text: Welcome to Local Gay Teens, the free dating website that introduces you to local young gay members in Israel. Local Gay Teens is a 100% free dating website for finding young men and twinks in your area, registration only takes seconds. Click a province/state within Israel from the list below or scroll to the left to find gay teens directly.

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National Velvet
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|Velvet Brown (Taylor) wins a horse in a raffle and is determined to train it to compete in the famed Grand National race with the help of her best friend, Mi (Rooney). Taylor, only 12 at the time, is superb in her first starring role. Rooney also gives a fine performance. Filmed with a loving eye on lushly decorated sets, this is a masterpiece version of the story of affection between a girl and her pet. Based on the novel by Enid Bagnold and followed by the dismal "International Velvet" in 1978.
|Directed by:
|Clarence Brown
|Pandro S. Berman
|Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Arthur Treacher, Donald Crisp, Anne Revere, Angela Lansbury, Reginald Owen, Norma Varden, Jackie "Butch" Jenkins, Terence (Terry) Kilburn


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World's first plant-based patty expands across Golden Krust restaurants and into retail channel
NEW YORK, NY, October 23, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ — After a successful market test at Golden Krust® Company-operated restaurants, the world's first plant-based Jamaican patty made with Beyond Meat® is expanding across the Golden Krust Caribbean Restaurant system and into the grocery retail channel.
"We are proud to partner with Beyond Meat to produce a plant-based protein patty with all the heritage of our Jamaican family recipe." says Haywood Hawthorne President, Retail of Golden Krust, "We are excited to share this innovation with consumers seeking plant-based protein options and still expect the authentic taste our fans love."
Golden Krust Jamaican patties made with Beyond Meat were well received at select Golden Krust restaurants this summer. Supported by an integrated marketing campaign, this innovative plant-based offering will be sold in over 100 Golden Krust restaurants and more than 1,000 supermarkets, initially along the East coast, starting today. We anticipate many more retailers will offer our growing "better for you" Jamaican patty line over the coming months.
"We're excited to partner with Golden Krust and appreciate their trust in us to deliver delicious plant-based protein options to their loyal customers. Golden Krust is bringing plant-based protein to the market in a new and different way, which is exciting for us at Beyond Meat," said Tim Smith, Vice President, Foodservice Sales North America at Beyond Meat.
About Golden Krust®: Golden Krust is a premier producer and franchisor of Caribbean food sold in over 25,000 retail locations and over 110 franchise-operated and Company restaurants throughout the United States. We exist to provide the taste of the Caribbean to the world. The original bakery was formed over 30 years ago in New York City and exists today. Golden Krust produces over 50 million Jamaican patties per year along with a full assortment of bakery goods. Visit goldenkrust.com and follow @GoldenKrust, #GoldenKrust and #BeyondGolden on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Golden Krust® is a registered trademark of Golden Krust. © 2020 Golden Krust. All rights reserved.
About Beyond Meat®: Beyond Meat, Inc. (NASDAQ:BYND) is one of the fastest growing food companies in the United States, offering a portfolio of revolutionary plant-based meats. Founded in 2009, Beyond Meat has a mission of building meat directly from plants, an innovation that enables consumers to experience the taste, texture and other sensory attributes of popular animal-based meat products while enjoying the nutritional and environmental benefits of eating its plant-based meat products. Beyond Meat's brand commitment, Eat What You Love™, represents a strong belief that by eating its portfolio of plant-based meats, consumers can enjoy more, not less, of their favorite meals, and by doing so, help address concerns related to human health, climate change, resource conservation and animal welfare. Beyond Meat's portfolio of fresh and frozen plant-based proteins are currently sold at approximately 112,000 retail and foodservice outlets in more than 85 countries worldwide. Visit www.BeyondMeat.com and follow @BeyondMeat, #BeyondBurger and #GoBeyond on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Beyond Meat® is a registered trademark of Beyond Meat, Inc.
For the original version of this press release, please visit 24-7PressRelease.com here


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Meningococcemia is an acute and potentially life-threatening infection of the bloodstream.
See also: Septicemia
Meningococcemia is caused by a bacteria called Neisseria meningitidis. The bacteria frequently lives in a person's upper respiratory tract without causing visible signs of illness. The bacteria can be spread from person to person through respiratory droplets -- for example, you may become infected if you are around someone with the condition when they sneeze or cough.
Family members and those closely exposed to someone with the condition are at increased risk. The infection occurs more frequently in winter and early spring.
There may be few symptoms at first. Some may include:
Later symptoms may include:
Blood tests will be done to rule out other infections and help confirm meningococcemia. Such tests may include:
Other tests that may be done include:
Meningococcemia is a medical emergency. Persons with this type of infection are often admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital, where they are closely monitored. The person may be placed in respiratory isolation for the first 24 hours to help prevent the spread of the infection to others.
Treatments may include:
Early treatment results in a good outcome. When shock develops, the outcome is less certain.
The condition is most life threatening in those who have:
Patients who do not develop meningitis also tend to have a poorer outcome.
Go to the emergency room immediately if you have symptoms of meningococcemia. Call your doctor if you have been around someone with the disease.
Preventive antibiotics for family members and contacts are often recommended. Speak with your health care provider about this option.
A vaccine that covers some -- but not all -- strains of meningococcus is recommended for children. Unvaccinated college students who live in dormitories should also consider receiving this vaccine. In this scenario, it should be given a few weeks before they first move into the dormitory. You should discuss the appropriate use of this vaccine with your health care provider.
Meningococcal septicemia; Meningococcal blood poisoning; Meningococcal bacteremia
Apicella MA. Meningococcal infections. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 321.
Reviewed by: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; Jatin M. Vyas, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
Notice: The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. Copyright 1997-2012, A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.


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Media industry's top minds to assemble, discuss, and debate during Advertising Week
Media industry's top minds to assemble, discuss, and debate during Advertising Week
The New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS), through its Master of Arts in Graphic Communications Management and Technology program, will host MEDIA Magazine's Fifth Annual "Future of Media" Forum on Wednesday, October 3 at the NYU Kimmel Center, starting at 8 a.m. The Forum coincides with Advertising Week, an annual gathering of advertising, marketing, media and communications leaders.
"We're excited to again present our annual exploration of the frontiers of media," said Kenneth Fadner, chairman and publisher of Media Post Communications, the holding company for MEDIA Magazine. "Things have changed so rapidly and so dramatically in the world of media that we've had lively debates for four straight years. The 'Future of Media' Forum is all about where we're going as an industry. With that question continually under study, what better host and sponsor for the Forum than NYU, New York City's top academic institution, covering the same subject matter?"
The "Future of Media" Forum brings together the most prominent executives from all sides of the media business to share and discuss the industry's future. This year's panel includes: David Fischer, vice president, marketing, Facebook; Eric Hirshberg, CEO, Activision; Arianna Huffington, co-founder, the Huffington Post; David Kenny, chairman and CEO, the Weather Channel; Nigel Morris, CEO, Aegis Media Americas & EMEA; Miles Nadal, CEO, MDC Partners; and Tony Pace, CMO, SUBWAY Franchise World Headquarters.
"We are pleased to host and sponsor the 2012 'Future of Media' Forum," said Bonnie Blake, academic director of the NYU-SCPS M.A. in Graphic Communications Management and Technology program. "This is an important discussion about the many challenges and opportunities for the media industry in commerce and society. The Forum will encourage an exchange of ideas among students, alumni, faculty members, and industry leaders."
The "Future of Media" Forum begins at 8 a.m. and ends at 10:45 a.m. To learn more and to register, visit http://www.mediapost.com/futureofmedia.
The M.A. in Graphic Communications Management and Technology program prepares strategic and innovative managers across media. For more information about the program, contact Bonnie Blake at 212-992-3222 or email@example.com.
About MediaPost Communications
MediaPost is an integrated publishing and conference company whose mission is to provide a complete array of resources for advertising and marketing decision makers. MediaPost publishes MEDIA and OMMA Magazines and a great variety of daily e-newsletters and produces over 30 industry conferences and events each year.
About the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies
Established in 1934, NYU-SCPS (scps.nyu.edu) is one of NYU's several degree-granting schools and colleges, each with a unique academic profile. The reputation of NYU-SCPS arises from its place as the NYU home for study and applied research related to key knowledge-based industries where the New York region leads globally. This is manifest in the School's diverse graduate, undergraduate, and continuing education programs in fields such as Real Estate and Construction Management; Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management; Global Affairs; Philanthropy and Fundraising; Graphic Communications Media, Publishing, and Digital Arts; Human Capital Management, Marketing, and Public Relations; with complementary strengths in the Liberal and Allied Arts; Translation and Interpreting; Management and Information Technology; and Finance and Taxation. More than 100 distinguished full-time faculty members collaborate with an exceptional cadre of practitioner/adjunct faculty and lecturers to create vibrant professional and academic networks that attract nearly 5,000 degree-seeking students from around the globe. In addition, the School fulfills the recurrent continuing higher education needs of local and professional communities, as evidenced by 55,000 annual enrollments in individual courses, specialized certificate programs, conferences, workshops, seminars, and public events. The School's community is enriched by more than 25,000 degree-holding alumni worldwide, many of whom serve as mentors, guest speakers, and advisory board members.


