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Flotilla Holidays for beginners
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Joined: 07 Oct 11
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Topic: Flotilla Holidays for beginners
Posted: 07 Oct 11 at 2:42pm
Hi all,
I am thinking of taking a flotilla holiday next summer (2012) and am looking for some advice/feedback.
I have a fair amount of sailing experience, in fact the Sunsail online sailing CV questionaire classed me as "expert". I wouldn't go as far as that - I do have a Day Skipper cert but haven't sailed for about 7 years. Anyway, I wanted to take my partner, her daughter and daughter's boyfriend, none of whom have sailed before but are keen to give it a try.
So I am wondering what area (Greece/Turkey/Croatia preferably) would be best to ensure a good experience for the beginners, I don't want to scare them silly but, on the other hand it should be exhilerating enough for them to want to repeat the experience and with good ashore activities (sightseeing etc).
Any feedback on the many companies that operate in this market would also be very much appreciated - I am looking for good support/backup and value-for-money as primary indicators and am not too worried about being in the latest all-singing-all-dancing vessel, just so long as they are safe and seaworthy (I suspect that would be a given anyway).
Thanks for your help
Posting king
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|Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Oct 11 at 4:51pm
The Ionian would be a good area to start. Many beautiful places to visit. Often light winds, no tides and navigation is line of sight I've heard good reports about http://www.sailingholidays.com/ and their prices look very competitive.
Really should get out more
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|Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 08 Oct 11 at 9:56am
We also did our first flottilla in the Ionian and we did it with Seafarer Holidays. Perhaps combine a one week beach holiday with one week on a yacht. Seafarer can also add some pre-flotilla training to your first week on the beach holiday.
The scary thing is with a dayskippers ticket you could probably get a bareboat. But good on you for admitting that you may have the bit of paper but not all the experience.
Flottillas are great for support and also the social side. I felt Seafarer got the balance right in giving very good briefings then letting you do your own thing during the day.
Bonnie Lass Contender 1764
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|Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 08 Oct 11 at 10:12am
The Ionian is a popular spot, but for that reason I'd
personally not go. Certainly in-season as it has a reputation for being
extremely busy (make sure youre in harbour by 3pm to get any space!) and often
very little wind...as in you needing to motor more than you sail. I've been
through on deliveries, but not for holiday...I don't want to spend my time
jostling for space in crowded harbours.
When I started, I by chance ended up going to the Argolic which is sheltered by the mainland, so no big winds or sea, interesting and quiet; very few flotillas and you can even go places and be the only yacht.
So for the past 5 years I've been back to Greek Sails in Poros. I started in 2007 doing a Comp Crew from Poros (with Poros Yachting Academy the Greek Sails sailing school) around into the Argolic and having a wonderful time...great sailing, great sights and not busy. It was such a good trip and I came back with such stories and photos that my wife then wanted to take up sailing! As a result I did my DS and she did her Comp Crew and we went back the following summer and did a bareboat back around the Argolic. Had a great time, from the splendid isolation of Kipirissi to exploring the castle as Astros, the remains at Mycenae or the huge Palamidi fortress at Navplion.
That proved so good we went back the following year and did more of the Argolic, going down to Monemvasia which has to be one of the must visit places on this earth, and on around other wonderful spots too many to mention. Look at the Greek Sails Sailing the eastern Peloponnese coast for some ideas of the area and what we would have seen.
We have also sailed in the Saronic north of Poros and visited places like the ancient Greek theatre and Epidaurus and the temple of Aphaia on Aegina from which you can look north towards Athens and the Parthenon. Generally weve found the Saronic busier than the Argolic and often very light winds.
With all this, my wifes appetite for sailing has grown and so last year we went out to the Cyclades and did a loop down the western isles and this year we sailed almost to Turkey and back. So my wife has gone from having never sailed, to this year doing long overnight passages well out of sight of land for hours on end and her saying she rather enjoyed these long passages and would quite like to try other night passages! Thats quite a long way to come and I guess says something about a good introduction around the Argolic.
So having found a good formula we have been loathed to break it. Greek Sails is a small family business and so you deal direct with them. Their boats are all well maintained and seem noticeably nicer than many of the larger operators boats. Theyre also not emblazoned in some charter company name. We have become good friends and so Im probably biased, but I have pointed friends in the same direction and they have all come back with similar great experiences, so I feel I have some justification to be biased
Anyway, hope this helps. Theres quite a lot of info on the Greek Sails website about places you can visit which may give you some ideas.
Really should get out more
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|Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 08 Oct 11 at 12:37pm
Most companies (if not all) require two competent sailors on board, it seems you would qualify easily but it makes sense to know that if you fell overboard, someone else on the boat knows how to get back to pick you up.
I would therefore recommend a Stay and Sail holiday, the first week in resort allows the non sailors to do a 4 day RYA keel-boat course and you could so a two day brush up course if desired.
The second week is then spent on flotilla.
We have done this for the last two years with Neilson and the kids (ages 14 & 12) declared it the "best holiday ever".
Sunsail also offer Stay and Sail options.
Really should get out more
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|Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 08 Oct 11 at 2:36pm
We have also done the Greek Sails holiday booked through Seafarer. We had a great fortnight. Perhaps it was a bit quieter than the Ionian but the sailing distances were much longer so less time for a long lunchtime swim.
Don't worry about being in port buy 3pm on a flotilla. We were always one of the last in as on flotilla the lead boat skipper has the job of finding(keeping) you somewhere to berth.
Bonnie Lass Contender 1764
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|Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 08 Oct 11 at 3:40pm
I did my initial Comp Crew through Seafarer, but have always booked direct since. Has worked very well. We only need to buy our flights which are cheap when booked early and all the rest gets done for us if we ask.
As to distances, well, Poros to Perdika or Vathi if you want to 'do' the Saronic are only a couple of hours. You can cross the Saronic to Corinth in about 4 hours! Ermioni if you 'go south' is further, maybe 4 hours, but then 4 hours isn't much of the day and we prefer to sail away from the crouds. We've also always done bareboat so as to keep away from as many other boats as possible. It also allows us to go places the flotillas don't go...Yerakas, Sambitiki and other little spots of quietness
So despite starting with only my DS and my wife with a CC, we never had any issues sailing 'alone' on bareboat, but then it's a case of personal preference.
You could also do a Stay & Sail as mentioned or even do a 4 or 6 day course followed by a week bareboat or flotilla. It's very much a personal choice. As I said, I'm biased, but having gone to the same place, same charter company 5 years in a row, I think that says something must be working well
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|Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 08 Oct 11 at 6:14pm
If you can afford the time (and money!) go for a villa (1st week) / flotilla (2nd week) holiday. Both Neilsons and Sunsail do these and if you go out of school holidays you can get a good deal. First week would be learning the ropes and getting confidence + lot's of time to do other stuff (relaxing by the pool, sailing, windsurfing etc) whilst the second week would be on a flotilla.....
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|Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 04 May 12 at 3:59pm
Hi there,
I am from Greece, Ioannina. Last year 2011 I went to Paxos and had fantastic time. its a paradise over there with quite good prices, affordable from anybody.
