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Story highlights
French forces are fighting the remaining Islamists in Timbuktu, Mali
Timbuktu is a UNESCO World Heritage site of huge cultural significance
Islamists have repeatedly targeted Timbuktu's ancient burial sites
UNESCO has called for the protection of the ancient city of Timbuktu
The offensive against Islamist militants in northern Mali gained further ground Monday as French and Malian forces reportedly took control of the airport in the ancient city of Timbuktu.
The Islamists, who have controlled northern Mali for months, were reported to be fleeing Timbuktu, Mali's traditional cultural center, to the city of Kidal, more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) to the northeast.
Timbuktu is a UNESCO World Heritage site of huge historical significance, but in recent times its carefully preserved heritage has come under severe threat amid ongoing conflict.
In mid-January, following France's intervention to halt the advance of Islamist fighters in the West African country, UNESCO issued calls for the protection of the fabled city, urging armed forces to safeguard the nation's historic and religious landmarks.
See also: 'Why Africa backs French in Mali'
"I ask all armed forces to make every effort to protect the cultural heritage of the country, which has already been severely damaged," said Irina Bokova, the U.N. agency's director-general.
To the distant Western traveler, Timbuktu has for centuries conjured images of mystery and wonder, a remote Shangri-La whose tantalizing riches and intellectual wealth lured the brave and adventurous.
The city partly owes its near-mythical status to its forbidding location; sitting on the southern edge of the Sahara, Timbuktu became synonymous in the West with the farthest place someone can travel.
Founded by nomads around the 12th century, the desert city's golden era came during the medieval years when it became a flourishing commercial town in the lucrative trans-Saharan gold and salt trade, as well as a major educational and spiritual center.
Although Timbuktu's wealth has declined sharply since then, its rich cultural legacy has stood the test of time. The city boasts an impressive array of ancient monuments and priceless artefacts, including its striking earthen mosques – made from mud and wood – and a vast trove of scholarly manuscripts held in public and private collections.
Historically, Timbuktu has been a major hub for the diffusion of Islam in West Africa. Scholars from around the Islamic world traveled to the oasis city to study at the prestigious University of Sankore, which had some 25,000 students and 180 Koranic schools in its heyday.
Mali was often hailed as one of the most successful democracies in West Africa until a coup toppled the president last year, leading al Qaeda-linked Islamists to capitalize on the chaos and establish themselves in the northern part of the country.
In these areas, they applied a strict interpretation of Sharia law by banning music, smoking, drinking and watching sports on TV.
See also: Broken limbs, torn lives in northern Mali
Amid international outrage, they also repeatedly targeted Timbuktu's ancient burial sites. Islamist militants regard such shrines as idolatrous and thus prohibited by their religion.
Last June, UNESCO placed the iconic city on its list of endangered world heritage sites after the Islamist militants controlling the area destroyed many of its treasured tombs and shrines.
In October 2012, Timbuktu residents told CNN that Islamist fighters had attacked more mausoleums. "After the attack, the Islamists told the people that worshiping saints is not right, according to their form of Islam, and the destruction was necessary," said Ibrahim Ag Mohamed, a local guide.
See also: 'Timbuktu tomb attack is an attack on our humanity'
Earlier this month Bokova sent a letter to French and Malian authorities calling on them to respect the Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property that prohibits "exposing (cultural) property to destruction or damage," and calls for "refraining from any act of hostility, directed against such property."
She added: "Mali's cultural heritage is a jewel whose protection is important for the whole of humanity. This is our common heritage, nothing can justify damaging it. It carries the identity and values of a people.
"The destruction of World Heritage sites in Mali in 2012, especially the mausoleums in Timbuktu, sparked a wave of indignation across the world, helping to raise awareness of the critical situation facing the Malian people. The current military intervention must protect people and secure the cultural heritage of Mali."
In an opinion piece written for CNN in July, Bokova said the destruction of Timbuktu's ancient shrines added a moral and cultural crisis to a desperate humanitarian situation.
"The International Criminal Court calls this a war crime. We call it an attack against humanity. This is an attempt to isolate and exclude, to sever the ties that bind peoples together," she added.
Tim Hume also contributed to this report


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Keep a close eye on hotel communications and look for opportunities to increase efficiency and improve service.

subset: commoncrawl


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Canadian Maple
The Canadian Silver Maple Leaf is a renowned bullion, that is well known by all investors and collectors. The Canadian maple is a bestselling bullion coin manufactured by the Canadian Mint and comes either individually or in tubes of 25. There are great volume discounts available. Prices include FREE fully insured shipping.
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4 Unconventional Uses For Mustard
Mustard is a great addition to anybody's kitchen. Not only is it a potent ingredient that will better the taste of pretty much anything it touches (almost anything), but it's also very healthy. It's very rich in selenium, nutrients and antioxidants, making it reputable for combating inflammations and relaxing muscles. A single teaspoon of yellow mustard seeds packs about 85mg of omega 3 fats (the good type of fat), 25mg of potassium (K), 29mg of phosphorus (P), 18mg of calcium (Ca) and about 10mg of magnesium (Mg). With so many beneficial elements, no wonder people have been consuming it since antiquity. To Romans were the first to add the mustard seed to their diet, by mixing the ground mustard seeds with wine; the overall result was a condiment which was vastly used in Roman cuisine. The Egyptians saw it also a symbol of good fortune, so they tossed mustard seeds in the tombs of the pharaohs, so they'd have good luck in their next life. The medicinal benefits however, were fully understood later on, in medieval times. The French monks used a mustard-based paste, which was used in treating many ailments: it was used for back pain and muscular relief, for toothaches, as a digestive stimulant, for improving blood circulation and clearing up the sinuses. As you can see, it's an all-purpose tool, and next, I'm going to explain further uses for mustard.
The potent and active enzymes found in mustard will take out any unwanted odor from almost anything. Whether it's sweat, food smells or even the smell of some disappointing perfume or fabric softener, worry not! Just make a mixture out of 3 gallons of hot water and 1 – 2 cups of dried mustard. Mix it well and add some to a spray bottle. You can spray it to your car tires, the rims, the underbody of the car, the trunk and the car mats. After the bad smell is gone, you can spray with water and clean with a piece of dry cloth. You could also try spraying the solutions on smelly pieces of clothing, but mustard spots are usually very tricky to remove.
2. Natural weedwacker
If you have your very own garden and you're reluctant to using chemical agents in dealing with your weed problem, you'll be glad to know that mustard is the eco-friendly way of getting the job done. If you want to, you can event plant mustard every here and there, but its even easier to scatter mustard seeds all around the garden. When the mustard seeds come in direct contact with the soil, they'll discharge some specific nutrients. These nutrients make the soil hostile territory for all sorts of weeds; you'll reduce your weed problem dramatically. However, mustard can be detrimental to some plants that you might not want gone from your garden, so do some reading on the subject a bit.
3. Burn relief
Mustard works really well on relieving the pain caused by burning accidents, no matter how deep the burn. The first thing you'll need to do is to get your burned area under cold, running, water. This will alleviate some of the initial stinging sensations and will also clean the burned area. After 20 – 30 seconds, stop the "water treatment" and grab a hold on the jar of mustard. Any type of mustard will do, just spread some all over the burned area and wait a few seconds. The pain should cease in a matter of seconds. Keep in mind though that this is a temporary pain relief solution, not a treatment; you should get yourself checked by a doctor a.s.a.p. to avoid complications.
4. Emergency dishwashing soap
If you've run out of dishwashing soap or liquid and you still have tons of dishes to do, once again you can turn to mustard. No need in making that extra trip to the market;
if you have some mustard powder (paste works too) and some baking soda, you're fine. Just add the two together (2 parts mustard, 1 part baking soda) and mix them up. Apply the resulting mix on the dishes (which have been previously washed with water) and let it sit for 5 – 7 minutes. Once the time is up, simply rinse them with water. You'll be amazed at how sparkly they'll be!
I am sure that you've understood by now the importance of having some mustard around the house, be it paste, powder or seeds. Mustard can do so much more than making your hotdogs tastier, it will get you out of all sorts of predicaments.
Image For Pinterest:
Graphic – www.myfamilysurvivalplan.com. Images – Wikipedia 1, 2 – lic. under CC 3.0