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NEW YORK—Wikipedia, the online, reader-edited encyclopedia, honored the 750th anniversary of American independence on July 25 with a special featured section on its main page Tuesday.
"It would have been a major oversight to ignore this portentous anniversary," said Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, whose site now boasts over 4,300,000 articles in multiple languages, over one-quarter of which are in English, including 11,000 concerning popular toys of the 1980s alone. "At 750 years, the U.S. is by far the world's oldest surviving democracy, and is certainly deserving of our recognition," Wales said. "According to our database, that's 212 years older than the Eiffel Tower, 347 years older than the earliest-known woolly-mammoth fossil, and a full 493 years older than the microwave oven."
"In fact," added Wales, "at three-quarters of a millennium, the USA has been around almost as long as technology."
The commemorative page is one of the most detailed on the site, rivaling entries for Firefly and the Treaty Of Algeron for sheer length. Subheadings include "Origins Of Colonial Discontent," "Some Famous Guys In Wigs And Three-Cornered Hats," and "Christmastime In Gettysburg." It also features detailed maps of the original colonies—including Narnia, the central ice deserts, and Westeros—as well as profiles of famous American historical figures such as Benjamin Franklin, Special Agent Jack Bauer, and Samuel Adams who is also a defensive tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals.
"On July 25, 1256, delegates gathered at Comerica Park to sign the Declaration Of Independence, which rejected the rule of the British over its 15 coastal North American colonies," reads an excerpt from the entry. "Little did such founding fathers as George Washington, George Jefferson, and ***ERIC IS A FAG*** know that their small, querulous republic would later become the most powerful and prosperous nation in history, the Unified States Of America."
"All our lives, we are taught about the achievements of Washington, Jefferson, and FAG, but we seldom consider the factors and conditions that led them to risk everything for a republican cause," Wales said. "What was it really like to be a patriot in those times? How did the colonists' perception of democracy conform and contrast with our modern one? Did Betsy Ross, as legend has it, really have the biggest boobies in the New World? It's these types of questions I want Wikipedia to be a forum for, all at the click of a mouse."
The exhaustive entry also includes links to video clips of the First Thanksgiving, hosted by YouTube.
The special anniversary tribute refutes many myths about the period and American history. According to the entry, the American Revolution was in fact instigated by Chuck Norris, who incinerated the Stamp Act by looking at it, then roundhouse-kicked the entire British army into the Atlantic Ocean. A group of Massachusetts Minutemaids then unleashed the zombie-generating T-Virus on London, crippling the British economy and severely limiting its naval capabilities.
The entry also addresses several traditionally taboo subjects, such as the influence of LSD on the drafting of the Constitution and the role of funk-slaves in painting the White House black.
While other news and information websites chose to mark the anniversary in a muted fashion, if at all, Wikipedia gave it prominent emphasis over other important historical events from the same day, including the independence of the nation of Africa in 1847, the 1984 ascension of Constantine to Emperor of the Holy Roman Emperor, and the 1998 birth of Smokey, a calico cat belonging to Mark and Becky Rousch of Erie, PA.
Founder Wales, a closeted homosexual and hot-dog freak, according to his user-edited bio on the site, also hosted a symposium of amateur historians at the New School in New York on Saturday.
"The Revolution's main adversaries were the patriots and the people from Braveheart," said speaker Tim Capodice, who has edited hundreds of Wikipedia entries on subjects as diverse as Euclidian geometry and Ratfucking. "The patriots, being a rag-tag group of misfits, almost lost on several occasions. But after a string of military antics and a convoluted scheme involving chicken feathers and an inflatable woman, the British were eventually defeated despite a last-minute surge, by a score of 89-87."
Despite spirited discussions bloggers present later described as "eluminating" and "sweet," the symposium was cut short when differences of opinion among the panelists degenerated into personal insults and name-calling.
While Wikipedia's "American Inderpendance" page remains available to all site visitors, administrators have suspended additions and further edits to its content due to vandalism.


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By Andrea Thompson
Senior Science Writer
Climate Central
This is Andrea Thompson's first post for EarthDesk. Andrea reports on extreme weather and climate change for Climate Central, and previously wrote for Live Science and Space.com. This article appeared on Climate Central March 30. More on Andrea at the conclusion.
The overall warming of the planet has had a clear impact on Earth's natural systems and human society and will pose increased – and potentially disastrous – risks in the future if the world does not make a more concerted effort to adapt and try to prevent the worst possible outcomes.
That's the continued message from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations-established body made up of hundreds of scientists who review and summarize the state of climate science and the research into its impacts, ways to adapt to them and ways to mitigate the damage. The IPCC report Climate Change 2014 and Summary for Policy Makers can be downloaded here.
The impacts of climate change and the ways in which both humans and nature can adapt to an altered environment are the focus of the second part of the IPCC's fifth assessment report, which was released on Sunday. It follows the September release of the first portion of the report, which focused on the scientific evidence for global warming and stated unequivocally that humans are behind the warming of Earth's average temperature.
Climate change has already contributed to a 1.6°F rise in global average temperature since the start of the 20th century and the rate of warming is likely to increase into the 21st century. The second report makes clear that in addition to a change in the global average temperature, other climate change impacts observed to date have hit all regions of the world and affected everything from access to food and water to extreme weather.
"In view of these impacts, and those that we have projected for the future, no one on this planet is going to be untouched by climate change," Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the IPCC, said in the press conference announcing the report's conclusions.
The report has fewer specific predictions of future impacts compared to the last iteration released in 2007, but points out the significant risks climate impacts pose to globe's most vulnerable populations. It also has a greater emphasis on adaptation strategies, which range from improving urban infrastructure to creating drought-resistant crop varieties.
Compared to 2007's report, the newest iteration "assesses a substantially larger knowledge base of relevant literature," which allowed those assembling the report to consider a wider range of impacts, said Patricia Romero-Lankao, an author on the report and a sociologist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo.
Among the impacts of climate change that are already occurring, the report calls out: shifts in the ranges of species and changes to migration patterns, which could alter where key ecosystems such as valuable fisheries are found; changes in precipitation patterns, which affect the availability of water for drinking and agriculture; the effects of climate extremes on crops, which could threaten food supplies and the livelihoods of the world's farmers; and increases in health impacts, for example the number of deaths from heat waves, like the one that killed thousands in Europe in 2003.
All of these impacts are also listed as major future concerns around the world. The report also calls out sea-level rise as a major future concern, as it contributes to coastal flooding and higher storms surges – issues that particularly affect those in low-lying coastal areas, where a substantial portion of the world's poor live. Extreme weather events could also damage critical infrastructure, even in developed countries, if steps aren't taken to strengthen it, as Hurricane Sandy's inundation of sewage systems and New York City's subway system made clear.
The report also warns that climate change could exacerbate problems, such as drought, that lead to conflicts around the world through migrations and disputes over resources.
"Climate change can lead to displacement, can lead to increased conflict," Pachauri said.
All of these impacts are expected to worsen in the coming decades if society fails to adapt to the changes that are already in play because of warming "locked in" to the climate system by past greenhouse gas emissions and if it fails to enact any meaningful measures to curtail future emissions, the report makes clear. The more warming, the more dire the future impacts become.
"Increasing magnitudes of warming increase the likelihood of severe, pervasive, and irreversible impacts," the report warns.
The first part of the fifth assessment report stated that global temperatures are likely to exceed 2.7°F above preindustrial levels by the end of the century but could reach as high as 8.64°F above 1986-2005 levels, depending on the levels of future emissions. At the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009, governments agreed to keep future warming below 3.6°F, which the report suggested was unlikely to happen because of the warming that past emissions have guaranteed. The third part of the assessment, focused on ways to mitigate climate change, will be released on April 13 after a meeting in Berlin.
The report examines the efforts at adaptation that have been made around the world to date, which vary widely between regions, and those that should be considered for the future. Strategies mentioned in the report vary from establishing better building codes to spreading more efficient irrigation practices, with many that would provide benefits to society even without climate change.
"A lot of these things make sense anyway," said Kevin Trenberth, a climate scientist also from NCAR, who was not involved with this report but has been an author and editor on past IPCC reports.
Trenberth suggested the report could be improved by noting which adaptations strategies would have the biggest impact and how costs for them would be covered. He did applaud the group for noting funding gaps for adaptation, which are particularly affecting developing nations, which are expected to see impacts out of proportion to what they have contributed to global warming.
Romero-Lankao said that the process of putting together the report was an educational one for her, illuminating the process of international negotiations.
"We scientists think that all what is needed from us in these negotiations is to ensure accuracy, balance, and clarity of message in our findings. That is not the case for policy makers for whom a lot is at stake," Romero-Lankao told Climate Central in an email.
«« »»
Andrea Thompson is a Senior Science Writer at Climate Central, "an independent organization of leading scientists and journalists researching and reporting the facts about our changing climate and its impact on the American public." Andrea's reporting focuses on extreme weather and climate change. Previously, she was a writer and reporter for Live Science and Space.com, reporting on climate change, weather and other science-related topics. She graduated from Georgia Tech with a B.S. in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences in 2004 and a Master's in the same subject in 2006. She attended the Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program at New York University and graduated with a Master of Arts in 2006. More reporting from Andrea here.