By the way if you are going to be there get a small boat for a day and visit Antipaxos(speechless).
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|Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 17 Aug 12 at 12:34pm
we've just got back from a Sunsail holiday and it was absolutely brilliant. We went for the Ionian flotilla as I had no yacht experience. The first week in the resort was the perfect start for the family and I was able to do the 3 day flotilla course which was ample time. I sail in the UK and so, for me, it was more about boat handling. However, I understand that from next season the minimum qualification will be a day skipper ticket as it is elsewhere. The second week of flotilla sailing was just right. The distances are pretty much 'line of sight' and the wind tended to be light in the mornings but picking up to a healthy f4 in the afternoons before quietening down in the evenings. So we got some good sailing in. Berthing was never an issue in that although some harbours were busy, there was always somewhere to moor up - our flotilla rafted up on several evenings which worked fine. I could go on!!! suffice to say it's a great way to explore, eat in some georgeous places and meet mostly really friendly, helpful people (apart from a truly obnoxious English couple in Kioni for whom flotillas appeared to be vermin). That aside, can not recommend this kind of sailing holiday highly enough.
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State, Religion and Church in Russia and Worldwide / Gosudarstvo, religiia, tserkov' v Rossii i za rubezhom is an academic peer-reviewed quarterly devoted to the multidisciplinary study of religion. It is published under the aegis of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow, Russia. It appears in the Russian language with English summaries.
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Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, Ph.D. (a.k.a. The Paleo Mom) is the creator of the award-winning blog www.ThePaleoMom.com, cohost of the top-rated and syndicated The Paleo View podcast, and New York Times Bestselling author of four books: the most comprehensive Paleo guidebook to date, Paleo Principles; the definitive Autoimmune Protocol guidebook, The Paleo Approach; and two AIP cookbooks, The Paleo Approach Cookbook and The Healing Kitchen.
Dr. Sarah has always had many interests and talents, which are reflected in the diversity of this blog. Here, you will find explanations of the science behind the Paleo diet and lifestyle, along with a strong focus on modifications for autoimmune disease sufferers, articles related to the practical implementation of a Paleo diet and lifestyle, detailed discussions relevant for Paleo families and kids' health, and recipes that span the gamut from kid staples, to comfort foods, to quick & easy meals, to gourmet dishes, to treats for special occasions, to snacks and nut-free baking, to recipes compliant with the autoimmune protocol for those who suffer from autoimmune diseases (like Dr. Sarah).
Dr. Sarah started her academic career in physics, earning an Honors Bachelor of Science with Distinction from the University of Victoria, Canada in 1999. Her honors thesis work was in radiation therapy for prostate cancer, which prompted her to look for medical research applications in graduate school . Dr. Sarah earned her doctorate degree in medical biophysics at The University of Western Ontario in 2003, at the age of 26. Her doctoral thesis was titled "Progressive Liver Injury during the Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome: Heme Oxygenase as a Therapeutic Target". Her doctoral research spanned the gamut of inflammation, innate immunity, endogenous anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant enzymes, gene therapy techniques, microcirculation and vascular biology, liver health, and critical care medicine.
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The Inflammation-Fighting Food You Should Be Adding To Everything (It's Not Turmeric!)
Cinnamon is one of my favorite ingredients to incorporate into my daily routine. During the holiday season especially, I find myself incorporating it into so many different recipes for a sweet flavor. With a dozen or so health benefits and a naturally sweet taste (but without the sugar!), there really isn't a more perfect spice. What most people don't realize is that cinnamon is classified into two main categories, Cassia and Ceylon.
Ceylon cinnamon, also considered "true cinnamon," is harder to find and a bit more expensive than classic cinnamon. It's native to Sri Lanka and has a more delicate, sweet flavor. Cassia cinnamon is found most commonly in households around the world—about 90 percent of cinnamon in the United States is this type. The compound in cinnamon that provides a myriad of benefits is called cinnamaldehyde, which is significantly higher in Ceylon cinnamon1, making it the better choice between the two. You can find both types at most grocery stores—just note that if a brand doesn't specifically say "Ceylon," it's likely Cassia.
The health benefits of cinnamon are extraordinary. Here are my five favorites:
1. Cinnamon can help regulate blood sugar.
One of the biggest benefits of cinnamon in the body is its ability to help regulate blood sugar. Cinnamon reduces insulin resistance in the body2, which can help the liver metabolize glucose. Cinnamon can increase insulin sensitivity and therefore lower blood sugar levels in the body.2 At least 120 milligrams a day (less than ½ teaspoon) are recommended when using cinnamon for blood-sugar-stabilizing purposes. You can use cinnamon as a spice on or in carbohydrate-dense foods (hello, baked goods!) in order to help minimize the effect of the food on your blood sugar levels.
2. Cinnamon is a powerful antioxidant.
Cinnamon is packed with antioxidants including polyphenols, phenolic acid, and flavonoids. These antioxidants have been shown to slow the aging process and reduce free radical damage in the body3. According to the TEAC4 (Total Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity) scale, cinnamon ranks No. 7 of all foods, herbs, and spices when it comes to highest concentration of antioxidants. Because of its high concentration of antioxidants, cinnamon has been shown to preserve brain function and may protect against DNA damage4 and cell mutation—the start of cancer in the body. Not only is Ceylon cinnamon packed with antioxidants, but it has even been shown to enhance the enzyme antioxidant2 activity that is already taking place in your body.
3. Cinnamon is a powerful anti-inflammatory.
Cinnamon contains cinnamic acid, a powerful anti-inflammatory5. Inflammation and chronic inflammation can be very damaging to the body and lead to illness, infections, disease, and tissue damage. Its anti-inflammatory properties protect brain health and have been shown to protect neurons against oxidative stress5. These properties as well as its antioxidant properties can help prevent cognitive decline and preserve brain function long-term. Cinnamon is also known to increase the production of anti-inflammatory proteins5 in your blood.
4. Cinnamon can help improve your overall heart health.
Cinnamon supports cardiac function and has the ability to improve blood flow2 as well as lower blood pressure. Further, it has the ability to reduce overall cholesterol levels6 and the most common markers for heart disease: high blood pressure levels, high cholesterol levels, and high triglyceride levels. Improved circulation and increased tissue repair1 are yet more benefits.
5. Cinnamon is extremely helpful when it comes to fighting illness.
Ceylon cinnamon contains natural antimicrobial and antibacterial properties. The essential oils found in cinnamon (cinnamyl alcohol, cinnamyl acetate, and cinnamaldehyde1) contain powerful immune-boosting compounds that help fight harmful pathogens like bacteria and viruses. Cinnamon can also help to prevent infection as well as stimulate immune system activity already going on. With winter being peak cold and flu season, it's the perfect time to add cinnamon into your diet routine!
How I use cinnamon.
First of all, I always go for Ceylon cinnamon, for all of the reasons I mentioned above. After I have my Ceylon, though, I use cinnamon in everything. It's the ultimate way to sweeten food without adding a ton of sugar. I use it in baking, in smoothies—especially ones with cacao powder since the flavors go so well together, in my creamy chia pudding, my soft and chewy peanut butter cookies, and so much more. You can also make a quick cinnamon tea by adding a bit with some ginger to hot water—it's so good! Try using cinnamon whenever you want a boost of extra therapeutic benefits or some extra sweetness in your dishes—you'd be surprised at how much it goes with!
Rachael DeVaux is a registered dietitian and certified personal trainer living in Seattle, Washington. She has a bachelor's in Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Services from Oregon State University, and is passionate about helping people look at food in terms of eating for nourishment, fuel and well-being. Her wellness site, Rachael's Good Eats, covers everything from fitness, to nutritious recipes, to travel and lifestyle.