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6 teen suicides in 6 months in 1 Ohio school district
Late last week, Hayden Porter, a 15-year-old freshman at a high school in Ohio, took his life. He was the sixth current or former teenage student from the school district to kill themselves within the past six months.
Three of the suicides occurred in a span of 11 days in January.
Police say the suicides don't look like they are linked, and the methods the children used were varied.
Chief Michael Pomesky said over the past five days, his officers have responded to more than two dozen calls concerning potential suicides or requests for police to check on someone. He said the community of Perry Township, about an hour's drive south of Cleveland, is in crisis.
"We pretty much went from no suicides to this," he said.
Porter's mother, Ashley Jones, told CNN affiliate WJW she thinks her son was bullied. Her son, worried about what four boys might do to him, had to be picked up from school one day, she told the Cleveland station.
But she had no idea her son would kill himself.
"Please tell somebody because he didn't tell us. He didn't speak. Maybe he was scared, I don't know, but if something is going on, don't be afraid to speak up," Jones told WJW.
Hayden's father, Shaun Porter, told CNN affiliate WEWS that Hayden had told him he was fine.
"Got off the bus, we talked for 30 to 45 minutes. I never thought he would've done that that day," Shaun Porter said.
The teens who have taken their own lives were 14 to 18 years old, Pomesky said.
He said about bullying: "We're aware that that is a factor in some suicides, but we have not identified that, as an agency, in these cases."
The chief implored parents to be involved.
"The most important part of this is that parents need to have conversations with their kids," he said.
Almost one in five teenagers between 15 and 19 has considered suicide, and nearly 10% have attempted it, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among Americans between 10 and 24, suicide was the second-leading cause of death in 2015.
Some proven strategies for preventing suicide among youth include "strengthening access to and delivery of suicide care, creating protective environments, promoting youth connectedness, teaching coping and problem-solving skills, and identifying and supporting at-risk youth," Melissa C. Mercado, a behavioral scientist in the CDC's division of violence prevention, said in November.
"Suicide is a public health problem that has far-reaching consequences," she said. "Suicide impacts friends, family members, co-workers, communities and society."
Officials at a Friday news conference in Ohio said the 1,700 students at the high school, which is in Massillon, will be provided with an increasing number of resources.
"Know that our district will continue to work, we will not give up," Perry Local Schools Superintendent Scott Beatty said.
The six students included four high schoolers, a middle schooler and a Perry High graduate who lived in another town.
The school district, in a statement, requested members of the community help its students.
"We ask parents, residents, local organizations and everyone in the community to wrap around these young people to provide supports for those who are grieving and support for those that are dealing with difficult situations."
The district website includes a link to a help flyer that says: "You are not alone. There is help available."


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Farewell My Concubine
Item #: ID0891
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|"Bawang Bie Ji"
|Exotic film covers 50 years of sexual, social, and political Chinese history wrapped around the story of two male Peking Opera stars. Deposited as boys at the Opera's training school Douzi and Shitou become fast friends in their hermetically sealed world, but their friendship is tested during the chaos of Communism and the cultural revolution. Sumptuous and well-acted, but the sheer length and emotional detachment prove to be drawbacks. Adapted from a novel by Lee, who based the work on a 2000-year-old Chinese opera about an imperial concubine. Filmed on location in Beijing. In Mandarin Chinese with subtitles.
|Directed by:
|Chen Kaige
|Hsu Feng, Hsu Bin, Jade Hsu, Tomson Films Co., China Film Coproduction Corp., Beijing Film Studio, Miramax
|Leslie Cheung, Zhang Fengyi, Gong Li, Lu Qi, Ying Da, Ge You, Fei Yang, Ma Mingwei


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New York University College of Nursing (NYUCN) received a five-year, $4,161,665.00 grant from the National Institute of Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH/NIDA) to research "Test and Linkage to Care Among Injecting Drug Users (TLC_IDU) Kenya."
"Kenya is conducting size estimations of IDUs and is preparing to launch the first-ever needle syringe program in Africa," said NYUCN Professor Ann Kurth, PhD, CNM, RN. "Our team of Kenyan policy leaders, addiction/behavioral scientists and modelers will leverage Kenya's new program to seek out IDUs, deliver rapid HIV testing, point of care CD4 count and link to antiretroviral therapy (ART), and evaluate community viral load in Nairobi and coastal Mombasa, where most IDUs in Kenya reside," she said.
The grant's co-PI is Dr. Peter Cherutich, of the Kenya National AIDS & STD Control Programme.
The study's goals are as follows:
Aim 1: Evaluate seek test treat retain – 'Testing & Linkage to Care for IDUs' (TLC-IDU Kenya) – using a stepped wedge cluster-randomized design. Clusters will be at a planned n=25 IDU/MARP service sites. The teams will initiate respondent-driven sampling (RDS) to reach IDUs in Nairobi and Mombasa for baseline HIV-1 prevalence determination, then collect seven waves of study data as service sites roll out, including behavioral data on PDAs.
Teams will do rapid HIV testing and refer for addiction/mental health. HIV-positive persons will receive prevention with positives (PwP) counseling and point of care CD4 counts. Those with CD4 <350/μL will be assigned a peer case manager to link the person to ART at study-participating HIV clinics, support ART and PwP adherence and care retention.
Both peer case managers and subjects will receive small conditional cash transfers for subject's adherence to HIV care visits. Primary study outcomes will include time to successful linkage to care, time to ART, and community viral load before and after the TLC-IDU initiation. 'Community viral load' will be ascertained by collecting specimens from around nine randomly-selected HIV-positives at each of the 25 sites. This sampling will be done in eight waves over time, to document changes in infectivity (median viral load). This will give good power to detect HIV viral load changes when comparing pre- and post-intervention periods..
Aim 2: Conduct mathematical modeling to estimate community viral load in IDU injecting and sexual networks, and to assess potential population-level impact of the TLC-IDU intervention on numbers of infections averted,and quality-adjusted life expectancy.
Aim 3: Assess the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of the TLC-IDU model, using a national payer perspective.
This study will provide among the world's first data regarding implementation of the seek, test, treat and retain paradigm with IDUs in sub-Saharan Africa. It will demonstrate the degree to which a combination of structural, biomedical and behavioral interventions can reduce infectivity.
"Partnership with Kenya's national HIV program will allow lessons learned from this study to inform other countries considering how best to address the growing IDU contribution to the HIV epidemic in this high-HIV-burden region," said Kurth.
About the New York University College of Nursing
NYU College of Nursing is a global leader in nursing education, research, and practice. It offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing; Master of Arts and Post-Master's Certificate Programs; a Doctor of Philosophy in Research Theory and Development, and a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. For more information, visit www.nyu.edu/nursing.


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For passengers waiting to catch a plane or folks waiting for someone on a plane, the surroundings at BWI Marshall Airport improved Friday morning with the opening of the two-story observation gallery near Concourse C.
The waiting area, part of the $100 million upgrade scheduled for completion this year, has rocking chairs and recharging stations, a playground, a tapas bar with sweeping views of the runways, and an aviation museum with a 28-foot NASA rocket, a model of a home-grown satellite and local artifacts.
"It would be nice if other airports did this," said Matt Ward, one of the first visitors, who watched his 2-year-old son, Ian, crawl around the colorful toy airplane on the playground.
The Miami resident and his extended family had just concluded a seven-day cruise on Grandeur of the Seas and were facing a nearly six-hour wait for their flight home.
"I was hoping to find a little corner beyond security to chill, but this is much better," he said. "Waiting at the gate gets really old, fast. I'm hoping he burns all his energy here so he'll sleep on the flight."
Even people without travel plans seemed pleased with the renovated surroundings.
Keith Martin of Baltimore used to bring young relatives to the old observation deck to watch planes take off and land. He showed up Friday, hoping to beat the heat, with his godson, Anthony Adger, 6.
As the youngster played with two flight simulators, Martin walked around the exhibits and tried out one of the rocking chairs lining the floor-to-ceiling windows.
"This is terrific," he said. "We used to make a day of it. Now we can again."
This is the third generation of observation areas for the airport. When it opened in 1950, Friendship International Airport had an open-air viewing area, which closed in the mid-1970s when airline hijacking fears were at their height.
An indoor deck opened in 1995 as part of a Concourse C expansion and closed a year ago.
"It was a tired space and we decided to include it in the [renovation] plan," said Paul Wiedefeld, executive director of Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
The lower level of the gallery looks out on the taxiways and runways, and is separated from the new 10-lane security checkpoint by a wall of glass. A model of a Johns Hopkins-built spacecraft that will be launched in 2018 and display highlighting the career of Thurgood Marshall, a Baltimore native and the first black Supreme Court justice, mark the entrance.
Upstairs, tucked in the opposite end of the gallery from the playground, Sky Azure, an 800-square-foot cocktail lounge, features craft beers, small plates priced under $10 and lots of charging stations for electronics.
"I didn't want it to seem like an airport bar," said Wiedefeld. "I wanted it to seem like a destination of its own."
Indirect blue lighting bathes Azure's back wall and clusters of spare, modern furniture dot the interior. Outside, glass panels etched with planes and rockets come alive at night when lighted from below.
Cheng Lor, president of Aero Service Group, which owns Sky Azure and airport concessions here and in Minnesota, praised BWI's approach.
"This is a unique space, a dynamic space. Not a lot of airports have spaces like this," he said.
BWI has packed the space between the children's area and the one reserved for adults with displays honoring aviators and Maryland aviation milestones. One glass case holds models of planes made in Maryland.
"We had a lot of people contribute to this," Wiedefeld said. "But some we got on eBay."
The gallery quickly filled as people reclaimed the space that was shuttered a little more than a year ago.
"People like it. It's been open 40 minutes and look," said Lor, his arm sweeping the scene. "What a beautiful place."


