvement of the local communities. Thanks to the campaign, an estimated 150 million people around the world, including schoolchildren, were informed about Moenjodaro and the ancient Indus civilization.
Furthermore, an UNDP project for national capacity-building in cultural heritage was implemented with success thanks to funds provided by Japan. The immediate objectives of the UNESCO/Japan-Funds-in-Trust project were to strengthen the Moenjodaro conservation laboratory in terms of equipment and skills and to develop suitable conservation methods for the ancient brick structures. This resulted in the development of scientific conservation methods on the basis of data collected on salts and humidity, such as the protection of the ancient brickwork using mud mortar to form a sacrificial layer in which deterioration can take place.


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SOHO spots 2,000th comet
As people on Earth celebrate the holidays and prepare to ring in the New Year, an ESA/NASA spacecraft has quietly reached its own milestone: on December 26, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) discovered its 2000th comet.
Drawing on help from citizen scientists around the world, SOHO has become the single greatest comet finder of all time. This is all the more impressive since SOHO was not specifically designed to find comets, but to monitor the sun.
"Since it launched on December 2, 1995 to observe the sun, SOHO has more than doubled the number of comets for which orbits have been determined over the last three hundred years," says Joe Gurman, the U.S. project scientist for SOHO at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Of course, it is not SOHO itself that discovers the comets -- that is the province of the dozens of amateur astronomer volunteers who daily pore over the fuzzy lights dancing across the pictures produced by SOHO's LASCO (or Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph) cameras. Over 70 people representing 18 different countries have helped spot comets over the last 15 years by searching through the publicly available SOHO images online.
The 1999th and 2000th comet were both discovered on December 26 by Michal Kusiak, an astronomy student at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Kusiak found his first SOHO comet in November 2007 and has since found more than 100.
"There are a lot of people who do it," says Karl Battams who has been in charge of running the SOHO comet-sighting website since 2003 for the Naval Research Lab in Washington, where he also does computer processing for LASCO. "They do it for free, they're extremely thorough, and if it wasn't for these people, most of this stuff would never see the light of day."
Battams receives reports from people who think that one of the spots in SOHO's LASCO images looks to be the correct size and brightness and headed for the sun characteristics typical of the comets SOHO finds. He confirms the finding, gives each comet an unofficial number, and then sends the information off to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass, which categorizes small astronomical bodies and their orbits.
It took SOHO ten years to spot its first thousand comets, but only five more to find the next thousand. That's due partly to increased participation from comet hunters and work done to optimize the images for comet-sighting, but also due to an unexplained systematic increase in the number of comets around the sun. Indeed, December alone has seen an unprecedented 37 new comets spotted so far, a number high enough to qualify as a "comet storm."
LASCO was not designed primarily to spot comets. The LASCO camera blocks out the brightest part of the sun in order to better watch emissions in the sun's much fainter outer atmosphere, or corona. LASCO's comet finding skills are a natural side effect -- with the sun blocked, it's also much easier to see dimmer objects such as comets.
"But there is definitely a lot of science that comes with these comets," says Battams. "First, now we know there are far more comets in the inner solar system than we were previously aware of, and that can tell us a lot about where such things come from and how they're formed originally and break up. We can tell that a lot of these comets all have a common origin." Indeed, says Battams, a full 85% of the comets discovered with LASCO are thought to come from a single group known as the Kreutz family, believed to be the remnants of a single large comet that broke up several hundred years ago.
The Kreutz family comets are "sungrazers" bodies whose orbits approach so near the Sun that most are vaporized within hours of discovery but many of the other LASCO comets boomerang around the sun and return periodically. One frequent visitor is comet 96P Machholz. Orbiting the sun approximately every six years, this comet has now been seen by SOHO three times.
SOHO is a cooperative project between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA. The spacecraft was built in Europe for ESA and equipped with instruments by teams of scientists in Europe and the USA.
Provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center


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Green Vilnius (Parks, Cemetaries, Beaches)
A 2009 survey recognized Vilnius as the greenest capital in Eastern Europe. Furthermore, Vilnius air is the cleanest among all European capital cities.
To achieve this Vilnius urban planners intentionally skipped many areas during the city expansion. These are named "parks" but with limited landscapping some of them are in fact urban forests. They are now popular for strolling, dogwalking or enjoying a picnic.
The oldest of these pristine zones of Vilnius is right next to Cathedral and the Castle. Known as Sereikiškių Park and the Hill Park (Kalnų parkas) it includes multiple hills with good city views, among them the Pilies (Castle) Hill, the Hill of Three Crosses (Trijų kryžių) and the Gedimino kapo (Gediminas Grave) Hill.
Larger and equally popular is the 162 ha Vingis (Bend) park to the west of New Town, hugged from 3 sides by Neris river. A former nobility hunting ground it is now a major location for summer song festivals and also hosts a rugby stadium and a WW1 German cemetary amidst its greenery. Today Vingis park forms a part of north-to-south chain of green zones which separates pre-1940 Vilnius boroughs to the east from Soviet boroughs to the west. While Vingis park is developed, much of this "Green belt" is not and there are places where one may feel to be teleported to a countryside forest after walking merely several hundred meters from high-rise residentials.
A bit further from downtown the two regional parks within Vilnius city limits (Pavilnis and Verkiai) are much better for recreation as they host some impressive scenery (Pūčkoriai rock exposure), interwar military installations and 17th-19th century manors (see Suburbs of Vilnius).
The old cemetaries of Vilnius may compete with parks in their greenness but have a different aura. To contemplate you may visit the early 19th century hilly Rasos cemetary (Southern Vilnius) or the smaller Bernardinai cemetary in Užupis (Old Town). Both include elaborate tombstones and famous burials. Antakalnis cemetary (Antakalnis borough) is the burial place for 20th century celebrities, heroes and villains. If you prefer religious minorities there is an Old Believer cemetary in Southern Vilnius, Muslim cemetaries near mosques in southern Suburbs and a Jewish zone in Sudervė cemetary (Viršuliškės borough). Sadly many famous minority graveyards were razed by the Soviets, among them two Protestant and the main Jewish one. Under the Soviet rule the tradition to bury the dead along religious lines also faded and the modern graveyards accomodate people of all communities.
Following the trend set by Paris Vilnius establishes a "beach" yearly on the bank of Neris in the New City Center where various public sport activities take place. Swimming is however not allowed in the river there. But you may swim in Neris within city limits at the beaches of Valakupiai suburb north of Antakalnis. Other beaches are available at Balsiai suburb lakes. All of these are possible to access by Vinius public buses.
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Hello everyone,
Here are some pictures of Tatasombas that I took in a small village call Boukoumbe.
Tatasomba's are small beninese houses that are circular and made of clay.
I will be posting the rest maybe in two weeks, because I just moved to a new place and the internet takes two weeks to install... what a shame :(
I hope to read from you soon.
And thanks for all the lovely comments I really appreciated them.
I wish you all a lovely week


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Ok, I know this is politically incorrect but still damn hilarious. A group of 20 members from the local weight watchers in Växjö in southern Sweden gathered together over Christmas to compare the no if pounds lost by each.
Unfortunately for them their combined weight exceeded the tolerance levels of the floor at their meeting location and the entire floor collapsed. Thankfully no one was hurt during this, but this should give the members that little extra motivation to loose weight.
Source: Floor collapses at Weight Watchers meeting – Times Online.
– Suramya