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In the mid-1980s, Gary Burton was just entering middle age, but he'd had experiences as a jazz player to fill several lifetimes. Duke Ellington had treated him with kindness, Milt Jackson with suspicion, Miles Davis with a death threat. He'd endured the mercurial tendencies of Stan Getz, in whose band he played in the 1960s and who, like so many, fought the battle between creative genius and substance abuse.
Burton's memoir, "Learning to Listen," tells these stories and situates its author's own major contributions in jazz's history. After leaving Getz in 1966, Burton — with guitarist Larry Coryell and others — pioneered jazz-rock fusion and played venues like the Fillmore in San Francisco. As a player, he brought his four-mallet technique and "Burton grip" to the vibraphone and marimba, expanding the potential for those instruments in both lead and support settings. As a bandleader, he spotted and mentored the likes of Pat Metheny.
Burton also taught at the Berklee College of Music, becoming a dean and helping to introduce rock and new technologies to the curriculum. But his soul was unsettled. In his early 40s, he was a father of two but twice divorced, his heterosexual marriages having failed, as he knew inside but couldn't admit, because he was gay.
The memoir opens with the 1994 radio interview in which he came out in public. By that time, he had already gradually revealed his sexuality to close colleagues and friends. Burton has gone on to a happy life as an out gay man, and he offers the book as the story of "a gay jazz musician or a jazz-playing gay man, whichever you prefer."
Despite this scene-setter, Burton's book for most of its length holds the topic of his sexuality at bay, much as Burton did growing up in rural Indiana and as a young musician in Boston and New York. His presence was already freighted with being a white kid from the country, though he says he rarely felt that race worked against him. Out of doggedness and probably sublimation, he plunged himself into work, earning breaks from promoter George Wein and many others whom he credits graciously.
Burton tells his journey in linear manner: We follow his career over time and meet a constellation of jazz figures on the bandstand, on the road, and in the studio. The writing is plain but clear. A few stories ramble and some sections lapse into chronology, but the story is generally edifying.
The time with Getz proves especially rich, full of anecdotes about the band, its difficult leader, and their adventures. One, a US-sponsored journey to Asia while the Vietnam war was in full force, leads to encounters with the King of Thailand and a bizarre mission to play jazz for distracted soldiers in jungle bases that the military was telling the public did not exist.
A picture emerges of a community of artists who, while young and often disorganized in their private lives, were fully in rhythm with the changes of their time. Their relevance was beyond question. Burton, who smoked some weed but stayed lucid, keeping his own turmoil bottled up, proves an apt chronicler. Sidebars on key figures in his life, from Lionel Hampton to Chick Corea, offer insight on their musical importance and their quirks.
A few short chapters near the book's end are valuable in a different way. In one, on the creative process, Burton shares how he visualizes movement through a song as if showing a guest around a house. In another, he addresses aging and the lessons from watching older jazz greats in their often difficult sunsets.
When Burton finally shares, with candor and grace, how he came to terms with his sexual identity, it functions as a resolution. The chapter title, "Who Is Gary Burton?," is a reference to an album Burton recorded at the start of his career, in 1962. It took two and a half decades after that to know the answer, and the same time again before writing this book. "Learning to Listen" is about a man who learned to listen to himself.
Siddhartha Mitter is a freelance arts and culture journalist for the Globe and other outlets. He can be reached at siddhartha email@example.com.


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Recent years have witnessed a significant increase in the frequency and intensity of climate and weather related hazards putting development gains at risk. By improving their disaster related information base,...
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text:
Majdanek Death Camp Memorials
Mausoleum designed by Wiktor Tolkin. The structure covers a huge mound of human ashes. The engraved sign cautions, "Let our fate be a warning to you."
Photo credit: Noreen Brand © 1997-2013.
May be reproduced for educational use within a single classroom.
A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust
Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology,
College of Education, University of South Florida © 1997-2013.


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The federal government faced calls Monday to take a strong stand in defence of Canada's aluminum industry and its workers as a deal to revise the new North American free-trade agreement appeared close to completion.
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement was signed by the three countries last year, but U.S. ratification has been stalled for months as congressional Democrats and organized labour have bickered with Mexico over labour rights as well as the agreement's treatment of steel and aluminum.
There were concerns the agreement, which aims to update the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, would not be approved before Congress disperses until 2020 and its focus shifts to next fall's presidential election.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was cautious Monday amid chatter of an imminent deal.
"In the lives of ordinary Canadians, there is perhaps no issue in our relationship with the United States that matters more than trade," she said in question period.
"The prime minister raised the ratification of the new NAFTA and other trade issues in his meeting last week with the president and we have been working intensively, including many conversations over the weekend and this morning with our American partners, on getting the deal finalized."
The breakthrough appears to have followed Mexico accepting — with a five-year phase-in period — a U.S. demand to tighten the definition of North American steel in a section of the agreement dealing with where cars and their parts can be said to originate.
Products that officially originate in North America get more favourable treatment than ones that originate abroad but come through one of the countries in the agreement.
However, Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said his country would not accept the same tighter definition for aluminum because the raw materials are not produced in Mexico.
Mexico also rejected U.S. demands for American inspectors to be sent in to ensure Mexican auto workers are being paid $16 per hour on average, though U.S. officials were said to have accepted Mexico's offer to allow dispute-resolution panels to review labour-law compliance.
Labour unions in the U.S. were to be briefed on the proposed amendments on Monday with the hope they would agree to the changes, which would pave the way for the Democratic leaders to offer their own approval.
The Trump administration as well as the Canadian and Mexican governments would then be asked to agree formally to the amended deal before introducing legislation to put it into force.
Details of the amendments had yet to be communicated to Canadian industry and labour groups Monday, but those representing the aluminum sector and its workers were upset the deal may not include a tighter definition on what constitutes North American aluminum.
"We're certainly not happy with this at all because it simply means Mexico wants to keep an open door to foreign metal coming in from China, from the Middle East, from India," said Aluminum Association of Canada president Jean Simard.
Noting the industry was battered by U.S. tariffs last year, Simard added: "Canada has taken the case of aluminum as much as steel up to now and we certainly expect Minister Freeland and the Canadian government to hold their position on this like they've been doing up to now."
Ken Neumann, national director in Canada of the United Steelworkers union, which represents employees in both the aluminum and steel industries, was also critical of Mexico's demand for a five-year phase-in period for tightening the definition of North American steel.
"We strongly would anticipate or hope that our government is going to stand up for our aluminum workers," he said.
"So we're going to keep our fingers crossed. We're going to consult with the government of Canada to make sure they're going to stand up for what's right for the steel industry and for our aluminum workers."
Neumann and other members of the United Steelworkers' leadership team in Canada were scheduled to fly to the U.S. to be briefed Tuesday on details of the proposed amendments.
"At this stage of the game, all eyes are on where organized labour is on Mexico's newest proposals," said Dan Ujczo, an Ohio-based trade lawyer with law firm Dickinson Wright and an expert in Canada-U.S. trade. "If they agree, it's likely House (of Representatives) Democrats will sign off on this."
Yet while there is a chance that legislation could be introduced this week and passed by Congress before Dec. 20 to bring the deal into force, Ujczo warned there still could be unexpected hurdles.
"Nobody has seen the implementing bill soup-to-nuts," he said. "So we're closing Phase 1 of the deal process, then we're on to Phase 2, which will be we'll all have to take a look at the implementing bill."
The new trade pact would replace NAFTA, which came into force in 1994 and eliminated most tariffs and other trade barriers involving the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Critics, including Trump, labour unions and many Democratic lawmakers, branded NAFTA a job-killer for America because it encouraged factories to move south of the border, capitalize on low-wage Mexican workers and ship products back to the U.S. duty-free.
Mexico ratified the new North American deal in June while the Canadian government has said it is waiting to ratify the agreement at the same time as the United States.
—With files from The Associated Press
Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press


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Guyana 2006
In 2006, my friend, Scott Simper and I were hired to film an expedition to climb a new route on the massive cliffs of Mount Roraima, the largest tepui in South America. Mount Roraima is unique in that it sits in three countries, where the borders of Guyana, Brazil and Venezuela come together. The face we would climb was on the Guyana side.Read More


text: by David Crane [email protected] Grip Pod Systems (G.P.S.) is currently manufacturing and marketing an "Enhanced Target Acquisition System (E.T.A.S.), called, appropriately enough, the Grip Pod System (G.P.S.). The G.P.S. is a combination vertical foregrip and bipod system that will allow an operator to "go from a CQB position to prone, and have a stable base for aimed firing in place …Read More »