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How Seattle's $15 Minimum Wage Victory Began in New York City's Zuccotti Park
An idea that only a year ago appeared both radical and impractical has become a reality. On Monday, Seattle struck a blow against rising inequality when its City Council unanimously adopted a citywide minimum wage of $15 an hour, the highest in the nation.
This dramatic change in public policy is partly the result of changes brought about by last November's Seattle municipal elections. But it is also the consequence of years of activism in Seattle and around the country. Now that Seattle has established a new standard, the pace of change is likely to accelerate quickly as activists and politicians elsewhere seek to capture the momentum. Five years from now, Americans may look back at this remarkable victory and wonder what all the fuss was about.
Seattle now joins a growing list of cities—including San Francisco, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, San Jose, and Washington, D.C. (along with two adjacent Maryland counties)—that in the past few years have seized growing frustration over the widening income gap and declining living standards by establishing local minimum wages substantially above the federal level of $7.25. Unions, community groups, and progressive politicians in San Diego, New York City, Oakland, Los Angeles, and other cities are already taking steps to follow in Seattle's footsteps.
In nineteen states, minimum wages are now over $7.25 an hour; ten of those states automatically increase their minimum wages with inflation. The highest state-mandated wage law is in Washington State, where the minimum wage increased to $9.32 in January. In September, California Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation that raised the state's minimum wage from $8 to $9 an hour this year, and to $10 an hour in 2016, but last week the state Senate pushed the bar even higher, approving a bill to lift the pay floor to $13 an hour by 2017. Earlier this year, Minnesota raised its minimum wage by $3 to $9.50 an hour starting in 2016, while Connecticut will require employers to pay $10.10 an hour by 2017. Many other states have substantial wage hikes on the drawing boards.
* * * * *
The gridlock on Capitol Hill—where Congress hasn't boosted the federal minimum wage, stuck at $7.25 an hour, since 2009—has helped catalyze a growing movement in cities and states. But this upsurge in government-mandated wage hikes didn't come about suddenly; it is the result of years of changing conditions, effective grassroots organizing, and changing public views about the poor.
In 1994, a coalition of community organizations, religious congregations, and labor unions in Baltimore mobilized a successful grassroots campaign to pass the nation's first "living wage" law in 1994. It required companies with municipal contracts and subsidies to pay employees at least several dollars above the federal minimum wage. The idea quickly caught fire. Since then, about 120 cities have adopted laws that establish a wage floor, from $9 to $16 an hour, mostly for businesses that receive contracts or subsidies from local governments. Although these laws reach a relatively narrow group of workers, they injected the notion into the public debate that people who work full-time should not live in poverty.
In 1996, Congress enacted and President Bill Clinton signed so-called "welfare reform," limiting the time people during which can receive assistance. Although liberals justifiably decried this approach, it ironically helped shift public opinion and stereotypes about the poor. Increasingly, Americans came to view low-income people as the "working poor," a group considered more sympathetic than the so-called "welfare poor."
The mainstream news media began to pay more attention to low-wage workers, while academics and journalists expressed growing concern about the "Walmartization" of the economy—meaning the growing number of low-wage jobs with few benefits. In 2001, Barbara Ehrenreich's book, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, which recounted her experiences toiling alongside hardworking low-wage employees who couldn't make ends meet, became a bestseller, reflecting a changing national mood about people who earn their poverty on the job.
All these trends came to a boil a decade later, when a handful of activists took over Zuccotti Park in New York City to draw attention to the nation's widening wealth and income gap. Occupy Wall Street, which began in September 2011 and quickly spread to cities and towns around the country, changed our national conversation. At kitchen tables, in coffee shops, in offices and factories, and in newsrooms, Americans began talking about economic inequality, corporate greed, and how America's super rich have damaged our economy and our democracy. Occupy Wall Street provided Americans with a language—the "1 percent" and the "99 percent"—to explain the nation's widening economic divide, the undue political influence of the super-rich, and the damage triggered by Wall Street's reckless behavior that crashed the economy and caused enormous suffering and hardship.
Even after local officials had pushed Occupy protestors out of parks and public spaces, the movement's excitement and energy were soon harnessed and co-opted by labor unions, community organizers, and politicians.
The past two years have seen an explosion of worker unrest, especially among Walmart employees, workers at fast-food chains, janitors, and hospital workers. Walmart workers have engaged in strikes and civil disobedience at big-box outlets and at company headquarters in Arkansas as part of an escalating grassroots campaign to demand that the nation's largest private employer pay its workers at least $25,000 a year.
Employees at McDonalds, Taco Bell, Burger King and other fast-food restaurants have gone on strike to demand a base wage of at least $15 per hour. Two weeks ago, more than 1,500 McDonalds workers and supporters converged on the company's corporate headquarters outside Chicago—and then to the company's annual investor meeting—to bring their message to its top executives. More than 100 protesters were arrested. They pointed out that while the company pays an average of between $7.13 and $8.84 an hour, McDonald's CEO Don Thompson pulled in $9.5 million last year—the equivalent of $9,247 an hour. Last year, a National Employment Law Project (NELP) study revealed that the low wages paid to employees of the 10 largest fast-food chains cost taxpayers an estimated $3.8 billion a year by forcing employees to rely on public assistance to afford food, healthcare, and other basic necessities.
The Institute for Policy Studies, in a report released in March, found that the $26.7 billion in bonuses handed to 165,200 executives by Wall Street banks in 2013 would be enough to more than double the pay for all 1,085,000 Americans who work full-time at the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Meanwhile, the majority of new jobs created since 2010 pay just $13.83 an hour or less, according to NELP.
The reality of widening inequality and declining living standards, the activism of Occupy Wall Street radicals and low-wage workers, and increasing media coverage of these matters has changed public opinion. A national survey by the Pew Research Center conducted in January found that 60 percent of Americans—including 75 percent of Democrats, 60 percent of independents, and even 42 percent of Republicans—think that the economic system unfairly favors the wealthy. The poll discovered that 69 percent of Americans believe that the government should do "a lot" or "some" to reduce the gap between the rich and everyone else. Nearly all Democrats (93 percent) and large majorities of independents (83 percent) and Republicans (64 percent) said they favor government action to reduce poverty. Over half (54 percent) of Americans support raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations in order to expand programs for the poor, compared with one third (35 percent) who believe that lowering taxes on the wealthy to encourage investment and economic growth would be the more effective approach.
Overall, 73 percent of the public—including 90 percent of Democrats, 71 percent of independents, and 53 percent of Republicans—favor raising the federal minimum wage from its current level of $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour.
Immediately after the Occupy Wall Street protests began, candidates and elected officials--at the federal, state and local levels—began echoing its themes and nation's growing inequality and the greed of the super-rich.
These shifts have obvious political consequences. Immediately after the Occupy Wall Street protests began, candidates and elected officials--at the federal, state and local levels—began echoing its themes and nation's growing inequality and the greed of the super-rich.
President Barack Obama began injecting concerns about inequality and poverty in his speeches.In a major address in Kansas in December 2011, two months after the first Occupy protests, Obama criticized the "breathtaking greed" of the super-rich. He pointed out that the average income of the wealthiest 1 percent had increased by more than 250 percent, to $1.2 million a year. In his January 2013 State of the Union address, Obama proposed raising the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour.
"Even with the tax relief we've put in place, a family with two kids that earns the minimum wage still lives below the poverty line. That's wrong," Obama said at the time. Last November, however, in response to escalating protests by low-wage workers, he embraced a bill sponsored by Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa and Representative George Miller of California to lift the federal minimum to $10.10 an hour.
In the 2012 Republican presidential primaries, some GOP candidates attacked Mitt Romney for being an out-of-touch "crony capitalist." In his campaign against Obama, Romney opposed a hike in the minimum wage. But this May, Romney urged Republicans to endorse a $10.10 minimum wage, arguing that it would help GOP candidates "convince the people who are in the working population, particularly the Hispanic community, that our party will help them get better jobs and better wages." But so far Congressional Republicans have refused to budge.
So in the face of gridlock in the U.S. Capitol Building, local activists and their allies in city halls have taken matters in their own hands.
* * * * *
The battle in Seattle began last year. In November, voters in the suburb of SeaTac approved a union-sponsored Good Jobs Initiative' to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for workers in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and at airport-related businesses, including hotels, car-rental agencies, and parking lots. The new law applied to only 6,000 workers, but the victory had huge ripple effects. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and his chief challenger Ed Murray (a gay state legislator best known for leading Washington's campaign for sex-same marriage) both supported the SeaTac initiative and raised the possibility of doing the same thing in the state's largest city.
On May 30, a week after the candidates for mayor and council filed for a place on the ballot, Seattle's fast food workers went out on a one-day strike. Throughout the summer, low-wage workers conducted actions timed to key campaign events. By the time of the primary election in August, the question of a $15 minimum wage was being asked at every debate and every candidates forum.
On the same day in November that the SeaTac measure won, so did Murray and Kshama Sawant, a Socialist candidate for Seattle City Council who had been active in the city's Occupy movement and who made the $15/hour minimum wage a centerpiece of her campaign.
"Is this going to be a city for the rich?" asked Murray after winning the mayoral race. "Or is this going to be a city that's diverse economically, racially, ethnically? That's the challenge before us."
After his victory, Murray followed through. He appointed a 24-person Income Inequality Committee, co chaired by Howard Wright, CEO of Seattle Hospitality Group, and David Rolf, president of SEIU Local 775, who had been a major force behind the minimum wage proposal.
Rolf was adept at playing the inside/outside game. While pushing to forge an agreement among the task force members, he worked with Seattle's labor movement and community activists to keep the pressure on city officials and to keep the issue in the media. He made sure that economists and other experts were available to educate the public, politicians, and journalists and to rebut the business leaders' warnings that the $15 minimum wage would kill local jobs.
Both Rolf and Murray discovered that socialist Sawant was a useful, though unpredictable, ally. She was working with a group called 15 Now that threatened to put an initiative on the November 2014 ballot to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour on January 1, 2015, for all businesses. Murray told business leaders that unless they reached an agreement with the unions, he would announce his own plan that was closer to Sawant's proposal than the phased-in plan that was being discussed in the mayoral task force.
Even after a series of compromises, the unions and their allies won a huge victory.
Business leaders took the SeaTac referendum to court, delaying its implementation for workers on airport property, but there were no legal obstacles in Seattle, where the progressives clearly had the political momentum. Even after a series of compromises, the unions and their allies won a huge victory. They agreed to a three- to seven-year phase-in, with large businesses (those with at least 500 workers) required to reach the $15 wage first. The new law will raise the wages of more than 100,000 workers in the city, lifting many out of poverty, and giving them sufficient income to pay for housing, food, and other necessities in Seattle's high-priced economy.
* * * * *
Progressives have clearly won the moral argument. Americans believe that people who work should not live in poverty. So business groups have to resort to persuading the public that raising the federal minimum wage—or adopting a living wage or minimum wage plan at the local level – will hurt the economy. Business lobby groups and business-funded think tanks— including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its local affiliates, the National Restaurant Association, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the Employment Policies Institute (an advocacy group funded by the restaurant industry) and other industry trade associations—typically dust off studies warning that firms employing low-wage workers will be forced to close, hurting the very people the measure was designed to help.
In fact, many economic studies show that raising the minimum wage is good for business and the overall economy.
But such dire predictions have not materialized. That's because they're bogus. In fact, many economic studies show that raising the minimum wage is good for business and the overall economy. Why? Because when low-wage workers have more money to spend, they spend it, almost entirely in the local community, on basic necessities like housing, food, clothing and transportation. When consumer demand grows, businesses thrive, earn more profits, and create more jobs. Economists call this the "multiplier effect."
Moreover, most minimum-wage jobs are in "sticky" local industries—such as restaurants, hotels, hospitals and nursing homes and retail stores—that can't simply flee to another city.
In their new book, When Mandates Work: Raising Living Standards at the Local Level, economists Michael Reich and Ken Jacobs of the University of California at Berkley summarize the findings of research on the impact of local minimum wage laws. They discovered that there are no differences in employment levels between comparable cities with and without living-wage laws. In doing so, they showed that business lobby groups are crying wolf when they claim that these laws drive away business and kill jobs.
"Seattle has made a significant step. We are leading the nation," said Mayor Murray after Monday's vote. "We need a movement in America. The federal government is stuck. States are stuck. The cities must lead."
[Peter Dreier, who teaches politics at Occidental College, is the author of The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame (Nation Books, 2012).]
Thanks to the author for sending this to Portside.