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82-Year-Old Granny Chases Down Purse Snatcher
Sylvia Miller of Ohio may be 82-years-old, but that doesn't mean she's an easy mark for thieves. Last Wednesday, the spry octogenarian actually chased down a criminal who had snatched her purse. Go, granny!
Miller was heading back to her car after a shopping trip to Wal-mart when she noticed three women trailing her. One of them grabbed her purse and ran off.
Undaunted, Miller gave chase and pursued the thief through the parking lot and a nearby field filled with scrub brush. Eventually, the suspect surrendered the purse, which contained $100 and all of Miller's credit cards.
"I wasn't afraid one bit. I didn't even think about it. I thought, 'You're not getting away with it,'" said Miller, who, despite her age, works out daily and even handles all the maintenance on her home and car.
None of the three suspects were apprehended by police, but we bet they rue the day they messed with this crime-fighting granny.


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The Super Easy Paper Bag Waist Skirt Tutorial
Here are some inspirations for this type of more playful, basic skirt with smaller, modified paper bag top:
From Banana Republic:
- Here's what you'll need--just the fabric and a piece of elastic about 2" smaller than your waist. I recommend 1-1.5" wide elastic.
- Refer to the Classic Paper Bag Waist Skirt tutorial for cutting instructions. You DO NOT need to cut the belt piece or beltloops, although you could cut the beltloop piece if you want to add them.
- Go through step 5. of the tutorial (assemble back and side seams). You don't need a zipper, so sew all three seams (both sides and center back). SKIP zipper instructions.
- Do steps 7. and 8. of the tutorial. Hem the skirt and fold over your overlap. DON'T pleat.
- Sew down the overlap where I recommend basting or pinning in the Classic tutorial.
- Sew another row of stitches above the first. This makes your elastic casing, so make sure it's at least 1/8" larger than the width of your elastic. Measure if you like and mark with a fabric marker, or just be very careful about your seam allowance and make sure you stay parallel. *Leave 1-2" open at the center back to insert your elastic at the center back.
- Grab your elastic (again, somewhere close to 2" smaller than your waist to allow for some movement but also enough tightness to stay up!) and use a safety pin or bodkin to put the elastic through the casing. Make sure it doesn't twist and try to keep it from curling under as you put it through--you want the elastic to lay flat all around.
- When you get all the way through, sew the ends together (again, make sure the elastic's not twisted somewhere along the way).
- Sew the rest of your seam closed!
You can wear it any way you want, but I think it works best at the natural waist.
(Note: Mine has center front and center back seams since I was using a tiny wedge of fabric)
You can wear it with a thin belt like in the pictures:


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View Document
Ne-Yo Rider
Ne-Yo Rider
Ne-Yo Rider
Along with pocketing $175,000 per show, the R&B singer Ne-Yo requires concert promoters to stock his dressing room with three bottles of pinot noir, three bottles of riesling, and two bottles of the very pricey Ace of Spades champagne, according to his 2011 tour rider.
The performer (real name: Shaffer Smith) also needs one bottle of Ketel One--but not to actually drink.
The 31-year-old singer stipulates that the vodka be placed in his wardrobe room, where it will be "Used for cleaning." The rider, excerpted here, does not further describe whether garments, surfaces, or performers are being cleansed with the 80 proof spirits.
Ne-Yo's vodka request (never previously seen by TSG on a tour rider) is likely to prompt attempts at one-upmanship in hip-hop circles. In fact, it is likely that Rick Ross will demand Hennessy sponge baths at his next gig.
Ne-Yo's dressing room--carrying a sign reading "The Gentleman"--must also be outfitted with Dove body wash, Listerine, Crest toothpaste, Nivea spray deodorant, Advil, a "medium bristle" toothbrush, DayQuil sinus medicine, and Nivea or Jergens lotion. (2 pages)
Random Demands
One (1) Snooker Table
For The Rolling Stones, nothing screams backstage debauchery more than snooker.View the Rider »


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Chris Martin spoke about the conscious uncoupling during a radio interview that's supposed to air today on Valentine In The Morning. There's been a lot of speculation recently about whether or not he and Gwyneth Paltrow are reconciling. They've spent a lot of time together since the announcement. They were seen looking very much like a couple in the Hamptons. They haven't talked sh-t about each other in public. I guess we're so used to ugly celebrity divorces, we don't believe they're real if they're actually amicable in separation.
But this is the most definitive either one of them has been since declaring that their marriage is over. Chris confirmed during the discussion that:
"The thing that we told everyone at the beginning of the year is true."
Then he acknowledged that they still do indeed spend a lot of time together:
"We're very close."
Even still…he clarified that:
"We're not together. That's the truth."
That's about as clear as it gets.
So now the narrative becomes something else – not "they're recoupling" but "Gwyneth begs Chris to take her back, he refuses!" Which magazine, you think? INTOUCH or STAR?


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HOUSTON -- All-Star free-agent reliever Jesse Crain has agreed to a one-year deal with the Houston Astros.
Financial terms were not released.
Crain made the All-Star team last season with a 0.74 ERA in 37 appearances for the White Sox. He had a streak of 29 straight appearances without allowing a run from April 17 to June 22. Crain was traded to Tampa Bay on July 29, but didn't appear in a game for the Rays because of a right shoulder strain.
Houston's bullpen was one of the biggest problems last season on a team that lost a franchise-record 111 games and had the worst record in the majors.