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Okay, so ostensibly we're going to look at Shailene's dress. Utterly ridiculous of course but, as we spend all our time here on the blog discussing, when you're 22 is exactly when it's time for utterly ridiculous. You want to be able to look back and say "what was I thinking?" It shows growth. So I half-hate it, not least because my mind's eye knows the feeling of that fabric around her shoulders and is cringing, but I staunchly defend her right to wear it. Better this than boring.
That is not why I'm mad at Shailene Woodley today.
I'm mad at Shailene Woodley because of her "views" on feminism. TIME Magazine asked her and she said she was for "sisterhood" instead of feminism, and why do women expect respect from men when they don't respect each other, and if "women rose to power" there wouldn't be balance, and right there is when I started to rage.
Because the occasional woman doesn't respect another, feminism is bad? Because "respect" has come to mean never disagreeing with someone else's decision and behaviour? Because if you like men, you can't be a feminist? Who is spouting all this garbage misinformation for another whole generation to eat and swallow?
First of all, her definitions of feminism are so outdated and wrong and not what the word means. I start to get all flabbergasted and then I go oh, well, she was on The Secret Life as a teenager, maybe she had no real education, but my calculations say she was already 17 by that point. She should know. No? Or at least admit that she doesn't know?
I'm not sure exactly when I learned that I was a feminist but I grew up in the 80s and 90s and all the high-powered in-charge bitches on TV were throwing that word around, even if they got made fun of for it a la Jessie Spano on Saved By the Bell. (I never said I was highbrow.) But it became clear that if you were smart and educated and understood…stuff…in general, then you were. Still, I couldn't pin down the day.
What I can pin down is when I learned to explain it to other people. It's when I read this perfect thing that made me go "ohhhh". This essay, "Yes, You Are", explains that feminism = equality of the sexes. Period. The end. It gives you lots of pithy little ways to say that to the douche in marketing who scoffs at the word or explains how to shut down your brother-in-law while not having a hissy and complaining that he doesn't listen to you. You are a feminist because you would enjoy not being paid 30% less. You are a feminist because you have the opportunity to express yourself in such venerated publications as TIME.
Shailene. You are a feminist because it allows your dumb ass to open a movie. Which is half your career. Lead roles for women! They can work! They can make studios money! Imagine! You know why you can do that? Feminism!
Click here to read Shailene's thoughts on why she isn't a feminist.


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I'm bulk inserting rows into a database and I'm finding (through the query analyser) that the foreign key constraints are taking about 20% of the insertion time. I've tried creating a separate index on the tables containing just the key so that the check could hopefully just do an index seek rather than a clustered index seek but this didn't seem to work.
The next thing I was planning on trying was to disable to check constraints temporarily so I was wondering if there is a way to do this on a per transaction basis.
Failing that I will probably try the performance with the constraints removed as they are also enforced in our DataAccess layer so in theory are redundant.
This SO question contains a possible solution, but it's more permanent than temporary.


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I am paying for additional storage, so the storage limit doesn't concern me. I would like to upload full-resolution pics from my phone to my Picasa albums, but when I choose to upload a picture from my Android to a Picasa album, the picture ends up being resized to 2048 pixel max resolution. Is there any way to disable this or bypass it without using something like Dropbox instead?
Using Nexus S running Jelly Bean.


text: Three IT workers with iPads gathered around a whiteboard in a conference room in Boston to figure out how to improve a long-standing technical service\u2014 and running into more questions than answers.It would have been the beginning of an arduous process that included drafting inadequate original business requirements and technical design documents, circulating them to employees inside the operations groups around the world for comment and review, making revisions, and re-circulating improved documents.Instead, the IT workers struck upon an idea: With only three clicks (or taps) to launch and set up the newly arrived Cisco Jabber app on their iPads, they created a videoconference and invited a key employee in India to answer some of their questions. In doing so, they no longer needed back-and-forth emails and revisions."We went from 10 business days of communication down to an hour," says Mike Fitzgerald, managing director and head of information systems at Eagle Investment Systems, a global technology solutions provider serving the financial services industry. (Fitzgerald was also in the conference room.) Videoconferencing, instant messaging and collaboration on the iPad is gaining steam as more iPads make their way into the enterprise. Companies have become more comfortable with these emerging methods of communication. They're pouring investments into Wi-Fi upgrades and videoconferencing networking technology from tech giants such as Cisco, IBM and Microsoft.The new iPad released earlier this year could provide an even greater lift. Its fast 4G LTE connection capability and Retina graphics display, which doubles the iPad 2's resolution, seem to be built for videoconferencing. "High-definition video on the iPad 3 is vivid," Fitzgerald says.Eagle Investment Systems has some 200 employees using corporate-owned iPads with Jabber, a Cisco app for instant messaging, voice, video and conferencing that Cisco extended to iPad and Windows in March. In the next 12 to 18 months, this number should grow to 600 employees. Roughly half of these employees will be outside the United States, in countries such as England, China, Poland and the Arab states.Slideshow: 15 Ways iPad Goes to WorkIt's not just videoconferencing, either. Mobile devices are changing the way employees talk to each other. Late last year, Eagle Investment Systems studied how its employees were communicating internally and found a massive shift underway: more instant messaging sessions than email sessions.Of course, iPads, iPhones and other smartphones and tablets are great instant-messaging devices. "We think the Jabber component will very quickly become the predominant dashboard for how our users will communicate and collaborate internally," Fitzgerald says.Mike Fitzgerald, managing director and head of IS at Eagle Investment SystemsFitzgerald, though, is quick to point out that companies tend to put too much emphasis on the device\u2014that is, the iPad and smartphone\u2014and not enough on the underlying network. This can spell disaster for a CIO attempting to bring mobile videoconferencing to a company.For example, just look to Skype. People love it for personal use because it's free and are willing to put up with inconsistency and, at times, lackluster video sessions and voice-over-IP. But today's tech-savvy mobile worker won't put up with shoddy communication services at work.Slideshow: 15 Best iPhone Apps for Busy CEOs\n"When you start to develop your business service around this channel, you have to have some predictability," explains Fitzgerald. He decided on Cisco's Jabber because the app is deeply integrated into Cisco's cloud-based TelePresence network infrastructure, and thus he felt confident about Jabber's quality of service in a global environment.\nThe network drives the decision, he says, never the device. \n"We have no idea what the device in front of us is going to look like 10 years from now," Fitzgerald says. "But building and deploying a network is a 10-year-decision ... so we do know what the network is going to look like."\nTom Kaneshige covers Apple and Consumerization of IT for CIO.com. Follow Tom on Twitter @kaneshige. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline and on Facebook. Email Tom at email@example.com