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Firstly our 100% organic and Australian Made cotton jersey range:
Little Forest, Trams & Bicycles, Pirates & Sea Creatures and Seedling.
Secondly (I've been looking forward to this for ages), we released my Flowering Gum print:
Flowering Gum in Olive & Robins Egg
We're printing all the new prints on a woven basecloth too (some are still on the way):
Flowering Gum, Seedling & Little Forest cushions
Flowering Gum, Seedling & Little Forest cushions
It's been so much fun and so satisfying to see these designs come to life. We have lots more plans for them too.
In other exciting news, my flat was featured in the Herald Sun Home magazine today! Will post some pics soon once I have my camera with me :)


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Ameriglo Tritium Night Sight Set - CLASSIC - For Glock 42/43 - Green/Green
The Ameriglo Classic line is designed for those who prefer more traditional style night sights. Machined from solid bar stock, the Classic line is extremely rugged and durable, with easy to see tritium tubes surrounded by bright white outlines for fast target aquisition in bright and low light situations. Fits Glock 42 and 43. Green/Green.
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Milspin Custom Back Plate - Three Percenter - Standard Glock - Stainless Steel with Black Coating
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My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don't go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from Flickr or one that I took out there on the road.
Good stuff I found this week:
Speechpad – another in a growing list of transcription services. This is a big category as another way to make content.
OnePager – there are lots of reasons why you might want a really simple, good looking one page website.
Wunderlist – a beautiful and simple to-do list. I've had several people recommend this on of late.


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Bank stocks have more than tripled in value since the bull market began over four years ago. But if history is any guide, they're about to reverse course as the Federal Reserve prepares to pull back on its monetary stimulus programs.
Financial stocks are the "single worst performers" during stock market corrections that are caused by shifts toward tighter Federal Reserve policies, according to Barry Knapp, chief equity strategist at Barclays.
Last week, Fed chief Ben Bernanke laid out the details about when and how quantitative easing would end.
The stock and bond markets have sold off sharply. Knapp said the pullback is likely to continue as investors adjust to the move towards more normal Fed monetary policy. And he believes history will repeat itself. Banks should suffer the most.
Ever since Bernanke first hinted last month that the Fed may trim back on its bond purchase program, Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC) are down about 10% while the broader market is off about 4%.
Related: The bull is sleeping ... it's not dead
Knapp analyzed the performance of the broader market and individual sectors during the most recent periods when the Fed raised interest rates: 1983, 1994 and 2004. He noted that financials consistently lagged the broader market.
On average, financial stocks lose about 9% during Fed-induced corrections, about 1.5 percentage points more than the broader market.
Related: Bonds in the bargain bin
It makes sense for bank stocks to fall under severe pressure if the Fed is shifting its policy. After all, they have outperformed the overall market by such a wide margin. But the main reason banks get hit the hardest is because their business is "clearly sensitive to interest rates," said Knapp.
Although Bernanke has stressed that the Fed is likely to keep short-term rates low until 2015, long-term bond yields have surged as investors anticipate a slowing of asset purchases by the Fed. So Fed tapering is being viewed by investors as a form of tightening.
That's bad news because higher interest rates can lead to heavy losses in the bonds that the bank already holds.
And while the recovering housing market has been helping propel stocks higher, Knapp says it may not be strong enough to continue supporting banks. Higher interest rates could trigger a spike in mortgage rates and slow the pace of new home loans.
The 30-year mortgage rate has already risen to nearly 4%, up from 3.35% at the start of May. While that is still low by historical standards, it's trimmed about $12,000 off of an average buyer's purchasing power.
Investors also seem to be worried that the Fed's decision to take away the "stimulus-filled punch bowl" is premature. It could punish the sectors that stand to gain the most from an economic recovery, such as financials.
Knapp is particularly worried about the banks this time around because even if the Fed is able to shift its monetary policy without denting the economy, the regulatory environment for banks remains cloudy.
Investors are still struggling to figure out how the implementation of new rules that were part of the Dodd-Frank reform law will impact banks. There are also calls for higher capital requirements for banks around the world. For those reasons, Knapp thinks investors should not have a huge position in financial stocks.


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Baby Ballerina with Bow - Talc
Regular price $48.95
Unit price
Shipping calculated at checkout.
- These baby ballerina shoes are as gentle and flexible as they come. We call them crib shoes, but they're really designed for your dancer-in-the-making: soft, springy soles; a crisp, girly aesthetic, and a bow that is best described as show-stopping. You can thank our "paw" design stamped on the sole for all that grip!


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Tag: Monsters »
Zenforms: Protectors Review
Geomon Review
Adventure of Terapets: The Crazy Scientist Review
Little Masters Review
Dragon Island Blue Review
Monster Life Review
My Monster Rancher Review
Mobbles Review
Price: FREE
Version: 1.0
App Reviewed on: iPhone 3GS
Graphics / Sound Rating:
Gameplay Rating:
Playtime Rating:
Replay Value Rating:
My neighborhood is apparently playing host to a menagerie of monsters. That's okay because they're of the cute and cuddly variety, but there sure are an awful lot of the little buggers hiding out around here. Good thing I can use Mobbles to catch them. Then pet them and love them and call them George.
Mobbles is an interesting combination of location-based and monster-collecting and raising gameplay. As long as there's space available, a player can wander around just about anywhere and try to track one (or several) of the little suckers down. If they can get within a certain real world distance, they can attempt to catch it. If successful, they have a new little buddy to feed and shower with attention. This is where the second half of the game comes into play. Each little critter can be fed, bathed, played with, and put to bed. They each also have their own to-do lists that will reward bonus gems (used for buying stuff) or love (used to level-up a given creature) that run the gamut from tickling a specific number of times to simply feeding at a specific time of day.
Every creature in Mobbles has a distinct look (always cute), and every creature also has its own basic personality. Although for my money Gummy is about as adorable a cartoon iOS "thing" as I've ever seen. Having to put them to sleep once they get tired from too much activity, typically for about a half an hour, can actually be seen as a good thing since it prevents people from spending way too much time poking virtual cartoon monsters. And the features that constantly unlock for each Sploon, Gummy, Runka, and so on can be a major driving force to keep players invested.
Though they may be cute and numerous, and full of un-lockable wardrobe options, Mobbles can also be a bit of a let down for someone who doesn't know what to expect. Finding, collecting, and trading monsters typically lends itself to training and battles as well, but those are two features that are decidedly not present here. This is not a battle game, it's a virtual pet game. It's important for anyone interested to understand that as there's very little in the way of action, which can be a huge disappointment if it's not expected.
So long as people know what they're getting into, they're bound to enjoy Mobbles. It's an entertaining and family-friendly game designed to get everyone out of the house for a bit while they go looking for new specimens, not a collect 'em, train 'em, battle 'em affair. Given the sheer amount of cute on display, I'm inclined to be okay with that.