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NGO Political Agendas Distort Reports on Gaza Beach Incident
On Friday June 9, eight Palestinian civilians were killed in disputed circumstances by an explosion on a Gaza beach. The sequence of events that followed highlights the political power of NGOs in the region and the manner in which their reports influence governments and lawmakers around the globe.
Despite the contentious nature of the incident, and while the facts remained unclear, a number of NGOs immediately adopted Palestinian claims holding the Israeli army responsible and used the opportunity to attack Israel politically. These claims were then picked up by the international media which used NGO reports to demonstrate that the Israeli army (IDF) was responsible for the incident. A number of foreign governments and the UN used these reports as a basis for their own condemnations, blaming Israel for the civilian casualties. However, the results of a subsequent investigation by the IDF, based in part on forensic evidence taken by the army from casualties of the explosion, stated that the IDF was not responsible for the explosion. Despite this, the Human Rights Watch report on the incident dismissed the IDF findings and was used as a basis for further political activity against Israel.
The explosion on the Gaza beach took place on June 9. On June 10, the politicized Palestinian NGOs Miftah (headed by Hanan Ashrawi) and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) issued press statements condemning Israel for the incident, followed by the Palestinian "human rights" group, Al-Mezan, on June 11. These three NGOs all based their condemnations on video "evidence" provided by Palestinian authorities which appears to be actual footage of an Israeli warship firing at the beach at the time of the explosion. However, this controversial video was found to have been manipulated. It apparently took unrelated clips of an Israeli gunboat firing at the Gaza shore earlier in the day and then edited the clips into the scenes of the beach. It is now widely accepted that Israeli ships were not responsible for the explosion. The Human Rights Watch report (below) also rejects the claim that the source of the explosion was an Israeli naval artillery shell.
Miftah's press release called on the international community to stop "Israel's state-terrorism" and stated that the casualties were caused "when an Israeli navy vessel fired 3 shells at them." Miftah, which received a $250,000 grant from the Ford Foundation in 2005, also called the incident a "brutal massacre" and called on the international community to "hold Israel accountable for its war crimes against the Palestinians."
Al-Mezan, which is also funded by the Ford Foundation as well as the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and International Commission of Jurists among others, said in its press statement that the incident was a "savage massacre." Al Mezan accused Israel of responsibility for the attack based on evidence gathered by "TV channels [which] reported that shells were fired from a naval ship located close to Beit Lahia beach." Al Mezan added that the incident "highlight[s] Israel's organized killing of Palestinian civilians."
Similarly, PCHR based its claims that Israel was responsible for the incident on the falsified video, when it stated in a press release of 10 June that "the family was hit by artillery fired from an Israeli naval boat."
International media organizations then began to report on the incident and also claimed that the cause of the explosion was an Israeli artillery shell. Examples include these articles from the BBC, Reuters and Xinhua (Link has expired). The Reuters report explicitly stated that "shells fired from Israeli naval ships landed on a beach in northern Gaza, killing six Palestinians." The Xinhua article also stated "that Israeli naval boats gunship fired three shells at the beach of the town of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza Strip, killing at least 12 Palestinians and wounding fifty others." A BBC Palestinian eye-witness account asserted that an Israeli gunboat had fired the shells which caused the casualties. It appears that these media organizations were either using Palestinian NGOs as sources for their reports or using the same sources as these politicized NGOs.
International media accounts were in turn reflected in diplomatic statements following the incident. On the same day of the explosion, Friday, June 9, Margaret Beckett, the British Foreign Secretary stated that "we are deeply concerned by reports of the deaths from Israeli shelling of civilians, including children, on a Gaza beach this afternoon." The Russian Foreign Ministry also assigned blame to Israel on June 9 when it said in a press release "what has happened confirms the inadmissibility of the disproportionate use of force, especially when Palestinian civilians die as a result. We urge the Israeli leadership to refrain from actions which only add to the tension." On June 10, the French Foreign Ministry stated that "France deplores Israel's bombardments on a beach in the Gaza Strip, whose disproportionate character has cost the lives of several civilians and injured many others." An Egyptian government statement of June 10 also blamed Israel for the event saying "Israel's disproportionate use of power in a densely populated area contradicts international law."
On June 12, Amnesty International issued a press statement which blamed Israel for the Palestinian casualties. The statement was released before the IDF made the results of its investigation public at a press conference on the evening of Tuesday, June 12. At this conference, the IDF presented the evidence it had gathered and the summary of its report which said that the army was not responsible for the explosion.
On June 13, after the IDF report had been released, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a press release on the alleged findings of Marc Garlasco, a former "battle damage expert", who held a widely broadcast press conference in Gaza. Garlasco was also the author of HRW's "Razing Rafah" report of 2004 which contained many unverifiable and disputed claims. Ignoring evidence presented by the IDF that concluded that the deaths were not caused by an Israeli shell, HRW claimed that "the evidence overwhelmingly supports the allegations that the civilians were killed by artillery shells fired by the IDF." (Forensic evidence taken by the IDF from casualties of the explosion being treated in Israel, was inconsistent with this claim.) Garlasco's report included unverifiable Palestinian claims as well as testimony and "evidence" brought by the Palestinian police – an organization whose credibility is extremely low. Maj.-Gen. Meir Klifi of the IDF, who headed the investigation into the incident, directly challenged some of Garlasco's evidence. While not questioning the Palestinian police claims, HRW rejected the information provided by the IDF, reflecting HRW's inherent bias.
Garlasco's claims were then reported by the international media such as the June 14 article by the BBC and the article in the British daily The Independent. His comments were also reported in hundreds of other media outlets which syndicated a newswire piece written by the Associate Press (AP), such as this article in The Mercury News.
HRW's report was followed by intense diplomatic activity (Link has expired) by the Palestinians and their supporters in the UN. Representatives from the Non-Aligned Movement, the U.N. Palestinian Rights Committee, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference requested that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan open a UN inquiry into the incident. This process, which highlights the role of NGOs, is similar to the standard pattern often used to condemn Israel in the UN, as in the case of the false reports of a "Jenin massacre" in 2002. Annan also criticized Israel over the incident on the basis of media reports, which had repeated the claims made by HRW. However, he then retracted the accusation, stating "I responded to speculations in the press. The answer was given before Israel published its findings. We need to wait for Israel to publish its final report."
HRW's irresponsible and unbalanced approach to the incident was highlighted on June 19, when Garlasco met with Maj.-Gen. Klifi for three hours to discuss their investigations. Following the meeting, HRW says that it cannot contradict the findings of the Israeli inquiry and Garlasco now believes the most likely source of the explosion was "unexploded Israeli ordnance." He also reportedly said that the he was impressed with the IDF's system of checks and balances concerning its artillery fire in the Gaza Strip and that the IDF invested a great amount of resources and efforts not to harm innocent civilians.
The political power of HRW and other NGOs ("the halo effect") is clearly underlined by this episode. Extremely politicized Palestinian NGOs relied on falsified evidence in the rush to accuse Israel of responsibility for the civilian casualties, and were quickly joined by international NGOs, particularly HRW. These accusations were reinforced by the media, and led to international condemnations, including by the UN. This incident highlights the urgent need for greater NGO accountability, particularly regarding their promotion of a highly political agenda in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.