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Best of 1 legal service in san marcos, california, United States - 2023
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'Zombies' Invade NYC During Morning Rush-Hour
NEW YORK (AP) -- As if the morning commute wasn't odd enough, intrepid New Yorkers trying to make their way to work on Tuesday had to battle past hordes of the walking dead.
Two dozen zombies, their clothes spattered with fake blood, were staggering up and down the block outside Madison Square Garden. Downtown, others shuffled across the Brooklyn Bridge.
PHOTO GALLERY: Zombies Take New York
Some pedestrians looked startled or amused by the ghost-white actors with bruised-looking eyes. Some people ignored them entirely. Others whipped out their cell phone cameras.
Horror movie fan Linda Emery was thrilled to see the creatures.
"I'm into zombies, anything with zombies,'' the 58-year-old home care provider from Brooklyn said. It made a change from her usual commute.
"You see a lot of stuff, but not this stuff,'' she said.
Erik Machado, an audio engineer heading to work in New Jersey, was unfazed and passed by the scene with nary a glance at the nightmares walking around.
"Gotta commute, gotta go where I gotta go,'' the Queens resident said.
The stunt was part of a campaign in 26 cities worldwide promoting the Halloween premiere of the AMC television series "The Walking Dead.''
At one point, about 15 zombies crawled on the roof, hood and trunk of a parked, off-duty taxi.
Taxi driver David Pollack managed to escape from the horde, scrambling out of the back seat, playing along with the drama of it all.
"I think I'm going to be walking over the George Washington Bridge and heading over to Jersey, hopefully they haven't gotten there yet,'' he said.
He added, "I'm a tough New Yorker, but I don't mess with zombies.''
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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Conservatism's death gusher
The issue is death -- death gushing at ten thousand pounds per square inch from a mile below the sea, tens of thousands of barrels of death a day. Not just death to eleven human beings. Death to sea birds, sea turtles, dolphins, fish, oyster beds, shrimp, beaches; death to the fishing industry, tourism, jobs; and death to a way of life based on the beauty and bounty of the Gulf.
Many, perhaps a majority, of the Gulf residents affected are conservatives, strong right-wing Republicans, following extremist Governors Bobby Jindal and Haley Barbour. What those conservatives are not saying, and may be incapable of seeing, is that conservatism itself is largely responsible for what happened, and that conservatism is a continuing disaster for conservatives who live along the Gulf. Conservatism is an ideology of death.
It was conservative laissez-faire free market ideology -- that maximizing profit comes first -- that led to:
The corrupt relationship between the oil companies and the Interior Department staff that was supposedly regulating them
Minimizing cost by not drilling relief wells
The principle that oil companies could be responsible their own risk assessments on drilling
Maximizing profit by outsourcing risk assessment that told them what they wanted to hear: zero risk!
Maximizing profit by minimizing cost of materials
Maximizing profit by failing to pay cleanup crews and businesses for their losses
Focusing only on profit by failing to test the cleanup methods to be used if something went wrong
Minimizing cost by sacrificing the health of cleanup crews, refusing to allow them to use respirator masks to protect against toxic fumes.
It is conservative profit-above-all market fundamentalism that has led other oil companies to mount a massive PR campaign to isolate BP as an anomalous "bad actor" and to argue that offshore drilling should be continued by the self-proclaimed "good actors." Their PR fails to mention that in Congressional hearings it came out that they all outsource risk assessment to the same company that declared that BP had "zero risk." The PR fails to mention that they all use cost-benefit analysis to maximize profits just as BP did. Cost-benefit analysis only looks at monetary costs versus benefits, case by case, not at the risk of massive death of the kind that has been gushing out of the Gulf. Death, in itself, even at that scale, is not a "cost." Only an outflow of money is a "cost." This is what follows from conservative laissez-faire market ideology, an ideology that continues to sanction death on a Gulf scale.
But the facts won't make a difference to dyed-in the-wool conservatives, since the facts will be filtered through their ideological frames: when the facts don't fit the frames, the facts will be ignored.
The conservative worldview says man has dominion over nature: nature is there for human monetary profit. Profit is sanctioned over the possibility of massive death and destruction in nature. Conservatives support even more dangerous drilling off the coast of Alaska and are working to repeal the President's moratorium on deep water drilling. Nature be damned; the oil companies have a right to make money, death or no death.
Directness of causation is a rarely noticed property of the conservative worldview. What are the causes of crime? Bad people, lock 'em up, say conservatives. There are no social or economic causes, that is, systemic causes, in the conservative universe. So it is with the Death Gusher. Blame BP, the "bad actor." Look for the immediate cause, but don't look any further, at the profit-above-all system in which all oil companies operate, a system idolized by conservatives. Without an understanding of systemic causes, the causes cited above won't make much sense.
A great many self-identified conservatives are actually what I've called "biconceptuals," who have both conservative and progressive worldviews, but on different issues. They actually share a progressive view of nature: they love the beauty and appreciate the bounty of the Gulf, as it was before the Death Gusher. They want to save the environment of the Gulf and the way of life as it was. But shift the issue to the culpability of laissez-faire markets, the absolute right to profit from nature and profit-maximizing corporate practices, and their conservative worldview is activated. They will not be able to see the causal role of conservatism itself in the Death Gusher, and in the conservative ideology of greed and death that has given us the global warming disaster we now face worldwide.
Incidentally, there are bi-conceptual Democrats who share the conservative view of the market. Their views have led to many of President Obama's problems with Democrats in Congress.
Finally, there is what progressive Democrats see as a contradiction: conservative advocates of smaller and weaker government and critics of governmental power trying to pin the Death Gusher Disaster on Obama for not having and using enough government power to prevent or lessen the disaster -- even though the government has no capacity to plug oil wells.
The contradiction is logical, from a progressive point of view, but not from a conservative point of view. The highest value in the conservative universe is to preserve, defend, and extend conservatism itself. Anything that helps, or fails to harm, Obama contradicts this highest principle, since Obama's deepest values on the whole fundamentally contradict conservative values. Conservatives, on principle, cannot let a major opportunity to criticize Obama go by. Of course, it also helps conservatives politically.
Those who are not held captive by the conservative worldview should be able to recognize the causal role of conservatism in the Death Gusher in the Gulf. Many progressives do, but keep it to themselves.
Progressives have been much too kind to conservatives on this matter. They have largely accepted the Bad Actor Frame, criticizing BP but not the whole industry and its practices. No one should be drilling miles under the sea, where oil comes out at 10,000 pounds per square inch. No matter how much profit is involved.
Conservatism gushes death -- and not only in the Gulf of Mexico.
Cross-posted from the Huffington Post.


text: Everyone who knows anything about optical sights, knows the name C-MORE. However, I went to C-MORE's booth at TREXPO East for one reason, and one reaon only, to view and handle something I had only seen in pictures up to this point. It's called LSS, and it's one of the coolest little "accessory" products I've seen in awhile. LSS stands …Read More »


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A brief video clip released Saturday captures the massive tsunami that crippled Japan's Fukushima Daiichi power plant, showing the wall of water that slammed into the facility and created an ongoing crisis.
The video shows the giant wave generated by the historic March 11 earthquake crashing over the plant's seawall and engulfing the facility, with one sheet of spray rising higher than the buildings that house the plant's six reactors. Tokyo Electric Power, the plant's owner, told reporters the wall of water was likely 45 to 48 feet higher than normal sea levels — easily overwhelming the plant's 5-meter seawall.
The footage was was shot from high ground about 900 meters south of the plant by a worker who evacuated before the tsunami hit, the Tokyo Electric Power Company said in releasing the six-second clip.
Photos released by the company showed shattered windows, scattered papers and dangling ceiling tiles throughout the plant's now-empty office annex. Two workers were killed in the basement of the No. 4 reactor's turbine plant when the tsunami struck, and their bodies were recovered only last week.
The tsunami knocked out generators and pumps needed to cool the plant's three operating reactors following the magnitude 9 earthquake, leaving engineers struggling to prevent a bigger disaster as those units radioactive cores overheated. In response to the quake, Japanese regulators issued tougher standards for emergency power at nuclear plants Saturday.
Power stations will be required to have two diesel generators as backup power for each reactor unit, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, the chief spokesman for Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. Current regulations require only one generator per unit.
At the plant, workers are beginning to lay ground-level pipes between the reactor units and the radioactive waste treatment facility where engineers hope to pump the contaminated water that has been building up, Sakae Muto, the head of the utility's nuclear power division, said Saturday.
Workers have been pouring hundreds of tons of water a day into the reactors in an effort to keep them cool until normal circulation systems can be restored. The No. 2 reactor is believed to be leaking highly radioactive water, some of which had been spilling into the Pacific until Wednesday, while flooded basements in the turbine plants of all three units are making it impossible to restore power, company officials said.
And engineers have been adding nitrogen into the primary containment shell around reactor No. 1, a move aimed at countering a buildup of flammable hydrogen in the unit. The inert nitrogen displaces oxygen that could fuel an explosion, like the hydrogen blast that blew apart the buildings surrounding units 1 and 3 in the days following the earthquake.
Hydrogen buildup is a symptom of damaged fuel rods in the cores of the reactors. But Tokyo Electric has called the chances of another explosion "extremely low." And new equipment allowed engineers to raise the concentration of nitrogen from 98 percent to 99 percent Saturday, Nishiyama said.
Workers returned to the plant Friday following a magnitude 7.1 aftershock late Thursday night that forced them to evacuate for about eight hours, Japanese authorities said. The aftershock is not believed to have inflicted any further damage to the plant, Tokyo Electric and the safety agency reported Friday.
(Source: CNN)


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Staying active and exercising as you age
Staying active and exercising as you age.
Staying active and exercising can benefit anyone at any age. However, as you age, staying active becomes even more important. Regular exercise contributes to overall well-being, helps you maintain an independent lifestyle and can impact your health in a big way. Here are just a few ways staying active and exercising can improve your health as an older adult.
- Helps you lose or maintain weight. Staying active and exercising can help you burn calories by increasing metabolism and building muscle mass.
- Reduces the impact of chronic disease or illness. Exercise can improve symptoms and lower the risk for chronic conditions including diabetes, asthma, heart disease, obesity, Alzheimer's disease and joint pain.
- Enhances your mobility, flexibility and balance. Exercise improves strength and flexibility which can reduce the risk for falls.
- Improves sleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation, regular exercise can improve sleep and curb sleepiness during the day.
- Boosts your mood. Exercise releases endorphins which can help to alleviate stress and reduce the feelings of anxiety, depression and sadness.
- Improves brain health. Staying fit later in life can benefit the brain, boosting memory and thinking skills. Exercise may even help slow the progression of brain disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.
Before you can reap the benefits, you have to start moving! Starting and maintaining an exercise routine can be challenging and even overwhelming. Here are a few tips to help you get started safely.
- Talk with your doctor. Schedule an appointment for a physical exam and discuss your current medical conditions. This is a good time to ask what activities to avoid or add to your routine.
- Start slow and don't get discouraged. Slow and steady wins the race! Take time to build-up your exercise routine and don't get discouraged if you have to break it up into increments. This is the best way to prevent injury.
- Create a schedule. Commit to a schedule for several weeks. Eventually it will become a healthy habit.
- Stay motivated. Do what works for you. Invite a friend to join you or set small and easily attainable goals to keep you focused.
- Pay attention and stay alert. Stop exercising if you feel dizzy, short of breath, experience red or swollen joints or have chest pain. Listen to your body and make adjustments to your routine.
The key to staying active is to find activities that you enjoy. Try mixing it up to keep things interesting. Here are a few suggestions:
- Take a walk. All you need is a comfortable pair of walking shoes and a safe place to walk.
- Take a class. Take a fitness class to stay fit, have fun and meet friends. Improve your balance, strength and flexibility with Yoga and Tai Chi.
- Take a dip. Work out in the water to reduce the stress and strain on your joints.
The bottom line — staying active and exercising regularly is the best thing you can do for yourself as you age. It's never too late to start. The challenge is tailoring your program to best fit you. Start today to live a longer and healthier life!