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The three biggest factors in determining the appeal of a baseball game on television are the starting pitchers, the ballpark, and the announcers involved. I like games that feature at least one interesting starting pitcher, a clean-looking ballpark, and announcers with good chemistry, regardless of whether they excel in wit or insight. More often than not, a good blend of those three attributes leads to an engaging ballgame.
Friday night's game between the Giants and the Mets looked favorable using that rubric. Start with Jonathon Niese and Barry Zito, two southpaws off to strong starts, then move on to Citi Field, which looks great on TV. From there, you get to choose between two of the best broadcasting crews in the game. There are no wrong choices when the options are Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow or Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling, but there also is no sense in limiting oneself, so I decided to alternate throughout.
Kuiper and Krukow got the start, and went to work introducing the lineups, which looked like so:
San Francisco
- Angel Pagan CF
- Melky Cabrera RF
- Pablo Sandoval 3B
- Buster Posey 1B
- Brett Pill LF
- Hector Sanchez C
- Emmanuel Burriss 2B
- Brandon Crawford SS
- Barry Zito P
New York
- Ruben Tejada SS
- Daniel Murphy 2B
- David Wright 3B
- Ike Davis 1B
- Jason Bay LF
- Scott Hairston RF
- Kirk Nieuwenhuis CF
- Mike Nickeas C
- Jonathon Niese P
My breakout pick for the season, Niese, took the mound as his numbers flashed on screen: 12 2/3 innings pitched, seven hits, five walks, 12 strikeouts, and a 2.13 earned run average; not too shabby. The scouting report on Niese comes with the knowledge that he throws a tailing fastball, a sinker, a cutter, a curveball, and a changeup. Niese isn't afraid to come inside against right-handed batters, either.
Niese delivered a fastball to former Met Angel Pagan and the game was underway. It didn't take long for an ominous feeling to stir. Pagan smoked a liner into right field that Scott Hairston happened to run down. Then Niese and catcher Mike Nickeas had a mix-up, with the pitch eluding Nickeas and instead striking home-plate umpire Kerwin Danley in the shin. At this point, Krukow offers one of his trademarked umpire scouting reports. Danley, per Krukow, rules over a tight zone while favoring the first-base side of the plate. In other words, righties should protect the outside of the plate—particularly against these southpaw pitchers. Brooks Baseball's umpire cards suggest the latter part of Krukow's report is inaccurate.
Niese recovers to get Melky Cabrera to ground out on an off-balanced swing and strikes Pablo Sandoval out on four pitches. That means it's time for Zito and the Mets crew.
Cohen introduces Zito as "the retooled Barry Zito." The reasoning is simple enough—Zito changed his delivery during the offseason with help from pitching-mechanics guru Tom House. Zito, you may notice, no longer has a pronounced windup. When I showed resident A's fan Jason Wojciechowski Zito's new delivery, he asked why I chose a pitch from the stretch. The official explanation for Zito's tweaking is to generate more hip and core rotation, though, as the Mets booth notes, Zito's velocity is mostly unchanged.
Speaking of auspicious starts, Cohen notes that Zito has walked one batter in his previous 16 innings on the season. Zito proceeds to walk Ruben Tejada. then Cohen chimes in with another factoid about Zito: he previously had not allowed the first batter of any inning to reach base. Zito winds up walking David Wright after retiring Daniel Murphy, then goes to a full count on Ike Davis. These are not cases where Zito's control is giving him fits, but rather cases where he seems to be nibbling after getting ahead 0-2.
Darling calls one of Zito's offering a "screwball-change" along the way, and that affords me the opportunity to link to Ken Arneson's great piece from 2007 on Zito's approach. Davis pops out and Jason Bay lines out, ending the inning, but not before Darling points out something else about Zito—his arm wrap:
I flip back to Kuiper and Krukow as the camera zooms in on the Mets' outfield tribute to Gary Carter. It is fitting that they eventually pan to Niese, though neither seems to know about Carter's impact on Niese's career. The story goes like this: Carter saw footage of Niese during the latter's high school days. At the time, Carter was managing in the Mets system, so when New York popped Niese, Carter called the lefty and implored him to sign. Sure enough, Niese shunned the University of Cincinnati for the Mets.
Nice story aside, Niese runs into trouble almost immediately. Buster Posey lines the second pitch he sees through the infield for a hit. Brett Pill takes the fourth pitch of his at-bat and cranks it into deep left-center field for a flyout. Hector Sanchez singles on Niese's third offering to him, and now there are two on with only one out. The good news for Niese is that the bottom of the order is due up. The bad news is that he not only falls behind Emmanuel Burriss, but he walks him on back-to-back questionable calls. You would be right to assume that Danley's tight zone may have contributed, but you'd be even more correct in fingering Niese and Nickeas as the culprits:
Mike Fast would be spinning yarn in his Houston office if he saw this. Krukow is taking up the mantle for Fast as he points out that Nickeas just cost his pitcher a call. Sure enough, it looks that way. Nickeas' glove has to move almost the entire width of the plate to catch the ball, which is more on Niese than the backstop, but Nickeas does himself little favor by shifting his weight, dropping his head, and receiving the ball awkwardly in the glove. Krukow points out that Nickeas' glove webbing needs to be pointing the other way on the pitch, and it sounds a bit like what Tom House wrote in The Diamond Appraised: "Catch the low strike with the glove up, and you'll probably get the call; roll the glove over, and you'll lose it." Nickeas lost it:
Krukow continues to prove his worth as an observant onlooker by pointing out Niese's body language. David Wright must've noticed Niese shaking his head, too, because he trots to the mound to give his pitcher a breather. Wright's efforts don't help much, as Brandon Crawford strikes a pitch about as well as he can, but Kirk Nieuwenhuis makes the catch and prevents Posey from scoring. Zito is up and goes down quickly on strikes and Niese avoids damage.
Alas, Niese cannot run from trouble all day. Pagan is due back up and Niese misses with a first-pitch curveball. Without context, it would seem that Niese rode his fastball and sinker the first time through the order, then began pitching backward the second time through. That isn't the case, however, as Niese threw two first-pitch curves in the previous inning. His next pitch to Pagan is a fastball middle-in and the former Met takes advantage of the new, shallower fences for his first home run of the season.
Cabrera follows up Pagan's homer with a line-drive hit of his own and suddenly Niese is on the rocks. Kuiper calls Pablo Sandoval "Pandoval" moments before Sandoval hits a liner past the shortstop. Then Posey doubles into right-center, plating Cabrera and sending Sandoval to third. Sandoval promptly scores on a wild pitch. Just like that, it's 3-0 Giants.
Zito seems to be rolling now. He has thrown 28 pitches over the past two innings after tossing 29 in the first inning alone. Wright and Davis are retired, but Bay works his way into a 3-1 count. From there, Zito leaves a changeup in a spot where Bay can look like his old self and crushes it into the seats for a home run.
An inning later, Kirk Nieuwenhuis takes a 1-0 offering to left-center, and suddenly it's a one-run game. Nieuwenhuis is becoming a cult figure for the Mets fan base, as he continues to take advantage of his shot in the majors. For those who don't follow the Mets religiously but want to get in on the fun, here is what Kevin Goldstein wrote about Nieuwenhuis when ranking him as the 11th-best prospect in the system:
The Good: Nieuwenhuis can beat teams in a variety of ways. He showed much-improved plate discipline in 2011 to go with average hitting and power skills. He plays the game hard and has good instincts on the base paths and in the field to go with an average arm.
The Bad: Nieuwenhuis is seen by many as stuck between positions. He doesn't have the speed to play centerfield every day, and his power is in the 15-18 homer per year range, so he doesn't profile well for a corner. Strikeouts have always been a big part of his game.
Nieuwenhuis damage aside, Zito escapes a bases-loaded threat without yielding another run. Zito's day still ends as Matt Cain pinch-hits for him in the top of the sixth, meaning that his line is finished at five innings, four hits, two runs, three walks, two strikeouts, and two home runs allowed on 100 pitches.
Meanwhile, Niese is done after six innings as well: six innings, seven hits, three runs, two walks, five strikeouts, and a homer on 109 pitches.
Guillermo Mota enters for the Giants. The Mets broadcast welcomes him with this exchange:
Hernandez: "Didn't Mike Piazza chase [Mota] into the outfield one time?"
Cohen: "Twice."
The absence of Brian Wilson means Bruce Bochy has to get creative with his bullpen management. Entering the bottom of the ninth inning, Bochy inserts Santiago Casilla. Casilla's job is to retire the right-handed batters due up in Bay and Hairston. From there, the warming Javier Lopez should close the door on lefties Nieuwenhuis and Josh Thole. The best-laid plans can fall apart, and Casilla gives up a single to Bay on the second pitch of the at-bat. With Lucas Duda, a lefty, announced as the hitter, Bochy bounces out of the dugout and brings in Lopez.
Lopez coaxes a flyout from Duda for the first out of the inning. He then walks Nieuwenhuis, but not before uncorking a wild pitch that allows Bay to advance to second base. Thole is up and battles Lopez to a full count. On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Thole hits a ball towards Burriss, who dives, but comes up just short. Tied game, and out comes Bochy to replace Lopez with Sergio Romo. It's safe to say that Romo replaces Wilson in at least one regard—beard-making—and Romo does his best Wilson impersonation on the mound by working out of a first-and-third jam thanks to a fielder's choice (Nieuwenhuis was thrown out at the plate) and a timely strikeout.
You always know that the Giants catcher is a threat to put his team ahead, and sure enough, Hector Sanchez comes through in extra innings with a single that plates the go-ahead run. The Mets rally in the bottom half of the inning, putting the tying and winning runs into scoring position against Romo. But Clay Hensley enters and put an end to any comeback hopes, retiring Bay and Duda and settling both teams' records at 7-6, with three games to go in the series.
Thank you for reading
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Kayla's Friend
Leila Ashton's portraits are currently held in numerous collections throughout the Southeast and from coast to coast. An accomplished artist as a teenager, she continued to study and produce art alongside her career as a music teacher. In recent years, however, demand for her work has allowed her to produce art full-time, work she loves to do. Largely self-taught, she has also studied with some of today's finest portrait artists, such as Daniel Greene, Constance Flavel Pratt, Paul Leveille and Vincent Chiaramonte, among others.
A frequent finalist in national and international juried exhibitions, Leila Ashton has twice been a finalist in the Portrait Society of America's 'Members Only' Competition. She has received First Place and Exceptional Merit Awards in exhibitions of the Portrait Society of Atlanta and the Southeastern Pastel Society, and has received awards in the exhibitions of several other arts organizations. She is a member of the Portrait Society of America, and a Member of Excellence of the Southeastern Pastel Society. Her most recent exhibition has been a one-person show in the J.C. Williams Gallery at Southern Adventist University near Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Additional Charges
A 1/3 deposit is due at the photography session. The balance is due when the finished painting is delivered.