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Talk about a toothless business deal. A Staten Island man is accused of ordering an associate to take out his dentures at gunpoint.
Joseph Nativo, 47, claims he paid for his ex-colleague's fake teeth and now he wants them back. He allegedly pulled a gun on 40-year-old Gennario Sibbio and demanded he fork them over.
Nativo, a contractor who lives in Eltingville, is accused with slamming the revolver on an office desk -- an intimidating move -- and ordering Sibbio to deliver his chompers. The businessman also commanded his toothless victim to hand over $1,200 in cash, two cell phones, his coat and a Bluetooth wireless device, according to The Staten Island Advance.
While Nativo admits he jacked the dentures, he claims he never used a gun and that Sibbio wasn't a colleague, but a former employee who stole from him.
"He's not my partner. He's my employee," Nativo told the Advance. "I fired him, let him go. I paid for his new teeth to be put in... I told him to leave the company. I asked for my teeth back."
The contractor also claims the money, cell phones and other items he forced Sibbio to hand over belonged to him, too.
"He owes me over $27,000 from the company," Nativo told the Advance. "I took his phones. I took his car. Everything that I gave him, I took it."
Nativo was arrested Monday and charged with first-degree robbery. He was released on $1,000 bail and is due back in court July 1.
Nativo's attorney said Sibbio made false claims about the gun in retaliation for his firing. Nativio promised more than one witness could attest to his claim that he never pulled a gun.
"We yelled and we argued, don't get me wrong," Nativo said. "But in the end, those teeth belonged to me."


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The Associated Press, June 14, 2008
A 2005 report by the German aid group Ora International drew data from 122 female sex workers, of whom less than 1 percent knew about AIDS. The youngest was 14.
Alisa Tang
The girl was 11 when she was molested by a man with no legs.
The man paid her $5. And that was how she started selling sex.
Afghanistan is one of the world's most conservative countries, yet its sex trade appears to be thriving. Sex is sold most obviously at brothels full of women from China who serve both Afghans and foreigners. Far more controversial are Afghan prostitutes, who stay underground in a society that pretends they don't exist.
Customs meant to keep women "pure" have not stopped prostitution. Girls are expected to remain virgins until their wedding nights, so some prostitutes have only anal sex.
RAWA Interview with some prostitutes ( http://www.rawa.org/prostitute.htm )
Police make two to three prostitution arrests each week, according to Zia ul-Haq, the chief investigator in the Interior Ministry's department of sexual crimes. They are often the casualties of nearly three decades of brutal war and a grinding poverty that forces most Afghans to live on less than $1 a day.
"Prostitution is in every country that has poverty, and it exists in Afghanistan," says women's rights activist Orzala Ashraf. "But society has black glasses and ignores these problems. Tradition is honor, and if we talk about these taboos, then we break tradition."
The girl is now 13, and her features have just sharpened into striking beauty. She speaks four languages — the local languages of Pashtu and Dari, the Urdu she picked up as a refugee in Pakistan and the English she learned in a $2.40-a-month course she pays for herself in Kabul. She is the breadwinner in her family of 10.
She does not know what a condom is. She has not heard of AIDS.
The Associated Press learned her story in a dozen meetings over four months, as well as interviews with police and aid workers. For months she insisted she was a "good girl" — a virgin. But in March, she confessed to having anal sex with men for years, starting with the legless beggar.
She looked down as she spoke, her face and hands sooty from car exhaust. She tucked her hair repeatedly under her head scarf.
The girl grew up in Pakistan, where her family fled during a bloody civil war in Afghanistan in the early 1990s. She cleaned cars for money.
Five years ago, her family and a flood of other refugees returned to Afghanistan after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban regime. But her father could earn only $40 a month doing various odd jobs.
So she sold chewing gum and newspapers and cleaned car windows in the muddy, potholed streets of Kabul. She made about $3 a day.
That was where she met Uncle Lang, a nickname that literally means Uncle Legless.
Uncle Lang was a land mine victim. When the girl and a friend brought him tea and food, he forced himself upon them, police say.
"I didn't know anything about sex," she says. "But it happened."
It's hard to know how many other women in Afghanistan are prostitutes because of the extreme secrecy around the issue. A University of Manitoba report last September estimated about 900 female sex workers in Kabul.
A 2005 report by the German aid group Ora International drew data from 122 female sex workers, of whom less than 1 percent knew about AIDS. The youngest was 14.
Prostitutes in Afghanistan include scores of Chinese women serving Western customers who work for security firms, companies and aid groups in Afghanistan. Many of the women say they were tricked into the trade by middlemen who promised them respectable jobs, but Gen. Ali Shah Paktiawal, head of Kabul's criminal investigations, denies this, saying: "They come here of their own will."
The shame of prostitution in Afghanistan is intense.
"In our culture, it is very, very bad," said Soraya Sobhrang, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commissioner for women's affairs.
Under the Afghan penal code, prostitution is often considered adultery, which is punishable by five to 15 years in prison. Under Islamic law, married prostitutes can be stoned to death.
Some prostitutes are forced into the sex trade by their families. The Ora report said 39 percent of the sex workers interviewed found clients through their relatives — including 17 percent through their mothers and 15 percent through their husbands.
For many girls, there is little recourse.
"They think that if they tell us the truth, we will return them to their families, and their families will kill them, or that we will send them to an institution and they will be put in prison," says Jamila Ghairat of the aid organization Women for Afghan Women. "The girls are afraid of their families, the government and everyone."
In some cases, it is families that pimp out the girls. At one family-run brothel, the oldest girl was a 15-year-old, orphaned when her parents died in rocket attacks in Kabul. A relative had married her off to a 9-year-old boy whose father was a pimp. She ran away three times, but each time her father-in-law bribed police to bring her back. She finally escaped to the human rights commission.
Makeshift brothels exist all over Kabul, but they are always moving, says Esmatullah Nekzad, a policeman formerly with the force's Department of Moral Crimes. The clients are mostly Afghan men.
"Most Afghan men have this hobby — young men from about 16 to 30 years of age," says Nekzad. "You go, you take their phone number, then you tell your friends. It's all by telephone."
The girls stay in one place for anything from five days to three months, until neighbors learn of their business.
That's what happened with the girl Uncle Lang raped. In November, he trafficked her and several others to the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif to beg and sell sex. Within days the neighbors became suspicious and tipped off police.
Police raided the place and arrested the prostitutes. Uncle Lang fled.
For a few weeks, the girl went daily to a women's aid organization. She arrived in the morning, worked in the kitchen and had an hour of counseling every day. She left at 4 p.m.
Her hands became clean and soft. She was happier. She started praying to ask Allah forgiveness for her sins.
At first she said her family did not know she was selling sex, and her mother would kill her. But during the counseling sessions, she let it slip that her parents encouraged her to work with Uncle Lang. When she stopped seeing him, they sent her 10-year-old brother instead.
One day, an aid worker spotted her with Uncle Lang on a popular street lined with kebab and ice cream shops.
The aid worker confronted her. A day later, the girl stopped going to the organization.
She has not been seen or heard from since.
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Cookbook | Recipes | Ingredients | Vegetables
Asparagus are the growing shoots of a fern-like plant. Asparagus has a delicate flavor and diuretic properties.
Notably, asparagus contains a chemical that is metabolised and excreted in the urine, giving it a distinctive, mildly unpleasant odour. Not everyone who eats asparagus produces the odor, not everyone is able to smell the odor once it is produced [1].
Varieties Edit
There are three different common 'varieties' of asparagus sold in the markets which are actually the same plant grown under different conditions. 'Green' asparagus is left exposed to the air so that it grows normally. 'White' asparagus is piled high with straw as it grows so that the shoots remain pale. The flavour is identical, but some believe that white asparagus is more tender and flavourful. Finally, a 'purple' asparagus is occasionally seen, which is again the same except with purple streaks on the stem.
Many unrelated plants are called "asparagus" or "used as asparagus" when their shoots are used in a similar way. For example, the shoots of the related Prussian asparagus (Ornithogalum pyrenaicum) have been used for similar purposes as genuine asparagus.
Seasonality Edit
|Seasonality tables|Autumn|Winter|Spring|Summer|All year
|Northern hemisphere
|Southern hemisphere
Asparagus have a very specific growing season that starts in May and traditionally ends on the 24th of June. Out of season asparagus are grown in regions close to the equator or in greenhouses. If fresh asparagus isn't available, canned, jarred or frozen asparagus usually are.
Preparation Edit
Almost the whole asparagus shoot is edible, but the tender growing end is the most prized. The base of the shoot can be woody and fibrous, and it is generally discarded about a third of the way up. The traditional way to prepare asparagus for cooking is to take hold of a few shoots at a time, holding an end in each hand, and firmly but gently 'snap' it. The shoots will snap at their natural break point, which should be where the woody end meets the more tender portion. Another way to prepare asparagus for cooking is to peel the bottom end with a knife or a vegetable peeler, working from the middle towards the end. This will remove the toughest fibers from the outside although some will remain and will need to be cut an inch or so from the base of the stems.
Cooking Edit
In its simplest form, the shoots are boiled or steamed until tender and served with a light sauce or melted butter.
Asparagus is very long and narrow, and it is traditionally cooked in an 'asparagus steamer.' This is a very tall narrow pot with about an inch of boiling water in the bottom. The asparagus is tied in a bundle and stood upright in the steamer for about five minutes so that the toughest end gets the most cooking and the tips are just barely steamed. A modern alternative is to use a frypan - put boiling water in the pan and slide the asparagus gently into the water so it can lie sideways across the pan. Asparagus is cooked when it turns bright green, which only takes a few minutes regardless of the cooking method.
Asparagus is very good in stir-fries, where it is usually cut into lengths of about an inch and added at the last minute before serving. It can also be made into asparagus soup, especially the older and slightly less tender shoots.
If, as is common, the asparagus is overcooked or allowed to sit too long, cheese sauce is a good dip to use.