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The 2,500 or so scientists, economists and other experts of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) call global warming "unequivocal" and think it "very likely" that humans have contributed to the problem. The world's governments agree with the panel, which also shared last year's Nobel Peace Prize.
Then there's the Non-Governmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC). These 23 individuals from 15 countries, including a handful of scientists, disagree. Led by physicist S. Fred Singer—best known for his denial of the dangers of secondhand smoke—they argue the reverse: "Natural causes are very likely to be the dominant cause" of climate change.
The NIPCC goes on to contend: "We do not say anthropogenic greenhouse gases cannot produce some warming. Our conclusion is that the evidence shows they are not playing a significant role."
In other words, even skeptics, deniers, contrarians—pick your favorite term—agree that global warming is real, or so it appears from the recent three-day conference in New York City put together by the Heartland Institute, a bastion of free-market thinking on the perils of junk science and government economic regulation. They just disagree—even amongst themselves—whether it is man-made.
On the one side sits Patrick Michaels, the recently resigned state climatologist of Virginia who ascribes global warming to fluctuations in the sun's energy output aided and abetted by human activity. In his conference dinner address, Michaels said: "Global warming is real and people have something to do with it."
On the other side is astrophysicist Willie Soon of the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. He lays the blame on the sun for all the agreed-on warming. And meteorologist William Gray of Colorado State University in Fort Collins believes the sun will soon reverse its effect. "We should begin to see cooling coming on," he predicts. "I'm ready to make a big financial bet."
If you are interested in seeing a contrarian in action, here is your chance:
See the president and co-founder of the Heartland Institute, Joseph Bast, explain how the science of climate change is shifting, how a little global warming would be a good thing, and the reason not to vote. (download the original)
Watch meteorologist William Gray explain hurricane prediction, the perils of computer models and the coming global cooling. (download the original)
Marc Morano, spokesman for the U.S. senator who called global warming the "greatest hoax ever played on the American people," answers the question, "Is doubt your product?" (download the original)
Watch meteorologist Roy Spencer discuss the pitfalls of scientific publishing, the climate consensus and intellectual honesty. (download the original)
See civil rights campaigner Roy Innis equate environmental regulation to racism. (download the original)
ABC reporter John Stossel speaks on what he calls the socialist media, the religion of environmentalism and scare stories. (download the original)
These are interviews, not debates, and posted essentially unedited. They have been condensed in some cases, but the point is to let you experience some of the breadth of the contrarian viewpoint and use it as you see fit. In fact, please feel free to experiment with this video: hone it, recut it, amplify it, do with it what you will.
For example, here's what John Pavlus cobbled together from other conference participants to highlight the emerging threat that polar bears pose to the American way of life and the U.S. economy.
Even for the contrarians, the main argument is no longer whether climate change is happening—in fact, their main remaining scientific function is to bolster the understanding, and dreaded modeling, of the global climate. Instead, the argument has shifted to what to do about it and, as Marc Morano, Republican communications director for the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, noted: there are "a lot of reasons to move beyond carbon: energy security, energy independence."


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Solar Generated Electricity
Solar Generated Electricity , WASHINGTON, June, 2014 ( Solar Thermal Magazine ) – The George Washington University (GW), American University (AU) and the George Washington University Hospital (GWUH) announced Tuesday that they will create a renewable energy project that brings solar power from North Carolina to the D.C. institutions, showing that large organizations in an urban setting can meet energy needs while significantly reducing their carbon footprints by directly tapping offsite solar energy.
The project, named Capital Partners Solar Project and supplied by Duke Energy Renewables, comprises 52 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic (PV) power, which is the equivalent of the electricity used in 8,200 homes every year. It is the largest non-utility solar PV power purchase agreement in the United States in total contracted megawatt hours and the largest PV project east of the Mississippi River.
"Thanks to this innovative partnership, the George Washington University will now derive more than half of all its electricity from solar energy," said GW President Steven Knapp. "This will greatly accelerate our progress toward the carbon neutrality target we had earlier set for 2025."
The project, orchestrated by CustomerFirst Renewables (CFR), will help GW, AU and GWUH meet their climate action plan commitments without incurring additional costs. The partners will break ground on the first site this summer and panels will begin to deliver electricity by the end of the year.
When fully operational at the end of 2015, Capital Partners Solar Project will generate 123 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of emissions-free electricity per year, drawn from 243,000 solar panels at three sites. That translates to eliminating roughly 60,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year or taking 12,500 cars off the road.
"American University is firmly on its way to achieving carbon neutrality by 2020," said AU President Neil Kerwin. "We are home to the largest combined solar array in the District, are resolved to growing green power through our purchase of renewable energy certificates and are now a partner to the largest non-utility solar energy purchase in the United States."
Under the agreement and once the project is complete, GW will receive roughly 86.6 million kWh, AU will receive 30 million kWh and GWUH will receive approximately 6.3 million kWh annually. The solar power will fuel more than half of GW's and AU's electricity needs and more than a third of GWUH's need.
"Duke Energy looks forward to working with these leading D.C. institutions on an innovative solar project that demonstrates their leadership in sustainability and, at the same time, provides them with low-cost energy at a stable price for years to come," said Greg Wolf, president of Duke Energy Renewables.
Solar power generated at the panel sites in North Carolina will move through a North Carolina electrical grid into the D.C. regional grid, increasing the amount of solar energy in the region.
"Great organizations define the future. They embrace new ways of thinking and become part of something bigger than themselves. It parallels our rich corporate heritage of serving others—like sponsoring wounded warriors and responding to the emerging mental health crisis. We have a responsibility outside our four walls to the world beyond," said Barry Wolfman, CEO and managing director of GWUH. "Joining this partnership to embrace alternative power reflects our daily work as health advocates—caring, healing, teaching and birthing new generations. Our work and this project pave the way for a brighter future in the nation's capital and the world as a whole. It's simply the right thing to do, and we are proud to be a part of it."
The project also has economic benefits, both for the partners and North Carolina communities.
"We believe our support of solar energy is creating excitement about making investments in our community," said Jon Crouse, trustee for one of the parcels of land in phase one of the project. "The opportunities the project presents—hundreds of construction jobs, the sale of materials and consumables and an increase in the tax base—are huge for our county. For the landowners and farmers, it enables us to diversify from a fully agricultural portfolio, build economic sustainability and become part of a larger effort to be good stewards of the environment."
He will have panels on 25 percent of his acreage, while 75 percent of the land remains dedicated to agriculture.
For the partners, the 20-year agreement will provide fixed pricing for the solar energy at a lower total price than current power solutions and is expected to yield greater economic savings for the partners as traditional power prices are anticipated to increase at a higher rate over the same period.
"CustomerFirst Renewables was delighted to have the opportunity to play a central role in making this solar project happen and believe that together we have created a blueprint for other large electricity end-users who want access to renewables that can really move the needle," said Gary Farha, president and CEO of CFR, the organization that designed and structured the end-to-end solution, including helping to select and negotiate the deal between the partners and Duke Energy Renewables.
This latest commitment is another step toward carbon neutrality for both universities, continuing the pledge the institutions made with D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray in 2012 to make D.C. the greenest college town in America.
SOURCE George Washington University


text: Tourist Highlight The Old Town Hall Select Language Deutsch English Español 日本語 Polski 中文 Dansk Portugues Norge Italiano Français Svenska Türkçe 한국 Nederlands Русский Suomi Eesti © HMTG Old town hall and market church A historical building dating back to 1500 a.d. The old Town Hall was built over a period of more than 100 years. The earliest part (from 1410) overlooks the Schmiedestrasse (Blacksmith Street), the later wing next to the market was erected on the foundations of the 13th century trade hall. The adjacent wing in the Koebelinger Str. is called the "Chemists' Wing ("Apothekenflügel"), because it was the location of the Town Hall's pharmacy. This wing was later rebuilt in Italian Romanesque style, after a citizen's "action group" led by a well known neo-Gothic architect, Conrad Wilhelm Hase, managed to save the entire building from demolition in 1844. Hase was subsequently commissioned to renovate the remaining wings in their original style of 1500, with its exceptional gothic gables and the ornamental frieze.Amongst the portraits of the princes and coats-of-arms it features the "Luderziehen", a popular game from the Middle-Ages, a kind of "Tug of War" with the opponents using just their little fingers instead of the rope (a similar game called "Fingerhakeln" is still a firm part of the south German folklore). This marvellous picture above the outer right arched window in the Schmiedestrasse can only be seen by following the "red line" around the Old Town Hall. Altes Rathaus Karmarschstraße 42,30159 Hannover Map Further Details


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Исполнитель: Glenn Hughes & Joe Lynn Turner
Название: Mystery Of THe Heart
Продолжительность трека: 05:54
Добавлен: 2016-09-27
Скачали: 803
The time has come again
Throw a kiss and lose a friend
Some things are just better left in the past
Tomorrow never knows
Passes by, comes and goes
Can you tell me how long will love last?
I'll remember you and me
And how it felt inside
I guess it wasn't meant to be
But it's so hard to say goodbye
Why do the winds of change carry us away?
They leave us lost and torn apart
What are we searching for, never sure
Wanting more?
Maybe that's the mystery of the heart
Love is rare and life is strange
Nothing lasts and people change
Memories that time just can't erase
Wish I could go back, I know
How I want to hold you so
I'd give anything to see your face
Lonely dreams of yesterday
Like footprints in the sand
Wish that I could find a way
But I'll never understand