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Thailand Surf Map – Wind and Wave forecasts
Thailand wave (swell) map for surfers, windsurfers and sailors showing open ocean wave size, wave period and wave energy. You can customize the wave and wind maps with overlays for wind arrows, pressure and general weather for surfing. There are also options to display live wind observations from ships, wave buoys and weather stations on the wave maps in the Thailand region.
List of all animated swell maps
Important: JavaScript support must be turned on in order to use these animated swell maps. Alternatively, visit our basic swell maps of Thailand where each view becomes a separate image.


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Marriage Equality Works is a resource to help marriage equality supporters around the country tell the story of marriage in Massachusetts. Here you can learn the facts about equal marriage rights in Massachusetts, access tools to help educate the public in other states and donate to this important work.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Web Spotlight: Marriage Equality Works
Posted by Queers United at 5:30 PM
1 comment:
I'm going to go check that out!
- May 22, 2009 at 9:13 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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Missouri Base and Elevation Maps
The two maps shown here are digital base and elevation maps of Missouri. Higher resolution maps like these and many other digital maps, wall maps, custom radius maps, travel maps, travel guides, map software, and globes and games, for business and the classroom, are available to purchase from Maps.com - The World's Largest Maps Store!. Enter code "NETSTATE" at checkout for 10% off orders of $50 or more!
Additional information
Missouri maps: Additional maps and map links from NETSTATE.COM.
Missouri geography: More Missouri geography from NETSTATE.COM.
State elevations: State elevations listed by mean elevation, state high point and state low point.
Purchase Missouri maps:
Maps.com - The World's Largest Maps Store!
Site designed exclusively for NETSTATE.COM by NSTATE, LLC


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The ratio of tips and rumors I received for a new DSLR vs. mirrorless camera announcement on August 24 is 50/50. The main difference is that I got some details on the mirrorless camera and nothing on the DSLR front. This is why I changed my "prediction" from two DSLR bodies to a mirrorless only announcement next week.
I already see many readers are getting upset and all I want to ask you is to wait till next week. As the last announcement showed, I do not know everything and just because I do not have any detailed specs doesn't necessary mean that my "prophecy" is correct.
The chances for a mirrorless/DSLRs announcement for next week are still 50/50 and any combination between those two is also possible. There is also a very good chance that there may be a second announcement in September.
Everything is still possible and I may change my "prognosis" again in the next few days 🙂


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Hanapepe Valley Chickens, Kauai 3¢ Post Stamp
Hanapepe Valley Chickens, Kauai 3¢ Post Stamp
Hanapepe Valley Stamp Print by Joanna Carolan
- Availability:Usually ships in 1-3 weeks
- Gift wrapping:Options available
- Shipping:Calculated at Checkout
Kauai's chickens... they're everywhere! This print is one of Kauai artist, Joanna Carolan's, colorful Kauai moa (the Hawaiian word for chickens and roosters) in various locations around the Garden Island. Painted in watercolors and pastels, and printed on high quality linen-textured, acid free paper, Joanna has designed them to resemble vintage postage stamps; each painting in her series can be identified by the stamp number (1¢, 2¢, 3¢, etc.) "Hanapepe Valley" is the third in the series. Each print is matted in espresso brown and available in the two sizes listed above. Collect them all! Kauai's beautiful plumed moa are descendants of the original moa brought to Hawaii by the first Polynesian voyagers. Since the 1950's, four hurricanes have been partially responsible for dispersing traditional, barnyard varieties into the wild. Today, Kauai's moa population is a unique and striking genetic mix of this diversity.


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Britney -- Back in the Danger Zone?
TMZ caught up with the freshly rehabbed Britney Spears twice inside Hollywood nightclubs in the past week. Is it potentially "toxic" for the recovering train wreck to be hanging out in the L.A. club scene?
This past Thursday Ms. Spears hit up hotspot Teddy's at the Roosevelt Hotel and took over two large booths in the back of the club. A group of massive bodyguards held up large black curtains to obstruct the view of anyone trying to sneak a peek at Brit and her posse as they partied the night away.
Then just last night, Britney showed up at Les Deux in Hollywood -- and didn't leave until 2:00 AM. Sources tell TMZ that Britney again had a mountain range of security guards lining her VIP booth, set to confiscate cameras from anyone who tried to photograph the partying pop mom.
A rep for Spears told us "So what?!? It's not a crime."


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Please visit our Open House at 1 2018 27 AVE SW in CALGARY.
Open House on Sunday, July 3, 2011 12:00 pm
Stunning luxury Townhomes by Castellano Custom Homes. Each unit measuring over 2000 sq-ft. The entire top level features a generous sized master bedroom (over 500 square feet) including a luxury spa en-suite, over sized walk in closet, fireplace and private balcony. The Second Level features a balcony off one of the 2 bedrooms each with walk in closets and a luxury shared en-suite plus a separate laundry room. The kitchen boasts floor to ceiling maple cabinetry, quartz countertops,stainless steel appliances and a gas stove. The open concept main floor features bamboo hardwood flooring, fireplace, large windows and generous sized south facing veranda. The Lower level media room is prewired for 5.1 surround sound and every room is wired for ceiling speakers creating ambience when relaxing or entertaining. Upgraded lighting package, solid core doors, upgraded taps and plumbing fixtures, updraded appliance package. Best value in Mardaloop at just over $300 per sq.ft!


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Vt. mother held in psychiatric ward freed by judge
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont woman held against her will for more than five weeks at a psychiatric ward after her estranged husband killed their son and then hanged himself was ordered released by a judge Friday.
Christina Schumacher, 48, was ordered released immediately from Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington by Vermont Superior Court Judge Kevin Griffin, the Burlington Free Press reported (http://bfpne.ws/1jMHYKp).
Schumacher had been at the hospital since Dec. 19, a day after 14-year-old Gunnar Schumacher and 49-year-old Ludwig Schumacher were found dead in an Essex apartment. Police said the father strangled the high school freshman before he hanged himself.
It was unclear whether Schumacher had left the facility by Friday night.
Griffin said in his ruling that he disagreed with a doctor's assessment before Schumacher arrived for a regular appointment the day after the murder-suicide that she needed to admit herself or be taken into custody.
"The court did not find, by clear and convincing evidence, that Respondent was a person in need of treatment at the time of admission or application, nor a patient in need of further treatment at the time of the hearing," Griffin wrote in his ruling.
The Burlington Free Press reported that, according to court records, Schumacher indicated to her sister after the couple separated last summer that she would kill herself if anything happened to her two children.
"I am not ill; I am simply a mother who is grieving the tragic loss of her young son," Schumacher told the Burlington Free Press this week. "No mother should ever have to experience this loss."
Schumacher told the newspaper that she and her insurance company had been billed for the unwanted treatment.
Mike Noble, a spokesman for the hospital, said that he can't speak to the specifics of the case but "that in all matters such as this we make decisions that we think are in the best interests of the patient."
Schumacher had warned police that she feared for her son's safety hours before the bodies were found, according to court papers. She told Essex police the night before the murder-suicide that she feared Ludwig Schumacher might try to take the teenager out of the country, according to court papers.
Ludwig Schumacher was a former member of the Vermont National Guard and state Republican campaign official. Police said he left a typed suicide note in the apartment.
Information from: The Burlington Free Press, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com