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RuneBRICK game is a breakout clone that combines elements of pinball games. Instead of movable platform, a player is in a role of a warrior who has to pass 10 levels in order to save his village and free his princess taken by an evil dragon. On his way, he has to destroy all runes using his shield and the strength of the God Thor. The goal of this game is to use design to prevent players to complete their goal. The game is tailored for lower ages and does not contain any form of violence, erotic and vulgarity.
Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free - or sign in with your social account on the right) and join in the conversation.


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New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon invites residents to attend one of four regional, community meetings scheduled to take place in early to mid-May. These meetings will highlight advances made by the County in public safety, technology, land use, and assessment.
"As part of our open government platform, it is important for us to regularly keep our citizens informed about County operations and services," County Executive Gordon. "Public Safety Director Joe Bryant and Community Governing assistant Stephanie Rizzo have worked hard to schedule these meetings in four different areas for your convenience."
Presentations for the community meetings include:• Chief Administrative Officer David Grimaldi on GIS Mapping and the NCC Website• Land Use General Manager Eileen Fogarty on Strategic Planning for NCC• Property Assessment Services Manager Doug Sensabaugh on over 65 exemptions • Police briefing on burglaries and property crimes
Upcoming Regional Community Meeting Dates:All meetings will be held from 6:30-7:30 p.m. • May 5, 2014 – Claymont Community Center, 3301 Green Street, Claymont, DE• May 8, 2014 – Millcreek Fire Hall, 3900 Kirkwood Highway, Wilmington, DE• May 14, 2014 – Appoquinimink Library, 651 N. Broad Street 19709, Middletown, DE• May 15, 2014 – Gilliam Building, 77 Reads Way, New Castle, DE


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New try on Guantanamo detention
on May 18, 2011 at 9:29 pm
With a fading chance that the Supreme Court will agree to hear the last of the eight Guantanamo Bay detainee cases filed earlier this Term, making a complete sweep for the government, lawyers for a Yemeni national have made a new bid to get the Justices to clarify — and limit — the law of detention. The new petition, in Al-Bihani v. Obama (docket 10-1383) may not be acted upon until next Term; the timing appears to be too close.
The petition asked the Court to rule that the President's detention power applies only to individuals who actually engaged in armed action against the U.S., and thus cannot be used for prolonged detention of an individual simply because he had some ties to an organization, some members of which did engage in terrorism.  The D.C. Circuit Court, however, has ruled that simply being "a part of" that organization — Al Qaeda, a terrorist network — is enough to justify detention.
This case, like most of the others the Justices have considered recently, is likely to be acted upon by only an eight-member Court, with Justice Elena Kagan sitting it out. She did not take part in April when the Court denied review of the same D.C. Circuit Court ruling that is being challenged in the new petition. (Coincidentally, both petitions go by the title Al-Bihani v. Obama, but they involve two Yemeni brothers — Ghaleb Nassar Al-Bihani's case was the one turned aside on April 4 (docket 10-7814); the new one involves Toffiq Nasser Awad Al-Bihani.  They are members of a family of 12 children.)
Among the eight other Guantanamo cases the Justices have examined this Term, review has been denied in six, and the Court simply dismissed a seventh because the detainee had been transferred out of Guantanamo. The only case left in that group is Khadr, et al., v. Obama (10-751). Â
That case has been up for consideration by the Justices at four consecutive private Conferences, and is listed again for the Conference being held on Thursday, according to the Court's electronic docket. Although nothing certain can be concluded about the fate of that petition, it seldom happens that a case considered that many times is then granted review.  One likely scenario is that, in one of those Conferences, the Justices voted to deny review, and now one or more Justices who may have wanted to hear the case is writing an opinion to get on the record.
If the Khadr petition is, in fact, denied, it will mean that the Court has not examined the law of detention since its ruling three years ago in Boumediene v. Bush, giving Guantanamo captives a constitutional right to pursue habeas in a U.S. District Court.  At the time of the Boumediene decision, the Bush Administration could not have imagined how successful its lawyers would be in persuading the D.C. Circuit to narrow down the scope of the habeas right established by that ruling. The Obama Administration lawyers have taken very nearly the same position on the legal issues in the sequels to Boumediene, and they argued against Supreme Court review of all eight of the cases on the Justices' docket this Term.
If this Term concludes without any grant in a Guantanamo case, it will be a fairly strong signal of perhaps one of two things: first, that those who want to return to an examination of the habeas issue cannot anticipate assembling a majority on the Court, so there is no virtue in granting review (Justice Kagan's recusals may have played a part in such a calculation); or, second, that a definite majority of the Justices is satisfied with the outcomes the D.C. Circuit has reached.
One of the more controversial of the Circuit Court decisions since Boumediene was the one it announced in the first Al-Bihani case last year. In that decision, the Circuit Court panel ruled that international law, and law-of-war principles, impose no restrictions on the President's power of detention of terrorism suspects. That panel ruling was not reviewed by the full Circuit Court, although some judges on the full Court sought to discredit it; it remains a precedent.Â
That is the ruling the Justices refused to hear in April, with Justice Kagan recused. It is also the ruling that the other Al-Bihani brother is seeking to challenge in the new petition.
The trend lines in the D.C. Circuit on detention law were so clear to this brother's lawyers that they simply asked the Circuit Court to summarily uphold a District judge's ruling denying his habeas plea, in order to tee up the case so that his lawyers could go on to the Supreme Court more quickly.  They filed their petition on May 11; the government's response is now due on June 10. If, as seems likely, the government asks for and gets more time to respond, there is no chance the case will be scheduled for consideration by the Justices in the current Term, which is expected to end in late June.
The new petition presented a single question: whether "the laws of armed conflict," as developed in international law, apply to determine the scope "of who may be indefinitely detained" under the authority that Congress gave the White House in the resolution passed right after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — formally, the Authorization for Use of Military Force.
Al-Bihani's lawyers argued that there is no evidence that he took up arms against the U.S., even though he had some training in an Al Qaeda military camp in Afghanistan. His lawyers thus insisted that, under law-of-war principles, he is entitled to be treated as a civilian, and civilians are not subject to detention as enemy belligerents.
"The D.C. Circuit," the petition said, "has settled on a detention standard that ignores the historic law of armed conflict restrictions on indefinite detention." That standard, it added, conflicts with Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1942.
The document went on: "The Circuit's standard allows indefinite detention of an individual based solely on his being "part of'" a group, al Qaeda, without regard to whether the individual in question ever personally engaged in hostilities (direct or otherwise) against the United States or any coalition partner."
While the government has asserted that it is using the powers Congress gave it under the 2001 resolution, the petition contended, "the Executive can legitimately justify detention only by reference to the laws of armed conflict — laws it at once embraces and shuns." Detention must be based upon deeds, not mere associations, it argued.
"Left alone by this Court," the petition said, "the D.C. Circuit has refused to apply the laws of armed conflict in construing the Executive's detention authority. Nearly ten years into the war on terror, it is time for this Court to provide direction."
The Justices will not act on the case until after they hear the views of the government – views that, almost certainly, would oppose review by the Court.