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Death to the System which has hanged Afzal Guru in a dastardly manner!
"Let life be dead, but death must not be allowed to live" - Marx
Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) condemns the Indian government in the strongest possible terms for hanging Mohammad Afzal Guru at Tihar Jail this morning in a dastardly manner. The process of his arrest, trial, his sentencing by the lower court and the upholding of the death sentence by the Supreme Court, the rejection of his petition to the president, denial of his right to a judicial review of this rejection, and finally his secret hanging – all point towards the farcical nature of Indian judiciary and the complicity of the entire present political system in persecuting political dissidents. Moreover, we also condemn the arrest of Prof. SAR Geelani by the Delhi Police and the indefinite curfew imposed on the Kashmir Valley to muzzle the voices of protest against the judicial murder of Afzal Guru.
The staging of the 'Parliament Attack' on 13 December 2001 was the result of a conspiracy hatched by the Indian government, its armed forces, intelligence agencies and the Kashmir police under the directions of the then NDA home minister L K Advani. It is no surprise that the identity of the five attackers who were killed has never been revealed. In the worldwide political scenario following the attack on the WTC on 9 September 2001, the comprador Indian ruling classes desperately wanted to be a part of the US-led 'War on Terror'. The attack on the Indian Parliament was orchestrated by the BJP government to prepare the grounds for persecution of the Muslim religious minorities in general and the national liberation movement of Kashmir in particular.
What followed globally after 9/11 and in India after 13 December 2001 has a similar pattern. As a part of the imperialist 'War on Terror' and Islamophobia, thousands of Muslims – both Indian and Kashmiri – were arbitrarily arrested, tortured, imprisoned and killed by the Indian state with complete disregard for the rule of law and justice. Under the garb of defending 'national security' and the unity and integrity of the nation' in the aftermath of the attack on the parliament', the Indian ruling classes strengthened its coercive apparatus and launched a vicious campaign against the Muslims, which continues to this day. Afzal's hanging, like the hanging of Maqbool Bhat on 11 February 1984 in the same jail – are going to embolden the Hindutva fascist forces on the one hand, while stoking the fires of the liberation struggles waged by the masses in Kashmir and India on the other.
Like countless other Kashmiris, his has been a life faced with constant threats from Indian security forces stationed in Jammu and Kashmir. During the 1980s, many Kashmiri youth were retaliating against the military force of the Indian state that sought to impose itself against the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. Afzal also joined the armed resistance struggle and crossed over as a JKLF volunteer to get trained in Pakistan. But soon he got disillusioned with the internecine conflicts of various groups and decided to quit. He surrendered in front of the State Task Force (STF) in Kashmir. He started his new life with a shop, selling medicines and surgical instruments. But Afzal was approached by the corrupt STF to work as an informer, which he refused. From then on he was time-to-time picked up by the security forces and brutally tortured in the STF camps. He was often kept under illegal confinement. Tabassum, Afzal's wife, had to sell her jewellery to pay the bribes to get him released.
It is in this atmosphere of constant threat and intimidation that Afzal was entrapped by the STF in 2001 and got him implicated in the Indian government's conspiracy of the Parliament attack. He has clearly stated all this in his letter to Sushil Kumar, Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court. Afzal Guru was arrested and named an accused on the basis of concocted evidence. The only piece of 'evidence' the prosecution could produce against Afzal Guru was his phone number which was claimed to be found on a piece of paper the body of one of the persons who took part in the attack.
While in custody, Afzal was forced to admit that he was behind the Parliament attacks. He was also threatened of dire consequences for his family. On his arrest, Afzal was also subject to an unjust trial by media on 20 December 2001. Thus, he was already painted as a 'terrorist' even before the start of a trial. The entire atmosphere was vitiated and even the judiciary was prejudiced against Afzal, exposing the Hindu majoritarian character of the state and its judiciary.
Afzal was handed out an unfair trial all through the legal process, extending till his killing by the state in Tihar jail. Afzal was denied a lawyer of his choice in the lower court where the case against him was built up. In fact, none of the 80 prosecution witnesses were cross-examined on his behalf. Afzal had asked the designated POTA court for a lawyer and had even given a list of eight lawyers. However, the lower court judge was too prejudiced to heed to his requirement. Later, the amicus curiae who was appointed by the court was not a criminal lawyer who could handle cross-examination with the right expertise.
When the verdict of death penalty by the trial court was reviewed by the High Court, the court itself observed that Afzal has been pronounced death sentence on the basis of evidence fabricated by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police. The Supreme Court also cleared him of association with any banned organization. The courts had to admit that the evidence against Afzal is very weak and circumstantial. The judges also noted that the Delhi Police lied on oath, manufactured forged documents and used torture to extract false confessions from Afzal. There was no direct evidence against him, and the so-called evidence managed by the police did not prove his involvement beyond any reasonable doubt.
The conspiracy of the state to frame and implicate Muslims for the Parliament Attack was exposed when the Supreme Court was forced to acquit his two other co-accused, S A R Geelani and Navjot Sandhu, for lack of evidence. Yet, in a brazen mockery of justice, the highest court of the land refused to set aside the death penalty on Afzal by simply stating that "the collective conscience of the society will be satisfied if the capital punishment is awarded to the offender"!
Afzal Guru's unfair persecution by the state and denial of justice did not end with the pronouncement of the death sentence. His petition to the President was cruelly kept pending for over eight years, with the shadow of death constantly hanging over him all the while. Indeed, his death penalty should have been converted to life imprisonment, and then he should have been set free since he had already served a jail term of twelve years. But this was not done, and instead, the gallows were readied for his execution.
When the President finally rejected his petition on 3 February 2013, this was not communicated to the outside world. His right to the judicial review of the President's rejection of his petition – to which he is entitled as per the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court – was denied to him. Finally, today in the morning he was hanged in a highly secretive and conspiratorial manner at Tihar Jail even without informing his wife and family about his impending execution. Then, to crush all voices of protest, the Indian state moved to clamp curfew in Kashmir and also arrested Prof S A R Geelani who was strongly exposing the state's conspiracy through the electronic media immediately after Afzal's hanging was confirmed.
The execution of Afzal Guru must be protested by all the democratic and progressive forces of the country. Like the hanging of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Bhoomaiah & Kista Gowda and of Maqbool Bhat, the murder of Afzal Guru will inspire us to intensify the struggle for a complete overhaul of this unjust and exploitative system, and to bring about a new society.
Varavara Rao, President, RDF, 09676541715
Rajkishore, General Secretary, RDF, 09717583539
February 9, 2013
Contact: email@example.com, rdf-india.org