text:
I would like to share with your readers my own experience with the manner in which County Commission meetings are conducted.
On May 15, 2007, I attended a County Commissioner regular meeting to listen to a presentation being made by Carolyn Cummins, Worcester County Planning Commission Chair. The presentation was on behalf of the Planning Commission and concerned future expansion of county wastewater services.
During Ms. Cummins' presentation, a question regarding a proposed development project in Showell was directed by Commissioner Bud Church to an attorney in the audience who was the legal representation for the developer. From his seat in the audience, the attorney answered the question, yet he was still invited by the commission president to move to the podium (which was still occupied by the presenter, Ms. Cummins) where this gentlemen proceeded to take over and redirect that discussion to matters not related to Ms. Cummins' presentation, but rather to matters related to his client's business.
After approximately 15 minutes of this attorney's control of the agenda, I found myself speaking up from my seat and directing a 'point of order' question to the commission president despite technically not having a voice as I had not been recognized. Had this now become a public hearing, I asked, and did I, as another interested party in the audience, have a right to speak? I was ignored by the president as I continued to stand for several minutes and was finally told it was not a public hearing. The commission president seemed very confused as to the protocol and finally waved his hand to me as if to say "leave me alone".
On June 15, I wrote a letter to County Attorney Ed Hammond and County Administrator Gerry Mason on this matter, stating I certainly understood that a regular commissioner meeting was not a public hearing, and I understood that if a commissioner has a question for someone in the audience they certainly have the power to ask that person the question and expect a reply. What I was concerned about was the alarming trend by the commission president to allow a rather selective form of public hearings to take place at County Commission meetings. I questioned at what point were other county citizens, sitting in the audience, to be given the same rights, and asked for a clarification of procedures and policies for County Commission meetings.
While I did receive a reply from Mr. Hammond a few weeks later, and was assured my concerns were brought before the commissioners, I see that they are still confused as to how to adopt a policy that will allow their constituents to communicate with them at regular commission meetings.
I would like to see the county adopt a policy that will allow the citizens of this county, who elected this commission, to be able to stand up at the end of business, and on the record, bring matters they consider important to the attention of the commission. I don't expect the commissioners to settle the matter at that time, but as citizens we should have the right to make an announcement, or ask a question, on the record.
Furthermore, the fact that the contents of the agenda for County Commission meetings are not made public is just wrong. I would like to know if there are matters on the agenda that are important to me and I have no access to a full agenda. The agenda I access on the county website or the one citizens pick up at the start of the meeting is full of blank spaces, without a hint of subject matter. If the full agenda is set on the Friday prior to the meeting, why isn't a detailed agenda posted on the county website?
If these matters were addressed, I believe we would see a more active participation by the citizens of Worcester County at County Commission meetings and more open lines of communication between our government and its people.
Kathy Phillips
Ocean City


text:
Nummer: 420
Även känd som: Sombras tenebrosas
Land: USA, 113 minuter
Språk: Engelska
Genre(s): Skräck, Komedi
Regissör: Tim Burton
In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet-or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy...until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive. Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth ...
Medium: BluRay disc,
Utlånad: Nej
Format: 1.85:1


text:
1 Kings 2
New King James Version
David's Instructions to Solomon
2 Now (A)the days of David drew near that he should die, and he [a]charged Solomon his son, saying: 2 (B)"I go the way of all the earth; (C)be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. 3 And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may (D)prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn; 4 that the Lord may (E)fulfill His word which He spoke concerning me, saying, (F)'If your sons take heed to their way, to (G)walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul,' He said, (H)'you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.'
5 "Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah (I)did to me, and what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to (J)Abner the son of Ner and (K)Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed. And he shed the blood of war in peacetime, and put the blood of war on his belt that was around his waist, and on his sandals that were on his feet. 6 Therefore do (L)according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray hair go down to the grave in peace.
7 "But show kindness to the sons of (M)Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who (N)eat at your table, for so (O)they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother.
8 "And see, you have with you (P)Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a malicious curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim. But (Q)he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and (R)I swore to him by the Lord, saying, 'I will not put you to death with the sword.' 9 Now therefore, (S)do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man and know what you ought to do to him; but (T)bring his gray hair down to the grave with blood."
Death of David(U)
10 So (V)David [b]rested with his fathers, and was buried in (W)the City of David. 11 The period that David (X)reigned over Israel was forty years; seven years he reigned in Hebron, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years. 12 (Y)Then Solomon sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom was (Z)firmly established.
Solomon Executes Adonijah
13 Now Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. So she said, (AA)"Do you come peaceably?"
And he said, "Peaceably." 14 Moreover he said, "I have something to say to you."
And she said, "Say it."
15 Then he said, "You know that the kingdom was (AB)mine, and all Israel had set their expectations on me, that I should reign. However, the kingdom has been turned over, and has become my brother's; for (AC)it was his from the Lord. 16 Now I ask one petition of you; do not [c]deny me."
And she said to him, "Say it."
17 Then he said, "Please speak to King Solomon, for he will not refuse you, that he may give me (AD)Abishag the Shunammite as wife."
18 So Bathsheba said, "Very well, I will speak for you to the king."
19 Bathsheba therefore went to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and (AE)bowed down to her, and sat down on his throne and had a throne set for the king's mother; (AF)so she sat at his right hand. 20 Then she said, "I desire one small petition of you; do not [d]refuse me."
And the king said to her, "Ask it, my mother, for I will not refuse you."
21 So she said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife."
22 And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, "Now why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also—for he is my (AG)older brother—for him, and for (AH)Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah." 23 Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, (AI)"May God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life! 24 Now therefore, as the Lord lives, who has confirmed me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has established a [e]house for me, as He (AJ)promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today!"
25 So King Solomon sent by the hand of (AK)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he struck him down, and he died.
Abiathar Exiled, Joab Executed
26 And to Abiathar the priest the king said, "Go to (AL)Anathoth, to your own fields, for [f]you are deserving of death; but I will not put you to death at this time, (AM)because you carried the ark of the Lord God before my father David, and because you were afflicted every time my father was afflicted." 27 So Solomon removed Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, that he might (AN)fulfill the word of the Lord which He spoke concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh.
28 Then news came to Joab, for Joab (AO)had defected to Adonijah, though he had not defected to Absalom. So Joab fled to the tabernacle of the Lord, and (AP)took hold of the horns of the altar. 29 And King Solomon was told, "Joab has fled to the tabernacle of the Lord; there he is, by the altar." Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go, (AQ)strike him down." 30 So Benaiah went to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said to him, "Thus says the king, (AR)'Come out!' "
And he said, "No, but I will die here." And Benaiah brought back word to the king, saying, "Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me."
31 Then the king said to him, (AS)"Do as he has said, and strike him down and bury him, (AT)that you may take away from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood which Joab shed. 32 So the Lord (AU)will return his [g]blood on his head, because he struck down two men more righteous (AV)and better than he, and killed them with the sword—(AW)Abner the son of Ner, the commander of the army of Israel, and (AX)Amasa the son of Jether, the commander of the army of Judah—though my father David did not know it. 33 Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab and (AY)upon the head of his descendants forever. (AZ)But upon David and his descendants, upon his house and his throne, there shall be peace forever from the Lord."
34 So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and struck and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. 35 The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army, and the king put (BA)Zadok the priest in the place of (BB)Abiathar.
Shimei Executed
36 Then the king sent and called for (BC)Shimei, and said to him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere. 37 For it shall be, on the day you go out and cross (BD)the Brook Kidron, know for certain you shall surely die; (BE)your [h]blood shall be on your own head."
38 And Shimei said to the king, "The saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so your servant will do." So Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.
39 Now it happened at the end of three years, that two slaves of Shimei ran away to (BF)Achish the son of Maachah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, "Look, your slaves are in Gath!" 40 So Shimei arose, saddled his donkey, and went to Achish at Gath to seek his slaves. And Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath. 41 And Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had come back. 42 Then the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Did I not make you swear by the Lord, and warn you, saying, 'Know for certain that on the day you go out and travel anywhere, you shall surely die'? And you said to me, 'The word I have heard is good.' 43 Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord and the commandment that I gave you?" 44 The king said moreover to Shimei, "You know, as your heart acknowledges, (BG)all the wickedness that you did to my father David; therefore the Lord will (BH)return your wickedness on your own head. 45 But King Solomon shall be blessed, and (BI)the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever."
46 So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out and struck him down, and he died. Thus the (BJ)kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
- 1 Kings 2:1 commanded
- 1 Kings 2:10 Died and joined his ancestors
- 1 Kings 2:16 Lit. turn away the face
- 1 Kings 2:20 Lit. turn away the face
- 1 Kings 2:24 Royal dynasty
- 1 Kings 2:26 Lit. you are a man of death
- 1 Kings 2:32 Or bloodshed
- 1 Kings 2:37 Or bloodshed
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.