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Of the three cases announced on Wednesday, SharesPost's has the deepest implications for the secondary market.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The party's over. After a yearlong investigation into the trading of private-company stock, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges on Wednesday against four firms involved in the shadowy secondary market.
The charges vary against trading platform SharesPost and investment funds Felix Investments, Facie Libre Management and EB Financial, but they all signal the same thing: no more free-wheeling trading in the stock of companies that aren't yet public.
Private markets like SharesPost and its larger rival SecondMarket, which was not one of the companies the SEC charged, burst onto the scene in 2009 to fill a market gap. After the dot-com collapse, the public markets shunned tech companies. But as hot companies like Facebook grew, investors started clamoring for a piece of the action.
Enter SharesPost and SecondMarket, which began experimenting with operating eBay-like exchanges to connect sellers -- typically employees and early investors -- with potential buyers.
The private exchanges are more lightly regulated than public exchanges like Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange. That's because "retail" investors -- your average stock buyers -- can't shop on them. Only accredited investors, like investment funds and individuals with a net worth of at least $1 million, can participate.
Sooner or later, participants knew, the SEC would come knocking. The agency kicked off its probe in December 2010 with a "voluntary request for information" to several industry participants.
The charges: Of the three cases announced on Wednesday, SharesPost's has the deepest implications for the secondary market.
The SEC accused SharesPost and its CEO, Greg Brogger, of operating as a broker-dealer -- facilitating deals -- without having obtained a license to do so. (Rival SecondMarket is registered as a broker-dealer.)
SharesPost paid penalties of $80,000 to settle the case, while Brogger himself paid $20,000. In the wake of the investigation, SharesPost acquired a company with a broker-dealer license. That move brought it into SEC compliance.
As Fortune first reported Tuesday, ahead of the SEC's announcement, the second case is against EB Financial Group and managing director Laurence Albukerk. They were charged with hiding mark-ups on their Facebook investments.
"Investors in Albukerk's two Facebook funds ultimately paid significantly more than the fees disclosed in the offering materials," the SEC said.
EB and Albukerk neither admitted nor denied the charges, but they paid a total of $310,499 to settle.
The SEC also charged Frank Mazzola and two of the funds he helms, Felix Investments and Facie Libre, with "improper self-dealing" -- making "secret commissions" on their purchases of Facebook stock. They were also charged with making false statements to investors, including allegedly lying about Twitter's revenue and about buying stock in FarmVille-maker Zynga. That case has not been settled.
Three of the companies named in Wednesday's complaint came up in a CNNMoney investigation last year.
In February 2011, CNNMoney filed Freedom of Information Act requests to the SEC, seeking details of the agency's communications with major players in the private-stock market. The requests included -- among other companies -- SharesPost, Felix Investments and EB Financial.
The SEC denied all of the requests, citing a FOIA exemption that shields records compiled for a still-ongoing law enforcement investigation.
Wednesday's announcement marks an end to the Wild West of a lightly regulated secondary market.
However, its future was already in doubt. The once-frozen IPO waters have thawed, and 2011 was jammed with splashy public debuts, including Groupon (GRPN), LinkedIn (LNKD), Zynga (ZNGA) and Pandora (P).
The hottest startup of them all, Facebook, filed for a $5 billion IPO last month. That immediately set off speculation about whether the secondary market will survive.
SecondMarket -- the industry's biggest player, and one that appears to have escaped the SEC's secondary market probe unscathed -- insists that private-stock exchanges will be a lasting companion to the public markets.
If so, the SEC made it clear this week that they'll have to play by a new set of rules.
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Justice Alito mouths 'not true'
POLITICO's Kasie Hunt, who's in the House chamber, reports that Justice Samuel Alito mouthed the words "not true" when President Barack Obama criticized the Supreme Court's campaign finance decision.
"Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections," Obama said. "Well I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that's why I'm urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong."
The shot of the black-robed Supreme Court justices, stone-faced, was priceless.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) stood up behind the justices and clapped vigorously while Alito shook his head and quietly mouthed his discontent.
Schumer and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) are trying to find a way to legislate around the Supreme Court decision.
"All you have to do is read the dissent, the four justices who said this will defintely open the floodgates to big corporate special interests. Anybody who thinks that's not true is out of touch with the American political process." Van Hollen said.
Van Hollen told POLITICO he expects to unveil the package in the next 10 days to two weeks.
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) was glad the president called out the Supreme Court.
"He [Alito] deserved to be criticized, if he didn't like it he can mouth whatever they want," Weiner said. "These Supreme Court justices sometimes forget that we live in the real world. They got a real world reminder tonight, if you make a boneheaded decision, someone's going to call you out on it."
But one conservative legal expert took sides with Alito -- at least on the substance of Obama's comments.
"The President's swipe at the Supreme Court was a breach of decorum, and represents the worst of Washington politics — scapegoating 'special interest' bogeymen for all that ails Washington in attempt to silence the diverse range of speakers in our democracy," said Bradley A. Smith, chairman of the Center for Competitive Politics, in The Corner blog on Nationalreview.com.