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Two Alberta churches that were destroyed by the tornado that decimated that section of the city on April 27, 2011, have reopened their doors after being displaced for nearly three years.
The fact that this is home is like being gone from home for so long and then coming back," said the Rev. Jeremy Griffith, pastor of LifePointe Church of God, which was called Alberta Church of God before the tornado.
"When people walked in here, I've heard people say, 'This is home. The presence of God is here. We don't have to worry about anything. This is home,' " he said, while sitting in the foyer of the newly rebuilt church now located in Cottondale. "For them to be displaced for three years and then come in here … man, I've seen crying, I've seen laughing, people rejoicing over and over and over. I've seen people standing to their feet worshipping. It's like a kid with a new toy."
It's been a long, trying and transformative three years for the ministers and members of Alberta Baptist and LifePointe. But now that their journey back to independence and full operation is finally over, the pastors have looked back at the ordeal, and all they see are blessings in disguise.
Before the tornado, Alberta Baptist was a 90-year-old, 66,000 square-foot, all-white, 600-member church that did little outreach in the surrounding, mostly black and low-income Alberta community. But after the tornado destroyed more than 50,000 square feet of the church's property months after the church completed a $1.8 million major renovation, the church had to do some soul-searching.
"What the tornado did is it literally got us outside the walls of our church and into the neighborhoods," said the Rev. Larry Corder, pastor of Alberta Baptist. "There were cultural barriers and racial barriers, but those walls really started to come down big time after the tornado.
"We have some members of our church now who are black. We used to be an all-white church for years. In fact, back in the 1970s – I was off in seminary – some blacks visited the church from the university and were turned away. They came back with some TV crews with them and it was just a really negative blight on our church. The people that were part of turning them away are all dead and gone now. And the new mindset of our church is, `All are welcome here.' "
Since the tornado, Alberta Baptist has worshipped at Open Doors Baptist Church in Northport. But they've come back to Alberta regularly to distribute sack lunches to the community every Sunday, serve hot meals on Fridays, given clothes, appliances and furniture to Alberta residents in need, started walking through Alberta praying for people, held a free home-cooked Thanksgiving meal for the community, given away bicycles and other gifts to children on Easter and Christmas, started serving meals at Bible studies, thrown pizza and ice cream parties in their parking lot that are open to the community, started a tutoring program at Crescent East public housing in Holt and more.
Corder said it's become the church's mission to have a positive impact on Alberta. They particularly would like to help families stay together and increase the moral and spiritual values of the community's people.
"We've developed some really good relationships with people who live here in the community and our Bible studies are some of the only times they step into a church," Corder said. "We learned that you have to do whatever it takes to network with people and that's what we've been doing for three years now, which is building relationships. People have really started to see that we care about this community."
The rebuilt Alberta Baptist isn't as large as it once was. The congregation has decreased by 100 members and the church itself is about 16,000 square feet smaller than it used to be.
But something else good beside the change in the congregation's outlook came out of the tornado. The new church is nearly debt free.
"With the $1.8 million renovation we finished before the tornado, we had just put a three-story elevator in, new stained glass windows, enlarged the front foyer, put in new walls … Everything was new," Corder said. "The renovation took more than four years. Initially I thought that it was all for naught. But I later realized that it was for the good.
"God had a plan. God was in that because we had increased our insurance when we made the renovations. We wouldn't be in this building now if we hadn't done that. We would have gotten about $3.5 million from our insurance instead of being insured for more than $7 million, which is what we had increased our insurance to."
The rebuilt Alberta Baptist cost $6.6 million. Because of the insurance, increased giving from members and donations, the church only has $70,000 left to pay off.
The new church has a coffee bar that will serve free coffee for a year and has Wi-Fi, a nursery, a basketball court and numerous other additions.
Griffith was pastor of LifePointe for six months before the tornado destroyed the 51-year-old, 4,500-square-foot church.
On that day, the tornado reduced the church and its parsonage to a pile of rubble that buried Griffith, his wife, daughters and several church members. But no one was hurt.
"All we felt was a slight spring breeze," Griffith said in June 2012. "It was like the Lord held us beneath His wing, protecting us."
Griffith said he would have never imagined that God would take LifePointe from that pile of rubble to new church that's more than three times larger than the original with nearly six times the members.
"We've grown from 60 members to 353," he said. "I believe we've grown so much after the tornado because we have a sense of unity now. The church has really come together after the tornado. We've seen how quick life can be taken away from us. Life is but a vapor.
"We're not promised tomorrow. When the church saw the devastation of the tornado and what it did in Tuscaloosa, the church caught the vision of going after the lost. They said, 'Hey, Jesus is alive. We need to reach everyone that we possibly can.' So everyone started working together Kingdom-minded. We started doing a lot of outreach, reaching people and not judging anyone by the color of their skin, how much money is in their bank account, or where they're from. Just caring about where they're going. Man, when everyone caught that, it started happening. Just allowing God to have His way."
The church worshipped at Woodhaven Church of the Nazarene – now called Cross Pointe – for the first year and a half after the tornado. While there, their 60-member congregation grew to 200.
"They helped us so much and we wouldn't be where we are now if they hadn't opened their doors," Griffith said of Cross Pointe.
After leaving Cross Pointe, Davis-Emerson Middle School opened its doors to the church. While there, their numbers increased to more than 300. And since they moved into their new 16,000 square-feet church in Cottondale four weeks ago, their membership has grown to 353.
"We can seat 400 people here," he said.
Rebuilding cost LifePointe more than $3 million. Insurance covered most of the cost, and members and donators covered much of the rest. They owe $1 million before the church is paid off.
Griffith said they couldn't rebuild in Alberta because they only had 1.7 acres of land and Tuscaloosa's new building codes were too stringent to comply with.
They searched for property in other parts of Tuscaloosa, but they gave up because the cost per acre cost too much.
"We all came together and we prayed," Griffith said. "The Lord led us to this spot. We bought this property and began to do the work. People started coming by saying `We have watched the construction from when there was nothing here until now. Every time we drove by, even when the construction started, we felt God was drawing us to come in here.' And those people have come here."
Of all the lessons that the tornado and the years following have taught LifePointe, Griffith said the most significant was that God answers prayers.
"There were times during this thing that we got discouraged," he said. "There were times that some of us … some of us wanted to just quit. I was one of them. … The enemy was telling me after the tornado that 'this is the perfect time for you to go back and work a secular job. Let someone else with more experience come in and carry this church through this devastation.'
"And then a buddy of mine called me who's an evangelist, and he said, 'Now Jeremy, I know you're going through a lot and you feel like quitting. But Jesus is walking in the middle of this storm, but you have to find Him. Just like the disciples when they were on the sea, and the Bible said they would have passed Him by if they had not recognized Him.'
"I took a couple of days to myself and I said, 'Lord, you've gotta help me through this.' And He did. I got in contact with Him. He reassured me and I felt in my spirit that He was there. We haven't looked back since then."
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Ross Brawn's new F1 team may be lacking sponsorship decals, but that's not stopping them from heading out to the track, practicing for the Australian Grand Prix on March 29.
Hot on the heels of Friday's announcement that Honda's forlorn Formula 1 team was picked up by technical director Ross Brawn and will be run as Brawn GP comes Sniff Petrol's take on the new team's 2009 livery:
While the photo may question the judgment of launching something as frivolous as an F1 team smack in the middle of the Carpocalypse, the lack of branded livery would not be out of place on Brawn's cars. For the past two years, Honda has run its racers with no advertising, just a painting of the Earth to cover its curves of carbon fiber.
Brawn's timing may be akin to Cadillac launching its original V16 in January 1930, but we would not be in any particular hurry to underestimate his prowess. You may already have seen our proof that he is endowed with the largest brain amongst us all — even larger than "The Brain" of Pinky and the Brain fame:
Drivers Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button will be testing the new car today at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona in preparation for
taking over the world, the season's first race, only three weeks away. We have just one nagging question: which one of them is Pinky?
Photo Credit: Sniff Petrol


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Two years ago, I began hearing the phrase "It isn't sustainable" over and over from senior executives. They were talking about the everyday demands at work.
The day of reckoning seems to have arrived. During the past month alone, no less than a half dozen senior executives have told me that fatigue, exhaustion and even burnout are the biggest issues they're facing both for themselves and among their troops.
Sustainable capacity — meaning sufficient fuel in the tank — is what makes it possible to bring one's skill and talent to life. Not even the most talented and motivated employees can run on empty.
One CEO of a multinational company told me that just dealing with time differences had left him so exhausted he was seriously considering quitting. Another CEO at a much-admired company told me that for the first time, he's losing truly valued employees who say they simply can't take it anymore. In a recent survey at a third organization, over 80% of the top 400 leaders reported they spend the majority of their days feeling negative emotions, fueled in large part by overload and overwhelm.
Are you wondering whether your organization is at risk of imploding? Fatigue can be hard to read. Negativity, however, is a leading indicator, and it's often overlooked.
With precious few exceptions, negative emotions are hurtful, toxic, and destructive — to ourselves and to others. Obvious as this may seem, most of us spend a good deal of time feeling impatient, frustrated, angry, or anxious, defensive, and fearful without fully recognizing why these emotions arise so persistently or the toll they take.
By contrast, think for a moment about how you feel when you're performing at your best. What words come to mind? I'm betting they're ones such as happy, excited, optimistic, energized, confident, alive, and connected. These emotions not only feel good, they also help us to perform better. So what prompts us to move so frequently in just the opposite direction?
The answer is that we never do so intentionally. Rather, we move into negative emotions reactively and automatically, when we're feeling endangered or threatened. Nothing makes us more instantly vulnerable than exhaustion. As Vince Lombardi once put it, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all."
When we feel at risk, what gets triggered first is our biochemistry — the fight or flight response. Adrenalin, noradrenalin, and cortisol flood our bloodstream. These hormones prompt a series of physiological responses designed to help us react more quickly and effectively to the perceived danger. Control of our behavior moves from the prefrontal cortex, which progressively shuts down in fight or flight, to the amygdala, which takes over and reacts far more quickly.
All this makes great sense if you're facing an imminent threat to your life. In those cases, thinking only slows down the time it takes to respond. If there's a lion coming at you, it's far better to react instinctively rather than reflectively.
The problem is that our bodies make no distinction between the threat from a lion — once very real, but now nearly inconceivable — and a host of more modern threats, such as a difficult boss, colleague, employee, or customer. These threats loom far larger when we're tired, and fight or flight is a suboptimal way to respond in the modern world.
In a knowledge-based economy, for example, we can't very well afford a compromised ability to think. Beyond that, negative emotions are contagious. Anger begets more anger, and the same is true of fear. Worse yet, negative emotions quickly burn down our remaining energy reserves. It's a cycle that feeds on itself.
So what's the antidote in a world of relentlessly rising demand?
Until now, leaders of organizations have chosen to simply work more hours — and they've asked their employees to do the same. The result is decreasing return on each incremental hour invested — and a lower quality of work. The ethic of more, bigger, faster literally isn't sustainable in a world of finite resources.
The counterintuitive answer is to ennoble the role of renewal in organizations. The greater the demand, the greater the need to intermittently rest, refuel and reflect. Unfortunately, our inclination is to do just the opposite — to push harder and more continuously as the pressure grows.
In fact, it's not the number of hours we work that determines the value we create. Rather, it's the quality of energy we bring to the hours we work. By renewing regularly, it's possible to get more done, in less time, at a higher level of quality, more sustainably. When we're less fatigued, we're not only less prey to negative emotions, we're also more likely to access the positive ones we need to feel to perform at our best.
It's a simple principle: Give people a break and you'll get more from them.