text:
Esteban Gutierrez won the second GP2 race of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend from pole position.
Having finished Race 1 in eighth place, the Mexican was awarded the reverse grid pole ahead of Nathanael Berthon. He made a good start, maintaining his lead through Turn 1 and then maintaining a comfortable gap to the Frenchman. When Berthon posted a fast lap and cut the gap to under a second, Esteban responded by setting the fastest lap of the race, a 1:32.348 on Lap 15, which was a full 1.5 seconds faster than the Racing Engineering driver on that lap.
It was the Lotus driver's first sprint race victory of the year, having already scored feature wins in Valencia and Silverstone. He maintains third place in the championship.
Team-mate James Calado had mixed fortunes. He was given a two-place grid penalty for impeding another driver during practice, which moved him from P2 to P4 for Race 1, and remained in that position when he crossed the line. That put him fifth on the grid for Sunday's sprint race, but the Englishman had a clutch problem which saw him fall down through the field at the start. Fighting to get past Max Chilton for much of the race, he eventually salvaged sixth.
Lotus leads the championship with 282 points, 24 ahead of DAMS.
Esteban Gutierrez:
"I made a great start in Race 1. We started on the clean line and shot from seventh to fourth. The strategy we used was very different to the others and was working well until we lost three seconds keeping the position to Marcus Ericsson. We had been in a good position to exit the pits ahead of the pack, but it was not to be. After that I tried to fight back, but also preserve the tyres for a final push, which worked well and I was able to pass Fabio Leimer for eighth place and the pole for Race 2. Starting in front makes a big difference, and I just had to hold onto my tyres and manage the gap to the guy behind. The car was really nice to drive on the limit. When the team asked me to do the quickest lap it was pretty easy. In the end I saved some fuel, but was in control all the time and never felt threatened. It was good!"
James Calado:
"A pretty average weekend, but we scored some points and it's put me fourth in the championship. Things got off to a bad start with the penalty in free practice, which I think was very undeserved. I put that behind me and qualified second. Race 1 was pretty good and I finished fourth, and in Race 2 I had an issue with the clutch which I had to recover from. I still scored more points than Giedo van der Garde [who is fourth in the championship], we're leading the teams' championship, Esteban drove a great race and next we go to Spa, which I love."


text:
U.S. stocks ended in the red Thursday, with the Dow stalling just below its all-time high.
After two days of triple-digit gains, the Dow Jones industrial average came within spitting distance of its all-time high before the rally lost steam into the close. At the end of the day, the Dow was down 0.2% and is now 1% from its all-time high of 14,198.10, reached in October 2007.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq shed 0.1%.
Thursday also marked the last trading day of February, which has largely been a dud for stocks. Still, the Dow rose 1.4% for the month, while the S&P 500 added 1.1% and the Nasdaq gained 0.6%.
The day's lackluster performance came as investors weighed better-than-expected jobless claims data against a tepid report on the nation's economic growth.
While jobless claims fell sharply last week, the government's second estimate of fourth-quarter GDP showed a nearly imperceptible gain of 0.1% on an annual basis. The revised reading fell short of the 0.5% growth economists were expecting.
Related: Sluggish economy may signal correction
Following a massive rally in January, it hasn't been a surprise for stocks to take a pause.
Even with the sluggish trading this month, all three indexes are still up between roughly 5% and 7% for the year. And the S&P 500 is 4% from its all-time highs reached in October 2007.
Related: Fear & Greed Index back in greed
On the corporate front, Barnes & Noble (BKS) shares rose after CEO William Lynch Jr. told investors on an analyst call that the bookseller was taking steps to "right size our cost structure in the Nook segment."
Department store chain Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD) reported sales at stores open a year or more fell 1.4% for the year. The company also said that it has closed 300 Sears and Kmart stores, or 13% of its total, since 2006.
J.C. Penney (JCP) shares tumbled after the retailer reported a dismal fourth-quarter loss and weak same-store sales.
Groupon (GRPN) shares plunged after the daily deals site's results missed already low expectations. Shares rose in after-hours trading after the company announced that CEO Andrew Mason will leave the daily deals site he co-founded.
Shares of Sturm, Ruger & Co. (RGR) rose after the gun maker reported earnings that beat expectations. The company benefited from a surge in firearm sales on growing fears of new gun-control laws following the re-election of President Obama and the shooting in Newtown, Conn.
Related: Gunmaker CEO: 'We're selling everything we make'
Monster Beverage's (MNST) stock rose after the energy drink maker's earnings climbed more than 5%. The company's sales also improved but fell short of forecasts.
Clothing retailer Gap (GPS) reported better-than-expected earnings after the bell.
European markets finished higher, drawing support from comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi that suggested the bank had room to relax policy further. Meanwhile, the European Union is planning to cap bankers' bonuses to rein in reckless risk taking.
Asian markets had a banner day. After the nomination of Haruhiko Kuroda to be Japan's next central banker, the Nikkei posted a 2.7% increase to its highest point since 2008. The Shanghai Composite rose 2.3% and the Hang Seng added 2%.
The dollar rose against the euro and the Japanese yen, but fell versus the British pound.
Oil and gold prices slipped slightly.
The price on the 10-year Treasury rose, pushing the yield down to 1.88% from 1.90% late Wednesday.


text:
Moon Blaze
The warm bronze sunlight was swallowed by the horizon. Its bright desert day engulfed in darkness. A darkness where my laughter lines illuminated and seemed to turn from creaks to craters as I smiled back at a blazing lunar eclipse.
Total Lunar Eclipse over Bisti Wilderness, New Mexico, taken on May 15, 2022.
Late Bloomers
Alpine blooms were moonlit with more purple hues than have ever been named, yet not so much that I could not appreciate them all at once.
Somewhere in the Middle
Songs for the Eyes
Moonrise over the badlands of Central Utah.
Twilight casts light on Mount Shasta after a snow storm passes.
Transport the Soul
Overall Winner & People and Space Winner of the 2018 Astronomy Photographer of the Year
Interested in adding a 'human element' to the image, once the quarter moon rose and revealed the vast landscape of the shale hills below the viewpoint, the lone photographer stood motionless while I captured this photograph. The Andromeda Galaxy, quarter moon, Milky Way Galaxy, and position of the photographer all combined to create a harmonious portrait of a night sky photographer at work. Moab, Utah, USA, May 20, 2017. This version has been modified for 2:3 aspect ratio prints (24x36 inches).
Stone Cold
This panoramic image was taken in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and includes Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter.
Flash Encounter
Isolated high atop a lake basin, crystal clear snowmelt reflected a starry sky overhead. A sudden flash from the heavens bathed the darkness with blue green radiance and abruptly illuminated the past.
Curtsey to her Majesty
Moonlit Surge
Lunar Eclipse Over Castle Crags
Pre-dawn lunar trifecta: 'super blue blood moon' rising over Castle Crags, located in the far Western region of the United States. The Earth's shadow slowly wandered its way across the Moon to form the mesmerizing color of totality above its towering spires.
January 31, 2018
The Mask and the Mirror (Revisited)
Myriad Spirits
Nocturnal Florets
A rare, miniature bloom in the deserts of the Southwest.
Sudden Magnitude
Clouds spill over mountain peaks as the moon sets in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.
Brooding Divinity
Swirling patterns of history carved within the sandstone of these unearthly objects provide a meandering foreground element to the distant canyon of hoodoos and galaxy.
Stars and Spikes
Secrets Inside
It was an inferno of lights and long leaping shadows.


text:
NEW YORK (AFP) - New York's governor declared a health emergency on Saturday over a flu epidemic that has sickened more than 19,000 people, allowing pharmacists to immunise infants and children.
Governor Andrew Cuomo's move comes amid a nationwide epidemic expected to last several weeks.
There have been at least 28,747 cases reported across the country so far this season, and 20 children have died from the flu, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
However, the true number of cases is likely far higher as many who fall ill do not go to the doctor to get tested.
In hopes of curbing the spread of the potentially lethal virus, Mr Cuomo said it was critical to suspend, for the next 30 days, a legal limit that usually only allows New York pharmacists to administer flu vaccines to patients 18 years of age or older.
"We are experiencing the worst flu season since at least 2009, and influenza activity in New York State is widespread, with cases reported in all 57 counties and all five boroughs of New York City," Mr Cuomo said in a statement.
"Therefore, I have directed my administration, the state health department and others to marshal all needed resources to address this public health emergency and remove all barriers to ensure that all New Yorkers - children and adults alike - have access to critically needed flu vaccines."
In New York state alone, 19,128 cases have been confirmed this season, a jump from the total of 4,404 during the 2011-2012 flu season.
In order to facilitate access to flu shots, the New York Health Department is also launching a large-scale campaign promoting flu immunisation through the media, dedicated websites and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Urging non-immunised New Yorkers to schedule a flu shot "immediately," Mr Cuomo reminded them that "it is NOT too late to get a vaccination."
The governor stressed that relatives and caregivers who regularly come into contact with young children or people at high risk should get a shot against the flu virus, which can spread through coughing or sneezing.
The virus poses an increased risk for infants and toddlers under the age of two, people over 50, pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems or chronic medical conditions.
Flu strikes every year across the United States, bringing chills, sore throats, fever, coughing and achy misery to millions.
The number of annual deaths has ranged from a low of 3,000 to a high of 49,000 since 1976, according to the CDC.
Most of those deaths were among people aged 65 and older.