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from reuters.com: Syrians in the capital Damascus are racing
against time to prepare for a foreign strike, with many hoarding
supplies and others scrambling to find accommodation further away from
potential military targets.
In a
city where dozens of military sites are mixed in among the civilian
population, many worry Damascus could become an especially dangerous
place should a Western-led strike come in response to the apparent use
of chemical weapons last week that killed hundreds in the suburbs.
grocery stores, shoppers loaded up on bread, dried goods and canned
foods, fearing they may face shortages if a strike hits the city. The
items most in demand were batteries and water.
a nurse idled in a clinic – empty as nearly no one showed up for their
appointments on Wednesday – and raised the question on the mind of so
many locals.
"We live in the capital. Every turn, every street, every neighborhood has some government target. Where do we hide?"
have faced daily bloodshed and the constant threat of shelling and car
bombs in their country's 2-1/2-year civil war, which began as peaceful
protests against President Bashar al-Assad and has since killed over
100,000 people.
Now those who did not leave worry they have no place to hide.
"I'm starting to see the fear in people's
eyes," said one resident named Rula, speaking by phone. "People have
been in the habit of stocking extra food since the conflict began, but
now people are buying huge amounts of food and water."
Around Damascus, many banks were crowded with people, and dozens queued at cash machines.
the gloomy mood, some Assad loyalists tried to stir a sense of
patriotism. Hummers drove around the neighborhoods of central Damascus
blaring nationalist songs. Young people painted cement road blocks with
the Syrian flag.
On the capital's
outskirts, residents living in districts such as Hameh, Jumraya and
Qudsiya were especially nervous – they are the site of several military
research facilities and weapons caches, in addition to military bases.
surrounding Jumraya have been hit twice by Israeli strikes in the past
year. The second, in May, triggered dramatic orange-flamed blasts in the
night sky.
Zaina, from Hameh, said her family and many of their neighbors were packing their bags and looking to rent houses.
trying to get as far as they can from military sites. People are going
to places like Mashrou Dummar or the Old City – anything that is more of
a civilian area," she said.
say it is already getting harder and harder to find a place to rent.
Zaina said her family got lucky – a friend who had already emigrated
lent them his house in a safer area.
"But what about my friend?" she wondered. "Her whole family lives in this neighborhood. There is no place for them to go."


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Recently, while attempting to solve one of the many mysteries of my family, I came across several family grave stones in a cemetery in Rhode Island. On top of each stone, there was a penny. I had never seen that before. My initial thought was that someone left a penny to let people know that someone still cares about the person buried there. It seemed like a nice idea to me.
Arriving at home, I decided to learn more about this and find out if others do it too. Where else to look for such things besides the Internet? It turns out there are a whole assortment of reasons why people leave pennies on grave stones. These are the ones I found most fascinating:
1) Leaving pennies on a grave can be done as a token of thanks - a way to show gratitude for someone who had touched your life.
2) Charon is the ferryman who takes the dead across the river Styx. The river Styx is the dividing line between the living and the dead. Coins are used to pay Charon the fee so that the dead can cross. (Greek mythology -- "save yourself a penny for the ferryman")
3) A penny says "In God We Trust", thus leaving a penny on the grave says that God is now entrusted with this person.
4) There is an old superstition that if you leave a coin on a grave, the spirit will grant you a wish (similar to throwing a coin in a fountain).
5) A penny is a wish for a call from heaven to let us know that the person buried there is alright.
6) Put a penny on the person's grave because you want to have their thoughts back with you (as in "penny for your thoughts"). It also indicates that you have this person in YOUR thoughts. It tells people that someone is thinking of this person long after they are gone and in essence they are not dead because their life had meaning and purpose to those who followed after them.
7) They are "pennies from heaven" or a form of a hug.
In any event, it felt good to see that someone had left something in memory of their/my ancestors. It's a similar feeling when you find a family member's grave and someone has left flowers. I will be leaving pennies from now on, wherever I go. Flowers, too, if I get a chance.
Penny for your thoughts? :-)


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There's no doubt that Apple's self-polished reputation for privacy and security has taken a bit of a battering recently.
On the security front, Google researchers just disclosed a major flaw in the iPhone, finding a number of malicious websites that could hack into a victim's device by exploiting a set of previously undisclosed software bugs. When visited, the sites infected iPhones with an implant designed to harvest personal data — such as location, contacts and messages.
As flaws go, it looks like a very bad one. And when security fails so spectacularly, all those shiny privacy promises naturally go straight out the window.
And while that particular cold-sweat-inducing iPhone security snafu has now been patched, it does raise questions about what else might be lurking out there. More broadly, it also tests the generally held assumption that iPhones are superior to Android devices when it comes to security.
Are we really so sure that thesis holds?
But imagine for a second you could unlink security considerations and purely focus on privacy. Wouldn't Apple have a robust claim there?
On the surface, the notion of Apple having a stronger claim to privacy versus Google — an adtech giant that makes its money by pervasively profiling internet users, whereas Apple sells premium hardware and services (including essentially now 'privacy as a service') — seems a safe (or, well, safer) assumption. Or at least, until iOS security fails spectacularly and leaks users' privacy anyway. Then of course affected iOS users can just kiss their privacy goodbye. That's why this is a thought experiment.
But even directly on privacy, Apple is running into problems, too.
To wit: Siri, its nearly decade-old voice assistant technology, now sits under a penetrating spotlight — having been revealed to contain a not-so-private 'mechanical turk' layer of actual humans paid to listen to the stuff people tell it. (Or indeed the personal stuff Siri accidentally records.)
Source: Tech Crunch


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German site eggersmann-modellautos.de has revealed a new LEGO Star Wars set slated for the fall: 75024 HH-87 Starhopper. This set was not shown at Toy Fair earlier this year so it may be slated for an account exclusive. According to Groove Bricks:
This set is inspired on the Friends and Enemies episode of the Star Wars The Clone Wars Series. This ship is commonly used by the Zygerrian Slave Empire and has two twin blaster cannons. The set will include a total of three minifigures Obi-Wan Kenobi (disguised), Cad Bane and Nikto Guard.
No word yet on US pricing or availability, but if the Eggersman-modellautos site is to be believed, the euro pricing is set for €39,99.
Thanks to Groove Bricks for the heads up.